- Winter Escape 2017 - Sea Princess, Regal Princess, Hurtigruten Polarys: July 2017

Copenhagen to Bergen

Copenhagen to Bergen and Hurtigruten

We decided to self disembark from the Regal Princess. We have found that that works best for us but you have to be able to manage your luggage yourself. As we have various weight limitations on some of our flights we have packed less than we normally do and have one large case and a small backpack each. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you don't have to put your cases out the night before, you don't have to pack a separate carry bag for when you don't have access to your main case, you can choose what time it suits to leave the ship and you don't have to find your cases in the luggage hall.

We had to be out of our cabin by 8am so we were pretty organised and off the ship by 8.30. There were taxis waiting so we were straight into a taxi and headed to the airport for our 11.50am flight to Bergen. We were there in no time at all and all checked into our flight after reorganising the cases again as over weight! The ship tried scare tactics by telling us that there could be up to a 2 hour wait for taxis so you should book a ship's transfer to the airport. The taxi was probably about $20 cheaper than the ship's transfer price for 2 people but the advantage of the taxi is that you can control your timing. The ship's transfer would be ok if you had no time constraints or a lot of luggage.

Our flight with SAS left on time and all went well. On our arrival into Bergen we found a bus that was going to the Hurtigruten terminal so we hopped on. I think we were supposed to have had prebooked the ship's transfer at a price. We will see if it is on our bill at the end of our cruise. Our original intention was to get the Metro then walk 10 minutes to the terminal. The bus was much easier!

Once at the terminal we had to wait 30 mins until 3pm to checkin. Then at 4pm we had to watch a safety briefing before we were allowed onto the ship. Our cabins were not accessible until 6pm as the ship only arrived into port at 2.30pm. All the public areas were very comfortable to wait in and to contemplate life on board for the next 12 days. I think we will be quite comfortable.

At 6pm we got access to our cabin. It was not really a surprise but once we started to unpack our cases and tried to figure out where everything was going to go we wondered whether we had made the right choice. No drawers, no bedside tables, no tissues, no fridge (how will we keep our drinks cold?!), no where to store our large cases, no TV so no webcam.... how will we know if the sun is shining??!!

It is open seating tonight and a buffet in the main dining room whereas we normally have 2nd seating which is at 6.30pm. There are 4 seating times.... 5.30, 6.30, 8.00 and 8.30. We would prefer a later seating but 8 is a bit too late so we will stick with our 6.30 time slot.

Our package includes three meals a day plus tea and coffee through out the day. We have spoken to people that only have breakfast included... these options were not offered to us. Consequently there are various cafes that you can purchase food at a high price.... just like the wine at $15 to $20 for a glass!! I'll stick to water (which is free) at dinner and drink my own wine in my cabin. The evening meal in the MDR is a set 3 course meal.

All in all a successful transition from one ship to the other... lets see what tomorrow brings.

Views from the plane enroute to Bergen

Restocking our ship... MS Polarlys

Kysten... the a'la carte restaurant. We can pay an upgrade price of around $35AU each to eat here. We might just have to give this a go! The king crabs look so tempting!!

Brygga Bistro is where we can go for our complimentary tea and coffee which is part of our package (otherwise $5) or where people that don't have the complete meal package can purchase food.

Another casual eating area on deck 7

The gym which I won't be visiting on this cruise

The sundeck on deck 7 aft

One of the two jacuzzis on deck 6 aft

The bar area on the sundeck

The Expedition Lounge on Deck 7 fwd and where I will be spending most of my time catching up this blog!

The Expedition bar

Our cabin before we unpacked

Cruising away from Bergen at 8pm

Our first sunset

So beautiful.... not quite the northern lights but it is a good substitute!

Our cabin after we unpacked

Chef's Table

Chef's Table

We decided to book into the Chef's Table which has a charge of $115US each. This includes about 7 or 8 courses, all wine, a tour of the galley, two photos, the usual Princess cooking book of which we have 4 now!, and a red rose.

We were a group of 10 (none that we knew) but the table was big enough for at least 12. The table was in a secluded curtained off area in one of the dining rooms. The food was good and the whole experience special and enjoyable.

Would we do it again? Probably not on Princess as they all seem to be very similar and you can only have so many cook books! I would prefer they drop the cookbook which they sell for around $40 and reduce the price. When we first did the Chef's Table the cost was $75AU. The cookbook is also not easy to take home when you have weight restrictions when flying.

I think my favourite Chef's Table experience was on the Carnival Legend.

The galley

Our table set up in the galley where we had a number of starters paired with French champagne

Fruit and vegetable carving... amazing!

The head chef... this pate had caviar through it and was delicious

Ice carving and the obligatory white coats!

Another starter

And another... goats cheese!

And another... prawns...

Individual waiters to serve our meals all at the same time! Our beautiful table with a Swarovski crystal centre piece and our crystal privacy curtain

Risotto

Cleansing sorbet

Main meal... surf and turf

Petit fours

Gold plated chocolate dessert

The Maitre D and Head Chef presenting us with our photos and rose

The menu

Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden

Quick facts:

Founded in 1252

Capital of Sweden

Region: located on Sweden's SE coast, stretching over 14 islands surrounded by the Baltic Sea.

Population: 871,952 (2011)

Language: Swedish and English

Currency: Krona (SEK)

Stockholm is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is often called the "Venice of the North".

Our day in Stockholm was short.... all on board by 1.30pm for a 2pm sailaway.

We were off the ship nice and early and thought the best way to maximise our time on land was to take the HOHO bus from just outside the ship.

We decided to do the circuit until the Vasa Museum then get off and checkout the museum. The museum was very interesting. We spent a good 60 to 90 minutes there which included watching an excellent documentary of how they retrieved the ship from the bottom of the ocean back in the 1960s (the ship had been lost underwater for over 300 years) and also a free guided tour in English.

The next plan was to pick up the HOHO bus and complete the circuit. The theory was good but the buses were few and far between! The buses were supposed to come every 10 to 15 minutes.... we waited for 45 minutes and none had come! About 6 buses of their competitors had though! As someone said we were sold the budget version!

By the time our bus cam time was of the essence so we decided to stay on the bus and get off back at the ship which effectively completed the full circuit. This proved to be quite stressful as the bus took a diversion to another port to where other cruise ships were which added extra time. We had 5 minutes before our curfew and we still had 2 bus stops to go!! There were other people from our ship on board too which made us feel a little bit better. We arrived at the port gates.... still a distance from the ship at 1.35pm!! Our stress levels were abated when we saw the massive line up of people waiting to get back on the ship. We even had time to look in the shop and use the free wifi in the terminal.

Obviously it was a late sailaway and the Captain now had to gun it to get back to Copenhagen in time for all the Americans flying home on a 9am flight. Not sure I agree that our day in Stockholm was made short so an amount of passengers can make their flight. Apparently it also has something to do with the long approach into Stockholm.... I think it takes about 3 hours or more and their was some concern about light. Not sure how that worked because it was still light at 10pm!

Thankfully a sea day tomorrow to pack up our things and think about our next adventure!

Stockholm in depth will have to wait to another visit....

The Vasa Museum - built to house the 226 foot long warship that sank on its maiden voyage in the middle of Stockholm in 1628 (rumoured to be because the hull should have been 1m wider!)

The back of the ship that was equivalent to 4 stories high

Replicas of how the figures at the back of the ship were originally painted

The dive chamber where divers stood to get the air caught in the top so that they could attach ropes to the canons while the ship was under water as the canons were worth more than the ship! Out of 69 canons 66 were retrieved this way and the other 3 were bought up with the ship.