Norway Cruise A super, relaxing cruise to the Norwegian fjords. Again. That’s the fourth time in five years. If we want to go on another cruise, I think we’re definitely going to have to think of a new destination. Still, you can’t go far wrong with a week of fabulous scenery and fabulous food.
Sunshine and Showers Saturday - The weather was very variable on the day we left Southampton. Here you can see a lovely bit of clear sky drifting off to the left to be replaced by the rain and hail storm drifting in from the right. Still, the conditions make for more interesting photos than a clear blue sky.
Shower Another passing shower.
Oceana There were four cruise ships scheduled to leave Southampton on that day. Here’s one of them - the P&O Oceana. Not been on that one yet.
Mum Here’s my mum getting acquainted with her balcony, with another of the departing cruise ships in the background - the P&O Azura. Been on that one.
Leaving Southampton The weather cleared up nicely for our actual departure from Southampton.
Tug A passing tug.
Golf It didn’t take my dad long to find the golf net on deck 19.
Azura Azura heading out into the Channel ahead of us, with the Isle of Wight in the background.Just time to unpack and have a look around the ship before a fabulous dinner in East, the Atul Kochhar restaurant onboard. He’s apparently quite famous for his Indian food.
The North Sea Sunday - There was a slight following wind, which meant that there was effectively no wind at all on the decks, so it was positively scorchio sitting around in the glorious sunshine.
Oil Rigs Lots of oil rigs to spot as we cross the North Sea.
Funnels My obligatory shot of the funnels (or at least the cosmetic yellow framework that hides the funnels) framed against the polarised blue sky. Lovely.
Promenade Deck Last year, when we did this cruise on the Azura, the bit of the promenade deck round the front of the ship was never open, so we didn’t get to see what it looked like. This time round it was open. And here it is, in glorious black and white. Very photogenic, if you're prepared to hang around until there are no people cluttering up the view.
Colour And, for those of you that aren’t fans of black and white photos, here’s the same photo in colour.
Sart Before long it was time for dinner. Sunday night was a formal night, so here’s me and my dad looking rather smart in our dinner jackets.
Metropolis And here’s my mum and dad having a pre-dinner drink in the Metropolis bar on deck 18, with a nice view down the side of Ventura.
Norway Monday - It’s still fairly early and this is one of our first views of the coast of Norway as we make our way towards Stavanger.
Stavanger A view of Stavanger from our berth in the middle of town.
Stavanger The view across Stavanger from deck 19. Here you can see how right in the middle of town we are.
Gamle Stavanger Judith looking out over the old wooden houses in Gamle Stavanger.
Dock My mum and dad on the dock, before heading into Stavanger.
Ventura Ventura moored in Stavanger. You can just about make out Judith in the foreground, although she is quite well camouflaged against the water.
Sailing Boat A sailing boat moored nearby.
Lifeboat Judith in an oil rig lifeboat in the Norwegian Petrolium Museum. Apparently you can get 28 people in there. Yikes! Still, I suppose that would be the least of your worries if your oil rig was on fire.
Balcony View Looking down on the balconies several decks below us on Ventura. These balconies poke out because the rooms they’re attached to are bigger, i.e. longer, than “standard” rooms.
Sognefjord Tuesday - Up early to watch Ventura sailing into the Sognefjord, the longest and deepest fjord in Norway.
Sognefjord A miscellaneous view in the Sognefjord.
Flam A view of the tiny town of Flam from our berth, rendered tiny using my camera’s “miniature” effect.
Tvinde Waterfall We’d booked tickets for a tour out into the countryside around Flam. First stop was the Tvinde Waterfall. Although it’s not obvious from this photo, the waterfall is over 400 feet high.
Tvinde Waterfall Another view of the waterfall.
Gudvanden Back on the bus for the (relatively) short drive to the tiny village of Gudvangen, which sits at the head of the beautiful Naeroyfjord, which is a branch of the Sognefjord.
Naeroyfjord The view of the fjord is magnificant, even in the late morning drizzle.
Spotters Judith and my mum and dad spotting jellyfish in the fjord.
Jellyfish Really, jellyfish. There were loads of them.
Valley View Having been deposited back at the port, Judith and I decided to go for a bit of a walk. This is the valley that the Flam Railway goes up. We didn’t quite have time on this day to have a go on the railway, but we’ve been on it before, so it wasn’t too much of a blow.
Brewery We’ve also been here a few times before, but that definitely didn’t stop us going in again, even though the lovely beer was quite possibly the most expensive we’ve ever bought - £10.60 for 500ml at the current exchange rate!!!
Ventura Ventura looking smart against the scenery.
Ventura Ventura still looking smart from the other side of the fjord.
Promenade Deck Back on the promenade deck, I’ve had another go at Sunday’s photo, but this time with a rocky backdrop.
Suite Judith in the living room bit of our suite, which is looking surprisingly tidy considering that we’ve been living in it for over three days.
Sunset Heading back out to sea, there are some nice views of the approaching sunset.
Olden Wednesday - Today we’re in Olden, another tiny village at the end of a beautiful fjord.
Bow Before heading ashore, I took a few photos around the ship. I took this one at the front of the promenade deck by leaning over the front and pointing my camera straight down. So I’ve taken a photo of the bow of the ship reflected in the water.
Ashore My mum and dad have headed off into the mountains, whilst Judith and I have donned our survival suits for a fjord RIB adventure.
Ventura View Having boarded our RIB and headed out onto the fjord, we get some nice views of Ventura moored in Olden.
Brrr Judith’s not looking overly pleased with the chilly, windy conditions.
Ventura On the way back to Olden, we get some more nice views of Ventura.
Ventura And another one.
Hiking Back on shore, and I’ve headed off on a hiking trail up the side of the fjord. I tried to walk this trail last year, but ran out of time before I reached the top and had to turn back about two thirds of the way up.
Fjord View The views of the fjord from the trail are wonderful.
Trails If I’d had more time, there would have been plenty more trails to try.
At the Top Three miles from Ventura I reach the highest point of the trail, around 1,500 feet above the fjord. There’s this little hut, which, curiously, doesn’t have a door. There are also the remains of lots of camp fires. This must be a popular place for people to come and watch the sun rise/set.
Ventura There’s a great view of Ventura from up here.
Fjord View The views of the fjord are excellent, albeit a little obscured by the trees up here.
Ventura View On the way back to Ventura there’s a nice view of the ship.
Choppy Back out at sea and it’s all gone a bit choppy, with 20-foot waves. The ship was moving about a bit, but I didn’t see anyone suffering from the conditions.
Bergen Thursday - We’re in Bergen, moored in the container port again. One day it would be nice to come to Bergen and get moored in the middle of town so that it’s not necessary to get a bus from the ship to town and back agan.
Bergen View We get the little train to the top of the hill to admire the view over Bergen. You can just make out in the foreground that there’s still a lot of snow on the ground up here.
Buildings The other mandatory tourist shot is of the colourful warehouses/shops along the waterfront. Tick.
Alley This was taken down one of the small alleyways between the warehouses.
Bergen View A view across Bergen from Ventura. I should really have “deleted” the crane from that shot. Maybe I’ll get round to doing that later.
Leaving Bergen An ND10 shot of Ventura leaving Bergen, with a 25 second exposure.
Bridge Passing under the suspension bridge on the way back to the sea. It would be nice to have a photo of a large cruise ship passing under this bridge from the shore, just to see how much clearance there actually is.
Seagull There are always loads of seagulls following the cruise ship out of Bergen, presumably because people throw food to them from their balconies. This facilitates lots of opportunities to photograph the seagulls as they fly alongside.
Seagull Another one.
Seagull And another.
Seagull Last one.
Oil Rig It’s tricky to say if this is a new old rig that’s waiting to be shipped out, or an old one that’s in for maintenance. Either way, it’s impressive to see how big they look in “normal” surroundings.
Coast Our last sight of the Norwegian coast as we head back out into the North Sea. Bye bye Norway.
Beer Friday - Our last full day on Ventura is a sea day as we cross the North Sea back to Southampton. The wonderful restaurant East are having a gourmet lunch to mark the occasion. It would have been a shame to have missed that.
Sea Day Despite some variable weather conditions during the week, our journey back across the North Sea is as sunny as it was going in the other direction five days ago, although this time we’re sailing into the wind so there’s a bit of a chilly breeze on deck.
Sunset We’re also treated to our best sunset of the week, which seems like a nice way to end another super, relaxing cruise to Norway.I think it would be fair to say that we’ve cruised Norway to death now and we’re definitely going to have to seek an alternative destination for our next cruise. However, I would still very much like to come back on some sort of driving tour to see these wonderful places under my own steam. See you soon Norway.