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Life Onboard the Hurtigruten vessel MS Kong Harald is well underway at last!
My first night is uneventful which is just what one wants when getting used to life onboard a ship.
I sleep well despite the constant noise in my cabin.
I’m not sure what it is as we stay docked in Trondheim overnight. Possibly just the heating system. It’s just white noise anyway, which doesn’t bother me.
It is something to be aware of if you are considering a Hurtigruten cruise and need quiet to sleep though.
Bring earplugs!
Life Onboard: Cabin Choice
When booking you can opt to choose your cabin. I didn’t do this as the price to do so was much too high in my opinion.
Essentially it is an extra £400-500 to upgrade to the ‘Select’ package from ‘Basic’. What you get for this is a choice of cabin (still restricted to your cabin grade though), a choice of dinner time, and tea and filter coffee throughout the voyage. And that’s it.
Now I can drink a lot of coffee, but even I am not getting £400 worth in twelve days! As for the ability to choose cabins and mealtimes, well I just think that convenience warrants the price tag.
So I knew odds were I’d be getting a lower deck cabin near the engines and loading bays. (And the less popular late dinner time of course.)
It remains a mild anxiety trigger for me that I’ll be kept awake by noise and vibrations overnight.
However, I also keep reminding myself I should be up on the top deck at night as much as possible if I want to see the Aurora. Life onboard a Hurtigruten ship is all about the scenery after all.
This morning the engines start and we leave the dock at 7am. And boy can I feel it!
It’s loud and the whole room vibrates. This does not bode well!
Once we are out of the dock it does calm down though, so I’m hoping any disturbances are short lived. Regardless, I can usually sleep through most things if I’m lying down and in the dark!
Watch this space…
Trondheim
Now if things were on schedule and we had left Bergen on Friday, we would be arriving in Trondheim on Day Three of our voyage.
As it is, we have been here all night, but not been outside yet.
The schedule for this morning gives me 2-3 hours to explore Trondheim on foot.
I’ve opted out of joining any of the guided tours here as there really doesn’t seem to be much I would gain. I prefer and activity based excursion rather than a bus tour, especially for the cost. And given it’s Sunday, most places are closed anyway!
A walking tour or a bus tour would be a great way to see Trondheim another visit though. I’m already thinking I’ll have to travel Norway again in the summer months one day.
We are docked about 20-30 minutes walking distance from the main sights of Trondheim.
It’s a pleasant enough walk through the snow, but it does mean I really only have an hour to explore the area before having to walk back again.
I manage to see the town square, some statues, and a couple of churches before the sudden snowstorm hits!
Seriously, it came out of nowhere!!
One minute I’m actually rather warm with my coat undone and hat and gloves off, the next it is an actual blizzard.
So I bundle my camera inside my coat, put up my hood, and battle through to the cathedral.
I’m only here once dammit, I’m hitting all the main sights regardless of the weather!
Nidaros Cathedral
An ornate Gothic masterpiece, Norway’s national shrine, and northern Europe’s most important pilgrimage site… built over the tomb of Olav the Holy, the Viking king who Christianised Norway and became the entire country’s eternal king.
(Visit Trondheim)
I grew up in a city with a Cathedral (shout out Chichester!) and maybe that’s why I find them generally underwhelming. But there’s no denying the Nidaros Cathedral is a beautiful piece of architecture.
Even in a blizzard.
My only qualm with it is you have to pay to go inside. I don’t agree with charging admission to any religious grounds. I feel they should be run on donations and charity (or funded by the immense wealth they already have but that’s a rant for another blog).
Regardless, as it’s Sunday there is is service and they don’t allow sightseers in during it.
Also wrong in my opinion. I’ve sat in on some lovely services in churches and temples all over the world, and it’s a wonderful experience.
In summation, I don’t go inside.
I do however walk through the graveyard which is so serene and peaceful in the snow. I know I’m not alone in enjoying a graveyard walk so feel no shame in admitting it!
Gamle Bybro
Gamle Bybro (The Old Town Bridge) was first built on its current site in 1681 and as they now stand were built in 1861.
Yesterday at the daily briefing onboard we were told about the bridge’s mythology. I won’t lie, the actual wording has left my memory… but I recall something about kissing under the bridge to bring you eternal happiness?? Anyway, I rely on Wikipedia for background information and this is all it says.
Gamle Bybro is also known as Lykkens portal (Gate of Happiness), after the lyrics of the popular waltz Nidelven stille og vakker du er ( “Nidelven quiet and beautiful you are”) by Norwegian singer and composer Kristian Oskar Hoddø (1916-1943). According to tradition, Hoddø wrote the waltz about the Nidelva River one night in late April 1940 while he was standing at Gamle Bybro.
Wikipedia
Whatever the superstitions and history are, it’s a lovely spot with a great view of the Nidelva River.
Urban Art
There are lots of statues and sculptures around Trondheim. Some modern, some classical, and all shrouded in snow! Which makes it rather challenging to admire them properly.
But for some I think the snow adds something to them. The sculpture of a young woman crouching on the ground would I think be less emotional were she not in the snow.
I do enjoy walking around and spotting the artwork whether I understand it or not, and happily the sky clears up once more as I wander.
I walk back via the cathedral to get a clearer look (and some better photos!) then start my walk back to the ship.
The Lounging Life Onboard
Life onboard Hurtigruten ships is primarily about the scenery.
After lunch I grab my Chromebook and Kindle, and set myself up at the front of the top deck.
I’m lucky to get a chair right at the forward bow and can happily sit and write as I watch the Norwegian coastline go by.
Part of life onboard Hurtigruten ships includes informative lectures and films about the area. Today’s talk is about the Vikings and the film about the Northern Lights.
I honestly do intend to go to the Viking talk, but am just too chilled out to move when 14:00 rolls around.
I have no plan to go to the film either as I really did get ALOT of Aurora information whilst in Iceland last year.
Nope, I plan to just sit and observe until today’s daily briefing at 16:00.
Sea Sickness
At the briefing we are warned once again that sea sickness is possible when on open stretches of water. Most of the time the ship sails amongst islands and hugs the coastline. But on occasion we must venture out a bit and one of those times is today between 19:15-21:15.
Having never been on a cruise before I don’t know how I’m going to react.
I’ve got my wristbands (Thank you Hayley!) which apply acupressure and hope they’ll be enough to keep me stable.
They are not.
Whilst they definitely help, two hours of rocking about is too much for me.
I think I’ll be investing in some tablets before the next stretch of open water!
So I head down to my cabin to lie down and just wait it out.
Life onboard Hurtigruten at Mealtimes
Now there is also a chance I’ve been glutened….
All the food is labelled and there is a gluten free area for bread, crackers, oats etc. But I can’t help but wonder about some of the dishes.
For example: At breakfast there are these little hot dog/Frankfurter type sausages which do not have any allergens listed against them. But in my experience all processed sausages tend to contain wheat. Still, I chance it and have a very little amount.
Then at lunch, the cod fritters have no gluten allergen, but the chicken stew does. There’s also a cake with no gluten listed.
I really want to trust and believe this is true. I mean, legally it has to be right???
Still, it’s hard to fathom that so many of the foods I’m usually excluded from eating are freely available here out at sea! If it’s easy to make life onboard Hurtigruten ships gluten free, why can’t it be done on land?
Now I’d like to tell you about my first dinner experience, alas I cannot.
As noted earlier, we are in open waters during my pre-allocated mealtime. And the thought of sitting in the dining room for a three course meal makes the nausea even worse.
I may be the youngest passenger on board, but I’m in bed by 19:45 trying not to throw up!
Hows this for irony?
It’s 21:25. I’ve finally fallen asleep about twenty minutes ago. I know because I almost heard the end of an hour long podcast.
And the Aurora alarm sounds!
Seriously!!
I’m in my PJ’s and still feeling tender, and I seriously consider just staying in bed.
They’ll happen again right? It’s the first night! We’re not even in the Arctic Circle yet!!
But this was my thought process back in Iceland, and they didn’t occur again.
Nature works to no one’s schedule and I know if I don’t at least try to get out on deck I’ll regret it forever.
The Aurora Go Kit
I somehow pull on a hoodie, my snow boots, and my coat over my pyjamas, remember my cabin key and phone, and walk up to deck 5.
And there they are.
At last, I’m seeing the Northern Lights.
Yes, it’s low key and cloudy, but there’s no mistaking it. That green hue in the night sky is finally in front of me.
Then a shooting star falls right across them as I watch.
I’m so glad I made myself go outside!
Which leads me to decide I need a better plan for the next few nights.
I will not be going to bed without having my Aurora Go Kit easy to grab again. Coat, socks, boots, hat, key and phone. That’s all I need and from now on that will be primed on the spare bed every night!
Of course it’s now 22:00 and I’m wide awake as we dock briefly in Rørvik which is why I’m writing now instead of sleeping.
So a hot drink (thanks to my sneaky electric cup), some chocolate, and a bit of Netflix it is.