Thursday 2nd November, Olden Norway

The Magellan, berthed at Olden, late in the afternoon.  It was nearly dark at 5pm.

Last night was formal night, and cos we were all dressed up, we had to have somewhere to go.  So we went to watch the show.  The show team put on the Abba show, one that we’ve seen many times before.  I don’t think the singers were at their best, although the dancers were excellent as usual, I think the singers weren’t quite as good as those I’ve heard in the past onboard CMV ships.

We tried out the upper balcony for the first time.  I think we like it.

Silly me though.  When we got on board, I volunteered us for tour escorting duties. We weren’t expecting anything to come of it to be honest, because we don’t know any of the shorex staff.  But,  we got a phone call in the cabin yesterday evening.  And today we were escorting the “Nordfjord Panarama” tour.

It’s an “off the bus on the bus” tour.  Designed for people who can’t or don’t want to walk very far, it is basically a drive around to take in the best of the scenery, with a guide to explain it all and a few photostops.  Easy peasy in terms of escorting, because no-one goes very far.    The escorts are there to ensure that everything on the itinery is covered, and that the passengers get what they paid for. 

So I had a very pleasant afternoon.  The scenery is exactly as you expect from Norway.  Breathtaking!

It was only an afternoon in Olden, so the ship set sail more or less as soon as we finished our tour.    But our day wasn’t over.  After dinner, ( and a quick drink in the pub), we watched the guest act, Andy Leach, in the show lounge, (up on the balcony again).  Yes, we’ve seen him before, and no, the act hadn’t changed much since the last time we’d seen him.  But that didn’t stop his act being fvery funny though, we had a really good laugh.

And finally, we spent a little time on deck looking up at the sky.  This is a cruise in search of the Northern Lights after all.  Nothing yet, but you can be sure that we will report if we do get to see anything.

Tomorrow we are going to Kristiansund and we are escorting again.  Hey Ho.

Tuesday 1st November. On the way to Olden

So today was Peter’s first class;  10 o’clock in the Conference Room.  As always, he’s keen to get everything right, so we were in there before 9, moving the tables around and getting the room ready for the passengers.

They started turning up about 10 past 9!   Peter and I were constantly telling them that they needed to just give us a bit more time as we were setting up.  At 9.40, I invited them in to the class, at 9.50, the room was full, and from that point the door was closed with me stood out in corridor like Gandolph.  “Thou shalt not pass”!

By 10am, I had turned away enough people to fill the room again, so Peter  ran another class at 11.30.  It was a little bit hectic up until that point, as I needed to stay a little longer and do my bouncer thing, find the assistant cruise director, confirm the class and an announcement, get some photocopies of the study sheets made, get Peter some drinking water, and be ready to help him clean up and turn the conference room around ready for the next class.  I even managed to drop into the shore excursions office and let them know that we wouldn’t be available for any of the early tours at Olden.   AND I made meself use the stairs most of the time.  (Our cabin in on 4, reception and shorex are on 5, Peter’s class was on 8 and the tea station is on 10).   Good eh!

The sea has been a little bit choppy, but the Magellan is bigger than the ships I’ve been on before.  I find that she doesn’t move around as much, and for me, she is very comfortable and I haven’t felt queasy at all.  Not the case for many passengers who are feeling a little green around the gills.  Unfortunately though, it is supposed to get rougher tonight.   We’ll see how I go, but I’m fine so far.  It’s formal night.  Peter hates it,  but he looks good in his black tie, and I like the opportunity to wear a nice frock, so he will suffer in silence for me.  (Actually, he’ll not be very silent at all about it, but I can be selectively deaf).

Tomorrow Peter has classes in the morning, and we’ll be in Olden in the afternoon.  Apparently we are escorting, and apparently we need training. 

Tuesday 31st October, Amsterdam.

We seemed to have talked a lot since we got here, mostly to the other guys brought on board for passenger entertainment.  We ended yesterday in the Pub, which looks like it is going to be our bar of choice. Peter and I both really like it there, but we couldn't stay long, because we were both so tired.  So it was early to bed.

But not so early to rise, although I did wake to see the countryside and suburbs of Holland go past as we sailed along the waterways to Amsterdam.  At breakfast, we were joined by Andy, the comedian who told us he loved Amsterdam, and it was the only reason he'd got up.  Peter and I have visited before, but neither of us have fallen in love with the place. For us, it is just another city, although it does have a lot of water, weed and sex shops.

We went out for a walk and to soak up the atmosphere anyway.

We were very surprised at the Herons, both on the waterways and in the streets.  They were completely unphased by boats people,cars or bikes as they went past.  This one allowed us to get within a few metres of it. 

<<  And this completely flummoxed us.  We stopped at a cafe for a cup of tea for Peter and a hot chocolate for me.  Peter was served a cup of hot water and this sachet thing.  We spent a few minutes trying to work out what is was before asking for help.  It's a T-stick.  You stick it in the water for a cup of tea.  Novel.  But not the best cup of tea in the world.







We left feeling that Amsterdam is a busy, metropolitan city.  And though very interesting, cities are not really our thing.

Back to the ship about 1 pm, we bumped into the reception manager and then the dutch hosts, which has added to the list of people that we know from previous cruises.  (We recognised security staff, the assistant director, chefs and restaurant staff yesterday).  It's nice to say hello again to so many friendly people. More lunch, a nap and now we are relaxing in the bar outside the Kensington Restuarant, feeling really chilled watching Holland go by as we head back out to sea.

It's an informal night tonight, and it's Halloween, so there'll be an evening's entertainment to match.  The Captain has announced that the sea will be a bit uppy downy, but not too bad.  All is good in our world.