This was our first port day. We were visiting Haugesund that day and we were due to arrive at 08:0. We got up at 07:00 and got ready for the day. Then we headed down to the buffet for some breakfast. Graham had fruit and yoghurt followed by some oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. I had congee with chicken, boiled egg, and soy sauce. We both had some orange juice and coffee. Then we quickly headed back to the cabin to get what we needed for the day.
When we got to the cabin, there was an announcement that the ship had been cleared. We went downstairs and got off the ship. We stopped to get some port photos. It was raining cats and dogs or whatever the Norwegian equivalent is. Maybe it was raining trolls. We headed out of the port. Just in front of the port gates were kiosks that offered tickets for two different hop on hop off buses and other excursions. Had the weather been nicer, the kiosk offering tours further afield may have been of interest, but as it was, we stuck with the hop on hop off idea. One of the companies was City Sightseeing. We have used them all over the world and decided to stick with what we know. They were offering a combo ticket for Haugesund and Alesund. This was a good deal. We decided to go for this. The bus was already there once we had our tickets and we were able to get on. We had a short wait until the first bus of the day was due to leave, but we did not mind this.
This turned out one of the strangest hop on hop off routes that we have ever experienced. Once we left the port, there was one stop in the centre of Haugesund. Then we left the town. The first stop after this was some out-of-town shopping centre. There were some stops that would have been of interest if the weather had been nicer. The first of this was the village of Visnes. The bus stop there was outside the mining museum. The museum itself was not something I was interested in. However, the village looked lovely and there was some really nice scenery. The copper mine in Visnes provided material for the Statue of Liberty in New York. To commemorate this, there is a small replica of the Statue of Liberty near the mining museum. There was also an interesting looking church in nearby Avaldsnes.
The final stop that would have been of interest in better weather was the Haraldshaugen National Monument. The monument consists of a large mound surrounded by 29 granite memorial stones, one from each of the historic counties of Norway. At the top of the mound stands a 17m high granite main obelisk, with four bronze panels around the base. Each panel depicts important scenes from the life of King Harald Fairhair who is credited with unifying Norway. According to tradition, the location of the monument is the burial site of King Harald Fairhair, but I always take things like this with a pinch of salt.
It would have been nice to get a closer look at the monument, but there was also another reason why it would have been nice to get off at Haraldshaugen National Monument. From there it is possible to reach The Rising Tide via a coastal walk. Apparently, the walk itself is pretty nice, and The Rising Tide captured my imagination. The Rising Tide is a tidal artwork that depicts a series of working horses with riders, which are loosely based on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The horses are submerged at high tide and emerge as the tide falls. The horses heads’ have been replaced by oil well pumps. I would have liked to see this, but of course there was no guarantee that the tidal conditions were right. If it had been dry, I would have chanced this and just enjoyed the walk, but it was not worth getting wet for.
After the stop at Haraldshaugen National Monument, we headed back to the centre of Haugesund. Traffic was quite heavy and therefore we had the opportunity to see if there was something of interest, but there was nothing that jumped out at us. We stayed on the bus and returned to port. We were back on the ship by about 09:30. We made good use of the fact that the ship was relatively empty. Graham decided to have a swim. I dipped a tow in and decided that this was just a little cold for my liking. I headed for the hot tub instead. Graham joined me a while later.
Once we were thoroughly waterlogged, we got out and dried off. Then we headed back to the cabin to rinse of the chlorine and get changed. After this, we felt it was time for coffee. We headed upstairs to the Crow’s Nest. Graham had an Americano with almond milk, and I had a caramel latte. We found some seats by the window, and we had a nice view of one of the islands near Haugesund.
When it was time for lunch, we headed downstairs. We decided to have lunch at Dive-In, which is one of the Lido casual dining options. Graham had the The Cannonball, which was a beef burger with Gouda cheese, apple wood smoked bacon, sweet, caramelized onions, topped with chop-chop lettuce salad and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce. I had the same, but minus the sliced tomato and salad. We both had some fries, which may have been the best fries I have ever tasted. Graham had some iced tea with his lunch and I had some lemonade.
After lunch, we headed downstairs. We were heading for some trivia, but on the way, we tried to make a reservation for dinner. The only time they had was 17:00, which was a little early for our liking. We were encouraged to join the walk in line when we were good and ready. I was not too keen on the idea and figured that we would probably just eat in the buffet. However, I spotted that there was something on the menu in the dining room that I really fancied and that they did not have at the buffet. We decided to see how felt at dinner time.
The trivia in the early afternoon was animal trivia. We scored 11 out 17 winning. The winning score was 14. This is when we found out that they did not get any tulips as they had hoped. I was a little disappointed especially when I found out that Nieuw Statendam has lilac tulips. I did joke that we just have to book another cruise on Nieuw Statendam, but I promise that this was not the motivation for what transpired later that day.
After trivia, we headed back to the Crow’s Nest. I started to feel like I had a migraine coming on. I have had issues with migraines since my mid-teens, but thankfully I don’t get them very often and usually stress is the main trigger. I was definitely not stressed on this cruise. I left Graham at the Crow’s Nest and headed to our cabin. I had some downtime for just over an hour and thankfully whatever it was had blown over. I went to join Graham again. He was still enjoying the view, while simultaneously enjoying a glass of wine. I was pondering a drink, too, but there was nothing that I fancied.
I was browsing Holland America itineraries on my iPad. I was looking for an Arctic Circle cruise. Initially, I looked at cruises on Rotterdam which is the third and final sister ship in the Pinnacle Class after Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam. The prices were eyewatering. Then I noticed that Nieuw Statendam offered a very similar itinerary. This was at a better price point. Better still, this was available as a roundtrip from Dover. I showed this to Graham, and he was all for this. This cruise ticked a lot of boxes. I had a look when the future cruise desk was open and they were open at that time. We decided to go downstairs to get this booked. It is not a cheap cruise, but we got an amazing package for this. Ten minutes later, it was all booked.
As we were downstairs anyway, we figured that we may as well go down to Billboard Onboard to get some seats for team trivia. I had a Gin’s Cup while we were waiting. The team trivia was quite tricky again. We got 12 out 17 and the winning score was 16. After the trivia we were chatting with one of the other participants who was a solo traveller. I had another Gin’s Cup and Graham had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Once we had finished our drinks, we headed back to the cabin to get changed. Then we went downstairs to see if we could get a table in dining room. On the way, we got some photos. We were given a pager when we checked in and were told to not go further than the Ocean Bar to keep within reach. We found some seats near Club Orange. About 10 minutes later, our pager went off and we went back to the dining room. This time we had a table to ourselves, and we were on deck 3.
We tried to order some more Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling and this time this is what we got. Graham had the crab cake with celery root slaw and citrus cream for his starter. He then had the Atlantic Cod Fillet with smashed potato crab gallette, and sauce vierge for his main course. He had the artisan cheese selection with provolone, pepper jack, Swiss, and brie for his dessert. I started with the French onion soup with Gruyère cheese crouton. This was delicious and easier to eat than this is often the case with this meal. For my main, I had the Chicken Marsala, porcini mushrooms, and dried cherries. This dish should have come with fettuccine, but I had noticed that one of the other dishes came with spätzle. This was why I wanted to eat in the dining room that evening. The substitution was no issue and the spätzle tasted authentic. For my dessert, I had the Nutella cream pie with hazelnut, and marshmallow crème. That was amazing, too. However, I was stuffed and only managed a couple of bites.
We headed back forward and Graham took some photos of my outfits in front of a guitar sculpture outside Billboard Onboard. Then we headed back to deck 10. We relaxed for a bit on a square lounger. Then I headed back downstairs to Billboard Onboard.
Samuel and Ellie did a set with songs from the musicals that evening. As I had really enjoyed the set the previous evening and musicals are my big love, I did not want to miss this even if we had an early start the next day. I had another Gin’s Cup. They did a really nice mix of songs from all kinds of musicals. They also brought out some of the singers from the World Stage, who were utterly amazing. It was such a fun evening.
After this set, I headed back to the cabin. Again, I found Graham asleep. I got ready for bed. Then I read a couple of pages before settling down to sleep, too.
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