Our Norwegian Fjords cruise aboard Crown Princess in 2013 was our second cruise and it had been five years since the first one, that being our honeymoon cruise to Asia in 2008. It was also only the second time we’d been outside the country as a couple on holiday with the intervening years having seen me first take voluntary redundancy then the pair of us take some time to do some work on the house. 2013 was when we felt that a holiday was needed and with still fond memories of our first cruise we thought we’d try a second one after receiving a good offer from Princess Cruises. On the third of September we approached a brand new country for us for the first time in half a decade and the excitement was high enough for us to get up early and watch some of the approach from our balcony.
During the night Crown Princess had cruised northwards along the Norwegian coastline until it passed Holmengrå Lighthouse on its starboard side where it turned south into the Hjeltefjorden, the main shipping route from the sea to our destination of Bergen.
Despite late-night drinking (yes, we’ve been known to have the odd tipple) this cruise was our first experience of a balcony (and we’ve never looked back since; thanks for the huge upgrade, Princess) so the giddy joy that accompanied waking up in the morning meant we’d leap outside as soon as we were suitably dressed (not super warm on the North Sea and around Norway, after all) just to gawp at whatever we were passing. When you’re cruising along the Norwegian fjords you’re going to be passing rocks and hills for the most part and thus it was the case on this day. It was, unfortunately, raining, which meant grey skies, low clouds, and a damp chill to the air but that didn’t detract from the exhilaration of the experience.
At about quarter past seven in the morning the pilot came aboard although we couldn’t see this from our balcony. As we cruised past the small island of Sora Rotoyna Crown Princess turned to port and entered the south west arm of the Byfjorden for the final stretch towards the Norwegian city that we would be visiting.
Coming closer to some of the rocky islets in the fjords we could see that many were inhabited and in some cases the houses seemed astonishingly close to the water line. I can only assume we were either cruising during a high tide or that the water levels in fjord do not change by much. The houses along the fjord looked incredibly charming, would have had some spectacular views (and I can hardly imagine what the sight of a cruise ship passing by would look like), but I don’t think the isolated location requiring boat access is one I’d like. We love being near to the water but we’re still definitely city people at heart.
Before a ship can reach Bergen it needs to pass under the Askoybrua Bridge. I know this from the Log of the Cruise that Princess provide passengers with on the last day. I also know this from watching videos of people cruising in and out of Bergen online. I also know this from the photo below which clearly shows Crown Princess approaching the bridge.
So, do you remember passing under the bridge to approach Bergen?
We all stood up on the top deck, quite amazed at how close it all was, it was sunny, lots of people.
No, that was on Crown Princess, it’s true, but that was the Great Belt Bridge near Denmark in 2017.
Oh. Did we pass under it at night, then?
No, that was Diamond Princess leaving Yokohama in 2018.
Right. In that case, no, I don’t recall passing under the bridge near Bergen.
A conversation with my wife that confirms neither of us remember passing under the bridge. I’m going to blame this travelling lapse on our cruising naivety, this being for all intents and purposes a cruising virginity reboot for us and a time when we didn’t take anywhere near as many notes or invest anywhere near as much energy in researching trips. Despite my photo, I clearly had no idea we were about to cruise under the bridge near Bergen so we must have stepped back into the room or got breakfast and completely missed the experience. Bizarrely, since looking back at the photos since that point it turned out that we did watch the ship cruise under the bridge when we departed Bergen although I’d not bothered to document it originally on this site.
The rain had stopped so we made our way to the top deck of Crown Princess to see the final part of the cruise ship’s sail into Norway’s second-largest city, Bergen. The morning’s rain, the low cloud cover of the hills, and our high vantage point on the ship gave the place a compact and fairly drab appearance but that didn’t make a dent in our excitement levels and we looked forward to getting off and taking the free shuttle bus out of the port and into the city.
The next part of our Norwegian fjords travelogue series describes the sights of Bergen.