To conclude our second, arguably pretty lazy (or relaxing, if you prefer) visit on a cruise ship to Olden, Norway that had seen us first admire the scenic views from Sky Princess, then admire the scenic views on a walk around the village, here are photographs from the sail away from Olden along the various arms of the Nordfjord towards the open sea. You won’t be surprised to see some scenic views again.
But first, we had to wait for all the passengers to board Sky Princess. We could tell from the fact that tender boats were still heading from the ship to shore that not all of them had; cruise ships track who is on and off the vessel at all times. We waited and watched, and our scheduled departure from Olden came and went.
After MSC Preziosa had made her departure, our captain turned Sky Princess around to face out of the fjord and present the tender boat boarding side towards the pier in Olden in order to shorten the time needed for boat trips. We could still tell that we were waiting on people, though, as the view from our balcony (now, thankfully, out of the direct sunshine) allowed us to look back to the village where the Princess Cruises gazebo and some members of the crew were still hanging around. That suggested to us that whoever was late was on an organised trip because cruise ships don’t wait around long if you wander off on your own and don’t get back on time.
Eventually, we saw a couple of buses pull up, a queue form on the shoreside, and everyone – including the crew on the pier – pile aboard the final tender boat. There was a small amount of ironic cheering from some of the balconies on the ship. But not from us. We’re very reserved.
Sky Princess departed from Olden a fair bit later than planned, but with this being the height of summer in Norway there was plenty of bright sunshine to show off the Norwegian landscape as we gently cruised along the fjords. Green hills, snowy mountain peaks, flat water, pleasantly warm, supremely tranquil. If you’ve not cruised the Norwegian fjords then make the effort to do so.
It’s not true that you can ever get tired of viewing the fjords in Norway, but it is true that you can get hungry so we interrupted our balcony-staring time to head down to the dining room for dinner. The food on this particular cruise was of a high standard and this meal was no exception.
We are creatures of habit on cruises – we’ve discovered what we like to do and keep doing it – so with dinner out of the way we would typically head to some lounges in the evening on a Princess Cruises ship, take part in a quiz if one’s on, enjoy the music if not. However, the light, even fairly late in the evening was superb, the scenery was superber (shut up), and we decided we’d risk heading to the bar at the aft of the ship. This isn’t a location we’d normally visit at any time on any ship because it can get busy on pleasant sea days plus you’re forced to drink from plastic glasses like a child and, depending where you end up, you might be near filthy, stinking smokers too. But the aft bar on Sky Princess was quiet with only a few other passengers around and we got to experience some incredible views in relative solitude.
Yes, that’s a 24K Gold Margarita and a Dirty Banana. Cocktails of champions.
Eventually returning to our cabin and heading out to the balcony we became immediately aware of a lot of noise. This turned out to be some fast boats with groups of Norwegians on them waving flags and shouting. Our first thought was that this might be some form of protest against cruise ships because Norway is a bit funny like that, but this actually just turned out to be happy, possibly drunk, fjord party types. Much loud music and whooping and waving ensued. And that answers the question of what Norwegian locals get up in the evenings in the fjords.
The day’s sail away along the Nordfjord and out to the open sea concluded at well past midnight when the sky was ablaze with post-sunset colours. Sky Princess turned northwards. In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll be visiting Ålesund where we had a far less lazy day planned.
