Hello from onboard Rotterdam: Scotland/Norwegian Fjords cruise

[Liv4cruzin]

I checked our roll call thread; but since it's been inactive for 2 weeks, I suppose it was deleted. But I just wanted to let everyone know that we're having a wonderful voyage. We've lucked out w/ the weather day after day. Temps have a been a little above average. But now that we are working our way back to the south, temps are a little on the cool side. After quite a few years away from HAL & from all I've read on these boards, IMO the product is pretty much as I've experienced in the past. I've found the food to be above average & abundant (in contradiction to reports that the servings are small). Anytime dining is working as far as I can see. Although, I have tended to eat at the Lido restaurant in the evenings because I'm so worn out for daily activities. The menu is exactly the same; & I'm able to get little samplings of whatever I want w/o having to order more than one entree w/o upsetting the wait staff or the galley. With 24 hrs. (or very near it) of daylight, the scenery from the Lido is spectacular.

There have been some unforgiveable snafus w/ the shore excursion dept. The day we were in Flam, one of the tours was late getting back. The Capt. got tired of waiting & left anyway. There was much hullabaloo about the tour boat bringing the pax. directly to the ship. But there were complications maneuvering the boat alongside; & we finally lowered a lifeboat & went to retrieve all the pax. We're watching all this in disbelief; not believing that they would leave pax. on a ship sponsored tour behind. But for the good parts: the cruising deep into the fjords has been magical. The drive up to Mt. Dalsnibba today from Geiranger was breathtaking. 70 hairpin turns; & snow flurries up top. Quite an experience for this FL girl. A photo stop on the way back provided the perfect vantage point of the ship at anchor below. The same view that you see in all the cruise brochures. Waterfalls everywhere you turn. I've seen a lifetime's worth of reindeer. Truly an adventure!

We had a small gathering of C.C. friends just after lifeboat drill on the 10th. Ron & Carol (Aa2qh & Duffo), Shirley (Bluegull) & John, Bev (Flagal333), Janice (Ising) & Dick attended. I did have a group photo made; & I have no idea how to post it. Internet service is sporadic & (as you know) extremely slow, so I haven't & won't be checking back much (if at all) until I return to the U.S. Just wanted to let those who had followed our roll call, that we are all well & having a fabulous time

Special note to: Rita & Danny from Ohio, I delivered your message to Alwyn. I didn't meet him in person as he's working the upper level at set dining; but I did write your "hellos" on a postcard & gave it to our wine steward to give to him. I'm sure he sends it right back atcha.

[Mary Ellen]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. By the time you get back, we'll be at least on our way to Norway/North Sea. You've whetted our appetite.

Oh, who is your Captain? Thanks-

[Cruising-along]

Thank you for posting! We got off the Rotterdam when you got on. I can second the problems with the shore excursion department. On disembarkation day we had lots of snafus with transfers/tours, and it made for some very unhappy passengers. Especially those who had planes to catch, or (like us) who had gotten up at 5am to be ready for our transfer/tour, only to have to wait 2 hours on the bus because others had been given the wrong time. :mad:

I'm glad the rest of your cruise is going so well, and I agree with everything you said about the Rotterdam, my favorite ship.

If you happen to have Tommy as your server in the dining room, please tell him hello from Carolyn. He's a sweetheart! :)

[boards]

Sorry to hear about the problems you had with the transfer from the ship. We were amongst the first to go, our bus was #4. I think you blame some of the passengers, because we had get on our bus that suppose to be on #5 and she wouldn't go. Now our bus was going Gatwick north and the other one south. I hope she made it to her plane.

[hammybee]

There have been some unforgiveable snafus w/ the shore excursion dept. The day we were in Flam, one of the tours was late getting back. The Capt. got tired of waiting & left anyway.

Thanks for checking in and I am delighted to hear that you are enjoying your cruise in one of the most spectacular areas of the world. There is nothing that quite compares to that ride up to Mt. Dalsnibba, is there?

It's actually not that uncommon for a ship to depart when a shore excursion is late getting back to the ship. For reasons that make absolutely no sense, the respective captains rarely communicate well with all passengers when this happens and then the onboard rumors start.

There is more to this story than the captain getting tired of waiting, cause no one knows better than the captain and his officers what a pain in the butt it's going to be to get the delayed passengers onboard, once they have left the pier.

Port space in Norway is at a 24/7 premium and when your time is up, the ship has to leave and make room for the next ship, most likely a huge passenger/auto ferry ( often former cruise ships gutted for the purposes of transporting people and cars) or a ship delivering goods.

[Liv4cruzin]

......There is more to this story than the captain getting tired of waiting, cause no one knows better than the captain and his officers what a pain in the butt it's going to be to get the delayed passengers onboard, once they have left the pier.

Port space in Norway is at a 24/7 premium and when your time is up, the ship has to leave and make room for the next ship, most likely a huge passenger/auto ferry ( often former cruise ships gutted for the purposes of transporting people and cars) or a ship delivering goods.

You make a very good point. I weighed the options in my head later. Although I didn't see another ship coming in on our way out of the fjord, the additional docking fees could have been a factor. But then there is the issue of cost of getting those passengers to the next port as opposed to the cost of the extra fuel they would burn traveling at a greater speed. We had a sea day following Flam, so time would not have been a factor.

Mary Ellen: Our Captain is Rik Krombeen; although he's disembarking today in Bergen for vacation. Don't remember who he said his replacement will be. An early bon voyage to you.

Cruise-along: I only ate in the main D.R. for the 2nd time tonight; & w/ AYW dining, I haven't sat at the same time twice. But I will keep an eye out for Tommy (may I assume there is only one?).

[Alan2504]

There have been some unforgiveable snafus w/ the shore excursion dept. The day we were in Flam, one of the tours was late getting back. The Capt. got tired of waiting & left anyway.

Not usually the Captains decision, as the ships are under pilotage in the fjords, so that has an significant impact on timings and cost of these cruises! :)

[Mary Ellen]

Another possibility to consider in the decision to leave could have been the tides. Not something one normally thinks of for the Norwegian fjords. Years ago DH & I saw a TV program on the building of a Norwegian oil platform. I don't remember which fjord it was built in. When floating it out to sea, there was a huge concern about timing of the tides and clearance over some underwater peaks. I know I'd prefer to avoid hitting any of them. :eek:

[Cruising-along]

Cruise-along: I only ate in the main D.R. for the 2nd time tonight; & w/ AYW dining, I haven't sat at the same time twice. But I will keep an eye out for Tommy (may I assume there is only one?).

Hi, we also had open dining. I don't know for sure if there's only one Tommy, but the chances are good. He's easy to spot -- taller than the other servers, and slender. He's in his mid-30's and balding, with protruding ears :D (he jokes about it himself, so I don't think he'd mind me saying this) There's also the chance that he's been rotated up to the fixed seating, I don't know how long he'd been in open.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for him!

[Liv4cruzin]

Here's another attempt to upload the group picture. I hope I haven't shrunk it so it's too small to see.

Front row L-R: John & Shirley (Bluegull), Bev (flagal333), Janice (Ising), Melita (Mrs. "Imperial Bill & my dear friend from Naples), Carol (Aa2qh) & Dick (Mr. "Ising")
Back row L-R: Bill (Imperial Bill, my friend), Becky (Liv4cruzin) & Ron (Duffo or otherwise known as Mr. Aa2qh)

[Liv4cruzin]

Sorry, that won't enlarge big enough to suit me. But, at least you can see we were there & we looked happy as we embarked on our big adventure.

PS: Our luck really ran out today in Bergen. It was mid 50's & dreadful. It was either drizzling, raining or a few seconds of sun would peek out. Still a lovely city; but would love to have seen those beautifully colored buildings in the bright sunshine.

[RuthC]

PS: Our luck really ran out today in Bergen. It was mid 50's & dreadful. It was either drizzling, raining or a few seconds of sun would peek out. Still a lovely city; but would love to have seen those beautifully colored buildings in the bright sunshine.
Ah, yes. Ya gotta love Norway. My first time there it snowed (a little) on one of the shore excursions. But it was bright and sunny in Bergen! Haven't seen sun there since. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the posts about one of my favorite areas for cruising. :)

[Taxguy77]

Not usually the Captains decision, as the ships are under pilotage in the fjords, so that has an significant impact on timings and cost of these cruises! :)

I wonder if the Capt., even though the LORD at sea, might have consulted Seatle?:confused:

[Liv4cruzin]

Good question??? I had another thought about Mary Ellen's comment on the tide situation & whether that had anything to do w/ our leaving on schedule (& therefore leaving a tour group behind). Almost every port is so deep that an anchor is useless. If the water is that deep, how could low tide be so low as to be of concern? Just wondering?

[lovecruisingtoo2008]

It's actually not that uncommon for a ship to depart when a shore excursion is late getting back to the ship. For reasons that make absolutely no sense, the respective captains rarely communicate well with all passengers when this happens and then the onboard rumors start.

There is more to this story than the captain getting tired of waiting, cause no one knows better than the captain and his officers what a pain in the butt it's going to be to get the delayed passengers onboard, once they have left the pier.

Port space in Norway is at a 24/7 premium and when your time is up, the ship has to leave and make room for the next ship, most likely a huge passenger/auto ferry ( often former cruise ships gutted for the purposes of transporting people and cars) or a ship delivering goods.

In so many ways, all of you are very very incorrect with all your guessing over what happened in Flam.

1. IT IS EXTREMELY UNCOMMON for a Captain to depart when a tour is late getting back - or just "decide to leave" - really? In this case, this is NOT what the Captain was doing.
2. and of course he was not "tired of waiting" as the original poster describes, and as a frequent cruiser you should KNOW (-!-) that Shore Excursions by the ship are NEVER left behind~! Captain Krombeen in fact and all HAL captains i'm sure, put passenger concern as #1, following overall safety, of course, so no, leaving guests behind was never the idea~!!

You are doing a dis-service to future and current HAL guests by "guessing" and speculating on what "really" happened - and since I have an inside scoop, let me tell you.

Yes we left the dock because of cost, but also time.
(And there is no tide in this fjord.)
No we were not "LEAVING" the BOAT TOUR that was ON ITS WAY BACK FROM THE FJORD TOUR that it was on.
OF COURSE we were in constant contact with THAT boat captain, who said he would pull alongside our vessel IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FJORD IN FLAM WHERE WE WENT TO SIT AND WAIT... and we would then open our side-door and let everyone onboard... it's rather simple, pilots do it, and ships in the caribbean do it for many tours... ship to boat transfer instead of a dock, i.e. for a party boat or catamaran in Cozumel.
The cost of dock time IS expensive, but NO, another ship wasn't on the way.

It became necessary to lower one of our own tenders when it was discovered that their boat didn't line-up correctly with our doorway... and their boat captain wasn't doing a great job of trying hard enough, either.

Please get your stories right when making such statements that are critically incorrect and give an unfair and unsafe impression to those who haven't sailed on ANY cruise ever before.

Nearly ALL ships have a Shore Excursion policy to NEVER leave a tour behind. That's a #1 reason to book with a ship's tour.
I've never seen it happen in more than 10 years of my ship life.
In the most rare occasion that the ship is "ordered" to leave (i.e. hurricane, other disaster, other reason, etc) , OF COURSE the company is responsible for transporting the guests to the next port of call. And that was NEVER NEVER NEVER a concern on that day.

And if my memory serves me correctly, the Captain kept us VERY informed in fact, with quite a few P.A. announcements explaining what we were doing. The entire time.

Cheers.

[Jade13]

Lovecruisingtoo,

So, the main reason the ship left was because of cost? I think that is what was stated.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I too am thinking that the port was going to charge more if the ship stayed beyond a certain time.

We had that happen on one of our recent cruises. Can't remember which port - we sailed on the Veendam and Westerdam recently -- but the captain made the announcement several times in the morning that the ship had to leave on time or we would be charged extra.

[Liv4cruzin]

In so many ways, all of you are very very incorrect with all your guessing over what happened in Flam.

1. IT IS EXTREMELY UNCOMMON for a Captain to depart when a tour is late getting back - or just "decide to leave" - really? In this case, this is NOT what the Captain was doing.
2. and of course he was not "tired of waiting" as the original poster describes, and as a frequent cruiser you should KNOW (-!-) that Shore Excursions by the ship are NEVER left behind~! Captain Krombeen in fact and all HAL captains i'm sure, put passenger concern as #1, following overall safety, of course, so no, leaving guests behind was never the idea~!!

You are doing a dis-service to future and current HAL guests by "guessing" and speculating on what "really" happened - and since I have an inside scoop, let me tell you.

Yes we left the dock because of cost, but also time.
(And there is no tide in this fjord.)
No we were not "LEAVING" the BOAT TOUR that was ON ITS WAY BACK FROM THE FJORD TOUR that it was on.
OF COURSE we were in constant contact with THAT boat captain, who said he would pull alongside our vessel IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FJORD IN FLAM WHERE WE WENT TO SIT AND WAIT... and we would then open our side-door and let everyone onboard... it's rather simple, pilots do it, and ships in the caribbean do it for many tours... ship to boat transfer instead of a dock, i.e. for a party boat or catamaran in Cozumel.
The cost of dock time IS expensive, but NO, another ship wasn't on the way.

It became necessary to lower one of our own tenders when it was discovered that their boat didn't line-up correctly with our doorway... and their boat captain wasn't doing a great job of trying hard enough, either.

Please get your stories right when making such statements that are critically incorrect and give an unfair and unsafe impression to those who haven't sailed on ANY cruise ever before.

Nearly ALL ships have a Shore Excursion policy to NEVER leave a tour behind. That's a #1 reason to book with a ship's tour.
I've never seen it happen in more than 10 years of my ship life.
In the most rare occasion that the ship is "ordered" to leave (i.e. hurricane, other disaster, other reason, etc) , OF COURSE the company is responsible for transporting the guests to the next port of call. And that was NEVER NEVER NEVER a concern on that day.

And if my memory serves me correctly, the Captain kept us VERY informed in fact, with quite a few P.A. announcements explaining what we were doing. The entire time.

Cheers.

Your tone is rather harsh, don't you think. I, being the OP, used the term "The Capt. got tired of waiting" loosely, mostly in jest since there was no obvious explanation at the time. And I've been around cruising long enough to know that it's not "normal" for a shore excursion Pax. to be left behind. That's why I found it so shocking. As for the Capt. keeping us notified of the situation......I was outdoors Lido Deck aft; & the first announcement I heard from the bridge was made just before the tour boat approached the ship. Just curious to know in what capacity you serve in your "shipboard life".

Also, I see your new to the forums. And it is my opinion that, you will catch "a lot more flies with honey".