Norway with Hurtigruten // Day 4 // Trondheim, Stokksund, and lounging on board

Tour of Trondheim

After my dad beat me again at waking up early and breakfast was great again (today we had warm pancakes with Nutella for me, yippie!), we went off the ship around 9 o'clock, shortly after arriving in Trondheim. Excursions could have been booked here as well, but since it's only a 30-minute walk from the ship to the city center and the city is quite small, we decided to explore on our own.

We walked through the harbor in large groups of passengers, but it quickly dispersed. First stop: the famous Nidaros Cathedral, allegedly Norway's most beautiful place of worship and the coronation church of Norwegian kings. Many important men have been here before us! No photos were allowed inside, which was a shame because the cathedral looks amazing with its colorful windows, huge organ, and beautiful altar area. But we were allowed to take photos in front of the cathedral - one of the towers reminded me a bit of Notre-Dame in Paris:

Since we only had 2.5 hours of time, we went directly from the cathedral to the main market square, the "Torget". There is currently a lot of construction and renovation going on, so it didn't look as neat as advertised in the travel guide.

But a little further down was the river with its beautiful bridge "Bakke bru" and the best view of the famous warehouse buildings:

SHIP TOUR

I would compare Hurtigruten more to a river ship like A-ROSA than to a real ocean cruise ship. Our MS Polarlys is larger than a river ship, but everything on board is very cozy and relaxed, just like on a river ship. And now, on day 3, we already know some people. We don't get lost anymore and know where everything is. It's small and manageable! In comparison, I found it much harder to navigate on AIDA or MSC ships, as everything there is much bigger.

We had some time before lunch (we have the second seating at 1:30 pm), so I started a photo tour on board to show you where we spend our time.

First, there's the fitness room on the top deck 7, which I only entered once during this trip and never again ;-):

There's also the bar/chill-out zone and the bakery/bistro:

The "Explorer Deck" is also there, where you can hang out in a sun lounger in the bright sunshine:

Then there are the two hot tubs on deck 6:

Our cabin is also there:

You can be evacuated on deck 5 in case of an emergency, and you can also walk around the ship there (4 laps make 1 kilometer):

On deck 4, you can find the reception, conference rooms (for lectures by the expedition team), shop, and - very important - the restaurant (here's a picture of the entrance area):

There's also an à la carte restaurant there:

And then there's deck 3, where we disembark in almost every port:

The ship is very modern and cozy, it has everything you need, and we're enjoying our time here!

By the way, decks 1 and 2 are only for cars and the crew, so we never pass through there.

"RIOT" AT LUNCH

Just like in the evening, we have a fixed dining time for lunch (1:30-2:30 pm) and an assigned table (table 76). Today, we wanted to try lunch for the first time, but only eat a "small" amount (yeah, right!).

When we arrived on deck 4 at 1:30 pm, there were already hungry crowds waiting in front of the restaurant:

And it looked like a state of emergency inside as well. People were fighting over cheese platters, ice cream, bread, and fish as if there wouldn't be any left tomorrow. Of course, that wasn't the case, the hardworking waiters kept bringing in more food and we ate more than enough. But just as an anecdote, I'm afraid the worst offenders were all Germans...alongside an older French gentleman who was terribly upset about being assigned such a bad table. Poor restaurant manager, but she's probably used to dealing with that kind of trouble!

JOURNEY THROUGH STOKKSUND

The expedition team (seen here with microphones and stylish sunglasses) always lets us know when there's something exciting to see. That's how they alerted us when a small lighthouse appeared in the distance shortly after Trondheim. It used to be of great importance for navigation but is now completely abandoned: