Holiday – Nordic Cruise (Tuesday): Andalsnes

Reading time: 2 minutes...

Once again, we were up with the lark and our first stop was the Gym. Afterwards, we had a quick breakfast and whilst the majority of those on board headed ashore to the quaint little town of Andalsnes and its stunning views, we took advantage of an empty Ship.

Stunning Andalsnes

If cruising is all about lazy days, then for us, this was the most laziest ever!
The Retreat
We discovered a special deal at the on-board Spa and bought a day-pass for ‘The Retreat’ – a sort of Ragdale-Hall-on-water – and all its facilities for a knock-down price. These included:

• Access to a private area of the Ship for sunbathing
• Personal Waiter service
• Steam Room
• Sauna
• Hot Beds
• A ‘healthy option’ menu (which actually turned-out to be better than it sounded!)

The weather gave us another gorgeous sunny day – another 75 degrees – and with our perfect spot at The Retreat, where we had the perfect combination of sun and sea-breeze, that’s where we stayed for most of the day.

Then it was back to the Cabin for a quick clothes-turn-around before heading for The Trough, sorry, The Waterside for a casual evening meal where there’s a themed evening: ‘Best of British’. The queue was manic (as we expected) and the food, although plentiful, scored average in our book, for quality.
Now I know why they have two handles!

Just time for possibly the largest coffee in the world at Costa’s before dawdling off to the Theatre for Boogie Nights – as the title suggests, it was a celebration of music from the 70s with the cast of the resident theatre group, The Headliners. Wow! what a show! It’s all gone a bit more upmarket since we last went to one of these on a cruise ship – and the production values were sky-high: pyrotechnics, strobe lighting, multimedia support, as well as twenty of so singers and dancers who would have equally been at home on the west-end stage. They were brilliant and competently belted-out more-or-less every 70s song non-stop for just under the hour complete with a gazillion costume changes. Even if it’s not your kind of music, you’d have to be impressed by the sheer scale of the production.  I was exhausted just watching them – a great show! …and some!!!!
Get down and …

We’re anchoring outside the town of Olden tomorrow.