Around Scandinavia: Part Five
In which I cruised from Country1 to Country2
Day One continues …
Go Nordic Cruiseline sails between the cities of Copenhagen, Denmark and Oslo, Norway. It’s a 17.5 hours overnight journey, covering 300 nautical miles across three straits: Øresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak, which collectively connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. There are two ship categories: mini cruise (two-day return journey, Copenhagen to Oslo, explore Oslo city, return) and One way journey (Nordic Crown and Nordic Pearl). We had embarked the Nordic Crown at Deck 7. Vihar gave a brief idea on the cruise navigation and informed us to meet on Deck 8 for tea/coffee at 6pm. My room no was 6610, which means Deck 6.
We went to the room to freshen
up and then Manasi went on the open decks with her book, selfie stick and thermal
jacket. I dozed off till 5pm. The ship had left the shore at 04:30pm. Done with
my power nap, I was ready to explore the Nordic Crown. The information is
displayed at each deck, yet its confusing for first timers. There are lifts, stairways
and open centre area on each deck. Deck 2 to Deck 4 have vehicle parking. Deck
5 and 6 are cabin rooms, the arrows were helpful in reaching the open area. Our
group was divided on these two decks. Now I am elaborating the ship as per
decks and what we did there. It’s not in chronological order.
Deck 7: we boarded here, has
reception area.
Towards the bow (ship front) is a
big globe with sitting area, Sea Shop (kind of a mini mall full of snacks,
chocolates, liquor, clothes, perfumes, cosmetics, souvenirs, etc). Many
travellers did shop. I must say it was the best shopping experience, value for
money, in the whole tour.
Towards the stern (ship rear) is Coffee
Brew café, sea facing seating area, few cabin rooms.
Deck 8: entrance area had sea
facing seats.
Towards the bow is our dinner restaurant Skagerrak. We had dinner at 9pm on a round table with juice/soft drink/wine as per our choice. Here I met Poonam Gupta, Mamta Thakur and Gulshan.
The buffet was a delight for non-vegetarians while vegetarians like me had to survive on fries, noodles, lot of ketchup and pepper and desserts.
We can view the forecastle deck from the restaurant.
Towards the stern is a chain of restaurants in the order: Little Italy, Nord, Explorer, Nord Banket, Anker. There is a seating arrangement for live music performance and stern sea facing.
We
had tea/coffee break at the sea facing area at 6pm, watching the waves
generated by the cruise. There were meaningful discussions on various topics.
Deck 9:
Towards the bow is reserved for
cabin rooms.
Towards the stern are open promenade decks on both port and starboard sides, with the outlet from the starboard side only. I walked the starboard side; there are seating arrangements to sit and chill out watching the sea. There is an automatic door which opens the passage between the starboard and port promenade decks. There are a lift and stairway to navigate to lower decks. There is pathway towards the Moonlight club where we assembled at 11pm for dancing till midnight.
If you skip the automatic door
and walk ahead, there is an open deck seating arrangement with the Sky bar. The
deck covers the stern side of the ship. There is a stairway leading to Deck 10.
Behind the stairway, is the port side promenade deck.
Deck 10:
It’s a kind of balcony deck overseeing the Deck 9, with tall round tables to enjoy drinks. It’s connected to Deck 11 through stairways from both port and starboard side.
There are
lifeboats tucked up of both sides of this deck. We witnessed the sunset at
09:45pm here.
Deck 11: uppermost deck of the
ship.
Towards the bow is the antenna mast
with radomes on either side (protecting the radar antenna).
Towards the stern is the funnel,
which houses the exhaust system from the engine and white dome is satellite
communication antenna Telenor.
There is vast open area with only
four long benches tucked on both sides of mast and funnel deck. The weather was
very cold here.
