Cruise ship visits to the Great Lakes are becoming more frequent.
Here from a visit by Viking Octantis to Duluth recently:
Link: Viking Octantis
PS> In 2022 she was the first cruise ship to visit Duluth since 2013: Duluth sees arrival of first cruise ship since 2013
Excuse me but what do 3 or 4 thousand pax do in Alesund? Swarm the streets? Itâs a nice place but itâs kinda small for that many people at one go?
Not much different than when a several cruise ships are in places like Ketchikan, Alaska or any number of ports these days. Gets crowded, the locals appreciate the money brought in but canât wait for them to leave.
Good question. It appears to me like a lot âswarm the streetsâ, either individually or on guided city tours on foot. Others tours the city by the âCity trainâ: Bytoget - Vi viser deg byen!
or the âHop on Hop offâ buses that covers a bit more that just the sentral town area on Aspøy and Nørvøy: Hop On Hop Off Ă
lesund Sightseeing | Hop On bus tours
Otherwise there are a lot excursions by boat, bus, (or even helicopter) to attractions in the surrounding fjords, or islands.
Here is the recommendations from âCruise Norwayâ: https://cruise-norway.no/destinations/alesund/
PS> â3 or 4 thousand paxâ is an understatement. Often there are two large cruise ships (<5000 pax) in town together, some days joined by a smaller third ship (>2500 pax)
Last Thursday was one such day, plus the commotion around the wedding this weekend:
People are protesting in UK as well, but about rentals and holiday home:
NCL reveal next âfloating amusement park with hotel, eating and shopping facilitiesâ:
âMugshotsâ of the Luna:
Update:
Earlier version; âNorwegian Primaâ left Ă
lesund at 1710 hrs. today bound for Akureyri, Iceland:
She has been a regular here this summer season.
Did I say she was a regular here?,
Norwegian Prima arrived from Akureyri this morning and left for the short trip to Geiranger at 2200 hrs. this evening:
PS> Looking at this unflattering picture of the lady it is no wonder it gets problem staying alongside in a force 10-11 storm:
âCaribbean Princessâ. Photo: Eirik Hind Sveen / NRK
Yesterday she made a call here in Ă
lesund on her way back to Southampton from Northern Norway:
Not the best of weather here either, but at least she didnât have any problem while here, except for constant rain and low clouds obscuring the view from Fjellstua.
She left in the late afternoon after her last call this year:
PS> Doesnât appear like sheâll be back next year either.
Once upon a time Cruise ships looked like this:
Today the latest addition to the cruise fleet look like this:
PS> Royal Caribbean Line (RCL) also has itâs roots as a Norwegian company:
Yep. And also like this. My personal favorite by a mile. Just absolutely gorgeous. And fast too (27 knots).
Yes sir! Magnificent vessel. I cruised on her 14 times, the first time when I was five years old, all in her home lines livery. She is the reason I became fascinated with steam power. I remember being amazed when my dad explained to me her âenginesâ were steam turbines and the whole process of fire to shaft power. I couldnât believe that huge (to me at the time) vessel was being pushed through the water at that speed by steam hitting rotating blades. Iâve since made a very rewarding career in the power industry, with 90% of my experience being steam.
Not sure if all the details of this story are true, but I remember it like it was yesterday. We left last out four ships out of nyc on a Caribbean cruise one time. Donât recall the port, but people were talking that there was only one dockside slip, the all the other ships had to anchor and tender in. Supposedly at that time it was first come first serve who got the pier. Before dinner we could see all three other vessels well ahead of us. My dad said no worries we will overtake them all and dock. After dinner we had passed one already. After the evening shows we had passed another one. After midnight buffet we were in the lead. We docked at the berth. That night you could see a very obvious 25% or so opacity plume rolling out of her funnel (the so called efficiency haze) and she clearly was working strong.
4 foster wheeler ESD 2âs, combined 60,000 hp from her cross compound Ansaldo/DeLaval turbines. Iâd pay quite a fair amount of money to go back in time and revisit that with the knowledge I have now.
Skankiest cruise ships according to the CDC. But if you read the article they really donât sound that bad, scoring in the upper 80%. FWIW, my only cruise experience was on the Carnival Ecstasy out of Miami in 2015. It was like being on a floating trailer park. But not that bad either since that is what I kind of expected. The fam enjoyed it.
Edit: 10 minutes aftet making this comment gCaptain ran their own version of the story & I was reader number 0. I erased my previous Fox Business link & update with JKâs article
