| The library is tucked to one side of the Discovery Lounge and easily missed. On the wall, they have a small tribute to a former Captain, which personally, I think would be better in one of the other public rooms so everyone can see it. |
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| Time for breakfast and we were actually arriving later than scheduled. It was still ruddy raining so thank goodness for overhanging lifeboats. They're such wonderful shelters! We got off as soon as the ship had clearance so we could make the most of our short time. Rob had never been to this port before so I took him to where he could take some wonderful photos. It sporadically rained. At one point, a load of ducks and ducklings came out to play but as soon as the wet stuff started, they all turned back. They're as nesh as people at times! Unusually, the ship would be moving to anchor at 11am until we sailed, making way for Artania to take over the berth when she arrived at noon. This would provide a rare photo opportunity. I just hoped they remembered to drop anchor and not carry on down the fjord. |
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| We returned to the cabin to collect our laptops to try out the free port wifi. I also wanted to change my coat, since the winter one was far too hot. Some men were working on repairing the floor in the adjacent corridor, which was good. The port wifi was VERY slow due to crew using Skype to speak to their loved ones. Even the Captain gave up after a few minutes trying. It was really frustrating the bandwidth was swallowed up like that. I had to finish what I was doing on my phone, which I didn't want to. It had been a long time since breakfast so we popped into the supermarket for a few expensive nibbles then waited for Discovery to move. The sun was shining, which was lovely. She pulled away from the berth fifteen minutes late, one of the crew waving a large hand from the bow. It was surreal watching the ship you were travelling on sail without you. |
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| The couple we'd spoken to as we were leaving Kristiansand found us so we had a natter with them as we waited for Artania and a Very Important Passenger - Dirk Steffan! Dirk was someone I knew I few years on Facebook and we'd been trying to meet up for ages. When he posted he was on Artania, I asked if he was in Flåm on the 30th and he said yes! we had been told the last tender was 1pm, despite not now sailing until 2pm so that didn't leave us much time to say hello. As the former Princess which usurped our former Princess came into view, it started raining again, but with some wind! The couple left us to it and thankfully it only lasted less than quarter of an hour. |
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| Rob went to take more photos leaving me to wait for Dirk on the dock where we'd disembarked. The security guard took our photo, us explaining we were on different ships which made him smile. Dirk walked with me to the tender dock and we compared our rude old people. There was a lady who took our photo a little further along and kept talking. It turned out she had family on Discovery. I got on my tender. Trish and Alan were also on it and it started to flipping rain again! It was lovely meeting Dirk at last and next time I MUST go to Hamburg to see him properly! |
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| The last tender was raised past our window and it turned out it was 1.30pm, so I could have stayed a bit longer. Grrr! As I waited on the top deck for our departure, I read on Twitter an announcement the ship would be going to Cruise & Maritime Voyages from February 2013, after the refit, in a joint partnership with All Leisure Holdings. CMV would run the ship, removing all the little touches while making her common cruise ship and they split any profits. Such a shame. I really enjoyed the Voyages of Discovery set up. We upped anchor, turned and headed to Gudvangen to pick up excursion passengers. |
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