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Norwegian Coastal Voyage

MS Polarlys

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:John Bowman
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: October 3, 2006
Itinerary: Scandinavia

"The most beaut..." yeah yeah yeah. The ship was fine, the company was fine, if thin on the ground, but frankly, I got bored! Did the round trip from Bergen to Bergen.

The ship has one deck given over to the restaurant, cafe, bar and some conference rooms. This was nice and there was usually someone around. However, given we never had more than 120 passengers on board, the top deck - panorama lounge, bar, library were often completely deserted.

Sometimes that was nice - and I'd hate it when the ship is full - but sometimes you want a little bit of background buzz.

Service was excellent, food a little bizarre. The marinated whale one lunchtime did it for me (he said, sarcastically - one taste sensation too far!) but the bambi was tasty. As reported elsewhere, wide-ranging if slightly repetitive breakfast and lunch buffets, waitress-served dinners with small helpings, but the presumption that you'd want more. The only thing my table-mates and I refused was more whale. Water and wine expensive - everything is expensive in Norway. Buy a water card for unlimited bottled water on board, buy pop at the shop found at almost every quay. I took my duty-free brandy and bought a kettle and some hot chocolate mix for a delicious evening drink. Mug of that in the deserted panorama lounge.

Small, but almost perfectly formed. You're still sleeping on a thin mattress on a folding shelf, though. Spotlessly clean, plenty space to store.

Only "show" was the welcome meeting. They say the scenery "is" the entertainment ... and like all entertainment it can frankly get boring ... only so many times you can look out and say "beautiful again"

33 or 34 ports? A handy museum on the harbour side to relieve you of just #5, sometimes worth it, mind you. Did a couple of nice trips, but one I wanted to do was cancelled because so few pax. Some places would have liked a better look.

Only 120 at max - including the day passengers. Quite a few elderly Germans who kept to themselves, few english speakers,