When we’d booked this 2025 Arctic Circle cruise aboard Ambassador Ambience there’d been no indication that the port stop at Bergen would be an overnight one but that did turn out to be the case and we had the opportunity to spend the evening ashore had we wanted to, although if you’ve read the previous part of this series covering our day in Bergen then you’ll already know that an aggravated injury incurred on the walk caused us to opt to rest aboard instead. For anyone who did take advantage of longer in this first Norwegian port of call on this cruise they still would have needed to be back on the ship fairly early as we left Bergen right around breakfast.
The day ashore had been bright, clear, warm (for Norway), and sunny, but our day of departure was cloaked in cloud cover. We still admired the views as we left port, though, even if there wouldn’t be much in the way of fjord-like scenery to pass on this itinerary given that we were following the coastline north for the most part.
We’d already passed under the Askoy bridge before I’d had a chance to grab my camera. Cruise people like to sail under bridges. It’s something you’ll enjoy too if you’ve never cruised before. And you’ll wave to people on the shore and people on other ships as you pass by. You won’t be able to help yourself.
As you might be able to tell from the photos above, there are lots of geological features to admire in the rocky shoreline and islands that mark the passage out from Bergen but. as with all the ports on the western coast of Norway, you won’t get that complete wow factor that happens when you head inland and down the narrower fjords. And on this particular day the flat colours of the grey sky reflected in the calm waters didn’t add a lot of drama either.
We would be spending the rest of the day on the ship as she slowly headed out to sea and up towards the next day’s port of call and there’s a tiny chance that you might be interested in seeing what a daily programme of events for a sea day on an Ambassador Cruise Line ship looks like, so here’s what we had on offer.
One thing not in the plans for the day was the possibility of rough sea conditions as evidenced by the appearance of comfort bags dotted around Ambience. We’re fortunate in that – to date, at least – we’ve never suffered from any sea sickness. In fact, we love a nice rough sea and the rocking and rolling of the ship when it happens. If the ship never felt like it was moving then it may as well be a hotel. Unfortunately for us, though probably welcomed by some aboard the ship, there was very little noticeable movement on this sea day and the presence of the bags was unwarranted.
You can do as much or as little as you like when you cruise. If you need the ship to entertain you and provide activities then there will be opportunities throughout the day, but it’s ultimately up to you what you do and how much you do. For us, other than the trivia, we’re usually content to simply find somewhere to read and that’s mostly what we did.
We spent part of the morning in the bright and airy Botanical Lounge, in part because the lighting made reading easiest here given the grey day outside. Like all the lounges on Ambassador Ambience, the Botanical Lounge was double-height, making it feel like a proper place to come, designed for that purpose, and not somewhere wedged into a deck somewhere. The lounge’s aesthetic was that of a traditional orangery with some pale, warm tones and splashes of greenery.
While we were in the Botanical Lounge we got talking to a Belgian guy which initially surprised us because some cruise lines are definitely international in feel, attracting people from all over the world, while others are far more domestic, leaning heavily and almost exclusively on their home nation for passengers. Ambassador’s British-based ships certainly fall into that latter category and we’d not expected to bump into anyone coming from abroad to take the trip. However, there was a very good reason in this case because the Belgian guy’s dad had always wanted to see the Northern Lights on a cruise but also had some serious health issues. One thing that sets Ambassador apart from many other lines is that they have a dedicated medical facility that provides dialysis services on both Ambience and Ambition.
Below there’s a view of the central atrium spanning three decks on Ambience. As central spaces on ships go it’s a large one with the usual array of coffee shops, bars, guest services, and shops hanging around it, but we didn’t spend an awful lot of time here on this cruise, preferring the more stylish lounges elsewhere.
Dinner that evening was another perfectly fine meal with some great service from the staff. We generally found the food on Ambience to be good, never quite veering into great, but perfectly fine, as I’ve already said, and never had an issue with taste, quality, or temperature.
We spent some time after dinner back in the Botanical Lounge to catch a set from the Albert Duo – who were absolutely, definitely a pair of undercover international hitmen – and followed that up with one of the most talented pianists we’ve ever experienced listening to on a cruise ship, Alex Dennis, in Raffles.
The sea day from Bergen concluded, like most days on Ambience for us, in the captured UFO that served as the ship’s gorgeous nightclub, The Observatory.
In the next post in this series we’ll arrive at the port of Ålesund where we begin with a walk up the hill Storhaugen for some views over the city.