Kristiansand, Norway is the port of call for today. We are not here for a long duration, all aboard is at 3:30 PM, and we sail at 4:00 PM. The scheduled arrival was 7:00 AM, but we decided to sleep in a little bit, and not get off the ship that early, even though it is a relatively short stop.
After getting ready and eating breakfast in the room, we attempted to purchase our bus tickets for today’s adventure using the local transportation system app via Wi-Fi. We had loaded the app before leaving home, but it had not been able to confirm our cell number via text while in the USA, and we were not sure how we would actually get our tickets and be able to show them to the driver once we boarded the bus.
We went ahead and purchased to the two tickets for the one way journey to Lillesand, about a 45 minute bus ride north of Kristiansand. Lillesand is a small, scenic coastal town, and one of the places to visit when in this area.
We were able to purchase the tickets via the app, but they required a start time, and we were not able to actually download them to the phone since we do not have data access once we leave the ship’s Wi-Fi service. It was a little frustrating, this app was not as good as the others we have used on the trip, having to select the start time of the ticket was the issue.
The tickets purchase went through and we had just selected the next bus time of 8:15 AM. However, we decided to activate the tickets before leaving the ship’s Wi-Fi, and once we did, a QR code was sent to the phone through the app. We never did figure out how to download the ticket, and just kept the code opened on the phone for the walk to the bus station.
It started to rain about the time we got off of the ship, and there were not clear directions on the sidewalks on the route for the walk into town, at least none that we saw. We asked a port security officer and he directed us to the exit of the port. The walk to the station from the port exit was per our downloaded instructions from Google, and it was only about a 10 minutes more once we got out of the port property. Of course, we were not sure if our ticket would work once we scanned it on the bus since we did not have data access.
We found the station and the bus stop for the No. 100 Bus to Lillesand. We boarded and the code on the phone did work, and we were able to scan it and get onboard the bus. The bus was really nice, more like a tour bus setup than a city bus. We left the station on time at 8:15 AM, and settled in for the ride to Lillesand. The only concern we had was knowing when we would actually get there, specifically how many stops until we arrived. There was a screen showing the various stops along the way, but only three stops at a time, and not until we got closer to our destination did our stop finally show up on the screen. Lesson learned, write down a few stops before the stop you need so that you can tell when you are getting close.
Lillesand Harbor Front
We hit the stop button, and were the only passengers to get off at the Lillesand stop. We thought about the return journey, and started looking for the return bus stop, but we could not see if from this stop. They are normally close by, but on the other side of the road. We were on a somewhat busy two lane road, so we needed to use a walkway to search for the return stop. We started walking on the walkway next to the road, and after walking a little while, we still could not find the return bus stop. We headed back the other way, and were able to finally see it as we approached our original stop. We had not seen the return stop from here initially because there was a large street sign that blocked our view, and we could only see it now as we approached the stop because of our higher elevation. As we got closer, it was hidden from view again once we were back at the actual stop where we arrived. With that accomplished, we headed into town.
Lillesand
It was about a 700 meter walk into town, and the only other snag was some utility construction on the main road, normally the one everyone follows to walk into Lillesand from the bus stop. We took a small side road and eventually made it into town. There was not much going on here, most of the stores and shops were not open yet, and this is also pretty late in the tourist season. We did run into a ship’s tour, we could tell by the colored Princess tour stickers they were all wearing.
We walked around town, but could see a large rain storm approaching. It was sunny when we arrived, but the weather here is really unpredictable, and changes really quickly from sunny to rainy. We were not sure what method we would use to purchase our return tickets. We thought we might see a free Wi-Fi spot in town to purchase a return ticket via the app, but no such luck. We did see ATM machines, but knew we would have to withdraw more than the cost of the tickets. The benefit of the app is that tickets are reduced 40% versus buying them on the bus. Tickets were supposed to be available for sale on the bus using either credit cards or cash. The price differential was 140 Krone for purchase on the bus for the both of us, versus only 84 Krone via the app. We were just a little hesitant about relying on the credit card only, because of the potential for some rejection of the card, but we had plenty of time to walk back into town if we needed to get cash from an ATM if the card failed, and we would just have to take a later bus. We started the walk back to the bus stop to return ride to Kristiansand.
We only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next bus, but it had begun to rain as we were boarding. The credit card worked fine, and we were on our way back to Kristiansand. The ride back was much more relaxing, we were not worrying about finding the correct stop, The station in Kristiansand is the end of the line.
It was nice to see the countryside, it is really rocky here, and a little hilly, with forests and then small lakes. It would rain and then be sunny, and then rain, and then be sunny and we saw several rainbows as a result of the fast change between the sunshine and rain.
Kristiansand Church With the Organ Concert
Once we arrived back in Kristiansand, we headed to a shopping area we had seen from the bus. We should have gotten of the bus a stop earlier instead of at the bus station, but we were not exactly sure where we were until we arrived back at the station, and then could tell where the shopping area was from there.
There was also a church near the shopping area, and when we arrived, there was a free pipe organ concert being held inside, and we headed inside and listened to a few songs. It was really amazing to hear such a large pipe organ actually being played, and the lady organist was very accomplished at playing it.
When we left the concert, it was raining again, and we decided to head back to the ship. There were a couple of places along the way where we stopped for some photos, Rain, sun, rain, sun…. it literally would change in minutes.
Restored Wooden Boats
On the walk back to the ship, we found a park area and headed over for some photos. Again, it was sunny when we started there, but turned to rain once we actually arrived. It was along the harbor, and apparently at one time, was part of a museum. There were some old wooden boats tied along the pier, and they had signage detailing their history.
We headed back through the fish market area that was next to the ship’s pier. We had missed this earlier in the day when we walked out, we had followed the road, and not the sidewalk through the fish market, which was the normal walking path. We were able to get a photo of us with the ship in the background while it was sunny.
The Regal Princess In Kristiansand
We boarded the ship about 12:30 PM, and headed up to the cabin. We almost got in an elevator, but it was too crowded, so we took the stairs. About 15 seconds later, the ship lost all power and lighting, and the emergency lighting in the stairways came on. Apparently, we were hooked into shore power, and it had a malfunction. The Captain came on the loudspeaker and made several announcements. They were starting the ship’s generators, and it took a while before all of the lights came on and the elevators started to work again.
Apparently, because of the power problem, there was some issue with the ship’s computer servers, all drinks were now being tallied manually on paper. Later in the afternoon, when it was time to leave, the Captain announced that everyone needed to return to their cabins to be counted so that they could manually verify that everyone was on board. The computer servers were still down and there was no way to use the electronic key cards to verify all passengers were aboard.
We had to stay in our cabins until that feat was completed. Of course, the Captain had to make several announcements because there are always idiots who can’t or won’t follow directions, and they were leaving their cabins after being counted by the room stewards. We could tell that the Captain was a little annoyed, you could hear it in his voice during the announcements.
Rainbow Leaving Kristiansand
We were already in the room anyway, working on the blog, and finally catching up with the writing for the past couple of days. We had some wine in the fridge that we had brought onboard in Rostock, for emergencies just like this, and we were all set until everyone was counted and we could leave the room.
We were about an hour late leaving Kristiansand, and the Captain said we had now missed the tide for some portion of out transit to Greenock, Scotland, and were going to have to go on a longer route there due to the delay in getting an accurate count of all of the passengers. The sail away was fairly scenic, other than the periodic rain, There were quite a few rainbows as we headed through rain showers.
Lighthouse In The North Sea
As we rounded the protection of the harbor, we ran into some really strong winds and heavy seas. We are entering the North Sea, and it is know to be rough at times. The Captain was forecasting 35 knot winds, and from the direction toward the bow of the ship, so the relative wind on deck would be the sum of the 35 knot wind and our speed of about 20 knots, totaling 55 knots.
We could tell it was going to be rougher tonight, most of the trip so far was in shallow, protected areas of the Baltic Sea, but now we were heading into the more open waters of the North Sea.
After we were allowed to leave the room, we headed down to Vines for some wine. It was really crowded, and we had difficulty getting seats. Service at all of the bars was slow, the computer system for bar charges was still not functioning, and the bartenders had to hand write all of the orders, and manually track all of the charges by passenger. After a couple of glasses of wine, we headed up to the buffet for dinner, and it was pretty good. There was some really hot fried shrimp, with perhaps a little to much breading, but they were almost too hot to eat and had a good flavor.
After dinner, we headed to Crooners and learned a few magic tricks from one of the bartenders there, Henry. We headed back to the room about 11:00 PM, and we’re looking forward to sleeping in on our sea day tomorrow. It was pretty rough seas outside, but it was not rough enough to bother us.