Northern European ferries: these innovative vessels offer enticing point-to-point cruises for independent travelers - Cruise Roundup

Cruise Travel, May-June, 2003 by Theodore W. Scull

At 8 p.m., I took my seat at a window table in the Blue Riband Restaurant, nicely partitioned to make the 100-seat room even cozier. The service staff was European and Filipino. The menu offered entrees priced between $18 and $22, including pepper steak, breast of goose, roasted lamb-rack, monk fish, and steak of wild boar. I greatly enjoyed the wild boar--I started with carpaccio of beef with shredded sharp cheddar cheese on a bed of greens and finished with creme caramel. It was a splendid meal against the backdrop of a fading-light sea-view.

I had a brief look at the entertainment, then took a brisk walk out on the windy deck, peering into the gloom and picking out the lights of other ships and North Sea oil rigs. After a quiet night's sleep, I returned to the Blue Riband, and with breakfast included in Commodore Class, I had a full meal to lay in supplies for the long day ahead. All passengers may use this restaurant, which offers table service and a buffet at breakfast, or they may frequent the Seven Seas buffet.

By 8:30 a.m. we were approaching the Dutch coast and soon entered the very narrow channel leading to Ijmuiden, a smallish port at the entrance to the North Sea Canal giving access to Amsterdam. Docking at 9:30 a.m. sharp, within 15 minutes I was aboard the transfer coach to Amsterdam Central Station to catch an ICE train for southern Germany.

Following a week's Danube River cruise and a three-day stay in Hamburg, I returned to England from Hamburg to Harwich aboard the Admiral of Scandinavia, a ship that now uses the port of Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe with a coach connection to Hamburg. At Harwich International, DFDS operates a boat train direct to London Liverpool Street Station.

There are several dozen highly attractive overnight cruise-ferry routes within Northern Europe, and below is a selection of the most popular. Most ports are well linked to local and intercity rail transportation.

* Copenhagen-Oslo (DFDS Seaways Flagship Route)

Both of these Scandinavian capital cities are worth several days' visit, and with daily overnight schedules, one can sail north from Copenhagen to Oslo, stay a few days then return at will. Or from Oslo, travel Norway's most scenic rail line to Bergen, the southern end of the Norwegian Coastal Voyage route that ranges north to the North Cape.

Departing at 5 p.m. from just opposite the DFDS Headquarters in the center of Copenhagen, the Pearl of Scandinavia or Crown of Scandinavia first pass the Danish Royal Family's palace, the statue of the Little Mermaid seated on the rocky shore, and the cruise terminal before sailing out through the breakwater into the Oresund, the body of water between Denmark and Sweden. Two hours later, the ship calls in at Helsingborg, Sweden, opposite Elsinor, the site of Hamlet's castle, then enters the wide Kattegat and Skaggerak en route to the Oslofjord for the scenic early morning passage up to Norway's capital for a 9 a.m. arrival.

The two ships have a very high standard of accommodations including balcony cabins, a variety of lounges, bars, table service, and Scandinavian-style buffet restaurants and saunas.