Yesterday I came back from a 2-day conference with the Norwegian civil service union, the conference was held on board the ship/ferry between Oslo and Kiel (Germany). There are
2 ships on this line, Kronprins Harald and
Color Fantasy. I have in the past travelled on the Kronprins Harald lots of times, but this time I got to see the new ship Color Fantasy, that was launched in December last year – and I thought I’d write a little bit about this experience, because, well, it is a remarkable ship.
First of all I’d just like to say WOW! When you enter the ship, you come in at one end of the “shopping street” that goes through most of the ship on the 7th deck. I passed by the “Donkey bar” where people were already enjoying their first beer and immediately thought “I think I’m going to enjoy this”. Then there was the big color shop, which looked amazing, and the pizza restaurant, and the Tapas bar. This was what I saw before I got into the elevator and went to my cabin on deck 10 – and outside cabin.
I opened the door, and started laughing sort of hysterically – because it really was that great! I must ad that I haven’t really been on that many ships, only those travelling between Norway and either Denmark or Germany, and they’re all sort of “tired” looking – there was nothing tired about this cabin. It was amazing, a big double bed, a really big window and TV – and well, it’s hard to describe – I took a photo of it with my mobile phone – so you can get an impression. I also immediately sent the photo to my father and to a friend just saying wow!!
Then I went for lunch in the buffet restaurant; the lunch buffet was very nice, but nothing special. As most other lunch buffets that I’ve tried. After that the conference started – and the conference room was really really good. Great chairs, great view of the ocean (to watch the ocean wasn’t of course the reason why I was there, I still think it’s nice to be able to see the sea and not only walls around you all they in a conference room). In the evening we first spent an hour in the Donkey bar, and then had our dinner in the A la Carte restaurant – and the food was really very good – and the crew working there were great as well. After that we went back to the Donkey bar, then to the show lounge. There was live music playing in the show lounge, not a very good band, but still better than on any of the other bands I’ve seen on any of the other ships I’ve been on. And the show lounge was way better than any of the other dancing restaurants etc I’ve been on on the other ships, it was sort of like a theater which made it possible to get a really good view of the whole room and all the people all the time. Still, after a while there I got bored, and I dragged the rest of my party to the nightclub – and this was really a fantastic nightclub. I guess one of the reasons I liked it so much was because there was a dragon hanging from the ceiling, and there were pictures of dragons, and armours and stuff all around – it sort of was the theme of the “Tower night club”. It was on two floors, and that first night there were lots of people – and great music.
Oh yeah, I also stopped by the observation lounge during that day, it’s on deck 15 – and sitting there you get a perfect view of the surroundings. There is of course also a bar – and piano music.
Next day:
Breakfast in the buffet restaurant was, well, not that great – ok – but not really worth mentioning. I wouldn’t advice anyone to pay a lot of money to eat there, I’d think that the cafeteria in the shopping street probably would be a better choice even though I never got as far as to try it on this trip.
We arrived in Kiel a little late, about 1030 – and the ship was to leave again at 1400, and the conference had a break during this time. Most of the other people on the conference choice to go ashore – but I’ve seen Kiel so many times before I really didn’t feel the need to. What I did was go to the Aqualand when it opened at 12. Of course, an aqualand on board such a ship – it really isn’t that big – but we were only 3 people there – so I had a great time. There were 2 jacuzzis, a slide, and a pool that was formed like a river going round and round. In this river there were such strong currents that if you just lay down in the water you were carried around with it – and you could get a really good exercise either trying to swim or walk against the currents. The best part was the jacuzzi, and the most fun was the slide that I tried 10 times or something!
Before the conference started again at 14, I went to the burger bar on deck 14 – nice burgers – nice burger bar!
That evening we had a Christmas buffet in the buffet restaurant, and this truly was disappointing. The food was dull, over-cocked and tasteless, I would never recommend this to anyone. Since the ship itself looks so amazing, it truly is disappointing when you’re served food that is everything but amazing!
Before dinner that evening I had had time to do some shopping. Both the Color shop and the other shop (that I can’t remember the name of) with clothes and accessories looked really amazing from the outside, and they had lots of clothes and stuff – but at what prices!!! I picked up a small handbag that I really liked, and it cost 1900 Norwegian Kroner – yeah, right, like any purse is ever worth that – not matter what name on it. That was the problem with these shops really, there was nothing cheap in them because all their stuff was Calvin Klein or some other famous name, and for those of us who don’t care much for what brand our clothes is – these kinds of shops are totally uninteresting because of their ridiculous prices. The perfume shop and the tax-free shop were ok; they had the expected products at the expected prices. I bought a new perfume, my legal 2 bottles of booze and cigarettes for my friend.
So, all in all, it is a great ship, at least it really looks great. When you look behind the good looks, it’s actually quite ordinary – but still a lot better than all the other ships I’ve been on between Norway and either Denmark or Germany. If you want to relax, eat some nice food, have some fun, for 48 hours I’d say the Color Fantasy is a good choice. I never got around to trying out the spa- and fitness centre, or the Gourmet restaurant, I also did not find time to watch the 1 hours show in the show lounge that is on 2 times a night or going to the movies, but I’m sure that too could keep you occupied many hours as well. One of the movies that was on while I was on board was “Charlie and the chocolate factory” – so the movie programme wasn’t terribly old either.
Well, that is basically what I thought of the Color Fantasy – and yes, I think I will be going on a new trip, just to relax and have fun for 48 hours quite soon again – as soon as I can find someone who wants to come with me.
