Norwegian Fjords Disney Cruise Line Report — Day 6
Our last stop in Bergen was BarBarista. We arrived here with 40 minutes to go until ‘all aboard’ time, and Sarah was a little hesitant to do this in the first place, fearing that we’d miss the ship.
I was far less concerned. This was about a 15 minute walk from the port, and even if we were a few minutes late, I couldn’t fathom the ship leaving us. Logical pros and cons aside, we were willing to roll the dice because we had yet to have Norwegian waffles. It’s no secret that we think with our stomaches.
We ordered a couple of waffles (one of them is pictured on page 1), one with brown cheese and one with cream & jam. After sitting down and waiting about 10 minutes for our waffles, we were starting to get anxious. We started talking about a point at which we’d just have to bail, abandoning our poor waffles…
Fortunately, it did not come to that. Our waffles arrived about 15 minutes after we ordered, we scarfed them down in under 10 minutes, and then started rushing back towards the ship. Part of me was hoping we’d miss the ship so we could go back to BarBarista for an all-night waffle session. Wow, were those delicious!
We arrived with about 2 minutes to spare, and were not even the last ones on the ship! In fairness, that’s because some lady was standing outside, waiting for us to board, so she could be the “official” last person back aboard.
Overall, our day in Bergen was excellent. Even though conditions were less than ideal and my photos from the day are nothing special, we had a jam-packed day that entailed doing a lot and wandering a lot, which is how we like to balance our time in any city we visit.
While all of the ports were gorgeous and we had fun at each of them, this solidified our desire to see more of Norway, and Scandinavia, generally. The city was so attractive and inviting; its charm really won us over. I was disappointed that we were not doing Oslo this trip because I assumed (and still assume) it would be my favorite Norwegian city, but by this point I didn’t really care.
We loved Norway to the point that we will definitely be back at some point (hopefully in the near future), and can experience Oslo then.
We watched as the Disney Magic departed Bergen, saying goodbye to Norway (for now).
After that, we headed to our stateroom, where we found this paper for Anna’s Chocolate Chase. We wandered all over the ship completing this, saving the last stop for Animator’s Palate, which is where we were having dinner that night.
We probably spent around 30-45 minutes on that Chocolate Chase, but when we arrived at Animator’s Palate, we totally forgot to fill in our last line. (Like idiots, we still put this on our bed the following morning, not realizing we hadn’t completed it.)
When we arrived at Animator’s Palate, our placemats were character cutouts, which we were to fill in by drawing a character of our choice.
The idea was not to draw a Disney character, but yourself or an original creation of your choosing…
I opted to go the latter route, with a character you’ll meet shortly…
I didn’t initially realize it, but these characters were for that night’s “show” in Animator’s Palate. Had I known that, I would’ve put even more effort into mine.
Dinner that evening was another mostly-good meal at Animator’s Palate. This would be our last rotational meal on the cruise, and it was probably (overall) the least impressive cruise we’ve had in terms of food.
While the regional inspirations were a nice touch, way too many dishes we ordered missed the mark. The food was still ‘pretty good’, but our past cruises have been exceptional. Hopefully this was a one-off.
Moving along, it was time for the Animator’s Palate show of the evening. Once I realized what this was going to be, I was pretty excited. I predicted to Sarah that my character would be the star of the show, and this would go on to be a reverse-Oswald the Rabbit situation, with Disney stealing my character on some technicality that all designs belonged to them.
When the show started, guess who Mickey animated first…
That’s right: TROLLMAN! Just look at how impressed Sorcerer Mickey is as he unveils Trollman. This was perhaps my proudest moment ever.
Trollman may or may not have an extensive backstory that Sarah has already had to suffer through. I’ll spare you all of that and just say that he’s a cross between Thor and the Ice Cream Troll (the world’s two greatest heroes) from earlier in the trip report.
The idea is that he has all the superpowers of Thor, but with most of the looks and personality of a troll. (So he dodged the bullet of looking like Chris Hemsworth.)
In fact, I wanted to give Trollman the official name of Throll, but Sarah objected. Her original justification was, “Trollman is a more fitting name for your dumb character,” which I’m not really sure is a good reason for keeping his name as-is. Oh well, Trollman it is.
I don’t take Sarah’s knock on Trollman to heart. I think she’s just jealous because her character (above) was a headless sailor with a floating bear head above him.
Regardless of whose character is better (Trollman, for sure), this show was really cool. Even if the character movements are not really animation, it’s fun to see your character brought to life. So many people around Animator’s Palate had their phones up, trying to get a picture of their creation. It was really fun and cute.
Of course, we couldn’t end an installment of this Disney cruise report without sharing our towel animal of the evening. Even though this lobster is lacking in cool-factor as compared to last night’s monkey, it was really quite complex. Just look at all the folds to give him the right texture. Another A+ work of towel art by our stateroom host!
That was it for Day 6. We’ll be back soon for Part 7, which will cover Day 7 (at sea) as well as a quick summary of what we did in Copenhagen after the cruise was over.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve done Disney’s Norwegian Fjords cruise, what did you think of Bergen? Any favorite points of interest or things to do there? What do you think of Trollman/Throll–best super hero ever or best super hero ever? Thoughts on anything else we did or mentioned in this installment of the cruise report? Anything else to add? Hearing from you is part of the fun of these posts, so please share your feedback and questions in the comments below!
how do I find the last post on your trip report? Going on the 11 night in 2019 and need info on Copenhagen
I’ll help out uncle Tom here since he didn’t link to it above:
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/norwegian-fjords-disney-cruise-line-report-day-7/
I’m looking forward to the replacement of Frozen Ever After with “Trollman! The Norway Experience”
I canNOT believe you made your wife smell like fish. Sarah is an exceptionally understanding woman.
Trolling Trollman! Trolling Trollman! I do admit your drawing skills are actually quite good haha not sure what I expected but apparently you exceeded it!
Wow, 20 comments so far and NOT A SINGLE ONE heaping praise upon the marvelous Trollman? Thanks a lot, “friends.” 😉
I’m as shocked as you are….how could there be no comments about Throll, I mean Trollman at all? I guess everyone was just too in awe to mention him.
Thanks for another great trip report. You’re giving me wanderlust, as always!
I took the Norway, Iceland, & Scotland cruise back in 2015. I wish we could have had Bergen as a port stop as my ancestors are from there. I will go back I just don’t know when but when it comes I hope it’s still offered. I loved all the cities we visited back then, Oslo, Kristansted and Stavenger. I enjoyed following you on your adventure through the land of enchantment.
Its been great reading your trip report since we were on the same cruise. (I stopped you pre-Frozen party to say I enjoyed your photography.)
We had the challenge of navigating each port with a five year old, which is an interesting experience. We went to the aquarium in Bergen – which was very nice and our 5 year old really enjoyed it. (If you are travelling with kids or you haven’t been to an aquarium before, this is great option). The thing that was totally overpriced but we totally loved was the Bergen Fish Market. The food was really great and we got Bergen Fish market beer – the first ingredient listed was Bergen rain water, which I totally loved. I’m kind of glad to hear that the funicular wasn’t too exciting b/c we showed up and saw the line and said uh no.
The other highlights for us on the trip was the slow cruise through Geiranger, the Petroleum museum, and finding as many Norwegian playgrounds as possible. (there were a lot!!!)
Side note – I totally agree with you on the food – I feel like its been a lot better on prior cruises.
I laughed at the line about Norwegian playgrounds. I visited Finland for work when my daughter was 4.5-years old and took my family along with me. I think my wife and daughter visited every playground in Helsinki!
We tried to find the Stave Church but got hopelessly lost. Rick Steve’s book was rather vague and my GPS sent us in circles in the wrong direction and up hill. If I was alone, I would’ve kept trying to find it, but with my 78 yr old mother in tow, it was time to call it quits and head back to the city. Wish I had realized you were on the same cruise, my team produced the new Welcome Aboard show on the first night.
I laughed out loud on the salmon in a cup over ice!!!!!
Awesome amount of information on Bergen. Thanks! I bet you have this in another cruise post Tom, but there are so many that I am not sure where to look! What does “rope dropping” a port entail? I have yet to go on a cruise. Do you have to get in some kind of line or just be sure not to sleep-in or…? I would appreciate a point in the right direction.
Rope dropping – be one of the first if not the first ones off the ship to head to your destination….just like when you go to Disneyland to be at the front of the rope to get to the best rides when the park opens.
Love your reports. And your reasons for choosing the sights 😉
“Ultimately, our desire to see a Spirit of Norway location (a film we didn’t really even like) won out”
Great report! The Fishing museum sounds very interesting! We live in Petersburg, Alaska, also known as Little Norway and commercial fishing here is huge. We have always wanted to visit Norway and will have to check out that museum!
You should get some credit for thinking to put your backpack salmon on ice.
We did the Fantoft Stave Church that day as well. Don’t worry. You didn’t miss anything. I likewise wanted to get at least one stave church in, even if it was a reconstruction; however, this was not worth the trek – in particular in the rain. For those making a future trip, I’d hit the other sites Tom mentioned.
Go Blue!
The blessing and curse of reading your website: I’ve spent time the past few days reading about the Norway in a Nutshell and looking at how to get reasonably-priced flights to Norway!
Was the brown cheese similar to the Gjetost that they serve at Akershus in Epcot? (Or that you can buy at the grocery store?). Yes, 3-pages of Norwegian touring trip report, and my question is about cheese…
It is the same cheese. Brown cheese is a Norwegian speciality which has different names (brunost, geitost, gjetost), but it is essentially a cheese where the lactose sugar in the milk caramelizes in the cheese making process, turning the color of the cheese light brown. Many foreigners dislike the taste, but I think that has a lot to do with what they expected to taste. If you are used to cheese always being savory, then the caramelized, sweet brunost will taste weird. So I always tell people that it’s sweet before they taste it.
I asked because the kind of Gjetost you can get in stores over here (Ski Queen) is a mix of goat and cow whey. I think that is what they serve in Epcot as well.
My sister raises goats, so I tried making my own from some of her goat whey. It tasted quite a bit different, although I still liked it.
Having a grandfather from Norway, I was raised eating this cheese. We had it on toast for breakfast. I’ve been told it’s an acquired taste. You either love it or hate it. I was always told it was a “dessert” cheese. I was estatic when I found it in a specialty market. I bought it and experienced my childhood all over again.
Night 5 towel animal was a monkey? I really honestly thought it was a Thanksgiving Turkey hanging up. Very much enjoying this cruise report btw. We are not world travelers (yet), but all your trip reports from abroad are really inspiring us to take the leap! While the Disney cruises seem expensive, I feel like the fact that it’s Disney, would somehow make me feel more comfortable with traveling internationally. (side note; your trip reports from Japan also have us considering that as an option). Keep up the great work 🙂
If nothing else, I now know Salmon is not a travel-friendly food… Poor Sarah! I can’t imagine smelling like fish all day
Loved your reports, as well as the pictures. Was hoping there’d be one more part, but alas, the cruise was over. I cannot travel long distances anymore, so I feel you and Sarah are traveling for me, and taking me places I can no longer go. Thank you for that.
Really enjoyed this. Thanks!
Always nice to hear that. 🙂 Thanks for reading!