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Scandaweigian Christmas
The city of Oslo
December 23, 2025 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ -1 °C
We sailed north overnight from Copenhagen, through the Oslofjord to the Norweigan capital city. An early breakfast up in the Pennant Bar meant we could watch the sail in as the dawn broke. Whilst we are overnight in Oslo, most things are closed tomorrow as it it Christmas Eve, so we had to plan our day more carefully. Starting our from our port at the Opera House, we passed some saunas and, horrifyingly, a chap leaving the sauna in shorts and diving into the icy water beyond despite the 0° temperature!

The walk towards the Royal Palace passed the Oslo Cathedral with its 1500sq.m. decorated ceiling. The architecture is quite different to Copenhagen which had more Georgian-style buildings against Oslo's starker and more modern buildings with cleaner lines. We stopped at our second Parliament of the trip, the Stortinget, and down into the nearby Christmas market where open fires were welcomed by frozen hands. Beyond, the 19th Century Royal Palace was an opportunity to take some fabulous photos of the royal guards.Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
Copenhagen Radhus
December 22, 2025 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
In the southwestern part of the city, we visited the beautiful Copenhagen city hall, home to Jens Olsen's intricate world clock; one of the cogs on this clock won't complete a revolution for more than 25,000 years! The architecture inside was fascinating, especially the beautiful spiral staircases. Off a nearby street, we passed the Circusbyningen (Circus Building) with its lovely friezes of horse-racing surrounding the top. Heading north, we visited the Torvehallerne food market, and then onto the Rundetårn, before heading back through the Nybord district to the ship. 16km round, a well-deserved pint was in order!Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
Copenhagen by light
December 22, 2025 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
The daylight didn't break until gone 8am, and when it finally did, we headed out to explore the city by day. Closer to our ship than the Little Mermaid, is the Genetically Modified Paradise sculpture garden by Bjørn Nørgaard, with his 'Ugly Sister' on a rock in the harbour. The Kastellet, a star-shaped fortress was interesting to walk through, as one of Europe's oldest functioning military bases. It housed an interesting visitor centre showing the role of the Danish military since 1948, and a lovely walk around the ramparts. Walking into town on a more westerly road meant we passed the ochre houses of the Nybord district on our way to Rosenborg Slot (Palace), home to the Danish crown jewels. At the far side of the park, we were treated to seeing the King's Guard playing and marching out of the park and towards town, so we followed along as far as the King's Square - quite the sight!Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
Copenhagen by night
December 21, 2025 in Denmark ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
Docked north of the city centre, we passed the famous Little Mermaid statue on the walk into Copenhagen. The streets were quiet as we passed Frederick's Kirke, until we reached King's Square, where we met seemingly everyone! The bars along Nyhavn, and the square and its ice rink and Christmas food and drink stalls were all teeming with people under the amazing lights of the surrounding department stores and hotels. Following the main shopping street, we wandered towards Parliament at the Christianborg Slot (palace). Looping back through the colourful buildings of Nyhavn, we followed the waterfront back to the ship for a more affordable pint than was available in the city!Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
Al(most) at Sea
December 21, 2025, Kattegat ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
We were surprised that we didn't port today until 3pm in Copenhagen. Mildly irritating given that P&O ports are almost always 9-5. Worse still, we depart at 3pm tomorrow, and all the museums are shut on Mondays!!

But, we took the opportunity to have a lazy, almost-at-sea day. We enjoyed breakfast in a window seat of the waiter-service restaurant, crib in the Crow's Nest and lunch overlooking the stern in the Pennant Bar. Creative Waves onboard crafters had an afternoon origami class and we walked away with hearts , frogs, butterflies and more, all whilst enjoying a pint and the sail into Copenhagen port.Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
At Sea in the North Sea
December 20, 2025, North Sea ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Breakfast in bed to start the day, before going and hearing a talk from a former prison governor. We spent a relaxing day between the cabin and the ship facilities, playing a few games of crib over a pint in the Crow's Nest, before the black tie Celebration Evening. A free drink in Carmen's for the Captain's welcome, before a fantastic dinner made for a lovely evening. We hadn't realised we were so late into Copenhagen tomorrow, not arriving until 3pm. However hopefully it'll make for an interesting sail into port.Read more
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Scandaweigian Christmas
Straight outta Southampton
December 19, 2025 in England ⋅ 🌙 9 °C
An unusually adventurous journey down to Southampton as Ben noticed the bonnet on my car wasn't latching properly, prompting an unplanned hard shoulder stop. In Southampton, we visited our traditional start-of-holiday pub, and enjoyed a couple of pints at the Dancing Man before taxi-ing to Mayflower Terminal. Mum and Kev entertained the shore staff, having accidentally printed their boarding passes in A3!

Our lovely cabin overlooks the Terrace Pool, and after we unpacked we wandered the ship, reacquainting ourselves. We sailed out of Southampton earlier than we'd expect normally, which meant we got some beautiful sunset views. Dinner was on a shared table of 8 which is a bit disappointing but the food was fabulous.Read more
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