CCJack

We hired a private guide and spent am in portofino and pm in genoa just a you suggested. It was a great day. Took train / ferry but with a local guide transport was easy. Their website is gogenova.

I agree. Fjords in Norway are very beautiful, but a couple of Fjords is likely enough, if you are on a cruise. The coastal cities like Bergen are very interesting in there own right for different reasons. I think your situation comes down to if you want to do 2 countries with one trip and and thus have fewer stops at each, or you want to just concentrate on one country. I really enjoyed our Norway only cruise . Also enjoyed our Iceland / Ireland cruise a couple years later. I would give Norway the edge, however.

We have been on a Norway only cruise, an Alaska cruise and an Iceland (+ Ireland) cruise. I agree with jrmende63 in that I really enjoyed our Norway only cruise (more than Alaska). I would not shy away from Norway only cruise just because you have been to Alaska, it is quite different. That said, your suggested itinerary looks fine. My only concern would be it tackles a lot of countries / ports for one cruise. Our Iceland cruise as an example spend 2 days in Akureyri and 2 days in Reykjavik. Your suggested trip might be a bit of a whirlwind trip. Only one afternoon in Amsterdam is quite short for a city like that. As for cruiselines, we love Celebrity. We have only been on one NCL, and I thought it was a step down from Celebrity, but it was only one so I hate to make a generalization on NCL but that was our experience. I would prefer to leave from Amsterdam for a Northern Europe cruise rather than Southampton or Reykjavik and spend a few days in Amsterdam. Have fun planning!

well for summer of 2022 that would definitely not work. Amsterdam airport has been a disaster and they are recommending arriving 4 or 5 hours before your flight. We were there in June 2022 and it was as bad as advertised on the news. I assume you are looking for summer 2023 or later, we can only hope that Schiphol gets things under control by then. However, even with a smooth running airport, that time is too right for my comfort zone. I would spend a night, and enjoy Amsterdam for one more day post cruise. Other than the airport situation, I feel Amsterdam is a great city to start or end a cruise. The ships dock right downtown. Plus you get to see these giant ships go through a lock, which doesn't happen with hardly any other ports....

Oh boy, every itinerary you list looks awesome, you can't go wrong ! We went on a 7 day Cunard cruise to Norway out of Southampton. On a separate trip we went on a 12 day Celebrity cruise to Iceland and Ireland out of Amsterdam. Some thoughts: These two trips have been my favorite 2 out of about 20 cruises or so to various places, like I said you can't go wrong. If forced to decide between the two, I would say I would prefer Norway over Iceland. The sail in to the fjords in the early morning was spectacular and I think more beautiful than Iceland. Iceland has its own uniqueness however, especially all of the volcano and geothermal activity , etc. I agree that Bergen and Flam would be don't miss ports in Norway. Although we did not go to the Northern part of Norway, I think this would be really worth seeing. I am a bit of a geography nerd and so going to the farthest North latitude would be an adventure and something worth doing. I did like leaving from Amsterdam better than Southampton. Amsterdam is such an interesting city and you can walk to your ship from some downtown hotels, where as Southampton is of course a journey away from London. This depends on if you have already been to London or Amsterdam and if you have a desire to see the other, etc. Have fun planning, happy to answer questions if I can.

On our cruise the early morning views (sail in fjord) and evening views (sail out) were quite a bit different. sun angle, wind, etc. can make quite a difference. I really liked the early morning views, and as others have mentioned the evening tends to have a lot of ship activity going on ( dinner, etc.) and mornings are more quiet on the decks.

I would choose the 2nd. I would prefer to leave from amsterdam rather than southampton. Ships dock close to amsterdam Central and airport is short train ride to town. #2 over #3 due to date and daylight. Some of the fjords you may enter very early in the am, the closest date to june 21 would be desirable to me. Can't go wrong with any of them. Norway is beautiful.

Although I have not been on this specific excursion, we have been on a lot of cruises and excursions. I think part of the fun of cruising is sharing excursions with others and meeting people, either families, couples, or solo ... everyone seems to bring something interesting to the conversation.... I would honestly say, I would prefer to share my excursions with solos or couples over a larger family ... as sometimes those groups tend to dominate the excursion conversation, but all are welcome in my opinion... Have fun...

We were there in the last month, and I agree there were no tour companies at the pier. However, I would be surprised if you couldn't get a local tour company to re-view their tour times based on the ships arrival. I assume you are not the only one on the derailed tour, so there could be others asking the tour companies the same question. We went with SAGA tours.

Both (DIY and cruise tour) have pros and cons. You can certainly plan a DIY trip and customize to what you want. However, we really enjoyed our cruise land tour. I just am not a fan of driving while on vacation, I do enough of that in my normal life ! Plus we really enjoyed meeting others in the group, I think I would have missed that. The two options are quite different experiences I would say, but both have advantages.

I think this mini documentary series is must see for anyone planning a visit to the colosseum. I found it very interesting.....

Agree with many of the above thoughts. Up early to see Fjord is definitely worth it (assuming your ship's schedule enters a Fjord early which most do.) As I have mentioned on other posts, one advantage to this is most people will be sleeping on your ship and you will have the views to yourself. I think it is cool to see sunlight nearly 24 hours, but actually crossing the arctic circle is a bit of a technicality. During our June Fjord cruise (which did not cross the arctic circle) it was still light or dusk all night, even though the sun may have been just below the horizon, and I thought that was a cool think to experience. You don't need to get up or do anything special, you will likely notice from your balcony room or ocean view room unless you are deep sleeper. The date of your cruise is important here closest to June 21 is best. We recently went on an Iceland cruise, which did barely cross into the arctic circle, also in June near the Solstice date, and it was similar experience to the fjord cruise in Norway in terms of lightness during the night. Bottom line, I would prioritize viewing fjords over crossing the arctic circle.

Agree, that intersection right in front of the Starbucks door is crazy, more so because of bikes rather than cars. (but you need to watch out for both !)

We just got off of the Apex a couple weeks ago leaving from Amsterdam. We stayed at the doubletree central. Very easy walk from train station (even with luggage), and overlooks central area with canals, etc. We also walked to the ship from the hotel, however, I would recommend walking without your luggage first the morning of your cruise. It is only 15 minute walk, but a dry run without luggage worked well for us. The ship isn't as straight forward walk as train station, etc. The hotel itself was very nice.

We took two independent excursions, one ship excursion and one day on our own. I would say the independent excursions and ship excursions are probably more similar than in other countries / destinations. The golden circle tour, as an example, (we did SAGA tours) - is basically 3 stops and you are on your own for 1 to 2 hours when you are at the stop. So basically it is transportation, however, I enjoyed the commentary on the way there. Personally, I do not like to drive on vacation, since I do a lot of driving in my normal life, so I like excursions - others feel differently. I can tell you we had two overnights there (on the ship) and the second day in each port was a short day (ship departing at 2 pm). So I booked a ship's excursion on those short days since the ship leaves mid day. I am glad I did. Our independent excursion on one of the full days (first day in port) was late back to the ship by 1.5 hours, but it was not a problem since we had an overnight then. This was not the excursion's fault, but there were traffic issues. I never would have expected a traffic jam in Iceland. There is not that many vehicles, but all of the roads seem to be 2 lane and one accident or issue can back things up. Although we have not been on Viking ocean ships we have been on their river boats. I would expect Viking to have nice excursions planned. I liked Viking a lot, except for the brochures they mail you every week for the rest of your life! I hope you enjoy your trip, we really enjoyed Iceland.

I agree with others that we did not see much mud in Iceland with the exception of the bubbling (boiling) mud pools. Most other excursions there (not ours) provided paper covering for people's shoes. Ours did not so my boots got covered with clay. Obviously you don't walk in boiling mud, but the walking paths around the area were all clay. It was very difficult to get off your shoes. I took my boots in the shower on our cruise ship cabin and soap and water didn't come close to loosening it. It required a metal fork from the dining room and about 45 minutes to make a dent in it. It was nasty stuff.

I agree, we took the small boat cruise on Lysefjord and the views of pulpit rock were unspectacular. You are too close to it. However, the boat went up close to other rock walls and crevices and that was pretty cool. I enjoyed the day but not because of Pulpit rock. I am not sure I would do a 3 hour drive to see it, it depends on what excursions are available closer to your port.

There is a 1 square block city park (with lawn and statues) at the corner of Heverfisgata and Laekjargata. The driver said that taxis like to circle the park. The taxi stand is on Heverfisgata just East of Laekjargata. The park is across the street from a H and M store. If you get in a pinch the shuttle picks up at Harpa concert hall which is only 2 blocks from this park. We loved our golden circle tour but it was a full day. Not sure I would be up for downtown after that excursion. Downtown Reykjavik is very nice but I am not sure it is a don't miss sight. There are a lot of high end winter wear stores... . If you are in the market for s $1000+ winter coat, it is the place to be.

The recent movie Belfast is an awesome movie in my opinion. It wont give you a lot of factual history of the conflict but rather a feel for the environment at the time. The book "say nothing" is an excellent read about the troubles as well.

We went with independent, and were on a smaller boat (about 14 people) and that was nice. You arent fighting for space at the rail to get a good view. I recall all excursions docked real close to the ship so there shouldnt be an issue with getting to the ship on time, etc. All of those boat captains talk to each other which is good so you may end up following the same whales as the ship excursion. We had just a fantastic whale watching experience at ISP. Have fun.

We were just there 2 weeks ago on celebrity Apex also for an overnight . There was a 1) shuttle provided by the city bit allowed close to the ship, 2) hop on hop of which had to wait just a little further away from the ship or 3) taxi which lines up close to the ship as well. Roughly taxi was $20 one way (1 -4 people), shuttle was $20 round trip but pp. So for a couple it was about the same pice. We took taxi and it worked well, ask driver where taxis tend to park for the return . Our 2nd day was a short day with the departure time of 2 pm, so going downtown was a great way to spend the morning and more relaxing than an excursion.

Agree with Hallasm , that you can see the fjord from your big ship just fine. However, as I mentioned there is time of day to consider. We docked at Flam at 6 am so that means we were in the Fjord at about 4. Not kidding when I say I was the only one on deck.. the whole ship missed the sail in. Sail out the Fjord is of course an option but morning and evening can be quite different views with sun, wind differences, etc. I would concentrate on planning your days for excursions either DIY or group tours to see land based things then watched the Fjord on way in or way out on ship. Our best excursion was taking the train at Flam up the mountain but biking down the mountain. Takes some planning but was very special.

We have been on cruises to both Norway and Iceland. Both are great, but I would probably give the edge to Norway. Especially if you enjoy views from ship. Get up early if you are entering a Fjord, the best views I had in Norway were on the top deck by myself at about 4:30 am. Do a little planning and know where your ship is going to be. Have fun !

We stayed at the double tree and it was a great location. It was an easy walk to the ship, no lifting luggage, can roll the whole way. However, we did a trial walk without luggage on the morning of our cruise, since we couldn't check in until noon anyway and I am glad we did.

There was a line of taxis right outside the ship and the price was similar to our return trip via Uber. Note that our particular taxi did not take credit card, but I think other taxis may have. Our taxi took pounds or euros. We took the taxi to the titanic museum, then we walked from museum to central downtown, then uber back.