SarahHben

Photos of Geiranger and the boat trip to get there.

Photos from Hellesylt

We arrived in Hellesylt yesterday morning and it was an internet dead spot so couldn’t update. Hellesylt is small but pretty, amazing fjordal scenery. I was up early again and took lots of photos, then watched the docking process, some of the ropes were attached to bouys in the water so I found it fascinating watching a little boat taking the ropes from the ship and fastening them. We went to the buffet for breakfast for the first time and made up some ham rolls for a packed lunch and took some fruit from the fruit bowl in our cabin. Before the change of itinerary we had booked the Mount Dalsnibba trip but that got cancelled and new excursions offered so we decided to do the ‘explore on your own’ option with a boat trip to Geiranger. There was a powerful picturesque waterfall not for from where we had docked so we disembarked early so that we had a chance to walk up the side of the waterfall and take photos. The path up past the waterfall was too steep for mum’s wheelchair but my sister said that they took her to the foot of it while we were on our excursion. It’s a pretty place, I think there were a few places to walk but we didn’t go further afield because we went to the meeting point for the excursion. We have heard a few mumbles about poor organisation for the excursions but we have had no issues, there are always plenty of staff around to help. Because our trip was explore in our own we must have been told at least a dozen times that we MUST get to the Geiranger boat by 2:45. The boat ride was great, we managed to get a spot on deck right at the aft and hoping that I got some good photos. The journey was around 1 hour 15mins to get from Hellesylt to Geiranger and there were beautiful views all the way, just stunning. The weather was much improved we even had some blue sky and sunshine. Once in Geiranger we went and waved at the webcam near the dock and my niece and our son took some screenshots of us waving at the camera, then we went in search of loos. We found a little rectangular hut with a glass side that had toilets, thankfully not with glass doors but the sinks etc were on show, there was a turnstile just inside the door and a point to tap your credit card in to get in, my husband thinks it was about £2 to ‘spend a Penny’. We found a stone seat with a view and ate our little lunch enjoying the beautiful scenery. We realised then that we had forgotten the sun screen 🙄 After lunch we walked up the many metal steps up the side of the waterfall, and it was well worth it, it was such a powerful waterfall it was incredible. The metal walkway took us over part of the waterfall, I didn’t particularly enjoy that bit and instructed by husband to scoop me up quick if there was an issue. I survived! I even made it back again to go down, I’m not very brave 😂 By the time we had done that there was around 45 minutes until we had to be ready to get the boat back to Hellesylt so we bought a few tacky magnets and a lovely pastry each and sat and waited while gazing at the pretty fjord and village. Hubbie & I both agree it was our favourite day. My sister, brother in law and parents stayed in Hellesylt and wandered round in the morning and sat in the sun in the afternoon. While on land they came across a passenger who had been hit by a car and had to go to hospital in an ambulance, apparently the nearest hospital was quite a way away. Rumour on ship has it that she had an open fracture of the leg but no idea if that is fact or fiction. I’ve no idea what happens to luggage etc in those circumstances, but feel desperately sorry for the poor lady. Our little boat was a bit late back to Iona because one of the excursion coaches were late back but once all we’re onboard the captain and pilot took Iona down the Geiranger fjord, we went just a little further than the seven sisters waterfall, then the ship pirouetted round in the middle of the fjord and sailed back the other way. I know I’m a novice cruiser but found it fascinating and incredible how such a huge ship can turn like that. Anyway we were exhausted after being on our feet most of the time since breakfast so I went to collapse on our balcony while Mr B kindly made me a cup of tea in The Quays, he actually came back to the cabin with two cups of tea each and a mini pudding each, he’s well trained 😊 We sat on our balcony for the first half of the scenic sail down the fjord then headed to dinner with the relatives at the Pearl restaurant. I had prawn cocktail, steak and baked treacle tart. All of which were very good. The theatre show was Headliners Festival, my husband wasn’t as keen but I enjoyed the singing, 3 or 4 of them had super voices. It was the acting in between that we found a bit cringy. It was very teenagery, a good choice of songs though. It’s not something we would go and watch again. There was a 25% off Pandora sale and mum wanted to have a look so we went there, no room for a wheelchair though so mum hobbled in leaning on me. She chose what she wanted then I queued up to get it with dad and his cruise card. It was packed, very busy with only two people serving, I think we waited for half an hour. Mr B & I were exhausted so went to our cabin early but it’s so light in the evenings, before you know it it’s midnight.

My son in law told me to pour the Prosecco into the martini so that’s what I did 😁 Sindhu was the only restaurant I booked in advance from home.

I don’t like coffee otherwise I would. The martini was particularly good with the Sindhu food, quite refreshing.

It wasn’t so enormous that I couldn’t manage it. There were light salady bits in between the heavier meats. It was the best meal we’ve had onboard , not that we’ve had any bad meals, but it was extra special.

Dinner at Sindhu was very good, our favourite meal of the holiday so far. I ordered a passionstar martini, I’ve not had one before, it came in 2 glasses and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to mix them or drink separately so I text my son-in-law who used to be a bar man. I had crab tian for starter and Sindhu Signature plate for main, which was duck, beef & lobster in various sauces with rices and salads and a bhaji. Dessert was a deconstructed trifle, lemon posset, passion fruit jelly & coconut ice cream (I think I’ve remembered that right) We then met up with my family and went to the theatre to see Odyseey, a fantastic vocal group, we’ve booked to see them again on Friday. After that we went up to the SkyDome to see what the Paloma Faith tribute singer was like, that was the only thing we’ve comes across that we didn’t enjoy. We stayed 10 minutes then left, it was a bit screechy for us. Early night for me after my early start this morning.

I think I already am 😁

Thank you. The infinity pools do look good, I’ve not tried one yet. At least at 6:30am there was no one in it so I could get some photos. There were a few hot tubs being used very early 😳

I think the original one was £58, we’ve decided to go to Geiranger rather than the more expensive Mount Dalsnibba trip

Yes it’s more expensive than I anticipated. We had a trip cancelled that was a similar cost so it hadn’t had a cost impact for us. The other family members with us aren’t going on it though.

I joined this forum a few years ago, we booked our cruise in 2018 for summer 2020 but then covid happened so we’ve only just got on our first cruise. So yes I’ve been on here quite a while, learning the cruising ropes so to speak 😊

Olden & mostly Briksdal Glacier Troll Car Trip

Last night and the sail in early this morning

Right todays update, After a relaxing few hours in the cabin yesterday afternoon we had a dinner in Opal, one of the main dinner rooms. It was one of the smaller ones and Dad and my brother in law both said they preferred it over the larger Pearl & Coral. I haven’t been in a restaurant I haven’t liked yet, but Opal did have a more intimate feel. I had duck pate with date purée, it was delicious but I would say it was a slice of terrine not pate. Then I had the pork belly with bubble & squeak, Vichy carrots & kohlrabi. My pork was ok, my sister said hers wasn’t great, bubble & squeak was good, carrots were ok but just tasted boiled, not like the vichy carrots I cook. I’d never had kohlrabi before but it was nice, I’d have it again. For dessert I had lemon posset with rhubarb, very nice! 😊 After dinner we went to the theatre and watched comedian/magician Manuel Martinez. He was very funny at times and not so funny at others. I hate the thought of being pulled out of an audience so we sat right at the back. He did ask for volunteers rather than pick people at random but some of his humour was around the ship sinking 🥴 After that my husband and I went for a wander and ended up in the SkyDome where 3 singers called the Voxens were performing. I didn’t think that they would be our sort of thing but I was wrong, they were very good singers and we ended up singing along. Our cabin is a deck above the Clubhouse and The Quays and pretty much in the middle of the two. In the late evenings we do sometimes hear a slight noise from the music in the Clubhouse, the bass mostly but it isn’t loud at all and doesn’t keep us awake and I don’t go to sleep easily. My parents are 4 cabins further back than us and can hear more Clubhouse noise. This morning I woke up around 5:45 and immediately peeped round the curtains hoping we weren’t still out at sea and missing Olden but happily we were sailing through a fjord. It was a bit damp and low cloud but really beautiful. I quickly got dressed and went out on deck with my camera leaving hubbie to sleep a bit longer. There were quite a few of us out there with our cameras, I’ve probably got 100 shots all the same. After a croissant, Danish pastry & yoghurt in The Quays we got wet weather gear on, collected my parents and went to disembark for our excursion. They announced that we should disembark on deck 3 foreword and mid, wheelchairs would be better to go to the mid exit. We didn’t notice that our aft lifts didn’t go to deck 3 so went to 6 and walked along to the atrium, then down, but waiting for 2 lots of lifts took quite a while. The staff are great with the wheelchairs and they took mum down the ramp. Mum & Dad had booked the Birksdal Glacier troll cars with us before she broke her foot. We asked at the excursion desk if the troll card would be suitable and they didn’t think so but Mum & Dad decided they would come with us in the coach but wait at the restaurant. However once we arrived the people driving the troll cars said they could accommodate mum& the wheelchair and said they could go up in the cars, not do the walk to the glacier at the top and come down again as soon as they wanted to which was perfect for them. The weather was cold and very wet but it was brilliant, all 6 of us really enjoyed it. The walk to the glacier wasn’t flat and was quite stony, not suitable for wheelchairs so I’m glad mum didn’t try it. Scenery was fantastic, my DSLR camera got soaked, fortunately it’s weather sealed so seems like no harm done. On the way down my husband and I were asked if we’d be happy to go in different cars and we each ended up sitting in the front seats next to the drivers, that was a real treat and I’m hoping I got some good photos and my husband videoed the 10-15 minute ride back. The excursion included tea/coffee and a cake buffet which was very welcome after getting so cold and wet. There was only a restaurant, a cafe and a shop at the bottom but we still managed to have problems finding the parents, I eventually tracked them down and took them for cake. The coach trip itself was worth doing just for the views but we really enjoyed the troll car trip. We got back to the boat and got changed, we were soaked through to our underwear 😳 By then we were starving so popped one deck down to the Quays for fish & chips, the fish is really good, I recommend it. We then went ashore again but this time the signs around the ship said to deck 3 foreword and didn’t mention wheelchairs, so we went down to 6, along to foreword and down to 3, only to be told we had to go back to mid but deck 3 doesn’t have a corridor so we had to go back up to 4, all along the cabin corridor to mid then back down to 3, I was pretty tired by then, pushing the wheelchair on carpet isn’t the easiest. By the time we got off it started raining again so we took some photos then went to the tourist gift shop. The trouble is my mum has started wheeling herself to where she wants to go even when we’re pushing, she’ll suddenly start scooting herself backwards right into my toes. We did have ‘words’ at one point. She prefers me pushing her wheelchair rather than dad because it hurts his back, so I’ve told her I’ll only push if she keeps her hands off the blooming wheels! Anyway I’m now sitting in our conservatory with a nice cup of tea, writing this while my husband is sketching the snowy mountain in front of us. We are having dinner on our own in Sindhu this evening, really looking forward to it. A couple of things I keep meaning to mention, there are a few rattling noises in the cabin, I had read about them, on here I think. It’s not too bad, doesn’t disturb us at all. The noise of people opening their sliding doors late at night is louder, at first I kept thinking it was thunder. Also, it might be because our desk/dressing table isnt the window end of the cabin, but the light for doing makeup etc is much better in the bathroom. The lighting over the desk is fine for doing hair but not good for make up. Sorry to go on so long. I’ll see if I’ve got some ok pics on here from yesterday and today.

Thank you! The dress was an eBay buy, Jacques Vert, I had to take it up as I’m short, and because it had sequins I broke several needles doing it. Don’t tell anyone but the necklace was £3.99 from Amazon 😂

I’m onboard at the moment and one of the new Hellesylt excursions is an “on your own” boat trip to Geiranger. You can either leave at 7:30am or the one we’re doing, 10:30 am. I think they said it’s around 1hr 15mins boat transfer each way and we’ll have 3 hours free time once there. Hope that helps. It’s £59 per person

A few pics from yesterday. I’m not very good at smiling, I always seem to look concerned lol.

The talk we went to was very interesting, we may well go to his next one too. While we were there the Captain announced we would be sailing into some fjords, there was some beautiful scenery, I took lots of photos on my DSLR, but then it starting raining and visibility isn’t good now so we’re relaxing in our cabin for a while. We had a nice curry in the buffet for lunch and have booked to you to the Opal restaurant tonight, my dad says he likes a restaurant with a tablecloth. Because we couldn’t get to Stavanger the entertainment acts can’t swap over, so Lee Mead is on an extra night, I tried to book quickly but all spaces were gone. There are times that the ship feels quite busy but it’s easy to find a quiet corner when you want to. We really like the flow and design of the ship, it’s pretty easy to find your way around, I’ve only gone the wrong direction once so far. We like that it’s modern and light. I do think though, that if Iona keeps having issues getting into ports, we would try and come back another time but on a different ship.

Absolutely 😁

We should be in Stavanger today, however the captain and pilot tried several times but decided it was too windy, 🥴 So we are heading towards Olden and might sail into the fjord early depending on conditions when we get there. Disappointing, I just hope we don’t have problems getting into the other ports. Silver lining though, it did mean I had an impromptu shopping trip and got 25% off a Radley handbag 😁 We had dinner in the Pearl restaurant last night, very nice food, I had lobster for the first time. Lots of people were in formal wear, the majority of people milling around the ship were dressed up, where we were anyway. I discovered it’s quite hard to look ladylike in a long gown & heels pushing a wheelchair on carpet on an incline 🥴 The only thing my husband was in charge of packing was his suit and dress shirt, he forgot the shirt! He had to wear a blue one but fortunately his suit was blue & tie was grey so it looked ok. We then went to the theatre to listen to some country music, the singer, Laura Evans? had a lovely voice. My husband and I are currently sitting in the Clubhouse waiting to hear a talk on spies/spying by John Mercer. I hope I’m not boring anyone with my long posts. We’re loving it so far. We are pacing ourselves food wise and doing lots of walking. It’s good that the portion sizes are small, you can always have more if you need it but it helps keep me in check.

We love the Quays Graham. We grabbed some lunch from there today and sat outside in the sun to eat it.

We had a very nice breakfast in the Coral restaurant, I had smoked salmon & scrambled egg and hubbie had eggs benedict, his verdict was that it was good, not as good as his favourite restaurant but much better than lots that he’s tried. I commented at breakfast that we seemed to have slowed right down, then a few minutes later the captain announced that a passenger had been taken ill and would be evacuated by helicopter. The rear decks were closed and people in aft cabins were asked not to use the balconies. The ship turned around, which I only realised when the sun was in my eyes and our cabin should have been west facing! It was quite dramatic to watch as the helicopter approached the ship right over our cabin. It was quite a long process but the captain announced afterwards that the passenger was stable and was taken to hospital in England. It was a lovely sunny morning, a bit overcast now, but still warmish and the sea is very calm.

2 desserts was my husband pacing himself 😂