jimgri

My wife and I did a very similar cruise on P&O last year and travelled in March. We didn't stop in Bodø or Narvik but did stop in Åndalsnes, Tromsø and Alta. We should also have stopped in Stavanger but high winds in Alta delayed our departure by about 18-20 hours making it impossible to make up the time. Temperatures in Alta, the most northerly port, can range from -25°C in January to a balmy 0°C in March, so layers are the order of the day. The Northern Lights themselves can be very fickle - we saw them from the ship on our first night in Alta and faintly the second night (we opted not to buy the expensive excursion which would take you to a secluded spot inland and hopefully better viewing possibilities). The main problems are cloud, light pollution and Northern Lights that are much fainter in reality than the vivid pics that you see online. We count ourselves very lucky to have seen the lights - a friend who did a similar cruise on a different line the year before saw nothing. If you want a flavour of what to expect, some photos can be found on my Flickr account here.

Right! I just saw one for the "Northern Lights" in 2019.

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I'm disappointed that this cruise doesn't yet appear available to those of us living in the UK. :(

To answer the original question...NO!!!

 

I've just finished my first cruise with Thomson on the Celebration and it was rubbish. We chose the cruise because of a couple of the ports were new to us but everything about the ship was awful. The quality of food, facilities, cabin and entertainment was terrible compared to modern ships we've been on.

If this had been our first cruise we'd never cruise again; we will certainly never cruise with Thomson again. Thankfully we have had great experiences with RCI, MSC and Carnival and we can recommend them.

That was my experience too – our first and last cruise on Celebration in January. Old shabby ship, noisy cabin, frequent sewage smells not just in the cabin but along the whole corridor, unadventurous food which was no better than a canteen, smokers everywhere, and loud drunkards abusing the all-inclusive drinks package. Apart from that, everything was fine!

The Alaska sailings (and presumably other 2019 destinations) have been on sale for at least 5-6 weeks in the US, although they only recently appeared on the UK (and presumably NZ?) website. I did think of booking one but only DV2 and higher were available last week. Interestingly, DV3-DV6 have suddenly appeared again - go figure! BTW, when I rang Viking last week, they told me all the waitlists were in fact sold out and that they weren't taking reservations against them.

It's been like this for 2-3 weeks already.

We were just in 707 and had problems with engine noise, air-con (lack of it), and sewage smells :(

I can't answer your question but coincidentally received an email from P&O today with news of the recent refit. Here is the link but I couldn't see any reference to TVs. Perhaps someone else will know more...

Correction – I did receive the email. It was hiding in the spam folder!

Hi Neil

Thanks for the heads up as we haven't received this email yet. Could you post a link to where people are supposed to pre-register? Thanks.

Jim

This is what it says on the P&O website:

We will generally allow a small, reasonable amount to be taken on-board for you to enjoy in your cabin however, taking bottles of alcohol into restaurants or lounges will incur a corkage fee of £15 (prices are subject to change) per item (any size) per occasion.

Should you wish to take alcohol on-board to celebrate an event, the number of bottles you may take, will be at the port authorities' discretion and you will be charged a corkage fee.

We reserve the right to confiscate alcohol at the gangway, which may be destroyed. Anyone under the age of 18 (under 21 when in United States of America waters) will not be served alcoholic beverages on-board and must not be in possession of alcohol. Guests may be asked to verify their age. It is prohibited to attempt to purchase alcohol for those under 18 in the bars and shops on-board. 16 and 17 year olds may be bought beer, cider or wine to drink with a meal in the restaurant when accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Alcoholic beverages consumed in the public areas on-board will be subject to the corkage charge.

Indeed! :)

No worries, caroljayne. I would definitely go with wide angle + wide aperture to capture as much sky and light as possible.

One thing to bear in mind is that it is easy to be disappointed when viewing the Northern Lights (as my wife was!). The human eye tends to see the lights in faint colours and the sky often looks milky white/grey with a hint of colour to it, although the further north the stronger the colour. Camera sensors have a wider dynamic range than the human eye so pick up all the bright colours, especially when using long exposures, high ISO settings, and a tripod which is obligatory. For those of you who haven't taken photos of the Northern Lights before, I recommend this tutorial on 500px.

Thanks all for the kind comments about the photos :) We had a fabulous trip. The only disappointment was that the captain skipped Stavanger as high winds in Alta kept us at our berth for another 12-18 hours.

My wife and I did the same cruise in March of this year on Oriana and saw the Northern Lights from the back of the ship on both nights in Alta, although the Lights were weaker the second night. We think we were probably lucky but we took a gamble rather than spend over £500 for P&O excursions (2 people x 2 nights) with no guarantee that you will actually see them! You can find some photos from the cruise, including the Northern Lights, on my Flickr page here.

What amenities were missing? I need to know so I can bring what's missing.

Although there were soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the walk-in shower, we had to ask for hand soap for the wash basin, and there was no vanity kit or similar in the bathroom.

I don't know who the "lot of people" are but I've just returned from a two week cruise on the Koningsdam and couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised. Indeed, I didn't hear one complaint. The ship never felt crowded, even on a sea day, and the range of "free" eating options was many and varied. My only complaints were the lack of amenities in the bathroom (the walk in shower was excellent, however) and the poor excuse for a promenade deck. Personally, the lack of a library didn't bother me as I carry my own reading with me on a Kindle, but there is an Explorations Cafe in the Crow's Nest. I concede that it is not well situated but this is offset by the Grand Dutch Cafe on Promenade Deck.

If you are sailing from a British port (assuming you are from the UK), it's just as easy to bring a wheelie carry on bag with a couple of multi-packs of bottled water. It's what my wife and I always do and much cheaper than buying water onboard.

We were there in March, admittedly 3 weeks later, and had unseasonably warm, sunny weather in Alta which melted all the ice sculptures!

My experience has been different from most of the posters above. I live in the UK where chip and pin is the norm when making purchases with debit and/or credit cards. I travel regularly in Europe, most recently in Scandinavia, and have had to enter a PIN every time I have used my credit card. I guess it's possible that the card reader recognises whether you have a chip and pin card or not and offers swipe if this option isn't available, but as most of the evidence suggests that chip and pin is more secure than swipe and signature based transactions, I know what I would choose.

The picture with lounge chairs is of the Westerdam, shown only as a comparison to the narrow promenade deck on the Koningsdam.

I bought my iPad Air 2 64 GB on the Eclipse last summer, same spec as the UK, and was able to get it cheaper than I could have bought it in the UK with a 15% discount for working in higher education. However, the exchange rate today is poorer than it was in June 2015 – about 8% difference if my arithmetic is correct. The iPad comes with an international warranty and US plug so you will need to purchase a power adaptor for the UK. If the overall difference is just a few pounds taking into account the poorer exchange rate, I would buy from an Apple store or other reseller in the UK.