Brilliance OTS, 2 June 2012 Trip Report - the Norway, no, Denmark, no, Norway Cruise

[marci22]

What would you say was the age range for this cruise? Nice review btw, extremely organized and detailed!

Edited June 18, 2012 by marci22

[villauk]

What would you say was the age range for this cruise? Nice review btw, extremely organized and detailed!

 

We were also on this cruise and I thought I'd reply from a different perspective as we cruised with children and I know David was a solo cruiser. There wasn't many kids on this cruise, but our kids loved it. Less means they get more attention in the kids clubs and have more opportunities to play on the arcade games. We did our own tours in each port and geared it towards the kids i.e. HOHO bus in Alesund, the Museum in Molde, Funicuar in Bergen etc. They love Brilliance and after our 3rd cruise on her, they still want to go back for more.

 

TBH, there was a varied age range on this cruise (we expected a much older passenger manifest). Don't get me wrong, it wasn't full of teenagers/young people, more of a mixture of 30-60+ year olds. The M&M was fun and there appeared to be a nice mix of different nationalities. Chris' bingo people game definitely broke the ice and even though there were many Spanish speaking passengers in attendance, we all managed to communicate one way or another. I'm sure David will agree?

[marci22]

We were also on this cruise and I thought I'd reply from a different perspective as we cruised with children...

 

Thanks for your reply. I was curious because in the people pictures, I don't think I saw one child. There weren't many kids on our summer Med cruise either, but my kids (now older teens) really enjoyed it.

[elbarney]

 

A Costa tender making a late run from the Fortuna (Eagle Road in the background)

 

Thats Costa Voyager!

Thank you for your very nice review.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thats Costa Voyager!

Thank you for your very nice review.

 

Thanks, I thought I might have that wrong :)

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thanks for your reply. I was curious because in the people pictures, I don't think I saw one child. There weren't many kids on our summer Med cruise either, but my kids (now older teens) really enjoyed it.

 

That's probably more about the the things I was doing as a late 40s solo male, rather than a true reflection of the demographic. I'd agree with Jenny (villauk), this cruise was skewed towards the older end, compared with a typical Caribbean cruise for example, but a good mix and more children and youths than I had expected. My dining table was exactly the range that Jenny suggested, for example.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Thanks to Cotswold Eagle for your descriptions and beautiful photos.

We will be on Brilliance in Aug for the Baltic cruise and the Fjords cruise so this is very informative for us.

Edited June 19, 2012 by IWORK2CRUISE

[Cotswold Eagle]

Day 4 greeted us with rain as we docked in our second port of call, Ålesund. But as promised by the captain in his 8 am broadcast, the rain cleared and after breakfast it is a fine day, with some sunshine (and a couple of spots of rain in the afternoon). The 'Astor', a small ship chartered to a German line, I believe, is our only companion in port today.

 

Ålesund is famous as a town that was destroyed by fire in 1904 and entirely rebuilt in a marriage of Art Nouveau and Nordic style. I had not booked any excursions here, as my research had indicated it was a small town worth exploring on foot, and so it proved. It is certainly very tourist friendly - as we left the ship we were handed a useful map of the town and I saw tourist "ambassadors" on the streets, ready to give advice and directions. Immediately at the port there were buses, including a shuttle to the Atlantic Sea Park, a large aquarium just outside town, so I would have thought it would be possible to plan your own excursions here, if you wanted to do more than wander the town. There is also a town "train" and a tourist office, which is about a 5 minute walk from the dock (more if you pause to take photos of this very scenic town along the way!) It is pretty obvious how to get to the centre of town from the dock (where there are no real facilities) - simply walk along the channel right in front of the ship, to the main harbour.

 

 

The Astor

 

 

The town "train"

 

 

The tourist information office

 

 

The ship is right in the town - this (poorly composed!) picture is taken from near the tourist information office and shows the Brilliance in the background. You can just about make out the channel through to the harbour where I am standing, but it is really obvious from the dock, once you have exited between a couple of freight containers!

Edited June 19, 2012 by Cotswold Eagle

[Cotswold Eagle]

Sorry, I was hoping to do more this morning, but Photobucket isn't playing nicely. I'm off to watch some cricket and, as you'll know, that takes hours.... More later.

[mp2010]

I'm really enjoying your review so far! I just told my husband that we need to add Norwegian Fjords to our travel bucket list. :D

[Cotswold Eagle]

I'm really enjoying your review so far! I just told my husband that we need to add Norwegian Fjords to our travel bucket list. :D

 

Another one?! I need to talk to the cruise lines about commission :)

[little britain]

Great review so far. Did you happen to notice where the car hire /Hertz office was in Geiranger please?

[Cotswold Eagle]

Great review so far. Did you happen to notice where the car hire /Hertz office was in Geiranger please?

 

"Office" might be overdoing it, but there was a space with some cars and a sign saying "You could rent one of these today" - don't remember if it was Hertz, but I'd be surprised if there was more than one agent. This one was just on the main road climbing out of the village - so turn right off the tender dock, keep the tourist information office on your right and walk onto the main road, not the small one with the shops (where the RIB adventure party are in my photos). If I remember correctly it was right there, opposite the bus "office". About a minute off the tender - it's a small place :) If you need to bring it back with fuel, the other side of the souvenir shops is a gas/petrol station.

[bionicman97]

Really, really enjoying the review :)

[louthebowler]

I was hoping rain would have stopped play in the cricket yesterday so you would get back to your review, but no, who would have thought it, it stayed sunny ALL DAY, now thats unusual in this country!!

I'm loving your review because you give so much info without overdoing it, unlike my sister who is on holiday in menorca, she sends a text with 6 words in, I mean why bother, it wouldnt cost her any more to make it 20 words and she knows I love hearing about everybody elses holiday!!!;)

[Cotswold Eagle]

Ålesund is a really easy place to find your way around, but, just in case, they have good signposting (as well as the free maps and people on the street to help!) This signpost illustrates a little about language - the Å in Ålesund indicates a double A sound, so it can also be written Aalesund. Of course, in most RCI literature it just appears as Alesund.

 

 

I spent a little while exploring and enjoying the architecture by the harbour, before heading into the town. There are plenty of shops of all kinds here (it is a proper town, not a tourist model village) and banks if you need more Kronen.

 

Typical Ålesund architecture by the harbour

 

I found this memorial with a young man looking out to the North Sea, towards the British Isles. It is a memorial to the 'Englands-Farten', the journey of many young Norwegians in the early days of the Second World War, across the sea in small fishing vessels to join up with their Royal Family and government in exile, many of them joining Allied forces. The majority of the boats left from the area around Ålesund.

 

 

The drain covers here have quite intricate patterns, as this tour group discovered!

 

As the ground rises up from sea level, the town is dominated by the Aksla mountain, with the Fjellstua viewpoint on top. I had planned to climb the 418 steps to the top, but was a little apprehensive because of a back spasm I had suffered the day before. But there's no harm in going to look, right?

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

As it happens, once I had made my through the park to the bottom of the steps, I was feeling pretty mobile and saw that the 418 steps don't happen in one go and there are places to pause along the way (and even if you can't make it all the way to the top you can still get progressively better views!) So I decided to head for the summit.

 

The steps are similar to the roads in these parts - zig-zag, steep sections, passing places!

 

And there are some roadworks along the way...

 

At the top is a restaurant (which was closed for a private function - I don't know if this was anything to do with the ship), a small outside cafe and, of course, the viewpoint. It is also possible to drive to the summit and, of course, the "train" comes here too.

 

 

From here you get the classic Ålesund view

 

The town below now really does look like a model

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

After taking numerous photos and rewarding myself with a coffee and a pastry at the cafe (which cost NOK 50, or thereabouts, if I remember correctly), I walked up the road behind the viewpoint to reach the summit of Aksla, which is slightly above Fjellstua. On the way you pass some Second World war fortifications and, being a small boy at heart, I couldn't resist exploring.

 

 

 

On the summit itself there is a large weather vane apparatus. From here one gets perhaps better views of the surrounding fjords and mountains than from the viewpoint, so I would recommend this extra small climb.

 

 

 

Just below the weather vane there is a bench with a small plaque to the memory of Wilson 'Johnny' Ceybird, a British pilot killed near here in 1945, so close to the end of the war. Intrigued, I have subsequently researched Johnny and discovered that he flew reconnaissance missions along this coast in Mosquito aircraft based in northern Scotland. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Medal for his daring and bravery on a mission in 1943.

 

 

Johnny's view - looking towards his home base, several hundred miles across the North Sea, as the Englands-Farten memorial does in the town below.

[Just The 3 Of Us]

Wonderful review and amazing pictures...

[Booking It]

I hope that restaurant is open when we go! I am LOVING your review so far. More! More!

[cruisenfever]

David, thank you so much for sharing your cruise experience on Brilliance with us. Your pictures are absolutely wonderful. We are doing this cruise and the Arctic Circle itinerary but on Vision next June. I was excited when we booked but after seeing your photos, I don't know if I'll make it to next June.:D

 

Do you have any recommendations for a pre-cruise hotel in Copenhagen? Looks like layering was the dress for most days. How warm/cold did it get during your cruise?

[ollienbertsmum]

I really am enjoying this review (despite the watery eyes), I am actually wishing we were on a Back to Back so we could see it all over again.

[Lilly57]

Hello David, and thank you so much for the wonderful review, really enjoying reliving this cruise through your eyes. We enjoyed it immensely and I would happily do it again, visiting the same ports, don't think you can have too much of a good thing!

 

Love your photos!

 

Lynda

[villauk]

Hello David, and thank you so much for the wonderful review, really enjoying reliving this cruise through your eyes. We enjoyed it immensely and I would happily do it again, visiting the same ports, don't think you can have too much of a good thing!

 

Love your photos!

 

Lynda

 

Lynda,

 

Yes, that's you........ha ha...lol :p. Reliving the M&M as well as David's review!

 

Joking apart, we agree with your comments: would definitely do this cruise again. From an unpredictable start, it turned into so much fun :D.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Hello David, and thank you so much for the wonderful review, really enjoying reliving this cruise through your eyes. We enjoyed it immensely and I would happily do it again, visiting the same ports, don't think you can have too much of a good thing!

 

Love your photos!

 

Lynda

 

Hi, Lynda - glad you enjoyed the cruise and approve of my review. Please feel free to chip in if I miss something.

 

David