MSC Meraviglia-Norwegian Fjords- Hellesylt/Geiranger

[CruiseIreland]

I have booked a cruise on Meraviglia for next August, visiting the Norwegian Fjords. I suspect that the 1st port stop, described as Hellesylt/Geiranger is actually just dropping ship tour passengers off at Hellesylt and continuing on then to Geiranger for the day.

Can anyone confirm this or otherwise? 

Ken

[brderyck]

Ken - cruised the same itinery last August and can confirm you are getting it right.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G950F met Tapatalk

[CruiseIreland]

Many thanks for your reply. I almost booked a boat trip from Hellesylt to Geiranger and return! Would you recall how long the drop off in Hellesylt cost time wise? Thanks, Ken.

[brderyck]

Time to drop off was about a hour.

[Epos Man]

What do people think of these itineries we are  looking for soething for 2020 we have done the western med and eastern med and this year doing the carribean

[Beamafar]

Ken ... where are you embarking?  (I'm really curious about this as I've considered doing a Northern Europe itinerary;  I just have no idea about how we'd get to the embarkation ports).

 

I've just had a look at the route on the website ... crumbs, they haven't half added in the cost of the "included" premium drink package, judging by the prices.  😱  Did you book thru' a TA here, or the UK or did you book direct?

[Epos Man]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

Ken ... where are you embarking?  (I'm really curious about this as I've considered doing a Northern Europe itinerary;  I just have no idea about how we'd get to the embarkation ports).

 

I've just had a look at the route on the website ... crumbs, they haven't half added in the cost of the "included" premium drink package, judging by the prices.  😱  Did you book thru' a TA here, or the UK or did you book direct?

 

Thats what i want to know as well Beamafar fancy a trip like this but others I have spoken to say that once you see one of the fjords then the trip gets very similar one fjord after another

[Beamafar]

18 minutes ago, ikea logistics said:

 

Thats what i want to know as well Beamafar fancy a trip like this but others I have spoken to say that once you see one of the fjords then the trip gets very similar one fjord after another

 

I fancy doing the route up to Russia, overnighting in St Petersburg.  It won't be this year, though, as we've got it covered, but maybe next year?  Mind you, the way prices are going, I may have to wait a couple of years LOL

[CruiseIreland]

@Brderyck: thanks for your helpful response.

@Bea: I didn't realise that Premium Drinks were included with Fantastica bookings on those sailings. I went ahead and booked with my US TA(ha! I've got a TA) at a significantly lower price for Bella than Irish site. Subsequently realised that the promotion was on but, as you point out, the Fantastica balcony is well increased to pay for it. So, we are going Bella and adding the Easy package. We will embark at Copenhagen. Flights from Dublin are reasonable and we will have 2 nights there before boarding. I've booked tickets direct for the Flam railway, €60pp versus €175pp with MSC. For me, this itinerary will show the best of the fjords plus a day in Kiel/Lubeck. In Geiranger, l hope to book a coach trip to Stegastein viewpoint. Haugesund will be a leisurely look around.

Edited January 6, 2019 by CruiseIreland

[Beamafar]

Cheers, Ken.  Sounds like you have it all sorted.  We haven't as much planned and we're heading this day 2 weeks!  🙄

[CruiseIreland]

Fab Bea. Are you off to Cuba?

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Cheers, Ken.  Sounds like you have it all sorted.  We haven't as much planned and we're heading this day 2 weeks!  🙄

 

[Beamafar]

Yes!  Direct flight out to Miami, stay overnight before the cruise and then doing 2 nights after (so we can get the next direct flight home).  Having read about the changes made to Armonia and the entertainment, I'm really looking forward to it.

 

We've wanted to see Cuba before its culture gets watered down with the increased tourism!  MSC had 2 excursions included - they'll give us $50 credit for each if we opt for any others.  Will have to see what's on offer onboard before we make a decision.  The included ones don't seem very attractive.

 

Not too pushed about Grand Cayman - been there, done the tour to Hell (and back!  heehee), will probably stay onboard.  We've booked an MSC excursion for Jamaica (DH didn't want to get off here - he'd been on holiday there before and reckons it's dangerous).  I'm looking into booking a private tour in Cozumel.  We've been before and did the Tulum ruins, so want to do something different.  Going to beach clubs in the Caribbean is not our thing.

[CruiseIreland]

Have a wonderful trip Bea. That would be worthy of a trip report, methinks! We're off to Miami in Feb to catch the Seaside. Spending 3 days prior in Key Largo and 10 after based in Orlando, probably. 

[Beamafar]

Thanks Ken!  Not sure I'm up to doing a report on this one - we'll see.  There's certainly some interest in the Armonia on here.

 

Hope your 'surprise' works out well for you!

[CruisingFox27]

15 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Ken ... where are you embarking?  (I'm really curious about this as I've considered doing a Northern Europe itinerary;  I just have no idea about how we'd get to the embarkation ports).

 

I've just had a look at the route on the website ... crumbs, they haven't half added in the cost of the "included" premium drink package, judging by the prices.  😱  Did you book thru' a TA here, or the UK or did you book direct?

Bea we did the 10 night Baltic from Copenhagen last year, direct flights from Dublin. We're also going to the Fjords this year from Hamburg, also direct flights from Dublin. There are direct flights to Berlin if you prefer. 

 

I'm slightly worried about "Fjord blindness" and DH is already complaining about the weather!

[Beamafar]

It's the German embarkation ports that I have a problem with in terms of which airport would we have to fly to and then the logistics of getting to the port from there (we're not into using trains - only taxis/private shuttles).

 

For Copenhagen, only Ryanair flies there, IINM;  not too keen on trying them, either.  However, if I do eventually get around to seriously considering a cruise from there, I'll suck it up and chance them.

 

Can't blame your DH ... I think the reason I haven't yet committed to a Northern Europe cruise is because of the weather.  After all, when you go away, you want something better than what we get at home!

[CruisingFox27]

We don't do trains ourselves, not with luggage, we learnt it wasn't very easy the hard way and never again.

 

We've regularly flown with Ryanair and never experienced any issues. A lot of the negative stories come from people who didn't read the T&C's or follow the, admittedly sometimes complex rules. Slightly like knowing your way around MSC policies and anomalies.

 

Our weather for our Baltic cruise was really nice last August, in the 20's. We go all the way to the North Cape on our Fjords trip and it's May so it obviously won't be so warm. DH likes warm. And it's not going to be warm in NYC or Canada either

Edited January 7, 2019 by CruisingFox27

[Beamafar]

Yeah ... I could pack for that Canada trip right now ... it's our upcoming one I can't seem to get a handle on.  It's too cold to be thinking of clothes for warmer weather LOL.  Think I'll put the heating up full blast - that might help.

 

The problem with the one to NY for us is that we're staying on to do the repo to Miami so have to  pack for 2 different climate regions  😱  I've just now booked our flights and I've added another suitcase to allow for the weight of the warmer clothes we'll be needing.

[CruisingFox27]

It's always more difficult if packing for different climates, although not as extreme, we've just negotiated the Med to Caribbean. The suitcase was overweight   Still, it's a FWP!

 

I'm seeing my NYC friend on Friday, I'm hoping to garner hotel and location advice. We've done nothing for that trip yet, oops!

 

Turn the heating up, channel your inner Caribbean vibe and unleash the suitcases

 

 

[CruiseIreland]

23 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Thanks Ken!  Not sure I'm up to doing a report on this one - we'll see.  There's certainly some interest in the Armonia on here.

 

Hope your 'surprise' works out well for you!

Should do! 👍

By the way, SAS fly Dublin-Copenhagen if you want to pay the premium. Interesting comment on 'fjord blindness', there are 3 fjord stops on the cruise. I have booked trips, locally, for 2 of them, Geiranger and Flam, but l think the 3rd stop will be a walkabout. 

CF7.. your trip sounds interesting. Ken

 

[CruisingFox27]

Thanks Ken, looking forward to it. Whilst I'm sure lots of Fjords do look the same after a while, the scenery in general looks spectacular, I can't imagine being bored of it. I look at the mountains of Donegal everyday and still love the view.

I'm just arranging trips for our trip and will try to break up the days but the stunning scenery has to be the main attraction of the region.

In context, we were discussing Caribbean Island 'blindness' with a couple on our recent Caribbean cruise and they said they felt the same applied to the Fjords.

[Beamafar]

19 hours ago, CruiseIreland said:

 

By the way, SAS fly Dublin-Copenhagen if you want to pay the premium.

 

Thanks for that, Ken.  I'll keep it in mind.  Don't mean to sound like a snob about Ryanair;  my father worked for Aer Lingus and so I always lean more toward them.

[CruisingFox27]

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Thanks for that, Ken.  I'll keep it in mind.  Don't mean to sound like a snob about Ryanair;  my father worked for Aer Lingus and so I always lean more toward them.

 

I've just confirmed our Hamburg/Dublin flight and chose Ryanair over Aer Lingus. Although after they abandoned us in Orlando for 3 days I confess that Aer Lingus aren't my favorite airline!

[Beamafar]

I haven't heard good things about their transatlantic flights;  we're booked twice this year going Stateside - I'm not expecting much.  🙁

[CruisingFox27]

It was the shambolic mis-management of our 2 cancelled flights that was the issue. We were only arriving at a hotel at 5am and had to be out at 10am, so I was too exhausted to actually remember the flight! Offering to fly us on a plane which had just failed it's flight test didn't endear them to us either 😡