Live - Sky Princess - Norway Fjords - 11 June - 14 nights

[Airwavey]

Hi all
As I said previously we pretty much had a chilling day for our first at-sea day. World Market breakfast, World Market lunch, Estrella MDR and Rock Opera this evening. 

Not sure I said before, for those that are interested in such things, our observations about dress in our first MDR last night - pretty much 'smart' with a few exceptions. 

Regarding mask wearing - guests are probably at around 10% at most - we are maskless. The crew, who are following CDC instructions, are 100% masked, no exceptions.

For some reason, I'm guessing related to the purchased Internet package, my phone has reverted to USA east coast time! And at one stage today, when I logged into The Guardian news website it welcomed me as a visitor from California 🤨

We have walked through the casino, on our way to elsewhere, a couple of times now. We would really like to use it once or twice, just for the experience, but it's just vile. A horrible combination of stale tobacco smell being, presumably, unsuccessfully masked by some foul smelling air freshening. 

Food wise, at lunch we expected to go light again eg salad, but were both enticed by the fish and chips. And then me by the bread and butter pudding. 

Tonight was the first formal night, of 3, for the cruise. As we entered the Estrella MDR we were in a sea of black and white. Most had made an effort of some type, many men in dicky bows etc, women in push frocks. Myself, not quite my thing and don't possess the correct garments anyway, but I did run to my best black Nehru jacket and collarless white shirt. 
We only did piazza/MDR/Theatre tonight so have no idea how 'formal' it was away from those areas.

 We went, very early, to the theatre for Rock Opera - I've been getting passable Internet connection there. People started to arrive in numbers from around 9.45 for the 10.15 show. It was pretty full by 10 and for the next few minutes guests were infilling into solo seats. Standing room only by around 10.05.

The Rock Opera is a full on heavy hitter - rock and musical bangers given a full production work over with some fabulous voices and professional production - think Britain's Got Talent favourite singing tracks, on finals night on steroids. A shame really that it is only on for these two shows for this one night. We'd certainly go again. 

Still on track for a 1pm arrival into Haugesund, as opposed to the original 8am. A shame, but we haven't booked any trips for the so not greatly affected. 

When we got back to our room we found out it had been re-serviced - bed made, curtains drawn, new flannels again!, new floor mat in shower. 👍

A change to the evening entertainment for tomorrow (or maybe I just hadn't noticed) but the comedian is Tom Binns aka Ivor Brackenbury The Hospital DJ. We've seen him at UK festivals and watched his TV series and he is funny. Looking forward to that. 

[phabric]

I was on the Sky June 4-11,  Norway Fjords.  I had purchased the WiFi separate.  I was refunded $35 for lack of WIFI for 3 days. I don’t know if anything was refunded if you had WIFI was a perk.

[Eglesbrech]

Thanks for your live review, enjoying reading it.

[nyold]

Thank you for letting us follow along. I am enjoying it!

[PacnGoNow]

Do you have Captain Marco Fortezze?

He’s awesome.

[srpilo]

18 hours ago, phabric said:

I was on the Sky June 4-11,  Norway Fjords.  I had purchased the WiFi separate.  I was refunded $35 for lack of WIFI for 3 days. I don’t know if anything was refunded if you had WIFI was a perk.

 

Just curious ..

Was Travel Insurance required (asked for) in Southampton at boarding for North Americans ?  The FAQ's on the UK Princess site seems to require travel insurance for Brits, but not from USA and Canadians passengers (?)

 

[phabric]

1 minute ago, srpilo said:

 

Just curious ..

Was Travel Insurance required (asked for) in Southampton at boarding for North Americans ?  The FAQ's on the UK Princess site seems to require travel insurance for Brits, but not from USA and Canadians passengers (?)

 

As a Canadian, I only had to show my Covid negative test results and my vaccination paper ( paper is easier for them to read than phone).  
 

I have never been asked to show any insurance papers in 35 cruises.  It is up to passengers if they want insurance or not.  British cruisers have different requirements for booking than North America cruisers.

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

As a Canadian, I only had to show my Covid negative test results and my vaccination paper ( paper is easier for them to read than phone).  
 

I have never been asked to show any insurance papers in 35 cruises.  It is up to passengers if they want insurance or not.  British cruisers have different requirements for booking than North America cruisers.

Yes, Brits have to have insurance. It is part of the booking t&c's. Mind you, it would be crazy to cruise without insurance anyway !

[nini]

2 hours ago, srpilo said:

 

Just curious ..

Was Travel Insurance required (asked for) in Southampton at boarding for North Americans ?  The FAQ's on the UK Princess site seems to require travel insurance for Brits, but not from USA and Canadians passengers (?)

 

No, cruisers from USA are not required to purchase travel insurance. Some of us actually already have medical insurance which covers us internationally- even on Medicare Advantage Plans.

[srpilo]

2 hours ago, nini said:

No, cruisers from USA are not required to purchase travel insurance. Some of us actually already have medical insurance which covers us internationally- even on Medicare Advantage Plans.

 

Thanks, that what I thought

[Airwavey]

Hi al

Up earlier yesterday/Monday

 

7.30. Into World Market breakfast by around 7.55 and loads of room. But it picked up and got busier by around 8.15.

 

Wet overnight. Decks somewhat awash with water. 

 

Thought we had a problem with the shared single WiFi package. Everytime Pip went to swap devices/sign in on her phone it went around in circles. A quick trip to the Internet Cafe - it was because Pip was logging in with her date of birth whereas, of course, the account is in my name/date of birth. So sorted in seconds. WiFi still that slow that if I was staying in a land based hotel with "free WiFi" I'd be at reception complaining about it. 

 

The ship's routing looked somewhat strange this morning. When we switched on 'location' on our room TV it showed that we had travelled north until we were level with the Southern tip of Karmoy Island. This is the long island that is west and south of our port, Haugesund. We had then turned eastwards and it looked like we were heading to go through the channel separating the island and mainland.  We had then U-turned completely, and headed back out westwards before turning north again. So we did 2 + 1 long sides of a triangle to get to Haugesund rather than directly in on the diagonal, so roughly as shown in picture. No idea of how much time that must have added? 

 

Whilst having a coffee/cake in Piazza, at around 10.15 the boat did a very sharp turn, we could feel the floor sloping inside. 

 

Captain updated us over tannoy on weather - about 15°C and showers. In the end we docked at around 10.45 and were able to disembark at around 11.30, with a latest return time of 5.30pm.

 

To disembark all we needed was our medallion though there was a displayed notice to take our "Government ID" with us. This wasn't checked though.

 

The Haugesund Town centre was about 950 metres from the boat exit, via a very steep up and over concrete bridge. A shuttle bus was available for those who wanted/needed it at 60 króna for an all day pass (so around £5 based on the exchange rate we had for a purchase today). We walked.

 

At the Dock there was also a land train which for around £25 did a HOHO tourist route of about an hour. Although we wouldn't have done this anyway we didn't know about it until we went ashore. 

 

Also at the departure point was a small building with souvenir shop, and a free supply of help-yourself-and-return umbrellas. Useful, as we had forgotten to take ours out with us. There was also a free town map, which had 7 walking itineraries on it ranging from 1 to 3 hours. 

 

A digression, for future reference. We do what is called "Geocaching". This involves seeking out hidden caches - typically small containers ranging in size from thumbnail size up to tupperware boxes - which contain a paper log to sign. This is managed and registered by a phone app - isn't everything nowadays. There are 10s of thousands of these hidden all over the world. In the 2 years we have been doing this we have sought out and found around 800 so far. There are fellow cachers with thousands of finds to their name. Geocaching can give a walk a purpose and take us away from the commonly trodden paths.

 

Haugesund is a small, fairly typical scandanavian town. Whilst the centre is not inherently pretty - functional would be a better description - there are some nice individual buildings and several cute statues dotted around the town.

 

A walk around to find/log around a dozen or so caches took us nicely around the town centre. Pip's strava log for our walk around registered a modest 7 miles today.

The Town Hall - redhause - is a solid block, but the crisply carved water fountain outside is the star in this area of town. 

The town centre church is a solid red brick building. Regrettably when we arrived at about 1.07pm visitors were being ushered out. It turned out that it was only open from 11am to 1pm today. We managed to get past the outcoming flow of people and at least get inside for a brief look though not a look around. Well worth a visit.

 

Some idle walk around of the main shopping street - Haraldsgata - filled the rest of our time along with a coffee, with some free and decent WiFi.

 

We headed back to boat to reboard at around 4.15 for some cabin r&r/tea/coffee.

The weather during the afternoon was a bit mixed. The umbrella was up and down. It wasn't particularly cold but it was damp. 

 

We settled on World Market buffet for dinner tonight. We took the courtesy of cancelling our MDR booking. We looked to eat before tonight's 8.15 show.

 

Arriving at World Market two things struck us
1 - 6pm and although it was quite quiet all the window seats mainland-side were taken for departure
2 - barely 1/4 of the serving stations were open. I guess that from experience and MDR/other bookings they must know that 75% (?) eat in the MDRs and elsewhere.

 

It was Asian night tonight, as in a couple of curries, Korean sesame chicken, Philippine pork, BBQ carved ribs...., noodles.....

Pip/curries, me/chicken & beef + rice pudding & pineapple /barleysugar sauce/ice-cream

 

We entered into theatre at 7.30 for the 8.15 Tom Binns comedian show. By 7.50 theatre was filling at the same rate as previous night's 10.15 Rock opera show. Maybe people are coming earlier after seeing how full it got previous night.

 

We enjoyed Tom Binns. We know something of his work but had not seen this character - a spoof psychic - of his before. Later in the week he is doing an R rated late night show which I hope we can get into. 

 

An observation - we have seen hardly any children on this cruise yet. Maybe half a dozen at most. Of course it is term time back in blighty. Where we have been able to assume/ascertain we think the children are American where their summer vacation starts ridiculously early (I have a brother who is a naturalised American for 38 years, married with children).

 

Today, Tuesday, visiting Skjolden, we travelled 120 miles or so up the world's longest fjord.

 

We arrived in Port around 7.30( due at 8pm). As we were travelling through the fjord from very-early-o'clock we were up by 6am. We booked an in room breakfast for the earliest slot, 6.30am, so we can breakfast and watch one side of the fjord pass by. It arrived in the middle of the "window", around 6.45

 

Now using our roaming phone signal to get a good WiFi link.

 

We'll make sure to find a good slot for the sail out. 

[Airwavey]

Photos for above post

[caribill]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:31 AM, Airwavey said:

Which, therefore, would mean for us £735 more than we "need" to pay just to access unlimited (though it's not unlimited as it's a max 15 drinks per day) drink.

 

Just to be sure, please know that the max 15 drinks is for alcohol beverages. Included non-alcohol beverages are unlimited.

 

 

On 6/12/2022 at 11:55 AM, nini said:

 

I am enjoying your report. Please know that in reference to the "Crew Appreciation" charge, that if a guest removes this charge/ gratuity from their bill, that any cash tips that may be offered to individuals,  will need to be turned in to the staff pool and that individual crew member will not be permitted to keep what they were offered by the guest.

 

 

It has been posted that this has changed since the restart and the staff may keep any cash tips whether or not the passenger has kept the daily gratuity charge on the account.

 

Probably this has been done since so many book with the Plus package that includes gratuities that cannot be reduced or removed it is not worth the effort to collect those cash tips and check if they can be returned to the staff.

 

On 6/12/2022 at 5:27 PM, Airwavey said:

For some reason, I'm guessing related to the purchased Internet package, my phone has reverted to USA east coast time!  And at one stage today, when I logged into The Guardian news website it welcomed me as a visitor from California 🤨

 

 

Even though you are nowhere near North America, the Princess web servers are located in California and Florida. So when you sign in, any web site will think you are in one of those locations.

[Happiest when cruising]

On 6/12/2022 at 3:12 PM, nini said:

Exactly! I think when most look at the Princess Plus, the ONLY thing on their mind is, "I really do not drink" or "I really do not drink much".

When you sit down and really analyze each factor (not just "drinks, i.e. alcoholic beverages), then it makes sense.

I just don’t understand why people question those of us who don’t find great value in the “Plus”… and continue to post what they drink each day. 
For me.. its a no brainer- I sometimes purchase a cup of coffee from the IC in the AM. I might have an alcohol drink or two in total for the 14 nights and none for my husband, he might get a soft drink now and again.  I don’t like soda. 
Also .. as Canadians we have the exchange to pay which adds about another 30% to the cost., which makes the current price of 50 p/d about 68 CAD per day per person.No thanks…

I also get the internet at a discount and my spouse has no interest in using internet on vacation. 

Sometimes, people just don’t want the extra sugars and calories, from all those drinks, either. 
 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Happiest when cruising

[nini]

8 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I just don’t understand why people question those of us who don’t find great value in the “Plus”… and continue to post what they drink each day. 
For me.. its a no brainer- I sometimes purchase a cup of coffee from the IC in the AM. I might have an alcohol drink or two in total for the 14 nights and none for my husband, he might get a soft drink now and again.  I don’t like soda. 
Also .. as Canadians we have the exchange to pay which adds about another 30% to the cost., which makes the current price of 50 p/d about 68 CAD per day per person.No thanks…

I also get the internet at a discount and my spouse has no interest in using internet on vacation. 

Sometimes, people just don’t want the extra sugars and calories, from all those drinks, either. 
 

Good for you. It looks like you have done the math for you and spouse. Thank you for quoting me out of the 1000 others who explain the math and other benefits besides "drinks".

We really counted on being able to take our 16 oz. bottled water with us on shore and not be billed each time at $2.00 a pop, which by the way is not loaded with sugar and calories.

[Mary loves to travel]

I think we're all getting a little antsy waiting for the OP to come back with the next update 🙂

I know I am.   Hoping the cruise is going well, and that the generator problems are not impacted the other ports, just Haugesund.

 

Mary

[EllieinNJ]

I'm also waiting for the OP on a Carnival Norway cruise to start posting his "LIVE".  He hasn't posted anything since his negative tests pre cruise.

[Airwavey]

Hello all
Excuse the delay. Have been too busy cruising to update
😁

First things first - the generator problems have not caused any other of our stops/itinerary to change at all. Ins & outs to all three stops since the previous post - 
Skjolden, Olden, Trondheim - were all to published times of in at 8am, out at 4pm. We pushed off on time on all 3 so I'm guessing we had no latecomers holding up departure. And arrival, after tomorrow's at sea day, into Honningsvåg is expected on time too. 

 

Breakfast arrived on Tuesday as booked, around 6.45am, slap in the middle of the chosen slot. All was fine with it. A note or two
- coffee and tea came in thermos flasks so was hot, and there were 3/4 cups-full in each. The "hot" milk though came in a jug so had cooled somewhat 
- we had ordered 2 cereal of choice, and also 2 milks. Just as well. We got what we ordered so clearly ordering "cereal" is not automatically interpreted as +milk

 

It was worth getting up early to watch the fjord pass by. 

 

Skjolden - a delightful, sleepy head-of-the-fjord settlement of around 250 people. Many trips available away from the village, but not much to "do" there... except walk. The boat moored around 1km from village centre. A lakeside facility on route was offering RIB rides, paddle boards and bikes for hire. 

 

The setting is lovely, green and lush. We walked off to the east to start with, a road based, lakeside route for about 2.5 miles with a couple of impressive waterfalls along the way. This was also the route to Wittgenstein's hut, though we didn't quite go that far.

 

On return to Skjolden centre we availed ourselves of the centre's facility - a tourist/swimming /climbing wall/Café building on the water's edge. This was full of cruisers using the free WiFi to surf or make calls. The toilets were struggling with the numbers. 

 

We then headed NEast, upwards, to a viewpoint with a magnificent view down along the fjord. We totalled around 8 miles today before returning to the ship. 

 

Soleil dining room that evening. All fine. Asked if we wanted private or shared - our preference is for private. We were shown straight in to a table, but no one was waiting and I'm sure a shared would be just as quick. From where we sat we could see another table of 10 being filled gradually with couples willing to share. 

We are finding, on the whole, that there is plenty of seating if you are away from the really central areas ie away from the Piazza. 

 

Overnight I left my phone on to charge without switching it off or setting to airplane mode/data roaming off. In the morning I noticed that I had had 3 messages from my mobile provider. The first told me that they had detected that I was accessing via a ship's WiFi link, and listing what various activities would cost. There were 2 other messages telling me I had incurred costs of ~£5 and ~£9. Oh well, a learning point - remember to engage airplane mode/switch off overnight. We had clearly moved far enough off shore from phone signal!

 

Wednesday was Olden. Slightly bigger that Skjolden - 500 people - and with a small "shopping centre" for those so inclined. 

We World Market breakfasted this morning, early, ~ 6.50. We still continue to be impressed by the available range. We seem to keep finding things we haven't noticed before eg grits (sorry, urgh) and "biscuits with gravy" which to us brits looks like scones with a white sauce 🤪. Each to their own. 

 

Some people on the discussion boards have complained about the layout. Not sure what their problem is. Each item is repeated in a number of locations, when you have walked around it a couple of times it all becomes clear

 

The standard "orange juice" is crap though. Unevenly and over-diluted.

 

Again, no trips away for us - we are only doing 2 "tours" on the cruise - to the Northern Cape, and the Lofoten Islands. 

 

First walk around 2 miles through and beyond the village for a couple of miles to the "new church". Then after an ice cream stop another 2 miles northwards, half way towards Loen. Around 6 caches some during the walks. 

Weather looked a bit drizzly at first but we were soon dropping layers. The boat was berthed just north of town centre so in passing through after the church walk we dropped into our cabin to leave some clothing behind. 

 

Observations -
-our walk in the Loen direction was not the best as most of the route is without pavement, the road is busy and the traffic is fast
-before turning back we were sat across from the Loen Skylift. Don't know what it is actually like at the top, and I think there are some nice walks and treks up there, BUT it's £50! And it doesn't go very high, probably no higher than the Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire. And they want £50!! Before going we had researched that there was a bus route to Loen - the 111 - that went 5 or 6 times during the day. But separately there was a shuttle bus doing a constant out/back from the ship to the Skylift. 
-popular trips were pre-booked glacier tours BUT there was a constant supply of red double decker 1 hour trip to glacier buses. They are advertised as 1 hour with a 10 minute photo but many are returning empty so I'm guessing they are operating as HOHO and probably give enough time to do the glacier walk at the far end. 

 

When we had finished walking Wednesday we had done 8 miles, again. We had a soak, therefore, in one of the hot tubs above the Retreat Pool - we are on deck 17 just outside the Retreat Pool, with the level above having 2 hot tubs. A Medallion order for 2 glasses of Prosecco for delivery to us in the tub was delivered in a couple of minutes. The tub was very warm, almost too much so, but a dip in the Retreat Pool afterwards was refreshing. That pool temperature was very pleasant - more comfortable than the pools we had in holidays earlier this year in Lanzarote and Egypt - and refreshing after the heat of the hot tub. 

 

We gave Alfredo's Pizzaria a try on Wednesday. Just turned up and were shown in. The pizzas we had were very nice indeed. Tasty, nice crispy edging. There is an outside eating area but not in use at the moment given the weather. A shame about Alfredo's is the lack of window tables, not helped by having a couple of waiter tables occupying space next to the window. 

 

Thursday was Trondheim, one of the few large places visited on this cruise. Off at around 8.30am after World Market breakfast. Did a lot of Geocaching today, and put in another 9 miles. Went to the major city centre sights - cathedral, Archbishops Palace, (but didn't pay for entry), Old Town Bridge, Bike Lift (broken, not working), Bakklandet... and a little bit of shopping, real and window. Stuff is expensive here. Coffee, hot chocolate, and a fresh from the oven hot cinnamon bun cost us ~£13 in a very nice bakers/cafe which had 1/2 baguettes on sale at £12 to £15.

 

And some specialised outdoor clothing shops - trekking trousers at £250, lightweight t-shirt at £80, waterproof coat at £300 anyone?? But they are very nice, and some glorious NON-UK colours. 

 

Our first Swirls ice cream when we got back on board hit a refreshing spot.

 

Tonight we are in Estrella for dining and then how we can get into Tom Binns late night, 11.30, R rated show in the Vista Lounge. Hope it will be big enough.

 

Nothing else to report from a Princess Cruises point of view. Staff/service is still friendly and efficient at all times. Room is being serviced twice a day - bedsheets haven't been changed yet. I know because I have "tagged" them. All dining has been delicious. 

[Happiest when cruising]

9 hours ago, nini said:

Good for you. It looks like you have done the math for you and spouse. Thank you for quoting me out of the 1000 others who explain the math and other benefits besides "drinks".

We really counted on being able to take our 16 oz. bottled water with us on shore and not be billed each time at $2.00 a pop, which by the way is not loaded with sugar and calories.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.  I was just giving examples of reasons why some people don’t purchase the package. I do understand most people like it, and that’s great. Something for everyone.
In case you don’t know, the water from the ship is very drinkable, and you are allowed to bring your own water bottle onboard. They will happily give you water, ice tea, or lemonade and ice in a glass,  that you can fill into your own container. 

[phabric]

I noticed while on the Sky that the orange juice is from a box  called - Orange Cocktail 

[dides]

18 minutes ago, phabric said:

I noticed while on the Sky that the orange juice is from a box  called - Orange Cocktail 

So glad we got freshly squeezed orange juice with our suite breakfast in Sabatinis on Sky - they didn't have it when were on Enchanted Princess last month so thought it was a general cut-back!

[bellagiio]

1 hour ago, dides said:

So glad we got freshly squeezed orange juice with our suite breakfast in Sabatinis on Sky - they didn't have it when were on Enchanted Princess last month so thought it was a general cut-back!

If you have the Princess Plus drinks package you can ask for real,orange juice !

[insidecabin]

Following with interest.

 

For reference Southampton parking starts at £2/day near the motorway.

Central  is available at £4.

Fall back is the West quay multi story £5.

Some central hotels like the Dolphin do £5 as well.

Even with taxi each way you often save enough to pay for the hotel(cheap one).

 

Use the alternative parking sites like parkonmydrive there are others..

 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Some central hotels like the Dolphin do £5 as well.

I thought the Dolphin was now being used for refugees.  

[Airwavey]

On 6/13/2022 at 3:18 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Do you have Captain Marco Fortezze?

He’s awesome.