Norwegian Fjords cruise?

[Lena11033]

13 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Having a trip over my birthday makes it a lot easier to turn down administration when they start begging for people to work summer school too. 🤣 "So sorry! I have a non-refundable trip planned over my birthday" somehow comes off better than "No, I need a mental break."

 

lol no judging from here, I've been back from my last cruise a month to walk into a complete mess and everyone's dumping on me. So stressed my husband told me to book another cruise - ok then.

Which is how I ended up with the Norway one so now have three booked for next year but they are nicely spaced out for my mental health, unfortunately nothing for the rest of this year.

[MMMCruiser]

Assuming #2 is in late August (not sure when your school starts) I'd also lean towards #1.  I've been to Norway in mid-August and another time in early September and it was cold both times.  I mean, it's Norway, so that's unusual and we should expect cold weather, but I'm hoping that July will be a bit warmer.

[the penguins]

14 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

I meant "search for cruises" ON the Hurtigruten site. Being solo complicates things with the price - that's why the 2 Apex itineraries are ideal since they have solo staterooms with IV (which I love).

Thanks for the clarification. Sounds like Apex is a good fit for you. Be aware Celebrity ships from the UK attract a large a  number of kids during school holidays - on Silhouette in 2022 to the Fjords we had 4 kids the next sailing, i.e. during holiday time, the number was over 200.

[Shiba_Lover]

21 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Piggybacking if I may...

 

Which is better between these two:

Bruges, Belgium; Flam. Geiranger, and Bergen, Norway

-or-

Stavanger, Geiranger, Flam, and Haugesund, Norway

 

Debating between those two itineraries for 2024. Pricing roughly the same. First one departs Southampton on my birthday. Second would be a couple of weeks before school starts back.

I've done a bit of research on these places as we are going on 2024.  If scenery is your goal, choose the first listing.  

[Sigyn]

15 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Having a trip over my birthday makes it a lot easier to turn down administration when they start begging for people to work summer school too. 🤣 "So sorry! I have a non-refundable trip planned over my birthday" somehow comes off better than "No, I need a mental break."

Do you watch Ted Lasso? If so, you know what Roy Kent would say to them. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 minute ago, njsmom said:

Do you watch Ted Lasso? If so, you know what Roy Kent would say to them. 

 

No. I tried, but couldn't get into it. I know...I'm like the only person who doesn't love it.

[the penguins]

18 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

I looked carefully at those 2 for myself and chose the first one.  There's a thread over on the Northern Europe page where you might get more responses, but I'll chime in with my 2 cents worth here. 

 

I've been to Stavanger and it was fun, but the Geiranger and Flam fjords are considered much better.  And Haugesand doesn't appeal to me as much as Bruges, I guess?  With the first one you will cruise for hours down those 2 fjords. 

 

Hope this helps.

Just curious about the "cruising for hours". A quick look at the schedule and you will see you spend most of the day docked. The "cruising" is either early morning or late afternoon which is when many passengers are getting ready for /are eating dinner.

In addition as only Suite passengers have access to forward facing lounges on E class ships the opportunities to enjoy the full majesty of the Fjords is severally limited.

S class ships are much better suited to this type of cruise but regrettably that won't be an option from the UK in 2024.

[ExpatBride]

On 5/10/2023 at 12:25 AM, dani negreanu said:

 

Agree. Geiranger is a must in every Fjords itinerary.

 
I also agree. I'm taking my 4th fjords cruise this summer and Geiranger is a major reason that I sail similar itineraries over and over. I'm going to be seriously disappointed when the cruise ship ban comes into effect, but I understand why they're doing it.

[Sigyn]

The news about Geriranger means I'm going before 2026. Very helpful information!

 

And @WrittenOnYourHeart I'm sad for you about Ted Lasso. It's turned into such a beautiful show with meaningful moments. I get it, tho. Some things don't click for me, either. 

[MMMCruiser]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

Just curious about the "cruising for hours". A quick look at the schedule and you will see you spend most of the day docked. The "cruising" is either early morning or late afternoon which is when many passengers are getting ready for /are eating dinner.

In addition as only Suite passengers have access to forward facing lounges on E class ships the opportunities to enjoy the full majesty of the Fjords is severally limited.

S class ships are much better suited to this type of cruise but regrettably that won't be an option from the UK in 2024.

It takes hours to go down those fjords (hence, yes, views for hours).  Over on the Norway thread the numbers of hours for each one was discussed.  Personally I plan to be up early watching it, and I won't miss it all because of a meal.  We all have our priorities.  There are also options to cruise in a smaller boat once docked, but I don't see the need.

[MMMCruiser]

6 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

No. I tried, but couldn't get into it. I know...I'm like the only person who doesn't love it.

 

It took me a while to really start to like it, so I get why someone might not.  I think it's a great show now.

[Emmauk]

I had done a 14 day Norway cruise and the most impressive ports are Geiranger and Lofoten island. if you can have a sop at the lofoten island it would offer very different and stunning scenery 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by Emmauk
Can’t load my photo

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

It takes hours to go down those fjords (hence, yes, views for hours).  Over on the Norway thread the numbers of hours for each one was discussed.  Personally I plan to be up early watching it, and I won't miss it all because of a meal.  We all have our priorities.  There are also options to cruise in a smaller boat once docked, but I don't see the need.

Sorry that's what I said either very early or late. Compare it with Hurtigruten where you cruise for hours during the day.

Also I believe the other threads are referring to cruising on S or M class ships which all have forward facing  Sky Lounges whereas the E class have no such viewing area unless you are a suite passenger. Hurtigruten also has a large forward facing lounge open to all passengers.

As always it's about choice, we have cruised on both Celebrity and Hurtigruten. H wins hands down when it comes to the actual Fjord cruising  experience. 

 

[MMMCruiser]

2 hours ago, the penguins said:

Sorry that's what I said either very early or late. Compare it with Hurtigruten where you cruise for hours during the day.

Also I believe the other threads are referring to cruising on S or M class ships which all have forward facing  Sky Lounges whereas the E class have no such viewing area unless you are a suite passenger. Hurtigruten also has a large forward facing lounge open to all passengers.

As always it's about choice, we have cruised on both Celebrity and Hurtigruten. H wins hands down when it comes to the actual Fjord cruising  experience. 

 

I'm not comparing anything to Hurtigruten.  I'm just trying to respond to the question someone posed about 2 different itineraries.  I don't want to derail this thread any more than it has been already so I don't see the point in responding any more.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

10 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

I'm not comparing anything to Hurtigruten.  I'm just trying to respond to the question someone posed about 2 different itineraries.  I don't want to derail this thread any more than it has been already so I don't see the point in responding any more.

 

Thank you. The shilling for Hurtigruten has gotten ridiculous. We get it. @the penguins loves (and/or possibly works for?) that line. This is the Celebrity page and a thread about Celebrity's Norwegian Fjords cruises.

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Thank you. The shilling for Hurtigruten has gotten ridiculous. We get it. @the penguins loves (and/or possibly works for?) that line. This is the Celebrity page and a thread about Celebrity's Norwegian Fjords cruises.

Sorry if I have offended in any way but you have no grounds for even suggesting that I work for any cruise line - which I don't and never have.

To set the record straight - 2 posters have recommended HAL and 1 Royal but you haven't attacked them.

Celebrity is our number one choice, the line we chose to celebrate our Golden Wedding on and 9 out of our last 10 cruises have been with X (7 Silhouette and 2 Eclipse).

However when it comes to Norway the line I mentioned has more experience than all the other cruise lines combined.

 

[Oceansaway17]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Sorry if I have offended in any way but you have no grounds for even suggesting that I work for any cruise line - which I don't and never have.

To set the record straight - 2 posters have recommended HAL and 1 Royal but you haven't attacked them.

Celebrity is our number one choice, the line we chose to celebrate our Golden Wedding on and 9 out of our last 10 cruises have been with X (7 Silhouette and 2 Eclipse).

However when it comes to Norway the line I mentioned has more experience than all the other cruise lines combined.

 

yes I have heard about "H" cruise line.  But a lot of Americans might not have or think that line is geared toward Europeans.   Still I like what HAL does in Norway.

[the penguins]

4 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

yes I have heard about "H" cruise line.  But a lot of Americans might not have or think that line is geared toward Europeans.   Still I like what HAL does in Norway.

Thanks. One of the great things about Cruise Critic is the opportunity to share information which enables others to consider alternatives that they might never have heard about. As I have said many times before there rarely a right or wrong answer just choices and the more information we have the better.

[Ken the cruiser]

Ever since HAL chose to implement their Music Walk strategy of offering entertainment options in the various music lounges in 2017 and moved away from main theater entertainment, they just got too boring for us, regardless of the itinerary.
 

OTOH we are super excited about going on the 12-day Apex Norway and Arctic Circle cruise we’re currently booked on in July 2024! If you haven’t cruised yet on the Apex, which cost over $1.2 billion to build, you’re in for a treat! The entertainment options on evenings and sea days are quite extensive! They also have 4 MDRs to chose from if you’re not in an AQ or higher cabin.

 

Here’s a Live From thread I did back in Nov 2021 when we cruised on the Apex for 16 days. If you want just look at the pictures to get a feel for what the Apex has to offer!

 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2811263-nov-6-apex-b2b-east-west-caribbean-cruise/
 

[ohiopops4]

This thread has been so helpful.  We're also booked on the Apex 12 Night Arctic Circle trip in July of 2024.  We've sailed on the Apex and we really love the ship.  In addition, the July 2nd cruise date works well for us.  However, after reading the other posts, are we making a mistake by not looking for an itinerary that stops in Geiranger?  Especially if cruise ships won't be able to stop there after 2026.

 

We almost always cruise Celebrity but we did just take our first HA cruise on the New Statendam last November.  We still prefer Celebrity, but we would definitely cruise on HA again.  

 

I'd welcome any further input.  Thanks!

[Mark.Jules]

Our Norwegian Fjord cruise departs on June 18, and this thread has me excited to check this off out list. Thank you to all who are posting.

[wineoclock]

We are on Silhouette end of May for 7 nights as that’s all we had time for. Ideally would have liked a longer cruise but other commitments and a ‘taster’ of Norway for us is better than nothing! 

[debsjc]

I would stick to the summer, as although you won't see the Northern lights, you miss a lot of the scenery in the winter with the short hours of daylight. 

 

We have done 2 Norwegian routes, a 14 day on HAL ex Amsterdam which went right up to the Arctic Circle, and we saw the midnight sun. That stopped at Bergen, Geiranger, Stavanger, Alesund, Honningsvag and Flam. 

 

Last year we did a 10 night Carnival ex Dover. The ship was disappointing as expected, but we did it for the routing which was great. As well as Bergen and Stavanger, the new ports for us were Olden, Molde and Skjolden and we loved all of those. The scenery in Olden & Skjolden is stunning, and the sail in through the Fjords in amazing too. Molde is great for going to see the The Atlantic Road. 

[ShawninFL]

We did the "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise in June 2022 and absolutely loved this cruise.  We ended up choosing Royal Caribbean as our first choice, Celebrity, was only offer 7-night options and we wanted to travel all the way north to Honinngsvag.  And Holland America and Princess were cost prohibitive to our budget.  We were blown away by Norway's natural beauty, even more beautiful than Alaska.  We had 5 clear days/nights of 24 hour sunlight.  Quite the amazing experience still partying at 2 AM in full daylight.  Our itinerary included Molde, Tromso, Honningsvag, Flam, Alesund, Haugesund, and Kristiansand.  Yes, our itinerary missed Bergen and Greinger, but we'll catch them next time.  Yes, cruising out of Flam was amazing, but in all honesty, after an hour or two for looking, you do move onto other things. Make sure to schedule tours to seek out the natural landscape in ports.  We rented vehicles in two ports and toured ourselves.  We took the train in Flam, ziplined down the mountain and rode bikes back to town.  The others we hired a private guide or did a private tour.  We weren't disappointed in anything we did.  Definitely do your research for this cruise so you don't miss seeing something you find out you were near after you get home.  Happy cruising,

[ohiopops4]

9 hours ago, ohiopops4 said:

This thread has been so helpful.  We're also booked on the Apex 12 Night Arctic Circle trip in July of 2024.  We've sailed on the Apex and we really love the ship.  In addition, the July 2nd cruise date works well for us.  However, after reading the other posts, are we making a mistake by not looking for an itinerary that stops in Geiranger?  Especially if cruise ships won't be able to stop there after 2026.

 

We almost always cruise Celebrity but we did just take our first HA cruise on the New Statendam last November.  We still prefer Celebrity, but we would definitely cruise on HA again.  

 

I'd welcome any further input.  Thanks!

Thank you for the feedback and sharing your experiences with other itineraries.