Live from Iona Norwegian Fjords 20th May 7 Nights

[TigerB]

13 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Drink prices have just gone up £4.95 is now £5.05!

 

Outrageous!😯

I'm going to write a letter of complaint.

Dear Mr P&O....

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Hi - I know you are not posting on the Arvia thread you started but can you tell me how easy it is/was to travel solo?  Are there solo meet ups etc like on the smaller ships?   Seems like it might be difficult on one’s own on such a big ship.  I’d be glad to hear from anyone else as well who has done Arvia or Iona solo as I am tempted by a cruise in September.  

Personal opinion, but have done over 70 cruises solo and small ships are much more sociable. However, much more expensive particularly if you want a balcony. Also depends on your age as small ships have a much older demographic! 

[TigerB]

18 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 

 

Like me, you clearly have what our son-in-law refers to as two bellies, a savoury one and a sweet one.😉

Selbourne and I have a bit of a double dessert challenge going on for Epicurean. I tried it once, with mixed results (see here). 

I'm going to try and give it another go on Iona next month. Are you up for that action?

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Everything is going up though to be fair. Bar man told me yesterday between 5% and 10% on everything from next week. 

 

Food too? 

[Megabear2]

51 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Food too? 

You mean specialist restaurants? If so not at this time (that's the Keep & Cow manager saying that).  

[Red Ray]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:44 PM, jaydee6969 said:

 

Yes, we went to Haugesund, but no shuttles provided.  There were a lot of unhappy people on the walk up into town.  The Google map extract below was taken during Covid, but that was were we docked too.

 

 

We were on Arcadia to the fjords 2 weeks ago & Haugesund was the first port of call. There were definitely shuttle buses provided though they were never advertised.....

We did the walk over the bridge & back to the town but really there is very little to detain you. I wanted to visit the football stadium as I 'collect' them so got some photos.  Incidentally if you are walking back to the ship over the bridge, try and stay on the right hand side - the homeless & alcoholic amongst Haugesund's populace congregate under the bridge on the other side and it's not a particularly pleasant experience as you are in full view....

[zap99]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

Outrageous!😯

I'm going to write a letter of complaint.

Dear Mr P&O....

Or only have 49 pints instead of 50. That 'll teach them.

[TigerB]

54 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

You mean specialist restaurants? If so not at this time (that's the Keep & Cow manager saying that).  

 

I should blooming well think so too!

[CarlaMarie]

3 minutes ago, Red Ray said:

We were on Arcadia to the fjords 2 weeks ago & Haugesund was the first port of call. There were definitely shuttle buses provided though they were never advertised.....

We did the walk over the bridge & back to the town but really there is very little to detain you. I wanted to visit the football stadium as I 'collect' them so got some photos.  Incidentally if you are walking back to the ship over the bridge, try and stay on the right hand side - the homeless & alcoholic amongst Haugesund's populace congregate under the bridge on the other side and it's not a particularly pleasant experience as you are in full view....

 

The shuttle buses are not supplied by P&O now though so you do have to pay if you want to use them at Haugesund. 

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

The shuttle buses are not supplied by P&O now though so you do have to pay if you want to use them at Haugesund. 

I paid about £5 return last month. Very efficient ran every 10 15 mins no queues. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

7 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

Like me, you clearly have what our son-in-law refers to as two bellies, a savoury one and a sweet one.😉

Selbourne and I have a bit of a double dessert challenge going on for Epicurean. I tried it once, with mixed results (see here). 

I'm going to try and give it another go on Iona next month. Are you up for that action?

Definitely capable of having dessert and cheese board!! Lol

 

I sometimes have starter followed by  soup as well before mains!! 

 

We've had a great day today in Stavanger. Really great day - will write it all up tomorrow morning

 

Finished the day with Epicurean and Headliners.

 

So much to tell you all about

[Interestedcruisefan]

10 hours ago, TigerB said:

After a belated start, where some folk thought you were still stuck in the queue outside or were driving around Southampton looking for a parking space, the trip reports are starting to come in thick and fast.👍

When on Arvia we seldom sat for a long time in the Atrium, apart near to the windows in the Amber lounge area of a late morning or early afternoon, where we would have a coffee. To be honest, I didn't equate it to an airport lounge vibe. When we are on Iona in a few weeks I'll open my eyes and ears, and reassess it.

 

We never actually sat in Brodie's, but when we were at the slots near to it, we never had a problem with seeing nearby waiters and getting a drink.  The same with the Clubhouse, where we were frequent visitors; we never had a problem with getting a waiter's attention.

 

In post #188, Gettingwarmer writes about the disparity of available drinks throughout the different bars. I get that, particularly with draught beers; the Clubhouse suffers with that problem, despite it being busy of an evening.

I get what you mean about Anderson's and the bar at Sindhu; we though prefer the Crow's Nest, where it feels more out of the way.

 

As someone that eats at some really posh restaurants on land, I'm surprised at your star rating of The Quays for breakfast. We've not had a proper breakfast in there; the one day that we were up late we got there just as it was closing. When we were up early as we navigated the Straits of Gibraltar, I did pop in for a pre-breakfast of a single fried egg on fried fried, and it was very nice. We have passed through when they've been open for breakfast. I would like it more to a PI breakfast, but with the addition of fried bread and an omelette station.

 

Here's a proposal: try and live dangerously and have at least one breakfast in one of the MDRs, and report back to us. In return, I promise to have a full breakfast in The Quays.

 

 

Oh, and when you are next sat in a quiet bar, enjoying your delicious cocktail, try and work out how to rotate photos on your phone; I'm starting to get RSI in my neck. Just sayin' 😉

 

 

Will do

 

We will have MDR dinner one night as well

 

Test out the booking and queuing for that

 

Will try on the camera as well. It annoys me as much as it does you guys!

 

Lol I can even master the P and O app but not how to rotate a photo on my phone!!!!

[Interestedcruisefan]

9 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

did you notice if they do alcohol free cocktails in Sindhu? thanks

Will  check. Pretty sure they do everywhere  they sell alcoholic ones

[Megabear2]

Is there any bread or toast in your Quays? I had a boiled egg yesterday and searched high and low to no avail, ended up with a croissant.  I assumed bread would be with that but may be you might know.

[TigerB]

36 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Definitely capable of having dessert and cheese board!! Lol

 

Been done! Although I did struggle.  No, if you want the winner's rosette for Operation Double Dessert in Epicurean, it's got to be two sweet desserts.😉

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Is there any bread or toast in your Quays? I had a boiled egg yesterday and searched high and low to no avail, ended up with a croissant.  I assumed bread would be with that but may be you might know.

Definitely fried bread in the full English choice but will check for toast. I thought I saw it but will check

[Interestedcruisefan]

Ok today we moored between some street art and a big building that said Galerie on it. There were no other cruise ships in port

 

Someone asked I think?

[Interestedcruisefan]

So no worries here about queues for shuttles. Thank god

 

Straight into the main harbour area

 

We walked to some ticket booths at 9.45am approx and reserved 2 seats on a rib trip into the Fjords for 12.15pm. 

 

That cost 100 pounds each approx. Paid with card. 

 

Didn't get any kronas so anything we did today we paid by card.

 

Whilst we booked we asked for directions for the old town and surprisingly it was the opposite direction to where we expected so good job we asked

 

It's a short walk uphill

 

As we got there - there was a guided walking tour passing by so I listened in for a couple of mins

 

To discover that Stavanger means steep hill in Norwegian. It really wasn't that steep IMO

 

And that their first industry was herrings but then replaced by canning fish. Which was really important for sailors so they had food that could last. 

 

The rich lived in the houses closest to the harbour and the poor furthest away up the hill

 

Anyway interesting start !

 

Next minute we walked past 2 couples talking and one of them said the fish canning museum is a must visit so we thought let's do it whilst we wait for our rib tour

 

Anyway what a great museum. It's actually 2 museums in one. One about the printed word and printing and one about fish canning. They come together at the end as the prints on fish cans actually became very collectable in Norway

 

Sounds a bit boring? But it's the total opposite

 

The first part of the tour was the evolution of the written word and printing and you get pens to point at links which provide great audio information

 

Here's one truly amazing fact I learnt amongst so many

 

Religious leaders wanted to spread the word of their religion by making more bibles

 

But before printing it took 3 years for someone to basically copy or write the bible!!!

 

3 years imagine that. But that's what they had to do back then. 

 

Then a Norwegian created an early method of printing that allowed 180 bibles to before created in 3 years

 

The museum takes you through the whole evolution of printing. Including the first newspapers and people using typewriters etc. We all remember those things don't we?

 

Imagine the manual work we did

 

I even remember having to send postcards in to Multi Coloured swap shop to enter competitions.

 

You guys can go back further than me of course but when you stop and think modern technology has changed everything so incredibly from someone having  to spend 3 years copying 1 bible!

 

Fish canning was equally interesting in  its own way

 

Anyway suffice to say it's a great museum and good start to our day in Stavanger

 

I only took photos of some fishcan labels at the end

 

Too busy listening to the audio 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Next to the rib tour.

 

Don't worry about coats or anything. They provide everything including gloves and  goggles if conditions need them. Today was calm and no rain so they weren't needed. The gloves and goggles that is

 

It's a 1hr 45 mins excursion. First and last 10 minutes are slow out of the harbour. Then it's 35 knots with 3 stops

 

1 at Vagabond Cave where Norwegian Trolls live! Lol

 

1 at Pulpit Rock

 

1 at a waterfall 

 

It's a really fun and invigorating trip. Only got bumpy today when we passed other boats or ships etc.

 

We saw an eagle fly above on the way. You sometimes see porpoises. We didn't today

 

Some photos below. Also got a video at the base

 

 

of the waterfall. Not sure that will work below? But it's great if it does.

 

Ps all my photos are portrait when I take and load them but turn sideways on here

 

Sorry

 

Ps the Fjords are great but so far they've not beaten the Scottish Western Highlands but maybe better is to come?

 

On the tannoy this evening the captain advised us to get up early as there will be fabulous views as we come in to the next port

 

But he also added if you cant manage it don't worry you can see the views again when we leave tomorrow night!

 

Lol

 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

After the rib cruise we found an old fashioned looking pub called Proud Mary and we had a Norwegian beer.

 

Then we walked the opposite side of the harbour to the old town where all the retail shops are  etc

 

I bought 2 shirts reduced from 100 pounds to 50 pounds each. Nice shirts - I will be wearing one in the images from Epicurean I post later. Although the image is dark. Apparently we can claim 10 per cent tax back at our last port as well? They gave us a document to claim it. Will let you know on that

 

Bought some nice chocolate as well. 

 

We then went  in the Maritime Museum back in the harbour. That's free entry with the print and food canning museum tickets.

 

Another interesting museum. With reconstructions of a house from the old days. Worth a visit but not as good as the earlier museums if you only have time to visit one

[Interestedcruisefan]

Tonight we went Crows Nest for cocktails

 

6pm busier than I expected. Lots of people head there for cocktails before getting ready for there evenings clearly as all the window seats except two were already taken

 

However second row and inner tables had loads of spots but we took the window ones

 

Followed by superb meal in Epicurean we matched with glasses of wine ourselves 

 

I googled which wine went with each course and bought a glass we shared accordingly to taste with the food

 

Lots of images below that tell the story of the meal

 

I have a video of crepe suzettes I will try and load tomorrow when my phone has more charge as well

 

Can't fault the meal at all

 

[Megabear2]

40 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

no worries here about queues for shuttles.

Interesting point - sorry to digress. A lot of people I've spoken to here on Arvia have only ever sailed Iona last year in Norway. They're telling me they expected the same on this cruise and some think P&O are deliberately parking miles out in container areas. More than any I think these are the disgruntled, first timers know no different and us oldies know what to expect.

[emam]

ICF with regards to your photos, I think it's because the file is too big, or maybe a portrait photo saving the same way as a landscape one.

 

Great blog, don't tell too many people to walk a bit further for tables or everyone will do so.

Edited May 22, 2023 by emam

[Interestedcruisefan]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Interesting point - sorry to digress. A lot of people I've spoken to here on Arvia have only ever sailed Iona last year in Norway. They're telling me they expected the same on this cruise and some think P&O are deliberately parking miles out in container areas. More than any I think these are the disgruntled, first timers know no different and us oldies know what to expect.

Sorry by "here' I meant in Stavanger. We walked straight off next to the harbour

 

No need for shuttles

 

Let's see what we face in other ports to come

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 hours ago, emam said:

ICF with regards to your photos, I think it's because the file is too big, or maybe a portrait photo saving the same way as a landscape one.

 

Great blog, don't tell too many people to walk a bit further for tables or everyone will do so.

 

It's ok there's only 68 of us on here and we don't all holiday at the same time!!!

 

Lol