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Live from Iona Norwegian Fjords 20th May 7 Nights

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davecttr

davecttr

Posted
Posted

Has Norway agreed to accept the GHIC card? Last i heard was the negotiations are continuing, however they will accept your passport instead?

 

edit - just checked and no mention of passport except for UK nationals resident in Norway

 

no GHIC card cover in Iceland or Liechtenstein either.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
bubsie

bubsie

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HI everyone, thought I'd pop back on and give you a little account of our week. 

 

Unfortunately we were affected by Storm Antoni which meant that we were kept at Southampton until after midnight on departure day. In the morning we were still only at Dover and then the Captain advised that due to Antoni it would not be safe to dock at Stavanger on the Monday and instead the plan was to decrease our speed and meander up slowly until our planned stop at Olden on Tuesday. This was obviously disappointing but we were happy to be safe - it was very rocky on the boat! On Tuesday we did dock but then were told that our excursion to the glacier and other excursions via helicopter were cancelled due to risk of landslides and the stormy weather. Again, very disappointing but we completely respected their decision and were again, happy to be safe! We knew that weather in Norway would be unpredictable and we weren't expecting to come home with a tan but it was definitely quite not what we were expecting! 

 

As to all your recommendations, well I can only say THANK YOU! 

 

Everything you recommended was spot on. 

 

We logged onto My Holiday once we reached the terminal and were able to book some of the 710 shows. On board we were able to book more and it turned out that this was our favourite thing of the week - the group on our sailing were absolutely fabulous. The pianist (Seb) went home part way through the week and a new one started who, for us, wasn't quite the same but was still great. Thanks so much for this recommendation! Seb, Ryan, Ellis and Adam, you were just wonderful! 

 

I also have to recommend Neil Lockwood. He was great! We went to both of his shows and loved them. Thanks again for enlightening me! 

 

We had also booked the other shows (Handwritten/Festival etc) presented by Headliners Theatre Company. Unfortunately these weren't for us. We ended up cancelling our bookings for the shows later in the week. 

 

We decided not to go to Limelight and see Gareth, however we did end up going to the Limelight house band shows and we thought they were absolutely great! They were sadly almost deserted. The female vocalist and bass player were particularly brilliant!

 

Like ICF we liked the Crows Nest bar the best, followed by Anderson's and then Emerald (they had some different cocktails in Emerald, including one served under a smoking dome which my husband loved!). Crows Nest was our favourite by far though. 

 

We did book Epicurian - if I did this again I would pay more attention to the itinerary as we went on a 'cruise by' evening which was unusually dry and clear (at least the first part was) and we could have sat on our balcony and watched as we sailed through a Fjord whereas in the restaurant we weren't on a table next to the window so didn't see much. It was foggy by dessert time anyway! It was also rainy or foggy on the other occasions we could have watched a Fjord as we drifted through so our Epicurian night was our best opportunity and we missed it! Well you live and learn.

 

We also ended up in Sindhu - we waited over an hour and still no starters - turns out our orders hadn't been submitted properly on the tablets they use. The manager dealt with this very well and we were well looked after once the error was realised - happy customers! Unfortunately only 1 of the 4 of us actually enjoyed our meal and our friends sent their bottle of wine back as they thought it was so poor. Not a great experience for us sadly. 

 

We enjoyed our Chefs Table meal. The chocolate dessert was yum! 

 

We mostly ate in Coral and Pearl; we also tried Aqua once, all were perfectly nice. We were particularly impressed by their vegetable cookery! They didn't offer a wide range of veg but none of us could workout how they managed to cook such huge quantities of broccoli without it going soggy - brilliant. We usually went to these restaurant for breakfast too which was very nice. We also used the buffet a few times. I had planned to use the outside area by the Quays as recommended by ICF but it rained every day until Thursday so we weren't able to sit outside at all until then. 

 

Getting on and off the ship was easy and smooth. Virtually no queue to enter the terminal and then a 5-10 min queue to show our passports etc. Barely stopped walking when we reached the luggage scanning area and then straight on board - absolutely great! Brilliant again when we disembarked. All very smooth and easy. We also managed to use CPS for parking which was very expensive but did make it incredibly easy! We paid £180 for parking booking CPS via a link on the P&O website. Our travelling companions opted for free parking from P&O (versus increased OBC or coach transfer) and when we boarded and checked our OBC we only had £90 OBC more than them which means choosing free parking from P&O was by far the better option! We will know for next time. 

 

Thanks so much for all your information and help, you guys make this a really great community! 

THANK YOU! 

 

 

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TigerB "Live from...." Rare

TigerB

Posted
Posted

Thanks @bubsie for the update.👍

I'm glad your overall experience was fairly positive, despite several setbacks.  It's a shame about Stavanger, it's a much nicer port than Haugesund, in my opinion.

CPS is very expensive, as you've found out; we would only use them if we diverted some OBC to the booking. Like you say, you know for next time.

 

This forum is great for advice; like you, I have found out so much information, and have in turn been able to help others.

 

Good luck planning your next trip.🙂

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TigerB "Live from...." Rare

TigerB

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, ParisHilton said:

Slightly disagree. Stavanger and Haugesund are quite different towns. I'd not say one is much nicer than the other.  Or do you specifically mean the port.  The port at Hagugesund is quite industrial , though interesting in its own way.

 

That's fine, you have your opinion and I have mine. If we all have thought the same thing all the time, it wouldn't make for a very interesting world, would it? Again, my opinion only, but I think Haugesund was more of a port of convenience for the company than a 'wow' destination for the passengers.

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purplesea

purplesea

Posted
Posted

Thank you for your update. Glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise, although it is a shame about the weather. 

I have sailed to the fjords before and have had better weather than we've had at home, but like anywhere, it's the luck of the draw!  We're due to sail there again in two weeks time, but will go prepared for all weathers.

 

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