Help deciding a Norwegian Cruise from the UK

[DaleCooper]

Hi everyone
My wife and I have never done a cruise before but we have our heart set on going to the Norway in 2024 (we haven’t got a date preference).

 

With budget in mind, we were leaning towards using P&O on the Iona ship but some things have put us off. Firstly, the fact that we keep hearing stories of them not stopping at scheduled ports due to weather etc. Also, we’ve heard that it can be a bit more raucous with kids. We don’t have kids and would prefer a more quiet, relaxing experience.

Do you think our above concerns are valid or are the stories we’ve read not that common?

Do you have any other recommendations for us? We’ve tried to do a lot of reading but the choices can often be overwhelming.

To give you more of an idea of what we are looking for, we are adventurous types who also love to unwind in the quiet and have some pampering. So preferably a relaxing time on the ship and the opportunity to explore (hiking, nature etc) when we go to ports. We are happy to keep to ourselves and spend time in more quiet areas. We aren’t ones for shows and such.

We haven’t got a ton of money, but the P&O prices were in our ballpark. Thanks a lot for reading. Hopefully I’ve given enough info for someone to help!

 

[ziggyuk]

Don't let "not stopping at scheduled ports due to weather etc." put you off, this happens to all cruises as there is nothing they can do about bad weather. If you want to try and reduce the chances of this happening, try to choose a cruise with less tender ports. the tenders (lifeboats) can't launch to take you ashore in bad weather.

Next, if you want to avoid raucous kids, then make sure you choose the dates carefully, school holidays will be more likely to have lots of children onboard. That said Norway does not attract families with children as much as warmer climates like the Med.

Next, look at ships that suit your likes, we tend to use NCL the most as they are very relaxed, no formal nights where you are expected to dress up and freestyle dining, this allows you to go to the main dining room whenever you like (unlike fixed dining times) and you will have a table for your party size rather than sharing. Some people like to share a table, we would rather have a two top, that is personal choice.

I would also suggest you look at MSC, they have the Vertuosa home based in Southampton, she is very new and a lovely ship, MSC do some very well priced cruises to Norway, we did one recently and loved it. MSC do have fixed dining times if you want to eat in the dining room rather than the buffet, however on the Virtuosa they tend to put you in a row of two top tables (same table each night) which I like better than a big shared table. MSC do have an occasional formal night but it's optional, if like me you don't want to dress up. 

So what I am saying is choose a cruise like based on what you like, many people love dressing up on formal nights, some don't. Again some people love fixed time dining with the same people for the social aspects, some people would rather have the freedom to dine alone when they feel like it.

[John Bull]

Altho our preferences are different., you have some excellent advice from @ziggyuk 

 

Firstly on the different preferences.........

 

All dining in Iona's main dining rooms is "freedom" dining, same as NCL and many other lines. That means you dine whenever you like during restaurant hours, and you choose to have your own table (two-tops) or you choose to share - you can decide which on the night, altho it's better to pre-book two-tops or you may have to wait for an available table, whereas there's usually no wait for shared tables (4 to 8 covers). Sharing with strangers is pot-luck, and shaing every evening can be more interesting (sharing experiences, learning from more-experienced cruisers etc) - or more tiresome (same "where are you from"-type questions, trying to remember names) .

If you strike up friendships you can arrange to go to the dining room together.

 

P&O have one (sometimes two) formal nights per week  - no absolute need for a DJ etc, but tee-shirts, football shirts, etc are taboo in main dining rooms on those nights - that avoids awful dress clashes where formal/ chic / dress-to-impress mixes with Hawaiian shirts and baseball caps. If that's not your scene you can book a speciality restaurant or eat in the buffet.

 

NCL isn't our preference - they have a reputation for nickel-and-diming, and standards of the included dining can suffer from NCL's policy of  concentrating on premium-pay restaurants.

And like all US and Italian lines there are add-ons, including daily service charge (about $15 pppd), and about 18% "tips" added to already overpriced drinks. Don't let those extra costs put you off NCL, but do figure the extra costs when comparing prices.

 

MSC have the youngest and most-stylish ships in the business, and prices are keen - but unless quoted otherwise there'll be similar add-ons to NCL's. Sailing from Southampton most passengers will be Brits, but announcements are likely to be multi-lingual and entertainment is mainly musical and visual.

 

For the above and a number of other reasons, I rate a Brit cruiseline like P&O as a safer bet for a first cruise.

 

P&O have two price options. "Select" prices tend to be much higher and on Iona / the fjords there's no difference in dining options & unlikely to be any included port shuttles, so the only advantage of the higher price is choosing your own cabin rather than just a guaranteed grade. 

 

As Ziggy's post, there'll be few older kids on Fjord on Baltic cruises, and tiny tots will be tied to their mothers' apron-strings.

Itineraries normally note which ports are ashore by tender (the ship moors offshore & you're ferried to the port by tender), but larger ships like Iona usually avoid tendering due to the number of passengers.

 

Don't go rushing to book ships' excursions - they're over-priced and unavoidably regimented & inflexible. Check out local excursion operators and DIY.   

 

One change to be wary of - larger ships will be banned from some major fjords . I don't know the details or date but you need to check this out. 

 

All first cruises are great, and Norwegian fjords are a good first choice  - scenic cruising, and your bed & board is waaaay cheaper than a land visit to expensive Norway.

 

JB  🙂

[ziggyuk]

There is one other good point here, if you are working to a budget.
I believe ( @John Bull can confirm as I don't have the experience) P&O have much better bar prices if you don't want to buy a package, I'm told it's much closer to London pub prices.

Other lines like NCL you really need to consider a drinks package as drinks are very expensive without, you really only need 3 drinks a day to make a package worthwhile. Also NCL will not allow you to bring drinks onboard unless you pay $15 corkage for each wine bottle (no spirits, beer, soft drinks or even water allowed).

Again, I'm not sure what P&Os rules are on bringing drinks onboard.

[flossie009]

Also take a look at Hurtigruten

https://www.hurtigruten.com

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/663-hurtigruten/
 

 

[Izzywiz]

You have had some very good advice from the other posters  and a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords is a great introduction to cruising.

 

Although you have given quite a lot of information about yourself and your wife, there are some key details which may influence your choice of cruise line. It would be helpful to know, roughly, your age group and also give an idea of your location in the UK.

 

P&O ships cater mainly for the British and only sail from Southampton. Iona is a very large, modern ship with a passenger capacity of 5,200 which can mean that the small ports in Norway can get overwhelmed.

 

MSC Virtuosa is Italian owned but, because it is sailing from Southampton, it will cater for the British with a bit of added Italian flair. It has a capacity of 6,300 passengers.

 

Hurtigruten is basically a Norwegian ferry company although their expedition cruises are a bit more like traditional cruises. Prices are quite high though.

 

All ships offer you the chance to buy excursions in the ports that are run by the cruise company but the ship is basically a floating hotel so once you are in port you are free to get off and on at will and then do your own thing on land.

 

I don’t know if you have considered Fred Olsen Cruises. The line is Norwegian owned but its 3 ships are all based in the UK and cater mainly for the British. We have sailed several of their Norwegian itineraries for the following reasons;

• The ships have itineraries that begin in Newcastle, Liverpool and Southampton. We are located near Manchester so enjoy sailing from Liverpool for convenience and Newcastle because the port is less frantic than Southampton.
• Although the ships are not as new as those of P&O and MSC they are comfortable and well maintained.
• The ships are all about a third of the size of those mentioned above and have a passenger capacity of 1,300ish so making disembarking at the ports so much quicker and easier. The space per passenger is also greater so the ships never seem crowded.
• FO caters mainly for an older demographic and we started cruising with them in our early 50s and felt very comfortable. We rarely see children on board.
• Their itineraries often include the smaller ports which can’t be easily accessed by the huge ships.
• There is less likelihood of ports being cancelled because of the weather because the ships are more manoeuvrable.
• Drinks prices are comparable with pub prices.
• Although we prefer the ‘restaurant’ style dining (just turn up at your chosen venue and be seated randomly) offered by most cruise lines we don’t mind the traditional’ dining (same time, same venue, same table) that is the way it is done in the main restaurant on FO ships. Also, the FO speciality restaurants are exceptional value and the buffet offers tables that are set with mats and cutlery and are never crowded.
• The ships offer a range of activities and guest lecturers for sea days - you don’t need to do any of these if you don’t want to.

You do need to take into account the fact that FO still charges a daily gratuity of £5pp which is added to your ship board account.

 

Please feel free to come back with any questions.

[SteveH2508]

I am not going to retype a lot of the above but, if you are UK based, I would look seriously at Ambassador cruises.

[John Bull]

7 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

There is one other good point here, if you are working to a budget.
I believe ( @John Bull can confirm as I don't have the experience) P&O have much better bar prices if you don't want to buy a package, I'm told it's much closer to London pub prices.

Other lines like NCL you really need to consider a drinks package as drinks are very expensive without, you really only need 3 drinks a day to make a package worthwhile. Also NCL will not allow you to bring drinks onboard unless you pay $15 corkage for each wine bottle (no spirits, beer, soft drinks or even water allowed).

Again, I'm not sure what P&Os rules are on bringing drinks onboard.

 

 

We sailed P&O's Arvia, (sister of Iona) last month.

Unlimited drinks package was about £48 per person per day - that's not NCL territory ($99 per day plus 20% service 😵), but still expensive. Individual prices on P&O include beers at about £5.50 a pint, cocktails around £7 and cheapest wines (eg very acceptable Merlot) from £21 a bottle & also available by the glass. We spent less than half of their package price. No drinks service charges, & no daily cabin steward / waiter service charges. Like most P&O passengers we voluntarily put our hands in our pockets for the steward, tips for waiting staff don't usually make sense on freedom dining because you may never see the same ones twice.

 

As @ziggyuk says NCL is very restrictive on what you can take aboard, effectively no alcoholic or soft drinks or even water - an example of NCL's nickel-and-diming.

Like most cruise lines, P&O permit at the embarkation port two bottles of wine per cabin plus a reasonable quantity of soft drinks for consumption in your cabin. 

 

Arvia and MSC's Seaside (both about 5,500 pax) are the largest ships we've sailed, a bit too large for us - around 2000 - 2500  pax is our preference, but price & itinerary are more important to us.

P&O ships are smart & comfortable but bland in comparison to stylish MSC, or even glitzy NCL.

Princess are what I call mid-Atlantic, somewhere between P&O and NCL.

 

@Izzywiz has chipped in with Fred Olsen.

Haven't sailed Fred, but have driven many transfer coaches for his cruises. Passengers are overwhelmingly active recently-retireds. Izzy's comments are very much in line with what I've learned about Fred's ships.

Bear in mind my earlier comment about the impending ban on large ships sailing 3 or 4 fjords - Fred could be the answer.

 

Add Marella to the mix, we've sailed a number of their ships - again a British clientele, older ships like Fred's, cruises are inclusive of drinks, no hidden extras, good value if you accept the limitations of older ships.

 

I'll be happy to confuse you further by mentioning another dozen cruise lines 😄.

 

But finally, contact cruise specialist travel agents. They know their stuff, they can come up with advice similar to Cruise Critic contributors, and hold first-timers by the hand. 

 

PS Sheesh - now @SteveH2508 has added Ambassador to the mix.

Again smaller & older ships, I think its the phoenix of Cruise & Maritime, which we sailed a couple of times but folded a few years ago. Judging by the cruise prices they seem to have gone a little more up-market than Cruise & Maritime

 

JB 🙂

 

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, John Bull said:

not NCL territory ($99 per day plus 20% service 😵)

 

John, that is not the cost on NCL, there is no service charge on the drinks package in Europe only in the US and it's not $99 a day for the Free at Sea upgrade, that would get you 5 days on the current promotion.

It's £299 for cruises between 6-8 nights and currently on a 50% discount so only £149.
That also covers the free at sea which is wifi, drinks, speciality meals & excursion discounts.

 

A five night only costs £199 and currently at half price so only £99 so not bad at £20 a day.

This is the current promotional cost (50% off) of Free at Sea with NCL and very well priced, it's way lower than P&O if they charge £48 a day and you get much more than just drinks.

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

John, that is not the cost on NCL, there is no service charge on the drinks package in Europe only in the US and it's not $99 a day for the Free at Sea upgrade, that would get you 5 days on the current promotion.

It's £299 for cruises between 6-8 nights and currently on a 50% discount so only £149.
That also covers the free at sea which is wifi, drinks, speciality meals & excursion discounts.

 

A five night only costs £199 and currently at half price so only £99 so not bad at £20 a day.

This is the current promotional cost (50% off) of Free at Sea with NCL and very well priced, it's way lower than P&O if they charge £48 a day and you get much more than just drinks.

 

 

Thanks for that - I've not heard of any cruise line quoting the same total price for a different number of nights - eg £199 for 9 or 10 or 11 nights. Can you post the link?

Edit - Found it !!

 https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/cruise-deals/free-at-sea-uk

 

 

My info is from NCL's website - despite including UK in my google search it's a .com website and quotes  $109 plus  the 20% gratuity but I'm aware that cruise lines often remove service charges on cruises out of the UK and Aus., altho' cruise prices for bookings from the UK are usually higher which covers the missing service charges.

https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/onboard-packages/beverage-packages

 

There are also complaints of some cruise lines (initially just NCL) charging Spanish VAT on sales when sailing in Spanish waters. And a recent spate of complaints that NCL won't serve alcoholic drinks - including to those on drinks packages - while in various European ports (including Italy & Greece), citing local regulations, something not experienced by passengers of other cruise lines.

 

NCL's 50% drinks package price promotion that you quote is generous, but it's from a usually high start-point - and it depends whether that promo, or "free at sea" or some other decent promo is offered when the OP plans to book, and the small-print. 

 

Small-print brings up another factor. One reason why prices for cruise bookings from the UK or Europe are higher than for bookings from North America is that consumer protection in the USA is poor, whereas  consumer laws in the UK and EU are much stricter - particularly compensation for cruises cut short. etc.

US cruise lines' terms & conditions for us are very different from those for customers booking in the USA.

 

These are part of the reason why I recommend a UK cruise line for a first cruise, and why I won't sail NCL.

 

Despite my misgivings I have friends who've sailed NCL and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

Complicated, innit !!

 

JB 🙂

Edited December 29, 2023 by John Bull

[ziggyuk]

6 hours ago, John Bull said:

Complicated, innit !!

 

JB 🙂

 

It certainly is John, and for the OP, this is why nobody can directly answer your question & tell you who to book with, we all have different likes and dislikes, even trivial things like formal nights.
What is important to one person is irrelevant to others.
You will find each cruise line is slightly different and you need to select your line based on what you like.

[Thejuggler]

Norway is all about fjords cruising and over the years the routes have changed significantly, both due to ships getting larger and Norway clamping down on visitor numbers.

 

Flaam, Gerainger, Olden were the classic inland stops, but Olden seems to be the main port stop for P&O.  Of the three its the last I'd choose.

 

If its a one off trip look at doing a 14 day cruise so you can get to the North Cape.