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12 night Norway and Arctic Circle on Apex with Pre- Cruise in the New Forest ( maybe live!)


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27 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

For future reference if you open them on your phone, go to edit, click 'crop", click 'rotate', and rotate them around, and then save, they should post correctly. 

 

Thank you! 

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Posted (edited)

Great wrap up review photo dump 😎.  

What is the chandelier show? I am guessing something to do with the lights behind the bar ? . Will find out 7th September  😆.  

We have done the Arctic circle trip on Brilliance in 2012, visited all your ports plus the Lofoten islands. Our Blue nose ceremony was out on deck at 11.30pm !  Thank you for rekindling the memories . 

 

Edited by heatherb1958
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18 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

Then after dinner we plucked up the courage to go to the casino. It’s something so alien to us but there was a free $5 play so we thought why not? Well lo and behold I actually managed to win big….$39.50😂

 

Were you playing the 3 pig machine right off the hallway?  If so I saw you win as my wife was on the machine the other side of the pole.  I was the one who congratulated you on the win.

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Thank you for a very entertaining review with wonderful photos. I did a Norway cruise that went to Honnigsvag with Princess in 2019 which was one of my favourite cruises. Your review has revived some wonderful memories. Thanks again! 🛳️

 

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3 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

Were you playing the 3 pig machine right off the hallway?  If so I saw you win as my wife was on the machine the other side of the pole.  I was the one who congratulated you on the win.

To be honest I couldn’t tell you which machine I was on, although it was near the hallway. I had not one notion what I was doing and was completely bemused when the machine kept on chalking up free wins. I really need a lesson on how to play- I’m sure there must be some element of skill in it. Newsflash: my husband lost all my winnings the next night. 

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16 minutes ago, Scottishclover said:

To be honest I couldn’t tell you which machine I was on, although it was near the hallway. I had not one notion what I was doing and was completely bemused when the machine kept on chalking up free wins. I really need a lesson on how to play- I’m sure there must be some element of skill in it. Newsflash: my husband lost all my winnings the next night. 

I’m not a gambler either, but I’d play a free $5.  Only time I even play the lottery is when all the teachers on my team do it because I don’t want to be the only one left if there’s a big win!  Here’s hoping for a free $5 on my upcoming cruise 🤞🏻

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Day 11  - Kristiansand

 

What we did: walked the trails on Odderoya  and Baneheia

Other options: boat/ kayak/ Segway/walking tours, tour to Lillesand

Need to know: The ship dock is a bit industrial but it’s only about a 10 minute walk to the centre. Kristiansand is Norway’s summer playground so expect plenty of holidaying Norwegians. The whole place is very walkable.

 

Wow! What a contrast to our other ports. This is Norway’s sunniest spot and it did not disappoint😎😎😎 It had a real holiday atmosphere with lots of alfresco dining, a town beach, seafront promenade and for once the Norwegian tourists outnumbered the ones from Apex. I was immediately struck by how manicured everything was. There were a lot of flower displays around town. 

 

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These huge containers were all over town. 

 

 

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These tall displays were quite unusual. 

 

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Even the manholes were pretty!

 

Our morning walk took us to Odderoya which is a bridged island just to the right of the cruise port. It is a decommissioned military base which has been redesigned as a recreational area with trails and some  galleries. You can pick up a leaflet explaining the history of the place and it was a peaceful retreat from busy Kristiansand. The landscape was very typical of Southern Norway, rocky with trees and little coves. There was only one steep part and while I wouldn’t be doing it in my high heels, this was more walk than hike. 
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Images from Odderoya.

 

Afterwards, we walked along the seafront to the town beach, which was really quite busy. People were playing beach volleyball and DH remarked that everything is Norway is just better (compared to Scotland). Our seaside towns are pretty shabby and had their heyday many years ago. They don’t have the vibrancy that was evident in Kristiansand. 
 

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There were so many people on motor boats and a large marina. 

 

It was then onto the old town Posebyen. This a few streets of the white clapperboard houses, very similar to Stavanger other than being built in a grid system. It was tricky to get any nice photos due to the cars parked on the street. You forget that it is a mostly residential area. From there we walked past the cathedral to the main shopping and eating area, which was absolutely heaving! All the restaurants and cafes were busy with Norwegians enjoying some outdoor living. There were a lot of chain stores and restaurants and  it was good to experience some Norwegian city life. DH remarked that the people in Norway are just too good looking. We saw 5 boys walk out of McDonalds and every one of them could have been in a boy band😂

 

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One of the streets in the old town

 

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The cathedral sits on the main square. 


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The area around the fish market has been nicely developed. 


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Directly opposite the cruise port is the concert hall ( left) and the Kunstsilo ( right) which is an art gallery containing Scandinavian modernist pieces. 


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This street art is at the port. 
 

We went back on the ship for lunch. Kristiansand is probably a good place to try some Norwegian seafood off the ship as you are very near the fish market. However prices were very high. I checked out a few menus  - a bowl of cauliflower soup was £12 and take away fish and chips from a stall  was £20.

 

In the afternoon we ventured to the recreational area Baneheia. It’s up behind the town about a half hour walk from the ship. There’s 3 lakes at different levels and the third one was obviously a popular bathing spot for locals. We were wishing we had brought our swimming things with us for a very authentic experience. The Norwegians just love to sunbathe on a rock🤷‍♀️We saw it everywhere today. 

 

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There were plenty of trails to keep you occupied at Baneheia. 

 

The show tonight was Andrew Derbyshire. He seems to be a bit of a Celebrity favourite but unfortunately not ours. He had a decent voice but his show was spoiled by far too much talking and nonsense. It bordered on tacky. He was lucky if his set contained 5 songs. Other than the comedian, it was our least favourite of the headline acts. Afterwards we went to the silent disco: battle of the DJs and shock horror, we even managed to persuade DH to join us this time. 


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6 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

Great wrap up review photo dump 😎.  

What is the chandelier show? I am guessing something to do with the lights behind the bar ? . Will find out 7th September  😆.  

We have done the Arctic circle trip on Brilliance in 2012, visited all your ports plus the Lofoten islands. Our Blue nose ceremony was out on deck at 11.30pm !  Thank you for rekindling the memories . 

 

The chandelier show is just the martini bar bartenders doing their show. It lasts one song usually played live by the band. When we entered the Arctic Circle it was just 4pm, which is probably why Celebrity decided to have it when we left at 10:30 pm.

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On 7/12/2024 at 1:22 PM, hcat said:

great review.. talented writing and photography!  thanks for sharing...

Thank you for following. Can’t say my photography is that talented - I just point the phone and press😂 I actually found it difficult once on the cruise to find the time to write,  as our port and sea days were quite full on. I really admire everyone who keeps up to date with a live review when on the ship. 

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Day 12 - Last day at sea and Debarkation

 

All good things must come to an end and despite my best intentions of packing lots into the last day, I actually ended up doing not very much. The things I really wanted to do were Tai Chi, Beyond the Podium: History of Chocolate and line dancing. I’m afraid I made it to none🤦‍♀️.  The weather was glorious and there were a lot of people on the resort deck. 

 

After our final  dinner we went to see Rockumentary. The cast really delivered. Then after playing Majority Rules, it was onto Eden to see Night of Dreams. If you haven’t clocked it by now, we really enjoy all the nighttime entertainment. We have seen this show before but I thought this performance was exceptional. I really like the intimate setting. We got there about an hour early and managed to get really good seats on the higher level of Eden. The ship was much quieter tonight, perhaps as many passengers had long flights the next morning and were expecting problems due to the global IT outage. We, on the other hand, could afford to be night owls as our flight up to Glasgow only takes an hour.

 

The mood in Oceanview  is always a bit somber on the last morning. DH and I didn’t feel too bad as we have our anniversary cruise on the Ascent in a few weeks and enjoyed rubbing it in to the DDs who will be left at home for that trip. Don’t feel too bad for them, they have been lucky enough to travel a lot over the years and have had some amazing experiences. From walking down the gangplank to getting to Southampton Airport it took us just 1 hour. We walked to Southampton Central from the port and caught a train to the airport so you could do it quicker if you caught a taxi. There were loads lined up outside the terminal. The airport is so small that you will never have huge queues at security so an early flight is very doable. We would definitely sail from Southampton again. 

 

Next up: My final thoughts about our Norway and Arctic Circle cruise.

 

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16 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

Thank you for following. Can’t say my photography is that talented - I just point the phone and press😂 I actually found it difficult once on the cruise to find the time to write,  as our port and sea days were quite full on. I really admire everyone who keeps up to date with a live review when on the ship. 

some people naturally have a good eye!

and good writing comes from the heart!

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Posted (edited)

Final thoughts

 

Crew

What to say here that others haven’t said already. The crew really do make your holiday. I think on a 12 night cruise it’s much easier to establish connections with them. We had a real soft spot for Cecilia in Cafe Al Bacio and Harrison in Secondo Bacio always had DD1’s  iced oat latte ready and waiting for her. Other than mealtimes, we are probably quite easy passengers for the crew and really appreciate everything they do. 

 

Ship

We really enjoy Edge Class ships but of course haven’t been on any others with Celebrity to compare. The theatre is so high tech and I think the way Eden is used as a multi- purpose venue is clever. 

 

However, this is the first time we have felt a Celebrity ship to be busy. Even though there is seating everywhere, on the foggy sea days it was difficult to find a spot, especially in Oceanview. They did open up the seating in Le Grand Bistro for certain events in the Grand Plaza. The indoor activities were also rammed in the Club. 

 

Ports

You can probably tell from my posts that these were the real highlight of the cruise. I liked the variety: coastal cities, the fjords and of course our stops within the Arctic Circle. The ports really matched our interests and we had no trouble finding activities to do in each one. I would go back to Norway again and again. However, I do think the good weather played a big part in our enjoyment of the ports. 

 

Food/Dining

I think I mentioned before we are not big foodies and on this cruise we did no speciality dining. By the way, as you went into Oceanview they were offering speciality dining right up until the last night, so no need to panic if you can’t reserve prior to boarding. On the whole I was really impressed with the food. I thought it was better than on The Beyond last year. I still think the menus are too red meat heavy. I don’t eat meat so was a little restricted here with normally 1 fish and 1 vegetarian choice. Maybe next cruise I might ask for the vegetarian menu.  Every night we asked for extra steamed vegetables. Also of note is that on the sailings out of Southampton there is an additional “British” dish each night on rotation. These were Irish stew, chicken tikka masala, calves liver ( just why🤷‍♀️) and fish and chips with mushy peas. know I said no food pics but here is one I took as  I was quite proud of my Scottish/Norwegian mash up breakfast. 


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The porridge was actually a good consistency.

 

So here’s the lowdown on our dietary requirements:

First gluten free. At breakfast there is a small separate section. DH was excited on day 1 when he saw rolls there but to be honest, you could have used them as shot puts. There was a large selection at lunch, the labelling really helps, and a couple of times DH got a gluten free pizza made. Go hungry though as you get the whole thing, not just a slice!   We found it more convenient just to stay in Cosmopolitan each night and DH pre-ordered with Maitre’d George. I can’t really comment on the quality of desserts as DH doesn’t have a sweet tooth. He occasionally ate some cake at Cafe al Bacio and of course the coconut balls ( which sadly weren’t there everyday.) More bars this year stocked Daura Damm gluten- free beer. Funnily enough, the bartender told my DH that it’s not a big seller. What a surprise!

 

In terms of the vegan offering, since we first cruised with Celebrity in 2022 there has definitely been improvements here, actually even since last year. Most notably: vegan oatmeal and muesli at breakfast but still no vegan pastries or yoghurt; almond, soya and oat milk in Oceanview and at both Al Bacios ; normal buffet items labelled if vegan and 4 dishes in a separate vegan corner; some vegan desserts; always a vegan cake at Cafe al Bacio; much wider choice on vegan menu in main dining. Each evening there were 3 starters, 2 main courses and 2 desserts, one of which was sorbet. The DDs took on their own peanut butter - they don’t like the poor quality stuff on board and often used the chia seeds on board to make a chia pudding at breakfast. Their only complaint was that a lot of the vegan dishes contained substitute meat. I think they would like to see the chefs being a bit more creative with beans, lentils and pulses as the main protein source. 

 

Drinks package

We were on the classic and as expected, we did not get our money’s worth, even with the 5 sea days. It’s pay as you go for us from now on. I just couldn’t bring myself to drink 4 or 5 alcoholic drinks for 12 days on the trot. We are not big drinkers at home so our livers would have wondered what had hit them 😱 We tried hard to break even at Cafe al Bacio- server Cecilia probably said ‘welcome back’ more times than was good for us but we still couldn’t make it pay. We did like the convenience of having the package though. For those who can’t decide to upgrade to premium, here’s my take. Our up charges came to 34$ in total. Even in the sale it wouldn’t have made sense to upgrade. I would only ever do this if the quality of drinks plays a big part in your cruising experience. 

 

Entertainment 

Both the main production shows and the Eden shows were excellent. The guest headliners were a bit of a hit or miss.  While there was a whole host of activities on during the day, it always seemed that the ones I wanted to do clashed with one another. All the trivia and game shows were really well attended and the activity team worked hard. The cruise director did a Jukebox Hero music trivia each sea day and we appreciated that the songs weren’t too American oriented like on other cruises.

 

Inside Stateroom 

Let’s just say we made it work. There’s plenty of storage space and we asked our room attendant to remove the kettle so we had more counter room. Yes, we would prefer a veranda room or even 2 insides but for us there is no real value in a better stateroom. We are only in it to sleep and change clothes. We would always rather spend the money saved on excursions and sightseeing.

 

My Top 3 Tips for an Arctic Circle Cruise

 

  1. 1. Bring waterproof footwear. Trainers just don’t cut it when it’s absolutely lashing down. 
  2. 2. Don’t come off the ship and just wander about the villages/ towns. You really need to go further afield for the best experiences and remember to book yours ASAP.
  3. 3. Use the outdoor spaces on the ship. Just shove on a fleece/jacket and dine outside or lie outside. It’s where you have the best chance of getting a seat. Especially in the Fjords it’s pretty sheltered. Breathe in that fresh Norwegian air. 
     

You will probably be able to tell by now that this really was a bucket list cruise for us and we loved every minute. There was not much to be critical about at all and we just rolled with any wee niggles we had. We feel we have found a good fit in Celebrity. We would do this cruise again in a heartbeat because the Norwegians just do everything better!

Edited by Scottishclover
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Thank you for a wonderful review of your cruise. DH and I have done the fjords before but not the Arctic Circle. Will definitely have to add it to our list!

 

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1 hour ago, Nanjen said:

Thank you for a wonderful review of your cruise. DH and I have done the fjords before but not the Arctic Circle. Will definitely have to add it to our list!

 

You should definitely do it. The landscapes in the far north are quite different to the fjords. That’s why we enjoyed it so much - every port was different.

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1 hour ago, Scottishclover said:

You should definitely do it. The landscapes in the far north are quite different to the fjords. That’s why we enjoyed it so much - every port was different.

This!!!!

This is what I tell everyone🙌🏻

 

The scenery is completely different from the fjords to the artic circle ️ 

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2 hours ago, chemmo said:

Sincere thanks for a wonderful read. All the very best for your anniversary cruise!

Thank you very much.  Truth be told,  I am a little nervous about our anniversary cruise. The first time travelling without our children in 21 years😱 There is only 1 sea day though so we will be busy hiking

(and sweating😂) in the ports all day and then in the evenings we hope to see all the production shows in the theatre and Eden. 

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2 hours ago, vickykay said:

Looking forward to your anniversary cruise review.

 I actually haven’t decided if I will do one or not. It won’t be live ( too much pressure!) and the minute I get back home, I’m straight back to work and the start of term is always so busy. If I do manage one, it will definitely be shorter! 
 

I might just do a very quick photo review, we’ll see. We plan to hike in the morning in each port - no surprise there - and then have a look round in the afternoon. Our itinerary is Ajaccio, Portofino, La  Spezia (we’re hiking in Cinque  Terre) , Cannes ( hike in Lerins Islands) and Palma. We have 2 nights pre- cruise in Lucca. @PurpleTraveller has already provided some fantastic photos of Lucca and Portofino in her current review. 
 

 

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Thank you for your kind words.  From what the crew said I think in May you had sunnier skies in the Fjords than we did. However we were really lucky with the weather in our Arctic Circle ports. 

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