Just off Jade, Norwegian Fjords, Any Questions?

Haven't got round to writing my review yet, but if anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them.

We had a balcony cabin, and mainly ate in the buffet.

We have previously cruised with Celebrity, Princess, and P and O, and this was our first cruise with NCL.

We will be on Jade, Norwegian Fjords August 9. What did you like/dislike about the ports? How was the internet?

Going on the Norway trip on 11th June but we're virgin cruisers !

A bit apprehensive....will we need sea sickness tablets ?

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We will be on the Jade in September. What was the entertainment like? Did you have any favorite singers in the lounges/bars? Did you stop in Oslo?

We will be on Jade, Norwegian Fjords August 9. What did you like/dislike about the ports? How was the internet?

This was our third cruise to Norway. We tend to treat our cruises as a break from home and a change of scenery, rather than a major sightseeing tour. We don't do excursions, as we don't enjoy travelling in coaches or taxis, so we mainly just take ourselves sightseeing round the ports.

It's a shame that none of the cruises we have seen have taken the opportunity to sail down the fjords during the day, so be prepared to wake up early to enjoy the scenery before you dock, and don't make any specialty restaurant bookings early evening on fjord days, if you don't want to miss the scenery.

Our cruise was supposed to stop at Hellesylt to drop off excursion passengers, and then proceed to Geiranger between 9 and 10 am. Unfortunately the roads were still closed for the winter, due to snow and ice, so we went straight to Geiranger and missed the mid morning sail.

In Geiranger, we walked ashore on the floating pontoon, and climbed the metal steps next to the waterfall in town. Didn't get wet, just a little spray in the air. Wonderful views at the top, didn't go into the fjord Heritage Centre, but it looked nice. Walked back down the road, used the free wifi at the tourist information centre. Free toilet facilities too. A few shops selling coffee, snacks and souvenirs. We were very lucky with the weather, warm and sunny.

Been to Bergen a few times before. Long queues for the funicular, so we didn't bother. Last visit, we walked up through the woodland, well marked trails, took about an hour at an easy pace. This time we wandered around town. Very busy Saturday, so lots of people watching. Lots of weddings, the majority of the guests wearing traditional Norwegian costume!

The Bryggen historic area is worth a look around. We thought the fish market was horrid, lots of whale meat on sale, so we hurried through there.

On the way back to the ship, we stopped off at the military museum. It was more interesting than I was expecting, lots of exhibits on Norway's military history housed in a small building with clean toilets and a helpful clerk on the desk. And it was free admission.

Stavanger is a small town with excellent shops, and free wifi in the library in the central Culture building. The coffee shop adjoining the library also has free wifi and free toilets, as well as excellent coffee and pastries. The old town, right next to the cruise ship dock, is worth a wander round, little white wooden houses.

Skjolden was very small. Luckily we were there for Norways constitution day, a public holiday with the entire population dressed up in national costume and enjoying a parade through the town. Otherwise, we might have had a walk up to the viewpoint and then had an afternoon nap to recover from the early morning to see the fjord sail in.

Alesund was interesting, again quite compact with interesting buildings. We decided against climbing the steps to the viewpoint, but they looked quite doable. We had coffee and pastries in the Racoon bar in town (?Kongsgarten?) free wifi and free clean toilet. There were some nice looking shops in that area as well.

There was free wifi via the cruise terminal building, the code was posted on the door. We also found it worked back on the ship from the promenade deck.

We had 240 minutes wifi package as a perk, and mainly used it for weather forecasts, reading and sending e mails to the family back home, and a look through the English newspapers. We had an hour left when we left the ship, having done some of our wifi use ashore while we were having coffee and a rest break.

Hope that is helpful? Sounds a bit boring, perhaps! We are retired and live very near the sea. Our usual routine at home is to head to our nearest seaside town, have coffee and a wander round town and on the seafront. So the Norway cruise for us is really just a change of scenery and coffee venues!

Going on the Norway trip on 11th June but we're virgin cruisers !

A bit apprehensive....will we need sea sickness tablets ?

 

 

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Third cruise to Norway, usually in late May. We haven't had any real problems with rough seas on this route so far. I always take sea bands, and over the counter seasickness tablets just in case, but haven't needed them. Apart from any sea days, you will mainly be sailing at night, so there is a good chance you won't be awake to see much movement. Once the ship is inside the fjords, the water is very calm.

The Jade also seemed to ride the waves very well. Several times, the sea state reports on the TV channel showed quite big waves, but the ship behaved as if it was flat calm. You should be fine.

We will be on the Jade in September. What was the entertainment like? Did you have any favorite singers in the lounges/bars? Did you stop in Oslo?

Wasn't too impressed with the lounge entertainment. The singer / guitarist in the Atrium in the evenings was particularly bad, massively over amplified and a repetitive repertoire. I saw a review where someone said that if they ever heard Sweet Caroline again, they would kill someone. I know how they felt! I think there was a pianist in the bar below the Jasmine restaurant who sounded good, and not too loud.

I went to the theatre a few times, good comedian, unfunny comedy juggler ( he thought he was hilarious) but an excellent show, Elements, which was probably the best I've seen. The usual gymnast duo, swinging from bed sheets was fine, I skipped the magician and the country music show. There was a quartet, two men, two women, who sang a selection of opera, musicals songs and some soft pop, who were also pretty good, despite having to occasionally shout over the 'backing' musicians, who always seem very keen to drown out their competition!

We tend to fall into bed early after our energetic walking about days, there were some good recent films on the TV, but not on demand. The customer service desk will provide a timetable of films on request.

Sorry this is a bit limited, but hope it helps.

We will be on the Jade in September. What was the entertainment like? Did you have any favorite singers in the lounges/bars? Did you stop in Oslo?

Didn't stop in Olso on this cruise. Would love to go back though, we had a very short stop in bad weather on a previous cruise, so we didn't get to visit the Sculpture Park, which is on my bucket list.

Thanks so much for the replies. I really enjoyed your descriptions.

Wasn't too impressed with the lounge entertainment. The singer / guitarist in the Atrium in the evenings was particularly bad, massively over amplified and a repetitive repertoire. I saw a review where someone said that if they ever heard Sweet Caroline again, they would kill someone. I know how they felt! I think there was a pianist in the bar below the Jasmine restaurant who sounded good, and not too loud.

I went to the theatre a few times, good comedian, unfunny comedy juggler ( he thought he was hilarious) but an excellent show, Elements, which was probably the best I've seen. The usual gymnast duo, swinging from bed sheets was fine, I skipped the magician and the country music show. There was a quartet, two men, two women, who sang a selection of opera, musicals songs and some soft pop, who were also pretty good, despite having to occasionally shout over the 'backing' musicians, who always seem very keen to drown out their competition!

We tend to fall into bed early after our energetic walking about days, there were some good recent films on the TV, but not on demand. The customer service desk will provide a timetable of films on request.

Sorry this is a bit limited, but hope it helps.

We are sailing on June 22 to the North Cape. Did NCL have a Naturalist or Port Lecturer on board? What were the temperatures? Thank you for your reviews

I leave Sunday on the Jade for my third fjords cruise! I know you said that you ate mainly in the buffet, but do you recall if the MDR was open for lunch on port days? DH and I mostly stay onboard and were spoiled 2 years ago on the Star because the MDR was open for lunch every day. We've yet to encounter that again on any line.

And thanks for the tip about not booking specialty restaurants in the early evening on fjords days. This is our first time sailing with the SDP and that hadn't occurred to me.

Thanks, Ergates the Ant. The info about the port stops is very helpful. We share your preference regarding tours but love to "freestyle" the areas when possible. Ugh. We have 15 months before our Nordic cruise on Jade.

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I leave Sunday on the Jade for my third fjords cruise! I know you said that you ate mainly in the buffet, but do you recall if the MDR was open for lunch on port days? DH and I mostly stay onboard and were spoiled 2 years ago on the Star because the MDR was open for lunch every day. We've yet to encounter that again on any line.

 

And thanks for the tip about not booking specialty restaurants in the early evening on fjords days. This is our first time sailing with the SDP and that hadn't occurred to me.

Sorry, didn't notice whether the MDR was open. I'll try and find my daily sheets and see whether I can get you an answer before Sunday.

We are sailing on June 22 to the North Cape. Did NCL have a Naturalist or Port Lecturer on board? What were the temperatures? Thank you for your reviews

I think there may have been some port lectures on our fjord cruise. Don't usually go to those, as in the past I have often found them to be inaccurate, and with heavy emphasis on shopping and sponsored outlets, and the need to take a ship excursion.

There was no lecture programme either, maybe as it was very port intensive with only two sea days, but I did miss having some guest speaker to listen to.

Don't know what the temperatures will be like in the North Cape, http://www.visitnorway.com could be a useful website to check out. My guess will be warmer than May, but always a need to take layers and a waterproof top layer! I remember a driving holiday in Norway in July, when we struggled to see out of the windscreen through the heavy rain. Still, it's what keeps the waterfalls going!

Was the arrival time in the ports pretty accurate? We have a full day in Alesund and are hoping to get off as quickly as possible. Did they clear for disembark quickly?

Hi

Thanks for the info. What were the prices like for coffee/tea etc.? I know Norway is said to be expensive - will it be worthwhile taking any Krone? We are planning just to walk around the port stops on our cruise, but may like to stop for a drink/snack on some days. Thanks.

Was the arrival time in the ports pretty accurate? We have a full day in Alesund and are hoping to get off as quickly as possible. Did they clear for disembark quickly?

I think all the disembarkations were fairly prompt, but couldn't swear to it, as we took our time to head ashore.

We usually watched the docking from our balcony when we were on the right side, and it always seemed that there were passengers heading off fairly soon after the gangway went down. The only lengthy stop was Geiranger when the ship had to tie up to floating buoys first, and then wait for the fancy pontoon to be floated out to the ship

Hi

 

Thanks for the info. What were the prices like for coffee/tea etc.? I know Norway is said to be expensive - will it be worthwhile taking any Krone? We are planning just to walk around the port stops on our cruise, but may like to stop for a drink/snack on some days. Thanks.

Not as bad as I remember. I didn't take any Krone at all, just used my credit card ( Halifax Clarity with no transaction fees or commission, just a straight exchange rate)

We had two Americanos ( espresso based coffees with extra water rather than the filter type coffees) and two cinnamon buns in several ports ( we love Scandinavian cinnamon buns and tried various versions!) and the bills have now appeared on my credit card statement. Costs came to around £11, £14 was the most expensive bill, but we had extra shots in the coffee that day. The exchange rate was running at just over 10 NOK to the £.

Given that we regularly spend £9.20 for two large black Americanos and two pastries in our local coffee shop in Devon, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the coffee shops also had free wifi and clean free toilets as well, a big bonus as the few public toilets I saw, including in shopping malls, coins were needed.

I think there may have been some port lectures on our fjord cruise. Don't usually go to those, as in the past I have often found them to be inaccurate, and with heavy emphasis on shopping and sponsored outlets, and the need to take a ship excursion.

There was no lecture programme either, maybe as it was very port intensive with only two sea days, but I did miss having some guest speaker to listen to.

Don't know what the temperatures will be like in the North Cape, www.visitnorway.com could be a useful website to check out. My guess will be warmer than May, but always a need to take layers and a waterproof top layer! I remember a driving holiday in Norway in July, when we struggled to see out of the windscreen through the heavy rain. Still, it's what keeps the waterfalls going!

Thanks for your reply. Hopefully, the port lecturer will be more informative this trip as these are very small towns with not much to shop for. The scenery is spectacular.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Big help!

No problem. Glad to be able to return past favours on these boards.

Thanks also for kind comments

"It's a shame that none of the cruises we have seen have taken the opportunity to sail down the fjords during the day, so be prepared to wake up early to enjoy the scenery before you dock, and don't make any specialty restaurant bookings early evening on fjord days, if you don't want to miss the scenery."

What time do you consider early for a dining reservation?

We are saving up for this cruise for my 40th in 2020. We may take an inside stateroom in exchange for the arctic sailing. I imagine a lot of people are up early sightseeing.

I leave Sunday on the Jade for my third fjords cruise! I know you said that you ate mainly in the buffet, but do you recall if the MDR was open for lunch on port days? DH and I mostly stay onboard and were spoiled 2 years ago on the Star because the MDR was open for lunch every day. We've yet to encounter that again on any line.

 

And thanks for the tip about not booking specialty restaurants in the early evening on fjords days. This is our first time sailing with the SDP and that hadn't occurred to me.

Just checked my dailies, MDR closed for lunch on port days. O sheehans was open all day every day though.

"It's a shame that none of the cruises we have seen have taken the opportunity to sail down the fjords during the day, so be prepared to wake up early to enjoy the scenery before you dock, and don't make any specialty restaurant bookings early evening on fjord days, if you don't want to miss the scenery."

 

What time do you consider early for a dining reservation?

Depends what time you leave the dock, and how long your attention span is! After a couple of hours of admiring the scenery, you might well be sated with views of fjords and ready for dinner! The best scenery tends to be nearest the inner end of the fjord, as you near the sea, the mountains become less jagged and turn into hills. A couple of the fjords we were in took four to five hours to exit, so check your port schedule and you can probably get a feel of what will work for you.