Live from the Ocean Princess - Midnight Sun

I have to pay for my Internet usage so this will be sporadic. We are in Honningsvag in an Internet cafe so I have a chance to comment.

We are a week into our Midnight Sun cruise aboard the Ocean Princess and I thought I'd share a bit with all of you. This is our 4th cruise on an R-ship and our third Princess cruise.

We boarded in Dover and I saw no confiscation of alcohol but then again I don't know anyone who brought more than their two bottles of wine aboard. The Ocean appears in fairly good shape for her age. However we noticed the windows in the public rooms were pretty filthy like they hadn't been washed in a long time. More about that later.

I'll get the negatives out of the way first so I can move on to the positive things. I was disappointed in Princess on our first day aboard. When I had booked the trip a YEAR before, I asked for robes and an egg crate topper. Neither were to be seen in our cabin. After notifying our cabin steward, he did get us robes on day 2 and a topper that had seen better days. That night we went to the MDR and found we had been seated at a table for 8 when I had specifically requested a table for 6. We like being with others but the table for 8 is too big. My DH wears hearing aides and he can't join in most conversations at large round tables. Tables for 4 are too small because we like to eat at the buffet or in the specialty restaurants a third of the time and feel bad stranding the other couple. Anyway, we planned to speak to the maitre d but realized there were very few tables for 6 and they all looked full. In addition, most of our table mates at the big table are Americans (without accents to our ear) so it makes DH's task of hearing easier. All of these requests were in our "personalizer". Why does Princess bother if they don't accommodate requests?

The clocks changed the first night out of Dover so that you can acclimate for a day before arriving in the port. The first formal night is on the first sea day.

Now on to the ports...

Flaam- the advertised itinerary said our stay would be from 7-3. Wonderful Jennie from our roll call arranged for a group of 18 to go on the train at 9:45. I was at first a little disappointed that it wasn't the 8:30 train which would have given us time for an afternoon RIB fjord safari trip. Well thank goodness she was more conservative about our arrival time because we were notified that our stay in Flaam would be from 9 to 5 instead ....and that we were tendering! We had met for our M&G the sea day before and had collected the NOK for the train trip. The rail line only accepts a credit card from one person in a group so we all needed cash. Anyway at that time Jennie told us that Princess was willing to accommodate us and let us go on the first tender so we wouldn't miss our private excursion! Way to go Princess! It all worked out great ...we made it off the ship, went over to the train station where Jennie got our group ticket and we were shown our reserved seats. The day was beautiful with big puffy clouds in a blue sky. The train trip was great. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We had read that you can ask to get off the train at the church on the way back and walk along the river to town. A bunch of us did just that. It was 3.5 km to town but mostly flat walking. When we reached town we decided to go to the local brewery. We knew it would be expensive, but what the heck...it's a vacation. The decor was very interesting and indeed the beers weren't cheap...75 NOK for .3 liter beer...or about $13. We ended up leaving an hour late...not sure if an excursion got back late or what.

The sail away in the Tahitian Lounge was great despite the view from the dirty windows and the potted plants that they had let grow so tall that they blocked the view. Anyway, the next day I put a suggestion into the box saying that since this was a scenic cruise that it would be nice if they cleaned the windows before Magdalena Fjord and did something about the plants. It sounds like I'm a complainer, but I'm not. I was just voicing what others were saying also. The captain and staff kept emphasizing that if there was something they could do to make the cruise better, they would. And apparently they mean it! They cleaned the windows (or at least rinsed them down) while we were in Tromso and trimmed the plants the day before Magdalena Fjord. This is a cold weather cruise, so viewing from the Tahitian lounge is important. I am impressed how hard they are trying.

Tromso- The weather was even more perfect in Tromso. Because the Ocean is small, we got to dock in town. We are DIYers so did not opt for a tour. We decided to walk to the cable car which is at least 3 km from the ship over the big bridge. We actually beat the ship's tour people. The cable car was suppose to start operation at 10 am and go at least once per half hour...however, we didn't see anything going up or down the hill. Friends who had taken a taxi there actually had to wait 25 minutes for the cable car. We got to go up 4 minutes after they did because if there are enough people to fill a car, they'll send it up immediately. The excursion buses arrived just after we got in line. I should mention the sign had about 7 different price categories but nothing about seniors. I had read online that the senior price was 100 NOK instead of 135. I asked at the window if they had a seniors fare and sure enough we were charged 100 NOK. The view from the top was spectacular. I can't tell you how lucky we felt. Long range weather forecasts had been terrible and so a bright warm sunny day was a real treat. On our return walk back to town we stopped at the Arctic Cathedral. Our final destination was the Burger King for the free wifi. Well it's free if you don't count paying $14 for two cokes and a French fries. :-)

I should mention that we had read about all day bus passes and a bus/cable car combination ticket. Our dinner mates told us that the information office said there wasn't an all day pass but only a bus pass good for an hour and a half that is more expensive if bought from the bus driver than in the TI office. I can't confirm any of that. Also they said they were told there is no combo ticket.

Time at sea- I should also mention that we have had fairly calm seas this whole trip so far.

Magdalena Fjord- The fjord cruising was fairly early in the morning, 7-9am. Everyone was bundled up because the weather was hovering around freezing and there was a good breeze. The fjord isn't particularly deep but it has a huge glacier at its deepest point. It's been a warm winter for Svalbard so there were almost no ice chunks around. We heard last year that a walrus was sitting on one of those chunks. The sun was trying to break through the clouds but for the most part stayed hidden during our visit. We got some light snow on us. After departing the fjord the sun finally broke through and burned off all the clouds. Our 4 hour trip down the coast to Ny Alesund was again beautiful. Glacier after glacier poured out to the sea. I just wish we could have been closer to shore to watch for wild life. We never did catch sight of a polar bear or walrus.

Ny Alesund - While the skies stayed blue, the wind came up and the temperature dipped. The captain announced it was 26.5 degrees F and the wind was blowing 25 mph when we arrived. Docking was a challenge. While I personally had on long silk underware, a cotton turtleneck, jeans, gloves and hat, a thick fleece jacket, and a windbreaker jacket and rain pants over the jeans to cut the wind, I found my face still froze if I faced the wind. I would also recommend bringing hand warmers that you buy in sporting good stores. They kept the hands warm for hours.

There isn't much to see in Ny Alesund. The little museum was interesting but small. We were treated to three wild Svalbard reindeer close into town and some huskies used for sledding. The post office sold post cards and stamps and a lot of us sent ourselves cards so that we'd have the postmark. The little store actually had a long line to get in. However it was so cold I think most people were back on the ship a couple hours before we sailed.

It is not uncommon for robes not to appear until day 2, as they are being laundered. I wouldn't write this off as a negative.

thanks so much for your detailed report/review!

This is one of my bucket list itineraries.

I am glad Princess acted on your comments. And I have had the same thing happen with the robe and the topper every single cruise.

Enjoyed your report.

Keith

Sounds like a fabulous cruise...I loved the Ocean Princess..perfect size.

Sue

Sounds like a great cruise. We will make it to that one some day.

Take care of the OP. We board in September.

Honningsvag - We arrived here this morning at 9am...on schedule. Skies were partly cloudy. We had originally planned on going to the North Cape in taxis with a group of others from CC but a month ago the company said they couldn't promise them that day. We were rather ambivalent about going as the weather can be fickle. So I researched the local bus and decided to take our chances with them if the weather was nice. Since it was mostly sunny we decided to go for it. We were the first off the ship and rushed to the tourist information office where we bought the bus tickets. Luckily Hurtigurten didn't dock until after us. While they write down the times of the bus you want to take on your receipt, it appears it is a first come first serve for boarding. The 10:15 am bus returns immediately after arriving at the North Cape. With no time to see anything, you have to wait for the next scheduled bus 3.75 hrs later. We opted to wait for the second bus at noon and see the sights while the driver has lunch and then we returned with her on the 2pm bus. That gave us 1.5 hrs to see the exhibits and take our pictures.

The drive out to the North Cape was very scenic despite being fairly barren. If you have a fear of ledges (as I do) don't sit in the front seat. The road is narrow and windy. About a quarter mile from the North Cape we hit the wall of fog. The bus driver said it could change within minutes. We noticed that the fog was thinning on the leeward side so we walked to that cliff edge immediately rather than go inside. We were rewarded with some pictures of the bluffs with blue skies. As we walked to the iconic orb on the point, the fog was blowing in our faces. While we waited for others to take pictures a hole of blue opened up. We got our picture with a moment of sunshine! Now we went inside to look at the exhibits and movie. Had we wanted to souvenir shop, we wouldn't have had time because at 1:45 we saw people starting to line up for the bus. By 1:50 we thought we'd better join them and the bus was indeed full going back.

I am sitting here in an Internet cafe in Honningsvag. The gal charges 50 NOK for all day usage and coffee and tea. After we paid, though, someone came in and had no NOK so she said $7... Much less than 50 NOK (about $8.66). Sometimes you can't win. Since then we learned that there was free wifi at the North Cape. So we could have taken the early bus and used the wifi during the long wait for the return bus.

One quick addendum, the ice bar in Honningsvag (Artico) doesn't serve alcohol so we lost interest.

Love reading your report on the cruise. Thank you for posting it. Since we are going next year I can't wait to read more.

Thanks for the "Live." Unfortunately, it's not unusual for special requests such as the robe and egg crate to not be in the cabin upon boarding. One of the nice things about Princess is that you can go directly to your cabin to start your cruise and I suspect that in order to accomplish this, special requests are taken care of later in the day or left up to the steward to take care of at his/her initial meeting with you.

This is an awesome itinerary. I did one similar on HAL's Prinsendam and it's still one of my top three cruises. Loved sailing past the North Cape at midnight while it was still dusk, Longyearben (Svalbard) and sailing north into the polar ice cap was an experience that couldn't be duplicated.

Kirkenes - we arrived this morning at 9 am and it's 48 degrees and overcast. We docked at a pier, so no tendering. That's always great. The walk into town isn't bad but not for those with limited mobility. Again we opted to do our own thing. I apologize to those of you who want info on the excursions, but we are confirmed DIYers. With a strong interest in WWII, we wanted to explore this town's history in that regards. Being so close to Murmansk where Allied supplies were being shipped, Kirkenes became a prime spot for Germany to base their attacks. The Russians repelled them and ended up bombing the city over 300 times. The town was obliterated. The locals survived by living in the iron mines.

We were told by someone on the internet that tickets for Andersgrotta ( underground tunnels used during the air raids) could be bought at the tourist information. That's wrong. You can stand in line at the site and pay cash near opening times. It's a very small operation. They show a 9 minute movie which was very good. However, we were a little disappointed that we didn't see more of the tunnels. It's 100NOK per person.

We also walked up the hill to the Sor-Varanger Museum. The TI guy said it's a 10 minute walk. It was closer to double that and we aren't in bad shape. DH is also a WWII airplane fan and we had learned that they had one of only 7 surviving Russian dive bombers in existence. I think there are only 3 outside of Russia. This one was restored well. The museum entrance was 50 NOK pp. looks like there is a bus stop there if you wanted to take local transport.

We are in the library at the town center. Wifi is free. Not much else for us as we aren't doing the excursions.

Next we go to Gradval (Lofoten Islands). We hope for partly cloudy weather there and then predictions are a week of rain in the south. That's especially disappointing for Geiranger but I can't complain since we've had so much luck already.

Thanks for the "Live." Unfortunately, it's not unusual for special requests such as the robe and egg crate to not be in the cabin upon boarding. One of the nice things about Princess is that you can go directly to your cabin to start your cruise and I suspect that in order to accomplish this, special requests are taken care of later in the day or left up to the steward to take care of at his/her initial meeting with you.

 

This is an awesome itinerary. I did one similar on HAL's Prinsendam and it's still one of my top three cruises. Loved sailing past the North Cape at midnight while it was still dusk, Longyearben (Svalbard) and sailing north into the polar ice cap was an experience that couldn't be duplicated.

Not singling you out as many have said over the years that the requests are not fulfilled right away. It just seems like poor policy for a company as they immediately make a poor impression on one's customer.

Have a great cruise ..

Thanks for the live thread SoBaycruiser. I am doing a very similar cruise on the Crown (North Cape & Spitzbergen) at the end of the month. I'm interested in how your weather is so I can pack as accurately as possible. :)

....We are a week into our Midnight Sun cruise aboard the Ocean Princess and I thought I'd share a bit with all of you. ......Now on to the ports...Flaam- ....We had met for our M&G the sea day before and had collected the NOK for the train trip. ..... Jennie told us that Princess was willing to accommodate us and let us go on the first tender so we wouldn't miss our private excursion! [end quote]

 

You were very fortunate to have an understanding ship staff. On the recent 49 day South American cruise aboard the Grand Princess there were over 80 private tours arranged, with many organizers collecting at the first Meet & Greet. Then, someone also asked the ship if their group could get an early tender at an upcoming port because of tour timing (About 2/3 of the passengers were Elite so that meant nothing for tender queues). They were denied, and at the second Meet & Greet (we had 3 as the voyage was in 3 segments) the Hotel Manager and the Captain laid down the law in very stark, threatening tones. They said corporate considered open collection of money for private tours to be in competition with the ShoreEx desk and a violation of the cruise contract. Furthermore, any more acts of this type would result in immediate expulsion of the passenger(s) at the next port of call.

 

This drives me crazy. Some ships accommodate you while others beat you up. This has been true for the wine policy enforcement, bringing of liquor aboard, and on and on. They do keep you guessing!

George,

On the SA cruise, it did not help that one person was at the passenger service desk screaming at the staff and demanding priority tendering for her group. That person ruined any hope we had of getting co-operation from the staff for tendering.

George,

On the SA cruise, it did not help that one person was at the passenger service desk screaming at the staff and demanding priority tendering for her group. That person ruined any hope we had of getting co-operation from the staff for tendering.

Hi Paul. Yes, I agree. It's definitely not the way to win friends and influence people you are asking for a special favor. I recall hearing that person state at the M&G they were going to get the ship to give their group priority tendering. My brain went "Uh Oh, this can't turn out good at all", and it didn't. I don't think it affected the rant about collecting money for private tours though. I have no problem with the ship asking us to do it privately, It's just that there is so much ship to ship variation in how and what they choose to "enforce". I'll play by the rules if I know what they are.

Be well.

George,

It was great meeting and sailing with you. Hopefully our paths will cross again some day

I'm back online...albeit the end of our trip. First let me make one comment about the priority tendering. This is the Ocean so there are not huge numbers of passengers that needed to be tendered. Secondly, they did change the schedule by two hour creating the conflict. But I was still impressed that they helped us out.

Now to continue...

Kirkenes - our little accident that involved the sinking of the tug has already been reported so I won't repeat that.

Gravdal (Lofoten) -another great weather day

There were three ships in port in this tiny place so we ended up tendering from fairly far out. Our CC group had arranged a bus for 20 of us to tour the island without a guide. It was great. The bus held 40 so each of us had a window if we wanted. We went to a lovely fishing village, a beach, and a number of scenic look outs. The scenery was breath taking...sort of like Yosemite at the ocean.

Hellesylt/Geiranger- threatening rain clouds but only a few sprinkles

We arrived at Hellesylt and a third of the ship left on tenders for the all day excursion. Then the captain announced that because of an earlier incident, our anchorage place in Geiranger had been compromised and we would be spending the day in Hellesylt. There were quite a few unhappy people. Many people had private tours arranged, others had come from half a world away to see Geiranger and it's lookouts....and all other ships tours were cancelled. About an hour later the captain made an announcement that we would be keeping the schedule and going to Geiranger but instead of anchoring they would maneuver the ship in place all day so we could tender in. Again I was pleased that they went the extra mile- despite the obvious move. Maybe they needed port approval first. About half the ship has been coughing and sneezing with colds...myself included. Our original intention to hike to the lookout Fly~~ was aborted as I couldn't take a deep breath without coughing. However, we did enjoy our shorter hike and returned to the ship to enjoy the view from the jacuzzi as the ship maneuvered in the fjord.

Bergen- sunny followed by clouds

What a beautiful entry into the city. Five ships in port and they squeezed us in closest to the Bryggen. We were scheduled for the ships hike from the top of the funicular. It was great but not for the casual walker. I'm used to being at the front of the pack but because I'm still recovering from the cold found myself struggling to keep up pace...all uphill. The views are breath taking but definitely not for someone out of condition.

One day at sea and the cruise is over. It was a good trip!

Thank you so much for doing the Live From blog of the cruise. It will be very helpful to those of us doing this cruise next year!

Thanks for taking the time!:)

Hi, I was on this cruise too and had a fab time....does anyone know where the footage of the tug sinking can be found? I have searched carefully on YouTube but not seen it. Just interested to see what happened. Thanks

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Hi, I was on this cruise too and had a fab time....does anyone know where the footage of the tug sinking can be found? I have searched carefully on YouTube but not seen it. Just interested to see what happened. Thanks

 

 

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I never could find it either. We were at dinner at the Grill upstairs when it happened so couldn't have been further from the events.

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Thanks for the comments. We are looking forward to boarding the Ocean P in September.

Great review - very helpful for anyone planning to do a cruise like this in the future.

I never could find it either. We were at dinner at the Grill upstairs when it happened so couldn't have been further from the events.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for report. I'm very interested in the condition of the ship since we will be sailing the OP next month for British Isles. Are there 2 seatings for dinner? Also, are there tables for 2? Our TA has given us conflicting info.