Anubi

38 minutes ago, kaisatsu said:

I've always just stayed on the ship, because the cruising between Hellesylt and Geiranger is some of the most iconic fjord scenery there is, so I never mind seeing it twice. There are waterfalls on both sides, so if you're watching from a balcony, that gives you the chance to see both sides. I prefer to be up on the upper decks where I can see easily switch sides as the scenery changes. And I watch the sail-out from an outdoor hot tub, for a different perspective, leaning back and looking up a the towering fjord walls above. Also recovering from my hikes up to some of the overlooks.

Thanks for this.  We are doing Norway next summer and your ideas are excellent.  

Thanks for the review, especially the dining hints.  We normally cruise Princess but Oceania Vista has the best itinerary for Norway 2025 so we booked that.  

2 hours ago, efuller1026 said:

@Anubi we did this on our own from Stavenger. We were in port from 0800-1600 and I booked an express round trip bus ticket through https://gofjords.com. We got off the boat, walked to the meeting point (Radisson Blu Hotel ~10 minute walk if I remember), then the bus took us ~35 minutes to the drop off point. Once there, it is VERY clear where the hike starts. The hike took us about 4 hours round trip-- 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down. Of note, we are in our 30's and in decently active shape. This is definitely not a hike for beginners, but well worth it when you get to the top! After we finished, we had enough time to grab a drink and light snack at their shop before needing to board the bus back.

 

All in all, this was VERY easy to do on our own, without a guide. 

Thank you so much.  That is exactly what I needed to know.  I think by going this way, we will be fine.  Now, all we need is for the weather to cooperate.  LOL

@hallasm  We will be in Stavenger and our cruise line does not offer the hike to Pulpit Rock.  I've been unable to find a tour to line up with our time in port (8:00am - 7:00pm).  Is there a simple way to do it on our own?  

Thanks for posting this.  We just booked our first Oceania cruise on Vista and its exciting to see all the information you have posted.  🙂 

On 10/26/2023 at 2:08 PM, dides said:

This is the O'Malley's casual dining menu - fixed price option of $14.99 or a la carte pricing

 

O Malleys.pdf 3.88 MB · 77 downloads

 

Oh I like that menu!!  Lots of Guinness.  🙂  

25 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

That's going to be hit-and-miss.  The one near Crown Grill may be a good option since there needs to be good selection of wine near that locale.  Otherwise, the MDR's have access to the full master wine list (but I know they are not always open).

 

Are you looking for bottles or WBTG?  Are you on a package?

Package.

Which of the bars onboard have the good wines?  

On 4/29/2021 at 12:07 PM, hallasm said:

An Alaska cruise cannot be compared with Baltic cruise - a Baltic cruise does include cultural cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Riga - Might  have meant a Norwegian Fjords Cruise - the deep Norwegian fjords are impressive.
Many Baltic and Norwegian Fjord cruises originate from Copenhagen and are ideal for B2B.

Just be aware that not all Norwegian cruises does include the long fjords - look for itineraries like Geiranger, Flåm, and Olden - a Norwegian fjord Cruise should include at least one of these ports - preferable two in order to navigate the scenic fjords in my video in post #7.

 

Morning Hallasm, Just a quick question.  Are there any private tours that you would recommend that do the hike at Pulpit Rock.  We are in port for 11 hours, I understand that the hike takes 8 hours.  

19 minutes ago, hallasm said:

2025 is likely to be the last chance for visit to Flåm and Geiranger.

That's why we moved it up from 2026.  I have read that cruising into Geiranger is an experience not to be missed.  

29 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Thank you. Nice itinerary.

Since frogfish12 was looking for 2024 itinerary I did not look at 2025.

To be honest, I have my fingers crossed for 2025.  We were to have done Norway in May of this year but life got in the way, as it often does.  So we are rebooking.  

13 hours ago, hallasm said:

Not sure if Oceania is visiting the deep Norwegian fjords - have not looked ant all itineraries.

I just found this one.   

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/northern-fjords-cruises/london-to-oslo-VIS250615/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%23marketing_region%3Dnorthernfjords%26time_frame%3D2025-6%26sort%3Dfeatured%3Adesc%26page%3D1%26pageSize%3D10

28 minutes ago, frogfish12 said:

@hallasm I was about to book....Windstar changed the port times about a week ago. The original times were Flam10:00-15:30. Olden 11:00-18:00. Geiranger 10:00-17:00. They are now Geiranger and Olden both 7:00-13:30 and Flam 8:00-14:30

 

Approx what time does the ship enter the fjord? Are the times bad now? Will I be able to see as much? Also there doesn't seem to be enough time for excursions? Should I even consider this cruise? Thank you again!!

 

Can't find any other cruise with these 3 ports and an itinerary that I like. Plus I've a feeling there will be more changes, maybe land-based is the better way...

 

I've been looking at a couple of Oceania cruises that do some of those ports.  Have a look at that; they have a good booking deal going right now.  

We've been trying to plan a Norway cruise for 2025 and the only cruise line that I could find that does Geirangerfjord is MSC.  Not our first choice of cruise line but for Geirangerfjord we'll do it.  Of course, there is no guarantee that won't change before we cruise.   😞   

5 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

The Cabanas inside the Sanctuary are $US220/day.

Can you book for 1/2 day?

I have searched the Princess website and not found this.

Can anyone give me an idea of the cost per day of the Sanctuary Gazebo?  

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Sounds like a good recommendation to me! But Grand Turk is not a good exchange for Curacao, one of my favorite ports. It seems an odd change, since Curacao can take several ships. My cruise is in February and I'm concerned about Bonaire and Key West since they've been more restrictive about ships lately. I want to snorkel in Bonaire!

We are on the Eurodam at the end of March and we're waiting to hear if we lose Bonaire.  If we do, we will cancel because we booked this cruise because of Bonaire.   Even if they don't make any change before final payment there is no guarantee that they won't after final payment.  We booked a back up cruise due to my husband's vacation policy but we really would like to do this one.  😞 

3 minutes ago, Simon-t said:

 

As per other posts, Flam, Olden and Gerainger are great ports. Three deep fjords is an excellent itiniary, and those three are amongst our favourite stops in Norway. I would have a look at a trip to the Briksdal Glacier from Olden, Flam railway, and the various viewpoints around Gerainger which are spectacular.

We had to book two separate cruise lines in 2025 to be sure we got all the ports we wanted.  We visit Flam and Geiringer on a 7-day on MSC roundtrip Copenhagen and then two weeks on HAL roundtrip Rotterdam for the rest.  Ought to be interesting.  LOL

24 minutes ago, chickenwings1 said:

Have any of you been to Alesund and done any excursions? I am trying to decide between Hjørundfjord cruise (in a private chartered boat) and the islands of Giske and Godøy. Or would it be better to forget the excursions and just wander around Alesund? (I know about the Aksla viewpoint already and will be checking that out anyway 😉 Let me know if you know anything, thanks!

We were looking to do the Troll Road in Alesund, if that helps.  We haven't actually done it as we had to reschedule but it looked like a good time.  

5 minutes ago, horseymike said:

I don’t blame the ports at all. We have been to Bonaire a few times and it seems to me there is only room for one ship 🚢. Hence my concern with regard to the scheduling by the cruise line s.

We love Bonaire, its our favourite Caribbean island.  It doesn't have all the usual stores and we love the local market and stores...and it has the BEST snorkelling in the Caribbean.  

42 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

I would expect that 2 of those ships will be cancelled.  It's frustrating as HAL knows this and for some reason isn't releasing the details yet.

 

I am seeing lots of people complaining about itinerary changes.  I understand the frustration.  We had a Norway cruise booked for next year and HAL made changes so we transferred it to a 14 day British Isle cruise and it has also been affected by many changes.  So much so that it isn't the same cruise at all and we will be cancelling it.  We also booked a California Coastal cruise and the HAL rep had to share with me 3 changes while booking.  

 

As more and more port cities push back against cruise ships I think you are going to see more and more this.  Personally, I think our cruising days are going to become less as right now we simply don't feel comfortable booking a cruise and then having to deal with so many port changes.   

7 minutes ago, horseymike said:

Both cruise lines are owned by CCL. I would venture to say the bottom line $$$$$ determines which ship actually goes to Bonaire, the initial itinerary offered almost seems like a bait and switch to me. Of course in the fine print of the contract it states their right to change itinerary at any time for any reason.

Every cruise line uses that small print to their advantage and they have that right.  But you can't blame the ports either for not wanting that many people all at once. Norway is also starting to refuse to allow cruise ships into the fjords.  I know that because we booked Norway for 2025 and its hard to get into certain fjords as of 2025.  We had to book one week on MSC and two weeks on HAL to get to the ports we wanted.      

1 minute ago, horseymike said:

8/22/2023

Ok, so hopefully by the end of September we might hear something.  Thx 

4 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

But why would they reschedule the Eurodam and Rotterdam if they were going to cancel them?

And there is the million dollar question.  LOL

2 minutes ago, horseymike said:

We are booked on the Rotterdam same itinerary Departing March 8 2023. We have been informed via email that the ship will not call on Bonaire and the call in Willemstad Curacao will be extended overnight until to 11:00 pm the next day. I can't say that we are happy with it , but we really have no choice, other than to cancel the cruise.

When did you get the email?  Just wondering if we will get one soon.  

2 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

I would expect that 2 of those ships will be cancelled.  It's frustrating as HAL knows this and for some reason isn't releasing the details yet.

 

I am seeing lots of people complaining about itinerary changes.  I understand the frustration.  We had a Norway cruise booked for next year and HAL made changes so we transferred it to a 14 day British Isle cruise and it has also been affected by many changes.  So much so that it isn't the same cruise at all and we will be cancelling it.  We also booked a California Coastal cruise and the HAL rep had to share with me 3 changes while booking.  

 

As more and more port cities push back against cruise ships I think you are going to see more and more this.  Personally, I think our cruising days are going to become less as right now we simply don't feel comfortable booking a cruise and then having to deal with so many port changes.   

We booked this cruise because of Bonaire and its cancelled or if HAL hasn't cleared this up by final payment, we will cancel the HAL cruise.