Azura Fjords - Geiranger

[Harriet75C]

Anyone just back from the 3 May fjords cruise? What was all that about then?

 

Sad to have missed Geiranger as I'd heard it was a pretty little place

 

Also grumpy that it took over an hour to get out of the CPS car park but that's a different issue!

 

Lovely weather in Stavanger though which was nice. :)

[Big Foot]

Anyone just back from the 3 May fjords cruise? What was all that about then?

 

Sad to have missed Geiranger as I'd heard it was a pretty little place

 

Also grumpy that it took over an hour to get out of the CPS car park but that's a different issue!

 

Lovely weather in Stavanger though which was nice. :)

 

Yep, just disembarked this morning :(

 

No idea what the issue was but luckily we were up on deck so saw the town from a distance and witnessed the 180 degree turn around!

 

We booked a 9am departure time to try to avoid the worst of the delays; however it still took us 15 mins to leave the car park & that was after actually disembarking prior to 9am & without any delays searching for missing luggage!!

 

Had a great time on Azura & good to meet fellow cruisers from CC on board.

 

Joan

[Scriv]

Sounds interesting - what happened?

[Harriet75C]

We weren't allowed to stop at Flam - apparently the ship was refused permission to dock at the agreed mooring point so we had to miss the port and anchor somewhere else.

[Harriet75C]

There were a few other issues at Flam as well - the trip my husband was booked on was cancelled before we even got to Flam as the excursion provider had permission to renew their licence refused.

[Harriet75C]

Doh - not Flam - Geiranger. Sorry, earl;y morning for me so brain not working!

[Scriv]

Oh dear - so the turn around was right at the end of the fjord leading to Geiranger then? Was the port full? Did the captain explain?

Edited May 11, 2014 by Scriv

[Harriet75C]

The captain was quite annoyed and the mooring was available we were just refused permission to dock there. He said a complaint on our behalf had been escalated to higher authorities and he had made his displeasure known to the port authorities.

 

So as far as we are aware there was no reason for them refusing permission for us to dock.

 

We went to Hellesylt instead, which was pretty but most of the tours were cancelled as the coaches couldn't get round to there.

[Scriv]

Oh dear. We went to Geiranger last year at about the same time of year and I think we were the amongst the first cruise ships of the season - if not the first. (There was a welcome to us as first ship of the season either there or at Olden).

 

An excursion had been cancelled because the roads had been closed because of snow, but we knew of it beforehand.

 

Bad luck though - but at least you didn't miss the spectacular sail through the fjord.

[silversurf]

We were up at 5am to see the sail in up the fjord, which was spectacular (but very cold).

Captain announced that we had been refused the usual offshore berth in port, but we could anchor further out. Unfortunately where they suggested was too far out and dangerous because of the gusting winds and anyway it was too deep for the ship to anchor, so as Harriet said we went on to another port with a pretty waterfall but not much else. We also missed out on our excursion, but I see it's been refunded already.

We heard a rumour, which I can't confirm, that the Geiranger port authorities are building this new mooring place and are asking P and O to pay half the cost of it, which they have refused to do. Don't blame them either.

The Captain was very angry and taking his complaint to the highest authority and the poor excursion staff must have been running around like crazy to try and get the excursion buses to the alternative port, but to no avail.

Not P and Os fault but disappointing nonetheless.

[tshering]

I was up on Deck 19 when Azura did its 180 degree turn, and was very surprised when it started to go foward. The person with me joked that the Captain obviously couldn't find reverse gear, and he then came on the tannoy to say the port was saying that the ship could not use the previous mooring arrangements.

The schedule of cruise ship visits to Geiranger shows only Azura on 7th May and I was surprised when it was annouced that we would be using tenders. I thought that the new Sea Walk would be used. Is it not working or is it more expensive to use?

[alvin moondust]

We were on board too. I think the alternative stop was very pretty and we got some great photos of the waterfall, and Azura with the snowy valley in the background.

Celebrity Eclipse visited Geiranger and docked no problem on the previous day, so obviously some sort of political fighting going on

[daiB]

We were on board too. I think the alternative stop was very pretty and we got some great photos of the waterfall, and Azura with the snowy valley in the background.

Celebrity Eclipse visited Geiranger and docked no problem on the previous day, so obviously some sort of political fighting going on

 

 

As were were there only last year and had done the 'trip' from there the new port was perfect for us. Very nice and some great photos. The gift shops in the port must have thought all their birthdays had come together. We had a very good pizza and coffee. Looking at the schedule for the port most ships call in for an hour or so and then move off to Geiranger for the rest of the day. I doubt if people are allowed off. I suspect that they pick up a tour which takes them over to Geiranger by road.

 

A case of the port Authorities playing S B's

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Ecuador]

Tshering

 

Agree with what you say.The cruise schedule showed Azura docked at the pier, not at anchorage and therefore expected us to use the sea walk.We were the only ship due at geiranger that day and I thought I had misheard the captain when he said we would be using the tenders, but checked down on deck 7 and tenders were deployed over the side ready to be lowered as we approached geiranger.It appears we were due into geiranger the previous day when celebrity eclipse was also there but the ports of Flam and geiringer were changed around. As stated the captain was not pleased with the port authority but managed to take us to Hellesylt which we enjoyed.

Nice to meet everyone at the cc meeting and thanks to Dai for organising it.Hope to see you all on a future cruise.

[Thejuggler]

I was up on Deck 19 when Azura did its 180 degree turn, and was very surprised when it started to go foward. The person with me joked that the Captain obviously couldn't find reverse gear, and he then came on the tannoy to say the port was saying that the ship could not use the previous mooring arrangements.

The schedule of cruise ship visits to Geiranger shows only Azura on 7th May and I was surprised when it was annouced that we would be using tenders. I thought that the new Sea Walk would be used. Is it not working or is it more expensive to use?

 

IIRC from Celebrity last year when they joked about having a whip round to get the money to pay for it, the Sea Walk cost is a about 10p per ship tonne. So a large cruise ship would be £8,000- 10,000.

[Francisdrake]

Didn't really bother me in the end as I've fallen in love a little bit with Hellesylt, was fantastic walking up the hill & relaxing on top of the hill looking down on the village & then walking alongside the river and coming back the other side of the river.

[dsrdsrdsr]

We were up at 5am to see the sail in up the fjord, which was spectacular (but very cold).

Captain announced that we had been refused the usual offshore berth in port, but we could anchor further out. Unfortunately where they suggested was too far out and dangerous because of the gusting winds and anyway it was too deep for the ship to anchor, ...

Ships don't necessarily have to anchor at Geiranger. (Unless the rules have changed.) I've been in ships that had the anchor chain down to reduce drift, but it was straight down - it wasn't holding on to anything.

[daiB]

Ships don't necessarily have to anchor at Geiranger. (Unless the rules have changed.) I've been in ships that had the anchor chain down to reduce drift, but it was straight down - it wasn't holding on to anything.

 

 

This was a big ship and it was windy. The captain would not risk the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[simonpjd]

Trust me. That anchor was on the bottom. #savemefromlandlubbers