Fab North Cape: Review

[Britiscruizin]

We were on the Ruby Princess "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise out of Southampton 16th-28th June.

 

 

Embarkation at Southampton was very efficient & fast: 30 minutes from arriving we were checked in, through security & in our room! The cases had already arrived so we heaved them in & headed to Horizon Court!

 

 

Stateroom C722 is on the Port Side Aft: its got the double depth balcony so has some cover/some open which is great. Our room steward Ramesh, was the best we've had on 6 cruises. He was the epitome of the "invisible" man, keeping our room spotless every time we nipped out! The bed was very comfortable & there were 2 US 110v sockets & a European socket 220v behind the bed, very useful for re-charging our gadgets. The bathroom was compact but, adequate with plenty of storage. We had more than enough room for all our clothes & paraphilia & believe me I'm not a light packer!! We asked Ramesh for more coat hangers & pillows & they appeared in a flash.

 

 

We ate our evening meal in Michelangelo on anytime dining. Personally we thought the menu change wasn't good. We much preferred the old one. Our waiters Ana & Boyan were cheerful & efficient, nothing was too much trouble. We had a lovely table for two, although it was partly bench seating the tables weren't too close together & it wasn't treated as a table for 20 as we've experienced before.

 

 

The cruise director was Martyn Moss whom we like. He's witty & shares our sense of humour. The production shows were new to us (last cruise 2012) & very good. Steve Larkins in Mercury Rising, a tribute to Freddie Mercury was brilliant. The Macdonald Brothers harmonies & Celtic music went down well. We didn't see the comedians or ventriloquist. The theatre had 3 shows some nights which meant not having to get there too early to find a seat.

 

 

The ports were stunning, the mountains, the fjords & the spectacular North Cape, simply breath-taking. I will write about each port in the ports section.

 

 

There were a variety of activities from the choir to towel animals to keep everyone amused. For the football fanatics (Poor England!) the world cup matches were shown when the satellite signal allowed.

 

 

Disembarkation in Southampton was simplicity itself: we went to our meeting point, simply walked off with our hand luggage & collected our suitcases (ok one had the handle broken off!) loaded the car & drove home to a rather soggy Westcountry.

 

 

All in all a really enjoyable cruise on Ruby Princess, the friendliest ship we've had the pleasure to sail on. We will be back

[Britiscruizin]

PPorts:

Bergen: is known as the “gateway to the fjords. Due to the ship docking in the industrial port a free shuttle bus was provided into the town. Bergen is very easy to find your way around & is a pleasant port. “Must sees”, the Funicular railway, Bryggen Old Town & the Fish Market. Advice; Easy to do “on your own”.

 

Flåm: Flåm is a village at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden, an arm off of the main Sognefjorden. It is picture postcard beautiful with mountains, waterfalls & the fjord. “Must sees”, the famous Flåm Railway which has astounding views. Advice: Easy to do on your own.

 

Geiranger: The deep blue UNESCO-protected Geirangerfjord is surrounded by majestic, snow-covered mountain peaks, wild waterfalls and lush, green vegetation. It was our only tender port. There were a few problems with the tenders transporting passengers as a ship where Ruby should have dropped anchor didn’t leave! Therefore, we were further away from the port. “Must sees”: The famous viewpoints Ørnevegen (the Eagle Road), Dalsnibba and Flydalsjuvet. The Fosseranding Waterfall Walk with one mile of steps following alongside. Kayaking, canoeing or hiking for the more adventurous! Advice: Easy to do on your own.

 

 

Trondheim: Is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag County. In our opinion the only port we didn’t particularly like. The weather didn’t help as it rained all day & then the gale force wind prevented us from leaving so the Commodore wisely decided to remain in port for 6 extra hours. “Must sees”, the Nidaros cathedral, old town houses along the river accessed by an old wooden bridge. Shuttle buses were available at $16pp return but, it was easy to walk. Advice: Fairly long but, level walk.

 

Honningsvag & North Cape: Honningsvag is the northernmost city on the mainland of Norway. It’s the “gateway” to the North Cape & there is very little to see in the port. There is an Ice Bar & a few souvenir shops. We took a Princess organised trip to the North Cape, it was rather chilly but, having researched the area we were prepared with coats, hats & gloves & were nice & warm. When standing at the North Cape cliff with the iconic globe monument, only the Svalbard Islands separate you from the North Pole. On the drive up we saw numerous reindeer & had a photo stop at a settlement.“Must sees”, the iconic globe & everything in the Visitor Centre. Be prepared for queues in the shop!! Advice: Take ship tour.

 

Tromso: city that is the 9th largest urban area in Norway. Shuttle buses were chaotic (again $16 pp return) too many passengers & not enough buses. It was do-able on foot but, was a considerable distance. “Must sees”, the Arctic cathedral, cable cars. For us the highlight of Tromso was the beautiful sailing away of almost 2 hours of stunning mountain scenery. Advice: take shuttle unless you like walking!

 

Stavanger: The city is the third-largest urban zone and metropolitan area in Norway. The ship docked right in the centre so was very easy to get around. To the delight of many of the male passengers the World Volley Ball championships were being held!! “Must sees”, Old Stavanger 173 wooden houses build with wood at the turn of the century. Pulpit rock, Petroleum museum, Lysefjorden cruise. Advice: Easy to do on your own.

 

Anyone wanting any other information on this cruise please feel free to ask.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[timetravler]

Thank you for your through report. I was also on this cruise so I want to make one correction. The Flam Railroad is not easy to do on your own as most of the tickets were sold out before we got to the port. Only trip that had room was a late afternoon train ride. However I booked a group of 14 myself on line before the cruise about 8 weeks in advance. It's easy to do and is the only way you can prebook the Flam railroad unless you do a Princess excursion. They take cash and in NOK's only. Everyone in my group paid to me the perfect amount, so no problems.

I have to say taking the Flam Railroad is a must do.

In Stavanger, we did a Princess tour which was cruising in a boat along the Flords. This was the only Princess tour we did, but completely worth every penny. It was beautiful and can describe it as a combination of Yosemite National park and Glacier National Park in Montana.

The only down side for us on this cruise was the rainy weather. Also be prepared for very cold weather when you in the arctic circle. We had a high of 43 degrees.

Very glad we did this cruise.

[onefine89]

We were on the Ruby Princess "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise out of Southampton 16th-28th June...............

 

All in all a really enjoyable cruise on Ruby Princess, the friendliest ship we've had the pleasure to sail on. We will be back

 

Very nice review.......sounds like a great cruise experience!

 

Would you be able to post copies of the Princess Patters from your cruise? Would like to post your Patters in an ongoing thread, especially for the Ruby Princess this year.......thanx

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks! :)

 

This is a must do cruise for us. ;)

[san diego sue]

Thanks for posting.Sounds like a trip we need to book someday.

We will have C722 on the Ruby this December. Glad to hear the beds were

comfortable.

[Britiscruizin]

Thank you all for your great comments. We certainly loved this cruise. As we are from England we didn't find the weather too cold!! Yes the North Cape was 3degrees but, we knew how far north we were going so took plenty of layers, hats, gloves etc & were very warm. Some people we met from Florida found it very cold most days! So I guess its what you are used to. The only day we found the weather a problem was in Trondheim, that was more due to the wind & rain than temperature.

Thanks for the added info on the Flam railway. We booked a Princess tour as we didn't want to miss it.

 

I have lots of photos & all the Patters but, not being techno-savvy I don't know how to post them, please feel free to give me details & I'll do my best.

 

To anyone planning this cruise I can thoroughly recommend it if you rate stunning scenery over sunshine!!!!

[mosenga]

Are you able to e-mail the patters to me? I would really appreciate it. mosenga at hotmail dot com

 

Thanks.

[Mackenzie1]

Thank you for your review, and especially for letting us know about how warm we will have to dress for the North Cape. I am taking this cruise next summer on the Caribbean Princess. Some have said that the seas around the arctic circle can be rough. If I may ask, was that your experience?

[imp1978]

The worst seas we had were leaving Trondheim. But it was exceptionally stormy and windy and the ship was being blown against the dock so hard we couldn't leave until much later than we were supposed to. Later that night out at sea it was a bit like trying to sleep on a rollercoaster (in the end we turned the TV on to the outside view channel (24 hour daylight!)so we could at least see the waves coming which helped) - our cabin was at the front though, and others we spoke to further back hadn't noticed a thing.

[Mackenzie1]

Thank you for your reply. By the way, did you take the Stavanger, Norway Pulpit Rock cruise with Princess? If so, did Princess reserve its own boat, and did they use Rodne, which is a cruise operator out of Stavanger? The reason I ask is that Princess has not posted a Lysefjord/Pulpit Rock excursion from Stavenger for this year's Summer Sostice cruise yet.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Mackenzie1

[imp1978]

No we didn't. We just had a wander around Stavanger and watched some volleyball (which was randomly occuring on several make shift courts all over the docks).

[Mackenzie1]

No we didn't. We just had a wander around Stavanger and watched some volleyball (which was randomly occuring on several make shift courts all over the docks).

 

Thank you.

[caneable]

I'm on the same cruise and roll call as Mackenzie. The group has had some discussion about the North Cape. Some of us are looking at the local bus service to do the journey from Honningsvag to North Cape. The OP gave advice to use the Princess tour but didn't give a reason. Can you shed a light on whether there was a problem with the local bus service?

[gacruisergal]

We were on last years cruise and did the Christmas House tour. It was fantastic and we saw just about everything you would see on the North Cape tour. Saw the Horn, reindeer, fantastic mountains, waterfalls....just the drive up was amazing and met so many interesting people and their stories. This is a must see and do!

[sailing_scot]

We did this cruise last year and agree with the advice above.

 

Some additional info

 

Bergen -we download the walking tour from frommers - which guides you around the main areas.

 

If you go to the museum in the old town - their is also an organised walking tour of the old town which was good.

 

Flam - you should sign up as a group with your roll call - we got lucky - but the trains sold out within 20 mins of us arriving. We got off at the top - and hired bikes (were loads).

 

We then cycled back down (95% is downhill - a bit steep at the start - you might be advised to walk for about 15 mins). You just leave the bikes at the bottom.

 

Their is a local pub where we remotgaged and bought a taster of i think 5 beers.

 

Trondheim - we went to the local tourist office and joined a walking tour - think it cost about 10 GBP. Was about 2 hours and i felt for a lot more out of it rather than just wandering ourself.

 

Was a horrible day as others have posted above. We also just walked into town - took 15 mins max.

 

North Cape - we hired a car from Avis (depot is right where you get off the ship) - cost 90 GBP. Allowed us to drive up and go on a bird watching boat trip - never seen so many puffins in my life.

 

We then drove to North Cape.

 

There is little chance of you getting lost - on about 2-3 roads and very quiet. We did so because we felt allowed us to see more and at our own pace.

 

Tromso - not nearly enough time. We took cable car up mountain.

 

Stavenger - again went to tourist office and joined an organised walking tour - covered most of the interesting places. Also went to Petroleum museum - a lot more interesting than i had thought it might - would recommend.

 

Marytn Moss was our cruise director - one of the best we have ever had.

[caneable]

Gacruiser gal and sailing scot, thanks for the info

[imp1978]

I'm on the same cruise and roll call as Mackenzie. The group has had some discussion about the North Cape. Some of us are looking at the local bus service to do the journey from Honningsvag to North Cape. The OP gave advice to use the Princess tour but didn't give a reason. Can you shed a light on whether there was a problem with the local bus service?

 

No - no idea. Im guessing they want you to spend more money and go with them. We didn't take the bus and decided to go hiking up in the hills behind Honningsvag instead. But we did pop into the tourist info centre - located right next to the pier as you leave it, behind a big tourist tat shop. They had bus timetables and info up everywhere - they were also very helpful when we asked where we could go to see reindeer.

 

One thing I would say about going to the North Cape - we didn't go, but the people I spoke to about it said they didn't enjoy the princess tour. Said it was nothing but queuing it was so busy there. May be best to go alone, and try and time it when all the buses from the ship aren't arriving.

 

The ship does sail round the North Cape as well - so you can see it from the other angle as well. If you've got a good enough camera, you can even zoom in and see all the people stood up there!

 

 

[Mackenzie1]

Wow, fantastic information, imp1978. I can see it now--3,000 people from the Caribbean Princess all lined up at the same time at the entrance to the dome. Since we will be there at exactly the summer solstice, I can imagine many other people around the world will be there at the same time, too. The Princess North Cape Honningsvag excursion is wait list only now.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Mackenzie1