Path of the Vikings - Serenade Transatlantic 08/28-09/13/2016: a photographic review

[Shenaz]

Hello fellow cruisers,

 

I finally decided to put this summer's transatlantic in pictures and words, so here is my first ever cruise review. I will mainly let my photos speak: I don't have professional camera equipment, I just own an okayish compact camera. I plan to update whenever I have the time and I hope I will ever finish this.

 

 

Who we are

For this trip, I was accompanied by my mum. My mum, Rosemarie, and I, Stefanie, are Germans, living in the south of the country (so bear with me, my native language is not English!). I'm in my early thirties and my mum is in her early sixties.

This was my fourth cruise and my mum's fifth, my second and her third translatlantic.

We have sailed on Princess and Royal Caribbean before.

 

The planning

Around February this year, I found the cruise in an ad from a big German discounter. I knew immediately this was the cruise we were going to take, but found the prices too high. After some research, we booked with a German online travel agency who offered the cruise at a price that suited us well and left us more opportunities for individual planning.

During the summer, the cruise fare dropped a lot, so we cancelled and rebooked, and despite the cancellation penalty we saved so much money, it almost paid for all our excursions.

We are low-budget travellers and are in our cabin only to eat, shower and sleep, so we went with an inside cabin. We had a guarantee, 3583. The location was fantastic: very close to the elevators and stairs on a low deck midship. We were next to a crew storage area, but we never heard a sound from there.

 

The itinerary

Initially, the cruise included a stop in Klaksvík, Faroe Islands, which had been axed due to their doubtful whaling policies - but that port of call had already been cancelled before we booked this cruise.

A couple of weeks before the cruise, the itinerary was revised once again and the port order in Iceland was changed from Ísafjörður - Reykjavík - Akureyri to Reykjavík - Ísafjörður - Akureyri, which was, in fact, the best thing they could do as that gave us two entire days in Reykjavík instead of only 1.5.

The final itinerary looked like this:

(taken from icruise.com)

 

Day 1: København, Denmark - Depart: 05:00 pm

Day 2: Oslo, Norway - Arrive: 10:00 am - Depart: 07:00 pm

Day 3: Kristiansand, Norway - Arrive: 10:00 am - Depart: 06:00 pm

Day 4: At sea

Day 5: At sea

Day 6: Reykjavík, Iceland - Arrive: 08:00 am

Day 7: Reykjavík, Iceland - Depart: 05:00 pm

Day 8: Ísafjörður, Iceland - Arrive: 08:00 am - Depart: 04:00 pm

Day 9: Akureyri, Iceland - Arrive: 07:00 am - Depart: 05:00 pm

Day 10: At sea

Day 11: At sea

Day 12: At sea

Day 13: At sea

Day 14: At sea

Day 15: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - Arrive: 08:00 am - Depart: 05:00 pm

Day 16: At sea

Day 17: Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Arrive: 06:00 am

 

So, for now there have been many words and no photos, but that will change with the next post, I promise!

[Biker19]

Initially, the cruise included a stop in Klaksvík, Faroe Islands, which had been axed due to their doubtful whaling policies -

 

OK - I'll bite, what?:confused:

[sjb317]

Looking forward to your review as we did this same cruise last year and really enjoyed it. We did have a port day in Klaksvik, so I'm curious why Royal decided this year to cancel when the same "doubtful whaling practices" have been going on for years?

 

Sherri:)

[Biker19]

We did have a port day in Klaksvik, so I'm curious why Royal decided this year to cancel when the same "doubtful whaling practices" have been going on for years?

 

The early northern TAs via Iceland stop there almost every year - just a bizarre reason to give to cancel such a port.

[sjb317]

The early northern TAs via Iceland stop there almost every year - just a bizarre reason to give to cancel such a port.

 

Especially since this method of whale hunting has been going on for centuries in the islands and has been protested by environmental groups since at least the 80's. I know some passengers voiced some concern on our cruise last year but they still got off the ship.:D

 

 

Sherri:)

[Shenaz]

My dad took us to Stuttgart airport in the whee ours of the morning. It is only a short drive from where we live.

We had decided against flying into Copenhagen a day or two earlier as we had been there before (and we didn't like it, but I'll add to that later). We also thought that the risk of missing the ship would be minimal with a one-hour flight very early in the morning. Even if something had gone wrong, we would have had plenty of time to get to the ship!

 

Check-in and boarding went smoothly, even though my mum and I agreed that we had never seen as many people at that airport before (think summer holidays!). We flew with a tiny SAS Bombardier that only fitted around 70 passengers. We even had to check in our hand luggage (at no additional cost) as the plane was so small!

 

Our flight was scheduled for 06:00 am, but we had a short delay due to a thunderstorm. Luckily, the thunderstorm made way for an incredibly pretty sunrise!

 

 

 

 

Despite the short delay, we arrived in Copenhagen on time.

We were out of the airport and at the train station very quickly, where we took the train to Østerport Station. From there we took the bus to Oceankaj where we were greeted by our home for the next 16 nights.

We were at the cruise terminal at 09:30 am already and luckily enough, we could already drop off our luggage.

 

 

We then took a bus back to Østerport Station as we wanted to do some sightseeing.

Even though we had been to Copenhagen before very briefly, we had been in an entirely different area.

 

There was some light drizzle and heavy winds at the port, but it had dried by the time we were back in the city.

Our first stop was the Little Mermaid. People keep saying how little she is. I found her to be the exact size that I had imagined.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Shenaz

[Shenaz]

Especially since this method of whale hunting has been going on for centuries in the islands and has been protested by environmental groups since at least the 80's. I know some passengers voiced some concern on our cruise last year but they still got off the ship.:D

 

 

Sherri:)

 

German cruise lines cancel Faroe visits over whale hunt concerns

 

I wouldn't doubt Royal cancelled Klaksvík for the same reason. Besides, this is also what Captain Tor replied in the Q&A when asked why the Faroes were cancelled. Next year's Serenade TA doesn't stop there either, so it's likely not a scheduling conflict.

Maybe also due to this 2015 law.

At least, this was what was heard on the cruise.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Shenaz

[Shenaz]

We then proceeded on to Kastellet, a well preserved fortress, where we spent quite some time wandering and exploring.

 

The Monument for Denmark's International Effort since 1948 on the left side, one of the Rows to the right

 

Guard building at North Gate

 

Citadel church

 

Commander's House

 

Windmill and canon

 

Outside King's Gate, the weather had improved. As you can see, we enjoyed the sun

[Biker19]

^ that's just sad - we had a very nice visit there in 2014 on Legend and it may have been the last for a very long time.

[Shenaz]

Our next stop was St. Alban's Church. The church is built from mainly limestone and flintstone.

 

Next to St. Alban's Church is Gefion Fountain.

 

 

We made our way to Amalienborg Palace, with the Opera in the background...

 

... and Frederik's Church if you take a 180° turn.

 

We had a peek inside.

[sjb317]

German cruise lines cancel Faroe visits over whale hunt concerns

 

I wouldn't doubt Royal cancelled Klaksvík for the same reason. Besides, this is also what Captain Tor replied in the Q&A when asked why the Faroes were cancelled. Next year's Serenade TA doesn't stop there either, so it's likely not a scheduling conflict.

Maybe also due to this 2015 law.

At least, this was what was heard on the cruise.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Your pictures are beautiful!

 

Sherri:)

[Shenaz]

Far in the distance, you could see Serenade of the Seas.

 

A closer look at the Opera.

 

After that, we continued our way to our last sightseeing stop for today, Nyhavn.

By the time we arrived there, it was buzzing with people as the weather had become really good.

 

 

 

[Shenaz]

As time passed by, we took a bus back to the ship and checked in. It was already mid-afternoon, therefore there were no queues. We couldn't have asked for a smoother process.

We grabbed some late lunch, went for muster drill and explored the ship. We were amazed by the Atrium!

 

 

 

For sail-away we found a quiet spot on the helipad.

 

In the background you can see Storebælt bridge.

 

Since it began to rain heavily, we didn't spend a huge amount of time on the helipad.

 

We grabbed some dinner from Windjammer Café and decided to end the day on a relaxed note - even more so as we had a very busy day scheduled the next day in Oslo.

[Shenaz]

Your pictures are beautiful!

 

Sherri:)

 

Thanks, Sherri!

[easyboy]

Very nice photos. Will be following.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[cruise47]

Thanks for sharing your review with some amazing photos.

[Shenaz]

We decided not to get up too late to enjoy some of the spectacular Oslofjord views. Got a nice table in the Windjammer Café and enjoyed a relaxed breakfast before docking in Oslo.

We had a very tight schedule that day so we were happy the ship was cleared on time.

Unfortunately it was chilly and very cloudy when we arrived, but like the day before, the skies cleared up during the day.

 

Oslo City Hall and Akerhus fortress to the right.

 

 

 

On our way to our first "real" stop, we took a (planned) detour through Oslo's main street, Karl Johans gate.

 

This is Stortinget, Norway's parliament building.

 

 

As you can see, the first rays of sunshine were to be seen over the Royal Palace.

[Shenaz]

We took the T-bane up to Holmenkollen ski jumping hill. On the way we had some spectacular views over the fjord and the city.

 

We arrived at the bakken after a t-bane ride of around 30 minutes and a steep ascend by foot.

 

The hill is gigantic. People must be crazy to jump down :eek:. The current official record is at 141 m (463 ft). The structure was rebuilt only a few years ago and the new hill is very modern.

 

 

 

 

 

[Shenaz]

We had a picnic lunch while we were waiting for the next metro that got us to Frogner Park, sometimes also named Vigeland Sculpture Park.

 

The Vigeland installation is the world's largest sculpture park by a single artist. Most of the sculptures (if not all of them?) and structures show naked people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Desert Cruizers]

Thank you for the pictures, we leave for Copenhagen August 22, 2017 for our 15 day TA( Oslo, Kristiansand, Reyjkavik overnight then Akureyri, 5 sea days, halifax sea day then Boston. we will be staying on the Canal at the Bethel.

[Shenaz]

After that, we had a brief look at the ships in the Viking ship museum, it was only a very short stop there.

 

 

We spent more time in the Norsk Folkemuseum, the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. This is an open-air museum with more than 150 buildings from different places and times from all over Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

[Shenaz]

Our last stop for this packed day was the Opera, you can walk up the marble roof and enjoy the view over the waterline. There is a lot of construction going on in this area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very long and interesting day and at the end of that, we were only capable for a yummy dinner at Winderjammer and our beds.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Shenaz

[Shenaz]

Thank you for the pictures, we leave for Copenhagen August 22, 2017 for our 15 day TA( Oslo, Kristiansand, Reyjkavik overnight then Akureyri, 5 sea days, halifax sea day then Boston. we will be staying on the Canal at the Bethel.

 

Same itinerary as ours, minus Ísafjörður. I'm sure you're going to enjoy!

The best is yet to come (Iceland).

Edited November 2, 2016 by Shenaz

[Desert Cruizers]

This will be our first visit and plan on spending 3 days pre cruise. We arrive on the 23rd around 12:45 so have the rest of the afternoon, plus the 24th & 25th before we board the Serenade. Even DH who generally replies, " What another cruise. ":D, got excited.:) We plan on using the HOHO and take the Canal Tour as well as walk around and see what we want rather then actually scheduling specific stops. I do hope to get in a Castle Tour perhaps on the 25th.