Is this a good itinerary for the Fjords?

[Presto2]

First fo all I can't believe that we are actually posting on here re a future cruise ! Seems a long time since I did that!

Have just looked at the new cruises for 2022. 

There is one cruise that looks promising for us (due to work commitments) on Iona May 2022. (Can't believe we are saying that either but we dont want to do fly / cruise and the only Canary Island cruise we can do is when we already have plans --- sadly not many Canary Island cruises in August 😞 )

The itinerary is as follows - it looks a good one, but would value your opinions.

We have done some of the ports before but these seem more scenic than the ones we did last time. LOVED Olden

 

SOUTHAMPTON, UK

28 MAY 2022

DEPART EARLY EVENING06:00 PM

DAY 2

DAY AT SEA

DAY 3

STAVANGER, NORWAY

DAY 4

OLDEN, NORWAY   

INNVIKFJORDEN (CRUISE-BY), NORWAY

NORDFJORD (CRUISE-BY), NORWAY

DAY 5

HELLESYLT, NORWAY

DAY 5

GEIRANGER, NORWAY

DAY 5

GEIRANGERFJORD, NORWAY

DAY 5

SUNNYLVSFJORDEN (CRUISE-BY), NORWAY

DAY 5

STORFJORDEN (CRUISE-BY), NORWAY

DAY 6

HAUGESUND, NORWAY

DAY 7

DAY AT SEA

DAY 8

SOUTHAMPTON, UK

4 JUN 2022

 

[AndyMichelle]

Some old favourites and some interesting looking ones. 

Go for it, I'm sure you will have a great time. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

If my memory serves me correctly, there are 3 excellent fjords that P&O cover. Flaam & Olden are definitely two of them & I think Geiranger is the 3rd. Very few cruises do all 3 but I wouldn’t recommend one that does less than 2 of them. On that basis, the Iona itineraries (all the same for the whole season) look OK. Haugesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Alesund, Andalsnes etc are not fjords but Norwegian coastal ports.

[happy v]

Looks good to me. Stavanger is one of my favourite ports because of the flower island. Olden very good and haven't been to the others, so also good.

[jh1809]

Looks pretty good. I assume that you are happy with tendering, as I suspect that Stavanger will be the only place where a ship the size of Iona can dock.

[SarahHben]

I am booked to do the same itinerary June 2021 on Iona. Geiranger looks lovely, they have a retractable bridge that they use for disembarking. Any extra ships in port use tenders.

[Presto2]

They look like ports like Olden on this cruise. On our last cruise to the Fjords we didn't liek some of the coastal ports and preferred Olden. Stunning.

 

 

[Presto2]

57 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

Looks pretty good. I assume that you are happy with tendering, as I suspect that Stavanger will be the only place where a ship the size of Iona can dock.

LOVE tendering ---- at the minute we'd love anythign that included the water and a boat of any description !!!!! One of those flaoting swan things at a fun fair would look good 😉

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

If my memory serves me correctly, there are 3 excellent fjords that P&O cover. Flaam & Olden are definitely two of them & I think Geiranger is the 3rd. Very few cruises do all 3 but I wouldn’t recommend one that does less than 2 of them. On that basis, the Iona itineraries (all the same for the whole season) look OK. Haugesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Alesund, Andalsnes etc are not fjords but Norwegian coastal ports.

Off to research now --- this is like old times, oh I have missed this 🙂

[pete14]

Personally, I think any Norway fjord cruise is worth doing. Your itinerary looks good although there are couple of new ports on there I haven’t visited. 

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Personally, I think any Norway fjord cruise is worth doing. Your itinerary looks good although there are couple of new ports on there I haven’t visited. 

 

We have a cruise in April we need to move and some FCC - looking at that year it is the only one that we fancy. Not sure about the ship but who knows and we fancy Southampton rather than a fly cruise to be honest.

 

Like I said, how nice to be talking cruises again ------- 😉

 

[davecttr]

That's the same itinerary as next summer. Olden and Geiranger  are at the end of long fjord sailin/outs which are good. stavanger is OK but wanes a bit after several visits, Haugosund not so good.

[kruzseeka]

As mentioned by happy v, the flower island you can visit from Stavanger - Flor and Fjaere is magnificent.  It's not a cheap trip but my goodness it's worth it!   We've been twice and intend to go again (if the cruise goes next year! 🤞).  It has the only palm trees in Norway and they have a beach garden, rose garden, Japanese garden, Cacti, water garden and so much more.  They plant 35,000 annuals each year and its a riot of colour.  The guide gives a fascinating talk on the history of how the gardens were developed too. 

 

https://florogfjare.no/no/bildegalleri/

 

The trip goes in the morning (before the gardens open to independent travellers) so you have plenty of time in the afternoon to explore Stavanger itself; the old town with cobbled streets and clipboard houses, the old part of the shopping area - very pretty and plenty to see. V(The Oil Museum is surprisingly good - but something for another visit id say - go for the big hitters first.)

 

Hellesylt and Geiranger is a wonderful area to visit.  The cruise down the Fjord is an excursion in itself - get up early and stay on deck for the sailaway to be sure you don't miss anything either on the port or starboard side.  It's a feast for the eyes and awesome in the true sense of the word.  Since you do both in the one day, I guess they are doing a drop off at Hellesylt early morning for tours - they will rejoin the ship at Geiranger at the end of the day.  Geiranger is a just a short way further along at the end of the Fjord. If you haven't been before I would just relish being there!  There is a HoHo bus which will take you to a viewpoint where they stop for 10 mins for photos.  We get off at the next stop on the way down and walk about 1Km(?) to Westeras Farm (the bus drops you at the end of the road) where they have a terrace with the most fantastic views - and coffee and pancakes too!  We pick the bus up again (every 30 minutes) and we go to the Visitor Centre so we can walk down the steps and walk way down the side of a tumbling waterway back down to the village.  A must stop destination for us in Norway!  Btw, buy your tickets for the HoHo on land, they were selling them on board last time we went but were more expensive (nearly £5 more?  Not sure exactly but was significant.)

 

Olden also provides a lovely sail down the Fjord.  Good walking here or a choice of interesting excursions to a glacier, the Sky Lift or to a Lake which was the trip we did (can't remember the name but it was magical).   

 

Haugesund is coastal town which is perhaps the least exciting of the destinations but it's pleasant enough.  We picked up a good local map from the tourist office and followed the walk along the coast-line up to a monument on top of a hill.  Interesting walk, campsite near the monument so you can grab a coffee then wander back into town by the more direct route. 

 

This is a a good itinerary in that you are getting deep into the Fjords.  It's an area which I find so uplifting, truly awesome and for me almost a spiritual experience.  I'd jump at it!  Enjoy!  

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, kruzseeka said:

 

 

This is a a good itinerary in that you are getting deep into the Fjords.  It's an area which I find so uplifting, truly awesome and for me almost a spiritual experience.  I'd jump at it!  Enjoy!  

 

As well as the comments from others this onemay have nailed it ---- off to look at Iona now .... not as convinced but we love Britannia and have to say, I fancy those conservatory thingy cabins 😉 

[davecttr]

3 minutes ago, kruzseeka said:

As mentioned by happy v, the flower island you can visit from Stavanger - Flor and Fjaere is magnificent. ......

The day I went it threw it down, constantly 😕

 

One one visit I took the excursion to Pulpit rock, good with coffee and cakes. They stopped under a waterfall and collected the lovely cold water for a refreshing drink. After knocking it back I commented that in Cumbria where I come from all the mountain streams have a dead sheep in them which accounts for the excellent flavour 🤢😁

[Presto2]

8 minutes ago, davecttr said:

The day I went it threw it down, constantly 😕

 

One one visit I took the excursion to Pulpit rock, good with coffee and cakes. They stopped under a waterfall and collected the lovely cold water for a refreshing drink. After knocking it back I commented that in Cumbria where I come from all the mountain streams have a dead sheep in them which accounts for the excellent flavour 🤢😁

 

Hi we did Pulpit Rock last year (seems years ago now). We did an Easter cruise and the weather was just stunning. Even the locals could not believe it as it was early April. Think we have been spoiled though as it was an amazin cruise and the cabin on Azura just perfect. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, jh1809 said:

Looks pretty good. I assume that you are happy with tendering, as I suspect that Stavanger will be the only place where a ship the size of Iona can dock.

I would expect Olden would be docked, and at Geiranger Iona would use RCI's floating pier.

[Thejuggler]

Plenty of padding in that list as most of the list are simply the fjords the ship uses to get to the ports.

 

Looks like the only change from the regular trip is Bergen replaced by Haugesund.

 

Whether the Seawalk is used in Gerainger depends if P&O will open their wallet to pay for it, about £20,000 for Iona.

[kruzseeka]

57 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

Plenty of padding in that list as most of the list are simply the fjords the ship uses to get to the ports.

 

Looks like the only change from the regular trip is Bergen replaced by Haugesund.

 

Whether the Seawalk is used in Gerainger depends if P&O will open their wallet to pay for it, about £20,000 for Iona.

 

Yes, the more recent ploy of including every Fjord you sail down as part of the itinerary could perhaps catch someone out in that they think they are going to visit more places than they are.  However, presumably there are 4 full days in port (albeit one shared between Hellesylt and Geiranger - it's to be hoped with a delayed arrival due to a call at Hellesylt first, they do use the Seawalk at Geiranger as to tender a huge number of passengers is likely to take some considerable time).   

I think in a one week trip 4 ports is the norm.  The Fjords they've identified going into and out of Geiranger are pretty spectacular and worthy of mentioning though.  They will be cruising through mainly early morning and evening of course - but they are like excursions in their own right and not to be missed.     

Edited November 4, 2020 by kruzseeka

[pete14]

46 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

Plenty of padding in that list as most of the list are simply the fjords the ship uses to get to the ports.

 

Looks like the only change from the regular trip is Bergen replaced by Haugesund.

 

Whether the Seawalk is used in Gerainger depends if P&O will open their wallet to pay for it, about £20,000 for Iona.

I wouldn’t refer to the cruising down the fjords as padding. To me it is preferable to some ports and makes the cruise more special. I think 4 ports in 7 days, with crossing the North Sea to factor in the 3 sea days is perfectly reasonable. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I wouldn’t refer to the cruising down the fjords as padding. To me it is preferable to some ports and makes the cruise more special. I think 4 ports in 7 days, with crossing the North Sea to factor in the 3 sea days is perfectly reasonable. 

But most of the sail ins are done in the very early morning hours, however the sail outs are in good daylight, except for maybe the very early and late season cruises.

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I wouldn’t refer to the cruising down the fjords as padding. To me it is preferable to some ports and makes the cruise more special. I think 4 ports in 7 days, with crossing the North Sea to factor in the 3 sea days is perfectly reasonable. 

We have a Fjords cruise booked for  June 2021🤞. 12 nights with 7 ports  and cruising 3 fjords, which sounds fine to me then.

Avril

[majortom10]

I think you will find that Hellesylt is not an actual port of call just a short stay drop off for those that book P&O excursions and will then pick up the ship in Geiranger. Those that have not booked an excursion will not be allowed to disembark in Hellesylt.

[jaydee6969]

Looks good to me.  We will be booking this same cruise next week, once telephone booking direct wit P&O is open.  Dates work well for us with it being half term, and my birthday as well.

 

[pete14]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

I think you will find that Hellesylt is not an actual port of call just a short stay drop off for those that book P&O excursions and will then pick up the ship in Geiranger. Those that have not booked an excursion will not be allowed to disembark in Hellesylt.

You  are correct majortom but Presto’s cruise has stops in Stavanger, Olden, Haugesund and Hellesyllt / Geiranger i.e. 4 stops on 4 different days. 

Edited November 4, 2020 by pete14