Silversae Dawn -Norway Fjords

[kiramoli]

We are considering a Silversea Dawn cruise over Norway Fjords. Question to people who've been on this/similar itinerary - how was it? Did you get the experience you were looking for? Did you see the fjords from the cruise ship? Did you have to take shore excursions or different boats to to see fjords? I am reading that some fjords are really narrow and wondering if the cruise ship can get there. 

We are looking for a good itinerary and seeing the fjords in the first place and a comfortable travel in the second place. We are also considering a land travel.  

Are we making the right choice going with Silversea? 

[Stumblefoot]

7 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

How was it?  

Fun!

8 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

Did you get the experience you were looking for?

Yes.  Well, other than being trapped in Russia and missing a Norwegian port, we did get the experience we were looking for.

 

9 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

Did you see the fjords from the cruise ship?

Yes.

 

10 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

Did you have to take shore excursions or different boats to to see fjords?

No.  But, we did anyway because we wanted to.

 

11 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

We are also considering a land travel.  Are we making the right choice going with Silversea? 

Could not even begin to comprehend a land based itinerary. So, yes, you are making the right choice.

[crusinbanjo]

I agree completely.  Mrs Banjo and I did a fiords cruise a few years ago, it was great.  The scenery from the ship was spectacular, the ships tours were good and we did take a non ship’s tour by small boat to see more of the fiords.  It was spectacular!  Glad we given special overcoats and hats to wear, because it was cold, even though temps on land were warm & sunny.  All in all we did get the experience we were looking for.  It was amazing, and we will be doing it again later this year on SS.  Can’t wait!

 

 

[ggo85]

We did this last year.  Very enjoyable. Do read up on the weather ahead of time and believe it!  Most of the passengers, including us, assumed that it would be warm in mid-July and assumed forecasts had to be wrong. They were right and we were wrong. Temps in the 50s and cloudy. At the first port, we were all buying sweatshirts.  🙂 The week before, it had been in the 80s - go figure. 
 

Many of Norway’s cities are landlocked.  Thus, seeing by ship is optimal. We did a cruise on  Hurtigruten 20 years ago (when it was Norwegian Coastal voyages) and still feel it’s the best way to experience the Norwegian fjords.  But it’s a very different experience than SS. If you’re doing a traditional cruise, SS is great. 
 

Of course you’ll see the fjords from the ship.  Land tours from the ship will allow you to experience even more sights.  
 

Be flexible - one day the weather was so bad that we couldn’t dock.  Had an extra day at sea.  Rare, but it can happen. 

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, crusinbanjo said:

I agree completely.  Mrs Banjo and I did a fiords cruise a few years ago, it was great.  The scenery from the ship was spectacular, the ships tours were good and we did take a non ship’s tour by small boat to see more of the fiords.  It was spectacular!  Glad we given special overcoats and hats to wear, because it was cold, even though temps on land were warm & sunny.  All in all we did get the experience we were looking for.  It was amazing, and we will be doing it again later this year on SS.  Can’t wait!

 

 

Sure saves on the sunscreen

[JSR]

Here is a link to our cruise last summer. We really enjoyed the trip, I highly recommend it. 

 

[kiramoli]

Thank you all for your input and insight.

Is this a good itinerary?

[Rothko1]

The Fjords are the next trip I want to take.

[gnome12]

6 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

The Fjords are the next trip I want to take.

I'm doing the Fjords and North Cape on Dawn in June 2024.

[Stumblefoot]

28 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

Thank you all for your input and insight.

Is this a good itinerary?

No, not as far as I’m concerned.  
 

As a first time visitor to Norway, I couldn’t imagine traveling all the way there and not visiting Hellesylt, Geiranger, Tromsø, and Honningsvåg at a minimum.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Stumblefoot

[kiramoli]

Is the sailing on July 5 a better itinerary? 

 

[dawntrdr]

I think 7 days is just too short.  Some of the days may be misty, or the sea rough, or it may rain.  

[kiramoli]

12 minutes ago, dawntrdr said:

I think 7 days is just too short.  Some of the days may be misty, or the sea rough, or it may rain.  

I wish we had more time. We are still working and cant take many days off. 

[kiramoli]

Another question. Does Silversea (or any other small ships) dock at a different/better location than bigger ships? For example, we just came back from the cruise in South East Asia. There were several ports where our small Oceania Nautica docked in the city while bigger ships docked 2 hrs away since they couldn't navigate the rivers to get to the city. Is it the case here or all cruise ships dock approximately at the same location? 

[drron29]

The Silver Dawn is slighly larger than the Nautica being 100 feet longer and 10000 tonnes heavier but takes less passengers. It will be able to sail into many Norwegian Fjords. There are over 1700 named Norwegian fjords so no cruise will see them all

[poolcat]

Norway holds a special place on our hearts.  20+ Silversea voyages and the one in July 2010 on Silver Cloud is by far our favorite.  Every evening we said the scenery and experiences could not get any better, but they did the next day and the next...  We were fortunate with weather.  Cool, but no heavy rain or rough seas. We used our veranda more on this voyage than on any others.   If you are limited with the number of days you can be away from home, then definitely go with the 2nd itinerary you posted above.  Silver Dawn is much larger than the Cloud so you will not be able to go into the smaller fjords such as Trollfjord. You should be able to have a spectacular experience.  

Enjoy your voyage and Norway!  

[crusinbanjo]

1 hour ago, poolcat said:

Norway holds a special place on our hearts.  20+ Silversea voyages and the one in July 2010 on Silver Cloud is by far our favorite.  Every evening we said the scenery and experiences could not get any better, but they did the next day and the next...  We were fortunate with weather.  Cool, but no heavy rain or rough seas. We used our veranda more on this voyage than on any others.   If you are limited with the number of days you can be away from home, then definitely go with the 2nd itinerary you posted above.  Silver Dawn is much larger than the Cloud so you will not be able to go into the smaller fjords such as Trollfjord. You should be able to have a spectacular experience.  

Enjoy your voyage and Norway!  

Completely agree.  Our experience was quite similar, and yes, go with the second itinerary!

[HappyCamper777]

9 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

...go with the second itinerary!

Agree with crusinbanjo.  The second itinerary is better than the first.

[Sunny429]

For what it’s worth, I would look at Viking Ocean itineraries for a Norway cruise. We have sailed with Silversea more than any other line and really enjoy them. However, we sailed with Viking Ocean for the first time last year on a “Northern Lights” tour and amazing is not strong enough a word to describe our experience. We were on the Viking Venus, a beautiful ship. The food was really good and the interior spaces were lovely and spacious. From what I gather, Norway is one of Viking’s specialties.

 

[caripoo]

Doing this trip on the Dawn in July....

[crusinbanjo]

2 hours ago, caripoo said:

Doing this trip on the Dawn in July....

Mrs Banjo and I will be on a similar trip, on the Dawn, in October!  Enjoy!

[kiramoli]

Thank you all for your insight! We decided to go with Silversea on July 22, slight different itinerary from July 5th but close enough. 

This was extremely helpful for us! Thanks a million to all! 

[kiramoli]

Very excited to report that we booked July 22 sailing from Copenhagen to Bergen on Silversea. Question on shore excursions. what were the best/must see places on the Fjords and what to choose from what Silversea offers?