Choosing a cruise

[GypsyJedi]

We loved the Alaska Cruise we did 5 years go. The best part was sitting on our balcony and watched the scenery go by  I hoped to have the same experience on the New England p. It was very nice and the scenery going into and out of port was pretty. Anyone one have ideas what area I should look at for another cruise. BTW can’t convince my husband to do a river cruise 

thanks

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, GypsyJedi said:

We loved the Alaska Cruise we did 5 years go. The best part was sitting on our balcony and watched the scenery go by  I hoped to have the same experience on the New England p. It was very nice and the scenery going into and out of port was pretty. Anyone one have ideas what area I should look at for another cruise. BTW can’t convince my husband to do a river cruise 

thanks

Since you seem to enjoy scenic cruising, you might want to consider a northern European cruise that includes some of the fjords of Norway.  Another option, assuming your are OK with sea days, is to look at the cruises that go through Prince Christiansund (Greenland) and also call at some of the Iceland ports.  Several cruise lines (i.e. HAL, Seabourn, Oceania, etc) have various itineraries that include those islands.  

 

If you are considering the more southern parts of Europe, there are a few scenic areas such as when cruising in or out of Kotor (Montenegro),  And than there are always the Greek Islands :).

 

Hank

[LHT28]

Norway  one that goes up the Fjords

[Mary229]

Another vote for Norway. 

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, GypsyJedi said:

We loved the Alaska Cruise we did 5 years go. The best part was sitting on our balcony and watched the scenery go by  I hoped to have the same experience on the New England p. It was very nice and the scenery going into and out of port was pretty. Anyone one have ideas what area I should look at for another cruise. BTW can’t convince my husband to do a river cruise 

thanks

 

Others have already mentioned a cruise along the Norwegian fjords.

 

Here is a more specific suggestion:

 

Take a *traditional* Hurtigruten one-way or round-trip cruise from Burgen to the end at Kirkenes.

(There are now newer itineraries that *don't* match this in the particular way that would be perfect in this situation, so double check it's the "Coastal Round Trip".)

 

These are actually technically ferries (wait, they are NOT like the Staten Island Ferry! 😉 ) that also deliver mail and some large products along the coast.  They stop in several ports every day, and the itinerary on the NorthBound trip and on the Southbound trip have different ports in the day and night.  (During peak winter or summer, there won't be much difference, but especially in mid-fall or mid-spring, you'll get to see each port in the daytime and also in the nighttime, during a round-trip.)

 

The scenery is SPECTACULAR.

https://www.hurtigruten.com/destinations/norway/the-roundtrip-voyage-bergen-kirkenes-bergen/

 

And most stops are only about 15-30 minutes, not intended for serious excursions.  But for passengers who DO want excursions, there are a few long stops, plus some excursions that start at one port and rejoin the ship at a later port.

 

DH was really unsure of this idea when he heard the word "ferry" (as are many people) but "it's not like that", truly.  There are regular cabins, and a few suites, and at least one very new ship that isn't even a ferry at all.  (I'm not sure if that ship still does the Coastal RT.)

The food was excellent.

It was one of our best trips ever.

Did I mention the scenery is *spectacular*?

 

I have some mobility difficulties, so I was happy just sitting and watching everything, non-stop.

We took two of the longer excursions (where the ship stays in the port).  On one, DH did part without me, and I stayed on the small bus while the others went into an underground area that had been a major bomb shelter during the war.  That excursion also stopped at the... Russian border, which was slightly spooky even a about 5 years ago (for those of us growing up in earlier times), but now... I'm not sure they'd go right there.  (That border was not an active crossing, so we didn't even see any guards, but I'm sure they were back there somewhere...)

There are also opportunities for dogsled rides, etc.

 

I could go on and on... and on.  It was the most breathtaking visual cruise we've been on.  (There was one major fjord in New Zealand that was much more dramatic, but that was one day of a two-week cruise.)

 

Additionally, if one takes the train from Oslo to Bergen, one goes over one of the highest rail passes (no "height" fears; it's a slow gradient most of the way).  There was one section that looked positively other-worldly, or maybe like the "end of the world".  I don't know how else to describe it.  (Do get a comfort car seat, and preferably on the south side of the train.  We had north side, and that was actually just fine anyway.  There were not 2 seats together on the south side by the time I got tickets, and that was *early*.)

 

Sorry to carry on.  This was special.

As an added bonus, we took a special "astronomy" group (through Hurtigruten).

With or without a special group, there is a chance to see the... NORTHERN LIGHTS as an added bonus.

Warning:  The Northern Lights *colors* are usually not  as dramatic viewed by human eye as what is captured on cameras.  But they were there!

Did I mention the scenery is *spectacular*? (Sorry, couldn't resist mentioning it again.)

 

This is a very EASY cruise for those who prefer not to spend much time on their feet.

(Note:  I'm not sure how suitable it is for full-time wheelchair, but that could be checked, especially with the newer ships.)

Just sailing into (and then back out of) some of these tiny port towns, between little islands and other small land masses... 🙂 

 

We want to take it again, but we can't decide whether for Arctic Day or Arctic Night.  We did it in late Feb/early March, so we had some day and some night time, relatively balanced.  But 24 hour arctic night or daylight would be really interesting.

 

Nope, no one is paying me to write long like this....!

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

 

[SPacificbound]

There are the Fall colors cruises that go up the US East coast and Canada. We are boarding RCCL Jewel of the Seas on September 28.

 

We have also been up the coast to Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

 

However the Norwegian Fjords are more spectacular. https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/cruise-destinations/norwegian-fjord-cruises 

 

Would your husband be willing to go on a Transatlantic cruise, then you could also link a Norwegian Fjords cruise? That would be really spectacular!

Edited September 18, 2023 by SPacificbound
added to content

[George C]

My favorite was 12 day cruise on Brilliance out of Barcelona 7 years ago to celebrate our 25 anniversary it had 5 stops in Italy plus Dubrovnik and Kotor had a fantastic corner aft grand suite. My wife’s 60th was awful nice Penthouse on Edge right after ships sailed again after Covid.

[Toofarfromthesea]

7 hours ago, GypsyJedi said:

We loved the Alaska Cruise we did 5 years go. The best part was sitting on our balcony and watched the scenery go by  I hoped to have the same experience on the New England p. It was very nice and the scenery going into and out of port was pretty. Anyone one have ideas what area I should look at for another cruise. BTW can’t convince my husband to do a river cruise 

thanks

 

Just out of curiosity, what's his objection to a river cruise?

[puppycanducruise]

Another vote for Norway, it's beautiful.

[Lois R]

14 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Just out of curiosity, what's his objection to a river cruise?

Would ask the same thing. I have been on 2 river cruises and loved both.

[Fergus]

I will add a tentative vote for Norway.  Definitely a balcony is a plus there.  At one of our stops, a very small town, we were almost within arms reach of a field full of sheep with tinkling bells on them.  BUT.  It rained every single second of every day of our 9 day cruise in June of 22.  We were prepared with rain gear, but it was a huge disappointment to have to do everything WET, and it also meant that we missed sooo much of the beautiful scenery due to fog, clouds, pouring rain. (We visited Iceland for 4 days after our cruise, and, nope, we didn't see the sun at all there either, although it technically didn't RAIN the whole time.  We landed back at our home airport, where it was 100 degrees and sunny and got off the plane feeling like moles who had been trapped in a cave for 2 weeks.)

[edinburgher]

On 9/18/2023 at 7:00 PM, GypsyJedi said:

Anyone one have ideas what area I should look at for another cruise

Why look elsewhere?  You loved your first Alaskan cruise but you didn't say how long it was or how many ports you actually visited.  If  you only visited a handful of ports, with there being so many Alaskan ports to visit, you could easily return to Alaska but this time choose an itinerary which hits ports which would be new to you this time around. In this instance the itinerary would be more important than the ship.

 

Although the majority of our Alaskan ports were new to us, we have repeated a small number of ports on our Alaskan cruises but still enjoyed revisiting  (it is no hardship to revisit Glacier Bay as it changes depending on the weather on the day and Juneau offered more than we could do in one day) 

 

To obtain best itineraries, we sailed from both Vancouver and Seattle so you may want to look at sailings from both.

Edited September 25, 2023 by edinburgher