Our Magical "Fjords, Vikings and Castles" Norway Cruise - June 2015 - w/ pics - Completed!

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 2 – Copenhagen (Continued) – The Tivoli Hotel

After getting off the full shuttle, we walked back to the Tivoli Hotel.

Just one of the many rides at Tivoli Garden.

I had signed up for DCL transportation from the hotel to port the next morning. DCL had a table just inside the entrance, so I checked in with them and got my letters about what time they would pick up our luggage and when we were to meet the bus. We also had to fill out forms as to how many pieces of luggage would be in each room. Luggage had to be ready within our room by 9:00 AM.

In the meantime, DH had gotten our room cards. We then went to retrieve our luggage which was stored in a large closet. We had to take our own luggage up to the room. We didn’t see any bell carts and the bellmen were busy, I guess. We attempted to get on the elevator up to the 5th floor, but when we pushed the button it wouldn’t accept it. Embarrassingly, it took us 3 tries before we figured out you had to tap your room card on the panel and then select your floor.

Our room was very small (especially after adding 3 large suitcases), but nice. DH had a room next to us, but they did not connect. I would be sharing a room with DD.

We also had free WIFI, which DD wasted no time in connecting.

I had ample storage room in the closet. There was also a room safe and mini bar next to the bathroom.

We had a nice door we could open, but no balcony. Just some Plexiglas to keep us in.

We also had air conditioning. We had a view over the back of the hotel towards the construction.

I loved that there are individual duvets on the beds. I didn’t have to worry about DD stealing my covers during the night.

I also loved the bathroom door.

I went to turn on the bathroom light and couldn’t get it on. It was then I remembered that you had to your use KTTW card on the Dream to operate the lights, so I wondered if it was the same for our room. Lo and behold, there was a slot next to the door for your room card to operate the lights.

We began to wonder what else we would have to discover. Anyway, we went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. DD and I split a Weiner schnitzel that was very good. DH just had a salad. After dinner we went back up to our rooms, took showers and crashed after being up for over 24 hours (give or take a nap or 2 on the plane). Thus ending our first day in Copenhagen.

Next: Hello Magic!

 

[mrp4352]

Hi Wendy!! I cruised with y'all in Alaska! I'm excited to read about your cruise this year! I'm afraid you're feeding the fire - I've been toying with a northern Europe cruise and you've got me hooked and you're not even on the ship yet!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Hi Wendy!! I cruised with y'all in Alaska! I'm excited to read about your cruise this year! I'm afraid you're feeding the fire - I've been toying with a northern Europe cruise and you've got me hooked and you're not even on the ship yet!

Hey Cruise Buddy! Welcome to my trip report. Anything I can do to help tip the balance, I will do my best!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I went to turn on the bathroom light and couldn’t get it on. It was then I remembered that you had to your use KTTW card on the Dream to operate the lights, so I wondered if it was the same for our room. Lo and behold, there was a slot next to the door for your room card to operate the lights.

I had the same thing happen in a hotel room in Barcelona Spain when I was staying there before the 2007 Trans Atlantic.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I had the same thing happen in a hotel room in Barcelona Spain when I was staying there before the 2007 Trans Atlantic.

It must be European thing.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

It must be European thing.

yup that was my thinking as well

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 3 - Embarkation

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Sunrise: 4:30 AM

Sunset: 9:48 PM

Temp: Partly Sunny - 62˚F

Well, the day had finally arrived. We woke up to mostly sunny skies, but the air was cool. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the breakfast buffet was provided by DCL as part of our room package. It was a good breakfast with typical Scandinavian offerings. I really liked their cheese slicer, where a block of cheese was placed on a pressure sensitive base with a slicer that rotated above. When you sliced a very thin slice, the entire block would raise for the next slice. Cool! They also had various meats, breads, danishes, eggs, bacon, juices, milk, granola and cereals, and fruit.

After breakfast we went to hang out in our room until 11:00 before heading down to wait in the lobby for the DCL busses. By the time we left our room, our luggage had still not been picked up.

Evidently the hotel only had two bellmen with 2 luggage carts to get everybody’s luggage and had to share the same elevators with everybody else. Needless to say it was slow going. We were one of the last rooms to be picked up. DCL assured us, however, that they were checking the numbers provided with them by every passenger and that our luggage would make it. If any were missing, they would go back and check every room. Fortunately, DH saw them being brought down as we were heading down to the buses.

At about 11:45 AM, we saw 2 busses arriving (one was a double decker) and the DCL cast members heading out. However, nobody ever gave any direction of when to line up. Eventually we just followed everybody else and got on the second bus. Both buses were full.

As we drove through the city, I was overwhelmed by how much construction was going on. Almost every other building was surrounded by scaffolding or tarps. Copenhagen is also in the middle of adding a new spoke to their metro system so several intersections had walls around for the construction. It took about 20 minutes to get to the port and then we started seeing the Magic.

By the time we got to the terminal it was about 12:30 PM, we all got off and showed our boarding information and passports to the agents at the door.

We then went through security and then got in a line to wait to check in.

As usual, the returning Castaway Club line was longer than the first time cruisers. When I got up to the desk, I had to provide information about our post cruise stay and then we got our picture taken and given our boarding card, which was #6. There were still a lot of people waiting in the terminal to board. Since they were currently calling boarding card number #20, we were cleared to board. We got our first official photo taken for the cruise and then went outside to board.

It was about 1:15 by this time. We boarded Deck 1 forward so we didn’t get our names announced. But, I think we were too excited to really care too much. The CMs were wearing very cute Norwegian dresses, but I didn’t get a picture. We rode the elevator up to deck 3. The last time I was on the Magic was in 2009, before the refurbishment. I have to say, I like the look of the new lobby. The chandelier was very pretty and Mariner Mickey sat majestically in front of the one remaining staircase. Our destination was Carioca’s for lunch. We got a table close to the entrance, got our plates and dug in.

We ate quickly and headed up to our stateroom, #6134, on Deck 6. It was our first time on Deck 6 and we found it pretty easy to get to all decks from here. It was good to finally be onboard and in the room that we would be spending the next 7 nights in.

No luggage had arrived yet, so DH went to meet up with our neighbors who had a handicap stateroom Deck 6 aft. Our cruise meet was having a get together in Fathoms at 2:00 PM, but since our DISboard meet thread kind of fell apart, I didn’t go. I immediately dug out our magnets and started decorating the door. I had also made magnets for our neighbors and friends to put on their door to commemorate this sailing.

DNC already got tickets for us to meet Anna and Elsa and the Marvel characters (which we returned so someone else could use them, as DD isn’t into Marvel). DH and DNJ decided not to do any tastings this trip so there was no need for them to go to Lumiere’s to get tickets.

Luggage started arriving so we unpacked and got settled. I loved the deeper space under the bed for our luggage. DH liked the new cabinet, rather than the steamer trunk.

Then, we explored the ship for a little bit. We helped ourselves to a drink on Deck 9 and watched Trivia on Funnel Vision for a bit

before checking out The Vibe (which DD never saw again the entire cruise). We took some pictures of the terminal from Deck 4 and watched them load the many provisions for our week long cruise. I love the sod on top of the terminal roof. As you can see it was very windy.

We headed back to our stateroom and ran into our stateroom host, Inky. She was very sweet and always had a smile on her face. She greeted us almost every morning and afternoon for the entire cruise. She was one of the best room stewards we have ever had.

It was then time for the safety drill. Our muster station was Station T in Animator’s Palate. It was quick, painless and well organized.

Next: Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away with me.

 

[elena_n2o]

It must be European thing.

It's very common here

Usually you can just stick in any card, and it will work...

Day 3 - Embarkation

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Sunrise: 4:30 AM

Sunset: 9:48 PM

Temp: Partly Sunny - 62˚F

Well, the day had finally arrived. We woke up to mostly sunny skies, but the air was cool. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the breakfast buffet was provided by DCL as part of our room package. It was a good breakfast with typical Scandinavian offerings. I really liked their cheese slicer, where a block of cheese was placed on a pressure sensitive base with a slicer that rotated above. When you sliced a very thin slice, the entire block would raise for the next slice. Cool! They also had various meats, breads, danishes, eggs, bacon, juices, milk, granola and cereals, and fruit.

After breakfast we went to hang out in our room until 11:00 before heading down to wait in the lobby for the DCL busses. By the time we left our room, our luggage had still not been picked up.

Evidently the hotel only had two bellmen with 2 luggage carts to get everybody’s luggage and had to share the same elevators with everybody else. Needless to say it was slow going. We were one of the last rooms to be picked up. DCL assured us, however, that they were checking the numbers provided with them by every passenger and that our luggage would make it. If any were missing, they would go back and check every room. Fortunately, DH saw them being brought down as we were heading down to the buses.

At about 11:45 AM, we saw 2 busses arriving (one was a double decker) and the DCL cast members heading out. However, nobody ever gave any direction of when to line up. Eventually we just followed everybody else and got on the second bus. Both buses were full.

As we drove through the city, I was overwhelmed by how much construction was going on. Almost every other building was surrounded by scaffolding or tarps. Copenhagen is also in the middle of adding a new spoke to their metro system so several intersections had walls around for the construction. It took about 20 minutes to get to the port and then we started seeing the Magic.

By the time we got to the terminal it was about 12:30 PM, we all got off and showed our boarding information and passports to the agents at the door.

We then went through security and then got in a line to wait to check in.

As usual, the returning Castaway Club line was longer than the first time cruisers. When I got up to the desk, I had to provide information about our post cruise stay and then we got our picture taken and given our boarding card, which was #6. There were still a lot of people waiting in the terminal to board. Since they were currently calling boarding card number #20, we were cleared to board. We got our first official photo taken for the cruise and then went outside to board.

It was about 1:15 by this time. We boarded Deck 1 forward so we didn’t get our names announced. But, I think we were too excited to really care too much. The CMs were wearing very cute Norwegian dresses, but I didn’t get a picture. We rode the elevator up to deck 3. The last time I was on the Magic was in 2009, before the refurbishment. I have to say, I like the look of the new lobby. The chandelier was very pretty and Mariner Mickey sat majestically in front of the one remaining staircase. Our destination was Carioca’s for lunch. We got a table close to the entrance, got our plates and dug in.

We ate quickly and headed up to our stateroom, #6134, on Deck 6. It was our first time on Deck 6 and we found it pretty much easy to get to all decks from here. It was good to finally be onboard and in the room that we would be spending the next 7 nights in.

No luggage had arrived yet, so DH went to meet up with our neighbors who had a handicap stateroom Deck 6 aft. Our cruise meet was having a get together in Fathoms at 2:00 PM, but since our DISboard meet thread kind of fell apart, I didn’t go. I immediately dug out our magnets and started decorating the door. I had also made magnets for our neighbors and friends to put on their door to commemorate this sailing.

DNC already got tickets for us to meet Anna and Elsa and the Marvel characters (which we returned so someone else could use them, as DD isn’t into Marvel). DH and DNJ decided not to do any tastings this trip so there was no need for them to go to Lumiere’s to get tickets.

Luggage started arriving so we unpacked and got settled. I loved the deeper space under the bed for our luggage. DH liked the new cabinet, rather than the steamer trunk.

Then, we explored the ship for a little bit. We helped ourselves to a drink on Deck 9 and watched Trivia on Funnel Vision for a bit

before checking out The Vibe (which DD never saw again the entire cruise). We took some pictures of the terminal from Deck 4 and watched them load the many provisions for our week long cruise. As you can see it was very windy.

We headed back to our stateroom and ran into our stateroom host, Inky. She was very sweet and always had a smile on her face. She greeted us almost every morning and afternoon for the entire cruise. She was one of the best room stewards we have ever had.

It was then time for the safety drill. Our muster station was Station T in Animator’s Palate. It was quick, painless and well organized.

Next: Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away with me.

Oh, I'm so loving this!! I'm reliving our embarkation day. I'll never forget the first time we saw the Magic, when we were arriving to the port... And everything that followed

More, more, more!!

 

[Linda67]

Hi there - my husband and I were on the same cruise and also stayed at The Tivoli Hotel the night before!
Shame you didn't come along to Fathoms for the M&G, we had a pretty good turn out
Looking forward to reading along with your TR as it will help me to remember everything we did!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Oh, I'm so loving this!! I'm reliving our embarkation day. I'll never forget the first time we saw the Magic, when we were arriving to the port... And everything that followed

More, more, more!!

Thanks!

Hi there - my husband and I were on the same cruise and also stayed at The Tivoli Hotel the night before!
Shame you didn't come along to Fathoms for the M&G, we had a pretty good turn out
Looking forward to reading along with your TR as it will help me to remember everything we did!

Thanks for joining. With regards to the M&G, everybody got on Facebook (which I don't have or desire) and sort of abandoned the DISBoard thread, so I didn't feel a connection. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

following along, since I'm also staying at Tivoli and good reading about the brewery

Have a great cruise!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

How many photos did you come back with? I have just over 4000 to go through... Plus those from my parents, who were also travelling with us, not sure how many they have!!

After downloading all the pictures among the 3 of us, I have just over 7200 photos and videos to go through.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

(Is the Styx song stuck in your head now )

Day 3 – Embarkation (Continued) – Sailing Away

Afterwards, we headed to Deck 9 for the Sail Away Party. We were very pleased to find out that Commodore Tom was taking us to Norway and that Brent was staying on as our Cruise Director for this cruise. Everybody was excited about the inaugural sailing to Norway. According to our neighbors, a lot of people had stayed on after the Baltic and were doing back-to-backs. A few hearty (lucky) soles had actually been on since the Transatlantic and would be on the ship for a total of 30 days. We watched Brent and then the characters come out.

I love the countdown to the horn. I apologize for the poor audio.

It’s the best horn in the business if you ask me! Then we went up to Deck 10 and watched us sail out of the harbor. We watched the Serenade of the Seas leave port.

The Aqua Lab was empty.

We watched the ship move away from the terminal,

Yes, the terminal CMs had Mickey Hands to wave “Bon Voyage.”

It was a beautiful sunny day for sailing!

Afterwards, we headed down to get ready for our dinner. We had the main seating at 6:00 PM in Carioca’s. Our dining rotation was CLACLAC. Tonight’s menu was South American Cuisine.

DCL painted the woodwork and hung new light fixtures to transform Parrot Cay.

When I checked in on-line for the cruise, it asked if you were celebrating anything. Well, I had just celebrated a big birthday in May (Nope, not saying which) and the cruise was kind of a birthday present, so I told DCL that I was celebrating my birthday. We sat at table 56, which was an oval table set for 10. There were 9 in our party. Our servers were Raphael from the Philippines and Tomasina from the Dominican Republic. Our neighbors had them the previous week and they were very good and efficient. After a delicious dinner of Lobster Coquettes, New Potato Salad and Garlic Rubbed Roasted Beef Ribeye and strawberry ice cream for dessert, we started hearing choruses of “Happy Birthday” being sung around the room. Eventually, our Head Server placed a celebration cake in front of me and I was serenaded by half a dozen servers. It was very nice. Then I was given a birthday button to wear during the week. I received many happy returns during the week.

After dinner, I decided to go to White Caps to get some Inaugural T-shirts I had seen earlier in the window. It was very crowded when I got there. I found the shirt I wanted but not my size. When I asked if there were anymore, I was told that they still had boxes that hadn’t unpacked, but they had no more shirts available and didn’t know if shirts were in any of the boxes. They told me to check back later in the week. I couldn’t believe that with a ship of 2400 passengers that they sold out of all medium and large size Norwegian Fjord Inaugural shirts within 2 hours of the shop opening. In the meantime, I picked up a photo album and ornament. For those that collect pins, they were being held until the next day and limiting them to 2 per stateroom per pin (there were 2 designs).

DD, DsisterJ and I went to the All Aboard show at the Walt Disney Theater. They featured a juggler. He didn’t really impress us so we didn’t go to any of his shows.

After the show, as we headed back to our stateroom, we caught the sun setting over the North Sea.

Our towel animal for the night was a seal.

Next: Our first day at sea

 

[DMMarla07860]

Have a great cruise!

thanks I will we leave tomorrow

 

[Flossbolna]

Ah, you are finally on the ship!! I loved reading about it!!

It must be European thing.

Yes, it is. Take into account that our electricity prices here in Europe tend to be about twice to three times of what you pay in the US. With that it makes a huge difference financially.

I have to say, I like the look of the new lobby. The chandelier was very pretty and Mariner Mickey sat majestically in front of the one remaining staircase.

I was surprised how much I liked the new lobby as well. I thought from pictures that it looked a bit bland, but in person it just felt very classy.

 

[HookedonMagic]

Loving your posts! We were at table 54 with Raphael and Tomisina! Too funny. We were on B2B from the Baltic. In total, 260 sailed B2B. Out of that number, 200 were B2B2B from the crossing! Crazy! The energy on board definitely picked up on the second week...everyone was pumped for the inaugural fjords!

 

[HookedonMagic]

Oops, just noticed you were in main seating for dinner. We had late seating with Raphael and Tomisina.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Oops, just noticed you were in main seating for dinner. We had late seating with Raphael and Tomisina.

They were wonderful. Tomasina was especially great with DNDDM and DD. I guess Raphael left the ship for vacation the day we got off in Copenhagen after breakfast.

 

[HookedonMagic]

Yes, he actually left during the late breakfast seating. He got word he was cleared so he ran to our table and thanked us all again and sprinted out of the room. It was nice to see him so excited to go home.

They were wonderful. Tomasina was especially great with DNDDM and DD. I guess Raphael left the ship for vacation the day we got off in Copenhagen after breakfast.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 4 – Sea Day

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sunrise: 4:30 AM

Sunset: 9:46 PM

Temp: Partly Cloudy/54˚F

I woke up around 7:00 AM. It was partly cloudy outside with rough seas. I checked the TV to see where we were. We were still rounding Denmark heading west to the North Sea.

We headed to Cabana’s for breakfast. I had read that it was no longer a true buffet and you didn’t have to wait in line. You could just go to the various stations and get what you wanted. Some people still treated it like a buffet. They served Krispy Kreme donuts and other delicious danishes. You could also get omelets and frittatas, bacon and sausage, pancakes and Mickey Mouse waffles. They also had a meat and cheese station. We never had a problem finding an inside table considering that it was too cold or windy most mornings to eat outside.

Since our reservations were connected, DNC was able to score tickets for us to see Elsa, Anna and Olaf this morning at 9:00 AM. DD and I went down to Animator’s Palate a little early and waited for our neighbors. I took a look at the sea conditions outside.

The restaurant was decorated for Frozen and even had snowy scenes showing on the video screens.

Olaf was very cute.

At 9:30 AM I went back to White Caps to see if they had opened their boxes. They had not. However, I did talk to Shorty, the manager, and she took my room number and shirt size and would contact me if any showed up. I then got in line for the pins. Our stateroom was checked off and then I was given a wristband. They had 2 designs (1 with Anna and Elsa and 1 with the Inaugural Norwegian Fjords) and were limiting them to 2 per pin per stateroom.

I got 4 pins (my allotted 2 each) and an Olaf Norway shirt since they had my size, just in case. After today, any extra pins would be put out for the general public so we could buy another for my DH.

Afterwards, I grabbed my Nook and headed to deck 5 above the atrium to read and people watch before the “Welcome to Norway” talk at 10:45 AM. I sat with DcousinC and DsisterJ. DCL brought in Marvin Slind, a retired professor and expert on Scandinavia from Luther College in Iowa, to speak throughout the cruise. He told us some phrases we could use and how all of the Scandinavian countries are related. It was interesting in that I really didn’t know much about these country’s histories. He told us a little about Norwegian economics (oil rich socialist country) and how every Norwegian student gets a free college education. They even get scholarships to go abroad and study and bring back and share their new ideas. He also told us about Aquavit and Lutefisk. He also told us about buying sweaters (which a lot of people did on this trip).

After the talk we headed up for lunch at Cabanas. DD wanted to try the AquaDunk so after lunch she got her in her swimsuit and we headed up to a very windy deck 10 so she could try it.

We were definitely in the North Sea and the conditions hadn’t changed much from the morning.

There was no line, by the way. I heard a scream and knew that she had been dunked. I caught her going through the pipe.

As soon as she came off the shoot she ran to the mid-ship elevators before freezing. We then proceeded back to the room to change. Despite the cold end, she really liked it.

At 1:45 PM, we joined DNDDC and DcousinC for a game of Disney Tune Trivia. The piano player onboard, Joe Creamer, played a tune and we had to guess the title, the movie it was from and answer a trivia question about the movie. These were the same songs and questions they used last year on our Alaskan cruise, yet I still missed a song that haunted me the entire cruise in the hallway. I will never, ever forget “Bare Necessities” again.

Afterwards, we headed back up to the stateroom where I took an impromptu and much needed nap.

It was formal night, so after we all dressed, we headed down to the Captain’s Reception at about 5:30. Photographers were there with their backdrops and no lines. We took picture in front of Maritime Mickey. They had a Copenhagen backdrop that we also took our picture in front of. We got our free drinks, I had the Yellow Bird. They also had a non-alcoholic fruit punch for the kids. When the rest of our party came down, we got a group shot in front of the ship backdrop. We had dinner in Lumiere’s tonight with the French menu. I had the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp, Farm House Salad and Mini Potato Dumplings with a Strawberry Shortcake Sundae for dessert. All were delicious.

None of us wanted to see Twice Charmed so we went to O’Gill’s Pub to listen to Runa Live, an Irish Trio. They were very good.

On the way down, we stopped at the padded port holes. This became a favorite hangout for DD this cruise. The new padding was very nice.

DD didn’t like O’Gill’s and just wanted to hang out in the stateroom and watch TV so she headed back to our room. She was asleep when we got back to the stateroom around 9:30 PM.

We had an early start in Stavanger tomorrow and were still recovering from our flight so we called it a night.

Our towel animal for the night was a puppy. We also received a very nice (heavy) Destination Guide to all the ports DCL visited this summer.

Next: We finally arrive in Norway!

 

[elena_n2o]

We had table 56!! We had the ACLACLA rotation (and second seating)