British Isles or Norwegian Fjords....which one to do?

[Bibbidi_Boo]

DH and I are thinking of booking on of these two cruises for Sept 2023 , who has done one or the other or both?

British isles or Norwegian Fjords......they both look so good.

 

[Travel60]

I would do Fjords. Would rather do British Isles as land trip. But that's just me.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

The ports that DCL has lined up for the fjords cruise are a little disappointing to me. They’re definitely not the standard ones and I’m worried that with 4,000 passengers they might not have the infrastructure to handle it. I might be wrong though. At least Sandnes is close to Stavanger. I don’t understand why they’re going to Amsterdam instead of Bergen or Oslo either.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

The ports that DCL has lined up for the fjords cruise are a little disappointing to me. They’re definitely not the standard ones and I’m worried that with 4,000 passengers they might not have the infrastructure to handle it. I might be wrong though. At least Sandnes is close to Stavanger. I don’t understand why they’re going to Amsterdam instead of Bergen or Oslo either.

Amsterdam is one of the reasons we would pick the fjords.

 

[holula]

The ports that DCL has lined up for the fjords cruise are a little disappointing to me. They’re definitely not the standard ones and I’m worried that with 4,000 passengers they might not have the infrastructure to handle it. I might be wrong though. At least Sandnes is close to Stavanger. I don’t understand why they’re going to Amsterdam instead of Bergen or Oslo either.

Agree. The 2022 fjords itinerary is so much better IMO.

I’m not one to do a cruise around my own country but I think I’d be disappointed if I did that fjords cruise and had that itinerary.

 

[Intr3pid]

The best DCL Norway itinerary would have to be the one in 2019 when we visited Geiranger, Olden, Alesund, and Stavanger.

Norwegian ports can take only so many ships at a time and have strict emissions rules. They are hotly contested every year. Disney takes forever to lock them in, and I doubt they will ever get that 2019 itinerary back.

Conversely, any 7-night British Isles cruise is really a convenience cruise. You can very easily do most of it on your own. And, on that note, the theme is one of touring the cities. You can't do the isle of Skye, cliffs of Moher, Loch Ness, or even ring of Kerry from the ports.

My suggestion? If you can spare two weeks, do a one-week land tour split between Scotland and Ireland, followed by the Norway cruise.

 

[Marc D]

We did both cruises in the past (when the BI cruise was still 12-nights). They are very different cruises. The Fjords cruise is similar to Alaska. The highlights are the views you’ll get from the ship and while you are in port, but the shore activities, while fun and interesting, are not memorable unless you are into very active adventures. They added Amsterdam this time, which changes somewhat that conclusion. That port is similar to those on the BI cruise.

I agree that a BI cruise is a convenience cruise. The sights from the ship and navigation are nothing to write home about, but you get to do significant cultural visits every day while not having to drive or pack your bags.

Our BI cruise is certainly our best cruise ever, but the itinerary and duration made it a very different cruise to what will be offered in 2023. We got to see the Orkney islands, the Salisbury cathedral, the book of Kells, Penny Lane and Stawberry Fields, etc. Based on the 2023 routings, we would probably pick the Norway cruise.

 

[mullysisters]

I would do Fjords. Would rather do British Isles as land trip. But that's just me.

I agree completely. I've lived and travelled in the UK, but never been to Norway. Of course, you can always go back to the UK if you really enjoy it.

 

[kathi]

If we were just interested in hiking in the Norway ports, would we be happy with the 2023 itinerary? Our plan would be to do a land vacation (somewhere in Europe) followed by the cruise. We are very into nature and hiking, not so much walking around ports and shopping. We have a 20% off coupon from missing St. Thomas in December, this seems like a good place to use it, but not if the ports are going to be a dud.