Inaugural Norway Fjord Cruise 6.6.15 with new pics

[SwimMom2]

Our family of four (mom, age 33, dad, 35, son 9, and son 3) embarked on our first Disney cruise (and first cruise ever for everyone but mom) on 6.6.15 out of Copenhagen. We flew in on the red eye, SAS, direct from Dulles in DC to Copenhagen, departing Thursday afternoon and arriving Friday morning. So jet lagged on Friday that all we did was explore Osterbro, where we were staying that night. Our room was lovely and offered a great view of the city and the harbor.

The next day we saw a fabulous Danish brunch in our hotel cafe as we were prepping to go to the pier. We decided to stop and enjoy a Danish meal rather than eat lunch on the ship. We had an early PAT but that Danish bacon was calling our name…plus we walked to the pier, all 3 of us under our own power, so I wanted the kids to be fed and happy.

No problems walking below the S-tog tracks to the ship. We could see her stacks nearly the whole way. It was very motivating! One large suitcase, 3 small ones, a book bag, a small duffel, and 2 personal bags, plus all four of us made it unscathed. We waltzed right past the huge Castaway line to the nearly empty first timers line and waited less than 10 minutes to check in. Waited another 3 minutes to board, walked past the pictures and on to the gangway leading to Deck 1. We were on!

I knew my kids wanted the character greeting tickets so 9 and I went ahead to the port adventures desk and stood in line while my husband and 3 year old ambled up. I think they must have waited for the elevators. It took them forever to get up! We arrived at the desk about 1:30-1:45ish and got tickets for princesses, frozen, and avengers for Friday, our last sea day. Perfect! Also met some very kind people in line. Disney patrons on embarkation day are generally so friendly and happy, IMO.

We noticed that the rooms were opening so after Dad and 3 found us, we headed up to deck 8 aft, 8584. Our room was ready and it was gorgeous! Even Dad loved it. We will definitely reserve this on a future European Disney cruise.

We were still full from brunch and our kids really wanted to go the Oceaneers' Open House, so that is where we spent the next hour or so, until the Muster drill. 9 got to do the Avengers Academy. Muster drill was what it was. I apologize to everyone around us for having to listen to 3 ask to get a snack, go potty, take a nap, whatever for the 20 minutes or so it took. Everyone under the age of 5 that I saw was NOT happy. But it was over quickly and then we went up to Deck 9 for the Anchors Away deck party. So cute! It was great to get a good viewing spot only a few minutes from the start of the show.

After that, we went to dinner, kids went to Welcome parties in Oceaneers', and husband and I sat on our verandah for a peaceful hour before picking them up and sending them to bed. Embarkation was rather exhausting so we were thankful for a great stateroom to escape the crowds and relax.

Next day was our first sea day! The boys in my family went to Cabana's. I sat on the veranda and was so enjoying it that I forgot to eat before 3 wanted to go to a Mickey party in the clubs. It was open house, so we all went together. My kids loved the kids clubs- I was kind of over it after an hour, but hey, it's a family vacation. We checked them in for a bit after Open House ended because they wanted to stay and we wanted to go to a talk on Stavanger, our first port of call, offered next door in the Buena Vista Theatre.

Then we went to the pools because my 9 is a competitive swimmer and cannot be anywhere near a pool without getting in for like 2 hours. On the North Sea. Thank goodness for the fleece blankets. Husband, 9, and 3 played in the Mickey pool for as long as husband could stand it while I got a banana and a tea from Cabana's and watched them.

We coaxed 9 and 3 out of the pools at 3:30 or so, got them showered and dressed and off to the kids' clubs. Before showering, husband and I went back to deck 9 and rode the Aquadunk with the 2 teenage boys who were brave enough to climb up there in the North Sea winds. It was AWESOME! The water was so warm that I relaxed in the tube even though I knew the floor was about the drop open below me. The protection from the wind and the warm water was so nice…then wheeeeee! Judging by the laughing lifeguard at the bottom, I must have squealed memorably. Husband followed me and he was still laughing when he got to the bottom. Then we went to the adult pool for 20 minutes of sheer peaceful bliss. We had it to ourselves until we were about to leave. Awesome. Then we got showered and dressed for dinner, picked up the kiddos, and headed to Animator's for dinner. The kids loved this restaurant. We followed dinner with a bunch of character greetings and the Twice Charmed show, which everyone loved. Then we collapsed in bed and awoke in….Stavanger!

I sat on the veranda while the boys went to Cabana's again. We all got ready to explore Stavanger. We disembarked about 30 minutes after the all-clear. There was some beach volleyball going on next to the port. We watched this for a bit , got some Shutters pictures, and headed to our self-arranged ferry tour of Lysefjord.

I think pictures will say more than words here, so I am going to try to compress the files so you can see. We used the main Lysefjord tour company in town, an easy walk from the Magic. If you go to the Visit Norway site, you will find it.

 

[Chirple]

I look forward to reading more and seeing your photos. I wanted to do this cruise, but my DH has blocked out time that he cannot take off. We did the 5/30 Baltics cruise instead.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We booked our own Lyesfjord cruise in Stavanger as well. We were probably on the same boat, so to speak. Looking forward to reading your experiences.

 

[Cruisingwiththefam]

We are on the June 2016 cruise. I can't wait to read your full report and view pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Flossbolna]

Great to see another trip report from our cruise! By the time we get ours started the rest of you will already have finished!

Which hotel did you stay at that you could walk to the port?

 

[SwimMom2]

Flossbolna, I will look for your report! It is hard to make time for it. You are from Germany, right? I am eager to hear a European perspective. I admit it's kind of therapeutic reliving the memories. We stayed at Charlottehavn in Osterbro. LOVED it- so spacious. The only drawback is that you have to call to make a reservation- no online reservations. It was mostly Danes and other Europeans. We only saw one other American family there the whole time, on the last day. I loved this. Also the restaurant was amazing.

Cruisingwiththefam- You made a fabulous choice! If I could do it again next year, I would.

disneyfaninaz- I bet we were! We were on an early boat. I noticed that the later one was much more crowded than ours. It was a good deal.

You all will notice that I won't talk much about character greetings explicitly in the narrative, but we loved them and did nearly all of them. If we were awake and on the ship, we met them. We love character greetings and think this is a major draw for doing a Disney cruise. I even rode an aft elevator with Goofy in a tux. This reminds me of how WDW used to be in the 80s when I was a kid and they were just walking around the parks without a line and a bouncer.

Okay, stateroom picture, all ready for bedtime:

 

[SwimMom2]

Waterfall in the Lysefjord, from the boat tour. They even collected water from it for us to drink. Heavenly.

 

[SwimMom2]

My thoughts on Stavanger: This is a great town in which to do your own thing. The Disney port adventures do take what we did a step further- there is an option that takes you through the Lysefjord by land and sea, for example- but the Disney upcharge is better spent elsewhere. Our tour had us back in plenty of time for lunch in Stavanger and a long, leisurely walk though town. We saw the church and discovered a wonderful fruit vendor near the church. Our kids loved the walkable streets. Since this is a port town, there were street entertainers which they loved. Bring some small kroner to tip these people. We found them in the retail area near the old section of town. Also worth noting: there is a lovely playground in the old section of town, near the dock of the Magic. I would have been disappointed if we had missed all of these little things to do something more time-consuming.

The kids wanted to do the pool when we got back to the ship, so we did for about an hour before dinner. My 3 year old did not have the stamina to stay in port for the entire time that we could have, so we generally got a peaceful hour or two onboard while we were in port.

The next day, my favorite and most Disney-fied port: Alosund. We split up, dad with 9 and mom with 3. Dad and 9 went to the Viking Village and 3 and I went to Sunmore Village. These were both afternoon adventures so we had the morning to wander Alosund. Norway gets off to a slow start in the mornings. We were cleared at 9:30 but not much was open at this time, so we just walked around. It is very scenic. There is a beautiful old church that you must see. This is a good town in which to do port adventures because Disney takes up all the local vendors and there is little left to do on your own. The people of Alosund are thrilled to have the Magic visit and they really make the port adventures worth the exorbitant cost. I held my nose, paid for Sunmore Village for me and my 3 year old, and…it was worth every penny. Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff were there, but they were not what made this experience. The port adventure was so well done by both Disney and the people of Alosund that it would be a great experience even without the Frozen characters. Sunmore village museum is really interesting by itself as well. Norwegians love Frozen generally and are so friendly. My 3 year old and I both made Norwegian friends. I wish I could show you pics illustrating this, but I have a strict policy of not posting pics of my kids online. I did landscape shots in every port but Alosund. Alosund is all about the people we met (and a reindeer…).

ETA: My husband said the same thing about the Viking Village. Comparing the two, it seemed that the Viking Village was a better fit for older kids who are not as obsessed with Frozen. The kids helped make viking swords. Not just kids- even my husband made one. This one also had that Disney entertainment magic. Swordfights on sod roofs of traditional viking buildings, viking food, dancing...With that said, I know that my 9 year old who is kind of over Frozen would have had a great time at Sunmore Village too.

 

[Flossbolna]

Flossbolna, I will look for your report! It is hard to make time for it. You are from Germany, right? I am eager to hear a European perspective. I admit it's kind of therapeutic reliving the memories. We stayed at Charlottehavn in Osterbro. LOVED it- so spacious. The only drawback is that you have to call to make a reservation- no online reservations. It was mostly Danes and other Europeans. We only saw one other American family there the whole time, on the last day. I loved this. Also the restaurant was amazing.

Yes, I am from Germany! I think the main difference in our perspective is that Norway is really close and for us it was just a visit to get a taste of the country, so we never felt like we had to do it all and see everything. Also, my sister and I both have travelled quite a bit in Scandinavia (but neither of us has ever been to Norway), so it was fun to compare similarities and differences. I will let you know when we finally get started!

 

[SwimMom2]

The server I am using does not like the size of my pictures. While I work on this I will tell you a bit more. That night there was a violinist from Iceland who played in the atrium. She was amazing. My 9 year old loved her. She played prior to the Disney Dreams show also. Does anyone reading remember her name? I will have to check the Navigators. You are lucky if she is on your cruise- don't miss her!

By the end of our day in Alosund, I was in love with Disney cruises and Scandinavia in general. I loved Scandinavia before I decided I loved Disney cruises. I was so glad to be on a 7 night cruise for this reason. I am not sure I would have had time to decide I loved this if I was only on a 3 night cruise. Even with all the research, it takes that long to get the pace of the ship and to become comfortable with the flow- at least for me it did. It helped that the itinerary was one that I had wanted to do for ages. If I was not enthralled with the itinerary, I am not sure I would have loved the cruise enough to book another one on board, which I did after Tuesday. I still will only cruise if the itinerary is one I would do land-only.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Oh, I totally agree, the violinist was truly spectacular. I looked in all my Navigators and cannot find her name. Hopefully somebody will remember. I wish I had seen more of her. The piano player in Keys, Clara Oman was equally as talented. It seemed to me there were more musical performers on board than I remember in cruises past. We enjoyed Runa LIve in O'Gills too.

 

[HookedonMagic]

The violinist is Greta Salome.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

The violinist is Greta Salome.

Now I remember. Thanks! Evidently, she did a featured show on the Baltic cruise before this one. I wish I would have seen more of her. She just sort of popped up in the Atrium and before Dreams.

 

[HookedonMagic]

Yes, we were fortunate to enjoy her performances both weeks on the Magic this summer.

 

[SwimMom2]

 

[SwimMom2]

The pic above is half of our flat at Charlottehavn. Full kitchen, nice living area, 2 verandahs, 2 bedrooms with a dividing wall...wonderful! Room service at this place is excellent. Danish smorrebrod. The scaffolding is likely down now- they were doing work on the exterior of the building. We only saw a worker on it once during our stay- and the hotel emailed us about this a month before we arrived so we knew what we were getting into.

 

[SwimMom2]

The Odin Express... my 9 year old's and my favorite ride at Tivoli. Tivoli is amazing. DH liked it better than Disney World and we love WDW. I am not sure I would go that far. It is very different and equally awesome. I can totally see why Walt himself was inspired to create DL after visiting here.

Best part? No lines, so the Odin Express operator sent our car around the track 7 times in a row. That's right. 7 times.

 

[SwimMom2]

View of Stavanger port from our stateroom verandah. We followed that blue cruise ship everywhere. The passengers from it recognized my youngest son after the second port and kept asking to take pics with him/ of him (because he insisted on wearing his Olaf costume every time we left the ship).

View of the Magic in the port of Stavanger.

 

[SwimMom2]

I have a thing about visiting churches and graveyards when I travel. This is from the main Lutheran church in Alosund. Our guide told us that everyone in the town is baptized, confirmed, and married there. I found it interesting that the graves were not that old (beginning in the 1800s). The style of the stones is very similar to Lutheran churches in my area (the mid-Atlandic in USA). Most of them say "Takk for alt" which translates to "Thanks for everything"...intended to be from the deceased to his/her/their loved ones.

 

[SwimMom2]

Here is Greta on the violin. We took this from Deck 4 while we were waiting for a character pic.