Just back from inaugural Norwegian Fjords cruise 6/6/15

[frozenmania]

Were taxis readily available after disembarking your cruise? Our flight on Icelandair is not until 2:30pm and we were not planning to DCL transfer.

So, after getting to the airport, we head over to SAS Airline area to print luggage tags and drop off our luggage?

 

[Goofy4Disney99]

Dear frozenmania - I beleive I recall seeing taxis at the terminal parking lot, but I wasn't looking for them. We did comment when in downtown Copenhagen that there were very few taxis. We were on the same Icelandair flight as you. We left the parking lot on the Disney bus (there was quite a wait to get the busses) around 9:30AM. We were concerned that we'd have such a long time waiting at the gate! By the time we got through security we had just enough time to have a nice sit down lunch and then to the gate. Yes, when you get to the international terminal (which was a very long walk from the one and only stop where the Disney bus let us off) you will enter a huge room/hall. You will see signs for SAS - with a dauntingly long line of people with their bags. (Actually there were no other lines, just SAS but we didn't know that). You are supposed to go to an SAS kiosk and print your boarding passes and baggage tags first and then get in the long line to actually drop off your luggage. For some reason, although the kiosk recognized us, it instructed us to go to customer service. We were told that the Icelandair computer system was down. Customer service was able to print our boarding passes. We then got in the long line (they told us to go to a specific numbered check in desk) and they were able to print the baggage tags there and take our bags. Then we had to go through security check and then to the gates. It was a very long process and we were so happy that our flight was not until 2:30. If it had been much earlier, we would not have made our flight. Safe travels and enjoy your cruise.

 

[frozenmania]

Thank you, goofy4Disney99, so much for your detailed instructions. I appreciate it very much.

How was Icelandair?

 

[DahliaRW]

Were taxis readily available after disembarking your cruise? Our flight on Icelandair is not until 2:30pm and we were not planning to DCL transfer.

So, after getting to the airport, we head over to SAS Airline area to print luggage tags and drop off our luggage?

We didn't print our own luggage tags. We used the kiosks to check in, those printed our boarding passes. Then we got in the insanely long line to check luggage with SAS (there are specific counters you have to use for Icelandair, so check the screen). When we got there, they printed the luggage tags and put them on. We were on the same flight.

As for taxis, yes, they were there, but the line was LONG (we took DCL transfers). When we got off the boat, around 9:15ish, the taxi line was almost the full length of the terminal. We got on the DCL bus and didn't see any taxis that entire time. I'm not sure how long that line actual was time wise, but it wasn't insignificant. We were glad we had DCL transfers for that reason.

 

[DahliaRW]

Thank you, goofy4Disney99, so much for your detailed instructions. I appreciate it very much.

How was Icelandair?

Icelandair was fine. They messed up our seats (we made reservations nearly a year in advance, with seats reserved, and they moved us and had dd sitting by herself, she's 5, not ok. They did "fix it", but we ended up with the crappiest seats on the plane. The longer flight from Iceland to Seattle was totally fine, though, as were our flights over.

 

[Goofy4Disney99]

Icelandair was fine. Got our assigned seats. Uneventful flights.

 

[elena_n2o]

Were taxis readily available after disembarking your cruise?

Yes, there were taxis, but with a very long queue!! We ended up waiting about 90 minutes for our taxi - but we needed a bigger taxi (there were 5 of us), I think the line for the smaller taxis went a bit faster.

We got off the ship a bit after 9am, a bit later the queue seemed even longer! You should have plenty of time for your flight but if you don't want to wait for ever in line, I would recommend you get off the ship as soon as possible...

 

[elena_n2o]

Sounds like you had fantastic time. Any special characters on board? Did you have to get tickets for Princess gathering and Elsa/ Anna meet and greet?

I would love to see your Navigators!

Thanks.

We got tickets for the Frozen meet and greet (Anna with Elsa, then Olaf), and for the Princesses gathering. They also had tickets for an Avengers meet and greet but we skipped that one (our 4 year old daughter is not really into Avengers yet... though I think she saw Spiderman in the kids club and was very excited about it)

We met lots of characters, it was really good: Princess Sofia, Doc McStuffins, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, and of course Mickey, Minnie and all. The only ones we missed were Stitch, Hook with Smee, and Jake (from the Neverland Pirates), mostly because we were doing something else at the time. We also didn't go for any of the Marvel ones (I think they had Captain America, Thor and Spiderman), again because of our daughter. Mickey and the gang had some nice Norwegian costumes (Goofy was dresses as a viking) in some of the evenings.

 

[evilipoo]

Thank you so much for posting and for offering to answer questions. I've been waiting to read trip reports of this cruise to help with my own planning. My family and I are booked on the 6/2016 cruise! These are the port adventures I was considering:
Stavenger - Lysefjord Cruise
Alesund - Alesund Highlights or DIY
Geiranger - Dalsnibba Viewpoint and Fjord Center or Views of Norway
Bergen - DIY (Mt. Floien)
Any info or recommendations you can provide on these port adventures or opinions on DIY is appreciated.
Finally, I have to ask for the kids - are the pools/hot tubs open for use? If yes, was anyone in them??? You won't catch me in them but I know my kids might just get in! This is our first cold-weather cruise. Thank you in advance!

We are fresh off this cruise as well... Very much enjoyed the Lysefjord cruise in Stavanger. The waffles were a delicious surprise and the captain pulled the boat RIGHT UP to a waterfall so everyone could taste the water. We also did the Petroleum museum on our own in Stavanger. I did not see it mentioned in any of the DCL port adventures, but it was super interesting.

In Bergen, we took an organized tour of the Hanseatic museum that included Mt. Floein and it was not good. I would definitely do that one on my own if I could do it over. The guide was not great (every other word was "basically") and the time spent on the mountain was only 20 mins. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can hike down unless you are very fit!

 

[spacecanada]

We are just off this cruise as well. Mt. Floien is definitely do-able on your own and a great place to visit with kids who like being outside. There are really nice groomed gravel trails you can hike along if you like, with kayaks for hire at the lake during the summer months (we were there too early.) The organized hike via DCL was inexpensive, but we'd do it on our own if we go back.

We did the Hike to Pulpit Rock in Stavanger - it's really intense! As one person in our group said, if Disney graded port adventures based on sitting still to very active on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being a fairly active kayaking or sports excursion, this would be a 12. You really have to be in very good physical shape to do this excursion, and make it to the top within enough time to take in the view and get back down before the bus leaves. You must have appropriate hiking gear: sturdy shoes, water, layered technical clothing, and a day bag. The 'trail' is comprised of boulders, rock stairs, steep climbs, and slippery and/or loose rocks in places. There are no safety guardrails at the top, save two small sections of path very close to the cliffside. There were several people in or group who weren't physically able enough to do the hike, some didn't make it to the top in time and at least three sustained mild injury. Whilst this hike exceeded the difficulty we expected (and we expected it to be difficult, based on our frequent hikes in the Rocky Mountains), we really enjoyed this hike and thought the views were spectacular. I would not recommend doing this on your own, as two families who did said it was vey stressful to maintain the tight schedule with the ferry, public transit, etc. on their own. Definitely worth it. I highly recommend this excursion -- but only if you are very physically fit and have gone hiking in the mountains before.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thank you so much for posting and for offering to answer questions. I've been waiting to read trip reports of this cruise to help with my own planning. My family and I are booked on the 6/2016 cruise! These are the port adventures I was considering:
Stavenger - Lysefjord Cruise
Alesund - Alesund Highlights or DIY
Geiranger - Dalsnibba Viewpoint and Fjord Center or Views of Norway
Bergen - DIY (Mt. Floien)
Any info or recommendations you can provide on these port adventures or opinions on DIY is appreciated.
Finally, I have to ask for the kids - are the pools/hot tubs open for use? If yes, was anyone in them??? You won't catch me in them but I know my kids might just get in! This is our first cold-weather cruise. Thank you in advance!

We did our our own thing in Stavanger, Geiranger and Bergen.

Bergen is easily doable. We first went to Gamle Bergen Museum, which has old houses that you can walk inside, some even have costumed staff who explains what it was like to live in Bergen in the 19th century. http://www.bymuseet.no/index.php?vis=79&spr=en We just took a city bus there. The tourist information center distributes brochures (I think they had some at the dock when we walked off the ship) which have explanations on how to get to all the different sights. We went up to Mt Floyen later in the day, around 2pm. We waited about 20 minutes which we thought was totally ok. Up there we walked some of the paths (to Skomagerdigten, not far at all) and the whole area was very pretty! We also visited the Leprosy Museum which is a world heritage sight and about how Norway was in the forefront of leprosy research. Quite fascinating, but most likely not really something kids would want to do.

We had pre-ordered the Bergen Card which gave us free public transportation, free entry to a lot of museums and half price for Mt Floyen. There are plenty of great city busses and we even took one back to the ship after our day. Only two stops, but it was nice to not have to walk even more.

I only was in the adult pool and hot tub. The pool was very nicely heated on two of the three days I tried it out. Watch the pool hours, I found them a bit limited.

Also, both water slides were open. The Twist and Spout has the great advantage that the waiting area is close to the pipes for the fumes and it was rather cosy and warm there. Both water slides have heated water as well, but it is not hot tub like warm, but neither as cold as the air temperatures.

 

[Flossbolna]

Sounds like you had fantastic time. Any special characters on board? Did you have to get tickets for Princess gathering and Elsa/ Anna meet and greet?

I would love to see your Navigators!

Thanks.

I did not get any character Meet and Greet tickets. The fab 5 had lovely Norwegian costumes. And I was surprised to see Jiminy Cricket on board.

The Disneycruiseline Blog has already a set of Navigators up:

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...uise-on-disney-magic-itinerary-a-june-6-2015/

 

[Flossbolna]

Were taxis readily available after disembarking your cruise? Our flight on Icelandair is not until 2:30pm and we were not planning to DCL transfer.

So, after getting to the airport, we head over to SAS Airline area to print luggage tags and drop off our luggage?

When we got off the ship a little after 9am (second seating, breakfast time was 8:30am), there was a long line and I was surprised as there should not be significant customs controls. I asked a CM and they told me that this was the taxi line. I was surprised to see how long it was earlier we had seen the taxi staging area and it was full of taxis and they actually had three lines that were loading parallel. So, the outside looked very efficient at 8:15am.

We took the public transportation bus into town. That is certainly the cheapest option to get to the airport as well and not difficult at all. There are two bus lines, both departing from the same stop, just across the Magic. There is a little area with kiosks, they sell tickets, even in Euro. On the bus I think you can by credit card if you have one with a pin, otherwise Danish kroner. The bus lines are 25 and 27. They go to different destinations, but both are on the same train line. From the end stations you can catch a train to the airport. Everyone in Denmark appears to speak excellent English and you should be able to buy a ticket to the airport without problem. We had 24 hours tickets for zones 1 to 4 (which includes the airport) and those were 80 DKK per person.

 

[Flossbolna]

We are just off this cruise as well. Mt. Floien is definitely do-able on your own and a great place to visit with kids who like being outside. There are really nice groomed gravel trails you can hike along if you like, with kayaks for hire at the lake during the summer months (we were there too early.) The organized hike via DCL was inexpensive, but we'd do it on our own if we go back.

We did the Hike to Pulpit Rock in Stavanger - it's really intense! As one person in our group said, if Disney graded port adventures based on sitting still to very active on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being a fairly active kayaking or sports excursion, this would be a 12. You really have to be in very good physical shape to do this excursion, and make it to the top within enough time to take in the view and get back down before the bus leaves. You must have appropriate hiking gear: sturdy shoes, water, layered technical clothing, and a day bag. The 'trail' is comprised of boulders, rock stairs, steep climbs, and slippery and/or loose rocks in places. There are no safety guardrails at the top, save two small sections of path very close to the cliffside. There were several people in or group who weren't physically able enough to do the hike, some didn't make it to the top in time and at least three sustained mild injury. Whilst this hike exceeded the difficulty we expected (and we expected it to be difficult, based on our frequent hikes in the Rocky Mountains), we really enjoyed this hike and thought the views were spectacular. I would not recommend doing this on your own, as two families who did said it was vey stressful to maintain the tight schedule with the ferry, public transit, etc. on their own. Definitely worth it. I highly recommend this excursion -- but only if you are very physically fit and have gone hiking in the mountains before.

That is interesting to hear! We knew that we wanted to hike while in Norway and because of the pricing decided against that excursion. Instead we did our own hike in Geiranger, where we hiked up to Storesetter waterfall and the Vaesterasfjellet view point. It was quite strenuous and steep hills. We came across the official DCL excursion there and were in shock about the footwear some people were wearing. I think any hike in Norway you need to be prepared to bring your whole hiking gear with you. It is bound to be extremely steep, over rocks and slippery from the drizzle that can happen on any day. We loved our hike, but without our boots and the rain gear we would have been misserable!

The only exception might be the lovely walking paths up on Mt Floyen in Bergen.

 

[elena_n2o]

Thank you so much for posting and for offering to answer questions. I've been waiting to read trip reports of this cruise to help with my own planning. My family and I are booked on the 6/2016 cruise! These are the port adventures I was considering:
Stavenger - Lysefjord Cruise
Alesund - Alesund Highlights or DIY
Geiranger - Dalsnibba Viewpoint and Fjord Center or Views of Norway
Bergen - DIY (Mt. Floien)
Any info or recommendations you can provide on these port adventures or opinions on DIY is appreciated.
Finally, I have to ask for the kids - are the pools/hot tubs open for use? If yes, was anyone in them??? You won't catch me in them but I know my kids might just get in! This is our first cold-weather cruise. Thank you in advance!

We did the Lysefjord Cruise and Alesund Highlights excursions, recommend both. Their both about half a day long so you get some time to explore Stavanger and Alesund on your own (very easy to do, both are quite small towns and the ship is next to it all).

The Lysefjord Cruise was beautiful, dress up warm so you can stand outside (it got quite cold when the boat was going fast), the scenery is really something, and the norwegian waffles delicious!!

The Alesund Highlights was very good too. We first went to the Sunmore Museum, unfortunately our guide took us inside a house where they were keeping everything for the Anna and Elsa adventure in the afternoon, it would have been good to be able to visit the insde of another house. But simply walking around the Sunmore Museum was beautiful, really a place out of time! Then we went to the top of the mountain (sorry, I've completely forgotten the name now!!) where we had a great view of the town (and the Disney Magic below). Finally the bus went a bit around the town, which we later explored by ourselves.

My parents did the Views of Norway in Geiranger, unfortunately the weather wasn't great (it was even snowing!!) and it was too covered to see everything, but they still loved it.

Bergen is easy to do on your own, but as some have said try to go early to the Mt Floien funicular (unless you're planning on walking up!) because the queues do build up.

I'm very jealous of you, I wish I was doing the cruise again next year!! Loved every minute of it

 

[Flossbolna]

Bergen is easy to do on your own, but as some have said try to go early to the Mt Floien funicular (unless you're planning on walking up!) because the queues do build up.

I just wanted to add that we went there around 2pm and by then the line was manageable again. So, if one does not manage to get there early, keep it for later in the day. I agree that around 11pm the line was just ridiculous!

 

[frozenmania]

Anyone did Sunmoore museum's special celebration excursion with Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff?

We are second dinning seating. Since breakfast on last day is scheduled for 08:30am, is 09:30am airport private transfer pickup time doable?

We leave today to Iceland for our precruise stopover. I really appreciate everyone's input. It has help our family tremendously.

Thanks.

 

[elena_n2o]

Anyone did Sunmoore museum's special celebration excursion with Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff?

We are second dinning seating. Since breakfast on last day is scheduled for 08:30am, is 09:30am airport private transfer pickup time doable?

We leave today to Iceland for our precruise stopover. I really appreciate everyone's input. It has help our family tremendously.

Thanks.

The other guests at our table did the Anna and Elsa celebration and really enjoyed it! I think if I ever do the cruise again I may try to save up for that one...

We had second seating and had breakfast at 08:30, we were out of the ship by 09:15, so I would say that it's doable

 

[elena_n2o]

I just wanted to add that we went there around 2pm and by then the line was manageable again. So, if one does not manage to get there early, keep it for later in the day. I agree that around 11pm the line was just ridiculous!

Yes, that's about the time we got there, it was awful!! They could learn a thing or two from Disney about managing queues

 

[Flossbolna]

We are second dinning seating. Since breakfast on last day is scheduled for 08:30am, is 09:30am airport private transfer pickup time doable?

I agree with @elena_n2o that the pick up time is doable. We were off the ship at around 9:15am as well. You could even let your servers know that you need to get off to get your transportation. Ours made sure that they knew the evening before who had to catch a flight etc.

One tip: If the Magic is at the docking place as us, it is the first one in a row of three. And at the end that is closest to the city there is a little white tower (it looks like several containers on top of each other). You can climb up there and have a nice view of the ship. We did that before check in (after dropping off the luggage) and thought it was a great way to start the cruise!