We just returned from a 7-night Northern European cruise on the Magic. When we were planning, we had trouble finding a lot of information on the boards about these specific ports and cruise, so I wanted to provide a quick trip report for those planning in the future. We are married with two boys - aged 11 and 13 - and we're from the US. All four of us were cruising. This was our third cruise; we've cruised to Alaska on the Wonder pre-covid and did a double dip on the Magic this past April.
The itinerary of the cruise was originally intended to go to the Baltic, but was the port schedule changed due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The new itinerary was:
Oslo: We toured Oslo on our own. We got the Oslo card, which was worthwhile for our family. We rode the ferry to the Fram Museum, as well as the outdoor Folk Museum (specifically to see the Stave Church). We aren't really museum people, but really enjoyed each of these. We took the ferry back to the port area and then had a late lunch on the ship. In the late afternoon, my husband and I went back out into the city to explore and shop. The city is very walkable, everyone speaks English, and shopping and restaurants are plentiful.
Gothenburg: We spent the day at Liseberg amusement park. The Disney excursion for Liseberg was $300 a person (!!), so we decided to do it on our own. We pre-purchased our tickets and then used the app for virtual queuing and to get around. Lines could get long (~ 1 hr), but the virtual queuing helped with some of that. The Helix coaster was great! Recommend riding it. We took the tram to and from the park. It was difficult to figure out where to buy a ticket and which line to take, but we were able to get help at Central station.
Alesund: Alesund was a fabulous port; it was our favorite. In the morning we took the climb to the Fjellstua Viewpoint. The starting point is easily walkable from the ship, and then it's about 400 steps to the top. When you get there, it's an amazing view of the town, surrounding islands, and the ship. Very worth the quick climb! In the afternoon, we did a non-Disney Excursion with 62 Nord; specifically, the wildlife sea safari. It was a very fun high speed boat ride (that reaches up to 60 mph) that traveled out to Runde Island. We had a great time, and my sons both loved the adventure aspect of the trip. This isn't really a great excursion if you're hoping for extensive wildlife viewing or photography; while we did see seals and birds (not puffins as indicated on the site), the boat ride and the views of the island landscape was really the highlight. The boat was not able to get close the wildlife because of Norwegian restrictions. Overall, this stop was a great highlight of our trip.
Fredericia: This sweet little town definitely has a unique relationship with Disney. At our arrival, a band was playing and small cannons were shot to celebrate. At our departure, a different band played Disney songs, and hundreds of townspeople came to see the characters on Deck 4 and to wave us goodbye as we pulled away. It was a unique experience and the friendliness of the people there was very memorable. This was the only port where we did a Disney Excursion; we went to see Egeskov castle. The trip by bus was over an hour, so the ride was kind of boring. When we arrived, we had about 1 1/2 hours to enjoy the property. There was a large playground, a hedge maze, and a nice snack bar. They also had a few nice gift shops. Then, we had a guided tour of the castle, which included an overview of the rooms inside, the cooking tools and kitchen, kids toys, etc. My boys thought the interior of castle was kind of boring and were eager to get back to the other things to do there, but they did enjoy having seen the outside, the moat, and the drawbridge. There doesn't seem to be much to do directly in Fredericia, so this would probably be a good port to plan ahead with an excursion.
On the ship: The Magic was easy to get around, the ship was in great shape, the sailing was smooth and quiet. The real gem of the Magic are the castmembers. We had a great stateroom host, and really amazing servers. Capacity seemed low, I heard it was around1300.
The itinerary of the cruise was originally intended to go to the Baltic, but was the port schedule changed due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The new itinerary was:
- Depart from Copenhagen
- Oslo, Norway
- Gothenburg, Sweden
- Day at Sea
- Alesund, Norway
- Day at Sea
- Fredericia, Denmark
- Return to Copenhagen
Oslo: We toured Oslo on our own. We got the Oslo card, which was worthwhile for our family. We rode the ferry to the Fram Museum, as well as the outdoor Folk Museum (specifically to see the Stave Church). We aren't really museum people, but really enjoyed each of these. We took the ferry back to the port area and then had a late lunch on the ship. In the late afternoon, my husband and I went back out into the city to explore and shop. The city is very walkable, everyone speaks English, and shopping and restaurants are plentiful.
Gothenburg: We spent the day at Liseberg amusement park. The Disney excursion for Liseberg was $300 a person (!!), so we decided to do it on our own. We pre-purchased our tickets and then used the app for virtual queuing and to get around. Lines could get long (~ 1 hr), but the virtual queuing helped with some of that. The Helix coaster was great! Recommend riding it. We took the tram to and from the park. It was difficult to figure out where to buy a ticket and which line to take, but we were able to get help at Central station.
Alesund: Alesund was a fabulous port; it was our favorite. In the morning we took the climb to the Fjellstua Viewpoint. The starting point is easily walkable from the ship, and then it's about 400 steps to the top. When you get there, it's an amazing view of the town, surrounding islands, and the ship. Very worth the quick climb! In the afternoon, we did a non-Disney Excursion with 62 Nord; specifically, the wildlife sea safari. It was a very fun high speed boat ride (that reaches up to 60 mph) that traveled out to Runde Island. We had a great time, and my sons both loved the adventure aspect of the trip. This isn't really a great excursion if you're hoping for extensive wildlife viewing or photography; while we did see seals and birds (not puffins as indicated on the site), the boat ride and the views of the island landscape was really the highlight. The boat was not able to get close the wildlife because of Norwegian restrictions. Overall, this stop was a great highlight of our trip.
Fredericia: This sweet little town definitely has a unique relationship with Disney. At our arrival, a band was playing and small cannons were shot to celebrate. At our departure, a different band played Disney songs, and hundreds of townspeople came to see the characters on Deck 4 and to wave us goodbye as we pulled away. It was a unique experience and the friendliness of the people there was very memorable. This was the only port where we did a Disney Excursion; we went to see Egeskov castle. The trip by bus was over an hour, so the ride was kind of boring. When we arrived, we had about 1 1/2 hours to enjoy the property. There was a large playground, a hedge maze, and a nice snack bar. They also had a few nice gift shops. Then, we had a guided tour of the castle, which included an overview of the rooms inside, the cooking tools and kitchen, kids toys, etc. My boys thought the interior of castle was kind of boring and were eager to get back to the other things to do there, but they did enjoy having seen the outside, the moat, and the drawbridge. There doesn't seem to be much to do directly in Fredericia, so this would probably be a good port to plan ahead with an excursion.
On the ship: The Magic was easy to get around, the ship was in great shape, the sailing was smooth and quiet. The real gem of the Magic are the castmembers. We had a great stateroom host, and really amazing servers. Capacity seemed low, I heard it was around1300.
- Restaurants: The food in each of the MDRs was consistent and good. We found that if we arrived to dinner on the early side, the quality of our meals was a bit better (hotter, fresher). We enjoyed all of the meals and didn't have any complaints. Animators Palate had the animation magic show and the sorcerer's mickey show. In Rapunzel's Royal Table, they did the lantern show and the show with the ruffians from the Snuggly Duckling. Lumiere's was very nice - the fab 5 did not come into the restaurant as they had done in our April cruise on the Magic. The quick service was food was also great - shawarma is always our favorite, and the kids ate their body weight in pizza from Pinocchio's. They usually had chocolate and vanilla in the soft serve, but also rotated in strawberry, mango, and banana. Cabana's was also consistent; there was one day where they showcased Indian food and that was our favorite. We didn't dine at Palo on our trip.
- Shows: We had been on the Magic on April, so we had seen most of the shows recently. Because of this, we skipped almost all of them and spent our evenings relaxing on Deck 9 or 4. The kids enjoyed the time on the aquadunk when the pool deck was quiet and we watched movies on the funnel vision. The sail-a-wave party was fun - but nothing new. Instead of pirate night there was a Frozen deck party, which we liked.
- We also did bingo, towel folding, and an animation class. The entertainment staff are all great, and we enjoyed all three of these activities.
- The kids went to Edge a few times, but spent most of their time with us or independently on Deck 10, so I don't have much to share on that.
- As a family, we like to do scavenger hunts on the ship. We split up and take pictures of things we see, then airdrop them to each other, and then see who can find them as quickly as possible. It's been a great way to explore the details of the ship and have fun together. We did this a few times on the ship.
