Northern European the Magic Norwegian Fjords and all... June 4, 2017

[nyisles84]

We did have Clayton as our CD! This is our 3rd cruise with him. His roots are in Minnesota also so we always make it a point to seek him out and chit chat. He is so personable! Not to be too corny but he really makes every guest feel special.

He really does! We had him last year on our Norway/Iceland cruise and was hoping he will still be on come August!

 

[jenbuFL]

Loving your TR so far! Thanks for sharing! One question - do they normally sail through the fjords? I kind of assumed they did, but now I'm wondering...

Thanks! I'm glad you are liking it so far! Yes they normally do sail through the fjords but since we didn't make the stop in Geiranger we sailed up and down pretty slowly and I had heard we went down other fjords to make up for the time we would have been in port. We didn't arrive in Bergen any earlier than what had already be planned.

 

[linetbo]

Following, we were on the same cruise!!

 

[jenbuFL]

Thursday, June 8th

This was supposed to be our day in Geiranger. Since we are a family that likes to venture out on our own I had reserved a rental car here as well. I had made the reservation with Hertz in February since Geiranger only has 3 rental cars available. My recommendation is if you want to rent a car in Geiranger you book it as soon as possible. When we found out that we were not going to dock my husband was able to use the phone at guest services to call Hertz and let them know we needed to cancel the reservation. A Holland American ship was docked in Geiranger so hopefully, someone else was able to rent the car and explore.

The Fjord was beautiful although we have been to Alaska on the Wonder in 2015 and this felt a little less impressive than Tracey Arm. I guess having the glacier at the end of Tracey Arm was the highlight.

We did see the Seven Sisters waterfall and the Suitor. It was nice to take lots of pictures and just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

We had wanted to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean but it is a long movie. We stayed for half of the movie and planned on watching the other half the next day.

Next up Bergen.

 

[jenbuFL]

Bergen, Norway Friday, June 9th

All ashore 8 am All aboard 5:30 pm

We were one of the first people off the ship. The plan was to walk to Floibanen on our way to Avis to pick up the rental car.

It was about a 20 minute walk to Floibanen. Without any waiting, we bought a family ticket and headed to the funicular. We waited maybe 5 minutes for the next train up. The views from the top were amazing! We took in the view for about 30 minutes. There is a playground up there that my youngest checked out for a few minutes. We grabbed the next train down. We couldn't believe how long the lines were when we got back down to the bottom.

We walked to Avis to pick up the rental car. The cars are kept in a different spot so that was a bit confusing but we got it worked out and we were on our way. Our first stop was Steinsdalsfossen-a walk behind waterfall. It was about an hour and 15 minute drive. It had started to rain but it wasn't terrible and it didn't bother us too much. We were getting wet from the spray anyway. There are a few souvenir shops there also which I thought had great prices.

Next stop was Skjervsfossen. On the way to the next waterfall, we did stop in Oystese and grab a snack at a grocery store. I became a big fan of the pastries that were like a croissant with vanilla cream. There was a cafe in the same strip mall and my son had a hamburger there.

We headed to Skjervsfossen. The waterfall is beautiful. The parking lot is at the top and there are trails leading down to the base. The restrooms are fun as they have a view.

We needed to get back on the road and head back to Bergen. We had a little trouble finding a gas station close to the car rental return but we figured it out with the help of Siri. We returned the car and headed back to the ship. It was raining as it does in Bergen and the walk was a brisk 30 minutes. We stopped in a souvenir shop on the way to the ship. We made it back on at 5:15. A little closer than we prefer but we made it and didn't miss out on anything. In hindsight looking for gas took longer than it should have. I should have planned that a little better.

It was a great day and I was very happy we had a chance to experience both the city and the countryside.

 

[jenbuFL]

 

[jenbuFL]

 

[linetbo]

Beautiful pictures in Bergen!! We did a Disney tour and also took the funicular.

 

[buteraa]

This is so beautiful!

 

[jenbuFL]

Thank you for the comments! It really helps to know that other people are reading and I'm not just talking to myself. I read lots of other trip reports and I have gained so much knowledge form other posters.

June 10th Friday Sea Day

We needed a sea day to relax. I know we went to frog origami and we watched Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D as a family but I really didn't write anything else down. We did hit the fitness center to make sure we got our steps in.

June 11th Disembarkation
Copenhagen

We tried something different this cruise. Instead of going to the main dining room for breakfast we went to Cabanas. I liked it so much better! The MDRs seem so rushed for breakfast on disembarkation morning. Everyone always seems so stressed. Cabanas was not crowded and we had the same food we would have had in the MDR and it was a lot quicker. We did stop by Lumiere's to say goodbye to our serving team. It was now about 8:30-40 and we had reservations for a Segway tour at 9:30 so we decided to grab our bags and head downtown. While we were eating breakfast our luggage tags were called so we could disembark without any waiting.

 

[Hubie]

I like your idea of going to Cabanas for disembarkation day breakfast. We did the Norway cruise in 6/2016. Glad to see you made it up Pulpit Rock. We had rain all day in Stavanger, so we just walked around the city, did a little shopping and discovered a little café that had great coffee and macaroons. Having been a mountaineer for 30 yrs., missing out on the hike up to Pulpit Rock wasn't that big of a disappointment for me. We did have a wonderful cloudless, sunny day in Olesund and enjoyed the short hike up the stairs to the viewpoint restaurant. Also, fortunately for us we had only a short, misty-shower in Geiranger with no wind. The bus excursion to the top of the mountain was great for pictures and the aluminum walkway up along the falls in Geiranger is really nice. The local chocolate shop was very popular too. In Bergen we had downpour in the afternoon. Like you said it rains in Bergen.

I have a question for you. We're heading back to Copenhagen next August to repeat the Northern Europe cruise. I know, why would we do it all over again. Well, we love Copenhagen and there is just way to much to see on this cruise -- especially in St. Petersburg and Tallinn is wonderful. My question is what is the name of the brewery you visited in Malmo? We'd like to go there. Also, did you by chance visit the Carlsberg Brewery? It's one of the best places to go to in Copenhagen, especially to see the Elephant Way and for good beer.

 

[tlynk]

It looks like a beautiful trip! Thank you for sharing!

 

[jenbuFL]

I like your idea of going to Cabanas for disembarkation day breakfast. We did the Norway cruise in 6/2016. Glad to see you made it up Pulpit Rock. We had rain all day in Stavanger, so we just walked around the city, did a little shopping and discovered a little café that had great coffee and macaroons. Having been a mountaineer for 30 yrs., missing out on the hike up to Pulpit Rock wasn't that big of a disappointment for me. We did have a wonderful cloudless, sunny day in Olesund and enjoyed the short hike up the stairs to the viewpoint restaurant. Also, fortunately for us we had only a short, misty-shower in Geiranger with no wind. The bus excursion to the top of the mountain was great for pictures and the aluminum walkway up along the falls in Geiranger is really nice. The local chocolate shop was very popular too. In Bergen we had downpour in the afternoon. Like you said it rains in Bergen.

I have a question for you. We're heading back to Copenhagen next August to repeat the Northern Europe cruise. I know, why would we do it all over again. Well, we love Copenhagen and there is just way to much to see on this cruise -- especially in St. Petersburg and Tallinn is wonderful. My question is what is the name of the brewery you visited in Malmo? We'd like to go there. Also, did you by chance visit the Carlsberg Brewery? It's one of the best places to go to in Copenhagen, especially to see the Elephant Way and for good beer.

I apologize for such a long delay-it is funny how time gets away from you. The name of the brewery in Malmo was The Malmo Brewing Company. We did go to Carlsberg in Copenhagen. We caught the free shuttle from the central train station. You can buy tickets to the brewery on the shuttle. We did the self-guided tour (I'm not sure if there is a guided tour). The grounds are nice but we did not have time to take the horse-drawn wagon tour. Each adult ticket includes 2 free beers. It was a nice sunny day to sit outside and enjoy our beer. There is a restaurant but we did not eat there. We probably only spent an hour or so there and I actually fell asleep on the shuttle bus back downtown. It had been a long day.

 

[jenbuFL]

I can't believe I didn't finish posting my trip report. If anyone is still listening I'll finally finish it .
After we disembarked the ship we grabbed a taxi to Segway Tours Copenhagen. We did the 2-hour tour starting at 10 am. We arrived at 9:30 and Segway Tours were kind enough to store our luggage during our tour. This tour was amazing! There is a practice route for all segway newbies and the staff at Segway Tours were very patient and made sure all riders were comfortable before heading out on to the main streets. Since it was a Sunday morning traffic was light and we moved gracefully- well as gracefully as 10 tourists on Segways can. Our tour guide was very informative and it was a great way to see the city. We did take a few short breaks during the tour for photos. I highly recommend Segway Tours Copenhagen.

After the Segway tour, we collected our luggage and walked to central station. We used the luggage storage service there. Our bags were too big to fit in the lockers but there is counter service that will take larger size bags. We grabbed the free shuttle to Carlsberg brewery. Tickets for the brewery are available on the shuttle. We spent about an hour at Carlsberg before heading back downtown. Carlsberg was nice but we had more on our agenda so we just made it a quick visit and enjoyed a few beers before we went on our way.

We headed back downtown as we wanted to get some views of the city. We first went to the Christiansborg Palace tower. Admission is free and the views were very nice. There was a line to go up in the elevator but it went quickly. We were able to see people on the spire of the Church of Our Savior. We were up for the challenge . We walked over to the church-which was a little longer than I thought. The climb is mostly inside and is terribly uncomfortable. It is really warm inside and very cramped. There was a lot of complaining from other tourists. It is a very small space and there are people descending and ascending using the same narrow staircases. I just want to stress that the area is small and not for the claustrophobic. We finally made it to the outside stairs. It was nice to have the fresh air and views from a different side of town.

After a few missteps on the train and more walking (in the correct direction) we made it to our last stop for the day Tivoli Gardens. I had purchased unlimited ride armbands online. At the gate we scanned our barcodes and then once inside the park, we retrieved our armbands. We spent 7 hours at the park-we stayed until closing time. We were all having so much fun. There were hardly any lines and we enjoyed riding the roller coaster at least 7 times without any waiting. We did wander around the park and enjoyed the scenery. We did go on quite a few more rides. The only downside was that food service closed sooner than we had anticipated but our boys were able to get a hot dog and chicken strips before everything closed up. My husband and I shared a giant beer and everyone was happy.

Our hotel this night was the Clarion at the Copenhagen airport since we were flying out the next morning. We headed across the street to the central station to collect our luggage and grab the train to the airport and our hotel. We grabbed the train and after a long, jam packed day made it to our hotel and fell fast asleep.

 

[jenbuFL]

 

[jenbuFL]

Next up....our full day in Iceland!

 

[mmmears]

I'm following along. Great trip report!

 

[Geomom]

Thanks for getting back to your trip report! We're doing the Northern European Cruise this summer with the start/end in Copenhagen. Glad to see what others have done in Copenhagen!

 

[Hubie]

I apologize for such a long delay-it is funny how time gets away from you. The name of the brewery in Malmo was The Malmo Brewing Company. We did go to Carlsberg in Copenhagen. We caught the free shuttle from the central train station. You can buy tickets to the brewery on the shuttle. We did the self-guided tour (I'm not sure if there is a guided tour). The grounds are nice but we did not have time to take the horse-drawn wagon tour. Each adult ticket includes 2 free beers. It was a nice sunny day to sit outside and enjoy our beer. There is a restaurant but we did not eat there. We probably only spent an hour or so there and I actually fell asleep on the shuttle bus back downtown. It had been a long day.

Thanks for the Info. Glad you made it to Carlsberg. Nice trip report too!

 

[jenbuFL]

The next morning we had an early flight on WOW airline to Reykjavik. It was so convenient to just walk across the street and check in for our flight. It made our late night the night before worth the effort. Once in Reykjavik we collected our rental car and headed to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon was wonderful it was not too crowded and there was plenty of available lockers. We have brought our own towels but I know there are towels available to rent. We did not bother with robes or slippers. To be honest it would be challenging to keep track of a robe since everyone hangs their rented robes in the same spots. Our towels were a different color and we could easily tell them apart. The water was a comfortable 104 degrees. There is a kiosk that you can swim/walk up to get

silica to apply your mask. There wasn't a limit to how many times you could do this. My kids went back a few times. I had heard that the water can be hard on your contacts so I did not want to get too much in my eyes (when rinsing the silica off).