September 4th, 2022 -7-Night Norwegian Fjords Cruise from Dover (Alesund, Nordfjordeid, Eidfjord, Stavanger)

[DCSWO]

Hello. We re-booked this cruise after the 2021 version was cancelled. First cruise without the kids so that will be interesting. Flying AUS-DFW-LHR on the way over, and flying the BA non-stop to Austin on the return. Spending 4 nights at the Trafalgar St James before the cruise and 1 night at the Paddington Hilton post-cruise.

Hopefully things will continue to improve over the next 10 months!

 

[BadPinkTink]

A small update from me. 2022 is turning into a year of travel for me, I have 2 trips to California to plan before the cruise, so my cruise planning will really start around April or May.

For now the main update is that I have sorted my flights. I had originally booked a DCL cruise for September 2020 and I had booked return flights from Dublin to Heathrow before everything shut down for Covid. Since 2020 and Covid, the airline Aer Lingus has removed change of date fees, so I have been rolling the original flights bookings on every 6 months.

Finally I have been able to book the flight dates for this cruise, so thats one thing sorted. The next thing on my to do list will be to book the hotels. I plan to arrive in Dover the night before the cruise and then after the cruise, get the train to London and stay a few days before returning to Ireland.

 

[DCSWO]

Both the UK and Norway have eliminated covid tests and quarantines for fully vaccinated visitors. It looks like things are leaning in the right direction.

 

[adarling]

We booked this cruise today!! It will be our first one. It's a dual fjord-ieth birthday celebration for me and my husband. We'll be bringing our 4 yr old and 2 yr old along. Gotta start the adventuring at a young age!! I'm sure it won't be a packed kiddy cruise so we should be relatively easy to spot. Excited for the planning!

 

[iceskhy43]

Hi everyone! So exited for this cruise. It will be our 3rd Disney Cruise (my husband, 11 year-old-son, and myself). We have been to the western Caribbean (2014?) and the British Isles cruise (2018). We have only been on the Magic, but I am ok with that.. I know the whole layout

 

[BadPinkTink]

ooh this is exacting, people posting, its starting to get a bit more real. I'm just back in Ireland after 2 weeks in California and Disneyland. My cruise binder has been on the shelf for the last few months. Is anyone else keeping a close watch on the Transatlantic and May European cruises. I wont really relax and really start to plan until those first few cruises go as scheduled.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Even though we still dont know about DCL Summer European cruises and if our cruise will be as scheduled, I decided to book my hotel in Dover for the night before the cruise. I have my flights booked since my original cancelled cruise and just kept changing the dates.

I decided to book the Travelodge in Dover. This is a basic hotel with inside corridors, not a motel style like Travelodge in America. I booked a double room with the breakfast and Wifi package and paid in advance. They have a cheaper non refundable rate but I chose the refundable rate, because, well we just dont know. It cost me £121 for 1 person for one night.

 

[DCSWO]

Our PIF date is coming up in early April but we can wait due to the 60 day deadline extension. The optimist me wants to go ahead and pay it and proceed on the "normal" timeline, and the pessimist me wants to wait. To fully utilize the reservations and early bookings that come with booking concierge (03A), I'll probably go ahead and pay on time. I need to stop booking these cruises where the PIF date keeps falling around tax time!

 

[BadPinkTink]

Our PIF date is coming up in early April but we can wait due to the 60 day deadline extension. The optimist me wants to go ahead and pay it and proceed on the "normal" timeline, and the pessimist me wants to wait. To fully utilize the reservations and early bookings that come with booking concierge (03A), I'll probably go ahead and pay on time. I need to stop booking these cruises where the PIF date keeps falling around tax time!

Ive been PIF since I booked it as I used a FCC from a cancelled cruise. The transatlantic and first 2 Med cruises are now at 30 days PIF, so that will be interesting to follow, to see if other European cruises get extended PIF dates. I'm a new cruiser so I have to wait until June but other than Palo theres not much I need at the booking time.

The main thing I want is as early as possible PAT at the 30 day online check in, to maximise my time onboard

 

[LiZaArd]

Hi BadPinkTink! How's things going in Ireland with Covid, mandates, restrictions, etc.?

 

[BadPinkTink]

@LiZaArd all of the restrictions and mandates have been removed in the last few weeks. Our Covid numbers are still high though, average about 2000 positive PCR tests in a 24 hour period. The mask mandates have been removed but most people still wear them. This week is St Patricks Day, and all the festivals are back for the first time in 2 years, so that will be interesting to watch. I'm still wearing masks, getting grocery deliveries, working from home and not going out much. People are starting to do things but its not like in America, people are a lot more cautious here.

 

[LiZaArd]

@BadPinkTink Well does sound like it's starting to head in the right direction, hopefully, numbers will start to fall like here in parts of the US! St Patricks Day here in NYC should prove to be interesting as well. I'm usually in the office on Thursdays but choosing to not be this week!

 

[DCSWO]

Ive been PIF since I booked it as I used a FCC from a cancelled cruise. The transatlantic and first 2 Med cruises are now at 30 days PIF, so that will be interesting to follow, to see if other European cruises get extended PIF dates. I'm a new cruiser so I have to wait until June but other than Palo theres not much I need at the booking time.

The main thing I want is as early as possible PAT at the 30 day online check in, to maximise my time onboard

With a concierge booking, I'm committed once I PIF, unless DCL cancels the cruise. The way things are moving in the world, I find that very unlikely. If it does happen, I'll have a quite an onboard credit to spend on the next re-schedule! No deposits on our hotels, just reservations so those are easy. Airfare would just have to be moved to future dates. For the cancelled 2021 Norway cruise, I moved the airfare to Honolulu (+ some credits) and we went for a very enjoyable stay at Aulani. We are still CC silver members but booking concierge makes that a non-issue.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Our PIF date is coming up in early April but we can wait due to the 60 day deadline extension. The optimist me wants to go ahead and pay it and proceed on the "normal" timeline, and the pessimist me wants to wait. To fully utilize the reservations and early bookings that come with booking concierge (03A), I'll probably go ahead and pay on time. I need to stop booking these cruises where the PIF date keeps falling around tax time!

You might want to reach out to the Shoreside Concierge team now. I’m booked concierge on a June sailing, my 60-day PIF date is April, yet I was able to request port adventures & etc ahead of PIF date. They are offering that service unique to Concierge guests only at the usual advance of sail date timing, because of the temporary delayed PIF timing. My sailing is out of Miami, I don’t know if it applies to European sailings so you’d need to ask them. They may reach out to you if this is possible for your sailing; their usual timing is to reach out five days before they can start accepting requests.

The one challenge is you can’t see which port adventures are actually offered until you PIF, so Shoreside Concierge has to help with that - ie, I requested one that turns out is not available on my sailing, so it would be good to have some alternate choices ready.

 

[BadPinkTink]

You might want to reach out to the Shoreside Concierge team now. I’m booked concierge on a June sailing, my 60-day PIF date is April, yet I was able to request port adventures & etc ahead of PIF date. They are offering that service unique to Concierge guests only at the usual advance of sail date timing, because of the temporary delayed PIF timing. My sailing is out of Miami, I don’t know if it applies to European sailings so you’d need to ask them. They may reach out to you if this is possible for your sailing; their usual timing is to reach out five days before they can start accepting requests.

The one challenge is you can’t see which port adventures are actually offered until you PIF, so Shoreside Concierge has to help with that - ie, I requested one that turns out is not available on my sailing, so it would be good to have some alternate choices ready.

I know you are trying to help, but you have to remember your cruise out of Miami is the same cruise the DCL have been doing for months, and the port excursions and local venders have been established for months, so its easy for the Shoreside Concierge team to know what ones will be available and to book them for you.

This cruise , not only is it under the jurisdiction of the European CDC it also has unique once off port stops which other cruises are not doing. Therefore as its only March and our cruise is in September, its very unlikely that Shoreside Concierge team will know and have updated port excursions information. Disney has not released any information about procedures and new policies for any of the European cruises.

Also the port excursions pages on DCL website for Stanvanger, Alesund and Nordjfordeid have not been updated since 2019. The port excursions page for Eidfjord, is not even on the DCL website.

 

[DCSWO]

You might want to reach out to the Shoreside Concierge team now. I’m booked concierge on a June sailing, my 60-day PIF date is April, yet I was able to request port adventures & etc ahead of PIF date. They are offering that service unique to Concierge guests only at the usual advance of sail date timing, because of the temporary delayed PIF timing. My sailing is out of Miami, I don’t know if it applies to European sailings so you’d need to ask them. They may reach out to you if this is possible for your sailing; their usual timing is to reach out five days before they can start accepting requests.

The one challenge is you can’t see which port adventures are actually offered until you PIF, so Shoreside Concierge has to help with that - ie, I requested one that turns out is not available on my sailing, so it would be good to have some alternate choices ready.

Thanks. Too many variables between now and September for even the shoreside folks to know anything for sure at this point. I'm just going to proceed on the "normal" timeline and let things play out as it gets closer.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Some exciting updates about our cruise.
I just checked the Eidjford page on DCL website. There is still no link to the port adventures page,
HOWEVER
I just searched Eidjford on the DCL website and there are now 6 port adventures in the search results

Waterfalls and Waffles (EDF01)
$129.00 (ages 10 and up)
$64.00 (ages 3 to 9)
$0.00 (ages 0 to 2)
Activity Level & Duration Mild 4 to 4.5 Hours
Experience Type Cultural, Sightseeing
Age All Ages

Waterfalls and Hardanger Nature Park Center (EDF02)
$119.00 (ages 10 and up)
$59.00 (ages 3 to 9)
$0.00 (ages 0 to 2)
Activity Level & Duration Mild 3 to 3.5 Hours
Experience Type Sightseeing, Nature
Age All Ages

Eidfjord by RIB Boat (EDF04)
$159.00 (ages 10 and up)
$139.00 (ages 8 to 9)
Activity Level & Duration Moderate 1 to 1.5 Hours
Experience Type Nature, Beach and Water Adventures
Age Ages 8 and Up

Cider Tasting in Ulvik (EDF05)
$144.00 (ages 10 and up)
$129.00 (ages 3 to 9)
$0.00 (ages 0 to 2)
Activity Level & Duration 4 to 4.5 Hours
Experience Type Culinary Adventures, Sightseeing
Age All Ages

Viking Village of Gudvangen (EDF06)
$249.00 (ages 10 and up)
$119.00 (ages 3 to 9)
$0.00 (ages 0 to 2)
Activity Level & Duration 6.5 to 7 Hours
Experience Type Cultural, Sightseeing
Age All Ages

Eidfjord by Seaplane (EDF07)
$429.00 (ages 10 and up)
$399.00 (ages 2 to 9)
$399.00 (ages 0 to 1)
Activity Level & Duration 1 to 1.5 Hours
Experience Type Sightseeing
Age All Ages

 

[DCSWO]

I don’t know if our cruise suddenly filled up from folks cancelling their Northern Europe cruise or what. A week ago just about every room category showed as available, now there are only a few very expensive concierge rooms available. Unless the DCL website is having issues - which is certainly possible.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I don’t know if our cruise suddenly filled up from folks cancelling their Northern Europe cruise or what. A week ago just about every room category showed as available, now there are only a few very expensive concierge rooms available. Unless the DCL website is having issues - which is certainly possible.

oh wow, thats interesting. I know lots of people were cancelling from the 2 St Petersburg cruises, it would make sense that some moved to our cruise. I wonder if its full capacity sold out or limited capacity sold out.

It will be interesting to see what happens, if it disappears off the website, as DCL do that when they are not selling any more rooms.

 

[holula]

I don’t know if our cruise suddenly filled up from folks cancelling their Northern Europe cruise or what. A week ago just about every room category showed as available, now there are only a few very expensive concierge rooms available. Unless the DCL website is having issues - which is certainly possible.

I noticed this too yesterday, I was shocked as pretty much everything was available a week or so ago!

My money is on glitch.