MSC Orchestra, June 6th 2015 | Fjords, Norway & Northern Germany

Welcome all to this new review!

If you read my last year review you'll know by now that I do really like planning! Well, I've learned by now that some things in life cannot just be planned. When I started planning this trip over a year ago, I could have never thought that the person I would be sharing this journey with would be my ex.

But let's start from the beginning. It was Christmas 2013/2014. We, my ex and I, had already planned a Greek Islands cruise for 2014, and during a family meeting my family started to remember their Norway cruises, and talking about how that had been the best trip of their lives. My ex got hooked into the idea that very same day.

I had already been to Norway, on a crazy road trip I did in June 2003 when I was studying at Linköping University in Sweden. A fellow German student wanted to share costs of travelling to Norway, and the next thing we know, we were about to hit the road to Norway the following day, everything was more spontaneous that time!

That was a bizarre funny trip, the kind of adventure with your friends you dream of when you are in your 20s. We visited Göteborg, Bergen, Stavanger, Preikestolen, and many waterfalls which I could hardly recall. I loved the country and wanted to come back in the future and do the northern Fjords.

So back to reality, by 2014 we toyed with the idea of a Norway cruise. Price, as usual, was the main factor. A cruise to Norway is never cheap, the season is short, and the excursions are outrageously pricey. This was our third cruise, always in interior cabins until then, but we wanted a balcony this time in order to enjoy the scenery and navigation.

In the meantime, we had enjoyed a fantastic cruise on the MSC Fantasia to the Greek Islands in June 2014. When we were back, I started looking for options, and came up with a very good offer from the French website version of our TA, it was 1.670€ for the two of us without flights, MSC Club discount applied. This was the June 6th 2015 sailing out of Kiel, and everything started to rapidly take shape.

There were doubts in the beginning, many things could happen if we booked a year in advance, but we finally went for it. The flights from Mallorca to Hamburg were very reasonably priced at 150€ pp return, and we only had to spend an extra hotel night in Germany. As for excursions, there are alternatives apart from the ones offered by the cruise. It would be an expensive trip, but so worth it that we could just no resist ^_^

Then life went by, hot summer, mild autumn and rainy winter. Much planning was involved and it was fun as always. By Christmas, my sister made a wonderful present to us: the MSC Excursion in Flam. Also my parents made another great present: the MSC Excursion in Stavanger. The just know me so well, those were the best presents ever!

As we slowly approached our vacation, two weeks before the cruise we just hit disaster. I won't go into details, for this is not the place, but suffice is to say that we abruptly ended our relationship and I was devastated.

At the beginning, when something like that happens to you, you're in a shock state which is hard to cope. Still, a few days after the event, I started thinking practically and I my main focus was for the separation process not to harm me economically. We had been together almost 4 years, and even if we were not married, we shared many things and assets. Gay marriage has been legal in Spain for 10 years now, so glad we did not went for it though!

So, after a week had passed, when my ex suggested that we still could do the trip together, I said yes. Everything had been sorted out financially fine and I had invested too much money and energy into something that could just vanish.

Everyone told my that I was just crazy to go on a cruise with him after what had happened. But I am not someone whose dreams can be shattered so easily. Also I had no alternatives, since you cannot change the passenger names after the documents have been issued, which was the case.

So, there we were, May the 30th 2015, and starting my two week holidays after the worse week of my life. I don't like uncertainty, and everything seemed to be out of my hands by then, just wondering whether this dream vacation could turn into a total nightmare.

It was a wonderful time.

Of course I could not forget what had happened, and I would have enjoyed the trip much more in other circumstances, but the truth is I enjoyed it greatly. I know many people can't just believe that, but I just focused on the good things and put off the bad for after the journey.

So this is not a mourning, this is a celebration, because even when you are at your lowest, there's a whole amazing world out there waiting to be discovered, embraced, and enjoyed.

As I write this, I can honestly say that even realizing what I have lost, I am more aware than ever of what I still have. I have the best family, friends and colleagues one could imagine, I live in one of the most amazing and tolerant places I know, and most importantly my best days might be yet to come.

I hope you enjoy the review!

How awful for you - and yet, such an amazing outlook on life, too, Elmartellama.

Good on you for making the best of what must have been a traumatic time for you. You have my very best wishes for the future - I hope things work out well for you.

Itinerary

Like I explained, the original idea was to spend only an extra night in Germany. We had booked an early Mallorca - Hamburg flight for the 5th of June, returning on a late Hamburg - Mallorca flight on the 13th of June, just after the cruise.

The main reason we booked the cruise via a French website was the price, since MSC had cruise-only fares for that market. The Spanish market at that time was to offer only Cruise + Flights combination, and that was not convenient for us since it was much more expensive and also we had to buy a flight to Barcelona or Madrid, plus hotels. Having so many Mallorca - Hamburg flights, we wanted to travel on our own, and spend some time in northern Germany.

I was worried to book trough a foreign website, but there were no problems. Only that I had to write in French with google translator to ask for anything. Ended up being entertaining :-) but MSC has a very stupid policy of price discrimination among countries that should come to an end.

In January, Air Berlin decided to change the flights schedule, so that the Germany-bound one was delayed 4 hours, and the return flight was advanced several hours as well. It was impossible for us to return on the 13th, since we had to go from Kiel to Hamburg and needed more time, so we ended changing our return flight to the 14th, thus spending another night in Hamburg.

Aside from the cost, the main problem with that was that I was to begin work several hours after coming back from the trip, which is something I truly dislike! On the other hand we got to spend two days in Hamburg, a unique city worth visiting.

In the end, our trip itinerary was this:

Day 1. June 5th. Mallorca - Hamburg - Lübeck

Day 2. June 6th. Lübeck - Kiel - MSC Orchestra

Day 3. June 7th. Day at sea

Day 4. June 8th. Bergen

Day 5. June 9th. Geiranger

Day 6. June 10th. Flam

Day 7. June 11th. Stavanger

Day 8. June 12th. Day at sea

Day 9. June 13th. Kiel - Hamburg

Day 10. June 14th. Hamburg - Mallorca

And of course the classic spreadsheet :D

How awful for you - and yet, such an amazing outlook on life, too, Elmartellama.

 

Good on you for making the best of what must have been a traumatic time for you. You have my very best wishes for the future - I hope things work out well for you.

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Before we left for our trip I had 6 full free days without work. Much of the time was spent arranging and moving things, but I still had time to enjoy life, for there is no better antidepressant than summertime in north Mallorca :-D

The weather was perfect, warm days and cool nights, sun shining along.

On the other hand. my mother 60th birthday was on June the 5th. My father organized a lovely surprise party the night before, so that I was still there to join it.

I was quite busy making an album for her as present. The least I could do for her!

The party turned out to be great. It took place at the restaurant of Alcanada Golf (run independently). A beautiful place where you sit in a terrace with stunning views. Friendly staff and good organisation and value, according to my father. I recommend it.

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry to hear about the relationship turmoil. I'm sure it has been a very difficult time for you. As Bea said, your positive outlook is wonderful; you're an inspiration to all of us. Best wishes for whatever the future holds.

I'm so glad you were still able to enjoy your trip. I can't wait to read along! We'll be visiting most of the ports you did (with the exception of Stavanger). However, looking at your pictures, I want to go to Mallorca next! :)

Day 1. June 5th. Mallorca - Hamburg - Lübeck

The day was finally here. There was a mix of emotions in the air, but the mood was good, and we were happy to take the flight for the "free and hanseatic" city of Hamburg. The flight was at 13:20, so we had plenty of time in the morning not to be in a rush, even if we would have less time in Germany that day.

As always, we were probably the only non-German on board. Everyone else was finishing their holidays and we were about to start.

The flight was uneventful and we were landing at HAM on time, our destination that day would be the city of Lübeck. To get there we had to take the S1 to Hamburg Hauptbanhof and then change trains to Lübeck Hauptbanhof. The ticket is the same, and everything was quite easy, except for the sudden change of platform in Hamburg Hbf.

Trains in Germany using a single ticket are not what you can call cheap, I think it was 15€ pp for a short trip. They are quite comfortable and have space for luggage, yet they do not seem to be air-conditioned. It was quite a warm day for northern Germany standards, about 26ºC, so the train was quite hot inside.

Also the 3G / 4G mobile coverage was extremely bad, it only worked fine in cities like Hamburg or Lübeck. Other than that, and specially in the countryside, it was either slow or non-existent. I guess it is something that has to do with health issues or something, for that is a rich and developed region, but that was quite shocking. We are used to much better coverage at home, also in Norway it was far better.

Lübeck Hauptbanhof is a beautiful and renovated terminal very easy to navigate. We booked a hotel that is just next to it, so that we didn't have to drag luggage.

After leaving the suitcases at the room it was already 19:00h, so we went for a tour of Lübeck.

Near the hotel we found de Holstentor shining in a radiant sunny afternoon. It was built in 1464 and is one of the two remaining towers of the Lübeck wall.

SPQL inscription was only added in 1871, and it is a version of the roman SPQR, standing for Senatus populusque Lubecensis. On the other side of the gate, the inscription says Concordia domi foris pax, which means “harmony within, peace without”. I found it funny why they had to adopt such inscriptions, then I read that it was within the context of the second German Reich.

Lübeck continued

We decided to visit Lübeck because it was a small town easy to navigate, with regular and fast connections to both Hambug and Kiel. It was a good call, since the city has a very special Hanseatic character that makes her so unique.

The city centre is a world heritage site, and much of it was restored after WW2. Moreover, it was just by the border between west and east Germany, which also makes it interesting.

By the 14th century the city was the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", which was a medieval trade organization that extended around the Baltic and Northern sea. This was a key point of our trip, since we also visited the cities of Hamburg. Bergen, with important Hanseatic inheritance.

Nowadays is a very well preserved quaint town, we liked it a lot and it was something different from what we would be seeing in the rest of the trip.

Here you have a model of the city in a a very "gameofthronish" style ;-)

We stumbled upon a festival of fish and we decided to have dinner in the main square, you could pick some typical German food, which was no secret to us, being from Mallorca.

The band was playing, and it made for a great atmosphere

After the break, we continued exploring the city on food. We passed by the famous Niederegger marzipan shop, already closed, displaying marzipan models of the city buildings.

It was a charming evening

Modern parts of the city reminded me of English cities, can't tell you why.

We reached the new Hanseatic Museum, which was closed by then, and had opened the previous week. We didn't visit it, but you can access the roof and enjoy the views.

This is the square above, recently restored.

The squares were packed for the festival, it was a warm festive Friday evening

We came back by the river promenade

Brick-style ever present and curious trucks

And several nice old boats matching the city maritime feel

Following the river, the Cafe Speicher, were you could also taste marzipan delicatessens.

I can't recall what was special about that golden ship in the façade, but I had read about it somewhere!

Never forget the dog when you go canoeing :-D

And that was it for day 1, and we came back to the hotel quite satisfied, everything went smoothly and I was quite relieved. We had loved Lübeck so far, and would be making another tour of the city in the morning, before leaving for Kiel were the MSC Orchestra would be waiting for us

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry to hear about the relationship turmoil. I'm sure it has been a very difficult time for you. As Bea said, your positive outlook is wonderful; you're an inspiration to all of us. Best wishes for whatever the future holds.

 

I'm so glad you were still able to enjoy your trip. I can't wait to read along! We'll be visiting most of the ports you did (with the exception of Stavanger). However, looking at your pictures, I want to go to Mallorca next! :)

Thank you!

Almost forgot! Map Day 1 :cool:

I an enjoying this. On 5th April we were not far from you on the Molli train before we boarded Costa Favolosa in Warnemunde. It was such a gloriously sunny day. Looks like you were following us around Norway.

Last year we boarded Costa Pacifica in Kiel. Having been to Hamburg and Lubeck before we took a very handy bus from Hamburg Airport to Kiel. It is more expensive than the train but takes a shorter time and there are no changes. Prior to embarking the ship we visited Laboe and the U995 Uboat. Well worth a visit and just a short inexpensive bus ride from Kiel!

Looking forward to the next instalment! Keep it coming. Great pictures!

Thank you! I considered visiting Laboe, since I had heard of the small boat that takes you there the beach and the U-boat, but decided not to and relax a bit. Maybe next time, who nows :-)

Actually, I did see all those places from the ship, more pictures to come :D

Day 2. Lübeck - Kiel - MSC Orchestra

The plan for day 2 was to visit Lübeck in the morning and then take the train to Kiel. We had actually seen a lot of Lübeck the previous day, so we took it easy on day 2.

Since we did not have breakfast included, we just pop by the station and had some typical breakfast, which we liked. Bread and bakeries are always good in Germany. Coffee on the other hand was horrible, you had to add that concentrated milk to make it resemble a café-latte. Maybe we didn't order it right, I don't know...

An off we went to explore a bit more. Maybe it would have been a good idea to go directly to Kiel and visit Laboe as suggested above, but I did not want problems and to rush it, being things as they were.

The day was overcast in the early hours but it went getting better. In Lübeck there are many boat excursions on offer, many go to Warnemunde.

Trees disturb your view? Wipe them out.- Nice apartments actually!

The old town is a charming area to wonder around

This is the Friseur district, for all the businesses were hair cutters. Loved the buildings

I found the windows to be so peculiar!

After a while we reached the Niederegger marzipan shop to buy some souvenirs. It's a beautiful place indeed.

Headed back to the hotel, which as you can see was adjacent to the train station. Couldn't be easier! I recommend both the H4 Lübeck hotel and the city.

The train ride from Lübeck to Kiel is quite nice, you pass by many lakes and everything was green.

There was some kind of even at Kiel Hbf, and a hen party also ???

Upon arrival in Kiel, we met a MSC representative. I asked clearly whether there was a free shuttle and he replied that he could offer 5€ porter service for every bag and a shuttle. Asked him again if we could bring our own bags and use the free shuttle. He did not reply. There WAS a free shuttle the debarking day though ???

We did not make use of the porter service since I had heard horror stories about bags being lost at Kiel. Actually, a married couple we met onboard had their bags lost somewhere between Hamburg airport and the ship. No thank you, we'll bring our own bags and save 15€, plus we'll make sure we don't lose them. Norway is a bit cold for these clothes!

Since we had a small group ticket for the SH region valid for up to 5 people (ironically costs less than 2 single tickets) we thought we had the right to use the Kiel public bus to the Ostseekai Cruise terminal. But we were not entirely sure about that, we asked a woman helping with the tickets at the Lübeck train station and she had no idea at all.

Anyway, we went with the public bus, which was about to leave in 20 minutes. So we explored a bit around the Kiel Hbf, making use of such a good location. That was the only time we had to wait for transport in Germany, on all other occasions the U-bahn, S-bahn and Regional trains arrived so promptly!

Kiel has not the charm of ancient cities, but it's not that bad

Many ships leave for Scandinavia from its port

The bus ride was very easy, so we went to the Ostseekai cruise terminal quite soon

In port that day were the MSC Orchestra + the gorgeously looking Mein Schiff 4. That's me about to enter the terminal :-)

And there she is!

And the first (and last!) time we had a balcony. We were quite excited about it ^_^ Our balcony was at the right side of the ship, which is the better part for that itinerary in my opinion.

We then went to the buffet. Food-wise it was good, just like the MSC Fantasia, but unfortunately it was always very crowded. It was a real issue I must say, at times it was totally impossible to find a table, even sharing with unknown people.

The first day it was rather empty though. We were leaving at 19:00 and people we arriving late due to the charter flights.

Next it was tour time. Sunny and radiant day in Kiel.

I'd love to sail in the Mein Schiff 4 someday! Only I need a german boyfriend for that xD

She's such a beauty

Kiel port is very nice, just next to the city along the Fjord. I don't know why Kiel has a Fjord being that south, but so it is called.

Life was good!

Self-explanatory ship pics. We did not use the disco or the tennis court once, but post the pictures in case you are interested.

MSC Orchestra has 2 exterior pools and 4 jacuzzis. For our trip, both pools were heated, and of course the jacuzzis as well. It would have been nice to have a covered pool, but the water-scheme worked fine for me. More to that later :-D

They were charming lovely areas actually

Above the Sombrero bar, there's a bridge communicating both sides mid ship that's very convenient while sailing the Fjords.

And finally the gym. I used it on a daily basis, for the first time in my 3 cruises. It was cold outside sometimes and it had amazing views. It was packed most of the times, specially the cardio area, so I used the weight machines mostly.

MSC Staff was very serious about cleanliness, and made you spray the machine and clean it with paper after you were done. Loved that! Hygiene is crucial.

And that's it for today, swim time now. Just too hot in Mallorca lately, this morning it was 40ºC in some areas. Hope extreme heat ends soon.

Love your review. Much looking forward to reading the next installments! A Norway cruise is definitely next on our list.

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. I am enjoying the lovely pictures and the commentaries.

Looking forward to the next instalments.

Loving your review! I am cruising on the Orchestra for the first time in November so really enjoying seeing pictures of the ship!

MSC Orchestra continued

We kept exploring a bit more. It's an easier vessel than the MSC Fantasia, when it comes to distances and orientation.

This is the public balcony at the front part of Deck 9. It was used by the crew as a non used space by the passengers since it is rather hidden, so I felt bad being there and never returned.

The only time we used the promenade deck as well. We had a rather windy and cold navigation, so the space was closed to the public many times.

Several ship pictures. In general, I liked the decor.

This was the Savanah bar. We used it a lot since it was closer to our room. Also there was dancing in there every night. Not that we danced, but the atmosphere was great. The picture is terrible, sorry...

Back to the room to use the balcony for the first time

The Kiel fjord was quite busy on a Saturday

And finally Jacuzzi-time! I used the Jacuzzi for a very long time, totally on my own. I did the same on some of the following days, but towards the end of the cruise the weather improved and you had to share - baaaah :-D They were clean and always worked fine. The jets were stronger in some of them though.

And the first BBCs! our favourite drink this cruise. We did not have allegrissimo, instead we did packages: 14 1L water bottles, 14 soft drinks , 12 alcoholic cocktails, 10 non alcoholic cocktails or Doremi, and 15 coffee / coffee delights. It costed around half of Allegrissimo this way, and it worked fine for us. It's not only that I found 26€pp to be very expensive, it is also that I cannot drink that much. We had problems finishing our coupons, and even threw 3 coupons away! Also, drinking all day long is not the healthiest thing to do, just a personal opinion.

And at 19:00h we started sailing away. The Lido deck was rather empty. Many people had arrived very late, and others were already dinning. We had second seating at 20:30. The first show was held at 19:15h, and it was a Sinatra show. We missed it for our second consecutive year in order to enjoy the sail away. Sorry Frank, we did it our way.

I believe the boat below was not saluting us, but the Mein Schiff 4, since it was either her maiden voyage or her first time in Kiel, it had entered in service very recently.

Sail away was pleasing, we enjoyed it mostly from the balcony. The Kiel fjord has some scenic views.

The Mein Scfiff 4 was following us

Soon we had Laboe in front of us. You could see the marina, the beach, the monument and the U-boat

We then went to the Ibiscus restaurant and had dinner. We always seem to have problems the first night, this time we had been seated in a table of 4 with an elderly German couple, and the table was so small we could not even relax. It was horrible, not only there was a clear communication problem, but there was an intimacy problem there as well o_O I just did not want to talk in German, nor English, to them and be translating the whole time.

We left before them and talked to the Metre d'Or afterwards, he told us that we were supposed to be alone in a table of 4, and that it was impossible that he had mixed nationalities, and in a table of 4! He went to check the table receipts and told us not to worry for tomorrow.

From the following night onwards, we were seated alone at the same table, so we just supposed that that German couple had first seating and that they had just decided to go to the second seating the first day, just because it best suited them! Probably they had arrived late in Kiel? There was no other possible explanation to that super weird situation. We met them again at the transfer queue a week after, and they just skipped the queue to enter the bus ??? no comments.

Regarding the food in the MDR, it was much better than in the MSC Fantasia. We liked everything and enjoyed it greatly. Maybe being a smaller ship makes it easier to keep a high standard and detail. I did not take a single picture of food, sorry!

Then we had some drinks and back to the cabin. We were to cross the bridge uniting the two islands of Denmark at midnight, but it was getting dark and we just fell asleep as we passed by the flat Danish shores.

And that's it for Day 2