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

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

You should some day ;) It's great for the Kids too, since it is a very visual cruise and they don't get bored in museums.

There we no children at all in our cruise though, since it was not school holidays yet. Maybe I counted 10 to 20 non-adults tops.

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.

Thank YOU for the fantastic pre-cruise advices Lars!

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

I guess you'll sail in better weather by then :D Don't want to imagine the North Sea in november :eek:

I hope you enjoy your cruise, it's a lovely ship and the crew was very good. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

I'm really enjoying your pictures! I love ship pictures. Can't wait to see the photos of Norway! :)

Hi, greetings from Stockholm (Sweden). I read in your intro that you years ago spent some time at the University in Linköping (which is approx 200 kilometers s/w of Stockholm). Actually I am an Norwegian (from Oslo), though living here in Stockholms for the last 27 years. (I met the love of my life, off course - and she is now my wife. We met in Berlin...but that is another story... )

Thank you very much for your very interresting and thorough "report"...and all the really great photos. It's really ossom

We did the same cruise a couple of years ago:

2013, June - 7 nights: "MSC Musica" // Copenhagen - Kiel - Hellesylt/Geiranger - Flam - Bergen - Oslo - Copenhagen

MSC Musica is one of the 3 sister ships to MSC Orchestra; they're more or less identical.

Although we had been to the fjords before (all Norwegians have, I believe), we had only been there by car. The fantastic experience of cruising with a cruise ship into the landscape and the deep fjords can't be described - it has to be experienced! It was one of our absolut best travel experiences so far, I would say (and we have been travelling a lot).

When approaching the fjords, I will recommend you to wake up very early in the morning and then go out at the upper deck (allthough even the sight is great from your balcony). There will be a lot of passengers there (although it is very early), with their cameras and coffee mugs. I really do hope that the weather will be sunny and nice!

We will be happy sooner (!) or later to go on a new cruise to some of the fjords - and/or even more north along the Norwegian coast - and actually I would like to book "Mein Schiff 4" myself (which I saw at your pictures from Kiel). After been living two years in Germany (Köln, Kiel, Bremen), I speak the language - which maybe is an advantage - however, not a must - when going on a cruise onboard a German cruise ship. (Anyway, Germany is a really great country for spending holidays; the landscape, the architecture in the old cities, the food and the wine/beer, etc.)

Looking forward to your "reports" and photos to come! Enjoy!

Bon voyage! (In Norwegian: "God tur!". In Swedish: "Trevlig resa!")

Thank you :-) I visited Stockholm also during my stay in Sweden as well. Such an amazing city indeed. Also my family visited and we went south to Copenhagen, I have very nice memories of that time in my life.

On another occasion I lived in Helsinki for a short period of time and I went to Stockholm by Ferry. It was a warm August weekend, and we had such an unforgettable sail in and sail away. I long to repeat it someday. Felt in love with Scandinavia back then.

@Pluto: The Norway part is approaching :D Just too many pictures!

Day 3 (Cruise day 2) | Sea day

Ok ladies and gentlemen, this might seem a bit too much to many, but one day I was bored and decided to trace the ship expected route according to the maps and positions of Marinetraffic. This way I knew where we would be at any time, it was crucial in knowing at what time we had to wake up to see the Fjords or the sail ins.

Warning: this is expert level, don't try to do this at home ^_^ I have to say that I totally nailed it :-D It's not only the distance and the time, it is adjusted to the geography (ports, Fjords, open sea). Obviously I did not know the wind speed or the condition of the sea before hand, but it was surprisingly accurate!

I also studied the sunrise and sunset times at the different ports to decide when it was best and worth it to wake up.

Day 3 began with a bright and windy day. The weather only got getting worse, and by the end of the day it was very rocky. We had to take anti sea-sickness pills. The Stena Line ferry was still in sight.

We went to the gym in the morning, it was too packed. It was really annoying with so many people that just went to the gym to have a look and do nothing. You even had to sign a paper assuming responsibility in case something happened to you, that was only made to stop the people flow, it was not made any other day.

Everyone has the right to use it, but if you go there, USE it. What's the point of being a gym voyeur and look at people doing sport while you do nothing but staring at others as if they were performing a show? It's a total lack of respect in my opinion. Also, please don't use the gym wearing normal pants and a shirt! Oh boy, I flipped out.

Anyway, there was a nice surprise on the Horizon, a Disney Ship!

The sea was getting rough

Different colours and shadows

Some brave people swimming in the heated pool. No for me! I did not want to have a cold in the Fjords, and it was not inviting at all.

We had a coffee package with 15 coupons, but since we discovered there was a 24/7 supply of Nescafé onboard we decided not to do cappuccinos the first days, and drink coffee delights later in the day. We like Nescafé and to us it was far better then the cruise free coffee.

This is the deserted Sombrero bar, it must be nice in sunny weather

Pool temperature, I believe it was accurate.

More sea pictures. We enjoyed being at the balcony and watch the world pass by. I brought a small iPod speaker, which came in very handy.

We tried having lunch at the Buffet but it was impossible, no seats available, people standing waiting for people to leave... a disaster. I had an argument with my stubborn ex, telling him that waiting there was ridiculous and I was not doing it (why does he loves buffets so much to wait half an hour standing???). We finally went to the Dining Room, where we were promptly seated and enjoyed a great meal. Also we met two Spanish ladies that were very friendly and provided good conversation. My ex was happy in the end, not that he was to ever recognize it, being he so proud.

After having lunch we had a delicious coffee speciality. They are only served in the coffee bar near the reception on Deck 5.

There were two shows that day, I found it to be cool that they offered more than usual. The first show was held at 16:00h for everyone and it was a short adaptation of the Opera "La Traviatta". It was presented by the assistant cruise director, and I quite liked it.

It was a relaxing lazy day

This was gala night. The Batman show was quite disappointing though, we did not like it. It was weird and had no point.

Dinner was very good, and we were alone on the table from that moment on.

We wandered around a bit and had some drinks. There was a great atmosphere at the Savannah Bar. As you can see most passengers were around 60 years old or more. I told my ex you could tell that 90% of the people there had no mortgage or debts!

And that's it for today. Swim time now :D

Tomorrow we're finally in Norway!!!

Day 3 (Cruise day 2) | Sea day

 

Ok ladies and gentlemen, this might seem a bit too much to many, but one day I was bored and decided to trace the ship expected route according to the maps and positions of Marinetraffic. This way I knew where we would be at any time, it was crucial in knowing at what time we had to wake up to see the Fjords or the sail ins.

 

Warning: this is expert level, don't try to do this at home ^_^ I have to say that I totally nailed it :-D It's not only the distance and the time, it is adjusted to the geography (ports, Fjords, open sea). Obviously I did not know the wind speed or the condition of the sea before hand, but it was surprisingly accurate!

 

I also studied the sunrise and sunset times at the different ports to decide when it was best and worth it to wake up.

 

I LOVE this idea! :D It's too bad I'm not qualified for expert level. ;) The Splendida is currently on an itinerary almost identical to the one we'll be on, and I've been checking it here http://www.sea-scanner.com/schiffsposition.php?schiff=Splendida several times a day. I should be making notes on what time we'll enter fjords and so on. I already have sunrise/sunset times on my spreadsheet. :)

Day 4 (Cruise day 3) - Bergen

After a rocky sea-day and night, we were finally arriving in Bergen. The weather was a bit cold, with max. temps of just 15ºC, but at least it was not raining so it wasn't that bad. Bergen is a very rainy city, all year long.

Sail-in was quite nice and everyone was eager to set foot on land.

There are many island and bridges, pretty cool stuff.

The city is very spread into neighbourhoods with amazing views.

You had to love the wooden houses, not something we are used to!

Those were some very colourful and nice buildings

And we finally started docking

There was a free shuttle from the port to the city centre. It was very well organised, we just left once we got on the bus.

The bus dropped us off by the city lake

It's a nice area

From there we started walking towards the port. Bergen is very well maintained. There was some delightful sun

Bergen old port is a short 5 minutes walk

I had readed somewhere that there were queues at the Floibanen funicular, so I tried to do that at the Tourist Info office. Waste of time, they do not sell one way tickets there, only return. The idea was to ascend by funicular and descend walking, so we just went to the Floibanen and bought tickets there, luckily there was no queue at the time we went.

Floibanen is just a short walk from the port also.

The view from above is great

One of the descending paths from Floyen to the city is to the city east, and that's the one we took, but we started by going west to a small lake first.

Nordic humour ^_^ Seems to be very normal for the small children to go explore with their teachers in the mountain.

The path is very doable, yet we both wore waterproof boots.

Reflecting lake

There is a nice picnic BBQ area

The duck family. You don't get to see many animals in a Norway cruise, so we kind of celebrated

Then we turned east. We did not know the way, so just figure we would end up somewhere by taking the paths

It was a relaxing walk

More Nordic Humour :-D, probably from the same anonymous autor. MSC Orchestra in the background

There are several small waterfalls in the last part of the path. And also many paths while you reach the city, so you can get lost, but they all end up in the old port eventually. Many locals go running and walking there, so you can always ask someone for directions.

Oh boy, I was so pale just a month ago!

Finally you reach a lovely Bergen district with all those cute houses! Love them.

Did some exploring before reaching the old port

Aren't those old vessels amazing?

You can visit a nearby old fortress

And then it was time for the Brygge

We enjoyed walking on their cobblestone and wooden floors.

There are many businesses in the area, including the upper floors

Don't know why that man keeps appearing in my pictures

The Brygge is declared a World Heritage site by Unesco. It was the district for Germans merchants and sailors, back in the times of the Hanseatic league.

Nowadays is a very touristy area with many shops. We bought some souvenirs there.

By the way, you can pay almost anywhere by credit card in Norway, we didn't have cash at all and had no problems.

The Brygge is very close to the famous Fish Market.

At about 14:00 we decided to go back to the MSC Orhestra, having walked a bit and enjoyed the city. The time in port was not too much, we arrived at 09:00 and we set sail at 16:00. But it was enough for a slow paced city stroll.

Back in the room we had to laugh at the unnecessary amount of stoked pool towels!

The thing is that they leave 2 of them for you in the cabin. We didn't use all of them so we kept them under the sink in the bathroom. Our assistant did not see them and kept giving us more and more!

Eventually we displayed them on the bed, for he to find out. We did so because otherwise you are charged 20€ per unreturned towel.

Out cabin assistant did a great job. The only thing he did not do was to replace the hand-washing soap. Had he checked the soap level, he would have found the towels in the end! We did not complain though.

And regarding the different categories of cabins, we had the basic Bella and had the room cleaned twice a day anyway. It was rumoured to be once a day in that category, but that was not the case. So aside of cabin allocation, don't see the point in paying more for Fantastica.

Gym sail away. No jacuzzi that day. I could have, but went to the show instead

The show that night was better! Something oriental I believe :-) along with famous pop songs.

The weather was quite nice that evening, it gave us a break from the otherwise rocky North Sea

We could even open the balcony door!

Bergen was as good as expected. We could already see the snow-capped Norwegian mountains in the distance.

And that's it for today. We went to bed early. Next day was Geiranger and I was already happy in anticipation for what we were about to experience!

Enjoying your review. We leave in 6 weeks and it's been difficult to find Norwegian cruise reviews. Thank you! Can't wait to see your Geiranger pictures!

Your review is really great, I love it! And the map you did was fantastic! So informative and exciting to study

When we did the same cruise 2 years ago (onboard MSC Musica), even we went by the Flöibanen in Bergen up to the top...and had a great walk back - through the hills and narrow streets. You experience so much more when you walk - than sitting in a boring vehicle

When the ship during our cruise arrived Flåm, we took the train up to the top (i e Myrdal), and when returning we went by the train a couple of stations only. Then we left it and walked (about 15 kilometers) down the magnificent valley/landscape, with waterfalls, some sheep/cows; old wooden houses and even an old local church…and not at least a beautiful environment.

I will recommend you to do that

What wonderful pictures of Bergen! I'm glad it was not rainy the day you were there. You mentioned a free shuttle from the port to the town center...was that provided by the port or MSC? Were you docked at Jekteviksterminal? (from the photo with the ship in it, I think you must have been) I'll be there three weeks from today...can't wait!

Enjoying your review very much. Lovely pictures as well. We will be there in 19 days and hoping we have nice weather. Waiting for your Geiranger pictures.

Regards,

Joanne

Frode

 

Your review is really great, I love it! And the map you did was fantastic! So informative and exciting to study

When we did the same cruise 2 years ago (onboard MSC Musica), even we went by the Flöibanen in Bergen up to the top...and had a great walk back - through the hills and narrow streets. You experience so much more when you walk - than sitting in a boring vehicle

 

When the ship during our cruise arrived Flåm, we took the train up to the top (i e Myrdal), and when returning we went by the train a couple of stations only. Then we left it and walked (about 15 kilometers) down the magnificent valley/landscape, with waterfalls, some sheep/cows; old wooden houses and even an old local church…and not at least a beautiful environment.

I will recommend you to do that

That is such a great idea. We did not do it because our sister made a present to us that consisted in a Flam - Voss - Myrdal - Flam excursion, so we were en tour the whole day. Also the weather was cold and wet that day. Luckily it didn't rain, but if it does and you're in the middle of the path it gets a bit frustrating.

A great combination is also renting bike + train. If I ever go to Flam again and have enought time and good enough weather I'll try to do as you suggest!

What wonderful pictures of Bergen! I'm glad it was not rainy the day you were there. You mentioned a free shuttle from the port to the town center...was that provided by the port or MSC? Were you docked at Jekteviksterminal? (from the photo with the ship in it, I think you must have been) I'll be there three weeks from today...can't wait!

I believe it is the City / Port Authority, but just don't worry about it! You just need to get off the ship and get on the bus they will indicate. On the way back to the ship go to the drop off location and get on the parked bus. You can ask for the MSC Ship if you have doubts. It was very easy.

I believe we were docked in the terminal you mention. I did research before hand, but I needn't have actually, the service is free and fast.

We docked next to the Hurtigruten Terminal.

Enjoying your review very much. Lovely pictures as well. We will be there in 19 days and hoping we have nice weather. Waiting for your Geiranger pictures.

 

Regards,

Joanne

Oh, lucky you! Geiranger is coming :D