Random00

I hope someone at Celebrity is monitoring this forum. With such a significant decrease in port time Celebrity needs to do more than a $100 per cabin credit. 

Step up Celebrity!

Stavanger, Eidfjord, Alesund, Bergen & Oslo are all very doable without paying for a ship's excursions. You will have a fabulous time. Svalbard was the highlight of our trip there even though there were no excursions on offer. It was spectacular just to see it and sail past ice floes.

 

Stavanger - the ship will berth near to the town ( there are a couple of berths but both are near to the sights.) The old town is worth a visit and consists of a collection of old white houses higher up the hill as you disembark the ship. It is very scenic and there is a warren of little alleyways which are great to explore. Worth a look. Stavanger has lots to see and do for being quite a small place and you will easily fill a day. Museums include the excellent oil museum (much, much more interesting than it sounds.) 3D exhibitions and hands on activities. Brilliant. There is also the Sardine Canning Museum where you can pack sardines - great fun. There is also a Fishing Museum, shopping centre, Cathedral, HoHo bus/train and a beautiful lake to walk around.

 

Eidfjord as has been said is small and walkable - set at the top of a beautiful fjord. You can go kayaking on the water , walk around the village past farms, rivers etc - there are printed walks available from the tiny tourist office and trails to follow or there is also a small land train which gives an excellent trip around the area. This was one of our favorite places.

 

Alesund is also easily accessible - the walk into town is only a few minutes and you can start exploring. We found guided walking tours available from the Tourist Office for a small fee and we enjoyed them. Everyone very friendly and the guide was great. I believe they departed about 1.00pm but you can check on line before the holiday. Norway has a very good web site for tourists and holiday makers.

 

Oslo is lovely and you can take a small ferry across from near where the ship docks to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum across the fjord. You will also be very near the City Hall where you can visit and see inside where some of the Nobel Prizes are given out. There is also lots of examples of Nordic Art and Life of the Sami people. (Although this may not be there now, not sure.) The City Hall is very close to where the ship docks.

So there is no need to take a tour in these particular stops if you prefer not to. They are all easily walkable.

 

Bergen is easy to do on your own - recommend the Hoho bus which includes the cost of going up the cable car at Mount Ulriken ( not the funicular) which I feel is more spectacular and less busy. The old town is lovely as is the market etc.

 

You will have a fabulous time throughout.

Thanks So much for the great information.

4 months to go

Joan

Hello from the very cold Houston, British Columbia, Canada. -22 degrees Celsius today but beautiful clear skies.

We are traveling to Norway and Svalbard in June this year and I am researching each port on our somewhat hodgepodge adventure. We have 3 days in Oslo before we head to Svalbard for a week on the Explorer; then fly to Bergen for two days before we board the Pullmantur Monarch for the "Fjords of the North" cruise, which includes Bergen; Alesund; Olden; Skolden; Eidfjord; and Stavanger.

Although the ship continues on to Berlin as the final destination we are disembarking in Stavanger where we are going to spend one night at the Preikestolen Mountain Lodge hopefully to do some kayaking and hike to the top of Pulpit Rock. Then back to Stavanger for 3 more days.

Lastly, on to Bergen to catch the train to Flam, where we will spend 4 nights, and finally back to Oslo.

We are in our early 60's but reasonably active. We like to do easy to moderate hikes, kayaking, and just generally exploring the surroundings. We do not plan to take any of the ship excursions unless there is a compelling reason to do so, instead we would like to explore the ports on our own and maybe fit in a few hikes, etc. We are mainly doing this cruise to be able to see the fjords (Nordfjord, Sognefjord, Hardangerfjord

Looking for suggestions.

Hope you can help

Joan

Friends of mine want to take their children (8, 10 and 12) to Antarctica and are looking at various alternatives.

 

For those of you who have sailed to Antarctica, where there children on board?

 

Thanks!

We traveled with Lindblad to Antarctica over Christmas and was quite surprised to see how many families were on board. When I asked one of the expedition staff about the number of families he said that although they get families on board the number on this tip was unusually high. He assumed that it was due to the trip being over the Christmas break.

Hope you had an amazing trip! I leave next Friday for Buenos Aires. Hard to believe that a trip that I started planning a year ago is finally here. A few questions- actually I have tons of questions but will restrain myself-

How late were your rooms ready at the hotel on the morning of arrival in BA? I know that we have the option of paying for the rooms to be ready ( basically paying for a full night before) but am hoping that they will be ready in a timely manner- ie no later than noon? What time was the pick up for the charter flight? And finally, clothing wise, was there anything that you took that you never touched and was there anything that you really wish you had packed? trying to fit everything in a carry on suitcase and backpack so any packing advice is appreciated. Planning on using onboard laundry and washing some items myself. Thank you so much!

Sorry I didn't see your post until today. I am assuming that it is too late for a reply and that you are already on your way. Hope you have an amazing trip.

Back from our trip on the NG Explorer and it was amazing. I am happy to answer any questions about the ship and the expedition.

Joan

Joan

 

You haven't asked for any advice on the Arctic, but please allow me to make some comments - obviously, time required and budget damage are always factors in travel planning. But, your Antarctic plans indicate that you can manage a few extra dollars and days. So please consider the Svalbard/ Fiords 17 day trip. It combines the wildlife exposure of the 11 day Polar Bear trip with an outstanding cruise up the Norwegian coast. We have done both and strongly recommend this one. Also, you begin the cruise in Bergen and end in Oslo - both places worth a day or 2 add on. And, if you have more time, take the train from Oslo to Bergen.

 

We did the Iceland circumnavigation last year - easy on time and budget! Iceland was the most unusual place we have ever visited for a wide range of factors - go there!

 

 

Ted

Thanks Ted

It is still early in our planning for the Arctic. We are a torn between the combination fjords and Svalbard (17 day) trip and the Epic 80 with Greenland, Baffin and Ellesmere Island (24 days). Polar bears are high on our list.

Joan

Joan

 

My travelmate of 60 years is also Joan!

 

We had our only Antarctic kayaking experience on our second visit shortly after Lindblad devised that unique boarding arrangement by putting 2 zodiacs together. Our kayak was launched some distance from the ship but close to spectacular Antarctic scenery - it was a quiet blue and white dream.

 

One experience on an uphill hike was not so dreamlike - we were really tired as we reached the summit ( I think this may have been on S Georgia) so we decided to slide down. We sat down on a steep decline and pushed off. The unexpected acceleration was unexpected and a bit scary as we came closer to the water's edge. Needless to say, we survived!

 

We envy your Antarctic experience.

Hi HRProf

Thanks for the comment. As I replied to Turtle06 I think we will take every opportunity to kayak that is offered . Hopefully there will be opportunities for both kayaking and hikes. Two months today until our trip begins.... getting very excited.

We have also started to look at itineraries for the Arctic including Iceland and Greenland. Lindblad had a webinar this week and now we are both hooked.

Joan

Hi Joan,

 

There were definitely opportunities to do some hikes on several of the landings. We did not opt for those, preferring to spend time among the penguins. But I think the views on some of them must have been fabulous. If you go to my post about the Neko Harbor landing, at the link below, and scroll down, you'll see a photo I took of the hikers there; they were pretty far up!

 

https://antarcticjourney.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/day-seven-part-one-gentoos-minkes-and-more-oh-my/

 

There were at least two kayaking opportunities, if I recall correctly. I took advantage of one of them, and had a rather hilarious experience (hilarious now, a bit scary at the time thanks to my kayaking partner), as I recount in my post at the following link. Having the opportunity to kayak in the Antarctic waters was truly remarkable, and I highly recommend it. (But pay attention to the pre-kayak instructions! :) )

 

https://antarcticjourney.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/day-six-part-two-penguins-a-paddle-and-a-plunge/

Thanks Turtle06

I have read your blog from end to end a couple of times. Very informative. Thanks for your comments; my partner and I have kayaked frequently both on the ocean and on lakes so I don't think we should have the same steering problems you had, however we have never been in a double kayak either, so one of us will have to be "the Skipper" and the other one "Gilligan". We will see how that goes.

We really want to experience the kayaking and so I think we will take every opportunity to kayak even though it may mean missing a hike; however we are really torn. Hopefully there will be multiple opportunities for both.

Two months today before our trip begins.

Joan

You sure are, and it's very nice to know that people are still reading my trip report. :)

 

I was just telling my spouse the other day how much I'd love to go back early in the season (we were there in late Jan.) to see the differences. Off to buy lottery tickets.... :)

 

Have a fantastic time!!

Hi Everyone

My partner and I live in central British Columbia where we have cold snowy winters. No snow yet but this morning was down to zero centigrade (freezing) so we decided to dig our boots and base layers out of our duffle bag and go for a walk to check out the boots and thermal layers. Boots were heavy but comfortable. But we both came back sweaty ... guess it wasn't quite cold enough for the merino wool base layer... lol

Starting to do a lot more reading about the upcoming trip and getting very excited.

Turtle 06 I wonder if you could give us some insight into the types of hikes offered on your trip. We have read that there is a possibility of hiking to scenic lookouts and heard that one was 1000 ft elevation. How did you find the hikes? Also, we are very interested in kayaking, were there frequent opportunities and what was your experience?

Joan

Hi eetraveller

Glad to hear you are joining this expedition. I am really starting to get excited although it is still 5 months away. Where are you from?

Joan

Thanks for the posts. I will certainly check out the links. It still seems so far away but I know the year will pass quickly. I will post my questions as they come to me.

Thanks

Just confirmed our booking for this amazing trip. We plan to add a few days in Buenos Aries either pre or post cruise. I would love to hear from anyone who has done this trip and has suggestions or comments.