tammyjw305

Thanks, KitKat and John Bull! We are going in Sept, so that may help with some of the crowds. I'll consider alternatives -- the skylift and rib boat tours. We have been to Glacier Bay in Alaska, so maybe not the best choice for Norway with global warming. 

Tammy

We do not dock in Olden, but dock in Nordfjordeid instead. The tour that I found went to Briksdal, like those from Olden, but from Nordfjordeid. This tour's meeting point only looks available in Olden. Let me know if I'm wrong. Public transportation sounds good for the affordability; however, I would also be concerned since you mentioned the availability/full buses. 

Tammy

Hi, 

Has anyone tried this tour? It is by: 

Visit Nordfjordeid AS
by Fjord Guiding AS

at 

https://www.fjordex.no/briksdal-glacier

It looks good, but the company does not have many reviews that I can find. So, wanted your input.

Thanks! Tammy

On 4/4/2024 at 9:54 AM, NotYet44 said:

Hello! Great review. Question: We are planning on doing this trip in 2025 with a 10 year old. Were there other kids on board? Was the Kids Club open? We're afraid we'll have the only child on the ship which might be a deal breaker for now... Thanks!

Hi -- I don't remember well since we did not take our kids. There were definitely not many, many kids. I suspect that they would run the kids' club, but how many other kids would they get to hang out with would be the question. Not all kids like almost 1:1 attention. I tried to check our Roll Call to see who mentioned bringing kids and their ages; however, I could not find find it anymore. I recommend looking at the roll calls for the dates that work for you and see if they mention bringing kids and/or ask if they are to get an idea. 

Tammy

12 hours ago, gizfish said:

Thx for the link to your review.  When we were on Meraviglia in September, there was food available at the buffet for like 19 or 22 hours a day.  When dinner was over they would switch to snacks, and of course the pizza was always available.  I wonder if they have (sadly) cut back.  Also, the pool area had soft serve for about two or three hours most days.  It wasn't self serve, but was absolutely the best cruise ship ice cream we have ever had.  For those on the East coast, it was equivalent to Carvel quality.  I wonder if the frozen yogurt you encountered is a permanent change.  

Maybe or maybe they were worried about the extra mouths on the ship for Spring Break :). 

It was labeled frozen yogurt on the Dailies. It came out of a soft serve machines that the crew served. It was not a complaint. It was good, and I told myself that it was healthier. From not the East coast, I only know Carvel Whaley Ice Cream cake, yum.  

16 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Good overall review. I will say that you shouldn't miss the "library." Even before the conversion to extra casino space, it was a couple of shelves with about 10 total books and puzzles missing pieces. Honestly, a non-smoking extension of the casino was a HUGE improvement in terms of use of space!

 

Surprised about not seeing your room steward until day 3 and no business card for him/he left in your cabin. On every MSC sailing I have been on, including 4-5 on the Meraviglia, I have met my steward on the first day and he has always left a business card on the desk in my room.

Interesting on the sad library. We also like the daily crossword, sudoku, and trivia in the library. Well, Carnival has those at the Java Cafe. We asked about paper puzzles in the games area, but they were just checking out board games to families. 

Good -- just bad luck and bad timing on meeting our steward sooner. He did leave his card after we met him. 

Tammy

9 minutes ago, CAKEisgood said:

Awesome review! We are sailing on the Star end of May for Iceland & Norway (no Greenland ). Pics of the icebergs were amazing. And y’all looked so cold, even in July. I’m so glad I bought a new puffy, warm coat and mittens 

Have fun on your next adventure 

Thanks! It was a great trip. You will love it. Yes, picking between a warm coat and a raincoat was hard. We had some Smart Wool balaclavas and hat that helped too.   

Tammy

28 minutes ago, George C said:

Very glad you had a nice time , I am really happy that MSc is coming to Galveston in November 2025 . We cruise MSc yacht club which is amazing, suite restaurants, pool etc , way better than suites on rccl , equal to celebrity suites but way cheaper.

Yes, I have heard that Yacht Club is very nice and more affordable that other lines' ship within a ship. We missed out though. 

Hi,

We tried out MSC for the first time on the MSC Meraviglia from NYC for our oldest son's high school graduation over Spring Break. This also let our kids see NYC for the first time. This was our 18th cruise with all previous on NCL or Carnival. We are in our later 40s, and kids are teens. 

If you want to check it out -- 

Review: https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2024/03/msc-meraviglia-review-march-2024.html 

Play by Play including NYC and ports: Port Canaveral, Ocean Cay, and Nassau: https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2024/03/msc-cruise-nyc-and-bahamas-march-2024.html 

If you have any questions, let me know!

Tammy

Hi,

We tried out MSC for the first time on the MSC Meraviglia from NYC for our oldest son's high school graduation over Spring Break. This also let our kids see NYC for the first time. This was our 18th cruise with all previous on NCL or Carnival. We are in our later 40s, and kids are teens. 

If you want to check it out -- 

Review: https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2024/03/msc-meraviglia-review-march-2024.html 

Play by Play including NYC and ports: Port Canaveral, Ocean Cay, and Nassau: https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2024/03/msc-cruise-nyc-and-bahamas-march-2024.html 

If you have any questions, let me know!

Tammy

Right -- disposable bottled water, and yes, it a large water.   

2 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

 

 

Reading your review now.

 

Question:  "We had not gotten our repeat Carnival cruiser water bottle to the room yet. I came across in the app that you have to get this at a bar now. That is an annoying change."   What is this? I've never heard of it before and I'm a repeat customer. 
 

"The Arch coming into view."  What side of the ship is this on when pulling in? 

 

 

Awesome -- I learned blogging from you!

Yeah, the bottle water -- we only saw it on the Panorama in Jan 2023; before that had it was delivered to our room on arrival. Saving the room stewards time to add more cabins to their workload?

The Cabo Arch is on the Port side. 

Tammy

1 hour ago, Neotericisis said:

Hi Tammy! We’re on this ship for Spring Break too! 03/24-03/31

Oh, our Spring Break is March 10th-17th instead. I guess it is better if they spread Spring Break crowds out some. I should have been more specific. Have fun on your cruise!

Tammy

Interested! Thanks for sharing

Thank you for sharing! I'm eager to read your first review too. We are taking our 2 teenage boys over spring break year and trying MSC for the first time. Doh, my husband like the tea. The weather may be better, but there will be lots of people being spring break time. 

Tammy

3 hours ago, ts548 said:

Thank you so much for posting, this was great information for a first time NCL cruiser!

 

Have fun on your cruise! If you have any questions on the smaller (2k'ish passenger) NCL ships, let me know. 

Tammy

1 minute ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

I don't think it stopped there at all this season due to the dock not being finished.

Ah, okay. We tendered. There was one dock with a container ship. Our tour guide said that we could have docked, but the container ship was not there. I only heard of it being a tender port, so I was not sure if that was really true. 

5 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Loved reading your review. Nice to see your photos from Isjafjord.  Sailing the prima, we obviously missed that one in August.   I am glad I was not the only one who thought crossing into the arctic circle, even just for a very brief time, was a big deal!  

Isafjordur was a nice sunny day too and pretty. You missed it due to weather or because the Prima is big?

Tammy 

On 10/12/2023 at 9:15 PM, Nilbog said:

We've got this one scheduled for August 2024.  What were the temperatures like?  14 days is an awful lot of sweatshirts, and lots of luggage.

It was normally 50s or 60s. It was nice sunny days our first two days in Iceland. Then cloudy and windy the next, so cooler. Cooler in Greenland. I took 2 long sleeves shirts and 4 short sleeve shirts and layered the short sleeves with repeat jackets/sweaters. 

Tammy 

Not a normal view, but I was surprised how busy the crew area was, so from the TV, 

Iceberg from a top deck. There was a lot of good outdoor viewing space and a full promenade, that we enjoy walking.  

My favorite aft MDR aft windows with wake, also in the formal MDR, Le Bistro, Moderno, Cagney's, and O'Sheehan's with our rescue from the ice field container ship. 

4 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Thank you @tammyjw305 . I did read your blog and loved it . We first visited Norway in 2013 on the Carnival Legend mainly for the itinerary and shared it on CC . We last visited there in 2019 and went to the Geiranger Falls from a ferry boat from Alesund before seeing Iceland. Our upcoming trip on the Star will finish up in Reyjavik where we plan on staying for 8 days . If you would  like to see some of our 2013 visit to Trollstigen from Alesund you can find it at this link . Thanks again for sharing your cruise and happy cruising !

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! I will be check it out, so we can pick the best itinerary for us. 

Sorry not many ship pictures. This is our cabin -- 8106, smaller windows instead of one big window in an obstructed oceanview. 

15 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 We have an Iceland / Norway cruise booked on the Star next year . Would you please share some of the ships photos here on Cruise Critic ?  Thank you .

Nice -- Norway is on our list too. I don't think that I have too many ship pictures (more food pictures  🙂 ); I do have our cabin. I'll look and post what I find tonight. 

If you are interested in Iceland and Greenland or the NCL Star, check out my (long) review with lots of pictures.

https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2023/08/iceland-pre-cruise-july-2023.html

If you are interested in Iceland and Greenland or the NCL Star, check out my (long) review with lots of pictures.

https://ww-wanderers.blogspot.com/2023/08/iceland-pre-cruise-july-2023.html