swedie

If you haven't as yet googled a map of Kotor, Montenegro...please do.  Kotor truly is such a small bay area, and you get an idea of the narrow shorelines you will pass through to get there.

On 8/10/2019 at 3:10 PM, DomerCruisers said:

Thank you for your advice. We have a guide book that will allow us to do an DIY tour of the Walls. The money we save we will spend on a "beverage by the sea".

 Many thanks

As far as temperature -- layers!  We were there at end of of Sept/early Oct and began tour as soon as the ship docked when it was a bit chilly. By layering we could take items off as the day warmed. 

After your wall walk (very difficult to take just a few photos - at every turn there is another incredible vista!)...you could possibly also take a short walk to the cable car & go up top for some incredible views and if I remember correctly a little cafe.

The valve is across the end of the bag. We just got some of the ziplock brand to pack our jackets in. Seem to work pretty well, but I don’t think I’d pack clothes in them. Seem like they would wrinkle things. Norway in one week from today!

 

 

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The ziploc bags do not wrinkle your clothing any more than if you packed your clothing in your case. It keeps them from shifting around in your luggage. A big plus, as someone mentioned is if the TSA needs/wants to do an inspection, everything stays neater.

Thank you. Have you had any experience with an independent tour company? If you have would you recommend one. Thank you.

Andy, no experience as yet, however, we are booked with

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/bus-turer-i-geiranger-2

for: Panorama Exclusive Bus through them when we dock in Geiranger in June. I have no doubt we will be back to the ship in enough time to tour the town itself before needing to get on board.

Just know that as these tours are very popular they do fill quickly.

Enjoy your cruise.

CCJack -

Thank you for yet another response. I'm loving the 7:30! - we would probably be there earlier than that. So jealous of your empty decks...we can only hope (but, so very doubtful), but, all in all, life is good!

Jane.

We are booked on Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas for June 2019 to the Arctic Circle. Looking for tour. We ported in Bergen in 2014 and finding tours in Norway was not easy. If anyone has tours for the many Norway ports, I would appreciate any assistance.

George

Hi George,

I responded to this request on a previous thread. Join you roll call or start one. You can get a lot of information from the roll calls from this years Fjords cruises. Serenade of the Seas is going to the Fjords on June 3rd from Copenhagen. There are a lot of tours mentioned throughout the thread - take a look.

The two that seem to fill up VERY quickly are the Flam Railroad and the Mt. Dalsnibba bus tours (especially the railway). They are probably not open for 2019 booking as yet, keep checking back. Luckily one of our group checked and they opened a full week prior to the date they were telling me.

https://www.visitflam.com/en/flamsbana/

Thanks for the information. We are booked on Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas for June 2019 to the Arctic Circle. Looking for tour. We ported in Bergen in 2014 and finding tours in Norway was not easy. If anyone has tours for the many Norway ports, I would appreciate any assistance.

George

Join your roll call or start one. You can check out the various Fjord roll calls for this year to get an idea of what is available. First and foremost would be the Flam Railway and Geiranger Bus Tours if you haven't done these before. They tend to fill up the fastest (especially The Railway).

When are you sailing? I mentioned the Midnight Sun Party because you said you were cruising next month and it may be something they do more than once, or it just may be on the solstice.

 

Yes, there was a Blue Nose ceremony in the Atrium and we received a nice certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle. It was fun to watch.

We are doing a b2b cruise - leaving on the 3rd of June, followed by a Baltic cruise on the 14th. Perhaps there will be a Midnight Sun party in the Baltics (or maybe on both cruise legs) - hope so. Thanks you for info on "blue nose ceremony" - we will need to watch for it!

Thank you for all of these answers - they are really helpful and fuels the fire/desire for this trip! We do plan on trying to get up early for the sail ins (sunrises could be a bit tougher).

Re a Solstice Party - the summer solstice takes place on the 21st of June this year.

I have read about a "blue nose ceremony" crossing the Arctic Circle? Anyone experience this?

Hallasm - thank you for the videos - I also checked out your blog - did you take notes while filming - how did you remember all of those names? I am terrible with names.

ccjack - for Flam we do not arrive until 10:30, so I am sure we will be up to watch most of that beautiful sail - in. 3:30 or so sunrise could be a bit tough. I love to get up early for sail ins along with a sunrise, watching the little towns waking up.

Allentownboy aka Doug - we're on the same sailing! I think we may be grazing at the buffet along with you, if we can pull ourselves away long enough for that. We do have members in our group that do enjoy the shows, but I feel this is a show of a lifetime.

I am loving all the input I've gotten here - thank you all! I've also posted these same questions on the Royal Caribbean thread.

Do you have MTD. If so you don't need reservations for the dining room. You can also look at the compass the night before and decide when you might want to eat dinner the next day and call for reservations. They usually have the compass in your room fairly early in the evening for the next day.

Thank you Keksie,

That is what we usually do when there are only 2 or 4 of us, the wait if any is not too bad. This time, we are a group of 6 and I thought that might be a bit more difficult without a longer wait. Once we are on the ship, I can always cancel or change according to what is going on, but I'd like to have something in place to begin with.

Jane.

Agree you probably want to go late.

 

The further north you go, the longer the daylight. So there will be plenty to see on the sail outs. And once above the Arctic Circle, you'll have 24 hr daylight.

Thank you Diane - I just figured that the ship would be the closest to the coastline during sail-ins and sail aways, and that if there is something "extra" special regarding certain ports. We'll just need to burn the candles at both ends this trip!

Jane.

I find that early seating dinner on most cruiselines conflicts a bit with the sail-out. I think it’s later on some of the Italian lines, but for reference, the sail out from places like Geiranger and Flåm can take a few hours. If you want to enjoy the whole thing, I think late seating is better.

 

For the lines I’ve been on that had multiple dinner seatings, they’ve always offered two performances for the evening entertainment, so that there was at least one show available regardless of your dinner time. With late seating, that could mean choosing the entertainment or the sail out, but I’ve never seen a ship show that competes with the fjords.

 

Of course there’s always the sail in as well, but I’m not a morning person! :) And I don’t mind doing both. One year we watched the Geiranger sail-in up on deck with cameras, and then spent the sail-out in the outside hot tub for a different perspective. It was actually really great, since we were looking up at the towering fjord walls, and it was much warmer in the water! People on deck were all bundled up, and we were nice and comfy!

Thank you - I do like the idea of the hot tub! And definitely no show can compete with the fjords (why else are we here?) Dinner...there's always grazing at the buffet!

What cruise line are we asking about? Ship? I would be asking on the board for that cruise line.

 

Most cruise lines schedule their meals and entertainment so you can do both, not be forced to chose one over the other.

Thank you CruiserBruce! Duly noted and done.

Hi,

We will be going on a Norwegian Fjords cruise next month. Our plans are in place, except for...dinner. I'd like to make some dining reservation times if possible (I know the grabbing something at the buffet is always an option, but it would be nice to have a sit-down dinner.)

Another consideration is what time would the evening show be? Is there more than one? Is there something that is not to be missed - in particular something that would relate to a port that we would be visiting? Any info on that would also be helpful.

I am worried about missing sail aways. I've noted info that I have found (correct me if I'm wrong.

Our Serenade of the Seas itinerary is:

1. embark Copenhagen: About an hour after leaving Copenhagen, you’ll sail by Helsingor, Denmark at a very narrow section of water. If you look to the west (port/left) you’ll see Kronborg/Castle Elsinore.

2. cruising

3. Geiranger - 1-1/2 to the mouth - 5 hrs in total

4. cruising Arctic circle

5. Tromso

6. Honningsvag

7. cruising

8. Alesund - no more than an hour

9. Flam

10. Bergen - probably less than an hour

11. cruising

12. Copenhagen

I initially posted this on the Northern Europe boards, where "CruiserBruce" was kind enough to point out I should put this on the Royal Caribbean boards.

Thanking all cruise criticers (?) for all the info I've gathered here over the years...priceless!

Thank you for any/all assistance that can be given,

Jane.

The sailaway in Stockholm is amazing! It lasts at least an hour of sailing past quaint islands and beautiful scenery!

So I've heard! I would love to see this.

We would need to see this on arrival as we disembark in Stockholm. I'm not even sure if we go through the archipelago? We dock at Frihamnen.

Thank you!

Jane.

You might want to post your ship and itinerary so that if Cruise Compass scans exist, someone might be able to post a link.

Boy Bob, you're fast! I came back on here to edit and add that info and there you were. The info is now included.

Thank you - glad you thought of it if I didn't!

Jane.

Hi,

We will be going on a Norwegian Fjords cruise next month. Our plans are in place, except for...dinner. I'd like to make some dining reservation times if possible (I know the grabbing something at the buffet is always an option, but it would be nice to be served at dinner.

Another consideration is what time would the evening show be? Is there more than one? Is there something that is not to be missed - in particular something that would relate to a port that we would be visiting? Any info on that would also be helpful.

I am worried about missing sail aways. I've noted info that I have found (correct me if I'm wrong.

Our itinerary is:

1. embark Copenhagen

2. cruising

3. Geiranger - 1-1/2 to the mouth - 5 hrs in total

4. cruising Arctic circle

5. Tromso

6. Honningsvag

7. cruising

8. Alesund - no more than an hour

9. Flam

10. Bergen - probably less than an hour

11. cruising

12. Copenhagen

Soooo looking forward to this cruise!

Thanking you in advance for any assistance you can give on this,

Jane.

Hi,

We are so excited to be doing a Baltic cruise next month. I would like to make dining reservations, however, what time(s) is/are the show(s)?

Also are there any Port specific shows in the theatre. For example Russian Folk dancing, etc. If so, would these be prior to arriving St. Petersburg, during, or on departure of port?

While I'm asking questions...are there any sailaways not to be missed, and about how long do they last?

Royal Caribbean - Serenade of the Seas

1. Copenhagen

2. Aarhus

3. Warnemunde

4. crusing

5. Helsinki

6,7&8 St. Petersburg

9. Tallinn

10&11 Stockholm - docked at Frihamnen

CC has been such a tremendous help in my research, and has opened up so many different possibilities for our trip of a lifetime x 7 (there are 7 of us going).

Thank you for any and all information on this!

Jane.

Thank you! We’ve found out that Geiranger is the only tender port - would like to take an excursion there - we have a credit for an Ncl shore excursion - have you been on this cruise? We will be going mid- July -

ports of call: tromso, honningsvaag, alesund and Bergen. We have booked one excursion already at Leone’s. Would appreciate any suggestions you may have for activities - we are a family of four with two teenagers!

Thank you!:)

Join the roll call for your cruise. Your fellow cruisers will have many ideas of what to do in each of the ports you are visiting. Some of them may have open spots on tours they are setting up. A very good place to start.

Follow the roll call drop down menu at the top of the page, and fill in cruise line, ship and month.

Thank you all for your replies . We have somewhat limited time in Geiranger (docking with Norwegian Jude 11am-5pm), so we are trying to decide the best and most optimal way to use our time there; the cruise unfortunately does not offer any excursions to the Skywalk, and we are a bit nervous to book an excursions with a third party - we want to make sure we get back to our ship before it sails. Have any of you had an experience with a tour companiey? Do you know of any that are reliable? In general, in your opinion, which spots in Geiranger are the most interesting and memorable to visit?

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas, they are very helpful.

Any reputable tour company guarantees (more of less) that they will get you back to the ship on time. Their reputation is at risk and most cruisers and tourists that do use them find out about them through Cruise Critic, Trip Advisor and other venues. The tourist will report back at the sites with any negative reviews and it will harm the tour company tremendously.

Does this mean there is no gamble at all? No. But as stated above they will do all they can to get you back with time to spare, sometimes they may need to skip one item on the agenda - they will work to get you optimum time in their port = possibility of a glowing review. Just make sure you are near the port about a half hour before all aboard (one hour if you're really nervous about it).

Thank you travelanni for all the assistance you have given us and all our cruising family here on cruisecritic. You will be missed. Perhaps we will meet in person for travel assistance.

We wish you safe travels on whatever roads/seas life takes you.

We are cruising into Geiranger in mid-June, and will be there from 12:00-18:00. Our party includes two seniors (70s), two adults (40s) and two kids (8-14). Do you recommend (a) bus tour; (b) boat tour; © both? If bus, do we do Dalsnibba or pay more for Dalsnibba and Eaglebend?

We are also cruising into Geiranger in mid-June - first time. We are doing the bus that will go to both Dalsnibba and Eaglebend. Through my research, I have read that sometimes the cloud cover is deep in Dalsnibba offering no view. Eaglebend is lower and therefore, you have much more of a chance of a view. Being we will cruise into and out of Geiranger, I feel unless it's important to be able to see everything up close this was not as necessary.

Bus ride vs boat ride...is a matter of personal choice - I think both would be fantastic.

Here's wishing us both bright and sunny days!

You won't need to know which quay you're docking at, because your guide will find you. And they'll also know the problems of getting off the ship at a tender port, so if you are unexpectedly delayed, they'll wait.

Thank you. Some of the tours we have booked...they ask to meet at the Tourist Offices...I would hope they would wait, especially since there are 6 of us! I am bringing contact info for any tour that we book - this way we can give an ETA if we are running late and/or cannot find them.

I checked the Honningsvag site (yes, sorry - it is in Norwegian but one can find the 2018 schedule by clicking on Anlopslister (harbor list) and then scrolling down to Cruiseanlop 2018) and it appears that you are in luck. The Serenade (June 8) does not tender but, rather, it docks at Berth Nord.

FYI: None of your Baltic ports are tendered. :)

You are correct re: Flam. So, it appears that your only tendered port will be Geiranger.

You are an absolute blessing! Right now I have about 15 tabs open under different websites/different ports! Thank you so so so so much!

I can now go and enjoy the day here! (research to be continued this evening).

I really cannot thank you enough!