Best cruise line to fjords?

Hi everyone,

I've never taken a cruise before and am just getting a sense of how it all works. My boyfriend's family and I are looking at taking a cruise to see the fjords this August. When we looked at some of the itineraries of the big ships like Norwegian, we saw some rather frightening reviews. We have 2 seniors who can't do a lot of walking, 2 healthy adults who love to hike, one mom who won't want to switch from boats to trains (just stay on one boat) and a 6 year old child, so we kind of need to just go on one cruise line. Any recommendations for what is the nicest cruise line?

Thank you very much for any advice!

Azamara is very good for Norway, being small it gets into small ports, but not so good for small children as it doesn’t have a kids club

 

 

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HAL has some sailing on ms Koningsdam to Norway. The best sailing to sail in the fjord in that case is the one that goes to Eidfjord and Geiranger.To ge to/from those places is by sailing a few hours through the fjord. Amazing!

Those are sailing a.o. on July 2, July 29, August 26 and Sept. 2 this summer.

Other sailings go to Oslo, Kristiansand and Flamm. Also interesting but one fjord less. Next summer will be the new ship Nieuw Statendam doing those sailings.

Good suggestions above. I'll add RCCL Serenade of the Seas from Copenhagen.

I can't say this is best but Princess has the Sapphire Princess August 18th.

 

The problem is that most of the time, it is the small lines that do the better ports, longer times in ports, etc... Though the smaller lines don't have a kids program. A smaller line (more expensive) would probably be best for the seniors.

 

Good luck researching. Doing first trip to Norway in June.

I know it is scary planning your first cruise (especially with a 6 year old and people with physical limitations) but cruises are great for intergenerational travel, and a lot of tourist attractions in Norway are very accessible now for people with disabilities.

 

The problem is that most of the time, it is the small lines that do the better ports, longer times in ports, etc... Though the smaller lines don't have a kids program. A smaller line (more expensive) would probably be best for the seniors.

I agree with this completely. We really enjoyed our cruise last year on Cunard. I don't know if they're doing the same itinerary again, but we originally chose our cruise since it visited both Geiranger and Flam. Geiranger is an absolutely gorgeous fjord, and there are many beautiful locations that can be easily reached by bus (the roads are a little narrow and have hairpin turns so the only downside is if anyone in your group is prone to seasickness). But there are many gorgeous things to see in Geiranger, such as the Skywalk in Dalsnibba. We also chose this cruise to visit Flam, which has the amazing flam railway, located a very short distance away from the port and very easy for the grandparents to access. We also had a wonderful excursion in Flam visiting a goat farm, exploring the beautiful town of Undredal (which was the inspiration for the town in Frozen), and then eating local cheeses (including brown caramel goat cheese) and a delicious lunch that was organized by Flam Guide Service (http://www.fjordsafari.com). Fjord Safari's booth is located about a minute away from the Flam railway platform, so you will have no problem finding your tour. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable excursion, which I would highly recommend. Groups of fit people can hike, but they sent us in a van and we wouldn't need much walking for this tour.

We hadn't deliberately chosen to visit Olden, but it was the unexpected highlight of our trip. The Loen Skylift opened 3 days before we arrived in Norway last May, and it is a beautiful gondola ride to the top of a mountain, with amazing views and very easily accessible for people with disabilities.

Near Olden, there is also the Biksdal Glacier, where you can rent little golf carts taking you most of the way through a park towards the glacier. These golf carts travel most of the way to the glacier, leaving you with a very pleasant and relatively flat 700 m walk.Since we didn’t expect my 2 year old to make it all the way to the glacier, my husband and 6 year old went ahead of us.To my surprise, my 2 year old slowly but steadily made the entire hike in the allocated time (they tell you what time to return to the platform to catch your return troll car).The Briksdal Glacier has been hit hard by global warming, but the 40 minute bus ride there is quite scenic and lovely, as is the hike itself to the glacier so overall this excursion is a very good choice as long as you realize ahead of time that the most beautiful pictures online of the glacier showing lots of ice are not recent and don’t represent what you will see at the glacier.

Overall, I'd try to think about what's most important for your family - I'd strongly recommend a kids club, and to think about where in Norway you'd like to visit. Cunard is nice because it has a kids club, and older people tend to feel very comfortable on this line. The only thing to be careful about is they have a step test prior to tendering in which you need to prove you can step across two pieces of tape 18 inches across, since they don't want anyone getting injured during the tender.