"Vision" and Norweign Fjords review

[wack001]

I had cruised the Vision of the Seas about three years ago and had written an extensive review, so I will not dwell a lot about the ship. This itinerary for the Vision was quite intriguing but despite much research we had a great deal of difficulty finding information about each port, highlights and details of how to get around. Many of the posted reviews were lacking in detail, so in my review I have tried to give others more of the port details to help your future fjords’ sailing. VOS is a Vision class ship that will be going to dry dock next year; the ship does show some wear and tear and the rooms badly need upgrading. The service is top notch and entertainment is average to good; food tends to be average with a couple of nights excellent and a couple of nights below average. On this particular sailing, there was about a total of 210 passengers from the US & UK, so it was quite interesting to note all the announcements in different languages and so many people speaking in other languages. The captain, one of only 4 female captains in the world, was fabulous and always visible, keeping passengers informed of the different local sights we were passing. In addition, the cruise director noticed the popularity of Karaoke and put it on all but one night to include two nights featuring a live band as the backup for the Karaoke singers. The only disappointment was the Arctic Circle crossing celebration, as it seemed to be very unorganized and was held in a location that if you were not in the front you could not see any of the antics. Overall a wonderful time. Boarding in Copenhagen could not be any easier - just make sure you know which pier the ship is docked; for this cruise the ship was at Færgehavn Nord, the local bus(#26) will drop you off at the dock entrance about an easy 10 minute walk to check-in. Now on to the amazing ports:

 

Day #1; at sea, got to love these at sea days to relax.

 

Day #2 Alesund:

Lovely town, we lucked out with a beautiful sunny day of about 68 degrees. As you leave the ship, you are handed a map of the town by tourist "ambassadors" who are on the streets near the harbor, and there is also a tourist office about a 5 minute walk from the dock. To get to the center of town from the dock - simply walk along the channel right in front of the ship, to the main harbor. There is an ATM in the ‘mall’ in the city center if you need cash. My wife and I decided to first walk to the Aksla Mountain with the Fjellstua viewpoint on top, walking up the path with the 418 steps. The path/steps are zig-zag, and not difficult a climb, although it is a medium fitness level of activity. After climbing the steps, we went back to Charter@62.no (a business on the water, also in the city center, where you can get active tours/excursions or rent bikes and kayaks). We rented bikes and then headed off to the Sunnmøre Museum, which is a history of Alesund and its people from the Stone Age to the 1900s. 45 minutes later, after taking one wrong turn, we arrived at the Museum. Entrance to the museum was about 80 NOK pp (about $13 USD). Sunnmøre is an outdoor museum of cabins and boats that have been well-preserved and/or restored; it is also an activity center/park with some hiking and boat rentals available. After walking around, grabbing a bite to eat, seeing the Viking ship and boat collection, we headed on over to the “Borgund Stave” Church which is the most popular place for weddings in the area. It was actually located near one of the hiking trails of Sunnmore; we must have seen at least 3 brides in the short 30 minutes we were there. We then biked back to Alesund and around the city center for a brief look at the town (very busy with pedestrians!) and then biked to the small red lighthouse at the harbor entrance before returning our bikes and walking back to the ship.

 

Day #3 crossing the Arctic Circle - celebrations started at 2:00pm, and one activity was to get your nose ‘painted’ blue with glitter (I got mine done) and get your certificate certifying the crossing. Cute and fun activity.

[snoopysnake]

Enjoying your review - I was on this cruise too. Are you Bob from karaoke who liked my version of "Return to Sender?" If so, I enjoyed your songs too, and also your wife's dancing! I've been checking Roland's youtubes and Lil's reviews as well. I'm in the process of writing my own review.

 

Janet

"snoopysnake"

()"o )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))):-<

[wack001]

Day #4 Honnigsvag and North Cape:

A tender port but due to low winds and calm seas we docked on a lovely sunny 65 degree day. After much research, we chose to do a ship’s excursion in spite of our stance of trying to avoid ship excursions - the private excursion was identical in price and proved not only to be a hassle in arranging, but we were advised by the locals to go with the ship since bad weather is more likely than not in Norway and the ship would wait for us if we were with the ship’s excursion vs private. Like cattle, we were loaded onto one of the many buses and began what I thought would be a standard touristy trip, only to be amazed with the unbelievable scenery along the way to North Cape. The trip took approximately an hour, including a quick stop at a local Sami area for pictures of the culture, native dress and reindeer which were roaming around the hills eating and gazing at the tourists. When we arrived at North Cape, we were told that we could take ‘ANY” ship excursion bus back into town, allowing for about an hour and a half at North Cape. The day was picture perfect but very windy at the top of the world! In spite of our expectations and all our research that this would be a dreaded tourist trap, the whole experience totally blew us away - the view and feeling of ‘having arrived’ at the northern most town is hard to describe. There are a number of view/lookout points, and the underground chapel, lounge (where many weddings are held!) and “kings view” are stunning. The museum and souvenir gift shop were nicely done, and we did the touristy thing and mailed postcards to our family from the top of the world. Back in Honningsvag, we walked around while waiting for our reservation time at the “Artico Ice Bar” which we arranged on our own. The bar is located 300 meters from the pier and very easy to find. Make sure you have a reserved time as entrance is limited! The inside of the Ice Bar is very nicely done out of local ice from lakes, broken down each year and rebuilt again, making each year a unique design. After crawling through the igloo and ‘sledding’ around inside the ice bar, we still had enough time to explore the small town before returning to the ship. The town even though small has some interesting sights to include the only building surviving the **** burning of the entire town. The whole day was absolutely a one of a kind experience!

[DonnaK]

Very interesting review! Looking forward to reading the rest of it!!! :)

[wack001]

Day #5 Tromso:

As the ship sails into Tromso…we can’t see more than a foot in front of our face! Fog surrounds us and we are concerned that we won’t see much… But the captain promised us that the fog would lift as we head into port. Tromso is a relatively large town and you dock at the pier on the outskirts of the town. The ship has a shuttle (cost $12R/T) that will take you to the middle of downtown and very close to the tourist information. The plan was to see the Arctic Cathedral first by taking the local bus, but after waiting 20 minutes, our group of 8 decided to split two taxis (cost was 25 NOK pp, cheaper than the bus by 1 NOK). We arrived at the Arctic Cathedral in about 5 minutes before many of the crowds and buses. Following our picture taking which included some great shots of the bridge disappearing into the fog not totally lifted yet (you must cross this long bridge with a pedestrian walkway to get to the cathedral), we begin walking to the Mount Fløya cable car entrance which is about a 15 minute leisurely walk through a residential neighborhood. By the time we arrived at the cable car entrance, the fog had totally burned off and the view is beginning to be all that was promised and more. The lines for getting on the cable car were not too long and about 10 minutes later, we were in a cable car that took us up to 421 meters above sea level, to Storsteinen on Mount Fløya; trip takes four minutes. At the top you get a magnificent view of Tromso; watching planes taking off from the local airport was an unexpected treat. Back down at the entrance to the cable car, part of our group decided to walk across the bridge while some of us eventually catch the bus. Back in the center of town, we grab a bite to eat and then enjoy some street music as we walk around, wind up at the local library (a very cool looking building) where we enjoy free internet and wifi, and end our day watching some fishermen catch fish at the dock. Lovely town with much to see, buy and enjoy.

 

cruisinbob.com