Indy - Norwegian Fjords cruise 18th-26th May review (lots of pics!!!)

[whitshel]

Amazing review so far!! Thanks so much....:o

[Beccafcr]

The scenery on this cruise looks beautiful.

 

Loving the photos....Can't wait for more

 

P.s. i'm also emetophobic! It's a pain!

[mek]

Thanks so much for the photos. We were going to Norway this year, but changed our plans and doing the Oasis instead. DH is handicapped, and your photos of the ports answer so many questions concerning ease of access for us. Keep them comming!

[rednancy1]

Subscribing. :)

[cgncruise]

DrummerDave:

 

Great stuff. I am really enjoying your review and pics. We are on that ship next week (June 15) for the 14-day Med cruise.

 

If I understand correctly, Indy is freshly back from some maintenance and upgrades. I'm curious if you have sailed her before or, in any case, can give a general sense of how extensive the work seems to have been? Do the rooms feel "refreshed" or just the public areas?

 

Does Indy have "that new ship smell?" (And look/feel?)

 

Thanks!

[KerryJTaylor]

Hi

 

Thank you for your review and lovely pics! We are looking to take this cruise next year.......can I ask what kind of clothes you took? Would we need warm or summer stuff or a mixture of both?

 

Your help is appreciated!

[drummerdavebmth]

DrummerDave:

 

Great stuff. I am really enjoying your review and pics. We are on that ship next week (June 15) for the 14-day Med cruise.

 

If I understand correctly, Indy is freshly back from some maintenance and upgrades. I'm curious if you have sailed her before or, in any case, can give a general sense of how extensive the work seems to have been? Do the rooms feel "refreshed" or just the public areas?

 

Does Indy have "that new ship smell?" (And look/feel?)

 

Thanks!

 

Hi and thanks!

 

This was our very first cruise, so have no other point of reference. However, I did a lot of research before this cruise (including stalking this site!) and was aware of the revitalisations that took place in Indy's dry dock.

 

The ship did indeed seem like new....although all the previous reviews said she was very well maintained anyway (I believe Royal Caribbean are very good at keeping their fleet of ships in tip top shape).

 

The pool screen was new, the digital signage was new and Cupcake Cupboard replaced the barber shop (although I hardly saw anyone in there!). Also Giovanni's Table replaced Portofino's.

 

You'll love her!

[drummerdavebmth]

Hi

 

Thank you for your review and lovely pics! We are looking to take this cruise next year.......can I ask what kind of clothes you took? Would we need warm or summer stuff or a mixture of both?

 

Your help is appreciated!

 

Lucky you....you're in for a treat. Norway is amazing and non of the photo's I took do it justice!

 

In regards to clothing, I guess it depends on the time of year you're going. It was advised to us to bring lots of "layers".....and we're glad we did. In Olden (as you'll see in the pics later) there was very low misty cloud and drizzly rain, so out came our rain macs. But when we were in Alesund and Stavanger is was warm and sunny (at one point I was sat on our balcony with just my shorts and flip-flops, soaking up the sun).

 

I packed everything from jumpers, hoody, t-shirts, swimming shorts, jeans, trousers, shirts, suit....walking boots etc

 

Be prepared!!

[Zhane's mum]

Thanks for the great review it's getting me excited for our upcoming trip to Norway

[drummerdavebmth]

So when we got back on board the ship we went to our stateroom to get ready for dinner. We had a reservation for Giovanni's Table at 8pm....

 

The food and service was fantastic....and whilst we were eating we set sail from Flåm with people waving us off. A magical moment :)

 

 

 

View from our table...

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

All the little towns and villages we passed along the fjord looked amazing. One thing that interested us was how many people were obviously taking photos of us (I believe this was the first time the Indy had done the fjords, so I guess we were quite the attraction!). Every now and again we kept seeing little camera flashes go off from various houses as we slowly passed by :)

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

After dinner we decided to go back our stateroom and chill before going to sleep. We put some jumpers on, and sat on our balcony enjoying how peaceful the evening felt.

 

All we could hear was the sound of waterfalls as we past mountains in the dusk....as light faded further, you could almost make out faces in the rocks (in the same way you do with clouds).

 

The ship was moving so slowly at this point....it was quite a moment.

 

After a while, we decided to go to bed. We had an excursion booked for tomorrow in Skjolden (our next port of call). It was a coach tour that turned out to be amazing.....

[I-Cruiser]

Now you have me wanting to take a Norway cruise and I live in this country:)

[KerryJTaylor]

Lucky you....you're in for a treat. Norway is amazing and non of the photo's I took do it justice!

 

In regards to clothing, I guess it depends on the time of year you're going. It was advised to us to bring lots of "layers".....and we're glad we did. In Olden (as you'll see in the pics later) there was very low misty cloud and drizzly rain, so out came our rain macs. But when we were in Alesund and Stavanger is was warm and sunny (at one point I was sat on our balcony with just my shorts and flip-flops, soaking up the sun).

 

I packed everything from jumpers, hoody, t-shirts, swimming shorts, jeans, trousers, shirts, suit....walking boots etc

 

Be prepared!!

 

Thanks for your helpful reply, I'm enjoying looking at your photos, the scenery looks amazing!

 

We love Indy, we sailed the Med on her a couple of years ago......beautiful ship. We are looking to sail in May next year, good thing about sailing out of Southampton is you can take as much luggage as you like! We shall certainly go prepared for all weathers!

[stazerd]

Subscribing!

[ucfalli]

A cruise I definitely want to do in the future!!! Beautiful!!! :D

[nelly55]

Thanks for this, loving the review and pics. We just booked this cruise on Indy for our 39th anniversary next year. We have been on this ship twice before and doing the Spanish med this August.

[cariad1000]

Amazing photos. Indy's looking great:)

[Riverz]

Great review and amazing photos

 

Sent from my S3 using Tapatalk 2

[drummerdavebmth]

Thanks for all the kind words guys :)

 

Day 4 sees us arrive in the heart of Norway at the innermost port in the country, Skjolden.

 

Skjolden is at the end of the longest navigable fjord in the world - Sognefjord.

 

As we had an early excursion booked, we decided the night before to order a hearty breakfast via the interactive TV - this proved to be a great idea as it also served a wake up call purpose!

 

 

The view from our balcony this morning....

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

Whilst enjoying the view, I noticed a hive of activity taking place below...

 

It was a local school brass band setting up to welcome us to Skjolden!! The Independence Of The Seas is the biggest ship to ever visit Skjolden, so (again) we were quite the attraction!

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

A nice welcome from the locals....

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3704/8984956660_f3feafa869_b.jpg' alt='8984956660_f3feafa869_b.jpg'> Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[drummerdavebmth]

We got on the coach and traveled through the scattering of houses and a church, which make up Skjolden....and stopped off fairly early on for this photo opportunity.

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5467/8983767577_c170ce3c5f_b.jpg' alt='8983767577_c170ce3c5f_b.jpg'> Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[nicki**k]

Really enjoying this review. We are going to Norway on Adventure of the Seas in August so its great to see some of the ports we will be visiting.

[drummerdavebmth]

We carried on in our journey high up into the mountains. Along the way, we encountered views like this...

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

From the same spot (looking the other way)....

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway cruise 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

[IrishLassie]

Loving your review & your pictures are BEAUTIFUL. This cruise is on my "Bucket List" ! :D

[drummerdavebmth]

So....at this point I thought we had gone as high as we were going to go.

 

I was wrong!

 

Onwards we went...higher and higher.

 

We eventually reached the point where we were 1,000 metres above sea water and we shortly pulled over.

 

Independence Of The Seas - Norway 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]

 

 

The road we had been travelling on is only open from the beginning of May through the summer and is completely covered in snow during winter.

 

You can see in this photo tall, wooden poles. These are on either side of the road all the way along. This is to show where the road is when it is completely covered during the winter!

 

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3819/8981296177_63d73d6afb_b.jpg' alt='8981296177_63d73d6afb_b.jpg'> Independence Of The Seas - Norway 18th-26th May 2013 by drummerdave72, on Flickr[/img]