Just off Caribbean Princess - Fjords of Norway & North Cape...ask any questions

[rocklinmom]

Bassmaster, can you please give me more details about the Iron Age Farm/Cathedral shore excursion? I have it booked for my family next week (we have two teens and an eleven year-old). Was the farm itself interesting, and were there any issues walking around there if it is raining?

And how was the Cathedral? I had read somewhere that parts of it are closed this summer for renovation?

Overall would you recommend this excursion? I know you already gave it a score of meh, haha.

[bassmaster150]

Bassmaster, can you please give me more details about the Iron Age Farm/Cathedral shore excursion? I have it booked for my family next week (we have two teens and an eleven year-old). Was the farm itself interesting, and were there any issues walking around there if it is raining?

And how was the Cathedral? I had read somewhere that parts of it are closed this summer for renovation?

Overall would you recommend this excursion? I know you already gave it a score of meh, haha.

 

Ok,

 

So The Iron age farm is easy to walk around. When you go inside...watch your head because the ceiling is low. I only say meh because when you see all of the other breathtaking scenery in places like Olden, Flaam, Aldneses, etc, it just doesn't compare. That is not to say that it is not a good excursion at all, but just be prepared to be blown away in the other ports of call. What you will get though is a rather thorough explanation on how these people lived back in the day...how they kept warm, what they did, how long it actually takes to knot a sweater (from getting the wool off the sheep to the final product, and it is LONG) which is very interesting. So from that perspective it is pretty cool. The cathedral is really nice. We did not get to go inside during our tour as I believe it was closed for some reason. There is also a tower that you go to for a nice perspective view of the surrounding area. Hopefully you are also doing the Cruise along the Lysefjord as it is absolutely stunning. Below is a photo I took of the outside of the cathedral to give you some perspective.

 

[rocklinmom]

Thank you! This is helpful. So it sounds like the Lysefjord cruise might be better for this port.

[letsgo39]

Thank you! This is helpful. So it sounds like the Lysefjord cruise might be better for this port.

 

The Lysefjord can be booked independently for about 1/2 the cost of a Ship tour.That is what almost everyone on our roll call for the Summer Solstice cruise did.

[tokyo]

I was on this cruise. Fantastic itinerary, great food and poor entertainment.

 

Over a 5 day spell our toilet failed to work so many times that we lost count. Not blocked, just sucking air. As for the stench coming from the shower drains, words fail me. It is not funny returning to your cabin at 1 am and finding the stench so strong that you could not enter. This also happened 3 times on separate days. As for the people at the customer services desk, as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

 

We have other issues of a serious nature, but am dealing with Princess about these, so do not want to mention what they are.

 

As someone who has done over 20 cruises I accept that things are not always perfect and at times problems occur.

 

If the CP is typical of the Princess fleet, then the Norway cruise will be my first and last with Princess.

 

Just one last comment, did we have captain ? if so, he kept a very low profile.

 

I will put my tin hat on and wait for the loyal fans of Princess to flame me.

[OceanPrince]

I was on this cruise. Fantastic itinerary, great food and poor entertainment.

 

Over a 5 day spell our toilet failed to work so many times that we lost count. Not blocked, just sucking air. As for the stench coming from the shower drains, words fail me. It is not funny returning to your cabin at 1 am and finding the stench so strong that you could not enter. This also happened 3 times on separate days. As for the people at the customer services desk, as much use as a chocolate tea pot.

 

We have other issues of a serious nature, but am dealing with Princess about these, so do not want to mention what they are.

 

As someone who has done over 20 cruises I accept that things are not always perfect and at times problems occur.

 

If the CP is typical of the Princess fleet, then the Norway cruise will be my first and last with Princess.

 

Just one last comment, did we have captain ? if so, he kept a very low profile.

 

I will put my tin hat on and wait for the loyal fans of Princess to flame me.

 

 

If you know you might get flamed, then you know that there will be lots of opposing opinions, even within our Norway sailing. You happened to get a bad cabin. Seems like you already know that your experience is an outlier. Although this Norway cruise was my second enjoyable cruise on the Caribbean Princess (CB), I've always told people that the CB is last of the 18th Princess ships I would recommend. Ironically, CB is the first ship I've sailed twice on. If you do try Princess again, I would recommend the new Regal/Royal or the beloved Island/Coral. But truth is that even if you book the CB again, chances are that you will be have a great experience.

 

Captain not being seen was almost comical topic during dining room conversation. Some said that he might be too focused on the Technical side of his job that he doesnt care for the dog and pony aspect of his job. Passengers expect every ship to have a flamboyant superstar, but on this cruise it was not the captain... but more so, the Cruise Director and his assistant.

Edited July 4, 2015 by OceanPrince

[letsgo39]

If you know you might get flamed, then you know that there will be lots of opposing opinions, even within our Norway sailing. You happened to get a bad cabin. Seems like you already know that your experience is an outlier. Although this Norway cruise was my second enjoyable cruise on the Caribbean Princess (CB), I've always told people that the CB is last of the 18th Princess ships I would recommend. Ironically, CB is the first ship I've sailed twice on. If you do try Princess again, I would recommend the new Regal/Royal or the beloved Island/Coral. But truth is that even if you book the CB again, chances are that you will be have a great experience.

 

Captain not being seen was almost comical topic during dining room conversation. Some said that he might be too focused on the Technical side of his job that he doesnt care for the dog and pony aspect of his job. Passengers expect every ship to have a flamboyant superstar, but on this cruise it was not the captain... but more so, the Cruise Director and his assistant.

 

The comment that he happened to get a bad cabin is a definite understatement. It sounds like several cabins or even several decks were bad.The least you should expect from a ship is that your toilet works.:eek: This has been a ongoing problem with the CP and it is more then past time that it needs to be fixed.

[tokyo]

My partner has mobility problems and a few years back she had a bad fall trying to get on a tender. Since then she will not use them, but we still go on cruises and work our way around problems

 

We booked a number of trips with Princess, checking to see if they involved using a tender. The ones not using a tender we booked. Four days before we sailed I checked on line and found that the only port using tenders was Gravdal, which we already knew.

 

I can't recall which port it was, but it was the first one we did by tender. We found out it was to be a tender port the night before the trip, from the Princess patter. So we did not make the trip. When I asked if we could be reimbursed for not taking the trip I was refused. They said I should have cancelled earlier. The fact that we only knew it was going to be a tender port about 12 hours before the trip made know difference.

 

I made a point of asking are any other ports going to be by tender, they said that the only other port would be Gravdal.

 

I can't recall which port, but it was the second one we did by tender. Same thing again. It was in Princess patter the night before. To late to cancel and get our money back. I did speak to customer services on this issue and the impression I got was they had a blasé attitude and had no intention of reimbursing any money. The money is not a big issue, but the could not care less attitude is another thing. I stress that during this conversation I was calm and polite. I asked to speak to the manager or could I have his name. They refused point blank to give me the info I asked for.

 

Put this with the problems we were having with the cabin and my head was spinning. We even considered leaving the ship and flying back to the UK.

There are still a couple of outstanding issues I need to sort out with Princess.

 

My partners mother died earlier this year and the cruise was supposed to help her chill out, relax and enjoy herself. Not much chance of that.

 

In all the cruises we have been on we have always accepted that things can and do go wrong. However we have never experienced such a could not care less attitude from a customer services desk.

 

As for future cruises, I will not be setting foot on another Princess ship. I don't need them and it would appear they don't need me.

 

We are on a Pando cruise end of August (Azura) and in the process of putting together plans for an Alaska cruise next year. HAL here we come.

[bassmaster150]

Sorry to hear that you had some issues and that they were not resolved to your satisfaction.

[tokyo]

Thanks mate. I expect that sometime in the future we will get the issues sorted out.

[millie-may]

Hi can you tell me if you had a love boat party on board for princess,'s 50. We had one on a Caribbean cruise earlier in the year but not on the transatlantic in April which was a shame. It was a great party with entertainers, bands etc up on deck.

We are on the Norway cruise on Saturday and the weather looks awful. Think I will take some gloves etc just in case as I hate being cold.

[bassmaster150]

Hi can you tell me if you had a love boat party on board for princess,'s 50. We had one on a Caribbean cruise earlier in the year but not on the transatlantic in April which was a shame. It was a great party with entertainers, bands etc up on deck.

We are on the Norway cruise on Saturday and the weather looks awful. Think I will take some gloves etc just in case as I hate being cold.

 

Dress in layers.....there are places where it is cold, and places where it is nice (not warm, but nice). We had the following:

1. A warm jacket that is packable and lightweight (wife took a North Face Jacket, and I took a Patagonia Nanopuff jacket...they worked great)

2. Long Sleeve shirts.....to stay comfortable when you take your jacket off...and to stay warm while you are wearing a jacket. I did not wear a short sleeve once, but one time I did take off my jacket and rolled my sleeves up for a little.....but then we moved to a different location and I had to unroll the sleeves and put the jacket back on.

3. Gloves - Bring them...you will need them...especially at Trollsteigens and the North Cape.

4. Beanie or warm hat....I didn't think I would need one....I had to buy one at a souvenir shop because I needed it...and you will most likely need one too

5. A rainjacket or poncho....we didn't use this the whole trip...until Bergen...apparently in Bergen, it rains like 80% of the time..and we needed it then

6. Optional - Another less warm jacket....there were days where we needed the Patagonia and North Face jackets, and other days (like only 3 out of 14) where a light jean jacket worked fine.

 

Hope this helps...as far as the Love Boat Show...I don't remember it, but then again, we didn't go to any of the shows because we were exhausted when we returned from each port.

[letsgo39]

I totally agree with Bassmaster. You'd better bring a whole lot more then gloves.We were very lucky with our weather but it was cold in some places.I had a hooded Northface jacket with a fleece zip in lining.There was only one port where I zipped out the lining and that was Bergen where it rained a little.We also wore only long sleeved shirts.You are in for a wonderful treat as Norway is absolutely beautiful.

Edited July 7, 2015 by letsgo39

[Colo Cruiser]

I totally agree with Bassmaster. You'd better bring a whole lot more then gloves.We were very lucky with our weather but it was cold in some places.I had a hooded Northface jacket with a fleece zip in lining.There was only one port where I zipped out the lining and that was Bergen where it rained a little.We also wore only long sleeved shirts.You are in for a wonderful treat as Norway is absolutely beautiful.

 

 

I agree, I apply Alaska clothing lists to this cruise.

Layers layers, layers. ;)

[clmom]

hansi were you the person that took ill around 1.30am? There was a call over the ships system at that time for medical team to attend deck 11. Thought it must have been serious . Glad you are better. It was a great cruise. I have not felt like eating since I stepped off the ship on Saturday. 15 nights of the great food has filled me up for a while. First time on Princess as I usually do PO and RCL. Main difference I felt was they spent the budget on food at the expense of entertainment. The food on PO RCL not as good as princess however entertainment better and more of it. Kids club on Princess not as good as PO and RCL. But overall a great cruise and the Fjords are certainly worth doing for experienced cruisers looking for something different.

The passenger who was ill on Baja Deck 11 was taken off the ship by ambulance the next day. She was 3 cabins down from us but I don't know the extent of her illness...only that there was lots of running up and down the corridor and commotion! It was rather unnerving to hear the medical team call at 2am!

[clmom]

Sorry to hear about your issues, tokyo. We were on the same cruise and were surprised by the 2 extra tender ports (and we have no mobility issues). I can't understand why Princess is being stubborn about refunding your missed excursions at those ports. The mention of those ports being a tender did not even surface until after the cut-off for excursion cancellations. It even says, repeatedly, in the Patter that because of the tender operations, those with mobility issues could not be accommodated. I hope you have some happy resolution.

[southwinds]

Back from the same cruise....its outstanding for scenery and to be on deck at midnight in full sunshine...was unique...and a once a lifetime experience....one thing I do wish Princess had marked it by doing something on deck and it was the one time the blinking photography,staff weren't about ! I did get a kind person to snap us together out on deck in the midnight sun.

One observation ...smart casual...many seemed to,be dressed as they had been during the day..hiking boots...cargo trousers and a jumper.

But it didn't detract from the cruise...

Excellent range of entertainment... Well organised ports and tours...

One American passenger said it was better than Alaska.

[southwinds]

Often ships arrive to find another has the berth they wanted so tenders get used...last time in Flam that happens to us on the ship we were on..

[bassmaster150]

If I remember correctly, in the first copy of the princess patter that was give out upon arrival on the ship, it had each port of call listed. There were three or four that had an asterisk by them, and when you looked at the bottom of the list to see what the asterisk was...it said tendering operation....so I believe that there was ample warning about where we would be tendering...but I don't understand why they would not refund the excursions...that makes no sense.

[Colo Cruiser]

Often ships arrive to find another has the berth they wanted so tenders get used...last time in Flam that happens to us on the ship we were on..

 

 

They would know ahead of time. They aren't just surprised.

[southwinds]

No they don't always..the harbour master ...decides...in Flam it happened on the day , the other ship was ahead of us in the fjords and so got given the berth and it's happens to us in other ports over the years...sometimes the day before..

[southwinds]

They get told of an alternative berth....

[OceanPrince]

A fellow passenger alerted me on the very first day of cruise that Andalsnes and Trondheim were switched to tender ports. The information was made public early, however, the information was not widely broadcast.

 

Princess prides themselves at serving people with special requests/needs.. i.e. glutton free diets, mobility issues, etc. They had a efficient and careful team helping people with mobility scooters on and off tenders. People with mobility issues were taken care of and always got off first. Thus, my guess is that the service reps wound not understand why changing from dock to tender was a valid reason to give refund after cancellation deadline.

Edited July 7, 2015 by OceanPrince

[southwinds]

Trondheim....there was another ship in the day we were thee this year and seems they got the berth ...and Princess had to tender us in...

My guess is they had hoped to get the berth...

[southwinds]

One observation...on p&o the port lecturer is part of shore excursions team so is fully up to date on berths and locations...clearly Ken wasn't ..he said so early on . Which is why he was wrong about berths...Bergen he put up a map saying we would be here..and we weren't ..we had to shuttle in ..exactly where we have berthed before...