Questions about forthcoming Azura cruise

[bluedot2014]

ok, this is our second cruise. The first was five years ago on Oceana around Ireland, Northern Spain & France. This time we're off for the 7 night trip to the Norwegian Fjords (can't wait!).

We can't remember to much about life on board our first cruise so we have a number of trivial questions that I wonder if someone could answer for us:

 

1. Alcoholic drinks for consumption in the room look very reasonably priced so we will order a couple for the trip. Is there somewhere on board though that sells large bottles of lemonade or coke ?

 

2. Is there somewhere on board that sells milk ? There'll be 3 of us in the room and plenty of coffee will be drunk each morning as we sit on our balcony!

 

3. Daft question, are the products listed on the room service menu with no price, just basically all part of the package ? Sorry, I can't get my head around that I could order a roast beef baguette to my cabin at 11pm for no charge :)

 

4. For our trip to Bergen we want to do either the funicular railway or cable car, it looks like the railway is the easiest to get to. Is it worth pre-booking for say late morning to allow plenty of time to disembark and make our way there ? Is there a shuttle bus to the centre of town or near where the railway departs from ?

 

There's probably some other questions we'll remember as soon as we press submit so will post them when we remember them :)

[dgs1956]

ok, this is our second cruise. The first was five years ago on Oceana around Ireland, Northern Spain & France. This time we're off for the 7 night trip to the Norwegian Fjords (can't wait!).

We can't remember to much about life on board our first cruise so we have a number of trivial questions that I wonder if someone could answer for us:

 

1. Alcoholic drinks for consumption in the room look very reasonably priced so we will order a couple for the trip. Is there somewhere on board though that sells large bottles of lemonade or coke ?

 

2. Is there somewhere on board that sells milk ? There'll be 3 of us in the room and plenty of coffee will be drunk each morning as we sit on our balcony!

 

3. Daft question, are the products listed on the room service menu with no price, just basically all part of the package ? Sorry, I can't get my head around that I could order a roast beef baguette to my cabin at 11pm for no charge :)

 

4. For our trip to Bergen we want to do either the funicular railway or cable car, it looks like the railway is the easiest to get to. Is it worth pre-booking for say late morning to allow plenty of time to disembark and make our way there ? Is there a shuttle bus to the centre of town or near where the railway departs from ?

 

There's probably some other questions we'll remember as soon as we press submit so will post them when we remember them :)

 

1 You can also take your coke and alcohol on with you at Southampton.

2 You can order milk from Room Service at no cost. We order coffee or hot milk. We normally give them a small tip.

3 You are correct, there is no charge for Room Service. As I say we give them a small tip but that is optional.

4 Can't help about Bergen.

Have a great time.

[bluedot2014]

Thanks for the reply, very helpful!

 

Another question just came to us. With our first cruise we had club dining and ate at the same table with the same guests at the same time. each day This time we have opted for freedom dining. I take it the dress code (I'm thinking really about the formal black tie nights) is the same for the Meridian Restaurant (the freedom dining restaurant) ?

[Mysticalmother]

Thanks for the reply, very helpful!

 

Another question just came to us. With our first cruise we had club dining and ate at the same table with the same guests at the same time. each day This time we have opted for freedom dining. I take it the dress code (I'm thinking really about the formal black tie nights) is the same for the Meridian Restaurant (the freedom dining restaurant) ?

 

Absolutely correct!

 

Sorry can't help you with Bergen ......yet. But will be there on Friday and am researching it myself tomorrow!

[dgs1956]

Thanks for the reply, very helpful!

 

Another question just came to us. With our first cruise we had club dining and ate at the same table with the same guests at the same time. each day This time we have opted for freedom dining. I take it the dress code (I'm thinking really about the formal black tie nights) is the same for the Meridian Restaurant (the freedom dining restaurant) ?

 

Yes. Dress codes are same for the Club and Freedom Dining Restaurants. We always book Freedom. We're not anti-social but we don't miss a course so we can be slow.

[divadee007]

I can help with Bergen as we got back from our cruise today.

 

Pre book the fennicular railway tickets before you go. Otherwise you will queue in 2 long queues. If you have pre bought and printed your tickets online you can by pass the very long ticket queue and join the main tram queue. They only have a date on them not a time so you don't have to worry about a timed slot.

 

Hope that helps

 

Ps: some items are chargeable for room service but most not.

[bluedot2014]

I can help with Bergen as we got back from our cruise today.

 

Pre book the fennicular railway tickets before you go. Otherwise you will queue in 2 long queues. If you have pre bought and printed your tickets online you can by pass the very long ticket queue and join the main tram queue. They only have a date on them not a time so you don't have to worry about a timed slot.

.

 

Excellent advice thankyou!

Just tried to book our funicular tickets and get an Error! when trying to checkout, will try again later. Hopefully a small glitch on their web site.

[PJ's]

We have been to Bergen twice and both times disembarked the ship as early as possible and headed for the funicular. There were no queues when we arrived and were straight on the cable car. The views are amazing!!!

On our return back down the queues were pretty long, well down the street so if you have no luck in booking online, then get there as early as possible.

[gingerbumblebee]

Excellent advice thankyou!

Just tried to book our funicular tickets and get an Error! when trying to checkout, will try again later. Hopefully a small glitch on their web site.

 

Hi Bluedot, we're on the same cruise :) I've just been trying to book the funicular too and also get an error :( We've never been on a cruise before, so it will be a completely new experience for us!

[tartanexile81]

We've been to Bergen a few times and never pre-booked the funicular. If you avoid arriving at the same time as the coaches from the ship, you may have a short wait but only 10 minutes or so. The queue moves very quickly although the person who does the shore excursion talk will try to alarm you by telling you you have to do a tour to avoid queues. The train takes a lot of passengers and only takes a few minutes to go up and down so the queue soon goes down.

 

Last year we took the funicular up then walked down. It was great and we had fantastic views. We also did a tour of the museum with others from our roll call and that was really interesting.

[Mysticalmother]

Hi Bluedot, we're on the same cruise :) I've just been trying to book the funicular too and also get an error :( We've never been on a cruise before, so it will be a completely new experience for us!

 

Same for me...we will be there on Friday....maybe their website is not open on a Sunday!!:D

[BigJH]

We are going on the 25th and can't wait. We've (me, my wife and children (12 and 8) have been there twice before and loved it. We too are thinking of the funicular having not done it before. As we have quite a lot of credit this time we would have liked to have used some of it booking before we go, but of course, you can't do that anymore so might wait until onboard to use some up or possibly join the queue on the day...

 

Looking forward to Skjolden as not been there before...

[BigJH]

Sorry, meant to say pre-book to use credit, but now have to pay when you book - never mind...

[jaceyar]

In Olden, we jumped in a hoho bus and bought the funicular tickets there too - they were much cheaper that way. Did a tour all around the town, then walked past the enormous queue for tickets and got on quite quickly. Good view from up there and you can do a little walk through the woods. The funicular is about £8 if I remember correctly.

 

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

[Dryce]

4. For our trip to Bergen we want to do either the funicular railway or cable car, it looks like the railway is the easiest to get to. Is it worth pre-booking for say late morning to allow plenty of time to disembark and make our way there ? Is there a shuttle bus to the centre of town or near where the railway departs from ?

 

Whether there is a shuttle bus depends on where the ship is docking - the Bontelabo at Bergen is within a few minutes walk of the Bryggen and funicular. If you are docked further away then there will be a shuttle bus.

 

The funicular can get busy - the station is not far from the Bryggen. When we were there last August there were two cruise ships in and the queue extended down the street in the morning. After lunch it was much quieter.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Dryce

[Mysticalmother]

Hi Bluedot, we're on the same cruise :) I've just been trying to book the funicular too and also get an error :( We've never been on a cruise before, so it will be a completely new experience for us!

 

The funicular website seems to be working ok this morning - have just successfully bought my tickets for Friday .

[bluedot2014]

Many thanks for the helpful replies.

Managed to sort tickets this morning for the funicular, seem very reasonably priced as well :)

Will be there in two weeks exactly!

Thanks again

[gingerbumblebee]

The funicular website seems to be working ok this morning - have just successfully bought my tickets for Friday .

 

Yey, me too!!!:)

:happydance:

[WillZander]

Just bear in mind that Bergen often has wet weather, or low cloud. The day we went you could not see a thing from the top, mind you there was no queue either!!