8 night Norwegian Fjords on the Eclipse

[shoegal24]

Has anyone done this cruise? We're looking into booking in next August.

We loved Alaska, but are looking to try a different cruise.

Any thoughts, insights or reviews are greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[jono mono]

Done this cruise in early may on the Eclipse,compared to Alaska i thought the Fjords were much more scenic,but the weather was pretty good in Norway.Booked trips online rather than the ship's expensive ones,everything went off fine.One of the best if not the best cruise i've been on enjoy !!:)

[shoegal24]

Done this cruise in early may on the Eclipse,compared to Alaska i thought the Fjords were much more scenic,but the weather was pretty good in Norway.Booked trips online rather than the ship's expensive ones,everything went off fine.One of the best if not the best cruise i've been on enjoy !!:)

 

Thanks so much! How was the weather? I'm not familiar with Norway, so do you think the weather will be OK in August / September? Were you surprised at how expensive everything was in Europe?

[Northern Aurora]

Thanks so much! How was the weather? I'm not familiar with Norway, so do you think the weather will be OK in August / September? Were you surprised at how expensive everything was in Europe?

 

We were also on the May 2016 Eclipse Norwegian fjords cruise. We also did a land trip to Norway a number of years ago.

 

As someone who lives in Alaska I find that some parts of Norway look very similar to some parts of Alaska But other areas are significantly different in appearance. For example, given the depth of the Norwegian fjords we visited on the the Eclipse itinerary the ship is cruising near steep rock faces which makes for much more dramatic scenery than much of the inside passage scenery in Alaska. And I also find that Scandinavian building design very appealing and charming.

 

Our land trip to Norway was in July, and the weather was comparable to what we would expect in Fairbanks (interior Alaska). You may want to check historical weather data for August and September.

 

Since we were in Norway prior we were not surprised by the prices. We were on the Eclipse for over a month and were also on the Ireland/Iceland itinerary. We had spent a week in Iceland in 2014 (and actually returned for more time in that fascinating country once we left the Eclipse), and Iceland was where a number of passengers experienced sticker shock.

[Emmandjay]

We did this cruise in September a couple of years ago. The North Sea crossing was relatively calm both ways (it can be quite rough). On the whole the weather was fine except for a very rainy day in Bergen and some sudden thundery downpours in Stavanger. In Geiranger it was really warm and sunny.

This is a great cruise and one we wouldn't mind repeating sometime.

[Wiltonian]

Norway is prodigiously expensive - think beer at $20 a time - but we found that apart from three pre-booked private tours, one walking, one bus, one boat, we didn't need to spend on anything else.

 

Stuart

[wendychloecruiser]

I'll let you as we'll be on the Eclipse in August. I did several independent bookings online for excursions. The Flam railway sells out quickly. I booked that last December for this August cruise. I learned a lot from trolling on a roll call.

[villauk]

Been twice and would definitely go again. I think of it as: Alaska is about the wildlife and glaciers; Norway is very tactile (you can virtually touch the sides down some of the fjords - think waterfalls etc.) and NZ's fjords are panoramic :). In fact, we would visit all 3 again :D.

[andyfriend80]

We were on the May 16 cruise. It was fabulous. A few days of bad weather but August should be much better. We organised all our excursions privately for half the price. Looking forward to The Baltic next year!

[Miaminice]

We did the Norwegian Fjord cruise on Royal Caribbean´s Brilliance of the Seas and absolutely loved it.

 

Doing it on a Celebrity ship would be even nicer. We did Iceland on Eclipse in May - a great ship!

 

Here´s the review of our Norway cruise: http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Norway/norway.html

 

 

Oliver

 

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Edited June 19, 2016 by Miaminice

[Sonoma fans]

We did this cruise in August of last year. As previous posters have mentioned, it is an incredible trip many miles up the Fjords with the shore just hundreds of feet away from you. We had unusually warm weather (70's) for a lot of the trip with just minimal rain. The waterfalls were still flowing, but not as much as they would have been in May. We did the Flam railway (booked many months ahead) and did the Troll road on our own by renting a car at Avis in Stavenger. I would repeat this trip in a minute.

 

The ship departs out of Southampton England, so there were many British folks on board which was really fun. Book this trip!

[roquejo]

Just did the Norwegian Fjords on Serenade last May 15, been to Alaska 2x already and going again this Sept via Solstice, and did the New Zealand's Fjords via Radiance in Feb 2015.

 

For me the Fjords are all starting to look the same..except for Alaska, that area is teeming with wildlife for some reason, and there are glaciers, which are 2 things lacking in both New Zealand and Norway.. that is why I kept on coming back to Alaska, coz in every visit, there are different wildlife encounters.

 

In a Norwegian fjords cruise, if your ship calls Stavanger be sure to do the Pulpit hike, it is a rather difficult 4 mile, around 2 hour hike each way but the views up there worth it are voted the best lookout in the world by Lonely Planet.

 

I think that was the highlight of my Norwegian Fjords cruise.

[Lovemychoos]

We've done this particular cruise twice with Celebrity, and 4 times in total.

 

Absolutely amazing, and would do it again in a heartbeat. On one of them, we were dining in Tuscan Grille, as we were sailing away from Geraingerfjord, and a couple of the waiters stopped by our table to look at the scenery. We said you must get used to this, doing Alaska etc. They both said the scenery was more stunning in the Fjords. Only their opinion of course, but it really is amazing.

 

Lou

[4774Papa]

Norway is prodigiously expensive - think beer at $20 a time - but we found that apart from three pre-booked private tours, one walking, one bus, one boat, we didn't need to spend on anything else.

 

Stuart

 

We ported in Bergen on a cruise and Norway is expensive, but a beer was about $10. Still, compared to Portugal where we just had a great river cruise, found a beer for 1 Euro.

[Lastdance]

I had this cruise booked for months, but just cancelled it and my S1 aft for next May. I did Alaska again this year and didn't know if I wanted cooler weather for my next trip. Also, I have been to south Island NZ and everyone says it is a lot like that. I am sure you will absolutely love it...I just wanted a T-Atlantic for 16 days to southern Europe, but I do plan to do it sometime. I have sailed out of Southampton on two different occasions and am not ready for a third right now. London is also very expensive, although the pound is a little lower now. So, just do it, especially if your heart is in it...:cool:

Edited June 19, 2016 by Lastdance

[jono mono]

Norway is well known to be expensive so no i was not suprised.

[goapps]

We are on the August 26 Sailing this year for this cruise. Do you have any suggestions you could post to our thread? Eclipse August 26, 2016?

 

Also, do you have your daily logs? I was wondering what the schedule was for the first day at sea- the full day after you leave port.

 

All suggestions and information would be appreciated.

 

Cathy

[Hydrokitty]

Has anyone done this cruise? We're looking into booking in next August.

We loved Alaska, but are looking to try a different cruise.

Any thoughts, insights or reviews are greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

Hi Shoegal....we're booked on this cruise for August 26, 2017 departure from Southampton. Actually we booked b2b with Scandinavian Caps and Russia 8/13 Southampton. We were on the Eclipse this past March on southern Carib. and loved her....except for the elevators....we had an aft cabin and the elevators are mid-ships so this time we're on the "bump" across from the elevator.

[Lady Chew]

We did this cruise last August, second part of a b2b with the Baltics cruise. Absolutely fantastic!! We'd love to do it again ...

 

The only excursion we booked in advance was the Flam RR. It was sold out to book on our own, so we did it through the ship. We normally don't like ship tours but it was really no problem. The scenery was wonderful, and waterfalls were amazing (although, as pointed out earlier, not as amazing as they would have been earlier in the season ...) It rained a little bit but that didn't bother us at all, some people just stayed inside the hotel where we had our lunch but we put on our windbreakers and went into the town.

 

We did the rest of the ports on our own, just walked off the ship. (I had done plenty of research prior to the cruise so we knew what we wanted to see). It was very easy!

 

We've also done Alaska, and would love to go back there as well. But if I had to pick just one ... we'd go back to Norway!

[blueboo]

We have booked this for end of April 2017, bit worried about rough seas but will take our chances.

[sandav]

We have booked this for end of April 2017, bit worried about rough seas but will take our chances.

 

We did this cruise in April this year. The sea conditions both going to and from Southampton were very good.We used our balcony a lot on this cruise.

[j1_jon]

On this on Aug 26th - has anyone organised any group tours?

 

Think my wife and I have left it too late so keen to tag along with a group of shipmates if there's any spaces available.

 

IF NOT, how much is the Flam Railway with Celebrity ? 680Nok per person online ;()

[wendychloecruiser]

On this on Aug 26th - has anyone organised any group tours?

 

Think my wife and I have left it too late so keen to tag along with a group of shipmates if there's any spaces available.

 

IF NOT, how much is the Flam Railway with Celebrity ? 680Nok per person online ;()

 

 

I believe the Flam railway is sold out online for Aug 29. I don't know about the availability on the ship nor the cost but you could check celebrity's website/shore excursions.

[j1_jon]

I believe the Flam railway is sold out online for Aug 29. I don't know about the availability on the ship nor the cost but you could check celebrity's website/shore excursions.

 

Thx Wendychloe; NSR website has single tickets / seats but a 680 NOK per person return vs 440 NOK each with Visit Flam for 29th.

 

We tried Celebrity's website but ieven after login, the excursions page didn't render on the Mac; on Safari or Chrome. Will try the Windows laptop later.

[wendychloecruiser]

Thx Wendychloe; NSR website has single tickets / seats but a 680 NOK per person return vs 440 NOK each with Visit Flam for 29th.

 

We tried Celebrity's website but ieven after login, the excursions page didn't render on the Mac; on Safari or Chrome. Will try the Windows laptop later.

 

 

I checked the website and celebrity have a flam railway ticket for £107.03 for an adult and £76.81 for a child. I hope this helps. I think 680nok (~£61)is a good deal.

Edited August 7, 2016 by wendychloecruiser