Which Fjords cruise? (Oh, no, another one)

[Jadeone]

I am deciding on a fjord cruise and currently am looking at 3, and I need your thoughts. I am interested in scenery and small towns, not cities, culture, and history this trip. My travel agent is recommending also doing the arctic circle as well while I'm there.

 

 

Here are the itineraries to compare. They were copied off a discount site just for ease, but I would use my TA.

 

 

9 days Norwegian Jade

 

Friday, June 8London (Southampton), England5:00pmSaturday, June 9At SeaSunday, June 10Stavanger, Norway8:00am2:00pmMonday, June 11Hellesylt, Norway8:00am9:00amMonday, June 11Geiranger, Norway10:30am5:00pmTuesday, June 12Flam, Norway9:00am7:00pmWednesday, June 13Alesund, Norway8:00am5:00pmThursday, June 14Bergen, Norway8:00am5:00pmFriday, June 15Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland8:00am4:00pmSaturday, June 16At Sea

 

 

14 days Holland Konigsdam

 

Sunday, July 8Amsterdam, Holland5:00pmMonday, July 9At SeaTuesday, July 10Eidfjord, Norway7:00am4:00pmWednesday, July 11Bergen, Norway8:00am5:00pmThursday, July 12Geiranger, Norway7:00am10:00amThursday, July 12Hellesylt, Norway11:00am6:00pmFriday, July 13Trondheim, Norway8:00am3:00pmSaturday, July 14At SeaSunday, July 15Honningsvag, Norway10:00am6:00pmMonday, July 16At SeaTuesday, July 17Bronnoysund, Norway7:00am3:00pmWednesday, July 18Alesund, Norway8:00am5:00pmThursday, July 19Flam, Norway8:00am6:00pmFriday, July 20Stavanger, Norway10:00am6:00pmSaturday, July 21At SeaSunday,

 

 

 

14 days Princess Sapphire Princess

Saturday, June 23London (Southampton), England4:00pmSunday, June 24At SeaMonday, June 25Stavanger, Norway8:00am4:00pmTuesday, June 26Skjolden, Norway8:00am4:00pmWednesday, June 27Hellesylt, Norway8:00am10:00amWednesday, June 27Geiranger, NorwayNoon6:00pmThursday, June 28Trondheim, Norway9:00am5:00pmFriday, June 29At SeaSaturday, June 30Honningsvag, Norway8:00am8:00pmSunday, July 1Tromso, Norway9:00am5:00pmMonday, July 2Gravdal, Norway9:00am6:00pmTuesday, July 3At SeaWednesday, July 4Alesund, Norway8:00am5:00pmThursday, July 5Bergen, Norway7:00am2:00pmFriday, July 6At Sea

 

Thanks for any thoughts and insight, general or specific

Edited November 6, 2017 by Jadeone
Edited for bad copying

[Essiesmom]

I would choose Sapphire Princess because she has a wrap-around promenade deck. Great for sailing in and out of the fjords. Only the ports of Bergen and Stavanger could be considered cities. EM

[Jadeone]

Ha, I hadn't thought of the deck config. Good point!

 

And of course I'm open to other ships and itineraries.

[geoherb]

When I looked at European cruises this past summer, I ended up ruling out the ones that started in Amsterdam because airfare was more than double what flying to London cost. We ended up doing a British isles cruise (Guernsey, Ireland, Scotland, and France). It was great. Be sure to include enough days in whichever city you fly to before the cruise to get acclimated to the time change. We spent three nights in London and one in Southampton before our cruise. I wish we had stayed a whole week.

[Keith1010]

I would also look at ease of getting to ports of embarkation and disembarkation.

 

Personally I would do Princess of the three between the ship and the itinerary and the length of the cruise.

 

Keith

[squick64]

I'm going on almost exactly the same 9-day cruise that you've listed here, except it's in August and the last port is different.

 

If you have the time and money and aren't too picky about the cruise line (I had a CruiseNext deposit and a good deal on the booking), I'd go with one of the Arctic Circle ones. I wouldn't mind doing that one day. There's also a cruise (one of the British lines) that goes way up north in February, so you can see the Northern Lights. (I assume a huge suitcase full of winter gear would be advised for that.)

[Jadeone]

Thanks, everyone. I have *almost* as much fun planning and looking forward to the trip as I do enjoying it, and I know there are questions I'm too unsophisticated to ask. So keep the ideas coming!

[Velvetwater]

I am going to put a slightly different spin on things...

 

We did a 10 day Jade Norwegian cruise this past August that had a rather lovely overnight stop in Oslo. NCL were fantastic and the ship is very suitable for Fjord sailings with its refurb and great aft areas. I can completely recommend NCL as a line and for that itinerary as well. When we sailed down the famous Fjords we got a great commentary as soon as we woke up to when we got to our port stops.

 

As for the other lines it is amazing that they touch the Arctic circle but I think that even the above cruise is too much of the same let alone 14 days . Norway is really something but as a 10 day cruise its maybe a bit too much of the same so I would not recommend a longer cruise. There is also the fact that Norway is expensive (we are talking 23 dollars for two beers...a basic sit down 1 course meal for two being 50 dollars and up without the wine). As much as the small villages are quaint they are mainly coffee shops and the same branded gift shops.

 

My advice would be to try and find a Norway/Iceland cruise or do the 9 day one. As some people have already said some cruiselines do 7 day ones which you could do and do some other cruise or holiday in Europe at the same time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I like the Princess itinerary.