Thoughts on Noble Caledonia cruises

[Ethel6666]

There isn’t a lot to be found in the way of reviews about Noble Caledonia cruises (thank you to Host Jazzbeau for his extensive ones) so I thought I’d provide a brief summary of thoughts on our recent two cruises.

 

First a bit about us - we are a couple in our 50s/60s, not much cruising experience, mainly do independent travel, like nature and ‘out of the way’ places.

 

We did B2B Hebrides to the Faroes and Norway, 22 days. The itineraries were what attracted us to these cruise, very port intensive (we don’t like sea days) and going to places that are not on your average mainstream cruise itinerary. The Hebridean Sky being a small ship with just over 100 passengers can get into smaller ports.

 

We found the ‘hotel’ side of the cruise to be exceptionally good. The cabin (Scott deck, balcony), was spacious, lots of storage and well maintained. The food was very much to our taste, with an interesting selection of high quality meats, local produce, fresh salads and vegetable dishes. For example, we had duck, guinea fowl, lamb, lobster, locally sourced deer, sea trout, smoked salmon, shrimp, oysters, to name a few. We ate at the Lido whenever it was open and it had a large choice at breakfast and lunch, dinner was served with the same menu as the dining room. The service levels were very good, and the officer responsible for the hotel side of the business was very personable and often present and providing service at meals - leading from the front. Wine and beer were included with meals and top ups were frequent and generous. Outside of meal times, alcohol could be purchased at the bar and the prices were very reasonable, similar to UK pub prices. There was also a typical British afternoon tea every day, but we didn’t feel the need to try it as we enjoyed the other meals too much. The staff really go out of their way to offer a great service, for example keeping the Lido open whenever possible, even in not so good weather when only a few tables want to dine there - we appreciated this.

 

The clientele was mostly British, with a few from US, NZ and Aust. Most of them are extremely well travelled, many seem to have done quite a number Noble Caledonia cruises. Quite a few people seemed to be on their ‘second lap’ of the itineraries- having been to places multiple times, even Antartica (I wish I had their travel budget!). The first cruise was classed as an expedition cruise, and attracted a slightly younger demographic but on the second cruise I would say the majority might have been well into their 70s or older - something worth bearing in mind if you are in a younger age group. We found it was noticeably older than the other 2 cruises we’ve done (Celebrity, APT). The atmosphere on board is a bit ‘proper’ as some guests from the US that we chatted to described it, very British although we found most people to be friendly enough and only met one or two Hyacinth Buckets.

 

Excursions are all included. This is probably where our personal preferences come into play. We very much liked the zodiac landings and walking tours of the islands, for example St Kilda, although at times the groups were quite large. We also appreciated the value of cruising right into the Norwegian Fjords, visiting some less touristed islands and some of the special excursions, like the concert at the Edvard Grieg museum in Bergen. Some days, though, were bus tours, which we found we didn’t enjoy so much - I don’t think they are really our thing, even though the scenery is great, we prefer to be out and walking - useful to find this out! Of course you are free to do your own thing if docked near town, and we took up this option a few times as we enjoy wandering without a group. Of note, there are no ‘slow walkers’ options, so given the age group, the pace can be a bit slow for averagely fit 50s/60s year olds. Mostly local guides were used, so we heard some good stories about local life - some of them were excellent, some a bit less so! The expedition crew were exceptionally good, very knowledgeable in their specialities and very accessible, sitting with the guests very often at breakfast and lunch. There were also lectures provided each day, a very good guest speaker, and a few ‘surprises’ like pulling up to a glacier one evening for a stroll. Due to weather we missed a couple of ports that are known to be difficult to reach on the first leg, but a substitute was found, so no extra sea days, which we appreciated.

 

Overall, we thought Noble Caledonia offers a pretty plush product.

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Ethel6666 said:

The atmosphere on board is a bit ‘proper’ as some guests from the US that we chatted to described it, very British although we found most people to be friendly enough and only met one or two Hyacinth Buckets.

I'm not sure how to react to this.  We have always been the only two Americans [North Americans, even] onboard our Noble Caledonia cruises.  Maybe because we are Anglophiles [we can both quote every line from 'Allo, 'Allo and Are You Being Served? and I can add The Two Ronnies and Flanders & Swann] and of the typical age group for this cruise line [and we always dress "country club casual" by preference], but we felt welcomed and basically right at home.  Never met a Hyacinth or an Onslow onboard...

[Ethel6666]

@Host Jazzbeau I didn’t mean to imply we felt unwelcome, not at all, even though my husband isn’t in to country club casual. We certainly had some great conversations and met some lovely people. 
Definitely no Onslows spotted, maybe a Richard or two.