Aboard the Island now 9/22 - 10/4 Oktoberfest European Capitols from Southampton

[Tyskie]

@Paula_MacFan

 

We were scheduled for this cruise - been on the Island before, ship was great - loved the size & food was good.  Missed the IC. 

 

We too go for itinerary and opted for the 9/2 Oceania Riveria because it included Stockholm and Gdansk Poland.  Of course they dropped Gdansk. 🤦‍♀️

 

Enjoy your trip, I'm enjoying your experience!

[lesnpatty]

We did the Oktoberfest-Northern Lights B2B and loved it. We loved the itinerary and the  Island,

 

[Paula_MacFan]

Today we toured Oslo on our own. We docked at Filipstad (more on that later) and walked into town about a 15 minute walk to the city center by City Hall. Our first activity was the Viking Planet museum which we loved. It's all digital and you get to simulate being a Viking, fighting off attackers and sailing in a ship. We had a great time here, learned some stuff, and it dove-tailed nicely with the actual Viking artifacts we saw later in the day at the Historical Museum. 

 

The weather rebounded nicely today and we had a lovely day. It was mostly sunny and high 60s, and many people were out enjoying the day. We had a nice lunch at an outside table in the square (circle) in front of the City Hall building. We saw many wedding parties entering and leaving City Hall and taking pictures out front, some with large family groups. It was rather festive.

 

After lunch we walked to the Akershus Fortress where we did the self tour. Nice views back across the water to our ship from here as well. 

 

Our next stop was the Historical Museum I mentioned earlier, followed by a stop at the Royal Palace. You can pretty much walk right up to the front door (a few guards are stationed there but no fences) and the gardens are also open to the public.

 

We walked back to the ship by late afternoon.  

 

For those wondering, we noticed several hop on/hop off buses right at the port this morning. They also had reps with maps and info available at the pier. 

 

Lastly to circle back to my comment about where we docked -- this is another complaint about Princess. Several port guides on the app and also the destination talks on the TV have had incorrect info about where we are actually docked, example here and Gothenburg. I did my research in advance so I knew where we were docking, but for people relying on these tools from Princess they would be misinformed. Fail Princess.  I had someone argue with me prior to the cruise about where we were docking today, as they were insisting we were docking by Akershus according to the Princess port guide. I was relying on the official port website which was correct. Hope they met their planned tour from the other dock.

 

On our walk back to the ship we were stopped by a nicely dressed local couple out for a stroll on the waterfront. They asked if we were on the Island and asked where we sailed from and where we are going. They both said it looked like such a nice ship and something they don't see here very often. I thought that was amusing based on some of the CC comments that the Island is a floating junk heap 😉

[Paula_MacFan]

Day 10 patter

[Paula_MacFan]

We slept a little late today (sea day) and therefore had a late breakfast and didn't attend the pop up Alfredos lunch. We did walk by and it looked about 1/3 full not long after opening. 

 

This itinerary has been great but it's port intensive. We've had port days for the last 4 days in a row, so today it was nice to sleep in a little bit. Also we have a 7 hour time difference from home which we've adjusted to, but still 😊 

 

I didn't mention at the beginning of my post but we flew to London 5 days in advance using EZ Air. We flew United first class which we booked way cheaper than we could have on our own. Our tickets got us lounge access which was a huge value for our 4 hour layover in Chicago. No problems with EZ Air and I've managed our flights on the United app, including seat selection at the time of booking months ago.

 

We had a good time in London and had many pre-planned activities to make the most of our time. I'm happy to answer questions about that if anyone has any.

 

We used the International Friends transfer to ship with Stonehenge stop. Picked us up right on time in a nice bus and everything went was promised.

 

Another fail noted on the Destination Guides here on the ship tv. We've been watching them every night for our next port and as I noted prior there have been some inaccuracies. For our next port Rotterdam the program said 'we kindly ask that you not travel to Amsterdam given the distance from port, and Princess will not be offering any shore excursions there on this trip'. Obviously this was recorded for some other prior cruise because we have had a Princess excursion booked for months, and I see several offered on the app.  Again, a small thing but sloppy on Princess' part IMO.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Paula_MacFan

[Paula_MacFan]

Day 11 patter. Note page 1 says they are replacing outside furniture.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Paula_MacFan

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I’m curious why it’s called an “Oktoberfest European Capitals” cruise. None of those cities celebrate Oktoberfest. 

[BerthaButt]

My husband and I have booked this cruise next year.  We have booked the same excursions in Paris and Berlin that you were on.  It sounds like you had a great time.   At the time of the cruise we are going o be 70 and 75 and just wondered if you were alot younger than us.  I've really enjoyed reading all your posts. Thanks

[Paula_MacFan]

5 hours ago, BerthaButt said:

My husband and I have booked this cruise next year.  We have booked the same excursions in Paris and Berlin that you were on.  It sounds like you had a great time.   At the time of the cruise we are going o be 70 and 75 and just wondered if you were alot younger than us.  I've really enjoyed reading all your posts. Thanks

We are 54 & 55. Glad you have enjoyed my posts!  We've seen age groups from 20's on up, but no kids at all.

 

All our excursions have followed the descriptions exactly so I'd recommend reading the activity levels if you aren't sure. Paris & Berlin didn't have a huge amount of walking, other than in Berlin at the train station. That was a zoo of people and you really had to keep up with the guide.

 

I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have later too.

[Paula_MacFan]

10 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I’m curious why it’s called an “Oktoberfest European Capitals” cruise. None of those cities celebrate Oktoberfest. 

You'd have to ask Princess. Time of year maybe? This itinerary is only offered 2x each fall.

 

We did have Oktoberfest themed meal at a beer hall in Berlin.

[BerthaButt]

6 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We are 54 & 55. Glad you have enjoyed my posts!  We've seen age groups from 20's on up, but no kids at all.

 

All our excursions have followed the descriptions exactly so I'd recommend reading the activity levels if you aren't sure. Paris & Berlin didn't have a huge amount of walking, other than in Berlin at the train station. That was a zoo of people and you really had to keep up with the guide.

 

I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have later too.

Thanks for answering my question.  You both are much younger.  I was hoping you would say that you both were in your 80's and had  no problem during the tours.  We are reasonably fit  for our age and after reading your tour experience we will keep the reservations.    Thanks again!

[SargassoPirate]

On 9/24/2023 at 12:26 PM, phabric said:

I have found with people flying and with airline luggage weight limit plus the charge for luggage, you see less very formal wear and more nice casual.

That's a lame excuse.  My black sport coat/blazer weighs 19 ounces.  Slip it on over a colored T-shirt with a matching pocket square and some black jeans or slacks and it will pass muster on any formal night on any ship - including Cunard.

 

I wonder what the excuse for baseball caps in the MDR is - other than a lax upbringing?

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, BerthaButt said:

Thanks for answering my question.  You both are much younger.  I was hoping you would say that you both were in your 80's and had  no problem during the tours.  We are reasonably fit  for our age and after reading your tour experience we will keep the reservations.    Thanks again!

You are quite welcome & I encourage you to keep the reservations. We've seen many people your age on our tours who did just fine 🙂

[Paula_MacFan]

Last night was our final formal night. We had reservations at Sabatini's and enjoyed our meal there. We loved the arancini and cheesy bread in the basket. I had the calamari & shrimp appetizer and hubby had the meat & cheese plate. (You can look at the menu for the specific names 😊). We skipped soup & salad, and both had the lobster tortellini pasta followed by the lasagna. We regretted not getting one lasagna and one sea bass to share, but maybe next time. We thought it was all very good but the lasagna was a little too meaty for my taste. Hubby liked it and I ate about half of mine. 

 

We ate at an Italian restaurant in London prior to the cruise that we liked slightly better, but we don't regret doing Sabatini's and would do it again but maybe order some different dishes. Keep the arancini though! Those are delicious. 

 

The service was prompt and attentive. We had early reservations so we got a lovely window table. When we left they were about 1/3 full.

 

After dinner we attended the comedy magician show in Explorers which was a hoot. We stayed for the house band Asian Soul next. They are great and we've really enjoyed them throughout the cruise. They said they have been on other Princess ships as well. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Paula_MacFan

[Paula_MacFan]

Today we took the Princess excursion to Amsterdam with canal cruise & time on your own. We left around 9am and returned around 5:15. The drive from Rotterdam to Amsterdam is about 1.75 hours. We had a good guide who educated us on the water system and dykes on the way. The canal cruise was nice and lasted an hour, cruising by the Anne Frank house. We had about 3 hours on our own in the afternoon for lunch & shopping. The guide provided maps and contact info in case anyone got lost.

 

The weather was very nice today with partly cloudy skies and low 70s.  Many places we saw today still have lovely flowers blooming.

 

Looking forward to our sail away later tonight down the long river way.

[Paula_MacFan]

Day 12 patter

[Paula_MacFan]

Today we visited our last port of Bruges. We took the Princess excursion Best of Bruges with canal cruise & time on your own. We left the ship around 8am and returned around 4:30 for 5pm sail away. We had a nice gentleman guide who walked us through the old city center and explained the area and history. We had a nice canal cruise around the medieval buildings, followed by 4 hours on our own. The guide provided maps & an emergency contact number just in case.

 

We spent our free time having a nice lunch, touring the torture museum, and climbing the 366 spiral steps at The Church of Our Lady. What a view from the top of the tower. Also did some shopping -- Belgium is known for beer, lace, chocolate, & waffles. All plenty to be found.

 

It was a nice end to the cruise. We've had good weather overall and calm seas. I'll have some final thoughts on the cruise later.

[Paula_MacFan]

Correction:  the tower was The Befry of Bruges. We went too many places & I got them confused. It was too late to edit my post. Apologies 😊

[jonbrealey]

Thank you for this review, it's been really helpful as we are on the second version of this cruise on October 18th. I also added a few ideas from your port reviews to my notes, thank you 🙂

 

Jonathan

[cruzsnooze]

Lovely review. I will be on the Island for 28 days next month. Can you tell me where the reserve class dining will be? If you had internet how was the connection? 

[Paula_MacFan]

11 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Lovely review. I will be on the Island for 28 days next month. Can you tell me where the reserve class dining will be? If you had internet how was the connection? 

I'm not sure where the Reserve Dining was off the top of my head but I posted all the daily patters so you could probably find it there 😊

 

I'm glad you asked about internet connection! I was going to comment on this as it was superb all over the ship. In fact that's the reason I decided to start posting here daily as the connection was so good I didn't mind doing it. In the past we've had to use our free Platinum minutes and now with the package of unlimited access and the improved speeds, it wasn't a hassle.

 

Most days when we returned to the ship my phone was reconnected to the ship's wifi before we even boarded.

 

[KKB]

17 hours ago, jonbrealey said:

Thank you for this review, it's been really helpful as we are on the second version of this cruise on October 18th. I also added a few ideas from your port reviews to my notes, thank you 🙂

 

Jonathan

See you in a couple weeks, Jonathan!

[Micahs Grandad]

17 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Lovely review. I will be on the Island for 28 days next month. Can you tell me where the reserve class dining will be? If you had internet how was the connection? 

We were on the Island late July/early August sailing well above arctic circle. Was concerned about internet connection but it was excellent.

[Blue and Green]

Really appreciate this review with so much port information. You were an excellent reporter, Paula MacFan!

Hoping someone on the second version of this itinerary will also do a review of their experience and ports!

[Paula_MacFan]

We are in transit now in between flights -- the worst part of the trip is the long day++ getting home and losing those 7 hours. 

 

I will have some wrap up thoughts on the whole cruise after we get home.