Iona Geirangerfjord cruise-by?

[BHA58]

Has anyone been on a recent Iona Fjords cruise? And if so, did it do the Geirangerfjord cruise-by?

 

It's still listed on the itinerary for my cruise, but when tracking the ship's movements it appears it sails straight out of Hellesylt and onto the next port, instead of sailing towards Geiranger and doing an about turn.

 

I only ask as it might influence whether I book the excursion to Geiranger, which I believe goes past the Seven Sisters falls.

[SomersetS]

We didn't do the Geirangerfjord cruise-by last week, just headed straight out again.

 

I didn't hear any announcements about it earlier (but might have been in the spa where announcements are often drowned out by the hydrotherapy pool!)

[Tedferg]

Interesting, we were looking at this because we thought it had a better itinerary than Princess.

[BHA58]

Looking closer at the various itineraries, there does seem to be some variation.

 

The current cruise, which doesn't seem to have done a cruise by, simply has Geirangerfjord, Norway.

 

However, on my cruise itinerary it says Geirangerfjord (cruise-by).

 

I guess I could just call P&O to clarify, but that seems too easy.

[TigerB]

In June 2023 this was our Geirangerfjord cruise-by....

 

Someone may correct me, but I seem to recollect they stopped sailing into Geirangerfjord before the 2023 season.

[MyriamS]

Also no sail-by for us last month.

[Funboy]

We have been on two recent Norway cruises on Iona and the itinery was the same on both..Stavanger, Olden, Alesund, Haugesund and home. We never went near Geirangerfjord!

 

[Lancs duo]

We went to Norway, on Iona, in September 2023. We booked a P&O excursion, from Olden, to Geirangerfjord . The coach took us to Hellesylt and then we boarded a catamaran to sail down Geirangerfjord.

[BHA58]

Taking a catamaran down Geirangerfjord sounds absolutely fantastic!

[Camberley]

We did a kayak session several years ago, which kayaked past the ship and beyond…now THAT was both impressive and freaky being up close to a massive ship in a tiny kayak. However, an hour or so later we got into issues with the kayak taking in water so the rescue speed boat got us and we had about half an hour at high speed on the speed boat across the fjord: that was wonderful.

[BHA58]

I spoke to and emailed P&O about the Geirangerfjord cruise-by but neither filled me with confidence. On the phone they suggested I book an excursion to avoid disappointment, and via email they just confirmed the itinerary included a cruise-by (without explaining what that meant).

 

I fully expect Iona to NOT sail down Geirangerfjord, so have taken the plunge and booked an excursion. Annoyingly all scenic cruise and transfer ferry were both fully booked, so I ended up spending MUCH more than intended and booked the Mt Dalsnibba trip, which includes a return trip down Geirangerfjord. No doubt Iona will now sail down the fjord, but didn't really want to risk it.   

[TigerB]

@BHA58, see my diagram in post #5; that will be the cruise-by.  So, just as well you have made alternative arrangements.

[davecttr]

I can see a future where large cruise ships will be barred from entering any fjords, leaving P&O offering cruises to the fjords but not in them. Not fjord ports include Alesund, Kristiansund, Bergen (with bridge), Stavanger (with narrow harbour), Haugosund (the worst IMO), etc etc, What will P&O do with the likes of Iona then?

[BHA58]

12 hours ago, TigerB said:

@BHA58, see my diagram in post #5; that will be the cruise-by.  So, just as well you have made alternative arrangements.

Yes, and I've now just found this thread, which suggests the actual cruise by ended the same month you took your cruise. 

 

Seems odd that P&O still list it on the itinerary, though... 

[TigerB]

I suppose they can get away with still listing it because even just passing by the mouth of the fjord, as they do with Geirangerfjord, is still technically a 'cruise-by'

[MyriamS]

On 7/22/2024 at 8:55 AM, davecttr said:

I can see a future where large cruise ships will be barred from entering any fjords, leaving P&O offering cruises to the fjords but not in them. Not fjord ports include Alesund, Kristiansund, Bergen (with bridge), Stavanger (with narrow harbour), Haugosund (the worst IMO), etc etc, What will P&O do with the likes of Iona then?

I'm not too worried about Iona. If the pandemic did not kill cruising, nothing will.

 

I've heard of this banning all cruise ships in Norway and I'm honestly skeptical. Hellesylt and Olden are tiny places and their major economic activity is tourism. If cruises are banned the only way for them to receive visitors would be people driving (and occasionally taking car ferries to be able to see the fjords), which is very expensive and requires a lot of organisation, or take the eye-wateringly expensive Coastal Express (which is also a form of cruising but I guess as long as a Norwegian company does it, it's ok 🙂). Tourism would drop down dramatically (by half maybe, which is ginormous).

 

Small towns in Norway are not at all in the same situation as Venice, or even Barcelona, which are bustling cities which receive a lot of visitors anyway and don't really need cruise ships.

[nosapphire]

I doubt that they would be that worried about restricting large cruise ships. We were the only cruise ship in Olden last year, and the place was heaving with non-cruise tourists.

Campsites were full, and it was almost nose-to-nose motorhomes on the roads.

Shops were buzzing with various European accents.

We have seen similar in other small Norwegian towns - Norway is a magnet for campers and hikers.

 

[Snow Hill]

Deleted

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by Snow Hill

[Snow Hill]

14 hours ago, MyriamS said:

I'm not too worried about Iona. If the pandemic did not kill cruising, nothing will.

 

I've heard of this banning all cruise ships in Norway and I'm honestly skeptical. Hellesylt and Olden are tiny places and their major economic activity is tourism. If cruises are banned the only way for them to receive visitors would be people driving (and occasionally taking car ferries to be able to see the fjords), which is very expensive and requires a lot of organisation, or take the eye-wateringly expensive Coastal Express (which is also a form of cruising but I guess as long as a Norwegian company does it, it's ok 🙂). Tourism would drop down dramatically (by half maybe, which is ginormous).

 

Small towns in Norway are not at all in the same situation as Venice, or even Barcelona, which are bustling cities which receive a lot of visitors anyway and don't really need cruise ships.

I understand the ban from 1 January 2026 only applies to the 2 World Heritage Site Fjords, Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, cruise ships that are emission free can access, but there are currently no ships in that category although they are being developed. It is understood that other fjords will transition to zero emissions by 2035. 

Edited July 24 by Snow Hill

[MyriamS]

12 hours ago, nosapphire said:

I doubt that they would be that worried about restricting large cruise ships. We were the only cruise ship in Olden last year, and the place was heaving with non-cruise tourists.

Campsites were full, and it was almost nose-to-nose motorhomes on the roads.

Shops were buzzing with various European accents.

We have seen similar in other small Norwegian towns - Norway is a magnet for campers and hikers.

 

I was also in Olden last month, also only cruise ship in port, and I didn't find it that busy but that might be different standards. The public bus to Briksdal was full and there was a fair number of people in the souvenir shop, but all very normal for the summer season. Now Venice is what I would call heaving, you can barely walk in some narrow streets due to the flow of people.

 

My boss is one of those avid campers and hikers and she had a blast touring Norway in a campervan. I was very happy for her but it's absolutely not the holiday for me. Not everyone is willing or able to drive. Without a cruise, I wouldn't have been able to experience Norway at all. 

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

I understand the ban from 1 January 2026 only applies to the 2 World Heritage Site Fjords, Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, cruise ships that are emission free can access, but there are currently no ships in that category although they are being developed. It is understood that other fjords will transition to zero emissions by 2035. 

Unless someone decides to build a nuclear powered cruise ship  I imagine emission free ships will need to be electric. But can you imagine the size of the batteries needed for a ship as big as Iona?

[Fionboard]

11 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Unless someone decides to build a nuclear powered cruise ship  I imagine emission free ships will need to be electric. But can you imagine the size of the batteries needed for a ship as big as Iona?

Not to mention the power stations needed to supply the electricity for all these ships, cars, trains, homes, industries, etc, etc. 

[Megabear2]

42 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Not to mention the power stations needed to supply the electricity for all these ships, cars, trains, homes, industries, etc, etc. 

Power stations will not be required using wind or tidal for electricity production.  The power goes directly into the grid system via substations. These are bigger versions of the ones you see on land around housing areas.  

 

Already large amounts of the UK's electricity is produced this way.  The clean energy you see mentioned on your electricity bill is produced this way.

 

The announcement yesterday regarding both onshore and offshore wind turbines will make the move to this clean energy even more of a move away to self sufficiency by the UK for their electricity.  As acknowledged by the last government and currently being looked at by the new one, the problem that has caused the slow movement towards the energy all coming from these sources has been lack of growth of the National Grid infrastructure to actually join up the system to move the power to where it's needed.  Both governments were/are committed to speeding up the planning process to upgrade the grid. 

 

This explains the process:

 

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-electricity-generated/how-electricity-generated-using-wind

Edited July 25 by Megabear2

[terrierjohn]

20 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Power stations will not be required using wind or tidal for electricity production.  The power goes directly into the grid system via substations. These are bigger versions of the ones you see on land around housing areas.  

 

Already large amounts of the UK's electricity is produced this way.  The clean energy you see mentioned on your electricity bill is produced this way.

 

The announcement yesterday regarding both onshore and offshore wind turbines will make the move to this clean energy even more of a move away to self sufficiency by the UK for their electricity.  As acknowledged by the last government and currently being looked at by the new one, the problem that has caused the slow movement towards the energy all coming from these sources has been lack of growth of the National Grid infrastructure to actually join up the system to move the power to where it's needed.  Both governments were/are committed to speeding up the planning process to upgrade the grid. 

 

This explains the process:

 

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-electricity-generated/how-electricity-generated-using-wind

That's fine for land based users, but what about cruise ships, what would be the battery size needed to cover a transatlantic or Pacific crossing, which would be the minimum needed to make them viable.

[davecttr]

There is no problem with electricity supply in Norway. They have an amazing amount of hydro power generation. Apparently in some parts of Norway such as Bergen they even had a negative price so you were being paid to consume electricity.

 

Mega ships have a problem with zero emission propulsion but much smaller ships not so much, sorry, zero emission of anything the ship produces whilst the ship is in the restricted area.

 

I was lucky in visiting Svalbard on Fred Olsen this summer. We had about 1000 passegers but that won't be allowed in the future. Apparently no more than a total of 200 passengers per day will be allowed to land. so no cruise ships just SMALL exhibition type ships. Imagine what Palma Majorca is like with up to 5 cruise berths available.