Rare SarahHben Posted July 22 #1 Share Posted July 22 Hi everyone, it’s a while since our cruise, life has been hectic, but it’s now the school holidays and I have some free time, so I thought I would write a belated cruise report. Embarkation Day: We had a boarding time of 1:30 and decided to drop our cases off just before 12 before wandering off for some lunch. We could see quite a crowd of people queuing to board at that time, seemed to be lots of people with priority boarding. After lunch in nearby Starbucks we arrived back to the terminal at 1pm and there was no queue at all, it was deserted, so we went straight through and were on the ship within 10 minutes. We loved Britannia’s atrium, a good first impression of the ship! As the cabins weren’t ready we grabbed a drink from Java and sat on the outside deck by The Glass House. Once the cabins were ready we went to find ours, our cases were there waiting for us. The cabin was fantastic, lovely and clean, the sofa and carpets looked new. It was a superior deluxe balcony cabin and the extra seating/living space was great! Plenty of space for all our things and yes I packed for a month not a week 🥴 The balcony was much smaller than our previous ones on Iona and Ventura, but we knew that would be the case. After unpacking it was time to explore the ship, finishing up with a cocktail outside overlooking the pool. We found the ship quite easy to navigate and quickly found our bearings. Before sailing on Britannia I saw lots of comments on here about no mid stair case from the cabin decks upwards and wasn’t sure if it would actually make much difference, but, you were all correct, it was frustrating when the lifts were on a go slow and you couldn’t use the stairs. After the first day or so we just avoided the mid lifts and walked forward, our cabin was mid forward, to use the stairs regardless of where we were going. We had pre-booked a table in The Beach House and very much enjoyed our dinner there, the lava rock steak is our favourite. We then headed off to The Live Lounge to watch Pulse, my niece’s friend was the male singer who as it turned out had actually left the ship that day 🤷♀️ The singer who was there was very good & we had a very good evening 😊 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ardennais Posted July 22 #2 Share Posted July 22 Looks good! Looking forward to reading about your cruise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
July morning Posted July 22 #3 Share Posted July 22 An excellent start shall look forward to reading more 🙂 I enjoyed our cruise on Britannia, goodness that was almost two year ago! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 22 Author #4 Share Posted July 22 (edited) First sea day: We started the day with a very nice relaxed breakfast in the Peninsula MDR. The clocks had gone forward an hour and goodness, the amount of people who hadn’t read it in the Horizon newsletter or listened to the announcement, and couldn’t understand why they had missed breakfast in the MDR’s, it was unbelievable. A lady near us was exclaiming that surely we were close to U.K. so how could the time be different! We walked past the buffet soon after our breakfast and the queue for the buffet was ENORMOUS. I know we’ve only done a few cruises but we had never seen a queue that long for anything on a ship before. Lots of people in the queue were moaning about the clock change. We had a browse around the shops next. I had managed to pack an empty pot of moisturiser so had to browse the shops and buy emergency supplies. Next up was a talk in the theatre by an actor called Jim Whelan, he had had small parts in Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Last of the Summer Wine and various other things. He was really interesting and my husband bought his book. He was a really nice chap, we ended up sitting next to him and his wife several times in the evening theatre shows. On our previous cruises we had always had lunch in the buffet or Retreat but we ate lunch in the MDR most days on this cruise. Portion sizes were quite small but just right for a light lunch. I had a salmon tart, followed by a lovely chilled peach Melba dessert. We had a really lazy afternoon in our cabin watching the tennis, I even had a snooze for a few hours which I never normally do during the day 😳 It was Gala night and we booked ourself into the virtual queue for MDR, we were 75th in the queue so went to have our photos taken. There was only a small queue for photos so we thought we’d have plenty of time, unfortunately the photographer was very enthusiastic and took ages with each couple, and then a family of 6 joined a couple a few in front of us so then there was a group of 8 all needing group/pairs/individuals photos taken in what seemed like endless poses. I’m pretty easy going and not much riles me but I was getting a little agitated.The people in front of us got called for their table and had to leave the photo queue and then 10 minutes later so did we 🙄 Anyway we had a lovely dinner in the Peninsula restaurant and then as we came out we saw that the Captain was available for photos so we had a pic taken with him. It was a rubbish photo but it was nice to chat with him briefly and he said how rough the seas were but that Britannia was handling it well, it hadn’t seemed rough to us at all! There was a football match on TV that evening so my husband watched that in Brodies so I went to the theatre on my own to see a band called ‘Women in Rock’ who were pretty good. Apologies about the waffling 🥴 Edited July 22 by SarahHben 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 22 Author #5 Share Posted July 22 (edited) Stavanger: On our first cruise, back in 2022, the weather was too windy for Iona to dock in Stavanger, so it was a relief to see we’d actually made it to Stavanger this time 😊 We had booked the same excursion we were due to do two years ago, the Lysefjord and Pulpit Rock cruise. It was a great excursion, we had a fabulous time. We started off sitting inside but after the waffles & jam stop, we sat upstairs and outside, it was a little blowy to say the least, but definitely worth it! The waffles & jam were delicious btw. The boat slowed right down and took us up close to various waterfalls and to a place where we could look up to Pulpit Rock and envisage where Tom Cruise was hanging off while filming one of the Mission Impossible films. One of the nice things about doing a smaller boat trip from the cruise port was getting a good view of the ship as we came back into port. I would recommend that excursion, I know it can be done independently at a lower cost, but I’m a worrier and much prefer to do the ship’s excursions, it’s better for my peace of mind and in turn my husband’s sanity 🥴 The sun was coming out as we got back so we went back onboard, dumped our backpacks and waterproofs and headed off back into town for a wander. Stavanger is so pretty with its white wooden buildings and the nice harbour area, everywhere looked so clean and well looked after. We made the most of the sunshine and sat on our balcony for a while before sail away. We had pre-booked a table in Sindhu for dinner, we both love eating there, haven’t had a bad Sindhu meal yet! I had beef flatbread for starter, then duck for main followed by the dark chocolate sphere for dessert, all delicious 😊 It was 70’s night in the Live Lounge with Pulse, another fun set with great music. After that we wandered through the atrium, saw the silent disco, the lower atrium seemed an odd place for it but those participating seemed to be enjoying it 😄 We passed through the Crystal Room where they were doing karaoke so sat down for a while to enjoy a few very enthusiastic performances, then went to the theatre to watch ‘Astonishing’ we’ve seen it once before but it was still very good 2nd time around! Edited July 22 by SarahHben 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted July 22 #6 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, SarahHben said: Stavanger: On our first cruise, back in 2022, the weather was too windy for Iona to dock in Stavanger, so it was a relief to see we’d actually made it to Stavanger this time 😊 We had booked the same excursion we were due to do two years ago, the Lysefjord and Pulpit Rock cruise. It was a great excursion, we had a fabulous time. We started off sitting inside but after the waffles & jam stop, we sat upstairs and outside, it was a little blowy to say the least, but definitely worth it! The waffles & jam were delicious btw. The boat slowed right down and took us up close to various waterfalls and to a place where we could look up to Pulpit Rock and envisage where Tom Cruise was hanging off while filming one of the Mission Impossible films. One of the nice things about doing a smaller boat trip from the cruise port was getting a good view of the ship as we came back into port. I would recommend that excursion, I know it can be done independently at a lower cost, but I’m a worrier and much prefer to do the ship’s excursions, it’s better for my peace of mind and in turn my husband’s sanity 🥴 The sun was coming out as we got back so we went back onboard, dumped our backpacks and waterproofs and headed off back into town for a wander. Stavanger is so pretty with its white wooden buildings and the nice harbour area, everywhere looked so clean and well looked after. We made the most of the sunshine and sat on our balcony for a while before sail away. We had pre-booked a table in Sindhu for dinner, we both love eating there, haven’t had a bad Sindhu meal yet! I had beef flatbread for starter, then duck for main followed by the dark chocolate sphere for dessert, all delicious 😊 It was 70’s night in the Live Lounge with Pulse, another fun set with great music. After that we wandered through the atrium, saw the silent disco, the lower atrium seemed an odd place for it but those participating seemed to be enjoying it 😄 We passed through the Crystal Room where they were doing karaoke so sat down for a while to enjoy a few very enthusiastic performances, then went to the theatre to watch ‘Astonishing’ we’ve seen it once before but it was still very good 2nd time around! Excellent photos and review Sarah. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdey16 Posted July 22 #7 Share Posted July 22 Following along Sarah and nice to see you posting again. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sarah1974 Posted July 23 #8 Share Posted July 23 Loving this review Sarah - thank you. I sailed on Britannia back in 2019 and loved it - I need to cruise on her again. And how lovely is Stavanger?! I've done the boat trip out to Pulpit Rock and it's great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #9 Share Posted July 30 (edited) Olden: I intended to get up early to watch the sail in but I was very tired this holiday and woke up to find we were already in Olden. We had originally booked to do an excursion that drove to Hellesylt then a boat trip down Geirangerfjord but it was quite expensive and the forecast before we left said heavy rain so we cancelled it and got a refund. Instead we decided to just wander around Olden and we were so glad we did. We had been once before but hadn’t explored properly. The weather was mixed but mostly good and we took lots of photos and video. We went into the little co-op and bought some Norwegian sweets to take home and some gifts for our Grandchildren, our 4 year old loves proudly wearing T shirts from our travels, I’m sure that won’t last too many years 😂 Once back on board we had a cup of tea & ice cream in The Market Cafe. For dinner we ate in the Glass House, we’d never eaten there in any of our cruises and this won’t be a popular opinion, but I was really disappointed with the food. We shared some tapas, squid, scallops & Iberico ham, I did not like the squid but Mr B did, the scallops & ham were nice. I then had the sliders which were ok but nothing special, not overly flavourful. Then I had the retro dessert trio which I had been really looking forward to, the baileys chocolate tea cake was delicious but the artic roll didn’t taste of anything and I couldn’t eat the jammy dodger cornflake tart because it was so solid it could have broken a tooth. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews you’ll know (I hope) that I’m generally a positive person who doesn’t moan about much but I was so disappointed. Maybe I was just too tired 🤷♀️ Phil Hitchcock, a magician who we had seen on a previous cruise, was performing in the theatre. He was excellent, very clever! We found ourselves sitting next to the actor whose talk we’d been to and had a chat with him and his wife. We finished the evening watch some tennis. I must remember not to book another cruise during a main tennis tournament 🥴 Edited July 30 by SarahHben 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #10 Share Posted July 30 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #12 Share Posted July 30 Flam: We woke up to see a very pretty Flam! After breakfast in the MDR we headed out for our excursions. Mr B was taking the train and cycling part of the way down, I was taking the train both ways. We went outside early but I was still a long way back in the train queue, I would definitely recommend getting in the queue sooner for the best seats on the train. It was a very pretty train ride, Mr B was in a different carriage as he was on his excursion but we bumped into each other when we stopped at the Kjodfossen waterfall. We saw and heard the Huldra, the mythical lady who lures men into the woods to seduce them. Judging by the comments from the men on the train, she wasn't likely to seduce them any time soon 🤣 Mr B really enjoyed his bike ride, I think he had his go-pro attached to his bag strap and videod the ride down, I expect that will appear on YouTube at some point. The weather stayed dry until after lunch, but we put on our waterproofs and went out for a wet walk. Flam was lovely and hopefully one day we'll get there with the sun out. Considering the forecast was bad for the whole week before we left home, this was the only time we got wet other than a passing shower the next day, we were very fortunate. I think tiredness must have caught up with me the day before and this day because I didn't particularly enjoy dinner in the Beach House that night. The fish basket would normally be just my thing but I barely touched it, I didn't even have dessert! I ended up just going back to the cabin and had an early night. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 30 #13 Share Posted July 30 Beautiful photos, Sarah. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ardennais Posted July 30 #14 Share Posted July 30 Lovely photos. I would love to visit Flam again and take the train. It looks lovely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel57 Posted July 30 #15 Share Posted July 30 Thanks for posting Sarah. I’m going to Flam next year on my cruise so I was very interested in your report from there. Gill x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #16 Share Posted July 30 30 minutes ago, Ardennais said: Lovely photos. I would love to visit Flam again and take the train. It looks lovely. It was lovely even with overcast weather. Next time I would get outside much earlier to get window seats on the train. My husband took ages deciding what to wear for his bike ride 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel57 Posted July 30 #17 Share Posted July 30 1 minute ago, SarahHben said: It was lovely even with overcast weather. Next time I would get outside much earlier to get window seats on the train. My husband took ages deciding what to wear for his bike ride 🤣 Yes, I’ve made a note to do that as have already booked the train! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #18 Share Posted July 30 1 minute ago, Angel57 said: Thanks for posting Sarah. I’m going to Flam next year on my cruise so I was very interested in your report from there. Gill x Lovely! Are you going on Britannia? If you do the train ride a window seat is best, there's nice views if you sit on the left side but better views on the right hand side. People left their things on their seats when they got off at the waterfall so I couldn't get back on quick and pinch their seats 🤣 There are some really lovely gifts shops, but also a big one that felt like a TK Maxx and we couldn't get out fast enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel57 Posted July 30 #19 Share Posted July 30 I’m going on Iona. Went on her this year and was surprised how much I enjoyed my week’s cruise (I’m an Aurora girl…..). Thanks for the tip about sitting on right hand side AND leaving something on my seat at waterfall….🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #20 Share Posted July 30 45 minutes ago, Angel57 said: I’m going on Iona. Went on her this year and was surprised how much I enjoyed my week’s cruise (I’m an Aurora girl…..). Thanks for the tip about sitting on right hand side AND leaving something on my seat at waterfall….🤣 We really enjoyed Iona too. Our daughter wants to go back to Norway in 2028 for their 10th Anniversary, they went to Norway on Britannia for their honeymoon. Their 2 kiddies will be 4 & 8 by then and I think Iona would be best fit for them. Apparently we have to go too to babysit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #21 Share Posted July 30 Bergen: We had booked a walking tour of Bergen which included a trip on the funicular and the start time was early so we ordered breakfast to our cabin. Although there’s not hot choices the pastries & cereal they we ordered was plenty. Fortunately the very early night had helped me and I’m glad I hadn’t cancelled the excursion which I almost had the night before. Mr B would have gone without me but I felt much better so he didn’t need to. Our tour guide was a guy called Raoul and he was very interesting. He took us to the old theatre and talked about various playwrights & composers. There were quite a few stops on the tour, monuments, a church, the fish market, he encouraged us to only eat fish from the modern, chilled fish market, not the outdoor, quite smelly, one 😄 The main visit was to Bryggen, the houses in the city’s old quarter, he took us behind the frontage and we could see the history behind the making of the houses, it was very interesting. Had we just walked on our own we would probably have missed all that. Next the tour took us up the funicular to Mount Floyen. When we first arrived it was a bit overcast and then there was a brief rain shower so we looked in the shops, but then the rain stopped and the sun came out and we got some fantastic views. If we’d had longer in port it would have been nice to walk down but there wasn’t really time. We told the guide we would make our own way back to the ship and we took a slow walk back spending more time in the harbour, and finding the Starbucks to get a Bergen mug for our collection. Once back onboard we had a late lunch in the MDR. We really enjoyed our lunches in the dining room this cruise, not something we’ve done before. We watched the sail away from our balcony after seeing the late arrivals. There were quite a few including a young couple who looked panicked and came running as fast as they could, some people were heckling them from their cabins. The poor girl was in tears and as it turned out we had to wait at least another half hour or so for a late excursion bus. I felt so sorry for her. It was celebration/gala night and we managed to get photos taken without too much of a queue this time. We said we just wanted a couple of shots of us stood together but the enthusiastic photographer must have taken around a dozen in various poses 🥴 Dinner in the MDR was very good. I had salmon cannelloni, followed by onion soup, my main was beef wellington and I finished it off with a chocolate and passion fruit dessert. 🥰 Women in rock were on in the theatre again and were very good, better than the first time I think. They sang one of Mr B’s favourite songs and I thought he might be squirming, he’s fussy about his music, but even he was impressed! We very much enjoyed Bergen and definitely want to go back another day. The day was topped off by seeing a full rainbow, beautiful! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Rare SarahHben Posted July 30 Author #25 Share Posted July 30 Last sea day: We had blue skies for our sea day and we made the most of it, walking around the outside decks. It was windy and not overly warm but there were a few people on Sun-loungers. We are on Britannia again next summer in the school holidays and are hoping to book The Retreat but it was interesting seeing the free adult only area, it looked very nice, I just wonder how busy it would get in a lovely warm day. At 11am there was a 2 minute silence to commemorate D Day and one of the guests played The Last Post on her bugle in the atrium and lots of the ships officers filed in, it was quite a special moment! Jim Whelan the actor did another talk in the theatre before lunch, again, we found him very interesting. After lunch we begrudgingly did our packing, and walked lots more. We had dinner in Sindhu, thus was a fantastic meal, I had the signature dishes of curries which were delicious 😋 After dinner was saw Gravity in the theatre, can’t for the life of me remember what it was, but I’ve written ‘very good’ next to it in my notebook 🤷♀️ We spent the rest of our evening sitting in the atrium listening to the orchestra, a good way to end our cruise. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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