First Cruise - Norwegian Fjords

krooton said:
I've only ever cruised with other people, however every single cruise I have been on I have made at least a handful of friends with randoms on board. Really will vary by brand and destination though, a Med cruise on TUI/AIDA you'd probably struggle as the majority of guests would be German, but something like Royal Carribean/Virgin/Celebrity/NCL would be a bit more eclectic. Or go P&O/Cunard if you want to be with mainly other Brits.
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Thanks… I can speak German.. very basic but it’s got me by in the past.
 
LOL i think my mum was on the Iona when that happened on the Britannia. There are people out there that will abuse the drinks packs and cant handle it and cause trouble. The security staff are apparently fantastic if anything like this ever happens. If it happens on the trip you normally get booted off at the next port and have to make your own way back to the UK.
 
slinxy said:
Sorry for the pivot.. but anyone been on a cruise on their own?
Never been on a cruise before, most of my holidays have been land based staying in a restore but I like the idea of being able to go to muliple places. Just that it's very likely that I would have to go on my lonesome.

Thou it would have to be a cruise in a warm region, as much as I love the nordic people that I've met and the countries do look beautiful... I'm very much a summer bunny.

Thanks in advance..
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I don't think many are set up for solo cruisers, i.e. I think a lot of cruises you'll pay the same as if you will be with someone, so it works out quite a bit more expensive. Might be different for all-inclusive where you'd expect them to make an allowance for only 1 eating/drinking.In my early years I did a lot of travelling on my own (not cruises), and the only time I felt odd was eating time, so I mostly did fast food stuff.
 
I did enjoy but didnt see the aurora. It was pretty overcast and chilly most of the time and then we missed the final port because of extremely strong winds so had 2 days at sea for the last 2 days and the weather was really nice. Coming out of the fjord from Olden was fantastic just cruising up as it was starting to get a little dark with some areas of dense forest, snow capped mountains and the odd house in the middle of nowhere was great to see.

The food onboard was great and it was a pretty chill week of relaxing, rewatching some movies and going for food while looking at the scenery.
 
My first cruise was was P&O on Azura to the Norwegian Fjord and though we did not get off to a good stat. Due to a Nora virus out break on the cruise before my one. We had to wait in the security / arrive lounge for narly 4 hours which was stuffy, hot and only had very small drink area.
Any way once on board we explored from top to bottom of the ship to get our bearing, and to know our way around the ship.

Our first impressions were the food was excellent, the gym ok, entertainment very good, staff helpful and friendly. Though all the open air pools were drained and no food was available from the Lido burger / pizza bar due to the Nora virus out break.
The scenery steaming up the Fjord was amazing, and some thing out of a Jurassic park movie !

In all we were happy with the holiday / cruise though not sure if cruising was for us.
Since then we havedone 4 cruises including the Iona to Norwegian Fjords, and loved the shi especailly the street food outlets i.e Fish n Chips. Some of the best Fish n Chips I have tasted in a very long time.
All the food dinning area are very good, so is the gym ( proper Olympic bars and 20kg plates ), cinema, theatre, production shows, and very lovely ship to be on.
If the ship went further north in Norway I would go again.
 
I was of the same thoughts but to be honest i would go on one again. My mum and sister asked me and i said yes and they asked if i would prefer somewhere hotter. To be honest i am not a hot weather person. If its sunny and clear then its fine if its flipping hot then i am not a fan. So who knows. I would be tempted with the 2 week one that goes between the UK and Canries at xmas if it was cheap enough but we will have to see.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
I was of the same thoughts but to be honest i would go on one again. My mum and sister asked me and i said yes and they asked if i would prefer somewhere hotter. To be honest i am not a hot weather person. If its sunny and clear then its fine if its flipping hot then i am not a fan. So who knows. I would be tempted with the 2 week one that goes between the UK and Canries at xmas if it was cheap enough but we will have to see.
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I'm doing 2 weeks in the canaries in Feb next year :) (but flying to tenerife, not cruising from here)
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Sounds good.. To be honest tho i would prefer to be on the ship in the sunshine than the hassle of a plane there and back.
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Yeah, but we've never been to the Canaries, so for us it's an opportunity to see more of the place. A cruise from Soton would be 6 days at sea just getting to/from the islands, 5 days in the islands and a couple of days in Cadiz/Lisbon or similar :)
 
UPDATE!

Looking for next years cruise. Looking at the PandO Arvia Med (France, Spain and Italy) for 14 nights in April. Now to see if we can get a decent deal on it.
 
krooton said:
Just heading back to Southampton on Celebrity Apex after a fantastic cruise to Skagen, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo, weather has been amazing.
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I've now been on 4 cruises, all with P&O. Three on Aurora and one on Arcadia (both the adult ships) and we are booked now to do Iona next year and a MSC PREZIOSA one early next year too as we try out different Ships and companies. Impression we have so far is P&O is a pretty low cost but decent cruise, we have enjoyed all so far.

But the reason I've quoted you is I'm looking at something special, probably Northern Europe for 2026 and an anniversary. Whilst looking at alternatives to P&O I did spend a bit of time looking at Celebrity Apex. Main negative reviews seem to be lack of outside space, large portions of the best bits of the ship are for the top tier people only (retreat class?) and entertainment seems patchy with little to do during the day with not many places to sit on poverty class with difficultly getting served. Rough numbers for comparison, P&O cruise comes in at 4k, Apex (without the Retreat class) is 5k total but 10k with retreat which is over my spend tbh.
Did you go top class? or did you go standard and found it good? Everyone says the rooms are fantastic but thats not really the selling point for me!
 
Don’t do that’s I did on a posh cruise full of old folk - get smashed on amazing *cocktails, get lost, burst into wrong room at night, realise, stumble off.

Got a warning from the head of security they’ll leave me and misses at the next port if it happens again. Was like being in school at the headmasters office, was just the worst.

When they pulled up my drinks bill*, my face was like Neo in The Matrix when being interrogated by the agents, totally busted and extremely embarrassed.

*had unlimited drinks package
 
peige said:
I've now been on 4 cruises, all with P&O. Three on Aurora and one on Arcadia (both the adult ships) and we are booked now to do Iona next year and a MSC PREZIOSA one early next year too as we try out different Ships and companies. Impression we have so far is P&O is a pretty low cost but decent cruise, we have enjoyed all so far.

But the reason I've quoted you is I'm looking at something special, probably Northern Europe for 2026 and an anniversary. Whilst looking at alternatives to P&O I did spend a bit of time looking at Celebrity Apex. Main negative reviews seem to be lack of outside space, large portions of the best bits of the ship are for the top tier people only (retreat class?) and entertainment seems patchy with little to do during the day with not many places to sit on poverty class with difficultly getting served. Rough numbers for comparison, P&O cruise comes in at 4k, Apex (without the Retreat class) is 5k total but 10k with retreat which is over my spend tbh.
Did you go top class? or did you go standard and found it good? Everyone says the rooms are fantastic but thats not really the selling point for me!
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I have sailed on all the Solstice, most of the Edge class Celebrity ships, and never higher than Aquaclass, and I would say those negative reviews are overblown.

Yes, Celebrity is more of a relaxed atmosphere, it does not have the party vibes of Carnival or Royal, but my wife and I have been sailing with them since our 30s, and have never been bored. Admittedly, we aren't stay-up-late party people, as we tend to get up early and explore the ports that we visit, but even on sea days we have plenty of time to chill, do quizzes, watch shows, eat, drink, take part in activities (we really enjoyed the pseudo-escape room on Apex). They do skew on the older side in the UK (averaging around 60), so the entertainers are often geared more towards the oldies, but we love the production shows, which are much more contemporary, and the theatre on Edge class is blooming gorgeous. Eden is also a great place to chill and take in the views of the ship's wake, and the Eden cafe is one of my favourite places for lunch.

In terms of the Retreat, the biggest difference is that it does not come with the same issues that the MSC Yacht Club or NCL's Haven concepts. On Edge class they do get their own sundeck at the front, their own dining room (which is way too fancy fru-fru for us any way), and their lounge. When you leave the Yacht Club on an MSC ship and go into gen-pop, the experience degrades massively and it becomes like a zoo. On Celebrity ALL areas of the ship are spacious, well designed and frankly just lush. There is no 'poverty class' as you put it, and is the main reason why I never even consider the Retreat, as I don't feel I am getting a worse experience not being in there.

I'm not sure on the issue of outside space, were they perhaps referring to the Infinite balconies? Those are pretty polarizing for some, but I actually prefer them to traditional balconies, especially in cooler regions like Alaska or the Fjords. In terms of outside public spaces, you have a pretty baller main pool deck, with a sick infinity loop walking track that spans 2 decks, sunset bar, big are of the rooftop garden, plus the Magic Carpet. There is also space on the lower decks outside Eden.

Also, Oceanview cafe on Edge class is a fantastic buffet, big, bright double height windows with amazing views, free ice-cream counter, a variety of foods that a notable step up from Royal/MSC, and a pizza counter right at the back. We actually tend to have most of our dinners there rather than in main dining, as the whole restaurant faff of having a waiters, being served courses, etc, is not how we like to holiday (others love that obvs), and being able to picks and choose a variety and eat more leisurely is our preference.

I have done 4 northern Europe cruises, Baltics and St Petersburg (pre-Ukraine) on Azamara, Norwegian Fjords on Celebrity Eclipse and then again on Apex a few years later, and this year we did a Best Of Scandinavia cruise on Apex again. The one this year we were just in an Oceanview (and were in Aquaclass on Apex for the Fjords), and honestly had no issue. Room was still spacious, and much cheaper than Aquaclass (which admittedly did have full access to the Spa facilities for the whole cruise, and Blu as the exclusive restaurant).

Basically, Celebrity offers a relaxed, premium experience with good food and great service (honestly the crew are amazing), fewer kids, and sexy hardware.
 
krooton said:
I have sailed on all the Solstice, most of the Edge class Celebrity ships, and never higher than Aquaclass, and I would say those negative reviews are overblown.

Basically, Celebrity offers a relaxed, premium experience with good food and great service (honestly the crew are amazing), fewer kids, and sexy hardware.
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Thanks for this Krooton. The age group thing we are used to, we are normally in the lower age range for P&O but still love the shows, sounds like Celebrity offers a really good mix. Its a way off but we are going to watch some more reviews on the tube over the coming days and try and narrow down a cruise, your information has kept them on the short list :)
 
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