Great bucket list cruise. Very port intensive so was also very tiring but we enjoyed it greatly. Gives you just a taste of each country so you can decide if you want to go back anywhere to spend more time in the future.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We were met at the Bergen airport and escorted to the ship. Embarkation was very fast and efficient.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate in the main dining room, the Italian restaurant and the buffet. The food was excellent in all of them.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
It seemed that all the music was strictly instrumental unless you wanted to stay up later. We would have liked a little more variety in the music/singing presented earlier in the evenings.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The 2 stage shows we saw were excellent. Especially the Beatles one.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our 2 room stewards were excellent and very friendly.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship is gorgeous and well maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had a Penthouse Veranda. The size was pretty spacious and the furnishings were very comfortable. We were the first cabin next to the bridge on the port side so we got to watch the pilot docking the ship in any port where we docked on the left side. We loved it.
Ship tip
Make sure you go to the afternoon tea at 4:00 PM in the Wintergarden and try the scones. We didn't discover this until halfway through the cruise but then went every day.
We visited a Norwegian farm on a shore excursion titled "A Taste of Norwegian Farm Life" and had the best hot chocolate and pastries. One of our favorite shore excursions ever.
In Stavanger we did "Pulpit Rock Cruise" through the Norwegian fjords. The fjords are breathtaking. Pulpit Rock was shrouded in mist when we first got there but as we idled and cruised around it, the mist lifted. And the boat was playing very dramatic music which perfectly fit the atmosphere. Great shore excursion.
Another great excursion - "Meet the Danes". We visited with Helen at her allotment garden which is where she stays for the summer in a little house and lots of gardens and flowers. And enjoyed a shot of Red Aquavit before we moved on to a gorgeous private home in Hasseris. The owner, Tove, was very gracious and also shared a drink with us before we left. Another great shore excursion.
Copenhagen itself is beautiful. But we did the complimentary excursion which was "Copenhagen by Foot". Our original shore excursion was cancelled because they didn't get enough people to book it. So we switched to the included tour instead. When we reserved this excursion we didn't notice that it was coded "d" for difficult. And it was very difficult. The walking was very fast paced on rough cobblestones. We had a very difficult time keeping up because the guide was committed to getting us back to the ship at his designated time even though we weren't sailing for several more hours. We made a recommendation on the ship that the time for this tour be extended by at least an hour to allow for stopping for photos. We really don't feel like we got to see and enjoy Copenhagen at all. There was no time to stop for pictures or the tour got too far ahead of you to be able to catch up. In fact one older couple even dropped out and found their own way back to the ship.
Here we did the "Scenic Berlin by Motor Coach & Cruise". We got to see all the typical tourist attractions while on the bus and then had a delightful cruise on the Spree River where we were served a typical German lunch. The food was delicious. The excursion started and ended with a train ride from the port to Berlin that was close to 2 hours each way. But it was comfortable and they served nice snacks along the way. But it made it a 12 hour excursion.
This excursion was called "Discover Culinary & Precious Treasures of Gdansk". We got to tour the city and then went to a cooking workshop where we made pierogis which they cooked and then we ate. I would have liked to be able to eat the actual pierogis we made but they were all put together when cooked so it wasn't possible to identify which were ours. Then we walked to another restaurant to have some nice snacks and try Goldwasser, a strong root and herbal liqueur with actual gold flakes suspended in it that is only made there and has been made since 1598. It was very strong - 40 proof. And the big surprise was that as we left the restaurant each person was handed a big shopping bag with a box containing a large bottle of Goldwasser and 2 of the special glasses that you drink it out of. It was advertised as a "memento" so we were shocked to each receive a full bottle and glasses.
We had a walking tour booked for this port but by the time we got to this port, we were exhausted. So we stayed on the ship and used this day to do our laundry in the complimentary launderette. In hindsight, we wish that we had at least used the complimentary shuttle and gone into town for an hour or so.
The first day we did the included tour of St. Petersburg which was a bus tour. St. Petersburg is absolutely breathtaking in its opulence. The second day we did a tour of Yusupov's Palace. This is the palace where Rasputin was killed. The palace is very beautiful and hard to imagine people actually lived here with all these riches.
We did an excursion called "Panoramic Helsinki & Porvoo". We did a bus tour of Helsinki with appropriate photo stops and then went to a coastal village called Porvoo. It was very interesting and full of great shops. We also had a stop at a restaurant for an amazing cup of coffee and their special little cake called a runeberg cake.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
