cruise – travel blog

Exploring the Norwegian fjords through three ports

The Norwegian Fjords are understandably known as one of the great natural wonders of the world. Many of the fjords are recognised by UNESCO as world heritage sites. They are sites for hiking, sailing, kayaking, fishing or even filming movies.

There are in fact over 1000 fjords in Norway, 10 of which are accessible by a cruise ship – which from my one-time experience of the Fjords was a very easy way to see them.

The Norwegian fjords are understandably known as one of the great natural wonders of the world. Many of the fjords are recognised by UNESCO as world heritage sites. They are sites for hiking, sailing, kayaking, fishing or even filming movies.

There are in fact over 1000 fjords in Norway, 10 of which are accessible by a cruise ship – which from my one-time experience of the fjords was a very easy way to see them. The cruise I took stopped at Olden, Ålesund and Stavanger. It was meant to stop at Hagesund but the weather prevented the fourth stop. Apparently we didn’t miss much.

What is a fjord?

According to National Geographic, a fjord is a long, deep, narrow body of water that reaches far inland. Fjords are formed when glaciers retreat. These natural formations were formed in the last ice age when water flowed into the gaps left by glaciers. Norway probably has the most famous of the fjords, but you can also find them in Canada, Chile, New Zealand, USA (Alaska) and Greenland.

A brief history of tourism to the Fjords

The first hotel in Norway (or the oldest still open) can be found in Utne, and it has been open since 1722. This was not used as much by tourists but more by business people using the ports for trading.

The fjords first “opened” for tourism in 1875 when Thomas Cook ran tours from Hull to the Hardangerfjord. This cruise route has become a firm favourite with travellers, who like me were intrigued by the scale of the natural beauty.

The fjords have also seen their share of social unrest, Trollfjord was the scene of the Battle of Trollfjord in 1890, when open-boat fishermen fought against the advent of steam-engine fishing boats.

How to see the fjords

The 10 largest fjords are accessible from major cruise ships – companies such as P&O, Royal Caribbean and MSC run regular trips to these wonders. The scenery on these is simply stunning, however, it is apparently nothing compared to the much smaller fjords that you need to access by smaller boats.

Of course, you can fly in, stay in a fjord town and hike them, but by far much of the drama comes from sailing past these imposing formations. There are also a range of train routes you can take if you prefer a land route that breeze through the fjords and allow you to bask in their beauty.

What is the culture?

With over 1000 fjords it is perhaps unsupring there is not a monolithic culture. Different fjords and their towns or cities have different cultures. As you will see if you go to the Stavanger Museum each area has a different interpretation of the Bunad, the Norwegian national costume. For example Hardangerfjord is known as the Orchard of Norway and is home to a range of cider producers.

Some of the towns are tiny (see Olden) and some are much more cosmopolitan (Stavanger). The one thing that feels consistent is the tourist Troll toys and models.

Port One: Olden

Olden, a small town that is largely reliant on tourism to fund its local economy was undoubtedly the town that had the most remarkable geology.

If you are lucky enough to stop in Olden, the Briksdale Glacier hike is a must. It’s not easy and it’s a bit of a faff to get to (you pretty much have to go on an organised trip, which are timed to cruise arrivals and you have a set window to explore) but it’s totally worth it. For those who are less mobile, there is an accessible version where Troll Cars take you most of the way up. If you’re on a shore excursion, I would book ahead with Olden Adventure – it’s 470 NK or about £35 GBP (this is about £10 cheaper than the P&O shore experience). Olden Adventure is set up for shore excursions so understand embarkation times etc. They also offer a cable car and bus-guided sightseeing. You can likely do two excursions in one day. We did the hike, then explored the very small village including the shop, a church, and another walk. If you’ve not booked in advance do not fear – we just turned up on the day and there was no problem with getting on a hike.

If you are driving to Olden then the Glacier also offers independent routes – more information is available here.

Port two: Ålesund

Ålesund may not be as beautiful as Olden, but thankfully there is a lot more to do.

The small town still feels pretty swamped when a 5000-person cruise rocks up, but it doesn’t feel like the entire local economy is beholden to the cruise ships.

In Ålesund, we did the “leisurely highlights” tour which included a short walk around the highest point in Alesund (you can walk up there, it’s steep but you can do it) and a trip to Sunnmøre, an outdoor museum which also includes a random exhibition of Norwegian advertising. In the outdoor museum, the collection of 56 houses from around Norway are an interesting quirk and gives a snapshot into life in Norway. However as with most of our stops, it was the view with lunch that won it.

Art Nouveau was developed in the 1890s and was popular until the first world war. It aimed to bring together previous styles and is characterised by asymetrical curves and lines and bright colours.

For our afternoon, we shunned the museums in the town centre (wasn’t enough time to explore them, have our packed lunch and see the town and harbour).

The interesting thing about Ålesund Town is it feels more like Brussels or Paris than it does other Norwegian towns. This is because following a factory fire at the turn of the twentieth century about 800 homes were destroyed. Support was sent from around Europe and the architects who were rebuilding it were inspired by the art nouveau movement that was popular in central Europe. Most of the town was rebuilt at the same time (1904 – 1907) so it’s fairly uniform in its look.

The bright blue sky definitely enhanced our experience and lit up this beautiful town. Though we shunned the official walking tour, there are plenty available.

Just one tip: we decided to buy lunch from a Londis to save some money (sandwich and fizzy water was over £10). This was a mistake. I mean yes, it was cheaper than a cafe but my oh my it was grim.

If you have the extra £5 to spend, do it.

Port three: Stavanger

Stavanger offers once again an utterly unique experience. As opposed to art nouveau, you are inundated with street art (of various quality).

Stavanger sets itself apart from Ålesund and Olden as the only stop you could fill more than one day as a tourist.

We enjoyed a jam-packed day with a museum pass and visited the National Petroleum Museum (better than it sounds), the Stavanger Museum and the Maritime Museum as well as the old town… and there was much more left to do.

The Old Town

Stavanger’s Old Town features narrow roads that are lined with cobbled pavements and white wooden houses that date back to the eighteenth century. This relatively compact group of 173 houses makes for a lovely walking route and for cruisers, it is conveniently located a few hundred meters from the harbour. The houses are immaculately presented and many are adorned with colourful flowers. It will likely take you no more than about 30 minutes to walk around the old town. The old town is also home to the Canning Museum. Yup, that’s a museum dedicated to putting things into cans. You can even see how fish was canned. I mock, but I am now quite gutted I didn’t go.

The Petroleum Museum

If you had said to me at the start of the trip that this would have been a highlight I would have laughed at you. In your face.

The Petroleum Museum is open from 10am – 7pm and costs 150 NK (£11 GBP) for an adult.

However when faced with a downpour (it rains over 230 days a year in Stavanger) it seemed like a good way to spend an hour or two. How wrong I was. This museum was a deep dive into how finding oil in the 1970s transformed Norway’s economy.

But that’s not all… the museum also features a mock oil rig (complete with escape slide, that big kids can enjoy), fancy dress (yup) opportunities to make a big bang, and a section dedicated to climate change and decarbonization (I am still undecided if this counts as greenwashing).

The Stavanger Museum

At the top of the hill lies the Stavanger Museum. My this was a find – it was almost everything I love about a small museum in one building. This quiet museum houses an eclectic mix of exhibitions all in a deceptively large old building… taxidermy, national dress, floating heads that talk at you, an enchanted wonderland, sex education and giant toys.

This museum is great fun – you can sit in a plastic womb, dress up like someone from the 1970s and learn a lot about culture in the country.

A first-time guide to a Cruise

This Easter we took sail for the first time. I’ve always been cynical about if I would enjoy a cruise but my friend convinced me to book Norwegian Fjords on P&O Cruises ship, the Iona. It can be daunting. As a first-timer I found the cruise ship like another world – they have their own lingo, ways of paying and there are even different laws when you’re at sea.

I’ve processed the holiday, googled a lot of what I saw and heard so, here is what you need to know if you’re thinking about booking or have just booked your first cruise.

It’s a REALLY easy holiday

As someone who likes to see a lot of things, a cruise was a really easy and fairly cheap way of seeing a lot. The fact you were taken to the next place, you don’t have to make many decisions about food or seek out entertainment.

The most taxing thing we did all week was working out how to get our complimentary glass of fizz on celebration night (it came with dinner in exchange for a voucher – simples).

This was really really appreciated and meant we could truly relax!

A cruise ship is its own world

Glossary:

Freedom restaurants: places you don’t pay extra for but serve you food.
Sea day: day at sea, where you will be in the middle of the ocean. If you are lucky, you will see a wind farm.
Talk about xyz: sales opportunity (!)
Celebration/ gala evening: this is black tie dining, where the food is better than usual and you get a glass of fizz. It takes place across the ship, not in a specific place.
Cruise credit: Onboard spending money that comes as part of your package.
Friends of Bill W: AA meeting on a cruise – called this to protect anonymity.

The Cruise Ship is enormous and most have thousands of people. You are given a map for a reason. In essence, the ship is its own society with everything you might need – from a theatre, to different standards of restaurants, to a gym, a library, shops, many bars and games like shuffleboard. You can even get married or renew your vows on some boats.

Like in the real world, you need many changes of clothes – for every occasion you encounter on the ship.

Like with other holidays where people will go to the same place but try a new hotel, people will do the same cruise but on a different ship.

There is a daily newspaper that is jam-packed with talks, exercise classes, worship opportunities, kids activities, cinema times, shows and offers.

This also means it has its own language. People who are used to cruising know the lingo and it can feel like speaking in tounges.

Your cruise card is your key

On the Iona, everything was synced to one card, your Cruise Card – this was how you paid for everything (even duty-free – it linked to the credit card you provide in advance), it acted as your room key, checked you on and off the ship when at port, helped you access WiFi, on-ship bookings etc.

Pack a range of clothes

I read so much about formal nights, weather at different ports and wind on deck before I went that I definitely overpacked. However, you do need a good range of clothes for a cruise. One formal outfit is advisable as some restaurants do need it and you don’t want to miss out on a good night because you only bought tatty jeans.

I also packed two sets of gym gear, yoga pants for relaxing, jeans for shore days and my swimming costume. Because we had booked a hike for one of our ports, I also ended up bringing four pairs of shoes: hiking boots, flat pumps, trainers for gym and walking shoes. Ok five as I also bought my pool-side flip flops. In hindsight this wasn’t needed but I didn’t know what to expect.

Even the basic cabins come fully equipped

Remember, your cabin is your hotel room. Even the most basic cabins on a cruise come with all the things you would expect: clean towels every day, small fridge, a good TV, a hair dryer, instant coffee and tea bags, shampoo and body wash. The cabins are cleaned and beds are made every day, which is a bonus as many hotels now don’t do this.

There is also a fridge, but it’s not big enough to keep your litre of booze you’re allowed to bring onboard in. And it’s also not that cold. Or mine wasn’t.

On P&O you can even have a standard breakfast delivered as room service for no additional cost – but there are lovely upgrades you can also pay extra for.

I haven’t worked out how they determine which plugs to have but P&O which sail from the UK have British plugs on them.

Be prepared, book in advance

Your fellow passengers in addition to knowing all the lingo, will have planned their trip meticulously – from how they book parking (see below) to the spa, to planning dinners and shore experiences. Essentially from when you book, you’re in competition for every game of table tennis, shuffleboard, dinner table or parking space. You need to get in early or miss out.

Booking in advance also extends to Baby supplies. If you need a travel cot, you need to contact the cruise provider in advance. P&O even have a long lead time for Baby food: they need at least 7 weeks’ notice from when you are sailing.

Specialty dining should also be booked in advance. On P&O it opens two weeks before sailing. Again people will be organised and there at one minute past midnight so be prepared! We tried to book about 10 days out and nothing with entertainment was left at all. There was a pub with spaces but that was it. Fear not, the buffet is still excellent but it doesn’t have a celeb singing!

Research shore experiences

The shore experiences provided by the cruise company are really good and represent good value. They pick you up from the ship, you don’t have to worry about where to go, and they offer a really fantastic range of options depending how mobile and adventurous you are or how much you have to spend.

However, we also found that some of the experiences were identical to those which you could buy at the port. In one case, we missed the boat (boom) on a hike that was organised by the company we travelled with but got the same trip for £20 less at the port. DEAL!

The other reason it is worth researching is there is not loads to do in some ports. Cruise stops are determined partly by which ports on a route can support a large ship coming into dock. Not planning and booking can give you a dull day.

Book your parking as soon as you book the cruise

This may seem silly, but cruise companies way over-allocate parking slots as I learned the hard way.

If you add parking to your booking, you reserve the right to register for parking when you book, but you don’t actually book your parking. This is done by a separate phone call. CPS is one of the major providers of Cruise parking and are pretty strict on booking policy.

The T&Cs on your parking at the port are included in your booking confirmation but what they don’t tell you is 10 days is the ABSOLUTE LATEST you can register your car. Many car parks book up a month in advance, especially during a busy period.

You can’t actually swim in the pools

Well on the ship we went on anyway. There were four pools on board, which as a keen swimmer I was really excited about. HOWEVER, not one was more than about 10 metres in length which makes it impossible to actually swim.

Watch the extras

Unlike staying in an all-inclusive hotel (the closest thing I can equate the cruise to) there is a lot included, but there is also the ability to buy a lot of add-ons or upgrade meals, snacks etc.

WiFi is cheaper when bought in advance, but you pay per-person, per-day for it, and on the liner we went with, you had to buy the whole cruise if bought in advance. You can buy single days once onboard which depending on how much you cannot live without an internet connection, could be cheaper.
Drinks can be bought as a package or on-the-go and if you are not a heavy drinker, on-the-go will likely be cheaper. The drinks packages on P&O have recently changed, so it’s really important to research if it’s worth it for you. Most important thing to note is you have to buy the drinks package for the duration of your cruise, you cannot just choose a day or two.
Meals in the buffet and casual dining restaurants are included in your package but lots of restaurants are not. You pay extra for coffee (on P&O it’s costa), gelato and any soft drinks not in the buffet and alcohol.
Spa use – the swimming pools are included but things such as the relaxation areas or saunas come at an additional cost. How these are sold varies by provider.

Cruise insurance is not negotiable

If you’re like I was a few years ago and would cut a corner by traveling uninsured (this stopped when I went to the US and realised what healthcare would cost me) then prioritise this one. It’s easy to find – for example on CompareTheMarket. Most companies will not let you board without cruise insurance that has a minimum of £2 million in cover. I think this is if you need air ambulance however it also covers things like changes in schedule…

Your schedule could change

The nature of being on a cruise ship means that some of the stops can be cancelled or changed – if the waters are too stormy or treacherous. This happened to us and it meant we had 3 days at sea and 3 port days, not 2 at sea and 4 port days. This was disappointing, but the ship staff are clearly used to it as letters came to our cabin explaining the new schedule and how to make an insurance claim (not sure what for still but…) and there was a great assortment of on-board entertainment put on: we tried shuffleboard!

Timings are absolute

From the word go, timing is of the essence. Because of the number of people they need to get on and off the boat, you will be given a short timeslot to check-in and board the boat. You need to arrive at this time, not before, not after. The same goes for disembarking.

When the cruise says back on board by 4.30, it means we will start looking for passengers who haven’t been registered as back onboard at 4.20 so we can leave at 4.30. An excursion that starts at 9.30 will start at 9.30 and most people will be there by 9.10.

Movement

Were surprised by how much and how little we could feel the boat move. Anna gets travel sick more than I do and didn’t feel sick, which is good.

Using your mobile phone

Once you leave a country phone tariff, your phone will switch to a Maritime tariff. This is REALLY expensive. On EE I was quoted £6.52 for 4MB of data that would last 24 hours, £3.11 a minute to make a call / £3.11 to receive a call, and 76p to send a text. In short, it isn’t worth it, and it makes the on-ship Wifi look attractive. Or read a book!

Get ahead of the laundry!

It’s true that laundry isn’t front of mind for most when on holiday, but on the P&O cruise ships the laundry rooms are free of charge, you just need to bring some detergent. It might feel like finishing your holiday before you get home to use your last sea day to do laundry, but it will save you money and aggravation when back home.