green-light-on Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Hi all, thinking of taking the wife on a cruise to the Fjords in Norway for her birthday has any one been on this type of cruise, if so any thoughts good or bad experiances good or bad cruise companies places to visit ect many thanks Gray. Quote
KerryS Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Went on one last month with Hurtigruten, Gray. Expensive but a terrific week. Flew to Bergen, transfer to ship, 6 nights on board, get off at Kirkenes and fly home via a night in Oslo. I posted a photo I took of the Northern Lights on here when I got back. Food on ship was excellent but alcohol is VERY expensive as it is anywhere in Norway. PM me if you want more info or see you at Derby meet next week? Quote
green-light-on Posted March 15, 2009 Author Posted March 15, 2009 Thanks for the reply Kerry i will see you at the next club meet, if you can bring the details Gray. Quote
Scottish Bloke Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Went a couple of years ago, great scenery, food etc but as Kerry said, VERY VERY expensive, ie £8 - 10 for a pint Quote
scruffythefirst Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Go into Norway with work occasionally, £5-8 a pint, beer is terrible, spirits are just as expensive. Norwegians know how to party though, doesn't get going till at lest midnight. Probably pretty rough this time of year, one of our ships has been sitting in Bergen waiting for a decent weather window for months. Quote
gbduo Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I work for Carnival UK as a Engineer Officer. This incorporates the brands, P&O Cruises, Princess, Cunard, etc. I am on the Aurora from April 13th and will be going up to the Norwegian Fjords on her on the 3rd June from Southampton. If you were planning on doing it next year I can give you the full run down, or if you can wait till June I could send you a PM whilst I am out there with pictures and all sorts! I have cruised with P&O before and they have always been impeccable, the food is amazing, booze is still cheap because you are not buying at Norway prices, indeed you are buying tax free usually due to international waters. You leave from Southampton and cruise back to Southampton. Have a look here: http://www.pocruises.com/Cruises/R905/Overview.axd If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask! Graham Quote
KerryS Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 I realise the way we did the trip was probably more expensive than what gbduo is talking about but it was a long promised rather special trip. Total cost for the two of us was £4k excluding kennel costs! Quote
gbduo Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Kerry, That cruise looks awesome! Much smaller and you see different places due to the smaller size of the ship! I guess if you want to see all of the Norwegian Fjords then your cruise is the one to go for, if you want a flavour and want to go back and spend more money next time, go P&O But wow, just looked at that Hurtigruten and I must say, it does look amazing! Nice choice... Graham PS Call me Graham, gbduo is the registration number of a plane I used to fly but it is a bit weird, Graham is fine! Quote
KerryS Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Graham It didn't look small some of the places they took it believe me. Calls in at 30+ places on way north, some at dead of night so didn't see them. We had a bridge visit and who needs a captain? Damn thing steered itself radar/sat nav etc . It had two directional props at the stern and 3 damn big bowthrusters at the front. Our boat has a bowthruster about 15cm dia, these were 2m dia!! At each stop there were two complicated loading ramps put out, one for freight, one for passengers. Then there was a crazy fork-lift truck dance as they took things out and put other stuff back in. Was a good trip Quote
gbduo Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Yeh deckies (Captain, navigators, etc!) are a waste of space and money. All the ships have TomTom on them now and such sophisticated computers that a 5 year old could do it. Engineering however...well computers have come and meant we get more detailed read outs, but you still have to grease those nipples! If you ever get to go on a P&O ship, let me know and hopefully I will be on it, I'll take you down to the best place on ship, the Engine Room. They are HUGE and the engines are the size of houses. Absolutely incredible! Much more exciting than a room with a few windows. http://image59.webshots.com/159...._fs.jpg http://image64.webshots.com/64/4/9/80/2074409800061219462JHVOOS_fs.jpg Just found those two images of Aurora on a simple Google search and that scenery looks immense! I absolutely cannot wait to go now! Directional props eh? Very cool! Must have been a fairly new ship then as that is quite a new design on most merchant ships. The scale of everything on these ships is simply out of this world, I absolutely love it! Glad you had a good time, I can't wait till June now, and I bet neither can Gray when he gets to go! 30 ports though, that is amazing! How long was the cruise? Graham Quote
KerryS Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Just 6 nights on the ship. The company has a fleet of ships such that one leaves every day from Bergen 365 days a year. They head up the coast to Kirkenes, just next to Russia (even street signs are in Russian!), turn round and head back. Most days we saw one of the other ships heading South and they play tunes on their hooters Quote
jak Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 If you ever get to go on a P&O ship, let me know and hopefully I will be on it, I'll take you down to the best place on ship, the Engine Room. They are HUGE and the engines are the size of houses. Absolutely incredible! Much more exciting than a room with a few windows. Graham, I'm on the Ventura doing the Med in August, it would be great to see the business end of the ship. Don't suppose you'll be on that one will you? John Quote
gbduo Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 If you ever get to go on a P&O ship, let me know and hopefully I will be on it, I'll take you down to the best place on ship, the Engine Room. They are HUGE and the engines are the size of houses. Absolutely incredible! Much more exciting than a room with a few windows. Graham, I'm on the Ventura doing the Med in August, it would be great to see the business end of the ship. Don't suppose you'll be on that one will you? John 'Fraid not I am afraid. I am back in Southampton under training then. I would love to see the business end of Ventura as well! Ask one of the engineers, say you have a Westfield and you will give them a ride...I am sure they will show you around! Hopefully...stupid security laws now after 9/11 make life difficult. But yeh, if you ask a Engineer, look for officers with a gold braid with violet and gold rather than a single gold stripe on their epaulettes, look for stripes with a violet velvet background. They are the engineers I am so jealous of you getting to go on Ventura. My mate who is on the deck side is on Ventura atm in the Caribbean I think and he is absolutely loving it. Beautiful ship, well built, good crew! Where are you going? Are you local to Southampton? Graham Quote
gbduo Posted March 16, 2009 Posted March 16, 2009 Just 6 nights on the ship. The company has a fleet of ships such that one leaves every day from Bergen 365 days a year. They head up the coast to Kirkenes, just next to Russia (even street signs are in Russian!), turn round and head back. Most days we saw one of the other ships heading South and they play tunes on their hooters Awesome! That sounds really good, I will see if I can find one when I get out there! Quote
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