Why Norway has the best cruise ports

 This is my second time cruising Norway and it just gets better each time. I can recommend all the ports I have visited. Below are the ports I have visited. All are easy walking towns.

Oslo 

Lovely harbour. Get the one day tourist card for museums and public transport. Worth the money. Saw four museums and shopping was good. The castle is right where you get off the ship.

Bergen 

Great fish market. Take the vehicular up the mountain. Views are great and go early. Bought the museum pass. Worth the money.

Flamm

Been there twice . Everyone takes the train the first time. I thought it was just ok and expensive. Pre book. The second time I did the easy hike behind the hotel. Pastoral and beautiful views of the ship and fjords.

Make sue your out on the deck for the sail away for at lest an hour. Beautiful scenery.

Maloy

Take the highlights tour as there is nothing to do in town

Alesund 

Clearly my favourite. Take the city train tour. Well worth the money. Great walking city. Scenic and good shopping.

The prices here were comparable to Canada. 

Love Norway and will return

Hope this helps 

Marcia

What to do in Reykjavik the very expensive town

 Reykjavik is really expensive. So here’s what I did to keep costs down.

Do

Take the free city shuttle to from ship. Leaves every 20 minutes from 8 to 9:30 pm. Drop off at the concert hall. 10 minutes to old town or 15 to the church walking.

I did the Elding boat tour to see the puffins, About 70 cdn dollars. Loved it.

Did the whales of Iceland museum. Not worth th $33 cdn dollars. Just rubber life size whales.

Walked to free churches both good. 

Great walk along the seafront from ship if it’s a nice day and your fit as it’s 3 miles. You may see whales. There is a house made of recycled metal and wood. A must see and it’s free. The Viking sculpture and a few stone one are also good.

Not

Shopping is way too expensive as are restaurants. I went to a bakery and grocery and got a pastry and pop for Seven dollars

A beer was 15 dollars.

Look at the clearance sale in the souvenir shops. I got magnets etc for a dollar. 

Hope this helps

Marcia

Greenock Scotland a nice port to visit- suggestions

 Greenock is a somewhat depressed sea town, with a lot of closed shops. I found the people to be lovely and helpful. Don’t miss the esplanade walk. You may see dolphins, seals and swans. Note it’s 3/4 mile to get to the start and then a mile long.  Not much to do here so take the bus or train to Glasgow.

Hope this helps

Marcia

Southampton England only go to get on a ship - never again

 Southampton as far as i am concerned is only good for boarding a ship.  They refer to this city as a bit rough .  I agree totally.

 I stayed at IBIS Southampton city Center. It’s so close to the Horizon terminal 8 minute walk with luggage. Note all I’d the side walks are uneven making it hard to roll your suitcase.  One of my luggage wheel was damaged.

I only recommend the hotel for its proximity to the terminal. The room was clean but no air conditioning and they don’t honour their 2 pm check in.

The old town is tiny with a bit of the old city wall.  At night there are motorcycles gangs and overall it’s a rough area.

I won’t take ships out of this port again. The national express bus was late and they cancelled the return without advising me. 

I took a train to Waterloo station. It was packed and no where for luggage unless it’s snail for the overhead. Than the tube to paddington. Warning you must use your credit or debit card to get in out of the stations. It will cost you more than double if you use cash. I then took th Heathrow express to the airport.

If you can avoid Southampton as your departure port do so.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Impressions of msc virtuoso - mostly impressed on Northern Europe cruise

 Msc virtuoso is impressive and the bad reviews on trip advisor should be taken as indications of potential problems, not that you will encounter them. Many cruisers on this ship are repeat customers. 

Embarkation was about 30 minutes at Southampton horizon terminal. Easy and painless.

Food so far in the restaurants has been good and varied.  Had to queue to get a set table and time. Do this on day 1 if your table is unassigned or you want to change the time. There is a desk set up outside of the blue Danube restaurant.

Cabin an ocean view is small and clean.  The window is much larger than all the other ships I have been on. I had to clean the inside with a Clorox wipe and they seldom clean the outside. When they do it’s still spotted.

Internet didn’t work but after another queue day 1 and a password change it worked. So far it’s been working fine. Note when it goes down you need to re sign in.  It’s down in the fjords of Iceland and Norway.

To sign up for the specialty carousel shows times is another queue on day 2 morning.  You then pick the days and times. For all other shows just go to the electronic boards and pick your shows dates and times.  You can also go ten minutes before the show and just walk in if there is room.

The first paid show in the carousel lounge was a mini cirque de soleil show. Some guests rave about it. However if you have seen the Las Vegas shows this is just a taste. In my opinion they should not charge extra for it. You get a free drink pre made .

All other shows have been good but they added shows so you had to rebook again.

Greenock was lovely. The people are nice and the esplanade walk of a mile long was the best part.

Ayafyordur is in the northern fjords of Iceland. It’s a pretty town. Walk up to the avalanche line or higher for great views.  Take the first tender as msc only uses two for this port. You may not get off unless you early. Note Msc has the absolute worse security process for getting back on a ship. Expect no less than 30 minutes to go thru only one security line.

Reykjavik was a small town, with high prices. It’s a three mile walk one way along the water but beautiful. Don’t miss the house of reclaimed metal and wood. It’s free.  Best thing to do is to take the free shuttle right where you dock. Leaves every 20 minutes from 8am til 9:30 pm . The puffin boat tour was good.

Alesfond Norway is beautiful. Take the city train about $36 CDN for a 70 minute trip including up the mountain . Lovely views and good shopping.

Malloy Norway is a nothing to do town so take the ship tour for highlights of Maloy. 

Flamm Norway is so pretty. I had taken the train before so did the short hike around town and up the hill. Prices for souvenirs was the cheapest here.

Day one was three queues and about an hour lost to lining up.  They need more staff on these tasks after people board.

I loved the cabin, restaurant, general atmosphere. 

I hated the dirty outside windows, the tendering process and the extra long security lines to get on the ship. They need to add more ways to get on for the non yacht club people.

Overall I will try another msc cruise.

Hope this helps

Marcia