I was not sure what to expect as a first time cruiser but I was pleasantly surprised with it. I was on the cruise with my husband and his brother (who had an inside cabin). Our cabin with a balcony was clean and the steward, Ritesh, was fantastic, He was polite, courteous, friendly, helpful and cheerful. Nothing was too much trouble. We had our evening meals in the lower Meridian restaurant and the 2 waiters (Kevin and Richard) who looked after us made us feel as if we were the only passengers that they were looking after. I found the food to be very good but my husband (who is a very fussy eater) was sometimes disappointed with what he had chosen. But the waiters tried to rectify the situation. The entertainment in the palladium theatre was fantastic. It was lovely to listen to a comedian without being bombarded with foul language. We did 2 trips from the ship and the one from Olden was amazing but the trip from Flaam was not so good and I did put in a written complaint to the shore excursion team. We are hoping to do another trip on the Arcadia next year.
The embarkation was very smooth although we did have to wait a little while before we could embark but that was something to do with one of the gangplanks.
It was a very wet day and we just managed a short walk. You need to take out a mortgage if you buy a drink on shore!
We did go on an excursion when we got to Olden. When we disembarked we were greeted by a member of the shore excursion team who showed us which coach we were on. The whole trip was great as the scenery was fantastic. It was the Norwegian national day so our guide was in traditional Norwegian dress.
We had a very leisurely walk around Bergen and thoroughly enjoyed it.