We are not seasoned Cruise people but decided to go on this cruise, as it was possible to join it in Cork (our home town) and because the destination was the Norwegian Fjords. We booked through a local travel agent in Cork and that turned out to be our only mistake. We joined the cruise to the Norwegian Fjords on its third day in Cobh, Co. Cork Ireland. The day was one of the sunniest experienced in years so it was a great start. The ship is amazing. We had booked a deluxe cabin with balcony and it was nice and comfortable. There is plenty to do on board and the Ice skating shows were spectacular. The food was top class and the staff were more than friendly. The first port we arrived at in Norway after a brilliant four hour journey up the Fjord, was Olden. It is a beautiful little port with a road tourist train that brings you around the lake. We went on the Scenic Lake Styrn tour in the afternoon and it was lovely. The next port was Alesund (pronounced Olesund) and we went on a 7 hour tour called the Path of the Trolls. The tour could have been organized a bit better as we backtracked after the second last stop that made the non-stop journey back very long. The next stop was Flam with a 7 hour journey up the fjord. We went on another 7 hour tour called Overland to Voss, Tvinde & Stalheim. The day was brilliant starting off on the famous Flam Railway, the day was well organised with great photo opportunities. The next port was Stavanger a lovely city and the Oil capital of Norway. We went on a boat trip to pulpit rock and had a great time. The next stop was Kristiansand a beautiful port where we went on and afternoon boat trip (excellent) and returned by coach. We then went on to Oslo and berthed in the heart of the city. There are great things to do and see in the Capital, we went on the afternoon city sightseeing tour that also brought us up to the winter ski jump. The tour is a bit rushed and you get just 15 mins at the ski jump with no time for exploring or photos. We then left Norway with one full day at sea and arrived in Zeebrugge, Belgium. We decided to visit Ghent by canal boat, the weather changed just as we arrived at the open boat and it was just horrendous, we refused to do the return journey by canal after the free hour around town. It may have been better if we had sunshine.

We left Belgium for Southampton, spending another day steaming around the south coast of England. The weather was gale force leaving Belgium and I watched some ships fight the waves as I took photos from my balcony as if I was standing on a solid concrete pier. We really enjoyed our trip and would recommend it to anyone.