Norwegian Fjords on P&O Iona

Our first stop on our Itinerary is Stavanger 🇳🇴 And what a day we’ve had 🤩 We got off the ship around 11 am and made our way to the petroleum museum which was a short walk away, less than 10 minutes It cost us 480 NOK for a family of 5 ticket which works out just over £30. We could have spent all day here it was brilliant and full of information and artefacts about the Norwegian Oil industry. There’s a kid‘s play area, a catastrophe room, a movie theatre, loads of artefacts to press, try on and explore plus a restaurant and souvenir shop I’d highly recommend this museum, we could have spent all day in there and Buster left wanting to get a job on the oil rigs 🙌🏼 it wasn’t as boring as it sounds 😂

Next up we made our way back to the ship port for our P&O excursion which was to stop at the famous Three Swords and explore an Iron Age farm 🗡️ This is an original farm from the 1600s we had the chance to all be Vikings for a few hours, making fires, archery, bread making and baking and stamping leather to create bracelets and necklaces, again another trip that I’d highly recommend. We are a multigenerational family aged from 8 to 68 and the day has been perfect and offered something for each of us. This evening we booked to watch the Take That musical ‘Greatest Days’ and it’ll be an earlyish night ready for an early get up for some Amazing scenery

🗻 Next stop ….. Olden

Another unreal day on this Norwegian Fjords cruise. We started the day at 4 am, (left the kids in bed) and headed out onto the deck to watch the sail into Olden and honestly, the get-up was worth it. The most incredible sights We then had some breakfast at the Quays and had to jump in the hot tubs with that stunning scenery behind us, it was the perfect opportunity for some fabulous photographs before leaving the ship for our trip to Briskdal Glacier. We had about a 20-minute drive to the Glacier with a couple of stops for photo opportunities then we arrived at a shop and cafe where we were free to hike up as leisurely or as fast as we liked. The hike took us just under 2 hours there and back, it was strenuous in parts but all of us managed it and it wasn't too hard for any of us, I would have done that hike ten times over for the sight that we had when reaching the top It was utterly breathtaking, I’d recommend this trip as an absolute must do as the views of Europes largest glacier are unreal. It’s been another incredible day and this ship and itinerary are taking a piece of all our hearts. This evening we enjoyed a much-needed dinner in the main dining room and an early night ready for what the next day brings.

Next stop….. Alesund 🇳🇴

Today has been another day of thrilling adventure, with our arrival into Alesund 🇳🇴 Today is a Bank holiday here so, unfortunately, all the shops were shut, so we had a wander around the town and then decided we took the trip up to the aksla viewing point which said it was 480 steps up with amazing views It didn’t take us long to do at all, roughly about 20 mins up, there’s a cafe, shop and restroom when you get to the top and the views again were Amazing 🗻. Coming back down literally took us about ten minutes, it is strenuous in parts due to the amount of steps and how high up it goes but we all managed it fine 🙌🏼. When we got back to the bottom we noticed you can rock climb up the side of the mountain with explore Alesund so we decided to book it 🧗‍♂️ You have to be at least 40kgs and it 35 euros without the guide or 50 with the guide. Rocky(13) flew up with no problem without the guide and Buster (10) went with the guide. He said he was helpful and informative and told them stories about Alesund on the way. They were gone for around 50 minutes in total. You don’t have to be experienced to do this the boys said it was the best thing they’ve ever done and the views from the ledge were Amazing 🗻 Tonight we dined at the Mediterranean speciality restaurant The Olive Grove, then we’re booked in for the Festival headliners theatre show and another round of the silent disco 🎧😂

Next stop ……..Haugesund

The cruise that keeps on giving 🙌🏼 Well today was a surprise waking up in Haugesund and a cracking 21 degrees 😎 We had a walk into the town this morning across the huge bridge passing the oil rig stations, which was fascinating, stopping for a beer and a cake and just enjoying the atmosphere this quaint little town has 🍻 It took us about 15 minutes to walk, you can always get on the little train that stops at the port or one of the hop on hop off buses. We decided to get back on the ship and enjoy the weather whilst it’s cracking the flags, (and the fact we’ve hit about 15,000 steps daily😂 we could do with another holiday after this🙈) I advise when doing a Norwegian fjords cruise to pack for every season of weather, it was around zero degrees 2 days ago and now we’re having to apply the factor 50 🥵 (we’re not complaining tho ) There’s lots of excursions available for Haugesund and I’d probably do either the rib boat, Viking farm or the waterfalls trip 💦 next time we visit Tomorrow we have a day at sea and who knows what the weather will bring 😂

This cruise has delivered more than we could have ever anticipated, we were apprehensive at first as the ship didn’t have all the usual kids' waterslides, surf simulators etc and we’ve never done a cold holiday before, we didn’t need to be it's blown us away on every aspect We’ve all said it’s been one of the best holidays we’ve had 🛳️🫶🇳🇴❄️😎🥂