Our cruise to the Norwegian Fjords with P&O aboard the Iona
Paradise Fall Family have recently returned from a wonderful cruise to the Norwegian Fjords with P&O. In today’s post we provide a brief rundown of what a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords was like and how we found sailing with P&O as a family.
Make sure to check out the rest of the website where we’ve gone into more detail on the itinerary and ship in the Cruise pages of the site, and watch out for port guides to be added in the coming weeks.
What did we book? We booked a week aboard the Iona with P&O, sailing from Southampton up to the south-west corner of Norway to explore the Fjords. We travelled during the kids’ May half-term break from school, Saturday-Saturday so it fit perfectly with their week off.
Where does the ship sail? The cruise was for 7 nights with our first day at sea, followed by port days in Stavanger, Olden, Hellesylt and Haugesund, followed by one final day at sea as we headed back down to Southampton. Stavanger and Haugesund are very much on the edge of the Fjords, with Stavanger being known as the ‘gateway to the fjords’, while Olden and Hellesylt are nestled deep in the fjords amid beautiful scenery.
What can you get up to in the ports? A cruise to the Norwegian Fjords is all about the scenery and the outdoors. Stavanger is probably the biggest city of the 4 stops, yet still has a small town feel and is very beautiful. From here you can venture into the Fjords and spot the iconic Pulpit rock. Olden was our favourite port - simply amazing scenery, and we really enjoyed our trip on the Loen skylift up into the mountains followed by a hike to the Briksdal glacier. Hellesylt is again known for it’s scenery and we enjoyed a boat trip along the fjord to beautiful Geiranger, known as the ‘pearl of the fjords’ and is an UNESCO listed heritage site. Haugesund was our least favourite stop, but we enjoyed exploring the town and there are various excursions you can enjoy. In each stop there are almost always opportunities to get out in the wonderful countryside, enjoy the scenery and culture, or get out on the water.
How about the ship, the Iona? The Iona is a truly beautiful ship and a lovely place to spend the week. We were really comfortable in our room (an inside room for us, an accessible balcony room for Katy’s Mam), enjoyed the food on board, and were pleasantly surprised by the number of hot tubs on board - a great perk for a cold weather cruise. There were some aspects we weren’t keen on, though they relate more to P&O rather than the ship.
How was sailing with P&O? If we’re being honest, it wasn’t our favourite cruise line we’ve experience to date. P&O don’t have an onboard app, just a basic intranet page, which we found to be very glitchy. This is a problem given you pretty much need to book your dining each evening on the system and it caused great frustration for a lot of passengers. We also found the service to be pretty basic and unfriendly, not of the same calibre we’ve experience with Disney, Royal Caribbean or Norwegian cruise lines. Finally we found the entertainment to be a bit more ‘old school’ and very British in style, with fewer options for families compared to other cruise lines and more focus on the basic dining/drinking/shopping.
Would we recommend a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords? Absolutely! It’s a beautiful part of the world and we had a fantastic week, despite our frustrations at times with the P&O service. It wasn’t initially on our list of trips to do with the kids, but we have numerous friends who have enjoyed the same cruise so decided to give it a go. While it’s not your traditional destination for a family holiday we’d definitely recommend it if you enjoy the outdoors and our kids had a blast. Personally though, we just found that P&O weren’t for us. While we wouldn’t rule out cruising them again, we’d prioritise using another cruise line.
What are our top tips for a Norwegian Fjords cruise?
Book your excursions early - these are small towns and small ports and therefore capacity is limited. Some excursions we had in mind did book up fast so make sure to be organised and book far in advance.
Be prepared for changeable weather. While cruises to the Fjords do sail over the warmer half of the year, the weather can change quickly in the fjords and mountains so pack layers and waterproofs to be ready for sunshine, wind and rain - potentially all in the same morning!
Book a balcony if you can. The deck space on the Iona doesn’t have a lot of unobstructed deck space so if you want to relax and enjoy the scenery a balcony does really help. It’s not essential though so don’t treat this as a dealbreaker.
Get up early to enjoy the scenery. Norway has longer daylight hours which are perfect for enjoying the scenery, particular in and around Olden and Hellesylt. So if you can, get up early, or stay up late and make the most of soaking this up.
Don’t miss the sail-away from Olden - the locals come out to wave off the ship which is a wonderful experience.
Make use of the hot tubs. These close around 8pm, but if you eat early you can squeeze in a dip after dinner when they’re pretty much empty - magical when you’re sailing through the fjords.
Be prepared to pay for the wifi - it does make things easier overall. It is costly but we found using the intranet far less glitchy once we’d purchased the wifi.
Get on the waitlist for a dining table early (around 5.15pm) to avoid long waits for tables. You still do have to wait a little and mess around on the intranet, but at least you get seated nice and early and can enjoy the amazing food on board.
Pack your best clothes and get dressed up and join in with celebration night! We really enjoyed this evening (despite initially assuming we wouldn’t!) The food was exceptional (and offered a 5 course meal) and we all enjoyed our free glass of fizz (non-alcoholic option available for little ones too).
And finally, HAVE FUN! The Fjords are some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and provide for an unforgettable family holiday. Head over to our instagram page if you want to chat or get more advice on your trip, or visit our YouTube channel for our vlog series covering our holiday.