NORWAY!

Let's start from the very beginning.  A very good place to start.  🎶.  Or, at least, in the Austrian Alps.

Yes, back in Tyrol, the week I turned 40, we camped and hiked and met an amazing family from Norway whose pictures inspired us and we vowed that WE WOULD GET THERE SOME DAY!  We would stand on Pulpit Rock, gosh darn it, and get that iconic picture!

Rarely do we get the same vacation as our kids, who are bound by the Catholic religious calendar here in Bavaria while we are on a set American school schedule, but THIS year the Whitsunday holiday happened to be ridiculously late, and so Jamie and I started talking about, MAYBE JUST MAYBE we could make it to Norway.  I might have done a few Google searches.  And then, Faceboook "randomly" started displaying a million advertisements for Norwegian Fjords tours, ferries, and cruises.

I'd never been on a cruise, but this trip kept popping up that had ALL the places I wanted to go - even that iconic Pulpit Rock.  When friends of ours said they also wanted to go, there was no holding back - we booked it!

The Cruiseline:  Costa Cruises.   https://www.costacruises.com/

Why we chose this one:

-What you see is what you get, cost-wise.  We had looked at some cruise companies based in the USA, and they charge all these hidden fees -- port fees, gratuity, drinks, etc.  The EU doesn't allow this, so what you see is what you get.  

-Kids sail free.  Free.  Free means free.  It was EXACTLY the same price for us to go alone as it was for us to go with the kids.  If you have more than two kids, you'll need another cabin and the third kid would be half price.  Our room was very basic, but we spent almost zero time in it, and I actually liked not haivng a window because it was pitch black at night.  

-All Inclusive Option.  I didn't want to be thinking about the cost of water/ sodas/ cocktails on the cruise.  For an extra 400 Euro, we were able to add all inclusive, meaning that meals AND drinks were included.  Considering in Europe a soda costs the same as a beer, it was WELL worth it for our family.  I'm sure we consumed well over 400 in drinks in the first couple of days..... my son was determined to try every mocktail on board!

-Kids Club/ Teen Club were available from 8am - midnight, excluding mealtimes.  Full on kids entertainment, included.

-THE FOOD!  Costa is an Italian ship and known for it's gourmet meals.  Dinner was an experience every night - including an appetizer, first course, main course, and dessert.  They had a different menu each night.  By the third day, our waiter knew everyone's name and drink preference and and them at the table before we arrived.  The breakfast menu, though it did not change, was extensive.  I preferred to eat in the dining room, but for those mornings when we were rushed to get off the boat or we slept in, they did have a buffet.  I never tried the dinner buffet, but it did exist.  

Here are a few tips I learned from this cruise (some include things I would have done differently!). 

*. Please note, we did NOT purchase any shore excurions from the ship, as most places it was much less epensive to do them on our own.  That said, their shore excursions were extremely well run and you are guaranteed not to miss the boat if you use them.  We actually saw a woman on one of the excursions (we were hiking on our own, but she was with the ship's tour) who had collapsed and had to be transported to the helicopter to the hospital. The ship waited for her, which is why we took off three hours late that night.

DAY ONE:  Hamburg/ Kiel, Germany

We took the overnight ICE train from Nuremberg to Hamburg, and spent the morning exploring the city.  The train station has ample luggage storage, so we could easily fit in our 5 packs for 6 Euro/ 24 hours and be bag free for our day walking around the river town.  

At 1pm we boarded a local train to Kiel, our embarkment port.  It's a BEAUTIFUL city with some of the best shopping in Germany!  We hit up Primark and found added some new items to our cruise wardrobe.  Finally, we headed towards our ship to get this party started!

I wish they had told us that we didn't have to get a room key or anything - we were totally confused when we boarded.  You are supposed to just go to your room and your keys, which are also your ship passport and your dinner/ bar card, are on your pillow.  You do a safety drill and then you are good to go.  

DAY 2:  Copenhagen

OH THE THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY!

  

Our fist night on the ship I was so exhausted, but stayed up late watching a show and then relaxing at the bar with the other family we traveled with.  I didn't set an alarm, and since our room had no window it was PITCH BLACK!  We arrived at the port at 9am, and I was fast asleep.  Our friends finally called our room, but by the time we'd eaten breakfast and gotten off the boat, it was already almost 11.  Then we waited in line for a taxi, only to be told that they didn't have cars with enough seating for all 8 of us, and it was better to take the Hop On Hop Off Bus.  There is a beautiful amusement park in Copenhagen called Tivoli, and you can add on tickets to this with your bus ticket.  We bought our tickets and finally boarded the bus around 11:30.  

Tivoli Gardens is amazing, but it's really an all day experience.  I wish we had either done JUST Tivoli, or had skipped it and seen the other sights.  (Or gotten up a lot earlier!). We stayed for about 90 minutes, and then we left so we could see some more of Copenhagen.  

After that, we headed to the city center.  We were hungry so we waited in line for what we thought was "street food."  It wasn't and it took forever, which also impeded on what we were able to see as we were quickly running out of time.  We bought some very pricey burritos near the river, and then saw actual street food (hot dogs, fries, burgers, for normal prices - served immediately rather than taking 30 minutes) when we got here.  Ugh.   It was nearly 4pm and we had to make sure we got back to the shuttle stop back to the cruise port, so we didn't get to spend nearly enough time seeing the sights in Copenhagen.   

The shuttle stop is right by the Little Mermaid sculpture, which I was thrilled to get a photo of.  

So, lessons learned.  If I were to do it again, I'd do the following: 

• 
  Purchase the Hop On Hop Off tour BEFORE you get on the cruise ship.   That way you can get right on the bus.  GET YOUR GUIDE App has the tickets.
• Get up at 7 so you can be OFF THE BOAT as soon as it docks - you will want ALL THE TIME in Copenhagen, it goes FAST!
• If you have kids, you might add on the Tivoli Gardens tickets to your bus ticket, but I'd plan to stay at least four hours if you do that.  We didn't get the ride wristbands because we didn't have time for more than 1-2 rides per kid, but it's worth it if you stay for the entire morning/ day.
• Be sure to be at final stop by 5pm as the shuttle bus stations leave on the hour and you won't make the ships' departure if you get there any later.  We met a family who missed the last shuttle bus and had to take a very expensive taxi ride instead.

DAY TWO:  AT SEA

The day at sea was fantastic!  I loved it.  The kids were in clubs (they have baby clubs, kids clubs, and teen club) and having a blast.  There were organized activities for adults as well - ping pong tournaments, BINGO, creative art workshops, dance lessons, yoga.  It felt like a very luxurious summer camp.  

My husband did Karaoke.  They told him to come back the next night and sing again.  Little did we know what that meant, but more on that later.

They had an evening performance with acrobats who were amazing!   

The boat was really ROCKING and it put me to sleep, so I was in bed by 10pm.  

DAY THREE:  Geiranger, Norway

We traveled with another family, who sent us a text saying "We're at the breakfast buffet, waterfall side."  Waterfall side?  This picture doesn't do it justice, at all, but......  what an amazing sight to wake up to!  We were only stopped for an hour to let people out doing a long hike from this waterfall all the way to Geiranger, where they would meet up with us in the evening.      

After that, we sailed off to Geiranger.  We arrived at noon and only had until 6, which is enough time to do what we wanted IF we hadn't lost my husband.  So I guess now is a good time to tell you a great little thing that you MUST take advantage of - download the Costa app and log into their WiFi and your family/ friends on the cruise can commnicate via the chat portal on the ap.  Unfortunately my husband hadn't downloaded the ap, and guess what?  Regular cell service won't work on the ship in many ports.  So without that app, you might not be able to find eachother.  Which is what happened to us.  We looked for him for an hour and finally got off the ship, and we found him near the hike we had planned.  By that time, it was a bit late to do the whole hike, so we bought the Hop On Hop Off bus tickets which took us to the end point of the hike and we walked down.  Worth it beause we got these amazing photos:

Lessons learned from Geiranger:

The Hop On Hop Off Bus will take you to the best spots, but it is 102 Euro for a family of 4.  Had we actually departed on time (with all family members in tow) we could have saved this and just hiked the entire trails, as it's only about 3 hours round trip walking.  If you have people in your party who aren't avid hikers, the bus is probably worth it.  

If you would rather do other things, they have a tourist center RIGHT after you embark the boat.  They had rafting tours on the Fjord, a zipline park, via ferrata, kayak tours, and many other things to do.  The village is adorable, it is the quintiessential fishing village you think about when you envision Norway.  

That evening, someone convinved me to try Karaoke.  I do not like to Karaoke.  My undergaduate degree in music with a concentration in vocal music - opera/ classical.   I didn't even know 90% of the songs on the list to choose for, so I sang Bob Dylan.  They told me afterwards that I was a finalist in The Voice at Sea and wisked my husband and I off and told us to be back by 5pm the following day for our practice session.   Little did I know what that meant... but more on that later.

DAY THREE:  Bergan, Norway

This was our longest day in port and we loved every minute of it!  This time we made sure we were all connected on our phone aps, we got up early for breakfast, and we were off the boat as soon as possible.  We headed straight to the tourist center and decided on the things we wanted to do that day.

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway, but it's really small enough that you can walk eveyrwhere.  We started out at the world famous Fish Market.