Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/19/24 (Hellesylt & Geiranger, Norway)

 

We awoke early to see Geiranger Fjord before a short port at Hellesylt to drop off cruisers who had ship arranged shore excursions.  While stopped at port, we went to the main dining room for breakfast to start our day with a good meal.  And then the ship headed for Geiranger.

Shortly after breakfast, the ship started heading for Geiranger.  Unfortunately, we were told that the winds were too strong for the "sea walk" (read: a gangway to the pier).  Instead, this became a tender port, something both of us dislike due to the time it takes to get on and off the tender boat.  You can imagine how RQS felt when she heard that we would need to use a tender boat to reach dry land.  (Three guesses, the first two don't count.)

We got our tender coupons and found that there would be a 1 hour wait to get off the ship.  So we headed to the pizzeria to kill some time and have a light lunch.  By the time we were finished, I had some GI Tract issues which forced us to go back to our cabin for a while.  When I was done, they no longer were using tender tickets to manage capacity on the boats taking us to shore.  So, it was on to the tenders, and then on to shore.

After walking around a bit, we went back to the ship.  Geiranger may be a beautiful place to live, but it must also be a little bit boring after the tourist season ends.  One thing I noticed about reboarding procedures is that no one is asking for personal id.  I think the reason they tell us to carry a government issued ID is that people might have to be flown to the next port to meet the ship if they miss reboarding the ship in port.  

Once we rested, we made it down to the sushi bar.  This was a disappointment for us, as they were slow in bussing the tables, greeting us as we arrived, and delivering all of what we ordered.  At least, the food was good.  Both of us will be writing Princess after the cruise to comment on our experience at this restaurant.

 

 

 

PS: We later saw videos of excursions from this port which made me wish we had taken the coach tour to the top of the mountains surrounding Geiranger.  After seeing the view from the top of the mountain, snow on both sides of the road, and the fjord 3000 feet below, I wish we had taken the bus excursion at this port.