Cruising the North Sea –

I haven’t been on a cruise in many years- when a friend asked if we would join her and her husband on a cruise that was going go Norway – we jumped on the chance to go. We started planning this trip back in November and finally we are off.

We were supposed to originally leave from Amsterdam but then the departure port was changed to Rotterdam. We decided to stay a few nights in Amsterdam and then the night before we boarded the Celebrity Apex in Rotterdam, we had time to explore the city.

We arrived in Amsterdam and explored the city, we bought tickets to the Heineken Experience + rooftop in advance. This is the original brewery that Gerard Heineken built in the heart of Amsterdam in 1867. The brewery operated until 1998 when it had to close due to the high demand and their inability to the meet this demand – a larger production facility is located in Zoeterwoude Netherlands. The tour included two drink tickets, we went downstairs after our tour and had our free drinks. Our tour also included tickets to the rooftop, we had drink tickets for that bar as well. We had a beer spritzer, very tasty, as I’m not a huge beer drinker. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and couldn’t believe how long it stayed light outside, it was around 10:30 pm when the sun finally set.

The next day we took a canal cruise around Amsterdam and continued to explore the city by foot with the private guide we hired. We tried to book tickets to museums before we arrived but they were all sold out, we were told by our guide that tickets are limited as they want to reduce the amount of tourists that come into the city each month. We should have tried to book earlier than a month before we left. To avoid disappointment make if you are visiting Amsterdam and you want to go to any museum book on line at least 2 months in advance. We explored all the district, even the red light district – which they are moving to another part of town because its too busy and crime rate is very high amongst the narrow lanes and canal paths. Therefore they are building new spots for the sex rooms. We did see a few ladies standing in windows, at first I thought it was mannequins but one moved and I almost jumped – also there are signs posted all over that photography is prohibited in the area. I had no intention of taking photos LOL . The boat cruise along the river was really nice and we got to see the city from a different perspective – the canals all intertwined. We had dinner at the hotel on the patio beside the river. The next morning we packed up and got an Uber to take us to Rotterdam. The ride was 45 min. After checking into the hotel we explored the city. We took another boat cruise, then walked around town before meeting our friends for dinner.

Sunday morning we had an early start and visited Kinderdijk Windmill Village, which was about a 25 minute drive, we arrived right at opening for 10 am. The village has working windmills where families still live in the windmills – it was interesting to see what the Dutch water management is and how it can be challenging at the same time. This is a UNESCO heritage site, the 16th and 17th century windmills are still working today to keep water levels safe.

We had our check in time on the cruise for noon so we figured we had plenty of time. After spending an hour and half at the village, we tried to book an Uber back – mistake that we didn’t ask our first driver if he could pick us up. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get an Uber back to the hotel, we arrived right at 12, they locked us out of our room, we had to get new keys and then call a cab to get to the port to get to our ship. We waited about an hour for a taxi to come as all the taxis and Ubers were busy.

We made it to the port and boarded the Apex Celebrity. Getting on board was seamless, we sat out on the deck as we left Rotterdam toward our first port – Kristiansand, Norway.

Kristiansand is on the southern tip of Norway and it the country’s 5th largest city. We did a bus tour to Lilisand first and then we headed to do our boat tour to take us back to the boat and Kristinsand. We saw many fjords. We walked around the city centre , and along the waterfront. We had lunch at Restaurant Rett I Garnet. The service and food was really good. After lunch we walked around the restaurant area and then headed back to the ship, we left port at 5pm and headed towards Haugesund.

The next morning we woke up in Haugesund, which is located between mountains, islands and the North Sea. Haugesund hosts the Norwegian International Film festival and also holds a jazz festival every summer. The city was also known as the home of the viking kings. We had book a rib boat ride, when we got to the dock, we put on our gear and then got into the rib boat. We didn’t go crazy fast but it was a lot of fun, cruising on the water. The rib ride took us around the waterways and our guide was also a fisherman when he wasn’t giving tours on the rib.

Our next stop was Geiranger Norway – Geiranger is quite remote, to get there the ship sailed through the Geiranger Fjord, a passage way that felt like we were heading to a secret spot, protected by large mountains on either side along with waterfalls. Just magical. The Geirangerfjord is a World heritage UNESCO landmark. It was incredible to see all of the farms and waterfalls as we entered the Fjord, the captain even did a 360 with the ship so that everyone on board can get a view of the 7 sisters waterfalls.

We opted to do a hike the Fosseråsa trail to see the Storseterfossen waterfall. I set up my tripod and took a bunch of pictures, since I had wrecked my foot/ankle about 5 weeks before the trip, I didn’t make the trip down to go behind the waterfall, I was afraid I might blow out the ankle again. On the way down we stopped at a farm and had lunch. We opted to walk back to the ship, we took the waterfalls walk , which is a walkway that starts from the centre of the village and ends at the Norwegian Fjord Centre. The walkway passes very close to the Fossevandring falls. There are many viewing platforms that you can stop at and enjoy the the view of the village. We walked around the small village, boarded the ship and left port at 7:30 pm to our next stop.

Our last stop on the cruise was Alesund. We booked a boat trip around the area but walked around the village before our tour began. Such a cute village, which is spread over several islands. We saw waterfalls and farms on our boat trip.

We set sail at 4 pm, we were at sea for the next day and a half, we got back to Rotterdam and boarded our transfer back to the Amsterdam airport to head home.

I liked the Celebrity Apex as I didn’t feel like we were shuffled like cattle ever – no line ups for anything and the ship was very organized. We ate the restaurants on board – part of your package – only the steak house was extra which we reserved for a birthday celebration. I might cruise again but not sure yet or to which spot. Norway was perfect to cruise to, I don’t know if I would be adventurous enough to drive from spot to spot- Oslo would have been nice to see

Have you been on a cruise? What is your favourite cruise line?

xoxo

M💞