| I took a 2-week Mediteranean cruise on the Canberra (P&O) in 1977.
First of all that is a great ship. But it was a fun way to get a taste
of many countries. It left from South Hampton, England, and went east
to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Majorca, Spain, thru the Strait of Messina
and back to South Hampton. I know there were more ports but offhand I
don't remember all of them. We spent a good deal of time aboard ship
sailing so on this type of cruise you should like this. Basically, we
stopped for the day in each port, a couple we spent moored for 2 or 3
days. We took the trips set up by the ship in each port.
I have not been on a formal cruise thru the fjords of Norway, but did
spend 2 weeks in Norway in 1989. This is a country with the most
spectacular scenery! I stayed mostly in Oslo, and highly recommend the
train trip from Oslo to Bergen, the capital, on the North Coast. To
get there we went thru year round glacier areas (not the giant
glaciers, but non the less glaciers which flowed into streams and
rivers, the water was torquoise!) We changed trains and caught the
train to Flan (?) which treks down a very steep path (the train has 5
sets of brakes). It passes many waterfalls. We caught the bus (we are
now in the fjords - figure of speech) to a famous hotel which sits high
in the fjords and has incredible views of waterfalls (I think the
Strondheim but can look up at home). Caught the ferry thru the fjords
on our final part of our journey to Bergen. This was about a 5-hour
trip and our ferry delivered mail along the way to remote villages.
Bergen is gorgeous, we stayed in a hotel across from the old quarter of
the city across the bay. I recommend you go up the funicular and walk
down. I walked down and the others I was with took the funicular back
down. It took about an hour to walk down but it was worth it.
Norway's fjords are literally spilling over with waterfalls that
cascade 2 thousand feet to the water below. It is incredible. One
note of caution, Norway is very expensive, don't order wine in
restaurants unless you are prepared to pay $7.00 for a glass (house
wine). Liquor is very expensive. So are hotels, and what you get
isn't what you are used to. The rooms are about the size of closets
and very basic. I can recommend a hotel in bergen or oslo.
Sorry to make this so long, but did take a day canal cruise in holland
thru Amsterdam, also an overnight ferry about the size of a cruise ship
from Copenhagen to Oslo, Norway, which had entertainment, good food,
etc.. Personally unless I specifically sign up for a cruise or have
more time I usually prefer to travel by many modes and will combine on
my trips train travel, boat travel, car, plane, etc.. A nice way to
meet people, Americans and locals alike.
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| Regarding Rhine River Cruises....
There is a cruise line out of Germany known as KD Rhine Line.....
We cruised two years ago to Frankfurt spending a night in Koblenz
going past the Lorei Lei (the famous statue that calls to sailors
causing them to be come shipwrecked...!) KD Rhine Line has very
large boats which you can either rent a cabin (as we did not) or
just go for a day trip -- which is magnificent with castles on either
side of the river, followed by gorgeous stepped vineyards. The
local scenery is great. You can get lunch or dinner or both on the
ship. The ship has two or three levels. The uppermost level is
open-air and you can sip beer or wine while literally watching fairy
tale castles go by. The best part of KD lines, is that THEY ARE
FREE TO EURAIL PASS HOLDERS.. Yes! Free. It is considered part of
the "transportation" system and the day trips are free, but the
night ones, are additional, since you must rent a cabin for sleeping.,
We got off in Koblenz and there was a very nice three star hotel right
at the dock. Our room overlooked the river and we had dinner at a
restaurant two doors down from our hotel, also overlooking the river,
and were able to sit outside and have our meal. The hotel we stayed
at only cost $50.00 per night for two and included the first breakfast
in Europe that came with an egg! Our dinner was reasonable as well.
I would recommend that you contact the tourist board of Germany in
New York City and ask them to send you a kD Rhine Line brochure.
You can then contact KD directly....
Happy Crusing!
DFC
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