Category: Norway

This was the first time we’d ever been on a cruise ship for a family holiday so had no real idea what to expect and no other cruise experience to compare it to.   Although the rest of the family have always been keen to do a cruise, personally I’d always been very reluctant. It’s just never seemed like my…

There is a huge range of entertainment on board Iona. It’s one of the most impressive things I found about the cruise - how they manage to create such a variety of experiences to cater to the tastes and interests of such a huge range of people, every day and night.  I don’t think it’s possible to experience everything Iona…

Before our cruise in August 2022, Iona would dock at Geiranger - a famous port which is one of the highlights of the cruise. However, I believe that because Iona is right at the upper limit of size of ship the Geiranger port can accommodate, this port of call had to be switched for nearby Hellesylt, which is easier to…

Having been up since 4am to watch the sunrise as we sailed into the Olden fjord, we were ready to get off the ship as soon as we’d docked, in order to hopefully find our own way to Briksdal Glacier.  Iona docking in Olden, before our trip to the Briksdal glacier P&O operate an excursion here, which leaves by coach…

We arrived for our first day in Norway at the port of Stavanger with no excursions pre-booked, hoping to be able to find something suitable to do ourselves - ideally a boat ride to the famous Pulpit Rock.  Pretty much as you step off the ship you’ll see a tourist information centre in the harbour, so we headed there for…

After experiencing the incredible natural beauty of Stavanger, Olden, Hellesylt and Geiranger on Iona’s previous ports of call, it’s a surprise to wake up on the final day in Norway, to open the curtains and find yourself in Haugesund, with a view of a large shipyard, commercial docks, cranes and boatsheds as your view! Haugesund is not billed as a…

We had a four-berth cabin on deck 9 (cabin no. 9.403 to be exact) to house our family of two adults and two teenage children for the week.  I mentioned in another post how I had been reluctant to go on what was my first ever cruise - and the idea of being crammed, all four of us, into a…