Norway || July 2023

Our trip to Norway from July 2023. We had the pleasure to sail aboard the P&O cruise ship, Iona, for the week., leaving Southampton on 08/07/23, sailing to Norway and returning to Southampton on 15/07/23. Our trip took us two several places in Norway, starting at Stavanger, then to more remote destinations in the Norwegian Fjords, such as Olden and Hellesylt and finally visiting Haugesund before returning back to the UK.

Day 1: Embarkment at Southampton.
We stayed in Southampton the night before, beating the traffic and preparing to board the Iona, our first ever cruise ship. In the early afternoon, we arrived at the dock and swiftly proceeded through the terminal before first stepping onto the ship. We opted to have a sea-view cabin on the lower decks as we were not sure if we'd experience any sea-sickness, and made the assumption the a lower deck in the mid of the ship would experience less rocking. We were more than delighted with our room, having a gorgeous view onto the sea, while being in a quiet area of the ship!

Day 2: Day at Sea.
It took us a day to travel from the UK to Norway. During this day, we got to explore the ship and find the many things that it had to offer us! Day 2 was also host to the celebration night - a night where all guests are invited to dress up and enjoy a formal evening.

Day 3: Stavanger.
Our first day in the beautiful country of Norway. We arrived in Stavanger and were instantly greeted by the "Old Village", featuring traditional Norwegian houses, which were surrounded by the more modern, yet still Norwegian city. During our time at Stavanger we took the opportunity to visit the local shops and market, and decided to take a tour of the city to learn more about it's interesting history.

Day 4: Olden.
On day 4, we visited the most beautiful place on the planet, Olden. Olden was completely surrounded by humongous mountains, displaying beautiful blue fjords, green pastures, dense forests, mountains, cliffs and snow... all in one place. We explored the village on our own, wandering to the edge of the fjord to touch the cold water, then coming back to visit the various shops and pop into the bar. With a few hours left, we decided to jump on the tour bus to see further up the valley, but we were completely unprepared for what we were about to see... The tour drove further in-land, passing gorgeous rushing blue rivers and glistening blue lakes and fjords, all while still being surrounded by the behemoth mountains. In the distance, we started to see the tops of glaciers, sitting among the mountain tops. We eventually stopped at the edge of a lake and stayed to embrace a stunning view of the Briksdal Glacier.

Day 5: Hellesylt.
We arrived in Hellesylt on day 5, and were surrounded by huge mountains once again. During our stay here, we explored the village of Hellesylt, which is home to the Hellesyltfossen, a beautiful waterfall which rushes through the middle of the village. We spent this day walking around the village, taking in all of the sights that it had to offer. Before embarking back onto the ship, we visited some of the local shops, considering how amazing it would be to live in an area like this... While sailing back out through the fjords, we decided to jump in one of the ship's hot tubs, which turned out to be a poor decision when we sailed straight into a thunderstorm shortly after...

Day 6: Haugesund.
Our final port to visit was Haugesund. This city was further south than our last two stops, much closer to Stavanger. We walked out of the dock area into the main city, where we visited local bakeries and cafes, as well as spending a few hours in the amazing Viking Planet, a digital museum which gave us plenty of information on Norway's viking history.

Day 7: Day at Sea.
We were heading back to the UK, which required another day traveling across the North Sea. This was our final full day aboard Iona, so we made use of the time by going on a bar-crawl across the ship's different venues, making sure to see every area one last time. We then went to see a film in the cinema before heading over to the Headliners Theatre to attend Tom Ball's performance.

Day 8: Disembarkment.
We had arrived back in the UK. Our bags were packed and already being handled by the crew, so we headed down to the Quays to have breakfast and say our final goodbye's to Iona. We disembarked the ship and made the journey home.

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0:00 Day 1: Embarkment
2:24 Day 2: Sailing to Norway
4:37 Day 3: Stavanger
8:49 Day 4: Olden
14:50 Day 5: Hellesylt
22:55 Day 6: Haugesund
30:24 Day 7: Sailing back to the UK
34:51 Disembarkment