Oh my goodness, we will be on this cruise with you! We are doing different outings so will be interesting to compare. So looking forward to this cruise!

@ThisistheCruise

Ай бұрын

Nice! What are you looking forward to the most?

@jacquelinegregoire3995

Ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise we are most looking forward to Iceland and the Fjords.

@ThisistheCruise

Ай бұрын

@jacquelinegregoire3995 any particular stop you're looking forward to? Or just excited about everything? 😁

For the record I had basically no say in this choice.

@ThisistheCruise

4 ай бұрын

It's still appreciate it. 😀

I subscribe, watch and really like the videos!

@ThisistheCruise

4 ай бұрын

As always, thanks so much!

I just found this video, and I found it very interesting and informative. It is somewhat timely as we are scheduled to do a 14-day Iceland cruise this summer on HAL. We did look at the same 4 itineraries as you reviewed. We scheduled the Iceland cruse when we were on the Noordam Sydney to New Zealand cruise in February. Since we were on a cruise, we got some perks, plus we had the advantage of the Future Cruise Consultant to help answer questions. We have now done 5 cruies, 2 now on HAL, and we have scheduled 2 more on HAL, the Iceland one this year and 14-day Iberian Peninsula from Amsterdam to Barecelona next September. We like everything about HAL, the size of the ships, the service, the food, the ports they visit and the itineraries. They seem very well run and fit our style where we are in life, newly retired. With regard to your analysis, I like your methodology and process, especially identifying the pluses and minuses, and the differences. Of couirse, your ranking and scoring are subjective, but you provided good insight. Again, we looked at each of the same itineraries and I will discuss our thought process, and no we did not use a spreadsheet. (1) The Norwegian Fjords one starting in Copenhagen was ruled out because we were not that interested in starting in Copenhagen. I have been there years ago but my wife has not. Oslo and the other port did not really interest us either, as we did not want to spend time in Norway that would take away from Iceland. Plus, as you point out the two fjords are not a high interest with regard to all the fjords in Norway. (Our first cruise on HAL on the Koningsdam was a 7-day Norwegian Fjord cruise roundtrip from Amsterdam, which was great but too short.) But, the stop in Heimaey seems very interesting. (2) the Northern Isles from Rotterdam was very interesting, having an extra day in Reykjavik is interesting but not a requirement for us. Missing Heimaey was disappointing. Also, as great as Edinburgh is (we spent a week there on a trip before the pandemic),, it was not a selling point for us. (3) Northern Isles B from Rotterdam, stopping at Kirwall instead of Edinburgh was not enticing. Again, not stopping in Heimaey was disappointing, So, we ended up selecting (4) Legends of Iceland and Scotland was our choice. We really liked the Eidfjord stop in Norway. We had been there before and it's a wonderful fjord to cruise as you mentioned. We did visit there on our previous cruise and loved it. We did the apple vineyard excursion across the Hardinger Bridge and it was excellent. My wife wanted to do it again, but I wanted to visit the waterfall you mentioned, and felt that we just had to do that. Your discussion of the waterfall helped me emphasize that we made the right decision. We like all the stops in Iceland. Plus, stoppeng in Heimaey was is great. I really want to see an many puffins as possible. Also, we really like the stop in Invergordon to go to Loch Ness. I think any of the cruises would be great and I really like how HAL provides choices that other cruise llines don't. Watching this video helped us feel even better about our choice. I did subscribe and plan to watch more of your videos. So, what cruise did y'all select, or what one did your kids select, I did not believe you ever disclosed the family decision.

@ThisistheCruise

3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for sharing (and watching - and subscribing!) I really appreciate it! My kids didn't pick the one you're on, thought it honestly was my first choice for the exact reasons you mentioned. :-) I was hesitant to share which one we're actually on because (while my channel isn't big) I typically don't like to share when I'm going to be out of town on any social media. That said, my boys do want to visit as many country capitals as possible. ;-) My wife and I did a Baltic cruise a while ago that left from Copenhagen, so we've been there as well, but without the kids. It was nice, but like you alluded to, in a lot of ways it's about going places you haven't been. This time we're going to take the train over to Sweden since that will be a new country for the kids as well. (Our Baltic cruise stopped in Stockholm). And while the kids DID pick the one we're on, school schedules played a bit of a factor eliminating some of the edge itineraries. We love HAL too (the itineraries are the best for the $) - This summer will be our seventh cruise on HAL. Though it kind of depends on how you count it. We did two back-to-backs in the Mediterranean for a total of 25 days, and our Norwegian cruise was two 7-days back to back. So it could be considered our 9th. And, using that math, this will our 20th cruise - OR we could count it as #18. :-) I'm a bit too young to retire, though we'll be empty-nesters after this summer, so maybe we can up our cruise frequency? (fingers crossed!) Thanks again! I hope you'll share with me how it went!

@martyptx

3 ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise I went to both Copenhagen and Oslo when I was 18 on a Coast Guard Academy summer cadet training cruise on a 255 ft Coast Guard Cutter. I was excited and thrilled to visit both and remember anecdotes from each visit here many years later. I especially enjoyed visiting Tivoli Gardens. Good luck with your channel. Maybe someday down the road we will be on a cruise together. Right now, we are scheduling 2/year, but I would like to schedule either a cruise or a tour every quarter. There are so many places that we would love to visit.

@martyptx

3 ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise We spent a week in Stockholm and really loved it. Our group had a private dinner and guided tours at the Vasa, which was amazing. I had many “cruises” when I was active duty in the USCG, which I don’t count. But my favorite and most memorable one was from Honolulu to Pago Pago, American Samoa, Apia, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga, and we stopped as several uninhabited atolls and islands including Howland Island, the island Amelia Earhart was going to when her plane was lost. We also crossed the equator at the International Date Line .

We picked the 14-day Northern Isles with HAL. Great itinerary.

@ThisistheCruise

2 ай бұрын

Love it! Let me know what you think... It's just around the corner!

@ukogorter7529

2 ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise - Indeed, I will. So, you chose the other cruise, I assume.

@ThisistheCruise

2 ай бұрын

We gave my kids four (or so) options, and they didn't choose that one. (Truly). My oldest son wants to see as many capitals as possible, and Oslo was a factor for him. (I think you're going to Edinburgh, right? And that should have qualified, but the Copenhagen departure also swayed it for him. ) My other kid is mostly just glad to visit places he's never been. Either way, they're all going to be great I'm sure!

I’m going on this cruise in 2 days, but I’m really concerned about the north sea and how rough it is. Did you have rough seas?

@ThisistheCruise

Ай бұрын

Well ... It's hit or miss. The last time we were in the North Sea, we had shockingly calm water and then average seas on the return. I guess we'll find out together in a couple of days how this one is. 😃 My plan is to take some Bonine Sunday night and likely Monday night. It makes me a little drowsy, but I'm usually good the next day. That's at least been my experience.

@ThisistheCruise

Ай бұрын

How did you do? It was definitely rougher than I expected! (Especially between Akureyri and Isafjordor!)

We are going to Iceland in August from Amsterdam. Eidfjord, Shetland, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Hebrides (Stornaway) Invergordon and Edinburgh (Edinburgh Tattoo is on there in August) and back to Amsterdam. We have driven all over Scotland, including the Orkneys, Harris & Lewis and Skye so while we have been there we are really looking forward to seeing some of it again. This is a great video. Thank you. I don't really understand how you score variety, repeatability, enrichment etc. I thought they would all be out of 10 but are they out of 100? Because rating the ship 4.5 out of 100 seems harsh.

@ThisistheCruise

3 ай бұрын

What ship are you on in August? That itinerary sounds great. Regarding scoring, I'm working on an updated scoring video because the methodology is relatively complex, but consistent across all types of cruises. The ship score is pulled from cruisecritic, so those are out of 5 (yeah, 4.5/100 would be crazy harsh 😂). The overall score, when all combined actually uses a weighted average. Thanks for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it!!!

@kathyb1011

3 ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise We will be on Nieuw Statendam. We are flying from Australia so will have 4 days when we get off the ship in Amsterdam. I do have a question regarding Eidfjord in Norway. The ship docks at 8am but the Go Fjords tour bus doesn't leave until 12:25-2:05. We would like to do the walk you mentioned in the video to the lake. Would we be able to fit that in between say 8:30 and 12noon? I'm just unsure of how long the walk will take. (This isn't the tour office shuttle bus that you mentioned because they don't have their bookings available yet so I'm hoping to get an early morning bus ride if that does becomes available). So any advice would be appreciated.

@ThisistheCruise

3 ай бұрын

I couldn't quite remember how much time we took to do that hike because we actually did two different ones back to back on the same day (we had two days/stops in Eidfjord). Here's what we did to get back to the lake: maps.app.goo.gl/uCrKXeKWqR6BbMiR8 . It's also here on AllTrails: www.alltrails.com/trail/norway/vestland/haereid-gravfelt-fra-jernalderen It can be done in about an hour and a half - so it looks like you'll have plenty of time, even to stop and take pictures - which you're going to want to do! Definitely stop on the Visitor's center though to pick up a paper map. They have multiple hikes listed, and while you won't have time to do two (or more) of them and get to Vøringsfossen, it's fascinating to see them - here's a sample image: assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/fetch/c_fill,h_1080,w_1920/f_jpg/q_65/media.newmindmedia.com/TellUs/image/%3Ffile%3DSentrumskart_2022_Side_1_1150294993.jpg&dh%3D566&dw%3D800&t%3D4 The rout you want to take is the yellow trail. We also did the purple route. It was a bit strenuous for us - it was barely marked - and not well trod, with just blue(ish) paint on stones or trees every so often to let us know we were on the right path. (adventurous, and difficult to see the start off of the road, starting with a two-step rebar ladder up into the hillside - but absolutely stunning views along the fjord)

@kathyb1011

3 ай бұрын

@@ThisistheCruise Thank you for the info.

I dont understand why you dont want to say what cruise have you booked?

@ThisistheCruise

Ай бұрын

Because of how far ahead I recorded the video, I just felt it safer not to publish when we're going to be out of town. 😃

I don't subscribe, watch, or like the videos

@ThisistheCruise

4 ай бұрын

But I do appreciate the comment, either way. :-D

@jacquelinegregoire3995

Ай бұрын

😂🤣😂