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Old 4 May 19, 03:21 PM  
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#11
Rea
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Also you could check out the FB Azura group. Lots of helpful tips on there.
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Old 6 May 19, 02:56 PM  
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Originally Posted by Rea View Post
Also you could check out the FB Azura group. Lots of helpful tips on there.
Have joined this, thanks so much x
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Old 12 May 19, 07:24 PM  
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We just got off Ventura this morning for a Fjords cruise. Will reply more comprehensively in a bit when I’m not on my phone!
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Old 12 May 19, 07:51 PM  
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Originally Posted by catherinesian View Post
We just got off Ventura this morning for a Fjords cruise. Will reply more comprehensively in a bit when I’m not on my phone!
Ooh wonderful I would love you to x

Edited at 07:58 PM.
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Old 14 May 19, 11:14 AM  
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So we just spent a week on Ventura in a balcony cabin. We visited Stavanger, Olden, Alesund and Bergen.

In terms of the ship, Ventura and Azura are sister ships so everything is identical aside from the names of the bars/restaurants as far as I am aware.

Food – food was decent enough, not the best we have had on a cruise but plenty of options and lots of it! We were on Freedom dining which means you can go to either of the freedom dining restaurants between 6-9pm and they will seat you (you might have a wait if you want a specific table). You can have Club dining which is two sittings 6:30 and 8:30 I think if you prefer. You just need to request whichever one you want before you go. One word of warning about Freedom dining is we assumed both restaurants would be different and have different menu’s, but they were identical (and so we are not sure why there was 2 of them!). One night we had a 45 minute for a table for 2 when we went at 7, they give you a buzzer and we went off to a bar and had a drink. The other days we had no wait, couple of days we were there at 6 on the dot and another day we sauntered down at 8ish, expecting a wait but got seated straightaway.

In terms of breakfast buffet and lunch options, there’s the main buffet but also a burger bar and pizza bar just by the pool on Lido deck.

Room – our room was nice, we only had a standard balcony room and it was on the small side but I know the deluxe balcony rooms are much bigger. Had really good storage which was lacking on the other boats we have been on. We were on Barbados deck (11) in B255 which was just by the lifts.

Entertainment – just OK. There was comedians on 3 nights (neither hugely funny), a Bert Bacharach (sp?) tribute (didn’t go to), a soul tribute (didn’t go to), a Rock of Ages style show called Paradise City (OK – slightly dodgy singing! ), and the magic show that Stephen Mulhern designed for them (just OK, but I’m not a magic fan).
There were quite a few pub quizzes in the Exchange (English pub – deck 6 or 7 front) and there was even a Harry Potter quiz! Despite our best efforts we did not win that, especially embarrassing as I wore my HP top specially, so we looked like superfans. If you win the quizzes you get gold stickers which you collect up and exchange for prizes at the end. We had two gold stickers and got a trolley coin and a USB car charger for those.

We never actually made it to the pool, but they seemed a decent size!

Went to the gym and did a couple of classes, a fitness one and a stretch class (pilates). The gym was right at the front of the boat and the views were stunning which I am sure helps with distracting from the exercise …!

Ports – Stavanger. We wandered around the old town just opposite where the ship docks, then went to the canning museum (actually really interesting and worth going to). There was a guided tour here and you got entry into another two museums in Stavanger too. We then wandered around the new part and went to the Maritime museum which was OK but not half as good as the canning one.

Olden – wow what a beautiful place. We had a busy day with 2 excursions booked – Kayaking AM and Briskal Glacier PM. The kayaking was incredible, such a stunning place and a wonderful way to explore it. The Glacier was also incredible, although even if you get the coach to the visitor centre it’s still a 45 min uphill hike to get to the glacier and we are 2 fit people in our late 20’s (although our legs were killing us as we had done a fitness class the day before, big mistake! ). When we got back down there was tea and cakes waiting in the visitor centre FOC if you were on the excursion, then we got the coach back to the boat. Really recommend both these excursions.

Alesund – here we had a wander around the town and went up the 418 steps to the lookout point which is worth doing. You can get the hop off tourbus or the blue land train which will take you up without having to walk up the steps. We sort of wished we had done this as after the fitness class, and the glacier hike, our legs were in agony going up the steps!

Bergen – had a wander here too and got the funicular up to the top of the mountain. Book your tickets in advance – we did and there wasn’t much of a queue when we were there but when we came back down the queue was enormous! There’s some very friendly mountain goats up the top and we both had a little stroke. There’s a beautiful old town near the port which has some very cutesy shops in and we went to a local supermarket to get some baked goodies to bring back for work and family (much cheaper here then in tourist shops).

Norway as a whole is very expensive, so try and eat on the ship wherever you can!

I hope that summary helps and if you have any questions, ask away!
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Edited at 11:16 AM.
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Old 14 May 19, 02:52 PM  
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Hello, Thankyou so much, this is super helpful. 3 of the 4 ports are the same as mine, so that is very handy x

Could you please let me know how much the fitness classes are? I’m contemplating taking my gym wear.

Did you go to any of the pay for restaurants? If so would you recommend them?

Also did you buy a drinks package or use the bars much?

I’m not overly struck on the entertainment so hope I’m not going to be too lonely.

Lastly, how was the phone signal, did you get much? I believe with gifgaff I can phone from Norway, but just be nice to give him a heads up as to when to expect me. Should I expect nothing on the sea days?

Thanks xx
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Old 14 May 19, 03:45 PM  
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Originally Posted by mitch84 View Post
Hello, Thankyou so much, this is super helpful. 3 of the 4 ports are the same as mine, so that is very handy x

Could you please let me know how much the fitness classes are? I’m contemplating taking my gym wear.

Did you go to any of the pay for restaurants? If so would you recommend them?

Also did you buy a drinks package or use the bars much?

I’m not overly struck on the entertainment so hope I’m not going to be too lonely.

Lastly, how was the phone signal, did you get much? I believe with gifgaff I can phone from Norway, but just be nice to give him a heads up as to when to expect me. Should I expect nothing on the sea days?

Thanks xx
Fitness classes I did were free I believe for Yoga there is a 'small supplement' to pay but it says in the guide which ones are extra.

We didn't go to any of the paid for restaurants. There were 4 on our boat - The Glass House was £5 pp (Mediterranean), Boat House (seafood / steaks) was £7.50pp, Sindhu (Indian) was £20pp and Epicurean afternoon tea £28pp. The only one I fancied was the Indian one but couldn't justify £40 extra charge - that would buy us 2/3 indian takeaways at home

We used the bars, the drink prices are in line with bar prices on land (which is really refreshing as other cruises I've been on the drinks are ridiculous prices). I only really drink Cider / G&T - cider was £4.50 for a speciality large bottle and the G&T was I think £5.50.

I am with ID mobile and whilst in port could use my normal allowance (most European countries are the same) but make sure to turn your phone off whilst you are moving between ports as you can revert to maritime coverage which is a fortune. I accidently left my phone on roaming when we left port one day and at some point it changed to maritime and racked up £5 of charges (just on it's own, update of emails and the like!) until it hit my cap and stopped (thank goodness I have a cap!).
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Old 14 May 19, 04:40 PM  
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We went on a Caribbean cruise on the Azura in Oct 2017 and thought it was a lovely ship. We ate at all the restaurants except the Glass House and would recommend the Boat House. Are you sitting with others at dinner? There were 2 of us and we were put with a table of 10, the same people the whole time, which was nice as we had a good, friendly group.

The pub quiz was good fun and again we met some lovely people in there. It was very busy on these nights so you often end up sharing seating. At our first quiz a couple sat by us and we chatted about the quiz and then other things. By the end of the trip it was routine to meet up and play together. The winner got a bottle of wine.

There's quite a few classes and things on, as well as excursions so I don't think you'll be lonely. You can be as social or not as you like.

Funnily enough we have just last night booked the Fjords in August with TUI.
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Old 14 May 19, 04:55 PM  
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We ate at the Epicurean twice. For an evening meal and for afternoon tea. The afternoon tea was fabulous. Probably my favourite thing we did.


The evening meal was also really lovely but quite slow and formal. It depends what you prefer.


We also ate at the market cafe which is more of a snack menu. This wasn’t at all expensive and we really enjoyed what we had there.


We were on Brittannia but I think it’s similar.

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Old 14 May 19, 07:06 PM  
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Originally Posted by BevS97 View Post
We ate at the Epicurean twice. For an evening meal and for afternoon tea. The afternoon tea was fabulous. Probably my favourite thing we did.


The evening meal was also really lovely but quite slow and formal. It depends what you prefer.


We also ate at the market cafe which is more of a snack menu. This wasn’t at all expensive and we really enjoyed what we had there.


We were on Brittannia but I think it’s similar.

My trip report is here

bevs97.wordpress/categor...norway-cruise/
Thankyou very very much, just read this through from start to finish and really enjoyed it. I think your ship is slightly bigger, and i’m going to Alesund instead of the Glacier, but it was great seeing the ports too.
2.5 weeks to go. Eeeek
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