Norwegian Fjords Disney Cruise Line Report – Day 2
Day 2 of our Norway cruise aboard the Disney Magic started…really late (click here for Part 1 of our Norwegian Fjords Disney Cruise Line Report). Page 1 of this installment covers our morning, while Page 2 offers troll shopping tips, and me throwing Sarah under the bus. 😉
We didn’t wake up until 10 a.m., which amounted to nearly 12 hours of sleep! I can’t even remember the last time I slept 6 hours in a night, let alone nearly double that. The lack of bags under my eyes at least partially offset my now 3-day old clothes.
I actually felt badly upon waking up and realizing just how much of the morning we had wasted. I was simultaneously a bit relieved, as this should allow us to “bank” some rest and only get ~4 hours of sleep for each of the following 4 nights. (You can stockpile sleep, right?)
This being our day at sea before arriving into Norway’s first port, it was the best time to get some sleep. Still, I was looking forward to some of the activities scheduled for the day. For example, the new Pirates of the Caribbean sequel was playing a few times, and I assumed it’d take at least that many viewings to comprehend the convoluted plot.
We started with breakfast at Cabanas, which was a mistake. We didn’t arrive until breakfast was nearly over, and at that point almost everything looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for too long.
After eating some “food,” our top priority for the morning had been attending a lecture on Stavanger…but we had already missed that, so caught that on our in-room television.
Not quite the same as being there, but it still worked. I wish this was a “thing” back when I was in college, as it’s much more difficult to fall asleep in class than it is in bed. Actually, it was nice to watch replays of a few of the seminars via TV.
To ease the emotional stress of having lost my luggage, I intended upon eating copious amounts of soft serve ice cream this cruise.
That thumbs up I’m flashing is how you can tell my spirits are on the rise. Now you understand why every doctor agrees that ice cream is the ultimate panacea, probably.
The good news was that by getting up so late, we didn’t have to wait too long for lunch at Cabanas. This was significantly better than breakfast.
Even though they didn’t have any regional specialties at Cabanas, there were rotating special options each day that were typically pretty good. Sarah also liked the crab legs (I didn’t–way too much work) and I was a fan of the lamb and steak.
My only complaint is that they expect you to cut steak with something as sharp as a butter knife. I can only assume they wanted me to eat it like a bear. I kindly obliged.
Throughout the cruise, our stateroom host really displayed her towel animal talents. Even though she knew we were a room with 0 kids, I’m glad she made these animals for us, as I love these things.
Perhaps she saw me playing a game of ‘magnet toss’ outside our stateroom door (long dumb story) or otherwise knew we were pretty immature, but it was a nice touch. I took photos of each of these animals, so if you didn’t have a reason to keep reading future installments of this report before, now you do.
We later attended a lecture on Ã…lesund by the same retired professor who did the one on Stavanger. Both of these were really fascinating, and the kind of programming I’d love to see more of on Disney Cruise Line.
The seminar on Ã…lesund was also fairly full, so I think additional seminars (like 3-4 per day) would’ve played well with guests.
Particularly on the days at sea prior to stopping in the port cities, it would’ve been great to have a range of seminars on various topics relating to Norwegian culture to help inform the visit. Subjects such as cuisine (even making one of the “hands on” seminars would have been cool), language, wildlife, history, etc. all would’ve helped make the port days more satisfying.
I know Disney has tried ‘edutainment’ in the parks and already deemed it something of a failure, but it sure seems like the audience on this cruise would be more receptive to these type of educational seminars. I know we would have.
You cannot tell me that a seminar titled “The Truth Behind Why Puffins Are So Cute: Biology & Stuff” wouldn’t have played to a packed house. (“TrollWars: Totally Legit Conspiracy Theories About How Trolls Have Shaped Norway” would’ve also been fun.) Even still, having this professor make a few presentations over the course of the cruise was a nice start.
After that, we headed up to Palo for the Art of the Theme Ship Tour. This is something we recommend in our 101 Disney Cruise Line Tips post, as it provides insight into design choices and will provide insight into details you’ve probably never noticed.
Each tour is different, depending upon what interests the particular guide. Our tour guide that afternoon was from entertainment, and he was, well, entertaining. There were a trio of entertainment Cast Members on the ship this cruise that had incredibly sharp senses of humor, and were really fun–he was one of them.
This humor made the tour really enjoyable, but I wouldn’t say it was the most informative version of the tour. That’s not a bad thing–it gave us an excuse to take the tour again later in the cruise.
We did go into the Oceaneer Lab, which was cool for two reasons. First, there are these automated hand washing stations. I’m not normally one for nonsense like washing my hands, but let me tell you, this is the future. You stick your hands in these slots, wait a bit, sorcery of some sort occurs, and viola, all clean.
The other reason this was cool was seeing the S.E.A. ties that have been added to the Oceaneer Lab. I’m of two minds about this. While I love S.E.A. and enjoying seeing its expanded presence, one of the reasons it was originally so cool was because it tied together Fortress Explorations in Tokyo DisneySea with Mystic Point in Hong Kong Disneyland.
It has since been added to other areas (including some ex post facto additions), including Oceaneer Lab and Typhoon Lagoon. I don’t necessarily have a problem with further ties, I’m just concerned it’s crossing into fan service territory. The connection to Oceaneer Lab seems pretty tenuous.
Following the tour, we headed up to Cove Cafe. We had actually never had coffee here, due to the fact that it’s an upcharge. Our rationale was that it didn’t make sense to pay for something that’s included for free. Same reason we don’t buy soda outside the Buena Vista Theater.
To say this was fallacious reasoning would be an understatement. Supposedly, Disney Cruise Line is serving Joffrey’s coffee, but the blend on this cruise tasted like “Dirty Mop Water Select Reserve.” I’m not sure what the deal was, but it was consistently diluted and tasted off.
The regular coffee tasted as if someone found a stash of old Nescafe in a wet corner of the ship’s “basement” and decided to use that with imported swamp water.
It was not always this bad, but mediocre was about as good as it ever got during the cruise.
In any case, after a few cups of really bad coffee, we decided to give Cove Cafe a try. Not only was the quality difference night and day, but the prices were fairly reasonable and the ambiance in the cafe was wonderful. We already enjoy the adult areas as being a nice, quiet sanctuary, but this was a heightened version of that.
Cove Cafe felt like an intimate little coffee shop, the kind tucked away on a side street in Europe where locals would go to read and quietly converse. Even though we really didn’t need the caffeine, it was a great discovery for us this cruise.
We love finding new (to us) places at the various Disney parks (and now, ships) that we’ve previously overlooked. Cove Cafe became a place we’d revisit over the course of the cruise, and is already a new favorite (I believe “haunt” is the cliched, but appropriate, term to use here) of ours. Like any patriotic American, I detest reading, but I’m considering packing a book on our next cruise just so I have something to read in Cove Cave. Granted, it’ll be a copy of Calvin & Hobbes that is mostly illustrations, but there’s some text. On Page 2, I’ll drop some “knowledge” about shopping in Norway, share my awkward formal night experience, and more!
Your shopping tips are spot on! Please don’t buy anything (you intend to use and not just as a little souvenir) from those tourist shops. I guess the t-shirts are okay, though. As a Norwegian, I really don’t get the troll figures. Nobody I know has them, although I have seen some home made ones on porches of old people’s houses in Northern Norway. I like the old fairy tales and stories about trolls, but that is really as far as it goes for me. I hope nobody feels they are obliged to like/buy them when they visit, they have very little to do with modern Norway 🙂
I think you’ll find the same scenario play out in virtually every place in the world that is a draw for tourists. A lot of stuff sold that would in no way appeal to locals, and sometimes in the name of ‘local culture.’
While we don’t spend money on trinkets or things of that sort, I don’t see the harm–so long as the stuff is really cheap (or conversely, expensive and high-quality). The idea is that it’s the physical manifestation of an experience you remember, and it works as that type of a stand-in.
Personally, I’d rather just have the photos and memories.
I do completely agree – that’s why I said please don’t buy anything you intend to really use (like outerwear) from the shops, as there are much better places to get them. Small souvenirs are of course understandable, I just personally wish troll figures hadn’t become the thing to represent Norway to tourists, haha. I too prefer to take lots of pictures instead, they are my favorite mementos from trips. 🙂
Tom – I just love your posts. Now when you are covering DCL it just puts it over the top since I love cruising. I caught the cruising bug a few years ago but actually thought all the Caribbean cruising was getting a bit stale (yeah I know, first world problem). We decided to go on the WBPC sailing this past spring and loved the differences in programming and menus. With the number of sea days we had there was a lot to choose from including several educational sessions on the history of the Canal. Something pretty cool that they did was have adult only open house for the kids/teens area. Watching fully grown adults go down the slinky dog slide with such enthusiasm was an interesting experience. Admittedly the ports were basically a combination of a Western Caribbean and Mexican Riviera cruise, but we loved Canal Day. It has encouraged us to try more of the unique sailings. I probably would’ve had a meltdown with all the setbacks you had on your way out but I think the lure of new ports will be enough to sway me. Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report!
Seminars on the history of the Panama Canal sound interesting, but the Western Caribbean doesn’t really interest me. There are a number of other unique itineraries we do want to hit now, though. I guess that’s the ‘beauty’ of cruising–there are enough options that there’s something to appeal to everyone.
Looking forward to more towel animals/monsters.
Tom,
In case I wasn’t inclined to read your blog because of my deep love for Disney, I would probably still read it because you are so darn funny!
Thanks for the laughs.
Haha, I’m funny? Now YOU are the funny one! 😉
We just got off the Dream, and I’m beginning to think you and my husband are related. He LOVED the hand washing stations at the Oceaneer’s Club. He took the kid to an Oceaneer’s Club open house just so he could use the “most amazing sink ever” (direct quote). He also found the coffee to be extremely foul (I don’t drink coffee). With the amount we paid for the cruise, you’d think they’d be able to provide decent coffee. And you are not alone in ordering many meals. My husband ordered sea bass with a side of scallops one night. As for desserts, we found that while we might want, say, the chocolate cake, our server would recommend something we were unfamiliar with. So we ordered both. I can say without hesitation that our server was always right in his recommendations. One night he recommended a date pudding. We would never have ordered that on our own, but it was the star of dessert that evening. After the first night of ordering multiple desserts, they just brought us all the desserts for the table (which was just me, my husband, and our 5 year old, whose dessert always consisted of a Mickey Bar). Ziggy Piggy!
We usually go this route with server recommendations. Funny (maybe?) story on that note: during our first meal at Carioca’s, we asked our server for recommendations (because we normally go that route). She didn’t recommend any of the regional inspirations, so we ended up not following her advice. I felt so bad about it (especially given all that we were ordering) that I apologized and explained we wanted to try the special items. She laughed and told me I didn’t need to apologize.
Loved this post! It had never occurred to me that you could get more than one meal served in a one sitting. Definitely doing that next time. I LOVED the towel animals and have photos of all of them – we were adults only too and still got them.
As for the coffee, that it the one thing I would pay for. The pessimist in my says that the free coffee tastes like muddy water on purpose so that you’ll buy the decent coffee. In any case, a visit to Cove Cafe was nice each day (or twice), though I realised that the was paying about $7-8 for each cup of coffee once I worked out what it was in Australian dollars.
Are you sure about that pricing? We paid ~$3-4 USD for each drink at Cove Cafe (and you get the sixth drink free!), which didn’t seem too bad.
Here’s the current menu: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/cove-cafe-menu/
Even accounting for the conversion rate, that’s still ~$4-5 AUD.
Thanks for sharing this cruise experience. All I can say is you better watch out — cruising is addictive! The husband and I have logged around 200 days at sea. The longer the cruise, the better. We love solid educational speakers and have found this to be very hit or miss. Our favorite “speaker experience” was down in the South Pacific — a fabulous historian and also an incredible astronomer. Who knew that the skies in the southern hemisphere are so different?!
Norway is awesome! Go again another time and train all over Denmark, etc. So much fun!
And we’ve seen worse at formal nights than a plaid shirt!
Love your blog. I share it with every Disney fan I know!
“Thanks for sharing this cruise experience. All I can say is you better watch out – cruising is addictive! The husband and I have logged around 200 days at sea. The longer the cruise, the better.”
We’ll cover this in greater depth in part 4 or 5, but this is something we’re already (quickly) learning. Would it have killed you to give us this warning BEFORE we did this Norway cruise?!!? 😉
Entertaining writing, as per usual. This report in particular makes me want to ask if you happened to see the Queen Mary out there? Or The Seaward?
Didn’t see either ship, but we did spot a loose seal.
The first time we ever heard of the “Formal Night” was when we read the navigator onboard our first cruise. We thought, how formal can it be, we are in Alaska, home of flannel shirts and hiking boots! We felt a bit awkward but there were a few other families in the dining room who did not get the memo as well..
Enjoying your trip report!
Irrespective of the luggage situation, we planned on doing a relatively dressed down (albeit not this much) formal night due to having to pack hiking and rain gear for Norway. When I mentioned this in the Facebook group for the cruise, many other people indicated they would be doing the same.
…Not sure where all these people were during our dinner. Must’ve been at the earlier seating!
I’m enjoying this trip report! We were on the Northern European cruise right before your sailing. It is so nice to see the Magic and the Cast Members again!
Great trip report as always. I have nothing to add, just wanted you and Sarah to know people are reading and enjoying the trip reports.
Not a Joey moment, but I always loved the “Pivot!” Episode. Classic. Sivaro
I have nothing to add here for you, but I wanted to say thank you for taking the time in writing this trip report. I’m really enjoying it! Not that I’m enjoying your suffering of standing in lines and stress of canceled flights nor you wearing the same clothes everyday, however, I’d love to go to Norway and so far this TR is the closest I’ll get. And I have to ask, does Laila, The Essence of Norway really capture the scent of Norway? Lol
You may not believe it, but Laila smells exactly like Norway. Do you believe it???
In all seriousness, I swore to Sarah that I smelled Laila a number of times both on the ship and in ports. I’m guessing it was either in my head, or because we were passing by other guests who were wearing it (Laila was being sold on the ship).
Lol!! I always wondered if locals wear it. We’ll just go with you really did smell it in port so I don’t have to wonder anymore.
You must have smelled other Disney cruise guests. Nobody in Norway wears this perfume, and most have never heard about it. The U.S. based Norwegian guy who made this perfume, named it after his mother. No woman in Norway below 70 is called Laila. I had never seen the Laila perfume before I was given a sample of it in the Norway pavillion in Epcot ten years ago. I have never seen it in a store in Norway, although they may sell it in tourist trap kind of shops. The creator named his next perfume after himself, Geir. I think Norwegians prefer perfumes to be a little less grandparents-next-door sounding than Laila and Geir 😉
It’s funny that you say “no woman in Norway below 70 is called Laila” because Sarah told me that she thinks Laila smells like something a grandma would wear. I vehemently disagree, and have been trying to get her to buy it for a while (to no avail).
Your comment certainly does not help–you’re killing my dreams! 😉
So glad you made it aboard and can share the adventures with the world! …Just wondering, but what percentage of Guests do you think were from countries where an insane madman with orange accents isn’t President? How many roughly would you say are typical Disney Lifestylers? Curious because of the very high price points and the travel to Europe to get onboard.
What did you think of the Cove Cafe coffee? I am very weak on it, putting it just above the general swill. Much like ice cream, DCL is very weak on coffee and I don’t know why they can’t simply serve Starbucks if all else fails.
As to merchandise, it was much, MUCH better on DCL’s first visits to Norway in 2015. Sorta typical of how they start strong, and then give up.
Oh, and I think you sleeping 12 hours straight would be like a normal person sleeping for five days without waking.
There were a lot of guests from other countries, mostly the UK (this also includes expats). I wouldn’t say half, but probably above 25%.
I know you have your own definition of ‘Lifestyler’ but I would say a good number were clearly DCL diehards. There were a lot of people in shirts that read ‘Inaugural’ this or ‘Anniversary’ that. I’m guessing since it’s more of a specialty cruise, it draws DCL completionists. There were also a surprising number of people who had done the Alaska cruise. The crossover makes sense, but it still surprised me.
I really liked Cove Cafe’s coffee, but part of that might have been coming from the standard DCL coffee that was particularly bad this cruise. The regular stuff was watered down and just…bad. Even without that, I’d still put Cove Cafe above Starbucks (which I think is good, but certainly not the gold standard of coffee).
I’m loving this trip report….always wanted to see Norway, and a Disney Cruise can’t be a bad way!
Thanks for the trip report. It’s our 30th anniversary next year, and we want to do something extra special. This is one of the itineraries we are thinking of. We just finished up a West Coast cruise from San Diego, California, to Vancouver, BC. We had three days at sea. We always found there was plenty to do and often weren’t able to see everything we wanted because of how activities overlapped. I’m not complaining, though, because that just means we need to do another cruise. Right??? I’m really looking forward to the rest of your trip report.
Interesting. I wonder if there was an abnormal amount scheduled since that’s a repositioning cruise?
My 90’s sitcom reference for this post is “JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD!”
Zac, my Joey reference is “COULD I BE WEARING MORE CLOTHES?”
LUNGE!