So we went on the 7 day cruise through the Norway Fjords June 6-13, 2015. It was such a wonderful trip! I will try to post pictures later, but here is the report!
Travelling is me (Jen), my husband, Derek, and our 6 year old daughter, Dakota.
So we flew out of Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday, June 4th at 10pm at night on Norwegian Air. We found direct round trip tickets (no layovers!) for approx. $700.00 a person from Ft. Lauderdale to Copenhagen! Amazing deal I think! Norwegian Air was wonderful! We just flew coach but the seats were very comfortable and roomier than most airlines. We were on a new plane they call their dreamliner. Each seat had it's own entertainment system with lots of choices for movies, tv shows and music, with a whole section for kids, so this entertained my 6 year old whenever she wasn't sleeping! They even had sudoku and solitaire! We paid for the food, which was kind of fun because it was very European. They brought by tea and coffee after every meal and the soft drinks were included. I was very pleased and we slept as well as you can in coach on a plane (which is not much) and arrived in Copenhagen at approx 10am the next morning.
We took a cab and checked into our hotel, which was a boutique hotel called The Square. It was awesome! Very modern and not too pricey! It had a separate pull out bed for Dakota which was perfect! Copenhagen is a wonderful city because while it feels like a city, it is small and everything is very accessible and within walking distance. There are a lot of bikers in the city (with good reason, it is easily bikable) and there are public bikes to rent. We didn't do this since my daughter can't ride without training wheels yet, but it looked fun! We walked to the Stroget (a pedestrian shopping street) and went in and out of a few stores, bought a troll of course, and then had Linner at a pub that was decorated with all the pictures of the Danish Royal family. We got fish and chips, which was good, but expensive! For 2 fish and chips, and 2 sodas, we paid about 60.00 American! Yikes! Everything in Denmark and Norway is expensive so I was glad we were getting on a cruise the next day!
Well, the three of us were EXHAUSTED and our heads were buzzing at this point so we walked back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep at 6pm. I remember my husband waking up at one point and asking what time it was (since it was light so long there). I told him 11pm and he said "What?! How are we going to sleep till morning??!!" But he went back to sleep and we did! We woke up around 6am after 12 hours of sleep refreshed! We all took showers and packed up and then went to the hotel's breakfast buffet which was about 20.00 a person but AWESOME! Everything is so modern there! So it was about 8am and we asked the hotel front desk what we could do on a Sat morning at 8am. They looked at us like we were crazy and told us, "Uh, sit at a cafe?" Well, we are not sit at a cafe people so we just decided to walk. We looked at a map and found a playground in a park down the street. It was a beautiful park with gorgeous statues and a lake in the middle. Dakota had a blast on the playground.
Then we saw that we weren't too far from the botanical gardens and walked down there, which opened at 8:30 (uh, hotel conceirge, if tourists ask where to go at 8am on a Sat morning, tell them the Botanical Gardens!!!)! The Botanical Gardens were beautiful and so much fun because they have all these Rocky mounds with flowers that are a blast to climb, and a greenhouse, and bridges. It was a fabulous morning! Right next door is the palace gardens and we peaked in and saw the Guards (who dress like the British Guards with the fluffy hats) arriving for work. They have these beautiful arches that we walked through and then we stopped at a cafe and had a pastry on the Stroget. While there I saw a bunch of people mobbing a shop. This kind of situation intimidates my husband which wanted nothing to do with it, but I am a shopper so I dived right in and found that there was a table of 3 clothing items for 50 Krone, which is like 3 items for 10.00 American!!! I told you guys that everything was expensive, I mean I think we just paid 100 Krone for our pastries and sodas! So I got a skirt, shirt and sweater. The sweater wasn't that great on second thought but I had to grab what I could and I ended up loving the shirt and skirt! So fun! So invigorated by the sale, we walked back to the hotel to grab a taxi to the pier!
We arrived at the pier and as first time Disney Cruisers had to wait in the longest line, but still, we were through the line in about 20 minutes! The terminal was very nice and they had a spot set up to take pictures with Mickey and Minney! What a great start to the trip! We got Dakota registered for the Oceaneers Club and then before we knew it, our group was called and we were boarding the Magic!!!
The only thing I have to say is I think due to the set up on the pier, we did not come into the ship in the atrium, but arrived where you would board after shore excursions, so sadly, they did not announce our entrance into the ship. This was probably the only major disappointment I had the whole cruise, so I got over it! But I am determined to go on another Disney Cruise soon and get announced!!!!!!
Our room was very nice! Just a normal inside cabin with a couch that turned into a bed for Dakota. It was clean and I think very comparable to our Princess and Norwegian cabins! We had lunch at the buffet, which was very good and clean and then checked out the Oceaneers Club and Lab with Dakota since they were in open house. She decided she was going to live at the slide in Andy's Room in the club and that was that. I wish they didn't have quite so many open houses throughout our voyage as that meant we didn't feel comfortable leaving Dakota there without us since other people could come in and out, but I suspect as she gets older, we won't mind. Dakota really enjoyed the club and she is a very shy girl who gets easily intimidated. We wouldn't leave her there for long periods of time ... about an hour at a time and if she asked to hang out with us, she did. But it was nice for her to have a place to play that she enjoyed!
Our first night's dinner rotation was at the Animator's Palate! We were very excited about this! Our table mates were a really nice American family who were living in Italy. They had 2 boys, one Dakota's age and one a little younger. Very sweet. And they were first time Disney cruisers as well. We got along with them great! The food was pretty good that first night but I don't think we quite had the hang of ordering the best dish yet. I wouldn't say the best cruise food ever, but it was very good. The service was very good but our assistant waiter through the trip would just be ... okay. She was very nice but she really couldn't recommend wines and they had this wine special that was very confusing. Our table mates were wine connoisseurs so they were more annoyed with this than we would have been. We probably would not have noticed. We learned throughout the trip to ask to have Dakota served with us instead of before while we got her appetizers. That way she would be more patient throughout the dinner. And sometimes I would bring her to the kids club after she ate. She was very good though and enjoyed getting dressed up for dinner each night!!! She dressed like a princess every night! We had an Aurora costume and an Anna costume which she wore twice each and she had her easter dress and another couple of fancy dress that she wore as well. She LOVED it! We also took family pictures every night before dinner, picking our favorites at the end of the cruise. And there were always at least 3 characters taking pictures at any given time -AWESOME!! And unlike in Disney World, you rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes.
So we went to the opening show, which was good and then went to bed since it had been a long day!
So the next day was a day at sea. We woke up a decent time and had breakfast at Lumierre's- yum.
Now since this cruise was inspired by Frozen, everyone knew the Frozen characters would be the most sought after, so Disney was really smart and gave everyone who wanted to a ticket to see the Frozen characters at a specific time when you didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes and it was all set up for pictures! They did the same for the Avengers as well! It was so brilliant and one of Dakota's favorite things!!! So we met the Frozen characters and the Princesses and then Dakota went to play in the kids club and we got our Bingo on!!! Derek and I played Bingo every single session they offered on the cruise! We are gamblers and missed having a casino on board but Bingo was really fun! And we won about 1/2 the time so we ended up breaking even in the end, which I call a win!!!! The cruise director staff member that ran Bingo was so fun!!! It was really an enjoyable part of the cruise!!!
I think we also went to a Movie in the Buena Vista Theater and started Anna's Chocolate Scavanger Hunt (she would give us three clues every night that we had to find on the ship and fill out on a sheet. The last day we left it on our bed and Anna gave us a chocolate treat! Three chocolate covered rice crispy treats with Frozen scenes on them! So fun!)! We had dinner that night at Carioca's (spelling??) and it was pretty good. I don't like spicey food and the menu was Caribbean based that night so I was limited as to choices. But it was still pretty good. I liked the restaurant atmosphere.
To Be Continued ....
Travelling is me (Jen), my husband, Derek, and our 6 year old daughter, Dakota.
So we flew out of Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday, June 4th at 10pm at night on Norwegian Air. We found direct round trip tickets (no layovers!) for approx. $700.00 a person from Ft. Lauderdale to Copenhagen! Amazing deal I think! Norwegian Air was wonderful! We just flew coach but the seats were very comfortable and roomier than most airlines. We were on a new plane they call their dreamliner. Each seat had it's own entertainment system with lots of choices for movies, tv shows and music, with a whole section for kids, so this entertained my 6 year old whenever she wasn't sleeping! They even had sudoku and solitaire! We paid for the food, which was kind of fun because it was very European. They brought by tea and coffee after every meal and the soft drinks were included. I was very pleased and we slept as well as you can in coach on a plane (which is not much) and arrived in Copenhagen at approx 10am the next morning.
We took a cab and checked into our hotel, which was a boutique hotel called The Square. It was awesome! Very modern and not too pricey! It had a separate pull out bed for Dakota which was perfect! Copenhagen is a wonderful city because while it feels like a city, it is small and everything is very accessible and within walking distance. There are a lot of bikers in the city (with good reason, it is easily bikable) and there are public bikes to rent. We didn't do this since my daughter can't ride without training wheels yet, but it looked fun! We walked to the Stroget (a pedestrian shopping street) and went in and out of a few stores, bought a troll of course, and then had Linner at a pub that was decorated with all the pictures of the Danish Royal family. We got fish and chips, which was good, but expensive! For 2 fish and chips, and 2 sodas, we paid about 60.00 American! Yikes! Everything in Denmark and Norway is expensive so I was glad we were getting on a cruise the next day!
Well, the three of us were EXHAUSTED and our heads were buzzing at this point so we walked back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep at 6pm. I remember my husband waking up at one point and asking what time it was (since it was light so long there). I told him 11pm and he said "What?! How are we going to sleep till morning??!!" But he went back to sleep and we did! We woke up around 6am after 12 hours of sleep refreshed! We all took showers and packed up and then went to the hotel's breakfast buffet which was about 20.00 a person but AWESOME! Everything is so modern there! So it was about 8am and we asked the hotel front desk what we could do on a Sat morning at 8am. They looked at us like we were crazy and told us, "Uh, sit at a cafe?" Well, we are not sit at a cafe people so we just decided to walk. We looked at a map and found a playground in a park down the street. It was a beautiful park with gorgeous statues and a lake in the middle. Dakota had a blast on the playground.
Then we saw that we weren't too far from the botanical gardens and walked down there, which opened at 8:30 (uh, hotel conceirge, if tourists ask where to go at 8am on a Sat morning, tell them the Botanical Gardens!!!)! The Botanical Gardens were beautiful and so much fun because they have all these Rocky mounds with flowers that are a blast to climb, and a greenhouse, and bridges. It was a fabulous morning! Right next door is the palace gardens and we peaked in and saw the Guards (who dress like the British Guards with the fluffy hats) arriving for work. They have these beautiful arches that we walked through and then we stopped at a cafe and had a pastry on the Stroget. While there I saw a bunch of people mobbing a shop. This kind of situation intimidates my husband which wanted nothing to do with it, but I am a shopper so I dived right in and found that there was a table of 3 clothing items for 50 Krone, which is like 3 items for 10.00 American!!! I told you guys that everything was expensive, I mean I think we just paid 100 Krone for our pastries and sodas! So I got a skirt, shirt and sweater. The sweater wasn't that great on second thought but I had to grab what I could and I ended up loving the shirt and skirt! So fun! So invigorated by the sale, we walked back to the hotel to grab a taxi to the pier!
We arrived at the pier and as first time Disney Cruisers had to wait in the longest line, but still, we were through the line in about 20 minutes! The terminal was very nice and they had a spot set up to take pictures with Mickey and Minney! What a great start to the trip! We got Dakota registered for the Oceaneers Club and then before we knew it, our group was called and we were boarding the Magic!!!
The only thing I have to say is I think due to the set up on the pier, we did not come into the ship in the atrium, but arrived where you would board after shore excursions, so sadly, they did not announce our entrance into the ship. This was probably the only major disappointment I had the whole cruise, so I got over it! But I am determined to go on another Disney Cruise soon and get announced!!!!!!
Our room was very nice! Just a normal inside cabin with a couch that turned into a bed for Dakota. It was clean and I think very comparable to our Princess and Norwegian cabins! We had lunch at the buffet, which was very good and clean and then checked out the Oceaneers Club and Lab with Dakota since they were in open house. She decided she was going to live at the slide in Andy's Room in the club and that was that. I wish they didn't have quite so many open houses throughout our voyage as that meant we didn't feel comfortable leaving Dakota there without us since other people could come in and out, but I suspect as she gets older, we won't mind. Dakota really enjoyed the club and she is a very shy girl who gets easily intimidated. We wouldn't leave her there for long periods of time ... about an hour at a time and if she asked to hang out with us, she did. But it was nice for her to have a place to play that she enjoyed!
Our first night's dinner rotation was at the Animator's Palate! We were very excited about this! Our table mates were a really nice American family who were living in Italy. They had 2 boys, one Dakota's age and one a little younger. Very sweet. And they were first time Disney cruisers as well. We got along with them great! The food was pretty good that first night but I don't think we quite had the hang of ordering the best dish yet. I wouldn't say the best cruise food ever, but it was very good. The service was very good but our assistant waiter through the trip would just be ... okay. She was very nice but she really couldn't recommend wines and they had this wine special that was very confusing. Our table mates were wine connoisseurs so they were more annoyed with this than we would have been. We probably would not have noticed. We learned throughout the trip to ask to have Dakota served with us instead of before while we got her appetizers. That way she would be more patient throughout the dinner. And sometimes I would bring her to the kids club after she ate. She was very good though and enjoyed getting dressed up for dinner each night!!! She dressed like a princess every night! We had an Aurora costume and an Anna costume which she wore twice each and she had her easter dress and another couple of fancy dress that she wore as well. She LOVED it! We also took family pictures every night before dinner, picking our favorites at the end of the cruise. And there were always at least 3 characters taking pictures at any given time -AWESOME!! And unlike in Disney World, you rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes.
So we went to the opening show, which was good and then went to bed since it had been a long day!
So the next day was a day at sea. We woke up a decent time and had breakfast at Lumierre's- yum.
Now since this cruise was inspired by Frozen, everyone knew the Frozen characters would be the most sought after, so Disney was really smart and gave everyone who wanted to a ticket to see the Frozen characters at a specific time when you didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes and it was all set up for pictures! They did the same for the Avengers as well! It was so brilliant and one of Dakota's favorite things!!! So we met the Frozen characters and the Princesses and then Dakota went to play in the kids club and we got our Bingo on!!! Derek and I played Bingo every single session they offered on the cruise! We are gamblers and missed having a casino on board but Bingo was really fun! And we won about 1/2 the time so we ended up breaking even in the end, which I call a win!!!! The cruise director staff member that ran Bingo was so fun!!! It was really an enjoyable part of the cruise!!!
I think we also went to a Movie in the Buena Vista Theater and started Anna's Chocolate Scavanger Hunt (she would give us three clues every night that we had to find on the ship and fill out on a sheet. The last day we left it on our bed and Anna gave us a chocolate treat! Three chocolate covered rice crispy treats with Frozen scenes on them! So fun!)! We had dinner that night at Carioca's (spelling??) and it was pretty good. I don't like spicey food and the menu was Caribbean based that night so I was limited as to choices. But it was still pretty good. I liked the restaurant atmosphere.
To Be Continued ....
