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Cruising the Norwegian fjords has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, but it kept getting put on the back burner untiI in July 2024 when a friend told me that she heard that Norway was banning cruise ships from entering some of the fjords effective January 1st, 2026. I immediately did some research and found that she was correct – beginning in 2026, all cruise ships would be banned from the Unesco-designated fjords unless they were zero emissions vessels. Well, since currently there are no zero emission cruise ships, I decided to book a Norwegian cruise for 2025. I learned that the stops of Flam and Geiranger were both in Unesco fjords, so I booked a cruise that included both of them on the Celebrity Apex, May 10th, 2025. The good news for future travellers is that in late 2024, Norway changed its mind and prostoned the ban until 2032. So it’s not too late for you to see these magical places!
Our itinerary was as follows:
Sat, May 10
Sun, May 11
Mon, May 12
Tue, May 13
Wed, May 14
Thu, May 15
Fri, May 16
Sat, May 17
Southampton, England
At Sea
Nordfjord, Norway
Flåm, Norway
Geiranger, Norway
At Sea
Zeebrugge (Bruges), Belgium
Southampton, England
Depart 4:00pm
1:30pm to 7:30pm
8:00am to 4:00pm
8:00am to 4:00pm
10:00am to 5:00pm
Arrive 6:00am
——- Leaving out of Southhampton, England, our itinerary included: Nordfjord, Flåm, and Geiranger in Norway; Zeebrugge, Begium; and 2 days at sea. ——-
Celebrity’s Apex is one of their newer Edge Class ships, and this was my first time aboard one of these ships. I was immediately impressed with the contemporary decor, and when finding our way to our room, it felt more like a hotel than a ship. I booked one of their new style of “veranda” cabins. The veranda can either be an extension of the room or if you close the folding doors and put down the massive window it would then feel more like a traditional balcony. Overall I enjoyed this design, but it definitely has it’s pros and cons.
My husband, Mark, and I took this cruise with my nephew, Will, and his girlfriend, Ia. Of course, the first thing that we all did when we got onboard was to drop our bags in the room and head straight for the buffet. And the buffet did not disappoint! I’ve been on a lot of cruise ships, and the Apex’s buffet is my favorite to date. Not only was the food consistently great with a huge selection, the size and layout of the food stations keeps you from almost never having to wait in line for food (except, of course, for the desserts and ice cream). In addition to that, the tall ceilings gave the space a much more open and contemporary feel.
We spent much of the afternoon napping and unpacking, but I managed to find some time to explore the ship.
Our first full day was at sea. Mark and I headed out of the cabin to explore the entire ship deck by deck; but we got stuck on deck 5 when we wandered into a Captain’s Club welcome gathering. (Anyone who has sailed with Celebrity before is in the Captain’s Club and that included us.) You don’t want to miss these types of events because they always include free drinks. (And we really needed the free drinks with the ridiculously high prices on the Apex.) We had received an invitation to the party but didn’t see it beforehand. This gathering was held in The Eden, which is an absolultely beautiful, multi-level space with all kinds of seating arrangements.
That night while we were at sea, we went to the first big show of the cruise, called Crystallize. I can’t say that I understood the whole crystal theme, but the performers did a great job.
The following day was our first port – Nordfjordeid, and our first venture into the fjords. Two years ago I had traveled into Milford Sound in New Zealand, and I was hoping the Norweigan fjords would compare favorably to that incredible experience. I got up early that day in anticipation of seeing some dramatic sights as we entered the fjord, but it wasn’t exactly what I had imagined. Yes, it was beautiful, but it wasn’t very dramatic.
The port of Nordfjodeid was quite small with not much to offer. From what I gathered, this port is not frequented by cruise ships nearly as much as other ports in the area. The town of Olden which is deeper into Nordfjord, seems to be a better stop with a lot more options. We opted to check out the Viking Museum. The museum features a replica of the largest Viking ship ever discovered. Although the museum was quite small, it provided a decent amount of information, but I felt that it lacked information about the viking ships and life at sea. Anyway, it was a nice enough visit but I’m not sure it was worth the $20 per person we paid for it. We spent the rest of our time in port, wandering through town, and of course the guys had to stop to try some Norwegian beers.
Our ship was in port until 8pm that night, but we were back on the ship by around 5pm. I made sure to get up early again the next morning, because we were traveling into a another fjord (Sognefjord) on our way to Flam. Well, this fjord was better than I had imagined! It got light very early, and when I woke up before my alarm went off, my view out the window while lying in bed was a rock wall. It was every bit as spectacular as Milford Sound in New Zealand. And it is a much longer fjord than in New Zealand which meant we got many hours of spectacular scenery both on our way in and on our way out.
Most passengers were sleeping through the incredible scenery.
We had booked the scenic train in Flåm that goes to the little mountain stop of Myrdal and back. If you ever do this, be sure to sit on the side of the train that you board from. The best views are from that side, and we made the mistake of sitting on the opposite side. Although we did have some nice views, they weren’t nearly as spectacular as on the other side of the train. The train makes two brief stops on the way to Myrdal, including one to view a gushing waterfall up close.
We were even treated to a surprise performance at the falls which really made the scenery more special.
Sailing out of Sognefjord was just as spectacular as sailing in.
The following day was our last stop in Norway – Geiranger. I had heard that this fjord was the best one, and it did not disappoint! We saw hours of amazing scenery passing by so close it was difficult to get photos. Luckily, our phones can take wide-angle shots. I was surprised at the huge number of waterfalls found throughout the Geirangerfjord. The first 2 photos depict the Seven Sisters Waterfall and the Suitor Waterfall which are directly across the fjord from each other.
For Geiranger we had booked a minibus tour to a view point called Dalsnibba through Get Your Guide. This place is closed in winter and apparently was not supposed to be open yet (it was May 14th), but it opened for the day because there was a cruise ship in town. Well, I can see why it isn’t open in the winter. As the road climbed up the mountain, our green surroundings turned into a snowy wonderland. From the town and the ship you could see that there was some snow on the mountain tops, but we were shocked at home much snow! I was also quite surprised to see that a few people had rented tiny electric vehicles (with no side windows) and drove them the 45+ minute drive up to the peak in below freezing temperatures.
It was freezing at the top but the views were spectacular!
I snapped tons of photos on the way back down the narrow winding road, all the while fearing for my life as our driver/guide was turning around to talk to us and constantly gesturing with his hands!
We made 2 brief stops on the way down to take photos, and then our driver offered to drop us of at the visitor center which was a little above the town. We were so glad we took him up on that offer, because the walk back to town from that point followed a gushing waterfall and offered great viewpoints.
Once we reached town Mark and Will had to stop for more local beer, while Ia and I did a little shopping. Then I hurried back on board for lunch in the buffet and to squeeze in a nap before we headed back out of the fjord – I didn’t want to miss the scenery. The following day was a day at sea. We mostly just chilled out, but of course I had to make time for some serious family board game competition!
After a day at sea, we arrived at our last port, Zeebrugge, Belgium. The city of Bruges has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and the port of Zeebrugge is only a 30 minute drive away. So I used Viator to pre-book us a roundrip shuttle from the port into Bruges*. (And I’m glad I did because I paid $35 per person, and Celebrity charged $75 per person to drop people off at the same location.) Anyhow, I loved Bruges even more than I expected to! Unfortunately, we only had a few hours in the city, so we booked a free historical walking tour with Legends of Bruges.
One of the things that we learned on our tour was that there are over 1,500 kinds of beer brewed in Begium, and Belgians take beer drinking very seriously. Every beer must be consumed in the properly shaped glass for that beer. If fact, just to be sure you don’t make a mistake, each type of beer has a coordinating glass with its label on it. It was this beer culture that immediately convinced Mark and Will that they had to come back to Belgium!
In addition to beer, Belgium is known for its waffles and, more importantly, its chocolate. Before shopping for chocolate, we made a pit stop at the House of Waffles which, according to our tour guide, had the best waffles in town. The entire menu was made up of beer and waffles. Mark opted for the savory Americana waffle which was essentially a BLT plus egg between two waffles. I opted for a sweet waffle with ice cream and caramel. And for those who wanted to take waffles home, next door was a very posh Waffle Boutique.
After completing the waffle experience, we only had a short time to shop for chocolate before we had to hurry to catch the last shuttle back to the ship. Thankfully, Celebrity had a wonderful surprise in store for us for the last night of our cruise. One of the stations in the buffet, was converted into a belgium chocolate smorgasbord!
For me, that chocolate was the perfect ending to an awesome cruise!