The Independent Cruiser: July 2005

Sea Princess North Atlantic Review Conclusion

Overall

Since we had just cruised on the Dawn Princess, we were ready for marginal food, and indifferent service, but was pleasantly surprised. While the buffet still needs attention on both ships, the dining room food was quite good on the Sea Princess. The service from our cabin steward and wait staff was excellent, and the latter probably the best we have encountered on any cruise thus far. The itinerary was very interesting, but we could have used more time in each port. As we understand it, Princess will reverse the itinerary in 2006, and allow much more time in the ports we would have particularly liked to have spent more time in, so it appears they have solved this problem. While we didn’t make as many new friends on this ship as we did on the Dawn, we did meet one nice couple, and they will be cruising with us next year. Overall, this was a grand adventure, and highly recommended to those who have “been there, done that” in scenic locations such as Alaska.

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Flaam and Vik, Norway

In Flaam, we elected to take the famous train to Myrdal, roundtrip. About 1200 of our fellow passengers took two ship's tours, "Overland from Flaam to Vik by train and motorcoach", and "Elite Collection: Overland from Flaam to Vik by train and motorcoach", priced at $164pp and $199pp respectively. Sadly, many of these cruisers did not know that you could take the train roundtrip, and/or thought that Princess had booked the entire train for the day, so taking one of these tours was the only way to get a ride on the famous Flaam railway, one of the top 10 railways in the world. We paid 250 NKR, or about $42 per person for our return tickets. See: Flaam or Flaam Railway> for more information, including prices and schedules on the Flaam railway.

Flaam is a pretty little town at the end of a gorgeous fjord. The ship docked at 8am, and unlike our usual approach, we crowded in the gangway to await the first release of passengers from the ship, to try to catch the 8:35am train. If we missed it, all was not lost, as there was another train at 9:45am, but we suspected this one might be more fully booked, and it was. The train after that arrived back too late, at 1:05pm, as the ship sailed onto Vik that afternoon at 1:30pm (last boarding by 1pm). The only reason to stop at Vik was to pick up the 1200+ passengers on the two tours mentioned above. Passengers were not allowed to disembark the ship at all in Vik.

Anyway, we walked the 100 yards or so to the train station, bought our return tickets, and boarded the train. There was a roped off section which led to the front cars of the train, which had been booked by Princess. We got on car #7, and as I had learned in research that the starboard (right) side of the train had more scenic views, we secured window seats on that side.

The views going up the hill were indeed incredible.

Halfway up, we stopped to get a view of a waterfall which ran under the tracks. Of course, we stopped on the way back as well.

Back in Flaam, we shopped a bit at the mostly touristy stores, although we did drop by a grocery store for some non-dairy treats for Margie to take back on the ship. Naomi and Melinda bought souveniers such as little troll dolls. We reboarded the ship, and at 1:30, sailed back through the fjord to Vik.

Below are some more views of the fjord, on the way to Vik.