I’ve never been a backpacker so cruising is my favoured way to explore; without having to unpack every 5 minutes. This summer’s adventure is a much anticipated 11 nights on the Disney Magic when I’ll be cruising from Copenhagen to Norway and Iceland (mostly).
(Update: I have now returned! Links to all my posts relating to this trip can be found at the bottom of the page as they are added).
This isn’t the first time I’ve sailed on the Disney Magic and we have already created some very fond memories together. She’s taken me around the western Mediterranean when I visited the picture postcard coastal towns of Cinque Terre, got a glimpse of the stunning beauty of the Amalfi coast and experienced the now infamous city of Pompeii.
She’s also taken me on 2 week journey from the west coast of the USA, through the Panama Canal, to the east coast – it was nearly 10 years ago now, and I still consider ‘Canal Day’ as one of the most memorable travel experiences I’ve ever had.
It’s all a little different on this cruise though, you see normally my summer holiday is to somewhere hotter than the UK. Not this time, in June I’m obviously heading north and that means cooler temperatures.
The areas in Denmark and Norway aren’t going to be drastically different from the kind of summer temperatures I’m used to here as they’re not that far north from London. Akureyri and Reykjavik though….yeeeeah, seasonal average temperature for that time of year is a balmy 14 degrees.
Not that I mind it being lower temperatures than at home, it’s just that Bloke and I only have a limited amount of days we can go on holiday together so it’ll be a new experience for us to escape the daily grind by pulling on a sweater instead of slapping on the sun lotion.
We’ll be embarking the ship in Copenhagen in Denmark, then sailing to Oslo, Kristiansand and Stavanger in Norway. We then make the longer sail up to Reykjavik and Akureyri in Iceland before heading back down to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally arriving home in England at Dover.
Whoop! Whoop!
I have never been to any of the ports of call before (except Dover where I disembark) so it’s all virgin territory for me.
Naturally I have been stuffing myself with info on the internet from all the various Tourist Board sites like Visit Copenhagen & Visit Oslo. Plus I’ve been trawling lots of travel blogs, the best one being the lovely Kiki from Unlocking Kiki who’s an expat living in Iceland – ultimately you just can’t beat reading helpful tips from a local!
The more I read, the more I plan, the more excited I get about visiting the new cities and beautiful scenery that lies ahead. No, it probably won’t be hot but honestly I don’t care, because squeeee! I’m cruising to Norway and Iceland. As far as I’m concerned, June simply can’t get here quick enough.
I’m also a teensy bit excited at the prospect of blogging about everything afterwards 😀
Have you ever travelled somewhere ‘not hot’ for your summer holiday? Any regrets?
UPDATE:
Posts relating to my trip are below – I will continue to update as I add more.
My stay at the Absalon Hotel in Copenhagen
My experience using the Copenhagen Card