Queen Victoria - Norwegian Fjords Explorer

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 3 sea days over 8 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Southampton

   United KingdomDepart

   Britain's main cruise homeport, on Southampton Water at the head of the Solent. Almost nobody calls here as a port day - you join or leave your ship at one of five terminals (Mayflower, Ocean, QEII, City and Horizon), which are spread across the working docks and reached by taxi or coach rather than on foot. The city itself was heavily bombed in 1940, so the old core is patchy: surviving medieval walls, the Bargate, and a good maritime museum.

   • SeaCity Museum and its Titanic exhibition - the ship sailed from Berth 44 here
   • Walking the medieval town walls and the Bargate
   • Day trip to Winchester Cathedral, about 20 minutes by train
   • The New Forest for wild ponies, roughly 30 minutes by road

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside; terminals are 2-4 km from the city centre and from Southampton Central station, so use a taxi or the cruise line coach, and allow about 80 minutes by train to London Waterloo.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct (peak turnaround Jun-Aug)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Bergen

   NorwayPort

   The usual start or finish of a Norwegian fjord itinerary, wedged between seven mountains and a deep harbour. Rain is the default - locals hand out umbrellas without comment. The draw is Bryggen, the row of leaning wooden Hanseatic trading houses on the north side of the Vågen inlet, and the funicular that climbs straight out of the old town to a mountain plateau.

   • Bryggen wharf and the alleys behind its facades
   • Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen, 8 minutes from the centre
   • The fish market at the head of Vågen
   • Troldhaugen, Edvard Grieg's lakeside villa and composing hut

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Skolten, a 10-minute walk from Bryggen, or at Dokken/Jekteviken further south, which is 25-30 minutes on foot and usually shuttled.

   Best months

   May-Sep

4. Day 4

   Geiranger

   NorwayPort

   The most photographed fjord in Norway and, on a busy August day, one of the most crowded. The ship spends the last hour of the approach threading a 15 km arm barely 250 m wide in places, past the Seven Sisters falls and the abandoned cliff farms. The village at the end has a few hundred residents and a road that switchbacks up to a viewpoint at 1,500 m.

   • Dalsnibba viewpoint and the Geiranger Skywalk at 1,500 m
   • Flydalsjuvet, the rock ledge with the classic fjord photograph
   • The Ørnesvingen (Eagle Bend) hairpins on the road toward Eidsdal
   • The Norwegian Fjord Centre in the village

   Getting ashore

   Geiranger is a tender port - ships anchor in the fjord and tender to the village pier, a few minutes' ride, and the tender queue on multi-ship days can eat an hour.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug (road to Dalsnibba usually opens late May)

5. Day 5

   Flåm

   NorwayPort

   A hamlet at the head of Aurlandsfjord, an arm of the Sognefjord, that exists almost entirely for the railway. The Flåm Line climbs 863 m in 20 km on adhesion alone, past the Kjosfossen waterfall where the train stops for photographs. Outside the station there is a brewery, a couple of shops and a great deal of scenery.

   • The Flåm Railway to Myrdal, about an hour each way
   • Stegastein viewpoint, a wooden platform 650 m above the fjord
   • A RIB or ferry into Nærøyfjord, the narrowest navigable fjord arm in Europe
   • Ægir BrewPub, built to look like a stave church

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside at the Flåm quay, a couple of minutes' walk from the railway station and the village.

   Best months

   May-Sep

6. Day 6

   Stavanger

   NorwayPort

   Norway's oil capital, which sounds unpromising until you see the berth - ships tie up on the Vågen inlet with the whole small centre around them. Gamle Stavanger, on the western side, is a lane of about 170 white-painted 18th and 19th-century timber houses. It is also the launching point for Preikestolen, the flat cliff shelf 604 m above Lysefjord.

   • Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) - a 4-hour round-trip hike plus ferry and bus transfer
   • Lysefjord sightseeing cruise past Hengjanefossen waterfall
   • Gamle Stavanger's white wooden lanes
   • Norwegian Petroleum Museum and the Swords in Rock monument at Hafrsfjord

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside in the middle of town on the Vågen; you step off into the centre with no shuttle.

   Best months

   May-Sep

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Southampton

   United KingdomArrive

   Britain's main cruise homeport, on Southampton Water at the head of the Solent. Almost nobody calls here as a port day - you join or leave your ship at one of five terminals (Mayflower, Ocean, QEII, City and Horizon), which are spread across the working docks and reached by taxi or coach rather than on foot. The city itself was heavily bombed in 1940, so the old core is patchy: surviving medieval walls, the Bargate, and a good maritime museum.

   • SeaCity Museum and its Titanic exhibition - the ship sailed from Berth 44 here
   • Walking the medieval town walls and the Bargate
   • Day trip to Winchester Cathedral, about 20 minutes by train
   • The New Forest for wild ponies, roughly 30 minutes by road

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside; terminals are 2-4 km from the city centre and from Southampton Central station, so use a taxi or the cruise line coach, and allow about 80 minutes by train to London Waterloo.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct (peak turnaround Jun-Aug)