Sky Princess - Norwegian Fjords Explorer

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 2 sea days over 7 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

   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

4. Day 4

   Skjolden

   NorwayPort

   The innermost cruise port in Norway - reaching it means sailing more than 200 km inland along the Sognefjord and then up the Lustrafjord, which is a slow, green, waterfall-lined approach. Skjolden itself is barely a hamlet at the fjord head, with a couple of hundred people and mountains closing in on three sides.

   • Urnes Stave Church, the oldest in Norway and a UNESCO site, reached by a small ferry across the fjord
   • Nigardsbreen, an accessible arm of the Jostedalsbreen glacier
   • Feigumfossen waterfall, a 218 m drop above the Lustrafjord
   • The Sognefjellet mountain road over to Jotunheimen

   Getting ashore

   One ship at a time berths at the quay or the floating Seawalk pier and walks ashore; additional ships anchor and tender in.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug (Sognefjellet road usually opens late May)

5. Day 5

   Olden

   NorwayPort

   A village of a few hundred people at the head of Nordfjord, which on a cruise day hosts several thousand visitors. Nobody comes for Olden itself - the point is the glacier arms of Jostedalsbreen behind it and the cable car at neighbouring Loen. The valley road up to Briksdal runs past meltwater lakes the colour of antifreeze.

   • Briksdal Glacier - a 45-minute uphill walk from the car park, or a troll car ride
   • Loen Skylift, which climbs to 1,011 m on Mount Hoven in five minutes
   • Lake Lovatnet and the Kjenndal valley
   • Olden's old and new churches by the waterside

   Getting ashore

   Olden has one deep-water pier plus tender pontoons, so one ship berths alongside and any second ship tenders; the village is a short walk, and Loen is 6 km away by shuttle.

   Best months

   May-Sep

6. Day 6

   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

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8

   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)