Nordic Cruising

This one is kind of an odd one in that the flights I had weren't particularly remarkable (looking back on this trip, I actually flew in economy on one of the long haul legs 🫨), but was just kind of a reinforcement of the trips I like to have.

We had decided that after our fantastical New Zealand experience that we must be fjord people and we should travel to the next best place for fjords (I'm sure they'd disagree), Norway! Given that Norway is kind of a pain to get around and that we were rather put off by driving in foreign countries at that point, we decided to try a cruise! It also had a few sidestops around the UK that we were looking forward to try.

In this trip, we headed from DFW to LHR to CPH for a cruise on Holland America on a trip going from Denmark up through the Norwegian fjords, over to the Shetland Islands and down through Scotland.

The 12-day itinerary was broken down as such:

1. Depart Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Oslo, Norway
3. Kristiansand, Norway
4. Stavanger, Norway
5. Flam, Norway
6. Bergen, Norway
7. Lerwick, Shetland Islands, UK
8. Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK
9. Inverness, Scotland, UK
10. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
11. Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK
12. At Sea
13. Return to Copenhagen, Denmark

Whether it was the beautiful fjords, Norse landscape or Scottish countryside, the trip was gorgeous. As I write this in 2025, it's difficult to go back to all the details but it truly was an amazing trip and highly effective in cementing my love of cooler, moodier climates.

On the way back, we were lucky enough to be upgraded (does this even happen any more?) which meant a couple things.

1. We were lucky enough to get into one of my favorite lounges in the world, the Cathay lounge (still great in LHR)
2. We got to get another round of flights on the AA 777-300ER business class (I was starting to feel like a regular at this point)

The Cathay Pacific lounges are always memorable to me. With their distinctive green tile and incredible food offerings, their outstation at LHR was no exception.

Once on the flight back to the US, we had the opportunity of again sampling AA's positively whelming food offerings.

I opted for Barbecue Beef Toastie for breakfast but I honestly have no idea what I ordered for dinner. If you can identify this, please let me know.

All in all, while I'm not a "cruiser" and do not aspire to be, it was a great way to do a quick-ish tour of a difficult to navigate section of Europe without driving. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend again, even for those who may otherwise shy away from cruising!