Our first cruise: Norwegian fjords on Celebrity Silhouette

▶Play video

My friend Lewis recommended Celebrity when we were thinking about trying a cruise. We booked an eight-night trip around Norway on Celebrity Silhouette fairly last minute, without really knowing what life onboard would be like. Even getting on the ship was going to be a first for us.

We'd already visited Oslo, but this route would take us to Haugesund, Olden, Ålesund and Stavanger before returning to the capital. Those smaller places would have been much harder to join up by car or train. By ship, the journeys through the fjords turned out to be some of the best parts of the holiday.

Getting on our first ship#

We joined the ship in Amsterdam and left it in Rotterdam. We only had a few hours in the Netherlands at either end, spent travelling to or from the cruise, so exploring the cities would have to wait.

I remember the excitement building as we got closer to the ship. We'd never done any of this before, but getting onboard took hardly any time. There was a big welcome from the crew, and suddenly we were on our first cruise. It was all much smoother than we'd expected.

Then came the cabin surprise. We'd booked an obstructed-view balcony and ended up upgraded to a prime Concierge cabin, which felt like a double upgrade. I think it was the first time we'd ever been upgraded on anything. Going from the most basic balcony we'd considered to this was an incredible start.

A balcony was a particularly good thing to have in Norway. We could look out at mountains and water from our own room, before we'd even left for an excursion. Later in the week, we had time out there with a drink, or taking pictures as the ship sailed along. It made that unexpected upgrade something we could appreciate throughout the holiday.

Finding our routine onboard#

Our first full day was at sea, giving us time to explore before we reached Norway. There was a lot to take in, from the tall central atrium and its glass lifts to the pool deck and patches of lawn outside. We took photographs of ourselves around the ship, including me making myself comfortable in a large red circular chair.

Before leaving, we'd panic-bought thermals, hats and gloves, knowing Norway might be cold. The ship itself was perfectly warm. We could wrap up for the fresh air outside, then come back in and be comfortable again. Being out in that clean Norwegian air was lovely, particularly once we were sailing between the mountains.

When we booked, we'd assumed anytime dining would suit us best. Being able to eat whenever we wanted sounded ideal, but it wasn't available, so we took fixed dining instead.

We soon found that we liked having dinner at the same time each evening. We're both big theatre fans, so we could see the show first and then head to the dining room. A different show every night was a big part of the appeal for us. Having dinner afterwards gave the evenings a routine without needing to decide what to do each time.

The main dining room was called Grand Cuvée, and the formal dinners were our favourite way to eat onboard. We loved having a proper sit-down meal together after the show, with dessert to finish. It was an easy evening to look forward to after being out exploring all day.

We weren't as keen on the buffet as the formal dining, but having it available for much of the day was very handy around excursions. The tables beside the big windows also meant we could keep looking out at the coast while we ate. Between the food, the shows and the days ashore, we settled into the whole thing much more easily than we'd expected.

Haugesund and Langfoss waterfall#

Haugesund was our first Norwegian port. Along the waterfront, rows of buildings reflected in the water, with our enormous ship waiting back at the dock. There was also an oversized pink chair by the port, which Lucy tried out. We were still getting used to seeing the ship from the outside and realising that was where we were staying.

We stopped at Haraldshaugen, Norway's national monument, with its tall central stone and smaller standing stones around it. It commemorates the unification of Norway. The setting was lovely too, on a grassy rise with the sea beyond.

Our main excursion took us out to Åkrafjorden and Langfoss waterfall. The falls came down a long stretch of mountainside before reaching the fjord, and we could get a close view from beside the road at the bottom. Looking across the water gave us the wider picture, with the waterfall cutting through the green slope. This was the Norway scenery we'd been hoping for.

The little ports seemed very used to this arrangement. A ship would arrive with thousands of passengers, and the excursions and activities were ready to go. That made our first few days of finding our way off the ship and back again reassuringly straightforward. We could spend the day out here, then return to the same room and our evening routine, without finding another hotel or repacking a suitcase.

Olden, the glacier and the Troll Cars#

Olden was a full day out, and the view started before we'd gone anywhere. From the balcony, there was green water beneath us and low cloud sitting over the wooded slopes. The shore felt much closer here than on the open stretches of the voyage.

We went to Briksdal in the morning, taking a Troll Car through the valley and walking the final part to the glacier. The little open-sided vehicles were a fun way to travel. From the seat, we could look straight out at the stream, waterfalls and steep mountains around the track. The journey to the glacier was worth looking at in its own right.

Norway's enthusiasm for trolls was still something of a mystery to me, but I enjoyed the Troll Cars. Once we were on foot, the path took us past more rushing water and into a much more open, rocky valley. There were green slopes and trees lower down, then bare rock and ice further up.

At the end, we had the glacial lake and ice in front of us, with mountains rising on either side. We took plenty of photographs together here, and of Lucy beside the water. The people along the shore looked tiny against the valley. It was an incredible place to spend the morning, and we still had the Skylift to come.

Loen Skylift and our ship far below#

After Briksdal, we headed to Loen for the afternoon. We'd booked the Skylift with a transfer from Olden, so we could fit both outings into the same port day.

The cable car took us high above the fjord, from green slopes down below to snow around the top. Looking down along the cables made it very clear how far we'd climbed. The water opened out beneath us, with little roads and buildings along the shore and mountains in every direction.

This was one of the highlights of the whole trip. The height was incredible, and so was the view across the water and mountains. We'd seen the fjord from the ship and the road; up here, we could see much more of how it wound between the slopes.

We could even see Celebrity Silhouette down in Olden. After how huge it had looked when we first arrived to board, seeing it tucked into the fjord far below gave us a completely different sense of its size.

There was still snow beside the viewpoint, while the land around the water below was green. Between Briksdal in the morning and this in the afternoon, Olden gave us a lot of the things we'd come to Norway to see.

Ålesund before the crowds#

In Ålesund, we were among the first off the ship and went straight for the steps up Aksla. There are 418 steps from the town park, and getting going early paid off. We reached the top before the crowds and had the viewpoint to ourselves.

The view here was quite different from Loen. The town spread out immediately below us, with buildings packed around the harbour, then islands and hills further away. We could look back down the stairway we'd just climbed, with the ship visible beyond the town.

Having all that to ourselves was lovely. It was a simple outing, but getting off the ship early had made it feel quite special. It also suited what we'd found about these stops: there was something memorable to do without having to spend half the day travelling away from the port.

Wrapped up on Lysefjord#

We'd hoped to hike up to Preikestolen, also known as Pulpit Rock, during our stop in Stavanger. The excursion we looked at was about seven and a half hours, though, and we only had around eight hours off the ship. That left too little room for anything to run late. Instead, we booked an electric boat trip into Lysefjord to see the rock from below.

We were taking no chances with the cold this time. On our earlier visit to Oslo, a boat trip had left us absolutely freezing, so we'd learnt our lesson. Out came the hats and extra layers. In the photographs, my hat and neck warmer leave very little of my face on show.

The smaller boat gave us a close view of the cliffs. At some points, there was rock rising almost straight out of the water beside us, with little patches of greenery clinging to it. We also saw goats on the rocky shore, an unexpected detail among all those huge views.

There were waterfalls along the way, and we could look up towards the rock we'd originally hoped to stand on. Seeing it from below was a good alternative for the time we had. We'd spent much of the week looking out from a big cruise ship, so getting onto a smaller boat and travelling further into the fjord was a different experience again. The hike would have to wait for another visit.

A change of plan in Oslo#

The approach to Oslo gave us another reason to be out on deck. The water was calm, with boats and wooded shoreline around us, and we took photographs together before heading into the city. It was nice to return somewhere we already knew after several completely new stops.

We'd booked another boat excursion for this visit, but it was cancelled. Instead, we went up the hill to the Holmenkollen ski museum and ski-jump tower. We'd been to Oslo before, but this gave us something different to do with the day.

Inside the museum, I had a go at the skiing game, standing in front of the screen with poles in hand. Then there was the tower itself. We had a long queue, but it was a really good replacement outing. Looking down the ski jump from the top was quite something, with the landing area far below and the city spread out beyond it.

From up there, we could see across Oslo towards the water. It made a good final viewpoint for a trip that had involved looking at Norway from almost every possible height.

We also walked through Vigeland Park. After the snow around Loen, Oslo looked very much like spring: green lawns, beds of colourful tulips and blossom on the trees. We took pictures around the sculptures and steps, then along the waterfront later in the afternoon before returning to the ship.

The northern lights were back home#

There was one fairly ridiculous bit of timing. While we were in Norway, people back home were seeing the northern lights across the UK. The Met Office reported the strongest UK geomagnetic activity since 2003, with a widespread display that weekend.

We didn't see them ourselves. We'd gone to the country we associated with the northern lights, only for everyone back home to get the show. Unfortunate timing, but quite funny given where we were.

A very good introduction to cruising#

After Oslo, we had another day at sea before leaving the ship in Rotterdam. For a holiday full of first experiences, it had all gone remarkably smoothly. The upgrade was a lovely surprise, but we also knew how much we'd enjoyed the ordinary evenings of a show and dinner, and waking up somewhere different.

Norway had given us plenty to get off the ship for, and just as much reason to stand on deck and watch the journey. Lewis had given us a very good recommendation.

We did go cruising again, and fixed dining became our preference on most of those trips. Our later diaries cover our first cruise with friends around Greece and to Ephesus, a birthday cruise through Asia on Celebrity Solstice and California to Canada on Celebrity Summit.