Our Magical “Welcome Back” 11-Night Northern European (Norway, Iceland, Scotland) Cruise ~ w/ pics ~ August 2022 ~ Completed 10/09!

[disneyfaninaz]

We are back after 3 weeks of being in Europe for our 11-night cruise. We had an absolutely magical time on our cruise, it wasn’t until after the cruise when things starting falling apart. But, that’s a story for another day!

I am currently doing laundry and downloading my thousands of photos, so let’s begin on my trip report for our cruise!

Well, it’s been 3 years since we last cruised. We had 2 cruises (including a Northern European) cancelled in 2021 by DCL and one to Hawaii from Vancouver we cancelled this year because of Canada’s Covid restrictions.

Cast of Characters:

The usual suspects will be sailing with us (give or take 1 or 2)

Me: Retired, empty nester, proud DCP Mom, Disney addict and world traveler.
DH: Retired, Disney addiction enabler and indulgent world traveler.

Our dear neighbors; DNC, DNJ and DNM.

Background:

Originally, this cruise was to happen in July 2021 and our DD was going to join us. But since the new cruise was in the middle of August and since DD participated in the Disney College Program last spring, she had to go back to school in the fall to finish her degree, so she won’t be joining us.

We booked this cruise as soon as it became available last year, but to be quite honest, since we didn’t know what Covid was going to do or even if Disney was going to sail in Europe this year, so we really didn’t plan anything until May of this year.

The itinerary has been changed twice since we booked the cruise, and frankly, I really like the latest. We got our overnight in Reykjavik back along with only 1 port in Norway and an additional one in Iceland. We are looking forward to returning to Alesund, Norway; it was one of my favorite stops on our Norway cruise in 2015.

Planning

We are traveling with our neighbors again who have a disabled daughter in a wheelchair. A lot of DCL excursions do not accept wheelchairs, so we have always looked for private tours whenever possible. My neighbor found Tours by Locals. All tours are booked and paid for through one US site, making it so much easier to manage. There are dozens of tours available at each port and we get to choose the itinerary and tour guide that best fits our needs. We have private tours booked together in Reykjavik and Invergordon.

Checking In On-Line

I did my research and knew to have pictures of our Covid Vaccination Cards, Passports and headshots on my computer before hand. 30 days before our cruise, I uploaded our passports and headshots and got our PAT of 11:45 AM. Because I prepared, it was very easy and we had no issues. A little less than 2 weeks before our cruise, I uploaded our proof of vaccination cards to the Prenetics website and received our “Clear to Arrive” the next morning!


Itinerary:

Day 1 - Sunday, August 14, 2022 - Travel from Phoenix to London
Day 2 - Monday, August 15, 2022 - Continue to travel to Copenhagen
Day 3 - Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - Copenhagen
Day 4 - Wednesday, August 17, 2022 - Embarkation
Day 5 - Thursday, August 18, 2022 - Sea Day
Day 6 - Friday, August 19, 2022 - Alesund – Islands of Giske & Godoy Lighthouse Tea Break
Day 7 - Saturday, August 20, 2022 - Sea Day
Day 8 - Sunday, August 21, 2022 - Reykjavik – Private Tour
Day 9 - Monday, August 22 2022 - Reykjavik
Day 10 - Tuesday, August 23, 2022 - Aukureyi – Jewels of the North
Day 11 - Wednesday, August 24, 2022 - Sea Day
Day 12 - Thursday, August 25, 2022 - Kirkwall (Orkney) - Orkney Southern Isles
Day 13 - Friday, August 26, 2022 - Invergordon – Private Tour
Day 14 - Saturday, August 27, 2022 - Sea Day
Day 15 - Sunday, August 28, 2022 - Dover – Private Dover & Canterbury Tour transfer to London
Day 16 - Monday, August 29, 2022 and Beyond

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

We were also on this cruise, so I will eagerly be following your report. After all the pre cruise stress- both covid and airline travel related- it turned out to be one of our best ever vacations. Absolutely everything went perfectly. It was everything we had hoped for and more (did not expect northern lights and whales!)
It was also much warmer than we expected- could have packed better for the Copenhagen heat wave!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I love your TRs! This is the one we will do next and I’m sad we won’t get the magic. One of the Scotland CMs we chatted with said this will be the last year they go to Kirkwall since the Dream is to big to dock there. So you are super lucky! Looking forward to the rest!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We were also on this cruise, so I will eagerly be following your report. After all the pre cruise stress- both covid and airline travel related- it turned out to be one of our best ever vacations. Absolutely everything went perfectly. It was everything we had hoped for and more (did not expect northern lights and whales!)
It was also much warmer than we expected- could have packed better for the Copenhagen heat wave!

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy travel was after reading horror stories. I hope my report lives up to your experience. We did see the lights, but missed the whales.

I love your TRs! This is the one we will do next and I’m sad we won’t get the magic. One of the Scotland CMs we chatted with said this will be the last year they go to Kirkwall since the Dream is to big to dock there. So you are super lucky! Looking forward to the rest!

Thank you! I did not know that about Kirkwall. We were lucky to have been the last visit by Disney there, it was a wonderful port. We are booked on the Transatlantic on the Dream next May. I haven't been on the larger ships. It should be interesting.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

cant wait to read along and relive our cruise. I'm European but Iceland was still a bucketlist destination and it was everything I expected and so much more!

 

[becauseimnew]

Can't wait to read you TR, my dream is to go on this same cruise.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

cant wait to read along and relive our cruise. I'm European but Iceland was still a bucketlist destination and it was everything I expected and so much more!

Welcome to my report! If I'm not mistaken, you were seated next to us at dinners and had Rolando and Komang too!

Can't wait to read you TR, my dream is to go on this same cruise.

Thanks for joining!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Days 1 & 2
Sunday - Monday, August 14 -15, 2022
Travel Days – Copenhagen

First a little background, it was late June when I started reading horror stories of cancelled flights and lost luggage, especially through Heathrow in London. I have to admit I was really getting nervous about our flights.

In early July, my neighbor texted me that she received an email regarding her flight to Copenhagen from London being cancelled with British Airways. They are flying in a day ahead of us. I immediately checked my itinerary on the American Airlines app and noticed that my flight to Copenhagen was missing. I called AA right away, the representative told me that my flights were still there as originally booked. I got off the phone and it just didn’t feel right, so I called them back, got another agent and low and behold, my flight had been cancelled, but not rescheduled. I booked the last flight to Copenhagen resulting in an 8 hour layover at Heathrow getting into Copenhagen shortly before midnight.

My next biggest worry was losing luggage. I’ve never been one to carry on a change of clothes. We’ve never had a problem with lost luggage in the past. However, after seeing pictures of pieces of luggage unclaimed at Heathrow and hearing stories of bags not making connections, I had to rethink my way of packing. My DH likes to carry-on as little as possible on the plane. I talked him into taking a 22” carry-on for each of us. We crammed as many changes of clothes, shoes, necessities, and anything else we didn’t want to lose as we could! Everything else that was required went into our other carry-on tote and back pack. We opted on 2 checked bags with our remaining clothes.

So, back to now. We hired a car to pick us up from our home to PHX Sky Harbor Airport. The driver was prompt and picked us up at 2:15 PM for our 5:40 PM flight to Heathrow, London.

We arrived at 2:35 PM. Sky Harbor was busy, but normal for a Sunday afternoon. We got dropped off at Terminal 4 and walked right up to the American Airlines counter. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a boarding pass at 24 hours because of the long layover in London, so we were able to get our boarding passes for both legs at the counter. The agent joked with us that we changed our meal preference to vegetarian. Ha ha.

There was no wait at security as we both have TSA Pre-Check. We sailed through security and headed to the Admiral Club to wait for our boarding time.



Boarding the flight was very easy and efficient. Both my DH and I decided to splurge a little and go to Europe in Business Class. We were able to fly American Airlines Flagship Business with our own little pod and lay flat seats. We got 2 center pods so we weren’t totally separated. We were given a duvet, pillow, and noise cancelling headphones to use during the flight.



We were given our complimentary glass of Prosecco while the plane was loading.



Dinner was served pretty promptly; first we were given a first course of salad and shrimp.



For the main course, I ordered the Braised Short Rib with Potatoes Gratin. It was absolutely the best airplane food I have ever eaten! I was so impressed; I forgot to take a picture. I watched Belfast and The Lost City before trying to get a few hours of sleep. It is not easy for me to sleep on a plane, but I probably managed a few hours.

We were due to arrive in London at 12:10 PM on Monday, August 15th, but arrived early at 11:35 AM. We got off the plane and followed the purple connecting flight signs, which, after a lot of walking, eventually led us to the busses to Terminal 5. There was no line and we got on the next bus after waiting for about 5 minutes.

Despite never having left airport property, after we got to Terminal 5 we had to go through security. We got to the area where they provide 3-1-1 bags and remind you to take your liquids out of your bags. I was prepared with my 3-1-1 bags and got them out. We scanned our boarding pass and started to walk what felt like a mile in a long maze to even get to security. We went through mazes and up an escalator. We didn't stop until we got to the security station. We probably waited about 10 minutes to put our stuff in bins and go through the metal detector.

Once through security, we found the British Airways World Club Lounge and hung out for 7 hours until our connecting flight. While the lounge was busy, it was much less chaotic than sitting in the main terminal for the remaining time of our 8 hour layover. Besides, who can pass up free food and drink!

We watched the departure board waiting for our gate to be specified. In London, you don’t find out your departure gate until about 20 minutes before boarding. Our gate number was supposed to come up at 7:20 PM, even though boarding was originally supposed to start at 7:00 PM. Once we found out our gate, B34, we had to go down an escalator to catch a tram to the gates. Once we got off the escalator we were greeted by a person being projected on a stand up cut out.



Kind of creepy. We got on the tram where we got off at the first stop and then had to proceed up 2 additional escalators. Once we reached the gate, we had to wait outside the walls until our boarding group number was called. We were called pretty quickly, got our passports and boarding passes scanned and then preceded down another escalator and around another corridor until we were finally at the plane. We were still Business class, but this was an older plane, so they basically put a table over the middle seat to make 2 business seats together for the first 5 rows of the plane. We were served drinks and a cold meal. Sunset from our plane.



We took off a bit late, but the flight was about an hour and a half. We actually arrived a bit early at 10:35 PM.

We went directly to customs, but had no line. Got our passport stamped and headed to baggage claim, where we had to wait quite a while. But, I am happy to report that all our luggage made it safely to Copenhagen!

We prearranged a driver to get us to the The Copenhagen Admiral Hotel where were would be spending a couple nights before boarding the ship. The driver was there to meet us immediately after exiting the baggage claim area. We arrived at the hotel at about midnight. For those keeping track, it is now August 16th. We checked in and found our room.









We quickly found our bed to get some sleep before our arranged Covid test in the morning!

I have to say that this was probably one of the easiest travel days I have ever had. I was so anxious about everything that could go wrong, but was pleasantly surprised when nothing did!

Next: We are “Clear to Sail”

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Welcome to my report! If I'm not mistaken, you were seated next to us at dinners and had Rolando and Komang too!

Thanks for joining!

I did!!! I love them. Had them in June as well and having them again for my b2b BI and TA!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

I feel you on the carry on baggage my husband thought I was nuts with our 18in carry stuffed full. I also made each girl carry a backpack which had the blankets that they’ve had since they were babies and can’t sleep without. Could not risk loosing those!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I did!!! I love them. Had them in June as well and having them again for my b2b BI and TA!

Awesome!

I feel you on the carry on baggage my husband thought I was nuts with our 18in carry stuffed full. I also made each girl carry a backpack which had the blankets that they’ve had since they were babies and can’t sleep without. Could not risk loosing those!

I totally understand and I have made a convert out of my DH. Funny though, coming home, we checked our carry-ons. I guess I felt more comfortable that they would make it home.

 

[KGmomoftwins]

Awesome!

I totally understand and I have made a convert out of my DH. Funny though, coming home, we checked our carry-ons. I guess I felt more comfortable that they would make it home.

We did the same! No way I was lugging it through ohare with only 55 minutes to connect! we did the backpacks and that’s it.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 3
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Copenhagen

Good morning Copenhagen.



We stayed at The Admiral Hotel before, after our 2015 cruise to Norway. I love the central proximity to all the downtown Copenhagen locations and palaces. The hotel is very nice and comfortable as well. I thought this feature was kind of cool. In your room you could put on a red light under your room number, meaning do not disturb, or a green light meaning ready for housekeeping.



We were thrilled when the US did away with the negative testing requirement to return to the US earlier in the summer. We were really hoping that by the time our cruise arrived, pre-cruise testing would also be eliminated. No such luck. On July 13th, we got an email from DCL specifying a new Covid test requirement for ships leaving Europe after July 30th. We had to have a proctored antigen test within 1-2 days prior to boarding. We were relieved that we wouldn’t have to test at the terminal, but I was still pretty anxious about testing before the cruise. We managed to avoid getting Covid since the pandemic started and didn’t want to get it now. We pretty much isolated ourselves a week before we flew out to avoid getting it.

We didn’t get into Copenhagen until very early on the 16th. We boarded the Magic on the 17th. Therefore, we had to have our proctored tele-med Covid test on the 16th. After reading up on the DISboards, we opted to book with OnSight testing with our own home tests (I packed a total of 8 tests) at 10:00 AM on the 16th.

We got up and dressed and ordered breakfast from room service so we wouldn’t miss our teleconference call. At a little before 10:00 AM, I joined the Zoom link provided by email. Angelica was prompt and very nice. She confirmed our identities, where we were taking our test from and the current time. We proceeded to open the test, take it and wait for the results. Within minutes we were both negative! Alleluia!!!! The entire experience took less than 15 minutes and we had documents to upload to Prenetics by 10:30 AM.

Whew! Now that that was done, we could start enjoying our vacation! We had spent some significant time in Copenhagen in 2015 before and after our Norway cruise, so we didn’t feel like we needed to plan any tours this trip.

By the time our covid tests were complete; we met up with our DNeighbors and headed out to an area that was recommended for lunch. We walked along Nyhavn.





To the Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square)



by Rosenborg Slot.



To our destination



This reminded me very much of Grenville Island in Vancouver. It was a couple of buildings with permanent vendors for food, flowers, handmade crafts, etc. We found a French vendor that sold croissant sandwiches and got some lunch. It was a beautiful day, so we sat outside. By this time we received our “Clear to Sail” from Prenetics! Whoo Hoo!!



After lunch we made our way to the Strøget, Copenhagen’s shopping district. We saw the Round Tower



Our first stop was Royal Copenhagen Porcelain store. I found a small dated plate as a souvenir. And then made our way to the Lego store



To be continued . . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 3 Continued



The store was very warm and crowded, so we didn’t stay long, however I did find this, which was sold out at home.



Didn’t have room to take it home though.

All that walking worked up a thirst, so we headed back to the hotel and sat out in their outside bar and had some very good wine. On the way back we stopped in the big department store on the square. It’s kind of like a Nordstrom’s. Anyway, there lower level is gourmet food and chocolate. We bought some famous Danish Shortbread for the cruise.



When we were here in 2015 we ate at a very good Italian restaurant, but I couldn’t remember the name. We asked the Concierge for some recommendations and he knew of the Italian restaurant, Fiat, but it was already booked up. Fortunately, there was a French restaurant, Ravage, right next door that we could get reservations at.



DH ordered this and thought it was very good.



I ordered the Plaice



It was good, I just prefer a meatier, less bony fish.

We then walked back through Nyhavn at sunset.






And then along the canal back to our hotel. The Opera House.



These stairs lead to a local place to swim in the canal. It was rather warm in Copenhagen and the place was being used well.



We called it a night and got ready to board the Magic the next day.

Next: We get on the ship!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Don't mind me. Just testing something.

 

[Annabell]

Love reading your TR, thanks for sharing.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 4
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Embarkation - Copenhagen



The day had arrived! The sun was shining, the tank was clean! But I digress; I looked out our window and saw that the Magic was in port.



That’s always good when your ship is in the harbor on sail away day!

We got up and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, we decided to walk down the waterfront towards Amalienborg. The courtyard of the palace was empty this time of day.







We walked by the Statue of David.



We went back to our room to finish packing up and noticed this happening outside. I’ve never seen it, but I guess you would call it Pedal Boarding?



At about 11:20 AM, we gathered our belongings and made our way downstairs to the lobby to check out. There was a taxi stand just outside the hotel, so we went and got ourselves a taxi to the port. Our PAT was 11:45 AM.



I love the first glimpse of the ship.



We arrived at the port at about 11:35 AM.



We had to wait a few minutes for the line to start moving before we were let in.



I had my “Clear to Sail” on my phone in one hand, and my DCL boarding document in the other. As we entered the building we had to first show our boarding pass. Then we had to show our “Clear to Sail” and get green wristbands.

Before we got to security they were already calling boarding groups 1 – 8. We had boarding group 8. We breezed through security and then went to the check in counters where we showed our boarding pass and our passports. We walked towards the ship and had to show our Clear to Sail again before getting our first photo taken of the cruise. After the photo, we stepped outside and saw Goofy!



We had to show our “Clear to Sail” one more time to an officer and were allowed to enter the ship on Deck 1. No welcome announcement for us. Welcome Aboard!



We were told to make our way to Fathoms on deck 3, so we climbed our first set of many stairs this cruise up to Deck 3. Once at Fathoms we showed our Muster Station on the DCL App and were told to report to it. We were “T” at Animator’s Palate on Deck 4.

When we got to the muster station, we were asked to scan the station sign using the DCL Navigator App. We tried several times with my phone, then the crew member tried with my phone and the DH’s phone. No matter how many times we tried, it wouldn’t scan the sign. He marked us manually on his list that we were there and we were told it would be ok. If you say so?

We made a quick stop up on Deck 10 for some pics and then to Cabanas for lunch where we found a table on the back deck for the 5 of us.



My first plate of food and peel & eat shrimp.



It was a shame it was such a windy and hazy day on the water. While we were eating, we noticed a bunch of racing sailboats on the port side of the ship. It turned out that the Rockwool Sail Grand Prix Copenhagen was being held that weekend and the ships were getting some practice time in. It was fascinating to watch.





We spotted boats from the USA, New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Canada, Australia, France and Switzerland.



We also saw this three masted ship go by.



At 1:30 PM we went to see if we could get into our stateroom. We were in room 6132 on Deck 6, Aft. Our Key to the World Cards were in a sealed envelope on our Fish outside our room.



I was a little bummed to see the same Gold Castaway Club gift that we have gotten on all the previous Gold cruises. I was really hoping that they would have gotten something new by now.









We met our room steward, Marlon, who was wonderful for the entire cruise. Our luggage started arriving and we had magnets on the door and were unpacked by 2:45 PM. We went down to the DNeighbors room and continued to watch the sailing catamarans from their large extended balcony at the aft of the ship.



To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 4 Continued

We listened to the Muster Drill Briefing and then went up to deck 10 for the Sail Away Party. We found out that Leslie was our Cruise Director. We had her as well on our Med cruise in 2018. Shortly after 5:00 PM we were sailing away from the dock.

Our dining rotation was A-R-L-A-R-L-A-R-L-A-R for main dining at 6:00 PM. We were at Table 79.

We started at Animator’s Palate and met our server Rolando and assistant server Komang. They were a great team. Rolando has been with DCL for over 20 years, most of it on the Magic.



I miss the paint bucket and brushes.

We started out with the Key Line Margaritas, which were the Special Drinks of the Day.



I hope I don’t disappoint too many of you, but I did not take pictures of menus this trip, nor did I take pictures of all of my meals. I figure there are enough pictures of both going around. But I will share what I had and my thoughts.

Let me say that while the food this cruise (with the exception of Palo) was not awful, it was not as good as I’ve had on Disney cruises before. I don’t know if it’s because of supply issues or I’m just tired of the same old choices cruise after cruise.

We had the "Let The Magic Begin" menu. For dinner tonight, I ordered: Chicken bastille, Clam Chowder, Pork Tenderloin Wellington and a Magic Express Sundae



In the past, it has been our experience that the first night at dinner is the longest, rarely ending before 2 hours. I was pleasantly surprised to see we had finished our meal at 7:15 PM. This would be the standard every night.

After dinner, we went to the shops. I have to say, I was very disappointed in the selection. They only had a few things that even said 2022 on them and absolutely nothing denoting the European cruises. I think this was the first cruise that I didn’t buy a pin because they had no dated ones and none specific to our cruise.

I opted to go see Graffiti Classic at the theater at 8:45 PM with our DNeighbors. DH isn’t into the shows. Because our neighbor is in a wheelchair, we have to meet at 8:15 outside Keys so that we can get let onto the ground level of the theater. DNM loves the front row so she can see everything.

As is the custom, Leslie came out to start the show with information about the cruise. Here are the stats for this cruise:

A total of 1788 passengers representing 39 nations

1059 passengers from the USA

965 crew members representing 60 nations

My thoughts on the passenger mix. I was surprised to see as many kids, of all ages, as there were on the ship. School started at the end of July where I am from. I was also surprised to see the number of teens on the ship. They were everywhere! Sometimes they were loud and obnoxious, other times, they just kept to themselves. But, you knew they were there, especially at the trivia events.

I thought Graffiti Classics were incredible. Not only were they very talented string musicians, but they were hilarious! The leader was Irish and had a very dry sense of humor and interacted with the audience extremely well! I thoroughly enjoyed their show.

After the show, it was time to go back to the stateroom and turn in! The fun was just beginning!





Remember when I told you that our Navigator App wouldn’t take a picture of our Muster Station. Well, this evening I received a letter stating that because we didn’t complete our Muster Drill, we were to report to the Walt Disney Theater at 10:00 AM for a mandatory Muster Review. Needless to say, I was not happy. I took the letter to Guest Services and informed them that our name was manually marked off because we did attend to our station but the app wouldn’t work correctly. She said she would give it to the safety officer and that was the end I heard of that.



A personal note about masks. I have been wearing masks since this whole pandemic started. I wore a mask as much as I could while inside the ship if in crowded conditions, like in the lounges, elevators and theaters, but I was surprised to see how many people did not wear masks on the ship, on the busses, etc. I was equally shocked to see how many people did not wear masks in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the UK. I suppose those countries are much more advanced at accepting and learning to live with Covid than we are in the US, but it was still unnerving. And while we may have all started out with being negative for Covid when we boarded, that was certainly not the case as we got closer to the end of the cruise!

Next: Our first day at Sea!

 

[Hubie]

Following!

We were on the Norway cruise in 2016 and have also done two Northern Europe cruises after that. All three cruises disembarked from Copenhagen. We also made a stopover in Iceland on our return to the US. What a beautiful and impressive country it is!

I'm surprised that you flew to London prior to continuing onto Copenhagen. We were able to fly direct to Copenhagen from Chicago, or on other flights have had very short layovers in Amsteredam and Zurich.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Following!

We were on the Norway cruise in 2016 and have also done two Northern Europe cruises after that. All three cruises disembarked from Copenhagen. We also made a stopover in Iceland on our return to the US. What a beautiful and impressive country it is!

I'm surprised that you flew to London prior to continuing onto Copenhagen. We were able to fly direct to Copenhagen from Chicago, or on other flights have had very short layovers in Amsteredam and Zurich.

Welcome! Yes, Iceland was very impressive.

When we flew to Copenhagen in 2015 we flew SAS to Copenhagen with a layover in Dulles. Unfortunately, we had issues with SAS coming back from Copenhagen as they just cancelled our flight without notifying us. I found out by checking the flight status the night before. Fortunately we have a travel agent friend who was able to rebook us and get us home. Needless, to say, with that experience and SAS's financial issues, we opted to fly American Airlines, which flies direct to Heathrow from Phoenix. We also made the reservations before the problems at Heathrow were reported. The fewer layovers the better for DH. In all honesty, we weren't hearing great things about the airport in Amsterdam either.