How do you go on a trip to Northern Europe by Sea, Air and Land (so basically it’s a SEAL mission!)? Let’s go on an adventure!
This lengthy trip, spanning four countries (actually five if you consider our layover in London each way) started with a bit of planning a year ago, but it sure did pop up quickly. It was my wife’s dream to go to Norway (where her dad’s family is from) and that’s what she picked to do for her 50th birthday. There are many routes to take to get there and there’s quite a bit to see and do in different parts of Norway, so we decided to go on a cruise through the fjords as the best way to see a bit of the country on this visit. This will be a very photo intensive feature and there’s A LOT of photos, so hang on.
First you’ve got to pick a cruise line, itinerary and of course the time of year. After all, you’re going to where it’s pretty dang cold for much of the year. We picked MSC Cruises Euribia for a variety of reasons and late May for the timing because of pricing. That meant that we knew it could be chilly (okay, COLD to us Floridians), but we knew we could dress for that. Euribia currently sails from Copenhagen, Denmark and Kiel, Germany and we chose to leave from Copenhagen as there were some things we wanted to see in that city and we’d still get to Kiel as our last port on the cruise. We would also be visiting three ports in Norway with a day at sea as we headed north and then another one on the way back.
We also had to figure out how to get over there. You have quite a few options leaving from Orlando International Airport, but we decided to make the drive down to Miami so we could fly on a British Airways A-380 for the first time. I mean, if you have an opportunity to fly on the planet’s largest commercial passenger aircraft, why not! After some additional planning to find the best airfare and hotel rates, we decided to fly to Copenhagen two days prior to the start of the cruise and spend the day that the cruise ended, back in Copenhagen before heading home to Florida.
I also had a couple of personal missions on this trip. To try pizza and doughnuts in each of the countries we were going to visit. Yes I know, it’s not surprising for those that know me.
Okay, enough of that, let’s get on with this trip!
It started with a drive from Brevard County down to Miami International Airport and since we weren’t going to leave all of the suitcases in the back of my wife’s truck to enjoy lunch in Little Havana, we grabbed Cuban sandwiches from the Cafe Versailles location in Terminal 5. Can’t go wrong with a classic Miami Cuban sandwich to help fill you up during a long trans-Atlantic flight. Yes they feed you on British Airways (actually twice), but I’m not going to pass up a Cuban sandwich.
This isn’t quite as good as getting one from the actual cafe and bakery in Little Havana, but it still counts!
Now if you’re not familiar with what an Airbus A-380 is, it is the largest commercial aircraft on the planet and you don’t see them at too many airports in the U.S. (Miami is the closest airport for us). They’re also not the newest aircraft around, but just the fact that you’re flying in something that looks like it shouldn’t be able to get off the ground is pretty exciting. There are two levels for seating (just like a Boeing 747) and while we were on the bottom level for the way out, we were on the top level on the way home. There’s also three sections in each level (first class, business class and economy) and we were back in economy both ways. We also had a layover in London both ways to board a much smaller plane to get in between London and Copenhagen.
This was our ride from Miami to London.
Yes the Airbus A-380 is the largest passenger plane on the planet and as you can see, there’s a gate for the lower deck and another one for the upper deck. We were on the lower deck (in economy because we were paying for five seats), but had booked the upper deck on the way back home. It’s a pretty incredible aircraft and while this was an older version, I couldn’t complain about it at all.
Now only having been on a flight across the Atlantic on one other trip, I was pretty excited to see what dinner would be like once we got up in the air.
It might not look super appetizing, but this chicken curry with all of extra things British Airways brought out for dinner, was pretty good.
Now we did have a layover in London (both ways) because the airport in Copenhagen isn’t large enough for A-380s to land. But a stop at Heathrow is always worthwhile!
We did hit up both of the lounges that we could get into in order to grab a real British breakfast (our flight was overnight). Yes they do love their baked beans for breakfast and British bacon is a bit different from what we eat in the U.S.
This was our ride from London to Copenhagen.
We arrived in Copenhagen before noon and had the rest of the day to do some exploring, along with an entire day the next day before we were to board MSC Euribia and we didn’t waste any time finding things to see while visiting a brand new country for each of us. So off to find a train we went!
Since Copenhagen has a pretty extensive public transportation system, we picked the Moxi Copenhagen Sydhaven located a little southwest of downtown for our pre-cruise two night stay. It was our first time staying at this brand of hotel, but it sure won’t be the last.
This is a family suite and yes it only sleeps four. Finding hotels in Europe that have multiple beds in a single room can be challenging and I brought an inflatable mattress so that five of us could fit in here. It was perfectly fine though since we were only going to be here for two nights. Oh, and don’t forget to pack your electrical conversion outlets when visiting Europe!
The lobby at the Moxi was impressive and this is just one of the four different areas it’s broken up into.
Where you check in and most of the rest of the lobby at the Moxi, including the bar.
Now we actually had another country to visit on this first day of the trip, so we headed back to the train station for a trip over to Malmö, Sweden. We were going to be getting over there later in the afternoon and some of the things we wanted to visit were already closed, but that didn’t stop us from walking around a bit.
This is just a view of one of the canals that leads out to the body of water that separates this part of Sweden from Denmark.
One of the mission during this trip was to try pizza in each of the four countries we were going to visit and here’s our first sampling. It was at Doc Piazza in Malmö and those were some delicious pies. Pizza in Sweden, taken care of! BTW, the one place that I was going to be able to get a doughnut from here was closed and while it was disappointing, missing out on a doughnut wasn’t going to change anything.
Next up was a walk over to Malmö Castle which was built in the 16th century by the Danish. It was closed by the time we arrived, but it was still worth walking over to.
Another view.
Because traffic signs in other countries can be entertaining and I’m nothing if not a bit immature enough to take pictures of them…
Hyllie Bryggeri, was to be the only brewery we could visit in Malmö as we needed to get back to the train station to catch a ride back to Copenhagen. They have a nice assortment of beer and we all agreed that it was one of the better breweries that we’d been to anywhere. And that Stockholm Brewing Co. Cola was good too!
Then it was time to leave Sweden on what you might consider the shortest visit ever, but at least we made the effort to get over there for a bit. The only things that we missed out on were some Swedish meatballs and that doughnut.
After arriving back near our hotel in Copenhagen, I ran out to get dinner while everyone else relaxed for a bit in the lobby of the Moxi. I can’t say enough positive things about this place.
Palermo Pizzeria was just a hundred yards or so from our hotel and I figured that we could go ahead and knock out pizza from another country off the list for dinner. To be honest, we demolished these three pies and while we thought the pizza in Sweden was a little better (different would be a better use of words), this was pretty dang good too.
That wrapped up the first 24 hours since we left Miami and we had a busy day coming up.
There’s an option to enjoy a breakfast buffet at the Moxi each morning and yes packaging for many products is different in Europe than here in the U.S. and the ingredients can vary quite a bit. You’ll find that there’s typically less ingredients in packaged food over there. I’m also a big fan of Kellogg Frosties!
There is a cost for the buffet but it was worth it to see how the Danes do breakfast.
After breakfast we went out to see what we could see in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is PACKED with people riding bicycles. There are bike lanes on most of the main roads and I swear, about half of the bikes you see are not locked up. I don’t know if people are just honest, or if you simply grab a bike and go. But we saw more people on bikes here than in any city we’ve been to. Turns out that it’s VERY expensive to own a vehicle and to park one in Copenhagen.
We rode trains and subways quite a bit while in Copenhagen as the public transportation system is quite nice and this is København H (or Copenhagen Central Station). It’s pretty massive and you can pretty much anywhere in the country from here.
Right across the street from it is where we planned on spending most of the day.
Tivoli Gardens is an amusement/theme park that opened in 1843 and while there’s actually a small amusement park area north of Copenhagen that also claims to be the oldest in the world, this place has been around a bit! It turns out that Mother Nature had other plans for our visit as there was some rain headed our way. We did manage to get in about an hour in the park before we had to get our hands stamped (the place was open until midnight that night, so we planned on going back when things cleared up.) before we had to leave.
Having been to a few theme parks around the world before, I have to say that this place is as special as I had heard. You could spend a good portion of the day simply walking around looking at the landscaping.
If you think this is impressive, wait until you see it lit up at night below!
Of course you have to go on the oldest roller coaster in Europe while you’re here and thankfully the Germans didn’t totally destroy it in WWII!
Finally! It may have taken a day, but my first doughnut on this trip was bought and eaten at this stand inside Tivoli.
Pretty much as soon as this picture was taken, the sky opened up and it was going to be a pretty steady rain for a few hours. The youngsters went on this coaster and then we headed out to find something to do until the rain ended.
That something was heading southeast of downtown Copenhagen to Field’s which is a multistory mall right out of the best of the 80’s mall era. We wandered around for awhile, going into a few stores that we don’t have in the U.S., including what seems like their version of a Walmart Superstore.
After walking around this Bilka store, we knew that we’d have to run back by once we got back from the cruise in order to get all sorts of things to bring back home. And believe me, we brought home a bunch!
The rain was just about finished as we took the train back into Copenhagen and then back to our hotel to drop off the few things that wanted to try from the grocery department at Bilka and then we headed toward the northern end of downtown Copenhagen to see a few things before walking back south to go spend the evening at Tivoli to check out what we hadn’t seen yet.
This is Frederik’s Church. It was built in the 18th century and it’s “dome” in all of Scandinavia.
Here’s the back side of Frederik’s Church.
Next we walked a block over to Amalienborg Palace, where while taking the video below, my son and I noticed one of the guards moving at a brisk pace toward something. As we watched, he approached my wife, our daughter and our daughter’s boyfriend and yelled that they were too close to the wall they were standing near. It was pretty hilarious since I wasn’t the one getting yelled at.
Here’s a quick look around the courtyard at Amalienborg Palace. No walls were touched while taking this video!
We did want to walk up to Kasellet which is a pretty large star shaped fortress that was built in the 17th century, but that was going to have to wait until after the cruise.
As we walked south through Copenhagen we found this very lively area on a canal called Nyhavn.
There were restaurants and bars lining the streets and even on some of the boats.
Another view from our walk south through Copenhagen. Just to left of this photo is Christiansborg Palace, but the sun was shining on it in a way that I couldn’t get a decent picture. It’s huge though!
This is a statue of Bishop Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen and what looks to be a church in the background is now an art gallery.
This is Amagertorv, or Amager Square in central Copenhagen. You can see that there are a couple of vehicle free streets and this part of the city is the shopping district known as Strøget. Some of the buildings in this area date back to the early 1600’s! We walked straight down the road behind the Stork Fountain as we continued on our way to Trivoli.
My son and I wanted to try the local version of a fast food burger and this is from the MAX Burgers location we spotted on our walk.
It was only a couple blocks to Tivoli and one thing that we didn’t really pay attention to was the time. You see, we were pretty far north, sort of the same latitude as Newfoundland in Canada, and it stays quite light well into the evening and even at night. The picture below of the Tivoli Theatre was taken around 8:30 p.m. local time. This lack of realizing how late it was actually was caused us to miss out on the one restaurant that we REALLY wanted to try at Tivoli. It was once recommended by travel aficionado, Anthony Bordain as THE restaurant to eat at if you couldn’t get to the many Michelin star rated restaurants in the city. Restaurant Grøften can actually be seen in the photo below on the right side. We weren’t hungry when this photo was taken and by the time we went to get a table, the kitchen had been closed for half an hour. Bummer. Big time.
We did watch some of the performance at the theatre, but it went on for awhile and we wanted to see the rest of the park.
Yes there’s as much “gardens” at Tivoli as there are rides, if not more and every step is pretty breathtaking.
This is close to 9 p.m. by the way.
More from us just walking around the park.
Remember this building from earlier in the day? Here it is at night.
We did end up eating at the Tivoli Food Hall and what we tried.
To end the night at the park, we walked over the biergarten for a couple of adult beverages before heading back to the hotel (where some more adult beverages were consumed at the lobby bar) and to get some sleep since we were leaving on our cruise the next morning.
We would have the better part of a day when we returned from the cruise to explore more of Copenhagen and we had already decided that this was one of the most interesting and fun cities that we’ve been to.
And yes I did have a Danish in Denmark that morning at the hotel before we left for the port. Score a win for the good guys.
MSC Euribia is named after the goddess Eurybia who harnessed the winds, weather and constellations to master the seas. She is a Meraviglia Class ship (did you know that we’re getting one of her sisters based out of Port Canaveral this fall? More about that later.) and is currently the 15th largest cruise ship on the planet. I could go on and on about the ship, but you can click HERE to learn all about her. This also isn’t a review of our experience. That’s not how I do things. Below you’ll see quite a few photos of the ship and a few of our experiences will be noted.
There wasn’t a good shot of MSC Euribia from the port (you’ll see plenty of pictures of it at three of the ports as you read on) and I was really looking forward to exploring this ship and seeing what MSC had to offer on a European cruise.
Now as I talk about the ship over the next week of the trip, this was my first cruise on Italian based MSC and it was a European cruise. This meant that the cruise was not necessarily geared solely toward Americans like you’d see at home leaving from an American port. That’s not a bad thing, but you do need to realize that when you’re on board.
The first thing that we noticed was the lady who would make announcements throughout the ship didn’t do it just in English. She would repeat them in like seven different languages!
This was my first view of MSC Euribia
My first view inside MSC Euribia. Pretty breathtaking. This is the multistory Infinity Atrium.
We had two staterooms for this trip. They were beside each other and yes we had balconies which was a first for me, but since we would be cruising through Norwegian fjords, that was required. This was also the largest stateroom that I’d stayed in on a cruise as we typically go the el cheapo route.
A decent sized bathroom.
I didn’t ask for this, but the hotel director knew that someone who might be sharing some social media posts during the cruise was on board and both rooms received a little something each day. Although it was not asked for or expected, it was quite nice. Thanks MSC!
Okay, random photo and information time. I think that every single water bottle that we opened in Copenhagen and on the cruise opened just like this. It kept the cap on the bottle from coming off. A smart move by our European cousins.
The next batch of photos you’ll see below are of some of the different parts of the ship and then I’ll get into the cruise itself. You won’t see photos of every single thing on the ship, but you’ll see enough to give you an idea of what it’s like to be on board. At the end of this feature, I’ll go over how I felt this cruise was similar and different to the others I’ve been on.
This is the Master’s of the Sea Bar/Pub that’s located on Deck 7. It turned out to be the spot we visited most frequently.
This line of beer is from an Italian brewery at the Master’s of the Sea Bar and of course they all had to be tried.
This is one of the dining options onboard that you pay for. It’s Hola! Tacos & Cantina and you can find it on Deck 6 and there’s two ways that anyone on board can enjoy lunch or dinner here. First, you can pay for each item ala cart, or everyone in the party can opt for the All You Can Eat option. BTW, the alcoholic drinks are not included in the AYCE option, but they were covered by the drink package that some of us had.
This is a pretty good representation of what we ate, but we did learn that if you don’t have a HUGE appetite, ordering ala carte might be the way to go and that’s what we did on the at sea day on the way back. This place was good enough for us to pay to eat here twice.
The Galleria Euribia is a two level “mall” lined with restaurants, bars and shops and that LED dome was always putting on a different show all day long throughout the cruise.
This is the Sky Lounge on Deck 18. It’s a very cozy place to hang out and it’s adults only. It overlooks the outdoor pool and there are some free snack options located on both sides of the bar.
Above is the front end of the Marketplace Buffet on Deck 15. It’s not really any different than any other cruise ship buffet that I’ve experienced with the exception of what you’ll see in the next picture. I will say that as this was a European cruise, the cuisine was geared more toward Europeans, but that’s not a negative thing. There’s simply some differences in the food. I know that I’ve heard some people say that they didn’t care for the buffet on MSC ships here in the U.S., but my wife and our son had nothing but positive things to say about their cruise on MSC Seashore out of Port Canaveral. I can’t compare this buffet to a U.S. based MSC buffet since I wasn’t on that cruise, but I will work on going on one in the near future. As the free food options on MSC Euribia are somewhat limited (that’s just comparing this class to other cruise ships of a similar size), the buffet is going to be your best friend during the day and at night (even if you’ve booked some of the specialty dining options).
This is one of those things that we all really liked about this ship and it’s located right at the front of the buffet. You could see the staff actually making mozzarella cheese from time to time.
The crew went all out with this display of cakes in the buffet on the at sea day on the way back from Norway!
The arcade.
They have a pair F1 simulators on Deck 16.
Just in case you are feeling the need to burn some calories that you consume at the buffet each day.
The Sportplex is also on Deck 16.
The court at the Sportplex.
Dorimiland is the kids area on MSC Euribia and it’s on Deck 18, but we didn’t have any need to be here except to walk through.
This is the area for teens on Deck 18.
The Red Gem Casino is on Deck 7.
The Carousel Lounge is at the aft end of Deck 7.
A view inside the Carousel Lounge. This is just a part of it as it’s a pretty huge space. There’s a couple of pool tables on the starboard side that we hung out around some and a bar with some grab and go food options on the port side.
The Infinity Atrium.
Another view from the Infinity Atrium.
One more view from the Infinity Atrium.
The Infinity Bar.
Three of us did visit Kaito Sushi for a quick sushi lunch and this was the only other specialty dining option we tried.
All three rolls were very good.
There’s a pair of main dining rooms on board.
These are the main dining rooms that can be found on Deck 6. We ate here each evening and again, there were some differences on this cruise and the cruises we’ve been on in the U.S., but nothing negative.
We were seated in Aurora Borealis.
Our table for the cruise.
We did go to a pair of the nighttime shows on board and below are some clips from them.
Both shows were entertaining and worth seeing if you’re on board.
The pool deck and yes it’s much different from a Caribbean cruise since pretty much everyone was bundled up while outside. The daytime temps were in the low 50’s.
My little secret spot to sit out of the wind on Deck 15.
Another view of the pool deck on a different day at sea and yes everyone is still bundled up.
Looking aft and it’s quite a view when you’re at sea.
The Solarium on Deck 16 is for adults only. The only pool that had people in it throughout the cruise, because it’s inside.
Just like the main pool, there weren’t really any kids playing in the area set up for them outside since it was so chilly.
But it was still a nicely done area.
Now that you’ve seen a bit about the ship, let’s get back to the actual cruise. After leaving Copenhagen, we had an at sea day before arriving at our first port in Norway. That’s when many of the pictures above were taken as the at sea day gave us plenty of time to explore the ship.
Next stop, Norway!
Our first port was actually a quick stop at the small town of Hellesylt where passengers that had booked excursions that would end in Geiranger were able to disembark. Quite a few of us still on board stood outside as we got our first daytime view of a Norwegian fjord.
We were literally in Hellesylt just long enough for some of the passengers to disembark for excursions and then we were on our way to our true destination for the day. This is a view of Hellesyltfossen, the waterfall that splits the town in half.
Hellesylt as we left.
I sure did enjoy taking pictures from the aft of the ship.
One last view of Hellesylt as we left.
This next batch of images is from our trek through the fjord from Hellesylt to Geiranger. The photo above shows on the left, where we came from and on the right, our route to Geiranger. We would come back out this way the next day on our way to the next port.
Looking aft at the fjord, to the left is where Hellesylt is and to the right is where we came from and where we would head back out of the next day.
I kept thinking to myself that anyone who wasn’t on a deck where they could see both sides of the fjord, well they were missing out big time.
Looking forward and you can see the Seven Sisters waterfall on the port side.
Looking back at the Seven Sisters waterfall as we passed.
It’s crazy just how close we would be to the sides of the fjords at times, but these waterways are extremely deep almost right up to shoreline as the cliffs above continue far beneath the surface of the water.
One more shot looking back before we turned the final corner on the way to Geiranger.
And there it is. The little town of Geiranger in the distance. This whole area is considered a World Heritage Site and I will be the first one to tell you that coming around the corner to see this was something I’ll never forget.
A quick look at some of the scenery heading from Hellesylt to Geiranger.
We were going to be docked at Geiranger for the remainder of the day and while we didn’t have any excursions booked, there were a few things we wanted to see.
First things first. We were hungry AND thirsty so we stopped at Brasserie Posten which is located right at the port. There’s actually a brewery in Geiranger, but you can’t hang out where the beer is brewed. Instead, you can enjoy the beer from Geiranger Bryggeri at the different restaurants and bars in town. And we did. At a couple different spots!
The five of us split a pair of pizzas at Brasserie Posten and now we had enjoyed pizza in three different countries on this trip! The one on the right was tied with one from Sweden as our favorite.
The main thing we wanted to do in Geiranger was to climb to the top of the waterfall in town and we knew that to do so we would have to climb 327 steps. Now not knowing where exactly these steps began, we started walking up the steep, winding road that led up to who knows where. As we were walking up the road, I kept thinking to myself that I might die if I had to climb 327 stairs after we got to the top of wherever the road was taking us.
But the view on the way up was stunning.
Another view as we continued up the road.
Here’s the point where we realized all was going to end well and that we’d be able to walk down those 327 steps to get a nice view of the waterfall.
As it turns out, the steps up the waterfall were on the other side from where we were. That means instead of climbing up 327 slippery steps, we lucked out and had a much easier time (We weren’t thinking it was easy while we were walking up that incline though) walking up the road!
Even though we pretty much knew that there wasn’t a “tasting room” at Geiranger Bryggeri, we decided to walk up to find where it was anyway. We met the owner and he let me come in to take a picture of where their beer is produced.
Then we headed over to where we thought we would be able to walk down the stairs on the other side of the stream that splits the town in half.
We saw a couple of guys that had found a part of this stream that had a rocky bank and they were drinking out of it, so we did the same thing, knowing that we better be awfully careful or we’d end up being washed downstream and over the waterfall.
There’s a park and the Norwegian Fjord Center located at the stop of the stairs leading up to the waterfall, but we didn’t explore that.
The next few photos are of the waterfall on our way back down.
Looking back over the waterfall.
A panoramic shot of the waterfall from the top.
On our way down the steps.
These are the steps that we thankfully didn’t climb up. They’re much easier walking down!
We had seen a couple of building with these slate tile roofs and we did see someone actually cutting them at another port. Talk about a roof that’ll last forever!
This is the bottom of the waterfall where the water flows into the fjord.
What’s weird is that even though we were miles from the ocean, the fjord is still connected to it and yes there are tides this far inland. I took this at low tide and when we left that evening, where I was standing for this picture was two feet underwater.
The little town of Geiranger where all of the cruise passengers hang out, eat, drink and shop.
Had a couple more brews from Geiranger Bryggeri at Cafe Ole along with whatever this delicious creation was called.
This is a fish cake sandwich from Fiskekakebuda and it’s a pretty traditional Norwegian dish in this part of the country.
Our son had seen a bleu cheese pizza on the menu at the Berserk Bar & Grill, so we decided to stop in and try it. You better REALLY love some bleu cheese if you want to tackle this thing.
I completely forget what this parfait at the Berserk Bar and Grill had in it, but it was one of the best things I ate on the entire trip.
Another view of the dining/shopping area.
One last shot from Geiranger before boarding the ship.
A look back at the town of Geiranger as we headed toward our next port.
A am Groot!
We passed Celebrity Cruises Apex on our way from Geiranger to Ålesund and the only reason you’re seeing it here is that Apex is coming to Port Canaveral the fall of 2025.
Welcome to Ålesund!
We had nothing planned here either and the forecast was for showers to blow through pretty much on and off the entire time were were going to be here. The plan was to walk around and do whatever we wanted.
Ålesund is an island on the southwestern coast of Norway and this is one of the images I took of the south end of the bay that comes into the town.
Another shot from the south side of town.
Yes that’s a Viking boat that someone is building.
This is the view from the north side of Ålesund looking south into town.
The architecture in Ålesund was pretty amazing.
Looking up at Mount Aksla which can be reached by climbing 418 steps.
The view after climbing those 418 slippery steps.
Yes I did find doughnuts in Norway! Ålesund surprised me by having a pair of bakeries that made them.
It was pretty cold and some of the group wanted coffee. We figured that we’d also try some of the pastries at Raccoon Coffee while we were there.
Cinque Minuti is a little Italian cafe in Ålesund and the quest to try as many types of pizza as we could continued!
After dodging rain and getting some shopping done (a lot of shopping done), we headed over to Molo Brew to check out the only brewery in Ålesund.
It was here that I discovered Norwegian mustard! It was so good that we went back to one of the grocery stores in town, again dodging rain, to buy several large bottles of mustard to bring back home. We also split a burger, a couple flights of beer and the cider in the photo above. BTW, we did try some of the Norwegian brown cheese that we’d heard so much about and yes hopefully we can find some at home somewhere. It’s that good.
Back onboard MSC Euribia and it was time to leave Ålesund.
Looking out at Ålesund one last time before going inside for dinner.
As we headed back out into the North Sea to cruise down to our last stop in Norway, the North Sea did typical North Sea things. Thankfully it wasn’t horrible, but there was some rocking and rolling going on for much of the evening.
Flåm was our last port in Norway and this was the view when we woke up that morning. We did have an excursion booked for this stop, so I wanted to get off the ship early so we could look around first.
Another look at Flåm from the ship.
One more look from the ship.
These kayak outfitters were very busy while the ship was in port, but this wasn’t the excursion we booked.
A look at MSC Euribia from the beach in Flåm.
Our excursion was on the Flåm Railway which would take us from the town up to Myrdal with a few stops for people to get off or get on along the way. The next batch of images is from the ride up and back which goes along the same route. My advice is to talk to whoever is sitting across from you and see if you can switch sides when the train. That’s what we did so that we could take in both sides during the trip.
Nothing to see here, except an epic view.
More gorgeous scenery.
This is the Flåm kyrkje (Flåm Church). The earliest records of this church date back to 1340 A.D.!
Do NOT stick your hands or anything outside of the window on the train!
More epic scenery.
The Kjosfossen waterfall. The train stops here both ways for a few minutes for everyone to get off and take photos and/or videos.
Myrdal. This is where the journey from Flåm ends. You can disembark to go onto I honestly have no idea where or you can get off the train to take some pictures and go to the restroom. I heard that there is also a cafe here, but we didn’t want to miss the train back down. There were some snow flurries while we were there and the temperature at this elevation was 33 degrees (compared to 55 degrees in Flåm).
The Flåm Railway is worth the trip.
The inside of one of the cars.
Once we arrived back in town, we decided to do some shopping and of course some eating and drinking!
There’s this little row of food kiosks in town. 
We tried a few things here, but I REALLY wanted to try reindeer on this trip and we found some in town at the Flåmstova Restaurant. They have a cafe and a full service sit down restaurant, so I bought the lefse wrap in the lower right corner with ground reindeer and lingonberries. It was a little gamey, but 100% worth experiencing. The other three photos are from those food kiosks.
Beer. That’s what we were missing. Luckily 50 feet away from where we froze outside while we ate was Ægir Bryggeripub!
This place was amazing! The beer was good, but the atmosphere was pure Viking.
Stepping inside felt like you were walking into some ancient (but modernized) Viking Hall.
Although no one inside looked like they were ready to go raiding with any of the resident Vikings, it was a highlight in town for sure.
We still had a couple hours before it was time to leave Flåm, but we were full of food, full of beer and cold as heck so we went back onboard and I do believe everyone took a nap until it was time for sail away.
Leaving Flåm.
Looking ahead as we headed back out through the fjord. The town of Aurlandsvangen can be seen on the left. It’s the largest city in the area.
Another view as we headed back out toward the North Sea.
We spent a good portion of the evening getting out to the North Sea and the next day was an at sea day, so we’re going to skip ahead to our last port, Kiel, Germany.
I knew that MSC ships docked on the far side of the Bay of Kiel from the downtown area and to be honest, we were not entirely sure what we were going to do in Kiel when we arrived. Kiel is a port where many passengers start/end their cruise, just like we were doing in Copenhagen. There’s an area for those people to disembark/embark and another one for the passengers who are staying onboard to go exploring. We knew that we’d have to find some sort of ride to get over to downtown Kiel and then found that wouldn’t be a problem as there are charter buses at the port precisely for that. It’s not inexpensive, but unless you’re wanting to stay on the ship, you’re going to pay for that round trip bus ticket.
We had no expectations as we arrived at the bus stop for the cruise ship charter buses and decided to just go for a stroll to see what we could see.
Sophienhof Kiel was a block away and we figured that since we enjoyed the big mall in Copenhagen, we might as well check this one out. Turns out, it’s a mall just like any other.
After walking through, we continued north on one of the side streets in downtown, again, with zero idea what we’d see.
I mean, of course you’ve got to get a bratwurst from a street vendor. Make sure you have cash handy though as not all of them take cards.
DönerWERK Kiel was another stop we made and the picture says it all. Stop here and eat.
We heard some church bells ringing and found St. Nikolai Church at the end of the street.
The original building dates back to the 1200’s, but it was destroyed in WWII before being completely rebuilt.
Inside the church.
Another look inside the church.
One more look.
Here’s a look back in time! I’m not sure when this dates back to, but it’s well before the church was destroyed.
This is Geistkämpfer. There’s a copy of this sculpture at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minnesota.
We walked over to the next street as we headed back south and saw this massive complex of buildings.
I believe the left side is a government building, the building on the right is the opera house and the one in the middle is city hall.
There were two things that we had left to go since this was the fourth country we visited on this trip. Pizza and doughnuts!
L’Osteria Kiel is where we decided to grab a couple of pies.
My first Caesar Salad pizza.
Our only beer in Germany, but it was decent.
I still had one mission to fulfill…
I don’t even know where to begin describing this gorgeous hunka doughnut from Royal Donuts, but I am 100% glad that I was able to experience every gooey filled layer.
After finishing the doughnut, we went back to the bus stop for the ride back to the ship.
Along the way, I spied this mural.
That was it for Kiel. I would say that unless there’s something you REALLY want to do in Kiel, go on an excursion or stay on the ship. The price to get into town and back (especially when you’re paying for five people) is steep if you’re only going sightseeing.
We left Kiel later that night and did go under the Great Belt Bridge at a time when we were awake to experience it. Although not being on the pool deck to see just how close we were will be something I regret for a long time.
When we arrived back in Copenhagen the next morning, we had a night left on the trip in Nordhavn (the northeastern part of the city, right on the water) so that we’d have a day to explore more of the city. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it rained pretty much all day long.
That didn’t keep us from going out though.
This is Kastellet. It’s a star shaped fortress dating back to the 1700’s, but it’s still in use today. Thankfully visitors can walk around and explore quite a bit of it. Even in the rain.
It’s very reminiscent of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.
Another look at a different area inside Kastellet.
There was one more sight that we wanted to see and it was “The Little Mermaid” or “Den Lille Havfrue” statue.
It’s named after the book by Hans Christian Andersen, not the Disney movie (which is also based on the book).
We had picked the Residence Inn Copenhagen Nordhavn to stay at on our last night of this trip and it was a pretty spacious room with a partial view of the water.
A look inside our room at the Residence Inn Copenhagen Nordhavn.
The other side of the room.
There was a little time left to get out to see some sights, but the rain really started to come down and we decided to explore the area right around the giant wharf our hotel was located on. There were several markets nearby in what was generally a newer residential area.
The architecture never disappointed in Copenhagen.
Our last meal on this trip was dinner right around the corner from out hotel at Sushi Nord and it was one of the better meals of this week and a half long adventure.
As we had to get up at 3 a.m. the next morning to make our way to the airport for the first leg of our journey home, we headed back to the hotel to pack, but all of us agreed that this won’t be our last visit to Copenhagen.
After an early morning Uber ride (because the subways and trains weren’t running predictably at 3 a.m.), we arrived at the airport and crashed in the lounge for an hour before it was time to board our flight to London.
The lounge at the Copenhagen Airport was VERY nice and yes they had beer on tap for breakfast.
This was our ride to London where we would catch our connecting flight back home.
I honestly don’t remember much about the little bit of time we spent at London Heathrow on the way back, but I was looking forward to my second flight on an Airbus A-380.
We had booked the top level for our flight home and even though I knew from pictures what to expect, seeing the extra space between my seat and the window was surprising.
That’s a huge storage area for your stuff and to make things even better, no one showed up to sit beside me! All was perfect until The Boss got kicked out of her seat beside our son in the row in front of me (because she was sleeping on his shoulder) and she invaded my wonderfully large private space (to sleep on my shoulder).
Dinner on the flight home.
That wraps up the description of our adventures on this trip and now it’s time to take a deeper dive into those experiences.
Let’s start with the ship, MSC Euribia. As I stated at the start of this mini-novel you’ve just read through, this was my first trip on an MSC ship AND my first European cruise. If you’ve only been on Caribbean cruises (especially on ships that are primarily geared toward Americans), there will be some differences and that’s not a negative. It’s just a fact. Mostly you’ll notice it in the buffet and main dining room, but there are little nuances everywhere. From this one experience on Euribia I would say that the specialty dining options are worth trying. Our two visits to Hola! Tacos & Cantina and one meal at Kaito Sushi were some of the best meals on the entire trip. Better than anything we had in the main dining room or the buffet, but that’s why it’s called specialty dining. That’s not to take anything away from the buffet, main dining room or the other free options. It’s the same on any cruise line.
Back to the buffet and remembering that this is an Italian based cruise line and we were on a European cruise with the majority of the passengers being European. As an American, you’ve got to be prepared for differences and don’t expect all of the same items you might find on a U.S. based cruise. There’s no, it’s better or worse. It’s just a little different.
One of the differences is the bacon. It’s not exactly like ours in the U.S., but you get used to it and it’s still bacon! BTW, the French Toast on the buffet was maybe my favorite breakfast item.
The room on the ship was the most spacious that I’ve been in except for my first cruise which was on Disney Wonder when it was new, many years ago when our kids were, well kids. I can’t think of anything to improve on with the room. The way the elevators operate was amazing. I know it’s becoming more common on ships now and being able to pretty much go straight to the floor you want to be it is nice. All you do is hit the floor you want to go to for each member in your party and the screen tells you which elevator to wait for.
I can’t comment on the pools (the ones outside or the one in the Solarium) because I didn’t go in them, but the rest of our group did go in the Solarium pool and hot tubs. No complaints at all. Honestly, there’s nothing about the ship that I can think of that I would change or like to see different, but I am really curious about the food on an American based MSC ship as I’ve heard good and bad. I do know that my wife and son has a pleasant time on a short trip on MSC Seashore out of Port Canaveral in January of 2024, but I wasn’t able to go with them.
By the way, Port Canaveral will be home to one of the sister ships of Euribia this fall. MSC Grandiosa is coming to the Space Coast! Maybe in the next year or so, we’ll be able to book a trip on her, but we did book a week on MSC World America for December of 2026 and got quite a deal while on board.
I could go on and on about the ship, but it’s just my opinion and if you know me, I prefer for people to go make up their own mind. I wouldn’t hesitate to go on another MSC cruise on this ship or any other (obviously since we’re going on another one).
As I like to say when it comes time to decide whether to take that next trip or not…. Do all the things! You never know when you might not be able to take that next trip, so book it and go enjoy yourself.
