P&O MS Arvia; Tuesday, 08 September, 2026

Whilst today wasn’t officially a sea day, as we’d be doing scenic cruising in the Fjords, we wouldn’t actually be stopping anywhere so it was in effect a second sea day in a row, though right from early on the scenery got going.

An early breakfast and then it was back to the cabin for much of the day taking in the scenery. After breakfast we were sailing through the outlying islands to the North of Haugesund, including past the distant Utsira, famous in the UK for the North Utsira and South Utsira shipping forecast zones.

The number of islands and islets slowly increased until we finally started our passage into the fjords system by entering the Bømlafjorden and sailing the length of that before entering the bottom end of the Hardangerfjord

The Hardangerfjord is the second largest in Norway, and we would only see a small portion of it at its most seaward end, but the captain ensured we got a good view as he took the ship into the middle of the fjord and did a full 360-degree spin so that nobody needed to move from their lounger or balcony to experience the full beauty of this fjord.

From the bottom end of the Hardangerfjord the Langenuen takes you all the way north and back out to the Norwegian Sea not far from where the Bergen fjord system starts. The strait is one of the longest in the country, sat between two sets of impressive mountains, and took several hours to sail down, so we took the opportunity to head down and have a spot of lunch during this transit.

We were still sailing up the Langenuen when we reestablished ourselves on our balconies in the afternoon and stayed there into the early evening as we finally passed the Marstein Fyr the lighthouse at the northern end of the strait, entering back into the Norwegian Sea to continue our journey north.

Later in the evening, in a pattern that would repeat for the whole of the cruise mum and I met up to head down to the Keel and Cow bar on deck 8 for a pre-dinner drink, waiting until we were most of the way through our drinks before joining the virtual dinner queue for the main dining room, and then heading down another deck when our table was called.

After dinner we’d head back to our cabins, and I would go out for a little walk around the deck to get my steps in, before we met up a bit later for a night-cap drink, back in the Keel and Cow – mostly because the incredibly friendly waiters there learnt our standard order within one visit, making it very easy to flop into a chair and just request the usual.

Nightcaps completed it was back to our cabins and a good nights sleep.