On my 30th birthday last year, my best friend Izzy surprised the life out of me when she told me we’d be going to one of my bucket list destinations in 2025: the stunning Norwegian Fjords. We cruised for 7 nights on the P&O Iona in May of this year, and the whole experience was truly incredible.
The vlog from our trip is now up on YouTube, sharing what we got up to during our time away. Our itinerary included Stavanger where we visited the iconic Fargegaten rainbow street, Alesund where we used a Hop On Hop Off Bus to see some of the sights and reach some of the renowned viewpoints, Olden where we rode the Loen Skylift (one of the world’s steepest cable cars) to climb up Mount Hoven, Haugesund where we wandered around the town centre and as per usual found ourselves book shopping, and we had some stunning cruise-by moments to enjoy too.
You’ll also be able to see the P&O Iona through our eyes, including our midship balcony cabin on Deck 12, the beautiful Sky Dome, some of the bars and restaurants, and a glimpse of the varied entertainment on offer too.
Cruises and Chronic Illness
Cruising has many perks for those living with long-term health conditions, but like anything when it comes to chronic illness, it’s rarely straightforward. As we were on a no-fly cruise and sailing from Southampton, I would have loved to have taken my power-chair that I use in the UK. However, no electric mobility aids (including power add-ons and power-assist wheels) are allowed in standard cabins, and the small number of accessible cabins on board are booked up years in advance, so we had no choice but to take a manual wheelchair. My own transit wheelchair, George, has seen better days so instead of taking him I decided to rent a more robust model with off-road wheels from my good friends at Access Your Life. I would have been much happier with an electric mobility aid where I had more independence and my best friend wouldn’t have had the hard work of pushing me, but we did the best we could with what the situation allowed.
It’s also worth knowing that P&O now has a policy that every guest coming on board with mobility aids must have an evac-chair assigned to them in case of emergency. This means there are only a limited number of spaces for disabled passengers on each voyage, and at the time of booking (around six months in advance for us), the cruise we booked was the only one that still had an evac-chair available – and even then we were receiving mixed communication from the cruise line and the travel agent we booked with, Iglu. So, if you take anything from this, I’d advise booking your holiday as early as you can and being prepared to be flexible with your travel dates!
Tips For Cruising With A Disability
At the end of the vlog I sit down to share some more of my tips and experiences for anybody planning a similar trip of their own. This time, I cover:
- The mobility aid situation in more depth, including the types of mobility aid I feel are best suited for this destination.
- Accessibility in each of the ports and on board the P&O Iona, including attitudes from staff and other passengers.
- Managing multiple food allergies on-board and how to ensure you have an amazing dining experience.
- Dealing with motion sickness on top of my chronic illness symptoms, something I’ve hugely struggled with in the past at sea, and the things I did to ensure I had a better experience this time. You can find more on that one in this Instagram post too!
- My experience on board as somebody with an energy limiting condition, and my tips for anybody sailing with a chronic illness or non-visible disability.
- The overall experience of the holiday, the destinations, and how the way I feel about cruising has changed as a result.
Hope you enjoy the video – you can watch on YouTube here!
The Norwegian Fjords are one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. I feel so lucky to have seen this part of the world with my own eyes and I so hope I’ll be able to explore more of this incredible country in the future.
Have you visited before, or have you considered cruising here? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
