Norway by Sea: Photo highlights from my cruise adventure – Part 1

At some point in 2024, my family were chatting about dream destinations. While my brother had his sights set on the Med, most of us agreed that Norway felt like a dream — and within a few weeks, we turned that idea into reality.

Fast forward to June 2025, and we were setting off on a cruise with P&O to explore Norway by sea — which, from the start, felt like the perfect way to see it.

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We boarded at Southampton and had a few hours to explore the ship before sailing at sunset — a pretty magical moment as we drifted away from the English coastline. Wandering the public decks, we scoped out the infinity pool, casino, grand atrium and, of course, the bars. Day two was a sea day — mostly spent wandering, relaxing, and somehow eating every couple of hours without guilt (all-inclusive really makes it way too easy — and hey, cruise rules, right?).

At one point during the day, we cruised past what looked like offshore oil rigs somewhere near the UK coast — probably off Hull, but don’t take my word for it, I didn’t really study the geographic locations of oil rigs.

The real highlight, though? My fiancée and I had a booking at the Chef’s Celebration Table — which, paired with a little too much wine throughout the day, made for a fun and slightly wobbly fine dining experience.

The food was unreal — shoutout to Marco Pierre White for the menu — and the beef wellington? Absolutely worth it. The next morning, we woke up to something totally different. After a full day of open sea stretching as far as the eye could see, we’d arrived at our first stop: the quaint and beautiful town of Haugesund.

Haugesund Port (The view from our balcony)

We headed up six decks for breakfast with a view, then hopped off the ship to explore. To actually get into Haugesund, we had to walk across a huge bridge — more like a mountain than a crossing — which gave us our first proper look at the town.

Once in, we wandered the streets, poked our heads into a few shops (there were trolls and Viking merch everywhere), and eventually found a cosy little coffee shop where we grabbed a latte. At around £4 each, it wasn’t too bad at all. After finishing our coffee, we took a slow walk around town before heading back across the (still massive) bridge to return to the ship. Cruise cards checked, we were officially back on board — and obviously, that meant more food.

If I remember right, it was a combo of hot dog, pizza slice, and chips. Not exactly fine dining, but exactly what we needed.

That afternoon, we made the most of the unusually quiet ship. With most people still out exploring, it felt like we had it almost to ourselves. We ended up in a hot tub on the promenade deck, overlooking the harbour and the town in the distance — a perfect way to wind down our first stop in Norway.