Guest Trip Report: 10 Night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic, Day 2 • Disney Cruise Mom Blog

This is a guest trip report written by Carol, who sailed on the most recent 10 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic on August 16, 2018. You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.

Day 2: Kristiansand, Norway

Day two lead us to Kristiansand – our first stop on the cruise and our first stop in Norway! After 3 days in Copenhagen and a busy first day on board, we had to get going right away for our first excursion. Our first excursion was a Disney excursion – “Lillesand by Land & Sea (KR01)”. We met in the Walt Disney Theater where we found out we needed to bring our passports (which was different from when we cruised in the Mediterranean and never needed to take our passports off the ship). So, we went and grabbed our passports quickly and returned to get ready to disembark the ship for our excursion. When our group was called, we disembarked the ship and boarded a bus. We first took a bus through some of Kirstiansand and to the town of Lillesand just outside of Kristiansand, where we saw houses typical of the area and the small port area as well.

Typical houses in Kristiansand:

Small port area at Lillesand:

After the bus trip, we boarded a small boat for a 90 minute cruise on the inlet waters near Kristiansand and Lillesand. The cruise was smooth (for those worried about seasickness – as I was) and the scenery amazing! We passed by many small homes which we were told we used by many Norwegians as summer homes as they were right on the water and Kristiansand is very south in the country. We also learned that if a house has a flag flying then it means someone is home and all are welcome! The cruise was fun, informative and I highly recommend it.

After our Disney excursion, we still had time to walk around town. It’s a really cute town with a really easy layout so it’s easy to walk and very easy to get to and from the cruise ship. Tom Sheridan writes a really good walking guide of Kristiansand with highlights of the city and you can see it here.

We followed some of it – mostly due to time constraints. We started by going over the bridge as directed and saw the new opera house while we did – it is so beautiful and you can see the reflection of our ship in it.

We then headed toward Christiansholm Fortress, passing by these amazing sculptures and beautiful water fountain on the way:

Christiansholm Fortress was really neat, you could climb to the top of a spiral staircase and look inside and the views from the back were just inspiring. You could really imagine being there trying to defend the city (although that’s what it was built for, it was never actually used for that purpose). They are doing construction on it now to fix it up, but it really is an amazing Fortress and worth taking the time to check out! Our kids loved the cannons and liked pretending to play with them.

After the fortress, we headed to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is just breathtaking, and right outside the Cathedral and down the street is a street of outside vendors who all sell homemade, local Norway ware so once you are done being amazed by the Cathedral, you can shop and pick up some souvenirs before you head back to the ship.

On our way back we had an amazing view of the Disney Magic:

Back on board that night our dinner was at Rapunzel’s Royal Table. I was so excited to try this new restaurant on the Magic, especially after having experienced Tiana’s Place on the Wonder, and I was not disappointed! We were lucky enough to have a table close to the front and the stage and that made for a lot of interaction with the characters. This first night was Rapunzel’s birthday and the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling were throwing her a surprise birthday party! They were very interactive through many of the tables, they were funny and it was a great time! Rapunzel came around to every table and greeted everyone and took pictures. They also put on a great show, singing songs, both from the movies and other ones. It made dinner so much more entertaining!