You must have had a poor cabin to suffer engine noise ! But then you chose a very small ship ! She was never for me for that reason.



No that's not quite right. Most of the ships in the fleet happily sail up the various fjords inc Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia, Azura and Ventura.

Artemis did have the advantage that she could get into many of the smaller and remote ports in various countries which is why many people sailed her. They wanted to have the opportunity to see more places that way.

I've done a lot of cruises and I'm pretty confident in saying that Artemis is not representative of the more standard sized ships (Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia) and definitely not representative of the larger Arcadia and Ventura (not to mention the new Britannia!).

Artemis would have been small, claustraphobic with not that many bars/lounges and a small passenger contingent.

The mid-sized ships would offer a different experience. More areas to explore, lovely large crows nests, long relaxing prom decks, larger libraries, bars, lounges . . . well everything really.

I've never suffered engine noise on any of my cruises. Cabin selection is important though. Decks B & C are typically the best options imo and of course a balcony cabin will make the trip very special and will add a whole new dynamic and experience to the entire trip.

You should really ask him to reconsider imo.

A really good cruise to do is the Venice cruise. It's usually 17 nights which is a lovely long stretch and the cruise has a great balance of sea days and port days so it's never overly tiring. The sail in to Venice early morning is magical and unforgettable and you'll visit some other great destinations like Malta and Dubrovnik.

The Fjords, whilst stunningly beautiful are sadly a little "samey". After a couple of days you realise that it's all cliffs, hills and waterfalls. There is nothing to do at most of the ports themselves except take excursions and all the shops are horribly expensive. I felt it was a cruise worth doing once, but I'm unlikely to do it again.

The best ship is Aurora imo but Arcadia and Azura are good too. Everyone has their favourites of course !