Hi, I too have just got off this cruise on Arcadia last week.Overall I'd say we were extremely lucky with the crossing which was calm and level outward and return. Weather in the Fjords itself was also exceptional, warm sunny and a light drizzle on the first port day in Stavanger.
Summary of the trip
Fjords are initially very beautiful to sail along but essentially they are just massive walls of rock and mountains with waterfalls cascading down. After your first Fjord you'll soon bore of seeing waterfall after waterfall.
Ports of call are generally small and there is very little at most so it's pretty much a necessity to do an excursion (great for P&O of course !). For this reason I would say that Fjords trips are not ideal for those with walking disabilities or wheelchairs.
Itinerary
Stavanger - Gairanger - Flamm - Bergen
Gairanger and Flam were tender ports so as I said not much use to wheel chair users.
Ports
Stavanger
Ship docks weirdly right in the middle of town almost as if someone stuck wheels on it and drove it into the central car park. There is no "Dock" as such so none of the usual security you see at other ports, no "established security zone" as they like to put it. Locals just casually walk up and down the street and basically you can look straight down at them from your balcony. Quite bizarre really. We hit Stavanger on a Sunday sadly. Worth checking this for any Fjord trip you do. Shops were all shut of course so it was effectively a "nothing" port from that perspective. Again I guess an excursion is necessary for whichever port you end up in on a Sunday. Given they are often 7 day trips, they should really all begin on a Saturday, not on a Friday as it was for us last week. With only 4 ports in total it's pretty criminal on P&O's part to have one of those on a Sunday. Excursion money grabbing if you ask me !
The shops did look interesting here though. A number of Chandlery/nautical shops, loads of clothes shops and just about every language of restaurant inc Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Tapas and so on.
Gairanger
Small tender port. Ashore just a handful of souvenir shops. We took the coach tour up Mount Dalsnibba. Very scary, not for the feint hearted. Very windy and steep roads and breathtaking drops. But the scenery along the way is awesome. At the top, the real road gives way to what can only be described as a dirt track with little or no barriers. This takes you to the summit which is 1500m above sea level. My barometer watch noted a drop in pressure from 1000mb at the bottom to 850mb at the top ! Summit was mostly in cloud but every now and again it cleared and the views were amazing. There's a shop up there but you wouldn't buy anything at those prices.
There's a stop also at a mountain lake where you can buy coffee, sandwiches and souvenirs. Good trip overall but scary.
Flamm
Another tender port and again not a great deal at the actual port. It's obvious that the Norwegians have adapted to the cruise lines and it seems they have just plonked the same souvenir shops at every port which is rather boring. We were recommended to do the famous and expensive "Norway In a Nutshell" excursion. It included a coach trip, 2 train trips and a large open buffet lunch with loads of cold fish and meats and other good food. To be honest I found the coach trip the best part. Good scenery with some stop offs and chances to take pictures. The train trips were 1 ordinary "commercial" passenger trip, which was hot, sticky and very boring and lasted about 50 mins talking us from Voss to the Flamm and 1 trip on the mountain Flambard railway which wasn't as good as I expected and again was about an hour and was hot and sticky. The trains are basic, they were full, poor leg room, not all the windows could be opened and so on. There was a feeling of being herded in like sheep and the trains were not dedicated to just P&O passengers, although we were told to use specific carriages, but no-one came to check tickets etc. The mountain railway consisted of many tunnels and in many places where they would be dramatic drops a wooden 1/2 tunnel had been constructed (like a car port) so you couldn't take pictures. Half way along the train stopped at a waterfall and passengers were invited to get off for photos. You had to walk a number of carriages to get to the the point where you could get off. Many people stayed on because as I said earlier, seen 1 waterfall seen them all.
The buffet included at Voss was pretty good but catered for 100s of people. We luckily arrived first so it wasn't quite a bun fight but there was no shortage of food either way.
Overall, glad we tried it but wouldn't do it again.
Bergen
This was a nicer port more akin to "regular" ports in that you're docked at a real town/city. Short shuttle trip takes you into the town and there are plenty of shops, the wonderful fish market and the historic "coloured wood hut" area. Plenty of hussle and bussle and places to eat.
As with all Norway the prices are dire. Their famous woollen jumpers for example tend to retail around 800 - 1400 Krone which is £80 - £140 to us ! Bear in mind however that you can claim tax back on purchases over 300 Krone. A tax official was on board the ship in Bergen and provided you had your receipts would hand sterling cash back to you. We got £20 back on a purchase of aprox 1400 Krone.
Sailing the Fjords
The trips from the sea to the ports along the Fjords are all pretty much the same. Pretty scenery, obviously totally flat water and I guess there are speed resitrictions so it's a lovely slow potter along. But it is very repetitive despite being beautiful.
We ate in Arcadian Rhodes one evening whilst chugging along and were lucky to have a window seat so that really made the experience lovely.
Next Time?
I'm wary of doing this cruise again personally. There's so little at the actual ports and the Fjord cruising is so samey and eventually boring and that combined with the fact that it's one of the most expensive cruises you'll do (pounds per night on board) and the fact that Norway is so expensive means much of the fun factor of other cruises is not present. Bear in mind that we were lucky with the weather too so normally, this would not be a sunshine cruise.
For me it's one of those one time experiences where I'm kind of glad I been there and done it but I'm not rushing to go back. Instead I would want to go all the way Northward up to Iceland etc or alternatively would do the various Baltic capitals. Each to their own of course !