September cruise

We are on the 12 day roundtrip Bergen to Bergen cruise leaving September 5. We are in the process of trying to decide what to do in each port. Any help would be appreciated.

Hjorundfjord fjord. Hurtigruten only shows one shore excursion "A Taste of Norway". Is there anything else to do? Do you actually dock somewhere or are you tendered off?

Bodo: Is the Viking feast worth doing?

Honningsvag: Any suggestion for our stop here. Has anyone done the Sami Autumn or the Fishing Village Visit? Was it worthwhile?

Kirkenes: Has anyone done the ATV to the Russian border? Worth the money? If you don't take an excursion to the border, what else is there to do in Kirkenes?

Day 9 - Harstad, Sortland, Svolvaer - Any suggestions for these port?

Thanks for any suggestions.

We have sailed on a number of Hurtigruten Norway trips and would recommend 1) Breakfast at the North Cape, 2) A Taste of Vesteralen, 3) The Atlantic Road. We have never done the Eagle Safari, but that gets high marks and usually sells out. If you enjoy walking, Trondheim can be done on your own; be sure to include a visit inside the Cathedral. Bodo is a small town and has a fine, small museum. It has been a few years since we were onboard and there are some fascinating newer excursions that I would love to try...the hiking ones, especially. Whatever you choose, you really can't go wrong. Enjoy!

We have sailed on a number of Hurtigruten Norway trips and would recommend 1) Breakfast at the North Cape, 2) A Taste of Vesteralen, 3) The Atlantic Road. We have never done the Eagle Safari, but that gets high marks and usually sells out. If you enjoy walking, Trondheim can be done on your own; be sure to include a visit inside the Cathedral. Bodo is a small town and has a fine, small museum. It has been a few years since we were onboard and there are some fascinating newer excursions that I would love to try...the hiking ones, especially. Whatever you choose, you really can't go wrong. Enjoy!

Hi, thanks for the info on tours as we are going in July and am in the process of looking at tours. Very hard to know what ports can be done on your own as the tours can be expensive and there are a lot of them. We were thinking of the The North Cape (not with breakfast) are there any other differences other than breakfast? Appreciate your feedback.

Thanks

Sharon

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The main difference with the Southbound Breakfast North Cape is Hurtigruten is the only group there, and you have the place to yourselves. With the Northbound trip there my be a number of other ships and the place can be crowded, especially the Visitor Center.

Most of the ports can be done on your own if you are a pretty good walker. Check out maps of the ports on Google to see where the sites are you want to visit and To help you decide. In Tromso we took a city bus to the Arctic cathedral and then walked back from there to visit the Polar Museum and other places. We never did hear the concert in the Arctic Cathedral as we were too tired out to stay awake for it! Decide what is most important to you....you really can't go wrong with any decision.

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Our group of six did the Viking Feast; some really liked it, although I thought it was just OK. It's a re-enactment of dinner at a Viking king and queen's castle, with traditional food from the Viking times. The skits were cute and the food was fine - I'm just not big on things like that. You also get to see artifacts and replicas from the Vikings, and they have a nice gift shop for your shopping pleasure :-) I think it's a personal decision of whether or not it is worth it. We went because one of the people in our party really likes that kind of thing.

We are going on the 12 day on September 16, 2017 on the MS Spitzbergen. I'll check back to this thread as I haven't seen anything on my trip specifically. Was told the MS Spitzbergen wouldn't be carrying cars and would be skipping the night time ports so it could stay longer in the day time ones when I booked. However, I called Hurtigruten last week and the rep said "no - that's changed; will be doing the same schedule as everyone else". Seems you need to double check much of what you are told because they don't provide updates. So if anyone has any insights I'd welcome them. Thanks.

We are also on Spitsbergen on September 16th and chose that because of the altered itinerary. Will be a little disappointed if that is not the xase. Currently we haven't booked any excursions as I found it confusing as to which ones could be done when without overlapping them. Hurtigruten have said they are posting a hard copy out but I haven't received it yet. We are planning on breakfast at North Cape. Just not sure what else yet.

We are also on Spitsbergen on September 16th and chose that because of the altered itinerary. Will be a little disappointed if that is not the xase. Currently we haven't booked any excursions as I found it confusing as to which ones could be done when without overlapping them. Hurtigruten have said they are posting a hard copy out but I haven't received it yet. We are planning on breakfast at North Cape. Just not sure what else yet.

Peppajay,

We look forward to meeting you then! We live in Port Angeles Washington and our names are Danny and Deanna. I printed off a list of excursions back in November when I put down our deposit. Here's the link the agent gave me then. It is tricky to read because about half of the excursions won't be running when our cruise starts. https://www.hurtigruten.us/excursions/#destinations=1647,1648&seasons=8&sort=recommended&asc=true

Hi Danny and Deana. Thank you for the link. I have been away so haven't had time to look yet. We are Pip and Steve from Perth Western Australia. Will be lovely to meet you.

We're going in mid-July for 10 nights on the Finnmarken before disembarking early to visit some relatives who live there. Also very curious about available tours. Anybody else going in July 2017?

Jim