Laurino

It took a while, but I've had some success with arranging a ship visit. The cruise season has begun in the Baltic, and it's nice to see the ships coming again :D

One of the larger Swedish TA:s eventually offered av ship visit on Eurodam on 26-June and also on Rotterdam on 2-June, both in Stockholm. Unfortunately my parents-in-law wouldn't commit to those visits due to the distance from home etc :( Admittedly it would have been inconvenient for myself too, with lost workdays and hotel nights etc. No HAL visits in Copenhagen as of yet, though I keep a lookout. Strange though that HAL didn't mention the visits in Stockholm.

However I managed to book (with a local TA) a ship visit on Celebrity Eclipse on 10-June in Copenhagen, for all of us and we're all excited about this :) I've become somewhat of a "cruise-ambassador" among family, friends and colleagues - so two of my work colleagues will also join the visit on Eclipse and we'll be 6 all-in-all. There are visits on Eclipse also in Stockholm.

MobyandDick - Thank you, I'll contact the Danish TA. Their own webpage doesn't mention HAL, but lets see what happens. I've already contacted the Swedish TA suggested on HALs site.

Thank you all for your replies. I'm contacting as many Swedish TA:s as I can find :)

Ray - Yes, when we visited NCL and Princess we had to make a reservation with our passport number and pre-pay for the visit. They held our passports as a deposit during the visit. We also went through security. This is all ok. I guess I'll have to widen my search for TAs.

Mary Ellen - the port shouldn't be a problem, since we visited other ships last year and other ships are available again. We've been offered visits to RCI, MSC, NCL and Costa so far this year - but I think those lines would be a bad match for my parents-in-law and I don't like those lines myself.

Does HAL allow ship visits, arranged by travel agents for their potential clients on port days? I've been on those kinds of visits on NCL and Princess (last summer in Copenhagen).

I'm having trouble finding a Swedish or Danish TA that deals with HAL (I usually book online) so I thought of contacting HAL directly (via e-mail) to inquire when there will be a ship visit (in Sweden/Denmark) and which TA to contact. But I'm getting really strange answers from HAL, which seems to imply that visits are not allowed? Is there a specific person on HAL I should contact instead?

I'm trying to persuade my parents-in-law to try cruising, but so far they will only commit to a ship visit, later maybe a shorter "trial cruise". I would like to show them our preferred lines, HAL or Celebrity, to give the "right impression".

We're considering a long road trip this July through Sweden-Finland-Norway and back to Sweden. We would drive into Norway from Inari in Finland, would like to visit primarily the North Cape and Lofoten, and then return into Sweden to Abisko and Kiruna. I've always been curious about Hurtigruten and now there seems to be a chance to try it out. However it seems to be prohibitively expensive.

After visiting the North Cape we could bring our car and embark from Hammerfest (Honningsvåg is more expensive) and disembark in either Tromsø (approx 12hours, no cabin, 370$), Sortland (approx 24hours, inside cabin, 770$), or Svolvær (approx 30hours, inside cabin, 1120$) - or simply drive the whole way and overnight in hotels, at least once in Tromsø.

Hurtigruten seems to cost at least 2-3 times more than a regular cruise, which seems a lot for basically a scenic ferry ride? Is it worth it? Also nothing but breakfast included when booking only a segment. Is this a nice segment of the Hurtigruten route? Would driving or cruising be more scenic? The cruise from Tromsø to Lofoten would be nighttime (however midnight sun) and perhaps a waste because of a cost exceeding that of a hotel. However going to Svolvær would include a sail through Trollfjord, which seems to be spectacular.

I'm really torn. If Hurtigruten is worth it, we'll do it, but the expense will also shorten the trip overall, which could be longer if driving and staying in hotels. Besides being scenic, a cruise could also be a break in a very long road trip. This could also be the only suitable time for us to try Hurtigruten, since if we would visit the Norwegian west coast fjords, we would probably do it via a regular cruise ship or by car.

Long question.... but advice would be appreciated!