Would you cruise on a Holland America Norway cruise over the holidays?

[Alphen]

Fred Olsen’s “Black Watch” is doing something different this holiday season.

 

The “Black Watch” is on a 16 nights “Northern Lights cruise” for Christmas and New Year, to Norway.

 

They will be visiting Haugesund, Alesund, Tromso, Alta, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger between 20th December and 5th of January.

 

Would you welcome if Holland America would do such a cruise over the holidays?

 

I know we would welcome this!

[Floridiana]

If I lived in Europe, maybe I would. But I don't live in Europe and would not book a cruise to the northern Atlantic in winter.

[RuthC]

I would love it! I've seen this area so many times in all its summer fashions, and I would love to see it in its winter dress. I imagine it would be a totally different experience, for reasons well beyond the temperature change.

The chance of seeing the Northern Lights would be an added bonus.

 

I don't believe very many lines could do this route at that time of year, as the demand just wouldn't be there. But once every few years, sure.

[sppunk]

In a nanosecond. We'll probably do a Hurtigruten northern lights voyage in a few years. Norway is the most beautiful country we've ever visited. We prefer to travel to cold/cool climates. The colder the better, really.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done various Baltic itineraries -- during the summer.

But I don't think I would do one over the holidays -- too cold.

[user8]

lived 4 years in Stavanger and the winters there were not as bad as those in the Texas panhandle. Western Norway is warmed by the warm Gulf currents so it doesn't usually get extremely cold until you cross the mountains in the interior.

 

I would jump on the cruise in a minute. Norway is such a beautiful country.

[dfish]

I would love it! I've seen this area so many times in all its summer fashions, and I would love to see it in its winter dress. I imagine it would be a totally different experience, for reasons well beyond the temperature change.

The chance of seeing the Northern Lights would be an added bonus.

 

I don't believe very many lines could do this route at that time of year, as the demand just wouldn't be there. But once every few years, sure.

 

I am totally with you on this. I can't imagine how beautiful the scenery would be and it truly would be a unique experience.

[DrTee]

I would do it, no question. I'm also looking at a Hurtigruten cruise soon to do this very thing, but I would prefer to do it with HAL.

[RuthC]

We'll probably do a Hurtigruten northern lights voyage in a few years.

 

I'm also looking at a Hurtigruten cruise soon to do this very thing, but I would prefer to do it with HAL.

I've considered Hurtigruten so many times, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

I'm afraid that the food just would not be to my palate (I'm a really finicky eater), so that's what's holding me back.

 

One frequent poster on this board recently returned from a Hurtigruten cruise, and I am looking forward to the report she posts. It just might be enough to get me to take a chance and do it.

[sppunk]

I've considered Hurtigruten so many times, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

I'm afraid that the food just would not be to my palate (I'm a really finicky eater), so that's what's holding me back.

 

One frequent poster on this board recently returned from a Hurtigruten cruise, and I am looking forward to the report she posts. It just might be enough to get me to take a chance and do it.

That's my wife's holdup too, but one good thing is it stops so often she'll be able to bring food back onboard if all else fails.

 

I think if you treat it like a ferry your experience probably is better, at least that's what we've read and learned from friends who have taken various trips on them.

 

Good lord I miss Norway.

[magandab]

Absolutely positively YES. I keep looking at the Hurtigruten cruises and thinking... maybe.

 

I loved every single thing about our Norway cruise and would love to do it in the winter. Yes Yes Yes.

[catl331]

I am getting to really hate the plane ride to Europe. As I get older and the joints ache I really don't need tighter space. I would have no trouble with the food as I like herring 10 different ways , Norwegian cookies etc. My biggest problem would be clothes!

On our Iceland cruise many were very interested in the Northern Lights and for a few days we might have be able to see some except it was cloudy.

[chrispb]

I'd enjoy a Northern Lights cruise but not for 2 weeks - far too long in cold weather. I have seen some for just a few days duration which would be doable for me.

[SilvertoGold]

Absolutely!

 

If HAL can do the Christmas Canary Island cruise on the Rotterdam over Christmas, they can do something like the Norway one. It would be cold (all the better, she says) and short days, but such a treat! A great compliment to the Christmas Antarctic cruise!

 

I agree with Ruth, once in a while would work. Making it an exclusive cruise HAL could make a fortune on this one.

[cruisin'girl]

I won't even do Alaska in the summer much less Norway in the winter! I just don't do cold or even chilly.

[chrispb]

I won't even do Alaska in the summer much less Norway in the winter! I just don't do cold or even chilly.

 

I know what you're saying:D I was persuaded to do the Alaska cruise and froze most of the time - that was end June/beg July, never again. We don't even come from a warm climate, either.

[SilvertoGold]

I know what you're saying:D I was persuaded to do the Alaska cruise and froze most of the time - that was end June/beg July, never again. We don't even come from a warm climate, either.

 

Yikes!

We've had 25 degrees C in Haines and Juneau in May! Nearly cooked in t-shirts.

[HokiePoq]

If I lived in Europe, maybe I would. But I don't live in Europe and would not book a cruise to the northern Atlantic in winter.

 

I probably wouldn't either as I head to warmed climates in the winter. This does sounds like a great idea for those not minding the cold. A friend of mine took a land tour to Norway to see the northern lights. It snowed the entire week she was there and she never saw them.

Will be interesting to see how those on this cruise like it.

[sail7seas]

No........ Summer sure but not winter. :o

[lazey1]

No........ Summer sure but not winter. :o

 

Totally agree. We would go if the holiday in question was the 4th of July! If only we could see the Northern Lights in summer.

Edited December 23, 2014 by lazey1

[Vict0riann]

I think we would, but getting to Europe in the middle of winter might be iffy. DD has always wanted to do a European river cruise in winter, I imagine this would be right up her alley, too. Now if you could include St. Petersburg!:)

[cruisin'girl]

Yikes!

We've had 25 degrees C in Haines and Juneau in May! Nearly cooked in t-shirts.

25C/77F- I call that mild, certainly not hot. I easily would wear a cotton sweater at 77.

[NMLady]

Fred Olsen’s “Black Watch” is doing something different this holiday season.

 

The “Black Watch” is on a 16 nights “Northern Lights cruise” for Christmas and New Year, to Norway.

 

They will be visiting Haugesund, Alesund, Tromso, Alta, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger between 20th December and 5th of January.

 

Would you welcome if Holland America would do such a cruise over the holidays?

 

I know we would welcome this!

 

If we could afford it I'd it in a heartbeat! I'd just make sure I packed my long underwear and really warm clothes. :D

[DrTee]

I've considered Hurtigruten so many times, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

I'm afraid that the food just would not be to my palate (I'm a really finicky eater), so that's what's holding me back.

 

One frequent poster on this board recently returned from a Hurtigruten cruise, and I am looking forward to the report she posts. It just might be enough to get me to take a chance and do it.

 

Me too! I have visions of raw and pickled herring!

[RMLincoln]

I've considered Hurtigruten so many times, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it.

I'm afraid that the food just would not be to my palate (I'm a really finicky eater), so that's what's holding me back.

 

One frequent poster on this board recently returned from a Hurtigruten cruise, and I am looking forward to the report she posts. It just might be enough to get me to take a chance and do it.

 

I want to get a good review together with correct info form my notes but here's from my memory of my Hurtigruten 11-day R/T cruise in late October. (After that we did a river cruise, time in Rome and a HAL TA crossing home, so we just got back recently and I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get Christmas under control! But here goes, from memory:

 

Full Board means 3 meals a day. Breakfast and lunch are buffet, open seating. Dinners are assigned seating - one special dinner buffet the rest were a set menu for dinner, 3 courses. If you need to eat between meals there is an a la carte café or if you are fast and adventurous you may be able to hit a market in some of the many ports.

 

Breakfast buffet always had hard or soft boiled eggs, sometimes scrambled or oven "fried" sunny side up. No omelets or to-order eggs. But lots of other foods available.

 

Meats and cheeses: bacon and/ or sausage, maybe hot ham, maybe meatballs (like bitterballen?). Cold meats - hams, turkey, salamis, several wonderful cheeses (I was so disappointed in the cheese on HAL after this experience, oh well), especially the wonderfully rich, slightly sweet, creamy "brown cheese" (actually the color of coffee au lait) which was the most amazing cheese I've ever had - had it every morning!

 

There were vegetables platters (for breakfast!), fruit platters (piles of multiple fruits served separately), bread platters - rolls, sliced - light dark and pumpernickle, crisp breads, and sweet breads. Sometimes pancakes, sometimes French toast. Always a selection of jams, plus nutella, butters, peanut butter. Always potatoes, usually different kinds available.

 

Fish: Always excellent cured salmon, maybe two kinds and cream cheese and condiments; 3 types of herring - which I also had every morning, and maybe another choice of fish. Plus caviars, black and red.

 

Always oatmeal and cold cereals and yogurts. Plus the best hot chocolate!! (listening Ruth?) the best, rich, creamy hot chocolate!! Coffee and teas. Juices dispensed from machines,.

 

Lunch was always buffet style and had the most selection of the meals of the day.

 

Always delicious soup. 2-4 Hot casseroles, always a hot vegetarian casserole: good lasagna, a traditional lamb and cabbage dish was available a few times (but It didn't appeal to me), pork and sauerkraut; pork and other stuff; ham; sliced beef; chicken with other stuff.... always hot fish casserole too.

 

Several cold salads plus a salad bar. Always potatoes. Always platters of sliced fruits.

Cold meat platters, cheese platters with scrumptious whole cheeses served on platters with knives to hunk off what you want. Tons of breads: sliced, rolls, crisps, and cookies.

 

Desserts: Every lunch they served multiple flavors of ice cream on platters (turned out of loaf-shaped forms and decorated with piped cream edging) so you could slice as much as you wanted, served with pitchers of sauces and fruits plus cream. Excellent caramel sauce, vanilla custard sauce, and chocolate sauce! Then platters of custards, panna cotta, and mousse. Always all of these. Also cookies, and a few pastries. This was my downfall - I had to try everything!

 

Coffee and tea are available. Bottled water is available for purchase.... more about that later.

 

Dinners: Served as a set menu... the menu is out at lunchtime for review. If you don't want what's on the menu they will arrange an alternate meal for you - but we never asked for an alternate so I'm not sure how that worked. I know some people didn't want fish and always got meats... others asked for fish instead of a particular type of meat. The menu is presented as a colorful 4 page card with photos and explanations of the preparation, the locale of where they purchased it (maybe a local farm or fishery) and maybe a description of the tradition behind the food selected for that night, usually related to the area being sailed.

 

Every dinner entrée we had was cooked perfectly! Every meal. They really know how to do it.

 

The set dinner is: Appetizer, main and dessert. The portions were sometimes more than I could eat but not huge by American standards. I can't recall all the appetizers but they were all local. Sometimes it was a soup. Bread (and butter) was on the table in a basket but they remove the baskets with the appetizer course, so we'd just put the bread on our bread plates to enjoy with the rest of the meal.

 

Entrees were usually meats: beef, lamb, pork, reindeer filet! the best piece of meat we've ever had!! Of course, it's very local, range fed. Some nights we had fish: salmon, chad (like salmon to me) cod, halibut. Always some form of potatoes.. it's a Norwegian staple, and vegetables.

 

Desserts were varied... berries and cream, cakes, puddings,,,, I'm not sure I recall.

 

Water: They do not pour glasses of water at dinner. Period. They do not allow bringing bottled water into the dining room. They offer bottled water for purchase ($4/half liter) or you can buy a water package of 1 bottle per lunch and dinner. (At lunch we drank coffee or tea, provided).

 

We thought all this was stupid for a full fare booking. So we bought a bottle of water the first night and refilled it and secreted it to our table each dinner (we had a 2-top). It was a bit of a protest action. If I had it to do again I think I'd just buy the package.

 

Hurtigruten does not charge any gratuity or hotel service charge, nor does it charge for their excellent internet! So they charge for water!!! Oh well.

 

Wine is expensive, maybe $65 a bottle lowest, but it comes with water! Or about $10 -12 per glass.

 

OK, I have to go make dinner now so send me your questions and I'll try my best, checking my notes. Bon Appetite! m--

 

PS I think I gained most of the extra 10 pounds which I brought home during this part of our trip! We really thought the food was surprisingly good and very special being from local farms.