Norway Fjord Cruise Q&A - Keys to Successful Planning

[naturelovergirl]

We will be coming into Leknes while in the Lofoten... late summer, early fall... 

We know we are going to go to the Lofotr Viking Museum... but then we want to drive and enjoy the scenery. We thought maybe Eggum then head southwest.

[kaisatsu]

11 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

We will be coming into Leknes while in the Lofoten... late summer, early fall... 

We know we are going to go to the Lofotr Viking Museum... but then we want to drive and enjoy the scenery. We thought maybe Eggum then head southwest.

Reine and Nusfjord are both quite picturesque.

[naturelovergirl]

3 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

Reine and Nusfjord are both quite picturesque.

Excellent!!! Thank you!!!

[hallasm]

On 8/2/2019 at 11:15 PM, naturelovergirl said:

Have you been to the Lofoten Islands? We have a rental car reserved. If you have been... what spots do you suggest seeing there?

Lofoten has only one scenic route which runs between Å in south and and Raftsundet in North.The route is total 190 km long
I’ll suggest to drive Southwest to Å (64 km) with detours to Nusfjord and Vikten and back to Leknes and continue northeast to Svolvær (68 km) with detours to Utakleiv, Unstad, Eggum, Henningsvær and Kabelvåg. Then there will be time to visit Grimsøy Church, old fishing village at Kabelvåg (museum) and the Viking Museum.

pictures below from Grimsøy Church, Kabelvåg and Å.

[naturelovergirl]

Thank you so much Hallasm... excellent ideas... I love the Norwegian Scenic Routes website!

This is one of the days that I am most looking forward to. I will be sure to write my thoughts on it after we have completed our trip. Thanks!

[Eli_6]

What does everyone recommend for a cruise line and ship to see the Fjords?  

 

Carnival only appears to have one cruise a year and RC only a couple. I see quite a few people on here have gone Celebrity.  MSC also looks like it has several. Viking looks amazing but is over 18 only.  Disney was insanely priced.  

Edited August 9, 2019 by Eli_6

[ski ww]

I can't speak for the other cruise lines we picked Holland America because of the itinerary which goes above the Arctic Circle, they also have other itineraries on other ships. Which ever cruise line you decide Bon Voyage and enjoy your cruise.

[hallasm]

11 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

What does everyone recommend for a cruise line and ship to see the Fjords? 

I can not recommend any specific cruise line - itinerary more important. Find the fjords and ports you want to visit and then search for cruise ships visiting those ports. 

Just note that the Norwegian Fjord cruise season is very short and many cruise lines does Baltic and the fjords every second week - allowing for B2B cruises. 

During June and July many cruises are longer in order to visit ports inside Arctic Circle to experience Midnight Sun - Tromsø, (Honningsvåg), North Cape or even Svalbard.

Enjoy you search and be back with more questions- many ‘fjord cruisers’ ready to answer. 

[erdoran]

Haugesund, Norway	8:00 AM	4:00 PM	0
Wed	Trondheim, Norway	12:00 PM	9:00 PM	0
Thu	Svartisen Glacier (Cruising)	---	---	0
Fri	Leknes, Lofoten Islands, Norway	8:00 AM	5:00 PM	0
Sat	Honningsvåg, Norway	12:00 PM	11:59 PM	0
Sun	Hammerfest, Norway	8:00 AM	5:00 PM	0
Mon	At Sea	---	Overnight	0
Tue	Ålesund, Norway	10:00 AM	7:00 PM	0
Wed	Nordfjordeid, Norway	8:00 AM	5:00 PM	0
Thu	Eidfjord, Norway	7:00 AM	6:00 PM	0
Fri	Kristiansand, Norway

 

 

This is my NCL itinerary for Summer 2020.  I’ve been devouring this topic, wow!  Would love comments on this itinerary.  I’ve seen the discussions about Alesund and read the site about Hammerfest.  

 

I want to see scenery, am not afraid of hiking, but am paranoid of driving in unfamiliar areas where I don’t speak the language...but if there is a spectacular drive or bus tour, I’m in, and absolutely for hiking.  I want to allow lots of time so if I go slowly or get lost I won’t miss my ship.

 

What are the must do-must see in the above?  

Edited August 11, 2019 by erdoran

[oakridger]

Erdoran, I see you are from the USA so don't worry about the language in Norway.  Most people below the age of 75 speak fluent English and many of the older folks do too!

[Grandma Cruising]

In Honningsvag take the Blue Puffin North Cape Sightseeing Tour. Look it up on Trip Advisor. https://www.blue-puffin.com/en/

Its brilliant, and so is Monica who guides on the tour and runs the company. We had about 80 people on our cruise who did this tour in 2 buses - everyone loved it.

[erdoran]

Thanks for the pointer.  Their website just talks about “North Cape Sightseeing”.  Is that the same, or do I have to ask specially for the blue puffin tour?  Thanks

[Grandma Cruising]

2 hours ago, erdoran said:

Thanks for the pointer.  Their website just talks about “North Cape Sightseeing”.  Is that the same, or do I have to ask specially for the blue puffin tour?  Thanks

No, it’s just the North Cape sight seeing you want - they just call the company Blue Puffin.

[erdoran]

Got it, thanks - actually had just this minute emailed them, wanted to catch them before the end of their day 😆  Pointer appreciated.  So excited about this itinerary, I've done a TON of travelling but this is a part of the world I haven't explored and it sounds amazing!

[capriccio]

erodan - another strong recommendation for Blue Puffin!  Just make sure you dress warmly for the stop at the North Cape where the wind can be brutal.  In the Lofoten Islands we toured with Lofoten Lights (www.lofotenlights.com) which we can also recommend.  We found Trondheim and Alesund very easy to DIY.  We walked all around Trondheim visiting the Kristensten Fortress, the Cathedral and the museums in the Archbishop's Palace.  In Alesund we took a 5 minute taxi ride to the Sunnmore Museum, an open air museum with examples of architecture and ship building from medieval times to the present.  Then we took a 5 minute taxi ride back into town and walked all around the lovely art nouveau section of town.

[Doh15]

I was wondering if people had thoughts on going with blue puffin vs renting a car and going up to the visitor center (and maybe signing up for a crab safari) independently? 

 

Also how far in advance do people book tours (or car rentals) for next summer? I was thinking at least not until this summer season was over (and maybe closer to winter)?

[capriccio]

39 minutes ago, Doh15 said:

I was wondering if people had thoughts on going with blue puffin vs renting a car and going up to the visitor center (and maybe signing up for a crab safari) independently? 

 

Also how far in advance do people book tours (or car rentals) for next summer? I was thinking at least not until this summer season was over (and maybe closer to winter)?

We reserved in late September 2018 for our June 2019 excursion with Blue Puffin and in late August 2018 for our excursion with Lofoten Lights.  They did fill up and there aren't a lot of alternatives. 

 

We (and we were a group of 4 adults) didn't even consider renting cars in Norway since we wanted a guide to share their knowledge and not sentence one of the group to be the driver who needed to pay attention to the road and another to be the guide consulting and sharing info from a guidebook and/or website.  On other cruises when we travel in groups of 4 or 6 we sometimes get a private guide/driver and that also works out well.  I'm not sure how available they are in Norway.

[Grandma Cruising]

30 minutes ago, capriccio said:

We reserved in late September 2018 for our June 2019 excursion with Blue Puffin and in late August 2018 for our excursion with Lofoten Lights.  They did fill up and there aren't a lot of alternatives. 

 

We (and we were a group of 4 adults) didn't even consider renting cars in Norway since we wanted a guide to share their knowledge and not sentence one of the group to be the driver who needed to pay attention to the road and another to be the guide consulting and sharing info from a guidebook and/or website.  On other cruises when we travel in groups of 4 or 6 we sometimes get a private guide/driver and that also works out well.  I'm not sure how available they are in Norway.

I’d agree. We really valued Monika’s input about life in Mageroy island. She took us to her village and told us all about the dried fish - how it’s dried and how it’s used, she told us all about the reindeer and about king crab fishing. We wouldn’t have understood how things work there if we had not been on the tour. It’s very good value too. We paid about 40% of the ships tour which was literally just a transfer to the North Cape Centreand back with no guide or commentary at all.

[erdoran]

I was just on their website looking at the different tours and have emailed them to ask about individual groups.  Which one did you take?  Summer full day guided tour?  We're in Leknes 0800-1700.  I'm starting to populate our roll call spreadsheet with the different options.  No idea how active the roll call will be, it's still a long way until our sailing, but I'm one of those "the sooner the better"!  I did this for our Jade TA and had over 10% of the ship involved with the roll call, from what I've heard!  We filled up the private excursions and had to turn people away who booked last minute - hated to do that!

[capriccio]

erodan - here is the excursion information from our roll call (wonderfully developed and maintained by meandmymum) for the ports where our cruises overlap.  Hope it helps! 

TRONDHEIM	20th June 2019
Trondheim For You.   www.trondheimforyou.com	16 People Price confirmed as 130NOK per person. Payment to be made direct to guide on the day in cash

 

Walking Tour of Trondheim Cathedral www.nidarosdomen.no/en/plan-your-visit/omvisninger

9 people 2 hour guided tour of Crypt, Chapels & Crown Regalia. Price for group is a minimum of 2700NOK (300NOK per person if max of 9 people achieved).

 

All Day private tour with driver (no website provided)

Up to 8 People Itinerary flexible. Total cost £492 plus fuel so divisible by all participants.

 

HONNINGSVAG (North Cape)	22nd June 2019
Honningsvag (North Cape) Excursion with Blue Puffin https://www.blue-puffin.com/en/#north_cape_sightseeing_wrapper	Book directly with website. Departure times are 09:00 & again at 13:30. Price is NOK 979 per person

 

GRAVDAL (LOFOTEN ISLANDS)	24th June 2019
Full day of touring in the scenic Lofoten Island  no website provided	Approximately $88 per person. 7 hour tour around the Islands.
Guided Tour with www.lofotenlights.com	1250NOK per person. Book direct with tour operator

 

Guided Tour with www.lofotentaxi.no

Bus 1 & 2 – 600NOK per person; Bus 3 & 4 – 900NOK per person. 6 hour tour from A to the outermost Lofoten Islands.

 

ALESUND	26th June 2019
The Ultimate Sightseeing Tour  https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-the-ultimate-sightseeing-tour/	Departing at 09:30 (two buses) or 14:00 – Price €72.50 per person. Book direct on website.

 

s From Fjords to Trolls https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-from-fjords-to-trolls/

8 hours bus tour departing at 08:30am – Price €112 per person. Book direct on website.

[Doh15]

That’s interesting because I have checked some of their websites and they “availability” calendars but they all seem for this year only (that is, next year’s tour show as not available for booking yet) so I took that as a sign to check back in a couple months. 

 

Am also curious which Lofotens tour you took. 

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, Doh15 said:

That’s interesting because I have checked some of their websites and they “availability” calendars but they all seem for this year only (that is, next year’s tour show as not available for booking yet) so I took that as a sign to check back in a couple months. 

 

Am also curious which Lofotens tour you took. 

I corresponded with each operator last summer and as I said by late August/late September was able to make our reservations.  We did the Lofoten Lights Panorama tour which included:  "Nusfjord, the oldest and best- preserved fishing hamlet of the archipelago; Flakstad and Ramberg on the Atlantic side with their amazing white sandy beaches surrounded by high mountains, the oldest of northern Europe; Reine and its famous panoramic view point; and Å."  It was 5 1/2 hours and cost 1250 NOK per person.

Edited August 12, 2019 by capriccio

[just_dont]

I was wondering if people had thoughts on going with blue puffin vs renting a car and going up to the visitor center (and maybe signing up for a crab safari) independently? 
 
Also how far in advance do people book tours (or car rentals) for next summer? I was thinking at least not until this summer season was over (and maybe closer to winter)?

Definitely Blue Puffin over DIY in Honningsvåg.
The half-day tour was wonderful, as others have noted.
And definitely wear plenty of layers for Nordkapp. I'd regretted packing gloves for our late-June trip this year, as we had beautiful weather everywhere. Nordkapp was the only time I needed them, and I was glad I had them.

In Lofoten we did a Trollfjord excursion (ship's charter) that was wonderful. We docked at Leknes, and the excursion was out of Svolvaer, and the ship provided bus transport, but if you could find a way to do a tour like this, I'd recommend it.

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[just_dont]

That’s interesting because I have checked some of their websites and they “availability” calendars but they all seem for this year only (that is, next year’s tour show as not available for booking yet) so I took that as a sign to check back in a couple months. 
 
Am also curious which Lofotens tour you took. 

Tourism in northern Norway is highly seasonal, and especially as remote as Honningsvåg, they don't tend think about next season until the springtime starts to roll around. Try contacting them by email now. If you don't get hold of them now, it may be months before you get a reply. They just don't check email very often during the off-season. It really is a different way of life way up north. They have websites out of modern necessity, but honestly I think they prefer a more personal communication with their customers. If you let them know now you're interested in next year, they'll likely get back to you when they start figuring ot their plans.

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[just_dont]

@capriccio,
We were also at Honningsvåg with you on 22 June, but we were on "the other ship" that day. We did the afternoon Blue Puffin tour.

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