Norway Cruise

[Harley52]

Which is your preferred cruise line when cruising Norway and the reasons why.  Thank you for your assistance and information.

[Harley52]

2 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

Which is your preferred cruise line when cruising Norway and the reasons why.  Thank you for your assistance and information.

How come many cruise lines do not visit Oslo on the Norway cruise.  Pity.

[capriccio]

52 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

How come many cruise lines do not visit Oslo on the Norway cruise.  Pity.

Look at a map - Oslo is covered on many Baltic cruises.  The Norway cruises concentrate on the fjords and port towns and cities along the western coast.

 

We were on a 14 day Princess "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise last month.  It was an excellent itinerary:  Southampton, Stavanger, Flaam, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Trondheim, Tromso, Honningsvag (North Cape), Gravdal (Lofoten Islands), Alesund, Bergen, and Southampton.  From the time we left Trondheim and crossed the Arctic Circle until we crossed again after the Lofoten Islands stop the sun never set!  The fjords are breathtakingly beautiful, the more remote areas above the Arctic Circle are striking and the people were very welcoming.  We (2 couples) had a fabulous time.

[wheezedr]

We also did the same Princess Cruise a year ago.  Couple of minor differences in the Itinerary as we skipped Flam but that was not an issue as we had been there before.  Does a good job of covering the fjords which is truly the main thing people were looking for.  As noted, Oslo is really a Baltic port and not a logical stop on the coastal cruise.

[clo]

What cruises have you already been on?

[Harley52]

21 minutes ago, clo said:

What cruises have you already been on?

 Have spent 27 years in the Navy I have sailed around the world many times but not on civilian cruise ships.

[Harley52]

42 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Look at a map - Oslo is covered on many Baltic cruises.  The Norway cruises concentrate on the fjords and port towns and cities along the western coast.

 

We were on a 14 day Princess "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise last month.  It was an excellent itinerary:  Southampton, Stavanger, Flaam, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Trondheim, Tromso, Honningsvag (North Cape), Gravdal (Lofoten Islands), Alesund, Bergen, and Southampton.  From the time we left Trondheim and crossed the Arctic Circle until we crossed again after the Lofoten Islands stop the sun never set!  The fjords are breathtakingly beautiful, the more remote areas above the Arctic Circle are striking and the people were very welcoming.  We (2 couples) had a fabulous time.

Which port did you sail from?  Thank you for your response.

[capriccio]

Just now, Harley52 said:

Which port did you sail from?  Thank you for your response.

It was round trip Southampton.  The first and last days were sea days along with a sea day after Trondheim and after Gravdal.

[Harley52]

Just now, capriccio said:

It was round trip Southampton.  The first and last days were sea days along with a sea day after Trondheim and after Gravdal.

Did you travel from London to Southhampton and how did you get to the cruise terminal.  Thank you for the response.

[Extra Kim]

32 minutes ago, wheezedr said:

Oslo is really a Baltic port and not a logical stop on the coastal cruise.

No it's not. 

[capriccio]

7 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

Did you travel from London to Southhampton and how did you get to the cruise terminal.  Thank you for the response.

We flew into London a day early and used a private car service (Smith for Airports) to take us to Southampton where we spent the night at the Premier Inn West Quay.

 

On the return we took a Princess excursion to Windsor Castle and then were dropped off at Heathrow that was available to passengers with flights after 4 pm.  An alternative excursion was to Stonehenge and then to Heathrow.

 

Added:  We have used Smith for Airports for the return trip from Southampton to Heathrow in the past but since we had a late flight and we had never visited Windsor before, the Princess excursion worked out well.

Edited July 8, 2019 by capriccio

[Extra Kim]

2 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

Did you travel from London to Southhampton and how did you get to the cruise terminal.  Thank you for the response.

We did a TA in May, we took the train from Southampton to Gatwick. It took around 15min to walk from the port to the train station with two suitcases, a bag and a baby stroller.

[paul929207]

We did the Pacific Princess 16 days round trip Southampton. We up to above the Arctic Circle, It was great

[clo]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/663-hurtigruten/

 

They're a Norwegian line and do coastal cruises as well as a lot of the world.

[jocap]

The first time, we chose a vast ship built with the Caribbean in mind, out of Southampton. On cold or rainy days, the inward-looking ship was crammed with people, as the outdoor activities weren't used.

The next time, we chose a small, old ship out of Newcastle, so we were entering the fjords the next afternoon. We were able to get to smaller, less crowded ports.

We have friends who go on Hurtigruten quite a lot- they're not interested in having lots of entertainment, but go for the many ports and excursions.

[clo]

1 minute ago, jocap said:

We have friends who go on Hurtigruten quite a lot- they're not interested in having lots of entertainment, but go for the many ports and excursions.

We cruised on them to Antarctica last year and loved it so did their 12 day RT Norwegian coastal cruise this spring.  Enjoyed it so much we're going the NB only next spring with other non-cruise traveling.  Here's a photo:

 

[Capt_BJ]

we enjoyed Viking Ocean on the 'Midnight Sun' route last year

[clo]

Here's the trip we did.

 

https://www.hurtigruten.com/destinations/norway/classic-round-voyage-bergen-kirkenes-bergen/

 

And another photo.  This one from our porthole.

 

 

 

[Harley52]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Here's the trip we did.

 

https://www.hurtigruten.com/destinations/norway/classic-round-voyage-bergen-kirkenes-bergen/

 

And another photo.  This one from our porthole.

 

 

 

Which ship were you on?

 

[Harley52]

1 minute ago, Harley52 said:

Which ship were you on?

 

What time of the year did you go and was the sea rough.  Thank you

[clo]

Just now, Harley52 said:

Which ship were you on?

 

We were on the Lofoten, their oldest and smallest ship, which is actually going to be retired from this route after next season.  But they have several that do it and they go year round.  We traveled in March and were guaranteed if we didn't see the Northern Lights we'd get a free 6/7 day cruise the following year.  We did.  But with your naval career you've likely seen them.

[clo]

Just now, Harley52 said:

What time of the year did you go and was the sea rough.  Thank you

We were there in mid-March and it was lovely.  EXCEPT....  Remember that cruise ship whose engines went out?  Well, we were cruising north of there that day.  Our captain put us in port for the night and all was well the next day.  Do some reading about this line.  It's for seems to me more down to earth, destination oriented.

[Harley52]

1 minute ago, clo said:

We were on the Lofoten, their oldest and smallest ship, which is actually going to be retired from this route after next season.  But they have several that do it and they go year round.  We traveled in March and were guaranteed if we didn't see the Northern Lights we'd get a free 6/7 day cruise the following year.  We did.  But with your naval career you've likely seen them.

It's always nice to go back.  What was it that you liked about Hurtigruten.  

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Harley52 said:

It's always nice to go back.  What was it that you liked about Hurtigruten.  

Their page here will give you tons of info/opinions.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/663-hurtigruten/

[MicCanberra]

Celebrity for me with Princess second and Royal third. I find them a bit more my style than other mass market lines but realistically the scenery is so wonderful, the ship may not matter so much especially on a very port intensive cruise.