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Long time before cruising resumes


drkitkat123
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58 minutes ago, Mura said:

I'm sure Hurtigruten isn't using the old Bergen Line vessels from the 1970s ... they current ships certainly LOOK bigger.  But they aren't immense.

 

Their oldest ship, the MS Lofoten, was built in 1964 and generally carries about 100 pax. This is her last season doing the coastal trip and they have said what her future is. But she has some kind of historic designation protection so the woods, original light fixtures,art and other things have to remain. I've wondered it they'll do day trips from Bergen. There were only two other people fro the US with Germans and British making up most. Here's her link"

https://www.hurtigruten.com/our-ships/ms-lofoten/

 

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We were younger them Susie!  Just because we tend to sail in suites now doesn't mean we always did.  And in that case Howard knew I was interested in the Norwegian coastal cruise, which at the time was booked 2 years ahead, according to the NY Times.  Remember, this was in July 1975.  When he called, just for information, he was informed that there had just been a cancellation for this first class suite with bathroom and bunk beds, leaving in 2 weeks, and he took it.

 

I doubt I'd take bunk beds today ... but it wouldn't be impossible as long as he took the top one!

 

Mura

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7 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Somehow I cannot see those of you who only cruise in a upper level suites on Oceania ships ever sailing on a Hurtigruten vessel in a cabin with bunk beds.

LOL. Neither can I. And as I said, someone here said, quite meanly,about it looking like a jail cell.  Our shower didn't have a "curb" or whatever so when we shower water would sometime flow across the floor. We laughed every day. And loved it all so much that we would have been returning about now to do the one way along with more of Norway and Paris. Oh and SEA pre and post. We had great timing, didn't we?

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57 minutes ago, clo said:

Their oldest ship, the MS Lofoten, was built in 1964 and generally carries about 100 pax. This is her last season doing the coastal trip and they have said what her future is. But she has some kind of historic designation protection so the woods, original light fixtures,art and other things have to remain. I've wondered it they'll do day trips from Bergen. There were only two other people fro the US with Germans and British making up most. Here's her link"

https://www.hurtigruten.com/our-ships/ms-lofoten/

 

As I said, I don't remember the name of the ship.  It might well have been the Lofoten.  Not being on the internet in those days (!) I didn't really keep a diary.  I remember a young German passenger letting me use his camera when we were in the Trollfjord.  It was night time and my camera, old even in 1975, couldn't do anything.  Or perhaps he just loaned me his flash ...  I would think that our "boat" carried more than 100 passengers but probably not more than 250.

 

Now that you mention it, as I recall most of the passengers on our cruise in 1975 were Brits and Germans.  There was a very obnoxious Italian group that boarded for 3 days mid-cruise.  (I should say that it was the guide who was obnoxious, not her group.  She felt that she could block people so that her people could get to the buffet first, and I made sure that she did not.  Having traveled on NY subways for about 5 years at that point, I knew how to do it ... NOT that I usually do so!)

 

Despite our small first class dining room, we had assigned seating for meals.  Our companions were two older German ladies (these days we are probably older than they were at the time) and they spoke wonderful English and were excellent companions.  In one of our ports -- perhaps Hammerfest, I'm not sure -- they wanted to climb the local "mountain" (not exactly the Rockies or Andies) but didn't do so because no fellow passengers were around and considering their age they were reluctant to do so alone.

 

Back then boiled potatoes were served with ALL meals ... on the one occasion that they had fried potatoes they included boiled potatoes as well.  That amused us.

 

Beer was horrendously expensive on board.  (Not unusual in Scandinavia even today.)  We never considered ordering real liquor ...

 

Still, a wonderful trip.  When we returned home we discovered that close friends had a last minute trip a few days before or after us, although they only did it for 3 days while we did it for 12.  In Trondheim, Ray, who was a great photographer raced to find a shop to develop his film.  He gave the shop the mailer so it could be returned to his home.  Unfortunately, he forgot to indicate his address on the form!  And their cab driver had lived in NYC for some years ...

 

I just saw Clo's addition ... On this cruises our shower did have a curb, but when we did a Galapagos trip in 1989 we had a last minute vessel change.  Our first boat was a 3 room sail boat that capsized shortly before we were to leave.  So we transferred to another boat that carried 12 passengers.  We were only nine, but because of the four of us who'd been booked on the capsized sail boat, we had the bathroom that flooded whenever someone took a shower.  And if you want to question our being in a bunk bed room on the Bergen Lines ship, don't ask me about our cabin on this motor cruiser!

 

Even so, we loved it.  Again, we were still relatively young ...

 

 

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For those of you who don't like to rough it, have a look at Hurtigruten's two new hybrid ships: Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen.

 

Also, further to discussion about non-American cruise lines, Saga Cruises is a British line with a new ship and one more due in August (COVID-19 permitting).  In layout, the ships remind me of Viking ships.  Passengers must be 50+ but at the moment it definitely caters to the much older demographic of cruiser.  I haven't cruised with them yet but current marketing is aimed at the 'younger' cruiser.

 

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