Norwegian fjord cruise compromises

[ambystoma]

Hi all, my partner and I, 40s, want to do a non-Mediterranean Europe cruise in 2023 with a big focus on natural scenery.

Summer months (i work in education), 7-14night cruise ideally, and we like scenic docksides (as in, we don't want to look elsewhere as soon as we get on land).

A decently located balcony cabin is important to us so we look with that cost in mind.

 

I'm stuck on a few options and will describe pros and cons.

 

Norwegian Star august Iceland - Norway cruises.

Pros: lots of ports (9/11?), whirlwind of awesome ports (Faroe, Shetland), Greenland etc. 

Cons: NCL's advertising and biz model, 11 nights but is the most expensive option by far.

 

Island Princess arctic circle in July.

Pros: been on the new Sky and want to try the smaller version with more of a promenade. midnight sun.

Cons: wish it had Sky's ports (fjords and Iceland), too few ports (only 6 on a 14nt to arctic circle), and the Copenhagen-London route to Iceland doesn't sail into a fjord, ugh.

 

HAL Rotterdam arctic circle in July.

Pros: 8 ports on a 14nt. midnight sun. been on an old HAL Zaandam and want to try the brand new HAL. the shower lol.

Cons: 3 fjord sailings but no flam or geiranger, ugh. eidfjord and skjolden and andalsnes, then trondheim.

 

Nieuw Statendem doesn't go to the arctic circle but goes to geiranger, ugh.

 

Jewel OTS arctic cirlce July.

Pros: geiranger and flam.

Cons: kristiansand (not liking it that much based on pics) and no andalsnes. 12 nights and 7 ports. the ship's age.

 

Thank you for reading my deliberations. I'm glad I typed this out.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by ambystoma

[TheOldBear]

You may want to put two Norway native lines on your shopping list - featuring smaller ships than your original choices

• Viking Ocean
• Hurtigruten - both the costal 'express' and the more sedate 'expedition' sailings

 

Check their web sites, and discussions on this forum, the individual lines forums - and reviews here of similar sailings and ships.

 

Note - I have no direct experience with Norway - at least not until next month 😉

 

[ski ww]

Nieuw Statendam does go above the Arctic Circle. We are doing a cruise on her 12-26 July 2023 it is a 14 day cruise to Honningsvag, North Cape. There is a roll call started for that cruise. 

[VMax1700]

Bear in mind that tender ports can be very iffy.  We were scheduled to visit Shetlands in September this year but had to sail past it as the wind was to strong to permit safe tendering.  The previous cruise also was unable to stop at Shetlands.

 

 

[hallasm]

Most tender ports in Norway ate in sheltered fjords -  not so prone to bad weather.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I wouldn't discount Kristiansand.  Lovely harbour, little taxi-boats running round on a four or five stop round trip, a couple of nearby hills to climb, nice town.  

 

(Not to teach your grandmother, but be sure you don't confuse it with Kristiansund.  We once had a port lecturer who did, and gave us some very impractical choices!)