For first and only trip to Norway, in your opinion, which are the ports not to be missed? Bergen? Trondheim? Tromso? Kirkenes?
Considering southbound vs northbound. 6 day rather than 12. Any advice will help this complicated planning to settle down. Thx
The problem with the Coastal Express is that what it passes northbound by day it passes southbound by night, and vv so to get the best out of it you really need to be on for the round trip/and or be using it as a ferry, hopping on and off because port times are far too short. They are for passenger turn rounds and freight only, not sightseeing.
Some of the excursions take you port to port to try to make up for the lack of time, at a price.
For instance you really should visit Tromso, but you have 4 hours there northbound in the afternoon, and 2 hours southbound at midnight. 4 hours is tragically short to do justice to Tromso. A full day on a normal cruise is pushing it.
Trondheim, Norway's original capital is a bare minimum 2 days to me, but you have 3 hours in each direction.
For the North Cape from Honningsvag that only works northbound- a 4 hour call which is just time for the bus to the North Cape, a fairly short time there, and the bus back. No time for anything else- a cruise call again works way better.
To see the Lofoten Islands the timings south are definitely better.
For me Kristiansund is a port not to be missed for the Atlantic road, the Marble Mines and more, but it is a late afternoon 1 hour call south, 15 minutes at 3am north. Again a full day cruise call works way better.
Some of the better ports to me are ones the Coastal Express doesn't even serve- Andalsnes, Alta and Narvik, South of Bergen the ports of Stavanger, Kristiansand and Haugesund are good ports not on the route.
On balance the northbound voyage is probably best if that is all the time you will ever have.
You will see lots of great Norwegian scenery, but nothing much of the ports. By the end of it you will certainly be planning a return trip at a more leisurely place. Any which way you will have a great time.
Very helpful in helping with deciding how to see Norway's coast.
Another question: We are unable to find a Hurtigruten Coastal Express package that includes meals. And I cannot find a menu with prices for the length of a 6 day voyage. Any advice?
All half (6 day) and full (12 day) voyages are full board, exactly the same as a normal cruise.
If you book port to port then meals are not included, and the price soon racks up.
A meal package (3 meals a day) in the restaurant is about £90 per day, but there is also a coffee shop for lighter snacks on most ships. I can't immediately find the individual prices but it's in the region of £20, £30 and £40 breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But that is what Norwegian prices are like on land.
We did the southbound route from Kirkenes to Bergen in May 2023. We choose this direction for several reasons. We wanted to see the Lofoten Islands during daytime hours and we were hoping to enter the Trollfjord (unfortunately, weather conditions prevented that) and we were able to book a great Black Friday deal on our particular sailing.
As mentioned previously, some of the excursions begin in one port and return to another port to allow you more time for exploring. You can look on the Hurtigruten site to see the options. We only booked a couple ship excursions and toured some of the ports on our own.
Here's the link to the US website for the Hurtigruten Coastal Express. It shows pricing. If you do the full one way from Bergen to Kirkenes or Kirkenes to Bergen or the 12 day Bergen to Bergen you're meals will be included. Breakfast and lunch is a buffet with many choices. Dinner is a 3 course plated meal with a choice of 2-3 dishes per course. We found the food on board to be very good.
We combined the Coastal Express with 2 nights in Kirkenes prior to boarding and 2 nights in Bergen afterwards. We then did a DIY Norway in a Nutshell with an overnight in Flåm followed by 2 nights in Oslo. From there we flew to Ålesund for a 3 night stay so we could cruise the Geirangerfjord and see the Trollstigen.
Keep in mind that Hurtigruten is a working ferry. It is nothing like a mainstream cruise line like Princess or NCL. There are no casinos, no nightly shows. The scenery is your entertainment.
