Hurtigruten Cruises

I have done 3 Hurtigruten cruises to Norway and Svalbard and would happily do more. Don’t expect cabaret and dinner in posh frocks (which suits me fine). Food is good to excellent. There are plenty of optional tours if you like. The ships are modern but they are serving as transport for people and goods (at least they serve that function in Norway). We plan to do South America next year. Although very relaxed and can be very good value.

I took two overnight (non-consecutive night) trips on Hurtigruten in 2022--from Bergen to Alesund, with the day-time detour into the Geirangerfjord, and then on night later from Alesund to Trondheim. A day in Alesund was a must for me, because I love Art Nouveau architecture. I spent several nights in Trondheim for local sightseeing and a long day-trip to Roros.

I opted to pack snacks to avoid the cost of on-board meals, but I have read positive comments from others about the food, which I believe is included when you take one of the full cruises. I was on point-to-point tickets. I had tiny, windowless interior cabins, but I didn't mind that. They were clean, with full shower-equipped bathrooms. Quarters would have been very tight for two people. I really appreciated was the large public area with nearly floor-to-ceiling windows. There was a great view of the scenery from there. I don't think anyone would spend a lot of non-sleeping hours in one his or her cabin.

I haven't taken any cruises, so I can't make comparisons. There have been a few reports on this forum that included info on shore excursions, I think. You may find them fairly readily by putting Hurtigruten in the Search box, then selecting Forum and last 2 years from the options.

Hurtigruten now has a competitor offering similar trips, Havila. I don't know whether it has similar arrangements for those wanting to sail point-to-point segments rather than the full length trip from Bergen to Kirkenes. Between the two of the, I hope there's at least one sailing a day. The last time I checked, Hurtigruten had departures just 5 days a week.

My report from March, if it helps.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/hurtigruten-bergen-to-kirkenes-in-march

Edit: This is my only “cruise” experience so I have no comparisons.

Hurtigruten now has a competitor offering similar trips, Havila. I don't know whether it has similar arrangements for those wanting to sail point-to-point segments rather than the full length trip from Bergen to Kirkenes. Between the two of the, I hope there's at least one sailing a day.

That is not accurate. The basic reason for the service is the freight and local passenger use, which is a contract from the Norwegian Government. That contract was split between Hurtigruten and Havila- with 7 and 4 ships respectively.

Thus either company runs the daily service in each direction, never both. Except at Christmas/New Year there should never be gaps in the daily service. At the festive period the ships do make some extended port stops and omit some of the smaller ports to recover time, due to lack of freight traffic.

Also Havila does offer point to point sailings, exactly like Hurtigruten, Again that is part of the contract, to provide local passenger traffic opportunities. Cruising is only a part of the business.

It is a very interesting combination of a freight ship, a cruise ship and a local ferry. One of the effects of that is that port calls happen at all sorts of times of the day and night and the vast majority of port calls are relatively brief.
If you are familiar with the Aranaui 5 out of Tahiti it is a pretty similar experience.

You are NOT going to get all the constant 'entertainment' and all sorts of activities you do on American style cruise ships. Much of the 'entertainment' is the scenery. The excursions are expensive, but bluntly compared to most normal cruise lines are far more sensibly priced and more focussed on relevant local experiences.

Thank you for the comments about your experiences. I wondered if the ships were not cruise line ships in the sense of river cruises or ocean cruises are many cruise lines offer. I appreciate your insight.

Heads up: There is Hurtigruten "Classic" and Hurtigruten Expeditions. Different concept, different regions, different experience of travel, different ships (only very few are switching).

Since the entry is in category Norway I guess OP means "Classic" which co-operates on the classic postal ship route with Havila and offers short cruises to and around Norway.

The postal ship route is not a cruise like people know it, e. g. not one full day in a port, sometimes only 15 minutes, never more than half a day (except start and end ports). And it is a great experience. Basically it is a ship operated bus route which drives the full year through - every day one ship per port.

In winter and neighboring months interruptions can happen such as actually with MV Kong Harald (see updates of sail plan):
"Due to adverse weather conditions, MS Kong Harald will cancel ports of calls between Hammerfest and Kirkenes northbound sailing, and Kirkenes to Havøysund southbound sailing from 11 December to 13 December 2024. The ship will resume her regular schedule from Hammerfest southbound on 13 December 2024 at 12:45."

A close friend of mine wanted to onboard MV Kong Harald tomorrow in Kirkenes. Today he received the message that he is re-routed tomorrow to safe port Alta which is normally not a port of the postal ship route. So, such a journey can sometimes turn into an adventure. Hope, he will have a good time and a great experience.

This has happened several times recently with part cancelled cruises and shows how Hurtigruten has changed.

Time was when they sailed in all weather conditions.

I have sailed in seriously horrendous weather, but on the old Hurtigruten vessels where every fitting was secured down full time, so there was nothing that could move. Conditions so bad that passengers were asked to confine themselves to their cabins with meal service delayed until in quieter seas.
And passengers on my ships complied.
On two such passages we escaped with no damage but crossed a southbound vessel (what we now call the mid gen ships) and they suffered internal damage due to furnishings moving around in the ship. And on one of them passenger injuries because passengers would not comply with being confined for their own safety.
The other difference being that we knew we were on a working vessel first and foremost, those on the newer vessels felt they were on more of a cruise. A fundamental difference.

The old vessels such as Nordstjernen were 30-40 meters shorter, had a different hull shape, no low-deck side loading hatches, and did not transport cars in comparison to the ships which operate the route nowadays. Cars are very difficult to secure absolutely safe. If they start moving in a storm the damage can be significant and also influence the stability of a ship.