Hurtigruten change in port-to-port (Bergen to Alesund + Geirangerfjord). Need help!

Hi, Mardee. As I read this, it says the ship itself will stayed tied to the dock in Alesund. They will have an excursion instead that will involve a smaller vessel, but those signed on for the entire voyage will have priority. You won’t know if you can go on it until you embark.

There are ferries you can take down Geirangerfjord, so there are alternatives. I would feel uncomfortable not knowing if I was going to make that excursion or not until the last minute.

As I understand it, you can still travel from Bergen to Alesund by ship. The ship will arrive in Alesund at 09:45 and remain there until 20:00. But the ship will not enter Geirangerfjord. If you want to visit Geirangerfjord, you can do so via a smaller boat and bus excursion, which will return to Alesund. When you return to Alesund, you should be able to board to gather your luggage. (The Hurtigruten ships have a luggage storage facility for those who are disembarking.)

However, the statement about the excursion being included only for guests on the full voyage might mean that you won't be able to get a place on that excursion.

If I were you, I'd look into alternate excursions from Alesund into the Geirangerfjord. I'm sure there are many such options available other than what Hurtigruten offers.

But I would also suggest emailing or calling them to verify that you might not be able to get a space on the Geirangerfjord excursion.

Mardee, after all that planning!

As Lane says, you are not guaranteed to join the Hurtigruten excursion since you are Port to Port. And from my experience, very few passengers will not want to take the Geirangerfjord cruise excursion.

Since you are spending a few days in Ålesund,
I would go ahead and book the round trip Geirangerfjord day tour with
Fjordservice Geiranger for your free day .

Thank you so much, Carol, Lane, and Jean! That makes SO much sense when it is broken down. I kept going over and over it in my head, and it just was not sinking in for some reason.

I think that I will go ahead and book the separate excursion that's not connected with Hurtigruten. I can definitely see why those who booked the whole route would want this excursion. And I would really hate to wait until the last minute to find out that I'm not going to get it and then have alternates be sold out.

Thank you all so much for your advice!!! This was so helpful!

We found Geirangerfjord, which is heavily marketed, underwhelming compared to Hjorundfjord, which in my opinion is a hidden gem of a fjord. There are day trips from Alesund to Hjorundfjord, which is described as the most beautiful fjord in Norway when you do a Google search.

Whomever you book with, I would check to make they have a boat that meets the zero-emissions ban that went into effect last month (and that they aren't just crossing their fingers they will have one by the date you sail).

Did you read the info I posted on Bostonphil's Norway post?

I actually wonder whether the reason the Vesteralen (alone among the Hurtigruten fleet) isn't going into the Geiranger Fjord all season is that she doesn't meet emissions standards. It is remarkable that I remember her, when she was almost new, and that is over 40 years ago. Perhaps the others in the mid-gen fleet have been equipped with new engines and she is next in line. That sub fleet may be just under the size limit for this years ban. In fact on checking she is the only one left of that era, so the oldest ship in the main line Hurtigruten fleet.

Whereas the catamarans are way more modern, and hybrid fuels so probably do meet the requisite standards.

Well, we’re now rethinking the whole thing. It just never occurred to me because I don’t think about it that much but my daughter does get motion sickness and she wasn’t really thrilled about the idea of being on a ship for that long but didn’t want to say anything to me. So she’s thinking about this and we may come up with some other ideas.

And yes, I know there are things you can take for motion sickness and she’s well aware of them. I’m assuming she knows all about them, since she’s a PA and is now in medical school. But I think it still makes her a little uncomfortable.

Andy, I have heard that that and I was actually looking at some trips there, which would be a little bit shorter, and maybe something she could handle.

mnannie, I have not. I’ve been sort of off the forum for about a week because of some minor surgery I had and I’m just now getting back on over the last few days, so I missed a lot. I will check it out though.

Stuart, that very well could be the reason. It looks like it’s just a little over 6 weeks that they’re not going there and then they start back in early August sometime. So I’m not sure what the reason is. They didn’t explain in their email.

Actually I just checked, and here is the exact language that used on their website and in the email:

MS Vesterålen will not sail into Geirangerfjord from 10 June to 26 August 2026. Instead, the ship will remain moored in Ålesund from 09:45 to 20:00.

MS Vesterålen will not sail into Geirangerfjord from 10 June to 26 August 2026. Instead, the ship will remain moored in Ålesund from 09:45 to 20:00.

This date range probably has to do with the fact that the number of ships in Geirangerfjord is limited in the summer.

Mardee, how much changing do you want to do? Can you keep the car and drop it off in Ålesund before flying to Bergen?

There are several routes you can take from Voss to Ålesund.

Sounds strange but the MS Vesteralen is too small (6,261 gross tonnage aka BRZ, no weight) to still have permission for entering the Geirangerfjord. See regulation. Other Hurtigruten ships have over 10k gross tonnage and are still approaching Geiranger.

So either book a different ship with over 10k (see ship profiles) or stay on MS Vesteralen and arrange it as a day trip.

It's fascinating to think of the Vesteralen as too small (the baby of the fleet), when she and the others of her generation were introduced she was huge compared to the older traditional vessels of the Coastal service. It was her generation which began the transition of the route from a freight and mail service that happened to take passengers to a far more cruise like passenger service which also takes a bit of freight- a huge difference in all respects. The decline in freight carrying is of course mainly due to a massive road building programme in Norway.

As recently as 2004 I sailed on the Hurtigruten out of Bergen when there was no passenger terminal and no ISPS style security- you just walked off the street onto a (different to now) quay in the city straight on to the ship up a proper gangway and checked in on ship. Then maybe two years later it was from the slick new terminal building- a transformed experience.

Then you sailed 2 hours later from Bergen, and only had only 3 hours in Alesund northbound because of the amount of freight traffic at the intermediate ports between Alesund and Trondheim- so there was no time in the schedule for diversions to inland fjords. With more time in the schedule, and trying to give a more cruise like experience led to the fjord add on. Of course the cargo handling was also slower (no forklifts drive on, drive off)- all shipboard derricks.

The catamaran excursions from Alesund to Geiranger give you 3 hours ashore in the village, rather than the Hurtigruten/Havila where it is just a technical stop to set down shore excursion passengers.

Quite a few years later (not long before Covid) I did a winter cruise (on a small conventional cruise ship) which included Geiranger about this time of year. It was fascinating seeing the waterfalls literally frozen- no flow, giant icicles in essence- the whole experience was very different to summer.

You could then (and still can) also get to Geiranger one way on the public bus from Alesund to Hellesyt, then the car ferry to Geiranger, returning by catamaran (or vice versa).
That car ferry from Hellesylt is another way to drive up from Voss- up through Vik and the Vangsnes cross fjord car ferry (maybe adding Balestrand), then via Stryn, and any of various road routes from Geiranger to Alesund.

mnannie, that could be. I have no idea. I did check out that post and thought that was interesting. That's a shame she won't be able to go to Bergen, but I'm sure Maløy will be nice.

Mardee, how much changing do you want to do? Can you keep the car and drop it off in Ålesund before flying to Bergen?

We could. It's not set in stone, and I'm sure I could change it. In fact, I brought that up with her yesterday. She's down in the cities right now, shadowing a surgeon, but she and I have plans to talk on Saturday to figure this out. So this glitch could turn out to be a good thing for us.

Stuart, that's interesting about the MS Vesteralen. I did know it was a smaller ship, which I was fine with.

So either book a different ship with over 10k (see ship profiles) or stay on MS Vesteralen and arrange it as a day trip.

Mark, the problem is that we're making educated guesses about it, and Hurtigruten has not specifically stated why there is a six-week period where they're not allowed to enter Geiranger. Also, there's no other ships available on their line, so it may just be an question now of not taking one at all.

Honestly, I think this could be for the best. When I mentioned taking a day cruise to Geiranger on a smaller ship, my daughter really wasn't thrilled with that idea. I think we're going to scrap that and just figure out what to do. There are shorter cruises and also a kayak trip, but that would involve us having to find a way to get to Geiranger from Ålesund. I do know that we can drive down. It looks like it's about a two-hour+ drive, with one ferry crossing that can supposedly be very crowded with long waits. It doesn't really look that appealing.

So at this point, we have. If we decide to cancel the overnight cruise, we could either spend more time on the road from Voss and spend the night at some random place before we get to Ålesund. Or we could spend an extra night in Ålesund, which I don't think is really needed. But at this point I'm guessing. I'm going to let her decide, and we're going to talk on Saturday.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. This is really interesting about all the cruise ships. I don't know much about them, and the last cruise I took was when my daughter was one year old. My sister was working for NCL in the entertainment division back in the early 80's and she got free cabins for me, my daughter, my 2 other sisters, and my mom. 😊 I'm sure it's nothing like it is today.

Mardee, that NCL ship you were on in the 80's is nothing like the floating cities they are building today. My first cruise was NCL Starward in the 70's. It looks like a toy compared to today's mega ships. The thought of sailing on one of these ships with 3000 to 4000 or more passengers plus crew makes my skin crawl. But, many people love them.

Back to topic. If you're up for a road trip from Voss to Ålesund, you will be driving through some stunning scenery. I would consider taking 2 nights to get to Ålesund so you can have time for stops.

Change your Voss stay to 1 night, kayak the Naeroyfjord in the morning and then head to Balestrand for a night. There's a Stave Church in Vik on the way from Voss.

Then another night along the way, maybe in the Loen,-Stryn-Olden area. There will be loads of beautiful places to stop on your drive from Voss to Ålesund.

Just more to think about!