My Norway Hurtigruden 12 Day Adventure

Thanks for posting. I'm interested in more details about the Hurtigruden cruise - what the ship experience was like, what stops it made, excursions you went on. So I hope you plan to post more.

This is something I am interested in also, so I look forward to reading a report of the cruise! Have a great time!

Hi -

My wife and I did a short Hurtigruten trip a couple of years back. We sailed from Bergen north to Tromso (not the full trip to Kirkenes, and in some cases, back) and flew home to the UK from Tromso (via Oslo if memory serves). We also flew into Oslo, overnighted and then caught the train up to Bergen, which I recommend.

The great beauty of the Hurtigruten line is that a boat sails from Bergen and/or Kirkenes every day in the summer months, so you aren’t especially tied to a particular date. None of the ships are as big as your average cruise ship and sleep on average around 500 people, vastly reduced from what I believe is the case on most cruise liners.

The ships are the original ‘post boats’ so call at multiple stops on every sailing, sometimes for just a few minutes and sometimes at dead of night (a list is issued before you sail of where, when and how long each sailing stops). However there are longer stops which allowed us to explore Bode, Trondheim and the capital of the Lofoten Islands. We took one excursion leaving our ship, the Nordkapp, to travel the Trollstigen pass by bus, meeting up with Nordkapp in the evening when she sailed into Molde. Life on board is casual and relaxed, so no need to carry a tuxedo or gown in your bags (which was a relief for me). In the restaurant in the evening we did change into smart casual as opposed to the jeans, t-shirt, fleece, jacket and walking shoes etc., we wore in the day. However you could book on a B&B basis I believe and eat in the restaurant or the smaller bistro/cafe as the mood took you - it would be sensible to check how or if this varies ship to ship.

We only booked a short voyage because, frankly, I am possibly the world’s worst sailor and the idea of twelve days feeling grim with no escape did not appeal. However we were lucky with the weather and the seas were calm and I was right as rain the whole trip. The only thing that made me feel queasy was watching the England football (sorry, soccer) team fail dismally at the European Championships on the bar TV! I would do it again and maybe for longer - the trip, not watch England on the TV! - in a heartbeat and recommend it!

Ian

Our Hurtigruten cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes was a wonderful experience. We were two of very few Americans on the cruise, mostly Northern Europeans.. The food was outstanding. Most cabins are small but there are higher level options too. This is not a cruise ship rather a way for Norwegians and goods to travel between the towns and villages along the coast bu tit is very nice. At every stop, people got off and on and pallets of goods were off loaded. Highly recommend this way of travel for Norway. Our favourite stop was Tromso where we walked the whole town and visited a museum and took a bus over and back to the stunning Arctic Chapel.

I love reading all this, Suki and ianandjulie. I have read a lot on the Hurtigruen website about how it works - I think I would like to go most of the distance and then fly back. I definitely also want to see some of the Lofoten Islands!

Hope to see Norway someday so thank you for this! Please post any/all trip reports you care to write.

Thank you all for posting and I learned something new with your adventures. Since I am new to doing a Trip Report, I will do a new trip report for Day 2 and that way I will condense the ports we stopped at and the excursions I selected. Watch for Day 2. Urke here I come.

Sounds wonderful. May have to go on my bucket list.