Norwaylady

🤣🤣🤣🤣 no, a blue card balcony 😉

Yep, I’m back at the train 🚂 station. A rather wet and cloudy day…. In Oslo The girls are ready to rock Infinity⚓️ Roll out the red carpet and stand by🤩 The new roof is not finished…. It’s 95% finished. Unfortunately we received some parts in black and our roof is terracotta😑🙄 We are waiting for new parts in the correct colour🤭 We could finished 2 weeks ago if it hadn’t happened🥵 Well…. It happens🫣🤥🤔🫢🫡🫥 On the positive side, it looks very good already👌🏻 Time before departure has run off in express mode. I packed my suitcase this morning😅👌🏻🤪 But here we are… at the airport and SAS Lounge

We have sailed in Alaska👌🏻 Really enjoyed it. it’s a great place to visit😎 We really want to go back and see more. As you say, you only see a minimum part of Alaska on a cruise. It feels like home, but you have all the threes🌲🌲🌲🌲😂 Im having a big debate inside myself of a new Alaska adventure…. As a b2b type ish. northbound-land holiday from Seaward/HAL stop… touring around in Denali, Anchorage etc… southbound back to Vancouver😇 (but not the cruise+land deal from the cruise line)

Looking forward to follow😁 The itinerary is a good itinerary in my perspective. (specially if I needed to fly all the way from Oslo;) Will be fun to see what you think about the ship and service onboard. (we have seen some itineraries that are tempting for us.....) Happy packing🥰

The sail in/out of Stockholm is beautiful🤩 Its narrow parts, twist and turns. For those not early risers.... This is sail in to Stockholm from my aft cabin on Voyager of the seas in May 3. 2022. IMG_1597.mov And the departure from Stockholm 4.may 2022 IMG_1632.mov AND then again sail in on 17.may 2022 Voyager IMG_1730.mov Here you can see how narrow some areas are... IMG_1725.mov

Welcome to Oslo, Norway🇳🇴 Im waiving from a gray home office For you port of call in Skagen, Denmark The sign Maskinrummet is a museum. It's Denmarks largest collection of engine. https://www.maskinrummet-skagen.dk Fun for children and engine geeks... Just like Mr Norwaylady😆 The Swedish flag is the Swedish seaman church. We have also the Norwegian Seaman church . The main mission was to establish safe havens for Norwegian seamen around the world. Priests visited harbours and ships, and within few years the organisation established several church-buildings in different countries. Today we continue to meet Norwegians abroad, but our focus has shifted from concentrating mainly on sailors, to all Norwegians living, studying and working around the world. We also have churches in popular tourist destinations and in cities where many Norwegians stay

Happy 50 anniversary! Looks like you will have a great tour before the sailing🤩 Sea you onboard😎

@villauk you are welcome any time in Norway😁 Lets just say that it might be some more Norwegian "sales gig" next year..... Can't wait to walk the gangway om Milli in December in SIN😇

Please, please, please dear X cruising........ Give us some out-of-the-box sailings😇 The countdown is on.......🤩

All ships in the Hurtigruten fleet, exception for the ships made for expeditions tours ( Greenland, Galapagos etc), are built to specifics for the coastal service. And since they sail in the coastal service year round, they need to certified to specific regulations for very heavy weather and waves in the winter season. The ships they are using for the signature sailings is a ship that can be used to coastal service traffic. (I sailed my roundtrip Bergen on that vessel, she is one of the bigger ships in the fleet) Since Havilla is sailing some of the departures, Hurtigruten gets "ships" available to do those special signature sailings.

Its the local ferry😆 So the rooms are not big, but they are functional and designed to make them work well. But you spend most of your time in the viewing lounge front facing forward, out on the deck, in the Jacuzzi outdoor or you are eating some delicious Norwegian food enjoying the view from your table 🤣❤️ So it works out okey👍

My ultimate pick for those wondering...... This is an absolutely stunning itinerary and you will have plenty of pictures to WOW your friends and family.... Svalbardlinjen....

So to make it clear. The Hurtigruten coastal service is a ferry, local transportation, mail boat and a cruise. So the itinerary you see and have posted parts from are correct. They need to be on time..... When the ship has the short calls of ports, it's not possible to do big sightseeing. You are allowed to walk down the gangway and walk back onboard. Unless they are delayed. They stop to drop off passengers, take on new ones and to deliver mail and goods on transport. It can be during daytime or night. Some excursions are fitted to this sailing plan, so they drop you off in one port and pick you up in next port of call a few hours later. It's very safe and the ships excursions from Hurtigruten will be timed to departure. If you pick a signature sailing, the ship is just sailing as a cruise. All guests are boarding at the same port and no new guests are boarding during the cruise. You will have longer stops adjusted to tourist and sightings time AND they call at some ports they dont call on the coastal route sailing. That's why I personally would recommend a signature sailing. The classic 34 port of call on the Hurtigruten coastal service A signature sailing on Nordkapplinjen On the signature sailings, the timing of the ports of call are during daytime and it's some really good stops to explore history and great outdoor experiences. For Ålesund During summer season the coastal service arrive in Ålesund in the morning and leave passengers off if they are checking out of the ship or if they want to visit Ålesunf during the daytime. Then Hurtigruten continues onward on a scenic sailing into Geiranger. Its a scenic cruising day. They will not dock in Geiranger, so they have a tender service for those passengers leaving Hurtigruten in Geiranger or passengers checking in on the ship. Then it sails back to Ålesund to pick up passengers that stayed in town for the day and new passengers checking in to the ship. Hope this clarify how things are working her...... It's a different form of travel compared to a regular cruise. Absolutely lovely, but it's different. As for myself, for a full roundtrip, I would picked the signature sailings. They have perfect timing on ports of calls and you get amazing stops that the coastal service dont call. The options for excursions and fun is even better and have a wide selection of nature, culture and history.

If you want to know my personal opinion for a really good Hurttigruten itinerary… Go for the ones called signature sailings. https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-gb/voyages?categories=The+North+Cape+Express%2CThe+Svalbard+Express

This Apex sailing covers a touch of everything🇳🇴 it’s the 14/n 7.August 2025. Royal usually do a similar sailing during the summer months.

your not visiting Oslo😜 but that Viking cruise is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Yes, in many ways a decent comparison. I sail Hurtigruten on a regular basis for distance a to b…( for us it’s the ferry ride to family) And we have sailed a full round trip. But there are some things that are different on Hurtigruten and a classic cruise line. On Hurtigruten you have more stops, it covers 34 stops. For me, it’s the local ferry and mail boat. For tourists it’s a cruise. The ships are smaller than a X or Royal cruise, think AZ in size. Food is really good and local food on Hurtigruten. Entertainment is very different from a cruise line. No show, or big events. So there are pros and cons of what YOUR preferences are about. Its very important to think about what you want and in what pace of travel and activity you are looking for😇 I’m very open for a new Hurtigruten adventure/HX expedition or some of their special Norwegian sailings. On the other hand I’m very ready to do a “full Norwegian cruise” on a bells and whistle cruise😂😂🥰🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴⚓️

She has shorter sailings as you say. So they will only cover western coast of Norway 🇳🇴 You will still get a fjord and the Norwegian 🇳🇴 coastal areas. But you will not cross the artic circle ⭕️ and you will not have all the scenery changes when you sail further north. So it’s a decision of what you want to see and visit🥰

If you want a full Norway sailing, I recommend a round trip Hurtigruten sailing. Or some of the longer X sailings. Apex has 12/14n sailings in August 2025. They cover great distances and ports of call. It’s scenic cruising along Helgeland coastline and you stop in great ports of call AND get fjords🥰🇳🇴

Seems like you had a great start of your b2b adventure! Looking forward to waive you in to Oslo❤️

Our Air BnB has washcloths 🙃

It was not a governmental decision from only the Norwegian government. Norway is not a eu-member, but we are a Schengen member and Eøs.... So due to this, we are obliged to put everything as an open contest to be able to deliver offers for services from all eu/eøs countries. So ESA decidet that the monopoly of Hurtigruten was a big problem of the tender freedom for this service. That's why they had to spilt the Hurtigruten/coastal service into 2 vendors. Im personally very against this "harassment" from ESA since we are not a eu member. And when EU says jump, we must jump asap.... And have nothing to say about. We used our NO card once and it backfired heavily, so the Norwegian government is not keen on using the opportunity to say NO...... We used it for the postal service. And we have had a really tuff time after that no, if we have raised a concern or wish to say no to something. This happened before Hurtigruten was sold to English "hands". My big concern and something that has been discussed heavily in Norway is the ownership of Havila. They have lots of Russian cooperated things in this company. So when they received their new ships after a heavy delay.... they could not get insurance due to the problems in Russia. So it has a very bitter sweet taste in my mouth..... After lots of back and forth, fixing the company structure, they were able to get insurance as needed to be able to sail in Norwegian waters.... But still...... I personally are very happy for Hurtigruten, it's the "classic" and they deliver a very good product in destinasjon and expedition sailing. We use them as the local ferry several times;)

Norway 🇳🇴 has something for everyone😎 You never know😂😂😂

During summer months Hurtigruten visits Geiranger❤️ IMG_9029.mov just a ordinary day out fishing in Geiranger👌🏻😎

Havila is similar as Hurtigruten. It’s a competitor. Same sailing and ports of call on the classic coastal sailing. Ships in the Havila fleet is brand new. Hurtigruten has older ships. I haven’t sailed on Havila, just seen her in port. Ships look great and the amenities onboard are very nice 👍🏻 So I personally is very tempted to test them💙