Elka

35 minutes ago, SarniaLo said:

That offer is still regularly on, but it's not "if you don't see them", it's "if there isn't an official sighting", ie an annoucement from the bridge that there are Northern Lights in the sky. Even if it's just a faint cloud-like formation at 4 in the morning and you personnaly don't see them, they have been officially sighted and the free cruise is off the table. I think Hurtigruten is taking very little risk with this offer (and I would really like to know how many people actually were able to take advantage of it?).

Last year on my trip, the Lecturer mentioned that the lights hadn’t been seen 3 times. I thought that was interesting.

1 hour ago, islacruzer said:

 

Just wanted to update everyone, got off the Dream this morning, there is in fact a Tiffany jewelry store on the ship.

Yeah, I heard that the Dream got the store. It was in June this year, so when I answered the information was correct!

7 minutes ago, jiminyC_fan said:

Ok,.   I am from the suburbs of Denver but when someone asks I just say Denver.  It's easier.

I know! When I travel I say I am from New York, just outside of New York City. When I take Uber from where I live, they take a route that bypasses the roads that pass La Guardia airport. Just an FYI. Hope you enjoy NYC when you come!

1 minute ago, jiminyC_fan said:

You are thinking the same as me and MJ is from New York.

I believe that MJ is from Long Island, as I am from. New Yorkers are not just from NYC, I am from the Metro area but was born in Manhattan.

Uber and Lyft are possibilities to get around. Cabs at airports have a set rate to go from any airport to Manhattan. I am not sure what the fares are. Personally, I wouldn’t go through La Guardia, they are renovating the airport and traffic is horrible. 

7 hours ago, ed01106 said:

 

Why?????   PR is part of the USA, flying from San Juan to Denver is a domestic flight, no different than flying from San Antonio to Denver.  

Puerto Rico may be part of the US, but the cruise will be going to the Caribbean and Castaway Cay. Both places are not part of the US. You will go through customs in PR after you dock, and then when you fly to Denver it will be a domestic flight.

4 hours ago, Saffy2yrs said:

I am thinking of doing the Astronomy Cruise around Norway October 29 2019, and wondered what time embarkation was.  I would be flying from LAX, and wanted to know what time I should try to get to Bergen.  Is this like most cruises where it is better if you get there the day before?  What time is Disembarkation also for flight times?

I did the Astronomy Cruise in October 2018. Embarkation starts at about 4 PM and sails at 8 PM. I would get in the day before, what happens if your plane is cancelled, or you didn’t make one of your connections. On my trip I went to Denmark and Finland before Norway. I went out of JFK, my original KLM flight, was cancelled, I was protected and I was put on a Delta flight a couple of hours after my original flight. I saw many people in JFK who didn’t have a flight after the cancellation. In Amsterdam, I had 55 minutes to get from the International gates which I think was E gates and had to get to B gates, to get to Denmark. 

Debarkation is at 2 PM, I wasn’t able to make a flight to go home until the next day. 

10 minutes ago, gometros said:

 

Yes, you did. And I was just clarifying that it was not only the Fantasy, but the Magic as well. PLus providing more detailed information via the link to the Disney article.

The Fantasy is the only ship with Star Wars Day at Sea, the OP was asking about Star Wars. What are you arguing about? The Magic has Marvel Day at Sea, again no other ship has that experience.

52 minutes ago, gometros said:

 

Both the Disney magic and Disney fantasy have Star Wars themed cruises for 2020:

 

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2019/01/star-wars-day-at-sea-and-marvel-day-at-sea-return-in-2020-to-disney-cruise-line/

As I said and the article says the same, the Fantasy offers the Star Wars Day at Sea. I have been on both when these day occurred.

The Fantasy has sailings that are called Star Wars day at sea. They have one day that Star Wars characters have meet and greets, also lectures and the movies. 

I said that the Martha’s Vineyard Ferries felt similar to Hurtigruten. Having been on both, that is my opinion. I have acknowledged that both are built for their own needs. I also compared how heavy the Viking Sky and Hurtigruten’s ships are and found that the Viking ship is heavier, and seeing that Hurtigruten chose to stay put was I thought a wise choice. 

13 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Very interesting discussion Elka - but I strongly believe you're wrong and GeezerCouple right.

You cannot compare the ' Steam Ship Authority ' and 'Hurtigruten' vessels - correct that they both are considered ferries, but the Martha’s Vineyard Ferries are constructed as a ferry where cars are loaded at the front/end of the ship while the Hurtigruten vessels are constructed to sail in rough seas along the Norwegian West coast including Hustadvika.

The major differences are that cars/goods at Hurtigruten vessels are loaded into the side of the ships and all Hurtigruten vessels are equipped with stabilisers (except MS Vesterålen and MS Lofoten).

Look at the picture below where I have marked the ports for loading cars - the overall construction of the two type of ships are very, very different.

Hallasm, yes, both ships are constructed for their needs. By the way, in those 45 years that I have taken the Ferry to the Vineyard, I have driven onto the Ferry quite a number of times. There was a feeling to the Hurtigruten ship that was similar to the Ferry and I have been in rough seas on both. The Vineyard Ferry crosses in 45 minutes, goes round trip in 2 hours. They have mail trucks, food trucks and deliver a lot of stuff that is needed. 

I tried to look at the weight of the Martha’s Vineyard Ferries but couldn’t find it. I looked at the weight of the Viking Sky and the Hurtigruten ships. I found that the Viking ship was heavier than the Hurtigruten ships, at least by 20,000 tons. (not sure how to put it in metric) I think that was partly why the Captain of the Viking ship tried to sail in the storm, forgetting that storms at sea are more dangerous or he felt that he could handle it. I also think that staying in a port with the fees that a ship incurs when tied up was something that Viking wanted to avoid. I wouldn’t be surprised if all those possibilities were part of the reason the ship sailed that day. Hurtigruten must have taken a hit financially also. Not only did they not sail that day but the freight and goods that the ships deliver to the ports were delayed. The passengers had to be accommodated, but they made the correct decision to remain where they were.

16 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

If you want to equate the Martha's Vineyard ferries to the Hurtigruten ferries, especially such as Trollfjord, you go right ahead.

 

(As an aside, there are "regular Cruise line ships" that have a fraction of the number of passengers as the Trollfjord, and are also, accordingly, much smaller ships.)

 

But what you think is equivalent is indeed what you think is equivalent.

 

GC

Look at pictures of the Martha’s Vineyard Ferries that the Steam Ship Authority has and look at Hurtigruten’s ships. The keel lies in the water on both ships about the same. Shapes are similar. Hurtigruten is considered a Ferry, so are the ships to Martha’s Vineyard. Personally, I consider Hurtigruten a hybrid of Ferry services and cruise ship. I think I am a couple of years younger than you, and I have been on the Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard for over 45 years of my life. I think I can tell when something is similar. By the way, you can buy alcohol on the Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. 

1 minute ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

The regular car ferries in the USA, such as the Vineyard ferries, are NOTHING like the Hurtigruten ferries. 

 

Hurtigruten ferries have cabins and suites for hundreds of passengers; sit-down restaurants, with buffet service for breakfast and lunch, and multicourse served meals for dinner.  Wine is offered by the bottle or glass, etc.  There is daily housekeeping for the cabins and suites, as many people stay on board for many days.  The familiar Coastal Round Trip is 12 days.

There are other differences, too.

 

GC

I was on the MS Trollfjord in October 2018. I even gave a review of my trip. Don’t tell me the differences between the two, I am perfectly aware of them. When the Viking Sky ran into trouble and I became aware of it, I looked online to see what the difference in weight of the ships were. Did you? I noticed that the tonnage of the Viking ship was heavier than the Hurtigruten ships by at least 20,000. I also looked to see where the Hurtigruten ships were during the time when the Viking ship was out to sea. I know that the officers of the Hurtigruten ships are more knowledgeable of the area than the Viking officers. 

To me, the Hurtigruten ships do carry freight and cars, so I make a comparison to the Martha’s Vineyard Ferry. Yes, the itineraries and services are different, but the Hurtigruten ship felt to me like the Ferry going back and forth to Martha’s Vineyard. Both are light ships in comparison to a regular Cruise line ship.

I think that Viking thought that the weight of the ship and the stabilizers that the ship had was what decided them. The ships that Hurtigruten has aren’t as heavy and are more Ferry like. I am familiar with car carrying Ferries, I go to Martha’s Vineyard every year and have traveled on those ferries. You can look up the weights of the ships.

Was on the Trollfjord in October, hit choppy seas on 2nd night. Dinner service was suspended, had been served first course and drinks on table. They announced that dinner was going to be later for second seating. We stayed where we were and had no problems.

13 minutes ago, Pushka said:

 

Im guessing winching people into helicopters is viewed as less dangerous but in reality it’s incredibly risky. Add in storm and darkness now. An awful decision to have to make. Everyone will need some time to recover from this. 

The Norwegian rescue helicopters are impressive. In October I was on the Hurtigruten Trollfjord. A ship that is more like a Ferry and weighs less then the Viking ship. It was rainy and the sea was rough, it got rougher later. There was a medical emergency and the helicopter landed on the ship and took off about a minute later. 

2 minutes ago, just_dont said:

They departed from Tromsø

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

Yes, I know. I was in Tromsø in October 2018. Alesund is near to Bergen and Tromsø is north and past the Arctic Circle. Since they departed from Tromsø and now they are going to Molde, I just gave the direction the ship is now heading.

10 minutes ago, onthelake said:

Does anyone know how far it is to Molde and when they could possibly arrive?

Molde is near Alesund, so they are going south of Tromsø. 

21 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

Thanks again, lots of great tips!

I have been looking at a package thru 50 degrees North that includes land bookings and transfers. Thinking maybe I should try booking myself but worried I would put us in the wrong areas and worried about language barriers.

I travel solo, in Norway I never had any problems with being in the wrong place. I research the area that I am traveling to, the internet has a lot of info on anywhere you want to go. With transfers make sure that you double check them. In my month long trip only one transfer didn’t happen and left me at Helsinki airport in Finland, looking for the airport Hotel after 9 pm. The signs didn’t help. This happened in October and I eventually got to the hotel. If you don’t know something when you are traveling in an area, ask questions. No one will leave you stranded. 

17 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Were you still able to get a sense for how narrow it was, how tall the side cliffs at the start?

 

Thanks.

 

We also only "peeked in" in March.  It looked like it would be *impossible* to get in 

 

GC

When we went in it was dark, cloudy and raining. Couldn’t really see how narrow it was, got some glimpses, but it seemed like the Captain was determined to sail through. We had already gone through a medical emergency and a helicopter picked a passenger up in windy raining seas. We felt when the helicopter landed on the ship.

My sailing on the Trollfjord did go into the Trollfjord in October. Only it was really dark when we went in. 

I have done 7 DCL cruises, with #8 in 10 days. All solo. I have not done a Merry Time Cruise, but I did Halloween. Disney charges as if you were traveling with another person for the cabin, but gratuities and upcharge meals is per person. You can link your reservation with your friend and you will have the dinner meal with them, same table and rotation. The cabin I usually get are Navigator verandas. Less money than regular verandas. There are kids around but you can go to the adult areas to get away from them, since you will be on the Magic or Wonder, you can go to Cove Cafe and read without being bothered. Disney crew members are very attentive and will make sure you are comfortable without being intrusive. Enjoy!

7 hours ago, creamsoda63 said:

We are looking at doing the Norwegian cruise thru either Collette or Vantage Travel, both utilize the Hurtigruten ships.  My question is about food.....I am a rather picky eater and will not eat fish at all in any form.  Do these ships serve proteins other than fish?  

Was on Hurtigruten in October. I am a very picky eater will not eat seafood. I looked at the dinner menu and when I didn’t want it they accommodated me. The meat was really good and they made me feel ok. There was lamb, chicken and elk, reindeer. 

I was on the Trollfjord in October. We had a few hours of rough seas on the second night and the last night. I did the round trip. My parents told me of their experience with the Drake, it wasn’t like that as far as I can tell!