Aliyah17

Thanks for the ideas. We are actually looking to do this in early December. KKN-OSL is not that bad, the price isn't the problem. It's the long layovers. My husband travels international for business and doesn't like long flights and layovers on holiday. It's taking great effort to convince him to do Viet Nam next spring.

Northbound does look more appealing. For me, a lot of this is being able to get off the ship and see some villages or hike. It doesn't seem like there is time in any port to get out and hike.

The train from Oslo or Bergen also sounds great. Does it have any of those tracks that are clinging to mountainsides like in Switzerland? My fear of heights won't tolerate that.

Does anyone want to comment on cabin choices? Looking at a cheaper outside cabin? Or are there discussions of that elsewhere in the forums?

Thanks.

I did consider the one way, but leaving off in Kirkenes makes the return very difficult (19hrs, 3 flights) I would do it if can figure out a reasonable way to get a stop in Oslo for a couple of days.

Splinter and CLO--I would definitely enjoy watching the working aspects of the ship as well. And I'm looking into the train to or from Oslo now and booking open jaw one way TLV-Oslo. What is the "NB" you're doing next Spring?

Re. the wine. We're not big drinkers at all, but everyone was exclaiming how super expensive the wine was. I was just looking to bring a bottle on board to have a glass at night...while we're sitting around bored. HA, kidding.

Thanks everyone.

Actually, my point was that I don't like big cruise ships either and am not interested in "entertainment" all the time. I am a huge reader at home, but a film or lecture a couple of evenings would go a long way for me. But 10 or 11 nights of talking to strangers and reading is also not my idea of a good time. And I say strangers because I think on cruise ships, people seem to become besties and invest all this energy in getting to know each other, just to never see each other again. I'm just not that much of a fan of most humans to go through that. 

I don't know if this thread is still alive, but here goes. We are thinking of doing an 11 day Bergen R/T cruise. I can't stand big cruise ships and the couple of times we did them, we wandered around at night because the shows were so corny/mediocre. But I hear there is NOTHING to do at night on the Hurtigrutens. Seems like they could at least screen a couple of movies or something. They claim they do nature or cultural lectures, true or not so much?
Also, is it permissible to bring a bottle of wine on board with you? Even some of the big ships allow two bottles.  TIA!