SESerSerena

On 6/24/2024 at 2:12 PM, mef_57 said:

Looking at videos for Havila cabins, it's hard to see exactly what is available for putting your stuff when needed.

Is the mirror a bathroom vanity type that opens to shelves?

It doesn't look like there is a shower shelf to put personal shampoo, soap, etc. Is there one? If not, how did you juggle the extra items so they weren't always on the shower floor?

Not sure that I'm still in time for this, but here's what we found. 

The mirror was indeed a cabinet with shelves. Looked very tiny at first glance, but wow..it actually wasn't. I managed to fit all our toiletries in it, and they weren't a few. We used the two small glasses for toothbrush/paste and for some other mini things. 

As for the shower shelf, there isn't one unfortunately...BUT we sort of transformed the toilet seat (closed, of course) into one as it is so close to the shower. 

For info, the bathroom didn't flood once during our showers. Everything worked well...drains, pressure, temperature of the water, shower head. 

On 8/28/2024 at 1:08 AM, Chilly Bean said:

Thanks for all your help. I'm so excited! I just booked the Bergen-Kirkenes trip in May on the Polaris!

 

NOW on to the next thing -- Anyone have any excursion recommendations?

We did the RIB boat in Bodo for Saltsraumen and the North Cape Plateau. Loved them both! 

The RIB boat was a hoot in general..a lot of fun...plus we got to see the Sea Eagles (grown ups and babies learning how to fly), the tides at Saltraumen were definitely showing (and we felt them all 😅) and we got to see the beautiful colors and twirls, and our guide was extremely nice and through the whole tour he shared a lot of interesting historical and cultural facts about Norway. The scenery was simply amazing from the boat/water level perspective. 

The North Cape tour was great also. We were lucky to have a beautiful, warm and sunny day. The ride up on the bus was scenic and made interesting by our guide. At the plateau you have enough time to walk around, take pictures, but also I suggets going into the visitors centre and watching the mini-film shown in the theatre. Absolutely breathtaking.

The views from each side of the plateau....oh my!!

Just for info. Some of our new acquaintances from the ship took the "revised" version of the Geiranger tour (due to Trollstigen being closed). Didn't love it. They said it was too much of a bus ride and in general a long day (it's an 8 hours excursion). The food at the nice restaurant at the top in Andalsnes partly made up for it, but the clouds during the trip made the scenery not really what it should have been so they felt it would have been better to experience Geiranger fjord from the ship as we did.  

On 8/19/2024 at 10:51 PM, Chilly Bean said:

3) How many days are adequate?

 

4) What is the best month to go? I'm can go any time between April and September. What do you recommend?

I'll answer these two having had a recent experience..

3) We did the 7 days BK voyage...once we got to Kirkenes I did NOT want to get off the ship! They had to force me! 😄 If you have enough days, do the round trip. There are places we saw during the night, that we wished we could have seen in daylight. Some of the stops that are done on the return trip are sooo worth it too. I really wish we could have continued..

We didn't get bored for a minute, never even took out of the luggage the books, card sets etc that we had brought along to be entertained. The days are very "active" afterall, even on board. There's always something to see, stories to hear, food to try, excursions to plan, people to talk to, etc. Really never felt redundant at all.  

4) We couldn't pick a month as our work holidays were pretty much fixed, and temperature wise, sea motion wise, crowds wise, etc I felt August worked out great. 

BUT if I had to redo it, I would choose to go at the end of june/beginning of July....mainly for the many more hours of daylight (for example, reaching Lofoten in broad daylight would probably have been even more incredible with the full colors showing), perhaps the for midnight sun, or even for the puffins (unfortunately, they were all gone already).

I'm exaggerating, of course. August was great. Very warm everywhere, close to no rain. Couldn't have asked for more. I was just being picky or trying to be helpful.. 😄 

On 7/10/2024 at 12:16 AM, mef_57 said:

Glad you had a wonderful trip, Nancy.

I am booked for BKB late September. 3 days in Oslo first and an overnight in Bergen before and after.

I do have a few questions if you would be willing to answer...

1. I just learned there is a library of sorts on board (leave one, take one sort of thing) do you know where it is located?

2. What train route did you do?  I struggle to embrace a 12 or 14hr NIN trip and thought to just train Oslo to Bergen. Still ~6 hrs.

3. I also won't be buying excursions. Did you use taxis in any of the longer ports to get slightly out of town? Foe example the Arctic Alpine Botanical garden is a little out of Tromso. I expect to have sim card for Norway to call for pickup, but I am concerned about adequate time to get picked up and returned to ship...also costs.

Thanks for any insights.

Here's me hoping I can help a little!

1.The library is in fact more of a bookcase/bookshelf placed in a corner of a very cosy and welcoming lounge area of Level 3 of the ship. On our Castor, it was located near the "kids corner", toward the Bow/observation deck of the ship. It was very well stock with books in different languages and on different subjects.  

2. In the beginning, we also thought of doing just the 6 hours train ride from Oslo to Bergen, but the fact that it was going to be on a weekend meant that there were less "solutions" time wise...we soon figured out. So in the end we flew one day early and did the Nutshell trip.

3. We used a taxi in Trondheim because I had left my mobile phone on board and realized it when we were midway through our walk into town. So we walked back to the ship to pick it up, and then hired a taxi so we wouldn't waste anymore time going back and forth. We found more than a few available there at the dock, so no problems there. Cost wise, I would say it was reasonable for Norway. We asked the driver to take us to the other side of town, farthest place, to be able to then enjoy the walk back. It cost 15€. About 15-20 mins ride. 

We enjoyed the whole experience so much, I'm sure you will too!! 🙂 

Hello everyone, just wanted to say once again THANK YOU for helping and "directing" me to what could be the ideal cruise holiday for us!

We did the BK on Havila Castor, after the Nutshell tour from Oslo that you suggested.

It was the most wonderful first experience on a cruise ship to get the sense of what it's like. 

We could only spend good words about Havila, the fjords and Norway in general. 

Already thinking about the next one, obviously.. 😄 

On 7/24/2024 at 12:51 AM, kaisatsu said:

I’ve done the northbound with Hurtigruten. It was when we had some visitors from out of town, so we actually did the Norway in a Nutshell trip right before since we needed to get from Oslo to Bergen. However, we left it too late and the one-day trip was sold out, so we took a later train and then backtracked the next day to do the roundtrip Nutshell from Bergen.

 

Doing the Nutshell from Oslo to Bergen in one day is possible if you don’t mind an early start and a long day. There is a porter service that will transport your luggage if you don’t want to deal with it. If you do want to break up the trip, I’d overnight in Flåm if you can find a place. It’s pleasant to see the scenery in the evening and early morning.

 

The only excursion we did was the trip to North Cape, since it’s a fair distance from town. In Tromsø, I decided to take them to the Polaria aquarium followed by a stop at the Mack brewery pub. (I’m also a fan of the polar exploration museum and the cable car from other visits.) Everywhere else we just wandered around town. In Bodø I’d have liked to visit Saltstraumen, but the tides didn’t align with our port timing.

Oh thank you, THANK YOU for telling me about the porter for the luggage during the Nutshell tour! We almost gave up on it because the thought of doing it all with the luggages and carry ons etc just wasn't a fun thought! We managed thanks to you!! ❤️

Aaaaaand we are booked on Havila for August 12! There was a problem with the payments on their website last night so we spent all night and part of this morning holding our breath, hoping the reservation would still be there! 😄 

Is the trip to the North Cape worth it? We are talking about the "plateu" one, right?

I'm now going to do some research on what we can do at the other stops. The excursions are expensive so I guess we can only take the few ones that come really recommended and deemed "unmissable"! 

44 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Trondheim, Bodø and Tromsø are very walkable - in Tromsø take the cable car to the view point. 
For excursions I’ll suggest Lofoten scenic tour and North Cape in Honningsvåg. For ‘bus excursions, I’ll suggest to use Havila excursions - time in port is short or some excursions start in one port and end in another- you won’t want to miss the ship. 
For Flåm area plan for a night in Myrdal or Voss area - at least one night in Bergen - stay at a hotel at Bryggen - The Hanseatic Hotel is an option. 

I'm so excited about Tromsø especially, I'd considered doing BKT just because of the amount of interesting things there seem to be in or around it. 

For the Lofoten, I've been reading that it might be better to stay on the ship and cruise through them rather than do an excursion and spend time on a bus. Would you agree? The excursion you mentioned is it doable on the Northbound, where you actually approach the Lofoten in the evening?

NOTED for the Flåm "detour"...checking out the Hanseatic Hotel right now.

Just one silly technical question about Havila: I see they have a beverage package but from the price I take it it's for alcoholic drinks mainly. What about soft drinks? Are they served on board?

42 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

If you are committed to certain dates you can only consider lines which offer everything you are looking for, or as much as possible.

 

Hoping you found my comments helpful, If you are happy with either english or german language ships, choose by itinerary, cost and flights convenience.

Yes, your comments were more than helpful! You made me stop for a second and think again about why we had thought the german and british companies would still work for us. And I went back to MSC to check what they had to offer and see if it would convince me...rather than to just discard it because "somebody told me something". 

On that note...have you ever cruised with MSC? How was your experience? 

And if you had to suggest a cruise line and destination to someone based on your experiences, what would it be? (Blatantly asking for tips so I can plan my next one with sliiiiiightly less rush! :D) Thank you!

3 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

The fjords are not so different. The point of including as much as possible is just about maximizing the scenic cruising rather than seeing all of those specific places. And more days of fjord scenery means more chances for good weather. If you are more keen on variety, just one day of fjord cruising may be enough!

 

If you enjoy watching the scenery and don’t need much time in port, the northbound Hurtigruten trip will show you a lot of the country. You won’t see a lot at the stops, but you will see a bit. And if you plan a little in advance, you can usually do something at the longer calls. (I’d definitely plan to go to North Cape from Honninvsvåg, partly for the tundra scenery on the way there/back.) Doing the northbound (during the summer with the Geiranger detour) plus the Oslo-Bergen rail will let you see examples of most of the country’s scenery. It’s a good trip.

 

A lot of cruise visitors are just here for the fjords, which is why the recommendations skew that direction. A few are keen on Lofoten (which was relatively unknown before Instagram). But for many, seeing areas like the Arctic tundra aren’t on their list at all. And since traditional cruiselines sail in open water, the ports are far more important, because a lot of sailing is in open international water with no land in sight.

 

Im getting the impression that the Hurtigruten would be a good fit for what you’re after. And like hallasm, I’d also choose the northbound. The port timings are better for exploring. Especiallly Tromsø, which is one of my favorite northern ports.

Your post made me dream with my eyes open! Yes, I think you got me exactly. We ARE interested in the Fjords, but Norway is so big and multi-faceted...I would regret not trying to find a way to see a bit of everything.

I can come back to cruise the Fjords again and more in depth, but I think this time I want to see as much as possible, the variety of the territory and the lands. It blows me away that it takes that many hours to go just from Oslo to Bergen, imagine thinking of reaching the Russian border.. I think I am sold! 😄 

Have you done one of the Voyages yourself? Was it a good experience? Is there anything you would absolutely recommend we do? 

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

Some will argue differently, but I prefer northbound from Bergen to Kirkenes. It's mostly about nature - A longer stop every day - some excursions start in one port and end in another. A good option is the train from Oslo to Bergen with an overnight stay in the Flåm area with the Flåm train and sailing trip in Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord. The few days I Kirkenes before flying back to Oslo.

 

The size of the ship has no significance, apart from a few smaller ships that can sail through Nærøyfjord to Gudevangen or through Trollfjord. Even the largest cruise ships can sail the deep Norwegian fjords.
In most cases, scenic cruising is an expression of the ship sailing through the fjord to the port - some mention the fjords - others do not - but the same fjords. In and out the ports at the bottom of the fjords.
The case with P&O to Hellesylt is 'smart marketing’ as the ship does not sail into the Geirangerfjord but just past the estuary.

 Ahh thank you for clearing that up! I was very confused about the whole "scenic cruising" concept, especially with the port names listed after that. I just didn't want to risk assuming the bigger ships would go into the Fjords but finding out later that the proper cruising through it would have to be arranged in a different way. 

I think we will manage to take the Havila Castor for the Northbound Voyage, and then adding Flam and Bergen with the Nutshell. It will be very fast as we don't have many days, but we will attempt it! 

For Havila, could you suggest some excursions to take into consideration? Would you do them all with Havila or try and arrange them on your own? 

6 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

Of the options you listed, I'd choose the Fred Olsen out of Dover. Not only does it include the perennial favorites of Flåm, Olden, and Bergen, it sounds like the ship is small enough to sail into Nærøyfjord, a stretch of cruising most visitors need to book separately as an excursion from Flåm.

 

One misconception about the Hurtigruten/Havilla routes is that it's not a fjord cruise. It's a coastal cruise. The only western fjord cruising it includes is a detour into the Geirangerfjord during the summer season (Jun-Aug). The captains also often take a scenic detour into Trollfjord in the Lofoten Islands. However, the rest is through coastal waterways rather than deep fjords. And if you've never cruised before, be aware that the Hurtigruten/Havilla routes were originally just a ferry service, so unlike traditional cruises, they have far fewer amenities and on-board activities.

 

My recommendation for the Hurtigruten is to fly into Oslo, and follow the Norway in a Nutshell route to Bergen, passing through Flåm and the Nærøyfjord. Then spend a day in Bergen before boarding the northbound route to Kirkenes, and flying back from there. That adds an extra fjord experience (or the only one if you're traveling outside the summer season) and a view of the high inland plateaus from the scenic cross-country rail route, along with the rest of the coastal and Arctic scenery of the cruise.

Thanks for your tip on how to decide on which one of the Fred Olsen cruises eventually fall on. 

I have been trying to figure out if there would be a way to reach the "missing Fjord" somehow on either of the cruises...but I think maybe it's too much of a stretch. 

Understood about the coastal voyages being just that - coastal - so thank you for making me think again and a bit harder about it. What pulls me toward those is the possibility to see SO MUCH of Norway as a country, rather than just the Fjords part. BUT...is that the best way to enjoy Norway, I ask myself!? Or is it better to do what everyone does...see the Fjords and go home amazed by them...as that is already more than enough!? Such a tough choice! 

I am looking at including the Nutshell experience...but it seems not to fit into our schedule, due to the flights not being there on certain days. I'm sad about it.. Do I really want to leave without having seen Flam?!

8 hours ago, hallasm said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic - I have made som comments below.

 

You can do Hurtigruten of Havila Voyages Northbound from Bergen to Kirkenes (or southbound) and include Flåm from Oslo/Bergen - personally I find the Coastal round trip too much if the same.

 

I’ll also suggest to do some research on cruise lines if you are not familiar with Fred Olsen, P&O and in particular AIDA.

 

 

Fred. Olsen options: AUG 14 DOVER

Two deep fjords to Olden and Flåm. Aldo Bergen is a god choice. Eidfjord less interesting.

 

Fred. Olsen options: AUG 15 LIVERPOOL

Two deep fjords to Olden and Geiranger. Ålesund less interesting than Bergen.

Ånsdalnes less interesting

Royal Caribbean:

One del fjord to Olden. Including Bergen. Therese capitals Copenhagen, Oslo and Ansterdam

 

P&O Iona:
one deep fjord to Olden - partly to Hellesylt - do not know about Geirangerfjord, Norway (Cruising) - might sail from Hellesylt through Geirangerfjord.

 

AIDA Cruises:
No deep fjords - only Bergen

 

Hi Hallasm! Thank you for welcoming me! 🙂 You know, I discovered the coastal voyages through your posts last year actually! You made me dream about this kind of trip from the way you described everything...that's why I started looking into it. 

Hearing you mention that it is not necessary to do the roundtrip to enjoy it, makes me reconsider having decided on not going at all and picking the other type of cruise instead.. I just thought the time we have at our disposal wouldn't be enough, and that leaving the round trip incomplete would be a shame. 

Do you reckon we would still get to see all the most interesting stuff by doing the voyage northbound only? Which stops would you recommend most? Which excursions to take? Hurtigruten or Havila? Sorry for the many questions, it's just that in my head you are some kind of guru for this!! hahaha

Anyway, for the best Fjord experience, I take it the two Fred Olsen options are the most inclusive. But is there a way on one or the other to include the Fjord that's missing? Like, would you manage to reach Flam or Geiranges from one of the stops along that way?

3 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

Reports are that Iona now sails from Hellesylt past the entrance of Gerainger fjord and that is your lot.  Avoid that trip if you want to see Gerainger fjord in all its glory.

Oooh I didn't know! What puzzled me about the P&O cruise was that there was so much "cruising by" in the itinerary, but isn't Iona actually a big ship? How would it cruise by so many things? How far into the fjords? 

4 hours ago, JohnAlleb77 said:

Aidaprima and Aidaperla sails to Geiranger and Flåm.. 

 

 

We liked those, we were keen on them...but we couldn't change our work holidays to fit the dates. 😞 Also some NCL or Azamara we had to discard purely because of not matching dates. Too bad!

6 hours ago, edinburgher said:

The cruiselines themselves can also be important, in your case as you listed Fred Olsen, RCI and P and O, all of which have english as the onboard language.

 

But you also mentioned AIDA, which is a GERMAN cruiseline where you can expect the onboard language, food, announcements, entertainment etc,  all to be in the German language. And as they cater to the German market, most passengers will also be German.

 

Noting you are based in Italy but writing your thread in english, which onboard language would you be most comfortable with, because if your knowledge of the german language is minimal or less than average, you might want to drop the Aida option and focus on the others.

 

On the other hand, if your knowledge of the Italian language is above average or better, you might want to look at  MSC Norwegian Fjords itineraries (MSC is an Italian line)but offering a more  "international" onboard experience.

 

And note that Fred Olsen is a Norwegian owned company with many Captains and senior officers also Norwegian. And they have a long history sailing Norwegian waters.  And some of their ships are smaller than some of the larger Pand O and RCI ships.

 

 

Thank you for your reply! We had done a bit on research on the cruise lines mentioned, and having lived both in the UK and in Germany we felt that the language challenge would yes be there - as we wouldn't be speaking in our mothertongue anywhere at anytime - but a challenge that we would take up somewhat happily. Also the fact that Fred Olsen and Aida would be traditional british/german cruises, with british or german traditions and food and such, didn't actually scare us off....nor the fact that a smaller ship doesn't have the thrills or special amenities of the bigger ships to be entertained by.

We didn't consider Costa or MSC only due to the fact that all of our friends who cruised on them didn't come back with great feedback to give...i'm not sure why. 😞 Plus in the 2 weeks we have, their dates didn't quite match. 

Would you recommend any other cruise line that we haven't thought of or may not know? 

Hello everyone! 

We're a couple from Italy in their 40s trying to arrange their first cruise.. We have left it way too late, I know...for several reasons 😞 so just trying to figure out what would be best for us with what's still available.

The original idea was to do a Norway cruise with Hurtigruten or Havila to get the full sense of what the country is like, but unfortunately we can't stay away from home that long to do the round trip...so we are looking for a different solution...and here come the doubts about the Fjords cruises.

We aren't being too selective about cruise lines, as we don't have previous experiences to base on, we are mainly interested in the itinerary. So which of these would you reckon is the most interesting/scenic/comprehensive?

Fred. Olsen options:

AUG 14 DOVER
1 DAY SAILING
AUG 16 CRUISING MAURANGERFJORD & FUREBERGSFOSSEN
AUG 16 CRUISING HARDANGERFJORD
AUG 16 EIDFJORD
AUG 17 BERGEN
AUG 18 FLÅM
AUG 18 CRUISING NÆRØYFJORD
AUG 19 OLDEN
AUG 19 CRUISING NORDFJORD & INNVIKFJORD
2 DAYS SAILING

AUG 22 DOVER

or

AUG 15 LIVERPOOL
2 DAYS SAILING
AUG 18 CRUISING NORDFJORD & INNVIKFJORD
AUG 18 OLDEN
AUG 19 ÅLESUND
AUG 20 ÅNDALSNES
AUG 21 GEIRANGER
AUG 21 CRUISE BY THE SEVEN SISTERS WATERFALL
AUG 21 CRUISING STORFJORDEN
AUG 21 CRUISING BY STRANDAFJELLET MOUNTAIN
2 DAYS SAILING
AUG 24 LIVERPOOL
 

Royal Caribbean:

Copenhagen, Denmark 

Aarhus, Denmark  
Oslo, Norway 
Kristiansand, Norway  
Haugesund, Norway  
Olden, Norway   
Alesund, Norway  
Bergen, Norway  
At Sea        
Amsterdam, Holland

P&O Iona:

Southampton, England 
At Sea        
Stavanger, Norway   
Olden, Norway   
Innvikfjorden, Norway (Cruising)        
Nordfjord, Norway (Cruising)        
Hellesylt, Norway   
Geirangerfjord, Norway (Cruising)        
Sunnylvsfjorden, Norway (Cruising)        
Storfjorden, Norway (Cruising)        
Haugesund, Norway 
At Sea        
Southampton, England

AIDA Cruises:

WARNEMÜNDE
SEADAY
KRISTIANSAND
BERGEN
VIK
EID FIORDO
SEADAY
WARNEMÜNDE
 

Or if you have any other suggestions, also based on what excursions we could add at our ports, please feel free to advise us.

Thank you so much in advance!!