NORWEGIAN COASTAL VOYAGES - We're going in Aug. I have a few questions.

[gtalum]

The longer tour is better, if it's available. It includes the drive over the "Trollstigen", an incredibly scenic highway. The shorter tour does nto include thsi drive. Only one is available at a time. The longer tour is only available in summer, because teh Trollstigen gets snowed in by autumn.

 

Drinks are very expensive on board, and indeed anywhere in Norway. Buy some stuff at the duty free on your way to Norway, and carry it on board with you. Their official policy is that it is perfectly acceptable for you to bring your own on board.

[dcsam]

Thanks again for the information. Hoping you wouldn't mind answering another question:

I have visions of the Lofoten Islands being very scenic. I want to experience as much time touring them as possible. There are two tours that go there. One is the Harstad-Sortand tour and the other is the Svolvaer-Henningsvaer-Stamsund tour. One is 4 1/2 hours and the other is 3. Both are $60. Which one would you suggest? Do their tours give any time to get off the bus and walk around? Guess that's 2 questions :-)

Thanks again. It's really hard to find information on this cruise - especially their tours.

Caroline

[gtalum]

I can't answer that question (those questions? :) ) because we only took the northbound sailing. Northbound there are no excursions in the Lofotens. We did briefly walk around Svolvaer, but it was evening, and cold and rainy when we were there.

[English Voyager]

Because of their short duration,neither tour will do justice to the Lofoten Islands.As to which one to take,it does depend on the itinerary.

We stayed there for three days in converted fisherman cottages built on stilts over the water in order to appreciate the tranquility.

[glgolfer]

We're doing the 17 night tour in May. 2 nights in Oslo, the train to Bergen, round trip on the Midnatsol and 2 nights in Bergen. Has anyone else done this one?

The city cards are included and are for transportation and entrance to museums, etc. Has anyone used these cards?

The train from Oslo to Bergen is included. Does anyone know what the times are for this trip?

Their brochure has quite a few tours listed. We're doing the Musical History Museum in Trondheim, the Geiranger to Alesund 4 1/2 hour trip, the Midnight Sun Concert and the Trondheim City Sightseeing.

We're also interested in the Svartisen Glacier tour which can only be booked onboard. Any information on these would be appreciated.

[barton497]

PaulWN:

 

I am also doing the 17 day tour in Late Sept./Early August. I can provide you with some information that I have put together regarding our trip.

 

We have selected the following tours:

 

(1) DAY 3 Trondheim City Sightseeing - $35 Duration: 2 hours

 

(2) DAY 5 Tromso City Sightseeing Including Polaria - $35 Duration: 2 1/2 hours

 

(3) DAY 6 The North Cape Motorcoach tour - $90 Duration: 3 1/4 hours

 

(4) DAY 7 Russian Border Trip - $30 Duration: 1 1/2 hours

 

(5) DAY 9 Harstad–Sortland - $60 Duration: 4 1/2 hours

 

Here is the train information that I have received:

 

29-SEP-2005 10:43 DP OSLO VIA NORWEGIAN RAILWAYS

 

29-SEP-2005 17:51 ARR BERGEN -2 TRAIN TICKETS

 

These train tickets are for 2nd class. I can upgrade to comfort class with the following information.

 

NSB Komfort is a compartment in the NSB Regional trains, suitable for everyone. Whether you’re going on holiday, you’re off to visit friends and family or you are on your way to a meeting.

 

NSB Komfort:

 

Separate compartment

Complimentary coffee and tea

Norwegian newspapers

Access to a power outlet for your laptop

 

NSB Komfort will cost NOK 75 issued as a supplement in addition to any 2nd class ticket.

 

We will also be on the MIDNATSOL.

 

I have done a lot of research for this trip and have saven a lot of information so if you need any other information please email me.

 

Let me know how your trip was when you get back.

[Druke I]

We did the one-way passage South on the Nordnorge, Kirkenes to Bergen, July of 2000. At the time, Nordnorge was one of the newer ships in the fleet, and surprisingly well-appointed for a working ship. Food was plentiful, but very Norwegian in character. You could order items not on the set menu, limited choices, at additional cost.

 

Being a working ship, many of the port calls are very short - just long enough to load/unload, so you can't wander too far from the ship and the dock area.

 

Thoroughly enjoyable trip. We were amazed at how different the Norwegian fjords looked, compared to Alaska or New Zealand.

[tynes1der]

The price of drinks on Norwegian Coastal Voyages (Hurtigruten) is the same as ashore. Although expensive, they will only cost a fraction of the round trip price, and giving up even one (expensive) excursion would pay for a drink with dinner each day ;) . If you are bringing your own drinks be aware of the very limited Norwegian Customs allowances :eek: .

[geertje]

Hallo Melindalee,

We are going in october on the roundtrip on the finnmarken. We appreciate any information on your trip. We inderstand from our ta that the ships from the coastal voyage has a few stops direct in the city's and that you can walk and tour by yourself. (This are the longer stops). They recommend the Nordcape and russianborder excursion.

 

Love to hear from you

Geertje

[glgolfer]

geertje - We're leaving on the Grand Norway trip next Tuesday, 17 May, which includes the roundtrip on the Midnatsol with 2 nights in Oslo and 2 nights in Bergen. We did not sign up for the Northcape tour, but are going to try to get it once on board. We did sign up for 4 tours from the ship:

the Music Museum, the Alesund to Geiranger tour, the Trondhein City tour and the Tromso midnight concert. If you have any questions you can email me at thirdparty@tampabay.rr.com.

We will post a review of the trip once we get back and will have pictures on Webshots.

[geertje]

Hallo Paul, love to see your review of te trip. We are going on the roundtrip and will be two days in Bergen.

[glgolfer]

Back from our trip and catching up on the time thing. Working on the 1700 pictures we took and starting to put a review together. Stay tuned and, with any luck, in the next week or so information will be available.

 

The trip was even better than we hoped. First class all the way except for one minor annoyance that didn't cause any real problems.

[glgolfer]

geertje Have you seen our review of the trip?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=189561

[glgolfer]

geertje - I know you saw the review, just wondering if you saw my response to your questions.

[dcsam]

I'm going to look at your review and pics after I write this. As I mentioned, we will be on the Midnatsol in August. Looking forward to my first trip to Europe.

Caroline

[dcsam]

Hi Paul,

Great review and pictures!

I do have a few questions:

 

-How dressy was dinner? I wasn't planning on bringing any dresses, but thought nice, casual clothes would be good?

 

-Sounds like lunch and dinner are at assigned times and tables? I was under the impression that is was dine when and where you want. Are table of 4 the most common?]

 

-What sorts of drinks are included in meals?

 

-What would be the easiest way to stay in touch with home?

Thanks much!

Caroline

[glgolfer]

Glad you lliked the review and pics. Here's probably more info than you want to answer your questions. And, I'll be glad to answer any others you might have. You can email me at thirdparty@tampabay.rr.com if you want.

 

 

Dinner was casual. I wore button down collar shirts most of the time with polo type a couple of times. Judy wore slacks and blouses/sweaters with a skirt & blouse a couple times. Only saw a few jackets on men the first night and hardly any after that.

All evening meals were at a designated time and table. There were 5 times for dinner between 1800 and 2100. They staggered the times to better serve people. We had 1900 and there was a large section that was empty next to us until 2030 when that group came in. So the dining room was never completely full any time at night.

 

Breakfast was always a buffet between 0730 and 1000, show up anytime and open seating.

Lunch was a buffet every day with open seating some days or a specific time (either 1130 or 1330) at your assigned table. Whether it was open or assigned time and seating for lunch was always shown in the daily schedule.

Ther were a lot of tables for 2, a lot for 4 and some for 6 or 8. I'm sure they seat people speaking the same language together. I would bet that if there are 2 of you on your own you could get a table for 2 if you want it or a table for 4 or more. Let the NCV agent know what you want and you can probably get it.

 

Anyway, breakfast was always open seating, lunch was sometimes open seating and other times at your designated table and time and dinner was always at a designated time and table (the same every night).

 

Coffee and hot tea were available for breakfast and lunch in the dining room. Juice was also available.

The only thing available for dinner was water, but you could get coffee and hot tea at the Mysteria Lounge for a while after dinner. There was a charge for them any other time.

Norway doesn't know iced tea. The only way to get iced tea was to make hot tea and put ice in it yourself.

 

If you drink a lot of water and/or want water in your cabin at night, I recommend you sign up for the 300K bottled water the first day. We averaged 4 to 5 bottles of water a day (they were large bottles) The ship's air is very dry from the heat, so we drank a lot of water. A significant number of folks carried their water bottles to each meal. We also used ours to fill the small bottles we brought with us to drink on tours, etc.

 

There was nobody we needed to talk to at home, so we didn't do that. So, I can't answer your question about how to stay in touch.

 

I will say that we would do this trip again tomorrow or anytime except in the winter. We were surprised at how good the weather was overall for May. And the sun never setting for most of the trip was great.

[glgolfer]

One other thing, I just took along a pair of deck shoes that I wore all the time on board and a good pair of water proof walking shoes for walking around Oslo and Bergen and for getting off the ship and for excursions.

Judy took along a pair of light tennis shoes and a pair of flats for the ship and a good pair of waterproof walking shoes for off the ship.

Too much weight to take any more than that.

[geertje]

Hallo Paul,

I did read your reply on my questions. Thank you for that. I could not react earlier, because I was in the USA with my son. He is going to study on the SNHU in Manchester NH.

Greetings Geertje

[glgolfer]

Hi Geertje: I was just hoping everything was ok. Glad you had a safe trip to here and back home. Good luck to your son, what is he studying? If anyone has any other questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

 

Paul

[susan1234]

Is everyone back yet? ;)

 

I have also questions about the Midnatsol. The dates we want to cruise on, balcony suites are sold out and left only Grand Suites with bay window. Is there a big difference? Is balcony a must for the northbound coastal voyage?

 

We were also given a choice of rooms on the left or the right side of the ship. Going up north, right is the landside. Which one should we take?

 

Thanks for helping. This will be our first trip to Norway and we are very much looking forward to it.

 

Sue

[barton497]

I would recomend the Port (right) side of the ship which means that you will see the dock from your window. Since I didn't stay in a balcony room I can't make any recomendations but if the cost of suite is not an issue than I would get one. A lot of your cruise will be looking at the sights from the ship and if the weather is not the best you can still see things from your room. One tip...I took postcards from my city of San Francisco with a lable on the back of each card that had my name, address, and email address to give out anybody that I met. A great way to give out something for people to remember you by. You never know who you will meet and from what country. Please email me at Barton497@aol.com if you have any other questions.

[glgolfer]

Hi Sue: email me at thirdparty@tampabay.rr.com

between Tom & I we can probably answer questions you haven't even thought about asking yet.

 

Hi Tom: Looked like you enjoyed the trip, hope some of my info helped.

[Sail With Me]

We have just booked the Trollfjord round trip for July 17, 2007. We booked an MG suite cabin 775. Has anyone sailed in that cabin before adn if so what is it like? NCV is not ready to book land arrangements until September so we have to wait. We have been to Oslo but want to take the train from Oslo to Bergen so we willprobably book the unescorted and package. If anyone has done the land as well, do you recommend unescorted or escorted?

 

Thanks in advance for the information.

 

Karen and Bob

[glgolfer]

We did the 17 day Grand Norway on our own. We had no trouble anywhere. Don't know how having an escort could have been any better.

We were in a Cat U cabin (not a suite) on deck 7 and it was fine.

 

Have you read our review of the trip?