Hurtigruten - 11 day menu offerings

[hallasm]

There are few Norwegian holidays where the daily flights are not operated - since Nordlys is just refurbished it could be a better choice. Look for the cabin class in the  description of the cabin and then look at the deck plan.

For you research use the English version of the web.

[SarniaLo]

Note that if you book on the Norwegian website, the Terms & Conditions that apply are the Norwegian ones. I don't find it a problem, but some people may. Check especially the cancellation conditions, as they are not always the same in different countries.

[clo]

On 9/14/2019 at 1:18 AM, Aliyah17 said:

What is the "NB" you're doing next Spring?

We're doing Bergen/Kirkenes.  Starting in Oslo probably (still waiting/hoping that we can take Norwegian Air), spend a couple of days there, then the train to Bergen.  This will be part of a bigger trip, not cruising, so maybe Copenhagen.

[Aliyah17]

I am in limbo at the moment; it's always something. We tried to book our chosen cruise on the .no site but it wouldn't go through. A nice woman I'd emailed with a few times in customer service said it should work and gave me a number to call. Got it all worked out and the agent sent me an invoice (in Norwegian). I was really excited. Before paying, I thought I should translate it to be sure the details were right, pretty obvious. And the description of the cabin, Arctic Superior, said it would be on a middle or upper deck and would have twin beds, or a  double. The description on the English site was clear: upper deck, double bed. And my translation on the Norwegian site was the same. By the time I contacted them it was after work hours, so I am waiting to hear tomorrow. It's pretty annoying. If it works out, it's NB on 4 December.

[Homerody]

1 hour ago, clo said:

  Starting in Oslo probably (still waiting/hoping that we can take Norwegian Air), spend a couple of days there, then the train to Bergen. 

Norwegian Air back in July (2019) announced 10 US route reductions including  from LAX to Scandinavia and JFK to Scandinavia - from year around to seasonal. 

 

So depending on your trip timing, you may have some Norwegian Air options from US.

 

The published schedule did not fit my plans.  So went with other airline options.

 

BTW - Norwegian Air in the past few days announced a deal with bond holders giving the airline some much needed breathing room.

 

 

[Aliyah17]

Well I did it. Booked on the Richard With on 4 Dec. Let me tell you, the .no website was really messed up and we thought we were being blocked. But when I called them, they were great. They made the reservation for me at the Norwegian price, which saved us almost $800. That is not chump change. And then...I thought it would be smart to translate the invoice to be sure it was right. And whereas the website clearly said all the Arctic Superior cabins had double beds, the invoice said it could be a twin and a sofa (converts to a bed). So I wrote to clarify. She responded, Yes, definitely a double bed. Well, I live in the Middle East, so I tend to be careful. So I asked her to please redo the invoice to reflect that. And she wrote back that the deck plans were wrong; she actually contacted the ship and there is ONE bed/sofa cabin and I got it! (last available obviously)  

Long story short, I spoke to them at length and she found me a nice double bed cabin on the 2 December cruise. It has an obstructed view, but she pointed out the sun sets at like 13.00 so really it's not a big deal to me. They were really nice and felt bad about it. So all's well I guess. I already booked KLM flights.

[Homerody]

@Aliyah17,

 

Thanks for the update and details of your booking experience. 

 

Good to know that Hurtigruten folks are helpful and responsive to your questions and booking requests.  .

 

Wish you an excellent trip and many Northern Lights sightings!!!!

 

[clo]

On 9/16/2019 at 2:49 PM, Homerody said:

BTW - Norwegian Air in the past few days announced a deal with bond holders giving the airline some much needed breathing room.

 

Good to know.  We flew them OAK/LGW/BGO, their premium class, which was great!  BUT a seven hour layover in LGW.  If we could fly out of SEA it would have only been a couple of hours.  I need to check again and see if they've released schedules for next April.  Thanks.

[Bella0714]

Since this began as being about menu offerings, here are our experiences so far. We are aboard Nordnorge. Four of the six dinners so far have been buffets. The plated dinners have been excellent, including by far the best salmon we have ever had, so getting another buffet tonight was disappointing.

 

Overall, the buffet food so far at breakfast, lunch and dinner has been better than big ship dining room food, ranging from good to very good. Excellent variety except at breakfast, which can be a little skimpy. At lunch and dinner, lots of fish, vegetables (especially carrots and potatoes), salads, one soup, bread (including gluten free) and fruit; even whole grapefruit at breakfast.

 

Water is always served at meals; there’s a carafe of water at each table. Service is very good and friendly without been obtrusive. A glass of wine starts at 109 NOK. Beer about the same. $12 for a glass of wine is not insane by U.S. standards. Vodka also 109 NOK.

 

Ice cream for 39 nok a scoop at the cafe. 

 

[Homerody]

@Bella0714,

 

Thank you for the very informative and helpful report.

 

Sorry, too many questions follow.  (Preparing for my own trip )

 

What are the bottle prices for wine? What kinds of wine do they have (glass or bottle)?

 

Is a la carte dining option available on your ship?  How much of a surcharge/cost for that?

 

Any NL sighting? 

 

Enjoy the rest of  your trip!

 

 

[Bella0714]

Homebody: It looks like a wide variety of wines from all over, starting at about 450 nok a bottle. I can’t give you specifics because we haven’t looked. At the low end per glass are the house whites and reds at 109 nok.

 

There is ala crate dining, but we haven’t looked into it. King Crabs on nights 7 and 11 are 750 nok if you’re on full board.

 

We had faint, but still nice, NL Sunday out of Svolvaer.

 

Thanks! The journey has been beautiful. Lots of snow on the mountains, particularly around Tromso.

[Homerody]

@Bella0714,

 

Thanks so much for the quick reply and details.

 

Hope you get to see more NL.

 

Safe and enjoyable travels.

[Bella0714]

@Homerody: We did see more NL, five times in all, including one night when they went on for over four hours (we were off the ship by that time and in Lofoten).  Then, back on board the Finnmarken, we saw another beautiful display while sailing out of Svolvaer towards Stamsund. The captain was kind enough to turn off the ship's front lights. That was a beautiful display, too. We got very lucky with Northern Lights and fall foliage.

 

Enjoy your trip. We were on two Hurtigruten ships on this trip (Nordnorge and Finnmarken), and although they were very different, we loved both of them. The staff is top-notch. I also recommend trying the ala carte dining room one night, too. The food was really fine.

[Homerody]

@Bella0714,

 

Great photo, thanks for sharing.  I'm sure seeing NL in person is a thrilling experience.  

 

Thanks for the tip on the ala carte.  Will give that a try.  What was the additional cost for that?  What was the menu you enjoyed?  (Sorry, too many question).

 

We're looking forward to our trip and hope that we're fortunate enough to glimpse  the NL once or twice.

 

 

[Bella0714]

Homerody: I don't mind your questions. They allow me to relive the trip.

 

I don't remember everything we ate in the ala carte restaurant, but I do remember crab ravioli in reindeer soup. We tried the ala carte restaurant because we were on the port-to-port portion of our trip, so we would've had to pay in the main dining room, anyway. Two appetizers, two entrees, one dessert, a glass of wine and a beer cost us less than eating in the main dining room, and it also gave us the chance to try more dishes (as you know, the main dining room has a set menu on most nights). The prices were the same as you'd expect in any restaurant in Norway, meaning not cheap. No surcharge; just regular menu pricing for everyone. Another night, we had king crabs, which was a 750 kr upcharge per person for people on full board and came with a glass of prosecco and dessert. The king crabs were good but probably not worth the price. I think they were 1250 kr for people not on full board; definitely not worth it at that price.

 

There was also cafe-type dining; hamburgers, fish burgers, sandwiches, soup and bacalao, which is a red sauce-based fish stew that my wife enjoyed but I didn't (the red sauce is a bit on the sweet side). The MS Nordnorge had a little ice cream shop, too. Believe it or not, the beer ice cream was very good; the fish ice cream obviously an acquired taste.

 

I know everybody talks about the liquor prices on Hurtigruten. We spent three weeks in Norway, and the liquor prices on Hurtigruten weren't any different than they were anywhere else…meaning high. But if you can find a liquor store (not easy; there aren't a lot of them), you can buy a decent bottle of wine for 120 kr and a six-pack of beer for 180 kr.

 

Like I said, we spent three weeks in Norway, didn't have a single bad meal and had many very good and great ones.

[Homerody]

@Bella0714,

 

Extremely helpful information.  I did not know about fish ice cream - that'll be something I'll be trying!!!

 

We will not have any port-to-port portion on our voyage,  will be on full board - but planning on the ala cart - if for nothing else but a change in venue and change things up a bit.

 

I've read about the king crab night, elsewhere on CC.   It may be an uphill battle (value - wise) for the light eaters in my party.

 

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions.  I appreciate your time and consideration.

[clo]

7 hours ago, Bella0714 said:

Like I said, we spent three weeks in Norway, didn't have a single bad meal and had many very good and great ones.

The Scandanavian countries are becoming world renowned for their food.

[GeezerCouple]

On 10/11/2019 at 8:19 PM, Homerody said:

@Bella0714,

 

Extremely helpful information.  I did not know about fish ice cream - that'll be something I'll be trying!!!

 

We will not have any port-to-port portion on our voyage,  will be on full board - but planning on the ala cart - if for nothing else but a change in venue and change things up a bit.

 

I've read about the king crab night, elsewhere on CC.   It may be an uphill battle (value - wise) for the light eaters in my party.

 

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions.  I appreciate your time and consideration.

 

Our experience is from March, 2018, on Trollfjord.  We had one of the best trips; it was just wonderful! We weren't quite sure what to expect, so that probably helped with the "exceeded expectations" 🙂

 

We were comped for one dinner at the Specialty, and we had already planned to try it at our cost.  We are very glad *we* did not pay.  It was a huge disappointment, in part because the regular dinners (all of the meals!) we so great. (I'm a fussy eater, and loved almost everything.  I have a minor food allergy, and they were always *very* careful about that.  And you can arrange an alternate meal earlier in the day, if you wish.)

But in the Specialty, the service was horrible.  The food wasn't much better, and some of the nicer items were clearly recognizable from our regular dinners.   The room was meant to be more "elegant", but in fact, it just looked quite crowded.

We had expected to use it several times, but we never bothered to go back.  There was no reason to.

About the king crab legs FEAST... YUM!  We had no surcharge, so I'm not sure what you mean by "value".  It was unlimited, and I made a totally pig of myself.  It's harder and harder to find king crab legs these days, so it was such a treat!!  Did I mention "YUM"? 😀

But there were also other things to eat, although I didn't want to waste stomach space on anything else!  (My mouth is watering thinking about that again...)

 

We found the buffet desserts way too tempting, and just unlimited quantities, especially of creme caramel...  DH went a bit nuts with that; it's a favorite of his, and you could just scoop out as much as you wanted (and, ahem, as often as you wanted).

 

The landscapes were just gorgeous!

And we did see the NLs twice, albeit rather faint.

 

GC

 

 

[Homerody]

Thanks for your perspective @GC.

 

A new cruise line and experience for me - so much to "geek out" on leading up to the journey. 

 

Isn't it part of the fun?

 

  .

[Splinter]

I just wanted to give a shout out to the cod tongue we had on the MS Trollfjord. It was in May. Fishermen came on deck and showed us how to butcher the head of this huge cod for the cheek and tongue. I didn't even know cods had tongues! They prepared it raw (like sashimi) on deck and it was mild and sweet. Later that day we had it breaded and fried at lunch in the dining room buffet, and it was also excellent. Give it a try if it is offered on your cruise.

 

Always a plus to get fresh shrimp on your voyage, and if you get a chance to have any deserts with cloudberries, you will be in heaven!

[Homerody]

I'll try cod tongue and cheeks - if offered on our trip.

 

And I see what you did @Splinter -  "cloud"berries = heaven.  Clever! 😊

 

Fresh shrimp, fresh cod, good desserts - how can I go wrong!!!  😋

 

 

[Travel2?]

I'm with you Homerody; we'll give it a try as well. 

 

Keep hearing about these cloudberries!

[hallasm]

45 minutes ago, Travel2? said:

Keep hearing about these cloudberries

Cloudberries (Rufus chamaemorus) are common in Norway - a herb native to cool temperate regions,

[Travel2?]

Are cloudberries seasonal? We'll be traveling in October and hope to get a taste. 

[hallasm]

15 minutes ago, Travel2? said:

Are cloudberries seasonal? We'll be traveling in October and hope to get a taste. 

Seasonal. August and September - might be available October In North Norway.

- very tasty and aromatic berries - flavors of passion fruit, and apricot.