Booking on hurtigruten.no

[LinnieRed]

Hello experienced travelers,

 

DH and I are going to book for one of the new expedition cruises, the “Magic of the Arctic Winter” on the Otto Sverdrup. My plan is to use the .no site due to the drastic price difference. I’ve compared the inclusions, etc. And they appear to be the exact same verbiage on both the US and the NO sites. 

 My question is this:  once we submit our deposit and initial booking, do they communicate with us in English?

 

On a sidenote, we have decided on the QR category, from what I read we can select one of the three cabins on the sixth deck that are not blocked by the lifeboats and still have a view. These cabins are slightly less expensive than the P2 category but seem to be close to twice as big. And I on the right track here? 

 

 I have tried to read all of the prior posts so that I know what I’m getting myself into with this and have done as much due diligence as I can but still have these questions. Thank you in advance for your help. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Linnie

[hallasm]

29 minutes ago, LinnieRed said:

on the Otto Sverdrup.

Now we have to get used to new names - ‘Otto Sverdrup’ is former ’Finnmarken’ 

 

34 minutes ago, LinnieRed said:

do they communicate with us in English?

When booking at the .no site links will be provided to documents in Norwegian Language - and cruise contract will also be in Norwegian Language.

You can find the documents in English language as well - if you communicate in English answers by email or by phone will be in English.

34 minutes ago, LinnieRed said:

decided on the QR category

At the deck plan the category is QJ  - I have not sailed Finnmarken but as I read the deck plan the three cabin does not hav obstructed view. Hopefully someone who have sailed Finmarken has the answer.

 

Important to ask  questions and e well prepared - primarily for Hurtigruten which is not a mainstream cruise line.

[Drumbeat16]

I booked a port to port trip on Hurtigruten.no last year with the aid of Google translate. E-mails from them were in English and Norwegian, I did need to phone them when I made the final payment and they were extremely helpful. I'll definitely be booking through the Norwegian site for our next trip (we're in Australia and the price difference was well worth it).

[LinnieRed]

Thanks for all of this info! I feel like my plan is sound. 

[Aliyah17]

Apologies to a few of you who read this tale on another post. I booked just today through the .no site. At first we wondered whether we'd even be allowed to, I mean why the vast price difference? We almost gave up when the website gave us nothing but error messages. But I went ahead and called, and no problem. I ran into a one-off problem when I thought, I should probably translate this invoice before I pay it. And the cabin description was different from the English and Norwegian websites in that it allowed for the possibility of getting twin beds instead of a double. I wrote and was assured it would be a double. I asked for that in writing, and oops, there is one cabin that has twins and I got it (last available). My point is you need to be on your toes and translate everything. Everyone speaks English if you call, so that's not a problem. 

We had our hearts set on this trip by this point, so she searched for an upper deck cabin for me. The only one available in our time frame was two days earlier, 2 December on the Polarlys. That one has obstructed view. I debated it and realized at that time of year, it's dark most of the day anyway, and we won't be in the room when looking at the scenery. So I went for it, I think it's no big deal. In the summer, I definitely would not have made that choice.

Also, when the name change? It's still called MS Finnmarken on the website.

[hallasm]

Aliyah17 Thank you for the update - very useful information.

22 minutes ago, Aliyah17 said:

It's still called MS Finnmarken on the website.

It's still MS Finnnmarken if booking is before the make over. After the mak over in 2020 you will book MS Otto Sverdrup.

[tothemall&beyond]

On 9/17/2019 at 8:00 AM, Drumbeat16 said:

I booked a port to port trip on Hurtigruten.no last year with the aid of Google translate. E-mails from them were in English and Norwegian, I did need to phone them when I made the final payment and they were extremely helpful. I'll definitely be booking through the Norwegian site for our next trip (we're in Australia and the price difference was well worth it).

Ditto! We booked our Nov 2020 cruise using the .no site. Used Google translate during the booking process, and for my cruise confirmation, but my various emails with Hurtigruten Norway were always in English, as were my phone calls. 

[LinnieRed]

Update: We booked yesterday on the .no site for a savings of 4000USD. I had 2 iPads and did a mock booking on the US site as I navigated the Norwegian site. It was very simple. 

Our cruise documents are in Norwegian, so I have sent an email asking for all future communication to be in English. 

 

The (very long) countdown begins!

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by LinnieRed

[SarniaLo]

Note that by booking on the Norwegian website the T&C are the Norwegian ones (they change from one country to the other, pay attention especially to the cancellation conditions), and in the (unlikely) event of anything going bad between Hurtigruten and you, the contract between you falls under Norwegian consumer laws. It's usually not a problem but it's worth knowing. I've booked on the Norwegian website several times with no issue (and substantial savings!).

[mcpepe]

I booked my two Fram cruises on the Norwegian site with substantial savings as well. Had no problem. When the excursion forms were sent in Norwegian, I simply asked they be sent in English.

[SargassoPirate]

I booked through global.Hurtigruten.com after checking prices with some US-based TAs.  We wanted the roundtrip coastal cruise out of Bergen.  The US TAs would not book the ferry route, just the expedition cruises.  When it was all said and done, we booked the coastal roundtrip on the Nordkapp.  It was about half of what the TA quoted for a regular cruise.  We'll visit more ports, where I always enjoy watching the logistics of loading and off loading.

 

Plus, the global.Hurtigruten.com website has an online chat that was very convenient when we decided to upgrade our cabin for a better view.  They are based in the UK, so there was no language barrier and my documents arrived via email in english.

 

Worked for us.

Edited November 11, 2019 by SargassoPirate

[clo]

On 11/11/2019 at 6:45 AM, SargassoPirate said:

Plus, the global.Hurtigruten.com website has an online chat that was very convenient when we decided to upgrade our cabin for a better view.  They are based in the UK, so there was no language barrier and my documents arrived via email in english.

 

We booked the Lofoten for next spring.  It will be her last season doing the coastal journey.  We could only book it through the UK office.

[QShip]

We are interested in a coastal cruise in Sept and are looking at booking through .no.  Does anyone know if this affects the validity of travel insurance?

[SarniaLo]

You should ask your travel insurance, as this might differ between companies, but I don't think it would. Read your contract to see if it is mentioned?

[hallasm]

7 hours ago, QShip said:

We are interested in a coastal cruise in Sept and are looking at booking through .no.  Does anyone know if this affects the validity of travel insurance?

Cannot see why booking at the .no web should impact travel insurance. Terms and conditions does vary  based on where you book - Hurtigruten does have a a non-refundable deposit of 20%. Read terms and conditions.

[QShip]

Looking at booking on .no, .global and .com.  Substantial differences in fares, but have difficulty getting through the entire process on .no and .global.  As soon as I get it set up will see if a VPN helps.

[Bella0714]

1 hour ago, QShip said:

Looking at booking on .no, .global and .com.  Substantial differences in fares, but have difficulty getting through the entire process on .no and .global.  As soon as I get it set up will see if a VPN helps.

Try Google Chrome. It'll automatically translate it for you, but you're right: a VPN works.

[QShip]

I can get the translation ok in both Firefox and Chrome, just get to a certain point (choose cabin) and cannot go any further (though Chrome works slightly better).

[SarniaLo]

Try to keep the site in Norwegian (without the translation tool activated?). If you open it with an English-speaking website in parallel you should understand what they ask.

I've just tried this on Firefox for a random date in April and it works fine for me.

[QShip]

Did  it allow you to specify a cabin and proceed to personal information? I was able to pick a date and proceed to pick a cabin, which specified a particular cabin and also allowed a change, but could not get to actual entry of name, address, etc.

 

I will try it this afternoon.

[SarniaLo]

Yes I could choose a cabin and then was directed to the page to give personal information. I stopped there because I actually don't want to book 😉 but I could enter all my personal details.

[QShip]

Thanks, Sarnia.  I just went to .no after clearing my cache and it will allow me to proceed with a booking.  I am able to follow the booking procedure (in Norsk) by having a parallel window open in the .com site.  Somewhat precarious, but probably do-able.  For some reason when I get that far the .no page will not translate.

 

Will still work on getting a VPN set up to use, but if that does not work it looks like I will be able to use the above procedure.

[QShip]

Update:  Have set up a VPN and it does not seem to make any difference.  When I use the vpn and log in from a European server I still get the price differences.  When I use the vpn and log in from a Norwegian server I got the lesser prices, the pages are still in Norsk, and I cannot use Google Translate after drilling down 4-5 pages.  It is possible to use other translators, but very cumbersome.

 

I think the only way to do it is run a parallel page in English, but other suggestions would certainly be welcome.

Edited January 23, 2020 by QShip
typo

[hallasm]

6 hours ago, QShip said:

Have set up a VPN

The VPN will not improve the use of Translate. You’ll need to use the ‘parallel page option’ - should be straight forward. 
You might get some communication in Norwegian by e-mail, but if you write in English to booking@hurtigruten.com the reply will be in English.

[QShip]

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

The VPN will not improve the use of Translate. You’ll need to use the ‘parallel page option’ - should be straight forward. 
You might get some communication in Norwegian by e-mail, but if you write in English to booking@hurtigruten.com the reply will be in English.

You are absolutely correct, but it did give me a chance to learn about VPN's, so all was not lost.  Have tried a lot of translate add-ons, but none allow me to get around the .no impeding the later pages in their site.