Norwegian Fijords & SNOW

[Evesham]

Looking for guidance please to help a family member try their first cruise.  They want 6/7/8 nights, sailing from Southampton, seeing snow around the Fijords with ability to go dog sledding, maybe snow boarding - active couple in ports.  Is this even possible  in the Ports reached in a 1 weeks cruise?  If so, when is the best month for snow & such activities/excursions?   I’m not a very active cruiser, so unfortunately have no experience that can help them - I’m more a kind of Flam train ride with lunch/wine/more wine & train back to the dock🤣🤣. Any help given would be appreciated.  Thank you for your time.

[LHT28]

Maybe May  would have snow but dog sledding  maybe just do a land trip

 

https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/dog-sledding/

[hallasm]

Not possible at a ‘traditional Norwegian Fjords’ cruise.
Dog Sledding is only during winter - from November to April. Also you probably need to go to Tromsø area or further north Some cruise lines does offer Northern Lights Cruises to Norway from Southampton during winter.

An alternative is the Norwegian Coastal Route from Bergen to Kirkenes - either Hurtigruten og Havila Voyages

Edited December 23, 2021 by hallasm

[Evesham]

Thanks for the input folks.  I’ve suggested they consider the Alps 🤣🤣, and just concentrate on Norway for its beauty.

[kitkat343]

or If they want to visit  dogsled on a 7 day cruise over the summer, they might want to consider a cruise  to Alaska.  

 

There's a great Temsco helicopter to Dog Sled camp on a mountaintop in Skagway (please note that Temsco is the subcontractor for the helicopter tours for the cruise ships, and you can save 10% by booking directly through their company. Also, if you choose to visit a dog sled camp, please make sure you do it in Skagway, not Juneau since the weather is a bit more stable in Skagway. Also, please try to book your helicopter tour in the morning, since helicopter tours are often cancelled due to inclement weather. If your helicopter is scheduled for the morning, you will have a better chance of it being rescheduled for the afternoon, instead of the tour being cancelled outright. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you will be able to participate in this amazing activity due to the unpredictable Alaskan weather).   

 

There's lots of adventure travel in Alaska, and it's an amazing cruise also.   

Edited December 25, 2021 by kitkat343

[kaisatsu]

The iconic fjords are actually quite temperate and do not see all that much snow even in the peak of winter. The climate is somewhat similar to the Pacific Northwest. As an example, Bergen is known for being rainy year-round. These areas do get snow, but it will typically be up in the hills.

 

Winter cruises to Norway are becoming increasingly common in recent years, but due to the gray and rainy climate in the south combined with the short daylight hours, most winter cruises head farther north above the Arctic Circle with the hope of seeing the Northern Lights. These cruises tend to offer more snow-focused activities, but given the distance involved, they tend to be a bit longer than one week.

[Nitemare]

Iceland has snowmobiling and dog sledding (not a native sport, but done for tourists) year round

[Coral]

This was in the port of Skjolden - there were Olympic European skiers practicing cross country skiing here. This was in June. Though there were very few shore excursions in this port and none that you described:

 

[WeBcruisingMN]

I don’t check the Port specific boards too much, but just saw this. My husband and I sailed the 8 night Norway cruise (from Southampton) from April 30-May 8, 2017. We had a fantastic private excursion from the port of Geiranger, where we snowshoed atop 3 meters of snow on a beautiful sunny and warm day. It was a great workout and was full of beauty and also a nice provided lunch. To date, it is probably my favorite excursion EVER. Message me if you want more info

sharonbaranick at yahoo dot com