Greenland vs Norway

[travelrevealed]

I am struggling to find information on even potential excursions in Greenland vs Norway. We are considering 2 different itineraries next summer. 

 

Greenland and Iceland on the Star round trip Reykjavík 

 

Or

 

Norway, Iceland, Greenland on the Star from Tromso to Reykjavik 

 

I am thinking the excursions could help be a decision maker… Any guidance is appreciated!

[ColeThornton]

Check out the N. Europe ports of call forum.  Lots of good info to peruse:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

[Purple_Pig]

I did the Greenland - Iceland cruise last summer. 

 

AMAZING.

However, for Greenland it is all about the excursions.  And they are not cheap nor easy to find/book.  It was NCL's first time in Greenland so they were still figuring out the whole excursion thing.  Lots of people had issues I think.  Thankfully, we did not.

We ended up with only 2 ports instead of 3 due to weather.  One port I spent I think $1500?  That day was an incredible highlight of the entire trip.

 

Other port I lucked out and won the lottery for one of I think 8 or 12 spots open on the excursion I wanted.  I think that port was almost $2K.  NCL had booked every single boat at the port so booking on your own was impossible.  If I had not gotten a spot that port would have been a complete bust.

 

Norway is also supposed to be gorgeous.  We had a brief window of time thinking we were going to be rerouted there instead of Greenland due to weather.  That would have been fine - you can't control the weather!  I prefered Greeland though.

 

For Iceland - you really need some time on the land before or after the cruise to really see it.

[lepidoptera]

I was also on the NCL Star Iceland and Greenland sailing. I did catch covid so I missed the Iceland ports, so can only speak to Greenland. Greenland was beautiful and I did enjoy it very much.

 

However, 2 of the Greenland ports that we were scheduled to go to were very, very small. I feel like the did not have the infrastructure to have that many people there. I did luck out in Nanortalik and got to go on the fantastic Tasermiut Fjord tour that NCL had as an excursion-there was 5 seats in the boat and 2 trips-so 10 people total. There were many people who hadn’t been able to book anything, and were trying to book things on land but those sold out very quickly as well. If you say I will book something independently, people did that but then lost the reservations when NCL bought everything out. 

 

In Nuuk I was scheduled to do a boat tour, however the company that NCL contracted with had a broken boat. So they ended up having to kick people off of that excursion all day. I again was lucky and got on a walking tour of Nuuk. Even though I was happy to get on a tour I wasn’t impressed with the guide. 

 

The cruise before our was also supposed to be a Greenland tour, however ended up going to Norway due to weather. We missed 2 out of 6 ports, due to weather.
 

I am not saying don’t go, just wanted to bring up some of the difficulties specific to the itinerary. I would however recommend if you go to book an inside or oceanview. It was way too cold to spend time on my balcony. There was no scenery due to being in fog all the way over to Greenland and back. The curtains do not do a good job of blocking out the light, mine had several holes that let light in. Also I could here the fog horn in my room constantly. All in all I slept poorly until I got moved to an oceanview isolation cabin.

[terry&mike]

DH and I sailed an Iceland and Greenland itinerary on Princess in August of this year, and we sailed a Norway Intensive itinerary on Hurtigruten before Covid.  Of the two, we preferred Norway, as it had more charm. 

We rarely do excursions, preferring to get off the ship and take a long walk into/around town when it's a port that lends to this (Reykavik, Icelend), or take a scenic/nature hike (Qaquortoq, Greenland). In Akureyri, Iceland we did a private tour with GoHusky where we went hiking with Husky dogs that was a lot of fun. We also missed one port in Greenland due to the weather. 

In Norway, we did similar things of strolling through the charming little towns with a bit of shopping and stop for a snack, and nature hiking, depending on the port.  

[Turtles06]

On 11/25/2022 at 4:19 PM, travelrevealed said:

I am struggling to find information on even potential excursions in Greenland

 

Please folks, do some research on the country.  Greenland is not about "excursions."  The entire vast country has a population of only about 57,000 people.   There are no roads connecting the small villages and towns in which people live.  One of the most visited towns on Greenland cruises is Nanortalik, which had a population of 1,185 in 2020 -- fewer people than arriving by most cruise ships!   There is no real tourist infrastructure to handle these ships.  Perhaps there are some folks who will take you out on a small boat; my research showed the boats were often not working and these "excursions" could not be relied on.

 

And do not let that concern you.  Visiting Greenland by cruise ship imho is about the beautiful scenery (especially on a cruise going through Prince Christian Sound) and about going ashore in these small towns, meeting the people, and seeing how they live.  We loved our stop at Nanortalik, where the locals welcomed our ship with a choral performance in the church, and where we spent time walking through the extremely interesting open air museum.  In Qaqortoq, a teacher brought her students out to meet folks from the ship and practice their English.   To me, these things are the essence of cruising to Greenland.

 

 

(Nanortalik, photo by turtles06)

[GeezerCouple]

Turtles06,

 

Did you happen to get far enough north in Greenland, to Ilulissat, to see Disko Bay?

GC

[Turtles06]

3 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

Turtles06,

 

Did you happen to get far enough north in Greenland, to Ilulissat, to see Disko Bay?

GC

 

No.  I'm sure that would have been awesome.

 

We were on HAL's 21-day Voyage of the Vikings, from Copenhagen to NY by way of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Maritimes.  A fabulous itinerary.  

 

And folks cruising these areas need to remember that weather can really affect the itinerary.  (True everywhere, of course.) 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

 

No.  I'm sure that would have been awesome.

 

We were on HAL's 21-day Voyage of the Vikings, from Copenhagen to NY by way of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Maritimes.  A fabulous itinerary.  

 

And folks cruising these areas need to remember that weather can really affect the itinerary.  (True everywhere, of course.) 

 

I figure Disko Bay is closer than Antarctica. 😉

Nope, not really a good substitute, but perhaps better than nothing?

 

Again, we always love your photos!  Many thanks!

 

I'm not at all sure we'll ever get to Disko Bay at this point (and the COVID delays and worries certainly made some of that planning a lot worse, alas), but perhaps it's still possible.  It's just very hard to get there.  Before COVID, we were considering a small local ferry, one that had one or two private cabins in addition to a few bunk rooms.  I'm sure that would be an "adventure". 🙂

They seem to be building a larger airport there, but that's going to take t-i-m-e.

 

GC

[swmichigan cruiser]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

No.  I'm sure that would have been awesome.

 

We were on HAL's 21-day Voyage of the Vikings, from Copenhagen to NY by way of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian Maritimes.  A fabulous itinerary.  

 

And folks cruising these areas need to remember that weather can really affect the itinerary.  (True everywhere, of course.) 

Thanks for the info.  This coming late summer we will be doing a similar  itinerary but to make it work for us we are doing two separate cruises.

[travelrevealed]

If Greenland is not so much about excursions, and is more about scenery and walking around villages, how about Norway? Similar in that regard or more traditional excursions?

 

Perhaps I was a bit naïve, but was picturing wildlife oriented excursions or those that take you outside the city to see something uniquely noteworthy--as typical... I find NCL difficult to navigate for shore ex info and not alot on the Boards given it is a new itinerary for them.

[Turtles06]

53 minutes ago, travelrevealed said:

If Greenland is not so much about excursions, and is more about scenery and walking around villages, how about Norway? Similar in that regard or more traditional excursions?

 

Perhaps I was a bit naïve, but was picturing wildlife oriented excursions or those that take you outside the city to see something uniquely noteworthy--as typical... I find NCL difficult to navigate for shore ex info and not alot on the Boards given it is a new itinerary for them.

You’re really in the wrong forum for the information you are seeking. There is an entire forum here on CC devoted to Northern Europe ports of call, including Norway and Greenland. I strongly suggest you read up there, do searches, etc. And perhaps additional research elsewhere about Greenland in particular, where I would not describe the ports as “cities.”

[travelrevealed]

Turtles, I thought this forum is specific to NCL and its itineraries/offerings. The other lines offer different ports and excursions and have different tolerances for port cancellations. I am not considering going on another line, only NCL, so am most interested here. I may not be the most familiar with the boards, but was struggling to find this information specific to NCL after an hour or so of looking where you keep directing me, so figured I would see if anyone was kind of enough to offer their thoughts or experiences here. I will however continue to look there, but if you are aware of particular articles, feel free to share. Hoping to save hours of research by asking the question…

[reeinaz]

@travelrevealed My suggestion, and what I have done myself, is join roll calls for the NCL sailings that visit the port you're interested in. There will often be several postings regarding excursions offered by the cruisline and private excursions that people have signed up for. I am also sailing on NCL to Greenland, Norway, Iceland in August of next year.

[Turtles06]

43 minutes ago, travelrevealed said:

Turtles, I thought this forum is specific to NCL and its itineraries/offerings.

 

Yes, it is specific to NCL.  But from your posts, the foundational information that you most need relates far more to the places/countries you might be visiting than to any specific cruise line, especially NCL for which these itineraries are new.  Which is why the very first person who replied to you here immediately directed you to the Northern Europe forum.  Respectfully, I think you would really benefit by spending some time reading relevant threads there; get a feel for cruising to Greenland and/or Norway. 

 

We have a Norway cruise booked for next summer; it's on HAL, but one of the most important places I went to learn about cruising to Norway and about the fjords and the cruise ports was CC's Northern Europe forum.  Now I can make intelligent decisions about HAL's shorex, private shorex, and DIY.

[AstoriaPreppy]

To but it bluntly, Greenland isn't really designed for traditional cruise ship experiences (shore ex, etc). 

 

We sailed Celebrity this summer from NJ to Iceland, and stoped in Qaqortoq, Greenland on the way. WE also sailed Prince Christian Sound.

 

The "excursions" in Qaqortoq were essentially wandering the town with a local, since there was so little to see. There were only one or two excursions otherwise: very limited boat tours to other sites in the area (ruins of a church or a hot spring on an island). This will be the same for almost any mass market line that sails to Greenland, NCL included.

 

Norway is much more traditional, in the sense of tourism, infrastructure, capacity and excursions. 

 

Also, we really enjoyed sailing Prince Christian Sound, and while spectacular, it's surprisingly barren... especially compared to other fjords we've sailed in around the world.

[milolii]

Besides the port of call forums, I always look for a roll call from some of the most recent cruises to that area.  Here is one from this summer. It’s maybe a lot to read through, but that is exactly what I do.  We were considering this crusie but decided on a Princess cruise, that did not include Greenland. 

 

[Purple_Pig]

On 11/27/2022 at 12:40 AM, lepidoptera said:

I was also on the NCL Star Iceland and Greenland sailing. I did catch covid so I missed the Iceland ports, so can only speak to Greenland. Greenland was beautiful and I did enjoy it very much.

 

....

 

I am not saying don’t go, just wanted to bring up some of the difficulties specific to the itinerary. I would however recommend if you go to book an inside or oceanview. It was way too cold to spend time on my balcony. There was no scenery due to being in fog all the way over to Greenland and back. The curtains do not do a good job of blocking out the light, mine had several holes that let light in. Also I could here the fog horn in my room constantly. All in all I slept poorly until I got moved to an oceanview isolation cabin.

 

We were on the same cruise and we both scored on the small tour.

Our view was incredible.  We saw so many icebergs and whales from our windows.  Though we had an entire wall of windows floor to ceiling.

 

The curtains were perfect. No issues keeping the room dark though we did have sleep masks since we were in Iceland before the cruise.

Agree on the no balcony - absolutely no point in that.

[Purple_Pig]

16 hours ago, travelrevealed said:

Turtles, I thought this forum is specific to NCL and its itineraries/offerings. The other lines offer different ports and excursions and have different tolerances for port cancellations. I am not considering going on another line, only NCL, so am most interested here. I may not be the most familiar with the boards, but was struggling to find this information specific to NCL after an hour or so of looking where you keep directing me, so figured I would see if anyone was kind of enough to offer their thoughts or experiences here. I will however continue to look there, but if you are aware of particular articles, feel free to share. Hoping to save hours of research by asking the question…

 

Well, a couple of us have shared our experiences from the exact cruise you are talking about.

Otherwise, go to the roll call forum and the Northern Europe forum.

 

I will say though, it did take hours upon hours of research for me to plan that trip.  It is not an easy, book a few things you found on tripadvisor, vacation.

 

I chartered a boat in Greenland and wiring that payment was a learning experience for me and my bank.  The banker at my branch had never done one like that.  Because no, small boat captains in Greenland apparently don't take visa!

It is a unique destination.

[WickedRed]

I also did an Iceland/Greenland cruise on the Star this summer only my Greenland portion turned into Norway.  My first piece of advice is be flexible if you do this itinerary (or any itinerary really) because the cruise you do, may not be the one you planned for. 

 

Norway is beautiful!   The excursions we took were long; 6-8 hrs on a bus to see a variety of things.  Nothing is close together.  The scenery on the bus rides was breath taking though.  I'd definitely do it again.  Would probably do a boat ride through the fjords mixed in with bus rides though. Some ports had almost nothing around them and others were in cities.  Though with a 6-8 hr excursion tour, I didn't have a lot of time or energy to explore the ports. 

 

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either cruise.  We did have a balcony.  Since I run hot, I did use it.  Enjoyed sitting out there as we moved through the fjords in and out of ports.   My friend who runs cold, did not use it as much.  Plus the cool air felt really nice in the room at night.  The lack of true darkness took some getting used too, but the room seemed to get dark enough for sleeping with the curtain closed. 

[travelrevealed]

this is exactly what I was hoping to learn from my post, very helpful and appreciate all of your inputs/advice

Edited November 30, 2022 by travelrevealed

[Lanzador]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:15 AM, Purple_Pig said:

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Lanzador
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