Coastal Express Excursions

[anaco_angler]

Has anyone taken the Hjørunfjord - Tastes and Traditions excursion from Ålesund? Or the Taste of Vesterålen from Harstad? It's hard to find any reviews of Hurtigruten excursions, and since they are quite pricey, we were hoping someone could offer some insight.

Thank you.

[grayjay]

Just back from a Coastal express cruise: Hjorundfjord was wonderful to experience. Didn't do the excursion itself but heard of people who liked it. But gliding along the fjord was great in itself.

The Vesteralen sightseeing tour is interesting, but you have to keep in mind that it will start at 8.00 o'clock in the morning and during our October cruise it was still quite dark at that time. Quite a lot of the excursions started or ended in darkness so we didn't book anything except the midnight concert. It's also worthwhile to look at the weather reports and book on board - as the ships are never this full in winter time you'll almost certainly will have enough time to book. During our October cruise there were always offers for all excursions available except ( at first) for the RIB boat experience.

[anaco_angler]

On 11/1/2023 at 2:34 PM, grayjay said:

Just back from a Coastal express cruise: Hjorundfjord was wonderful to experience. Didn't do the excursion itself but heard of people who liked it. But gliding along the fjord was great in itself.

The Vesteralen sightseeing tour is interesting, but you have to keep in mind that it will start at 8.00 o'clock in the morning and during our October cruise it was still quite dark at that time. Quite a lot of the excursions started or ended in darkness so we didn't book anything except the midnight concert. It's also worthwhile to look at the weather reports and book on board - as the ships are never this full in winter time you'll almost certainly will have enough time to book. During our October cruise there were always offers for all excursions available except ( at first) for the RIB boat experience.

Thank you, grayjay. Our trip is 06-12 December so your reminder about it being dark, and about checking the weather forecast, are appreciated. We will wait and see what's available when we're on board.

[adam7392]

On 11/1/2023 at 9:34 PM, grayjay said:

Just back from a Coastal express cruise: Hjorundfjord was wonderful to experience. Didn't do the excursion itself but heard of people who liked it. But gliding along the fjord was great in itself.

The Vesteralen sightseeing tour is interesting, but you have to keep in mind that it will start at 8.00 o'clock in the morning and during our October cruise it was still quite dark at that time. Quite a lot of the excursions started or ended in darkness so we didn't book anything except the midnight concert. It's also worthwhile to look at the weather reports and book on board - as the ships are never this full in winter time you'll almost certainly will have enough time to book. During our October cruise there were always offers for all excursions available except ( at first) for the RIB boat experience.

 

Hi, regards the midnight concert - is that the one in Tromso ?

 

If so is there a need to take the ship excursion or can you just simply walk there yourself and pay the entrance fee at the cathedral ?  From what I can see on the excursion you walk there anyway from the ship.

[grayjay]

I'm not sure if the Midnight concert is still offered by Hurtigruten. We went to the concert when on a Havila ship and liked it very much - traditional music played on the organ or piano plus saxophone and a singer. It was exclusively for ship passengers and had to be booked on board. (495 NOK) It was about 5 minutes to walk from the ship.