Best cruise-line for Norwegian Fjords?

[allisonfamily]

Well this is really annoying.

We searched and searched and finally found our Best-For-Us Fjords Cruise, covering both of the two UNESCO fjords that are closing soon ... Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord stopping in Flåm, Hellesylt and Geiranger. (YC class in the MSC Euribia).  Booked it.

(Hellesylt and Geiranger are very close.  Hellesylt was only a one-hour touch-and-go; most of the port time was in Geiranger.)

Today we learned that MSC dropped Geiranger from the itinerary completely!  What that *probably* means is that the ship won't sail down the beautiful eastern arm of Geirangerfjord.

I don't care about docking in the port of Geiranger, but sailing down that arm of the fjord is (to me) a big deal.  The whole point to this cruise was to hit both of these two UNESCO fjords.  Not *almost* go to these fjords.

 

Of course, there's no way to confirm where the captain plans to sail.  (Heck, they haven't even explained *why* they changed the itinerary.)

 

Has anyone had this type of sudden itinerary change?  I can't imagine that there's any recourse.  I'm sure I could cancel, but I'm equally sure that MSC wouldn't give me a refund.

 

I'm guessing that this means I'll hire onto an "excursion" to take a ferry or tour-boat from Hellesylt to Geiranger, and bus back to port.  Anyone have suggestions?

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, allisonfamily said:

Has anyone had this type of sudden itinerary change?  I can't imagine that there's any recourse.  I'm sure I could cancel, but I'm equally sure that MSC wouldn't give me a refund.

 

If you read my earlier posts on this thread, the same thing, more or less, did happen to me as well. The cruise I'd booked for a similar itinerary was drastically changed. Luckily mine happened enough in advance that I could find another itinerary and just have them move my deposit. I'm not sure what your situation is.

 

At least you may have the option to do Geirangerfjord on your own; that's something. There is a forum here on CC that includes the Northern Europe ports including Scandinavia. It's likely you could find tour recommendations there. Having been to several of these countries in the past, local tours are generally very well run, safe, and conscious of timing to get passengers back to ships.

 

[thinfool]

We did all of that in 2004 on a final sailing out of Dover on the HAL Noordam...it was great....however, anyone planning on the rail trip from Flam should know that bookings fill outrageously fast....make them early, like a year out, maybe more.

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, thinfool said:

We did all of that in 2004 on a final sailing out of Dover on the HAL Noordam...it was great....however, anyone planning on the rail trip from Flam should know that bookings fill outrageously fast....make them early, like a year out, maybe more.

 

The schedule and tickets for a given year become available in about mid-December of the preceding year. 

 

I made my reservations about 2-3 days after the schedule was released in Dec 2023 for Aug 2024 sailing. As of a couple of weeks ago, most of the times that would work for cruise passengers were already sold out for my trip.