Best of Norway cruising and Reindeer

[Harveydog67]

I am looking into a cruise to Norway for 2025, first off I have cruised NCL twice before, but not necessary loyal to them, I just want the best itinerary for me. So I'm looking for pros and cons of cruise lines and cruises to Norway/Scandinavia 

 

2nd: Are there any excursions that offer reindeer sledding or interactions during the summer months? Or will I see them out and about? 

Thank you in advance!

[hallasm]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

What is the best cruise to Norway is a very subjective assessment. Is it the deep Norwegian fjords, the midnight sun and the Arctic Circle or the Northern Lights. Much depends on the season - northern lights and snow are only in winter, while the midnight sun is only within the Arctic Circle in June and July.
I personally prefer the deep fjords to Geiranger, Flåm or Olden - choose a cruise that has two deep fjords on the itinerary. Bergen and Ålesund are good coastal towns. Note that options for cruises to Geiranger and Flåm will be severely limited from 2026 due to restrictions on emissions in the world heritage fjords.

To experience reindeer, you have to go to northern Norway. For example, Tromsø or Alta. Snow and sledding are only in northern Norway during winter.
I have no preferences for cruise lines. A different cruise experience is Hurtigruten or Havila, which have ships on fixed routes along Norway's west coast.

 

Edited March 8 by hallasm

[kaisatsu]

If you are considering including northern Norway, I love Tromsø and Lofoten Islands (Leknes, Gravdal, or Svolvær) almost as much as the iconic fjords.

 

Even in winter, reindeer sledding is not nearly as common as dogsledding. Reindeer are farmed for meat and hides more than for transportation. In the far northern plateaus, it’s not uncommon to see reindeer herds out grazing, as this is the area where it is most common, and the traditional Sami lifestyle is most prevalent. I’ve seen them en route to the Nordkapp (North Cape) landmark on an excursion from the Honningsvåg port.

[kaisatsu]

PS - If you want to eat reindeer, you’ll usually be able to find it in a few restaurants in most larger cities. And it’s fairly common in salami-style sausages (spekepølse) sold in most larger supermarkets.

[edinburgher]

17 hours ago, Harveydog67 said:

Are there any excursions that offer reindeer sledding or interactions during the summer months? Or will I see them out and about? 

We saw 2 or 3 of them running  freely  along a street in Honningsvag. (port for the North Cape if that on your itinerary)

[Hezu]

1 hour ago, kaisatsu said:

Even in winter, reindeer sledding is not nearly as common as dogsledding. Reindeer are farmed for meat and hides more than for transportation. In the far northern plateaus, it’s not uncommon to see reindeer herds out grazing, as this is the area where it is most common, and the traditional Sami lifestyle is most prevalent. I’ve seen them en route to the Nordkapp (North Cape) landmark on an excursion from the Honningsvåg port.

Also worth a mention, that majority of time reindeer herders allow most of their flocks to roam around quite freely and only few times in a year the herds are rounded up to sort out which animal belongs to whom and which ones should be slaughtered etc.