excursions on southbound Classic Voyage Norway

We will be traveling on the southbound - Kirkenes to Bergen - route on the MS Nordkapp from September 4 - 9. I recently read on a British site that it was more expensive to book the excursions in advance than to book once you are onboard. Does anyone have experience with these excursions and prices? Since we are traveling in the autumn, is it possible that excursions will still be open and available once we board the ship? Also can anyone recommend particularly good autumn excursions or tell me of ones that really aren't too spectacular? Thanks.

Unless there is an excursion you really really want to do, I wouldn't bother with booking in advance. The main problem you may encounter is that an excursion is cancelled because there are not enough people interested, but at this season I'd be hugely surprised if an excursion filled up. I have traveled at various season (except full summer) and I have never seen an excursion fill up.

At this season I have done the "Eagle Safari" excursion. To be honest, my main incentive was to take pictures of the Hurtigruten ship from outside, but we saw plenty of birds, and the sailing itself in Trollfjord, and then in the Raftsundet and onto Svolvaer (by a different route from the Hurtigruten ship) was very pleasant. This is the account on my blog : http://voyageterremer.blogspot.fr/2014/10/safari-aux-aigles.html (and I realise that I haven't written the English part for the end of that trip... You can use Google translate if needed). The downside of this excursion is that I think entering the Trollfjord on the bigger Hurtigruten ship is more spectacular, and you miss that with the excursion (you do enter the Trollfjord though, just on a smaller boat).

I also have heard good things about the Vesteraalen excursion from Harstad (same day as the Eagle Safari, in the morning). I haven't done it but talked to many happy people. It's a lot of bus but it is a way to discover the landscape of the inside of the islands, which you can't see from the ship.

This is my only experience with Southbound excursions at this season actually. You don't need excursions to visit the towns, they are very doable on your own.

Thank you. I agree and had decided that we can do the towns on our own. The eagle safari was one I had considered. Have you ever seen the Atlantic Road on your own, not as an excursion with Hurtigruten? By the way, I was looking at some of your photos last evening and they are quite amazing - really helped to set my mood for the upcoming adventure.

:)

Many thanks for your appreciation! I'm glad my pictures were helpful to you.

I haven't been on the Atlantic road, either with Hurtigruten or on my own, sorry.

I've been on the Atlantic Road, and although it is pretty by following the coastline, the roads through the mountains and fjords areas are more spectacular.

Over the years we have done a few of the excursions. I would highly recommend Breakfast at the North Cape....you are the only ship passengers up there and have the place to yourselves. Good weather is important and almost impossible to predict. The Taste of Vesteralen gives you a good view of that part of the Lofotens. The Sea Eagle Safari was sold out the last time we were onboard (late summer). The Atlantic Road was interesting, but too much time was spent eating a very poor meal. I'd skip it. People rave about the concert in Tromso, If you ar mobile and enjoy walking, Trondheim is a city you can explore on your own. Don't miss a visit inside the cathedral. The best tour: enjoying the amazing scenery all the way down the coast...it's the best "excursion"!

We did the one-after-the-last-of-the-season(!) Sea Eagle Safari and thoroughly enjoyed it.

'The one-after-the-last-of-the-season'? The last Safari of the season had been run but there were so many requests on our trip, and the weather was so good, that they arranged an additional one. It was quite dark when we got ashore to wait for the Midnatsol but that didn't detract from a lovely experience.

I really enjoyed the Sea Eagle Safari, and it books up early, so would recommend pre-booking. I also did Breakfast at the North Cape and enjoyed the visit there as well as the drive to and from. This one you can probably wait to book. Our bus was not full. We had a cold and rainy day, but it was still a "bucket list" visit for me.

I did the round trip Bergen to Kirkenes, so got to go through the Trollfjord (on the MS Trollfjord) going north, and then visited again on the Sea Eagle Safari boat going south, so saw it both ways. Both are impressive, but I am glad I got two different viewpoints. I did get some great photos of the ship from the boat too.