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Overnight travelers sleeping in public areas?


GeezerCouple
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Apologies, I can't find the post where I had asked about this.

 

Anyway, when I inquired about overnight trippers sleeping in public areas (and was that a problem), the response was (I think!) that overnight travelers must have a cabin.

 

However, reading on FlyerTalk, someone has been looking for a one night cabin for a short trip on Hurtigruten, and they had trouble.

It seems to have turned out that they actually did book passage, and are "hoping" that someone cancels so they'll have a cabin.

Others pointed out that the public areas are comfortable, so they shouldn't have too much trouble sleeping there.

 

One thought I had was that Hurtigruten might not assign single nights (or other short stays) in advance, thus risking blocking several or many different cabins for the NB, SB, or RT passengers.

Is there any chance this would be handled sort of as a "guarantee" on a regular cruise line, so Hurtigruten will assign whichever cabins remain available to the short trippers, filling in here or there, or bunching many of them sequentially in the same cabins that weren't reserved by the longer cruisers?

 

Or can shorter-cruise passengers now sleep all night in the public areas?

This sort of 'matters', because one of our goals is to see Northern Lights, and we thought perhaps we might nap during the day, and stay up in the front lounge, with huge windows, perhaps reading, in case there is a quick sighting. Because we are sailing at the end of winter, we can't plan to sit outside, watching/waiting, which would be great in warmer weather.

 

Or am I just imagining a problem that doesn't actually occur (more than an occasional person "camping out" all night in the public areas)?

 

Thanks.

 

GC

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Or am I just imagining a problem that doesn't actually occur (more than an occasional person "camping out" all night in the public areas)?

That's pretty much it, I think, particularly in winter. In addition, there are plenty of public lounges on the ship so you will always be able to find a quiet spot for yourself. People who sleep in lounges are doing it at their own "risk" and their rest doesn't have priority over normal use of the room. So just do what you want to do. You will not have to walk over crowds of people sleeping on the floor.

 

It is possible to book an overnight without a cabin if the trip is shorter than 24 hours. On the other hand, booking for port-to-port trip during high season (mainly summer) have opened late these past few years, so maybe that is why some people cannot buy a cabin for a short trip at the moment. It also seems that port-to-port are now very difficult to book on some countries's website (for instance, since January, it is not possible any longer to book port-to-port trips on the French website, you need to call. Not sure it's progress).

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That's pretty much it, I think, particularly in winter. In addition, there are plenty of public lounges on the ship so you will always be able to find a quiet spot for yourself. People who sleep in lounges are doing it at their own "risk" and their rest doesn't have priority over normal use of the room. So just do what you want to do. You will not have to walk over crowds of people sleeping on the floor.

 

It is possible to book an overnight without a cabin if the trip is shorter than 24 hours. On the other hand, booking for port-to-port trip during high season (mainly summer) have opened late these past few years, so maybe that is why some people cannot buy a cabin for a short trip at the moment. It also seems that port-to-port are now very difficult to book on some countries's website (for instance, since January, it is not possible any longer to book port-to-port trips on the French website, you need to call. Not sure it's progress).

 

Thanks so much.

 

This matches what was reported, including the difficulty getting info/making a reservation for the short trip.

 

And... it turns out that it is something like 23 hours :) so that would qualify as you describe for "no cabin", even though it's not what the person wants.

 

Do you know if they have some sort of policy to prevent people from doing what I described, reserving in very short trips on lots of different cabins (different people, of course!) and thus interfering with the full cruise availability?

 

I think with the "basic" reservation level (not remembering the name... the opposite of the new "Platinum"), one cannot select a cabin, which is probably one way Hurtigruten handles it. Those would be travelers who can be put into "whichever cabin remains" at the last minute, I guess.

 

So if there are "more people than cabin capacity", it's because of the less than 24 hour travelers?

 

Thanks again.

 

We arrive in Oslo one month from today!

The trip is almost here, finally.

It's going to be fun, an adventure, and relaxing, no matter what the weather.

We'll have fun even without any Northern Lights. But IF there are none, then we need another trip somewhere in search of them, right? ;)

 

Your write ups have been so very helpful, truly!

I'm sure it's a huge effort, but it is both fun and helpful to read and re-read.

And ditto, many thanks to hallasm!

 

GC

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Do you know if they have some sort of policy to prevent people from doing what I described, reserving in very short trips on lots of different cabins (different people, of course!) and thus interfering with the full cruise availability?

 

From my experience, Hurtigruten policy is actually going more and more towards favoring "full trip" passengers (in either or both directions) over port-to-port travellers. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to book port-to-port short trips. If you want to book a short trip during summer you can only book a few months in advance, because the cabins are being held for full-trip passengers. So if you try to book a short trip on the website and have a notice that the ship is full, it usually does not mean the ship is full, it means there are no cabin allocated for short trips at that time. If your trip is less than 24 hours, you can always buy a passenger only fare. Presumably that's what happened for the person you are talking about. However, I'm pretty sure the ship he is on is actually not full, just that Hurtigruten is trying to sell full-trip in priority.

 

The port-to-port bookings for summer should be possible sometimes in February, based on the experience of the previous years.

 

 

However, Hurtigruten is officially primarily a cargo and passenger transport line, and as such is receiving subsidies from the Norwegian state because it performs a public service. A lot of locals are already complaining because tourists are taking over the line (for instance in the North, where transport by boat is still a big thing in winter, some ports are frequently cancelled to make sure that the tourists will be on time for their plane in Kirkenes). So as such, port-to-port options need to stay available because that is the spirit of the line. And as far as I can see, they remain available on the Norwegian website. But clearly Hurtigruten is trying to seriously tone down the possibility for port-to-port for their international customers. And personaly I think it is not a good thing.

 

I wish you a great trip, plenty of Northern Lights and I thank you for your appreciation on my blog. I'm myself off to Norway in one week to board MS Lofoten :)

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On hurtigruten.no you can still book a short journey less 5 days - For journeys above 5 days, you can choose between the cabins in the selected category (Polar inside, Polar outside, Arctic Superior and Expedition Suites) . When traveling 5 days or less, you will receive an unspecified cabin in the chosen category. Cabins will be assigned to all passengers before the cruise. There will be no

Basic, Select or Platinum does refer to different benefits included in the price (like coffee, dinner time, wine etc. )

You can also book shorter trips without cabin as explained by SarniaLo. but don't worry, those people will not sleep in the lounges - if any. If you have not booked a cabin you will not get one! You can only book a cabin if one is available and "NO more people than cabin capacity"!

Enjoy you cruise - hope you will post during your cruise.

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