NORWEGIAN COASTAL VOYAGES - We're going in Aug. I have a few questions.

I'd love to find somebody who has taken this cruise up and down the coast of Norway. My 78 year old mom and I will be on one of the newest ships in August (I think it's called 'Trollfjord') . I have a few questions:

-We're flying out of Seattle, but so far, I'm only able to find airfares around $1,000. Is that standard? Should I book it now or wait until spring and hope for some deals?

-What's the best airline to fly on to Bergen?

-We are doing the 11 night - back to back. I heard that may be a bit long, but cruising is easiest for my mom and me - no worries. Will we be bored to death after the first week?

-Some of the excursions are expensive. Were you able to do some touring on your own? I'm not sure if we should book just ship tours or do some on our own.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first visit to Europe. Funny... My husband is Norwegian, and he can't go. I'm Italian.

Thanks much!!

Caroline

WA state

Oops! We're going on the Midnatsol.

Caroline

Oops! We're going on the Midnatsol.

Doesn't matter much as MIDNATSOL and TROLLFJORD are virtually identical anyway, except for color schemes and artwork. These are the two newest ships of TFDS, which is one of the two companies that run the Hurtigruten (the other is OVDS), and also happen to be the newest of all the eleven Hurtigruten ships. (MIDNATSOL is the newer of the two.)

As to your questions - having not been on the Hurtigruten I really can't answer many aside from the air questions. As for what airline to fly, there are no direct flights from the US to Bergen - you will have to change plans in Europe someplace and as you can do that at virtually any hub (Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, etc.) you have a pretty vast choice of airlines - just about any European carrier I guess. Which ones are the best and worst is really a matter of opinion and I won't get into that.

$1,000 is not at all an exorbitant amount for airfare between the US and Europe, particularly when there is a connection involved and it is to a secondary airport like Bergen. I wouldn't wait - fares are likely to go up, not down as time goes on and if you wait you'll have fewer and fewer choices of airlines and connections.

You might be interested in the interior photos of MIDNATSOL that can be seen here. (The site is in Swedish - click on "Nasta" at the bottom of the page for another page of images.)

The Hurtigruten are in essence the coastal ferry system.

One should check carefully the specific ship's routing,and timings,as some ports of call are literally to unload,and reload.

Additonally,one should check that on the return voyage one is not recalling at the ports one stopped at on the way out.

Additonally,one should check that on the return voyage one is not recalling at the ports one stopped at on the way out.

Actually as I recall the itinerary is in fact identical in both directions. Hurtigruten defend this by saying that the ports visited during the day outbound will be visited at night on the return, and vice versa.

As an alternative you could start the roundtrip from Trondheim, which is situated further north from Bergen. This would cut the trip down to 8 nights. Trondheim has direct flight connections from Amsterdam (KLM airline), one of the main European hubs.

However, this option does not come without a compromise. You would miss one of the highlights of the cruise, The Geiranger Fjord, located between Bergen and Trondheim. So doing the 11 night roundtrip is probably a good choice. Bring a book, enjoy the scenery, relax.

Midnatsol is a very good choice indeed. This is the newest ship of the fleet, and in my opinion also the nicest. I have done a couple of short trips on this ship.

Enjoy your cruise along the Norwegian Coast!

"Bored to death" on this trip.....No way! we did this on a regular UK cruise ship up the inside passage, under bridges, magnificent scenery, you wil love it & I have to say far superior to the much vaunted Alaska inside passage. enjoy your trip & by the way we love Seattle.

My wife and I did this cruise this past August, on the Trollfjord. The scenery is breathtaking. there is a lot of downtime on the ship, but we enjoyed the relaxation. There isn't much nightlife on board, but the bartenders were fun and learned our drinks of choice by the second day!

We did it one-way, Bergen to Kirkenes.

The port stops are short, usually less than an couple of hours. They are long enough to get a brief taste of each area though. As has been mentioned, the ports visited in nighttime on the northbound trip are visited during the day on the southbound trip. I'm sure you won't get bored.

I would recommend to you that if you don't do any other excusrions, definitely do the Gerangerfjord excursion. It takes 7 hours, and you leave the ship at Gerangerfjord and meet it again in the next port. The scenery on this excursion is some of the most incredible scenery I've ever seen in my life.

To get to Bergen, I'd recommend the train from Oslo. It's a ~6 hour ride through some beautiful mountain scenery. Flying is faster, but the train is definitely more interesting.

We flew to Oslo from Miami on Air France using my frequent flyer miles, so I'm really not sure how much tickets to Oslo should cost you. $1000 seems high to me, but then it is the peak of the high season in norway.

I'm really not sure how much tickets to Oslo should cost you. $1000 seems high to me, but then it is the peak of the high season in norway.

And Oslo is more expensive than most European destinations because of the lack of flights. There is only one daily flight from the US to Oslo, on Continental from Newark. (Admittedly, this is one more than there is from the US to Bergen ;) !) Otherwise, no matter where in the US you're flying from, you'll have to change in Europe (like you did). From Seattle, it looks to me that the options are flying Northwest/KLM through Amsterdam, British Airways through London Heathrow (not recommended - I have nothing against BA but LHR is a terrible airport for transfers), or SAS through Copenhagen (SAS is also the national airline of Norway, but in the past year or two they discontinued service from the US to Oslo, retaining only flights to Copenhagen and Stockholm).

I would have expected Lufthansa (through Frankfurt or Munich) and Air France (through Paris CDG) to be options too, but alas it seems that they are not, much to my surprise. (For that matter, I didn't realise that SAS flew to Seattle!) It seems to me that there is a real dearth of flights from Seattle to Europe, as virtually any US-Europe flight on a European airline would offer connections to Oslo. As an example, from JFK, choices for connections include Rekjavik, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Helsinki, and Vienna. Most other big cities would have similar options (though usually not Rekjavik, Warsaw, etc.). I'm surprised that there are so few from Seattle.

Also make sure you check codeshare flights - the Northwest/KLM flights operate under both NW and KL codes (and the international segments could be on either airline - I know NW fly SEA-AMS, I'm not sure if KL do as well), and also you will find that the SAS flights can also be booked with United flight numbers (UA) as well as SAS ones (SK). Sometimes the fare is less expensive for one or the other so make sure you check all your options. (I once booked a flight with three or four different flight numbers - and three or four wildly different fares.)

Thanks for the info but I have a few questions, too...

We are cruising on the Finnmarken in September for 12 days. Flying into Oslo and taking the train to Bergen. Did anyone book the train on their own and, if so, how did you do it?

We have heard there is internet on board. Was it reliable and what was the cost?

Besides the usual, was there any item that you wished you had taken with you?

How was the food?

Appreciate any info- we are really looking forward to this-

Melinda

Unable to answer your specific questions,but our experience of Norwegian trains travelling along the west coast was very satisfactory.

We found the carriages to be spacious with a wide central isle,and the buffet service to be excellent.

Internet on MS Trollfjord was expensive and unreliable. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time and money on it unless the connection on the Finnmarken is significantly better.

The Norwegian rail company's website is www.nsb.no. It's in Norwegian, but I managed to muddle through it to buy my tickets. Do not use Rail Europe, as you'll pay way too much for the tickets. You will have to pick your train tickets up at teh station in Oslo, but it's very simple.

A few tips on the nsb.no rail site:

1) In the "Dato"(date) field, remember the format is ddmm (ie today is 0203 for March 2).

2) Keep trying your dates until you see an option for "minipris" (discount) tickets. We managed to get minipris first class (NSB Komfort) tickets Oslo-Bergen for about $40 each, as opposed to the regular ~$99 for economy. If the price difference is large, just buy economy. First class was only slightly better. When we did it, the price difference was only about $10 though. I think the minipris tickets come available 90 days ahead of time, but they will sell out pretty quickly after that.

3) Use the currency converter over at www.xe.com to see what the current prices are after conversion. Norway uses the Norwegian Kroner, not the Euro. It was about 6 Kroner to the dollar last August.

Please contact me if you have any questions. If you have problems with nsb, private message me and I'll help translate. I managed to work through it by trial and error.

I just found the nsb english page:

NSB English

I am doing the Norwegian Coastal Voyage in late September, early August on the Grand Norway which is a 17 day package. Anyone used the package before? If you have been on the Norway cruise what can you tell me about it?

You can email me at barton497@aol.com.

Thanks!

Tom Barton

I am doing the Norwegian Coastal Voyage in late September, early August on the Grand Norway which is a 17 day package. Anyone used the package before? If you have been on the Norway cruise what can you tell me about it?

You can email me at barton497@aol.com.

Thanks!

Tom Barton

Caroline

WA state

I'm using a package for a cruise in Late September/Early August that includes the airfare. Their price is based on leaving from New York so we will pay an additional $275 leaving from San Francisco. I have done a lot of internet research for this cruise and might have information that you could use. Is their a reason that you don't want a package that includes the airfare because from my research you will save yourself some money and it will include the transfers to and from the ship.

If you plan on doing everything peace meal than I would consider getting a consolidator fare ticket. These are seats that the airlines have released to wholesellers because they figure that they won't get sold. It means that you save in the price in comparsion to the regular fares. My brother who lives in the Portland area swears by them and I have also used them and they and you will save money. The company that I have used in San Francisco is called "Costless Travel" and their web address is http://www.costlesstravel.com.au/. They also have a toll free number.

I have also been looking into the shore excursions and would like to hear from anyone that has been on the roundtrip cruise to see which ones that they took and what they thought.

Fell free to email me at barton497@aol.com if you have any questions.

Tom Barton

Packages can save a ton of money on trips to and around Norway. When I went I did not use a package, but that's because I cashed in frequent flyer miles for most of the air travel and used hotel points for all hotel stays. The only cost to me was the cruise, the train from oslo to Bergen, and one inexpensive air leg within Finland to get to Helsinki.

As for excursions, I can give some advice for the northbound journey, but we did not do the return on the ship. Whatever you do, DO NOT MISS the Geirangerfjord excursion. If you go in the summer it's a 7 hour excursion. You will leave the ship at Geiranger, take a bus trip through the most spectacular mountain scenery, have lunch in a mountain campground, and regain the ship at Alesund after a provided dinner. It was some of the most awesome scenery I've ever experienced.

We also greatly enjoyed the Trondheim excursion to the Museum of Music. Also not to miss is the Nordkapp excursion. We also took the Maelstrom excursion, but I was not impressed with that one, and would have been happier just exploring the town.

Gtalum :

I see listed on the Cruise Norway web site "The North Cape Motorcoach tour from Honningsvag through the reindeer-filled Arctic landscape to the orthernmost point in Europe." Is that the one that you refere to as the "Nordkapp excursion?" I do not see the "Maelstrom excursion" listed as such on their web site. Do you know what day or port that was in?

Tell me about the trip via train from Oslo to Bergen.

What time did you leave Oslo and arrive in Bergen?

What was the train like?

How did you get from the train station to the ship and were you able to board right away?

Which ship were you on and what was that like?

We will be going in Late September/Early October so some of the tours will not be availble. Our ship MS Midnatsol departs on September 29, 2005 and we will be on the ship for the roundtrip voyage.

Thanks for your information.

You can also reach me at barton497@aol.com.

Tom Barton

Okay, I just looked up the coastal voyage website to reresh my memory.

Unfortunately, it looks lik they stop offerign the Geirangerfjord excurion after September 17. i guess there's a concern of snow on the roads.

The Nordkapp excursion is the one you mentioned, the North Cape Motorcoach Tour from Honingsvag. It was really good. It was interestign to be standing on a coastal cliff just ~1000 miles from the North Pole looking into the Arctic.

The maelstrom tour is offered in Bodo. There are two different tours. We took the Sea Eagle tour, which was lackluster. The glacier tour would probably be better. It also would have been better if we were there on a different day. The Salstraumen current only flows when the tide is running very fast. We were there at dead high tide so it wasn't moving at all.

As for the train, we took the one that leaves Oslo at 8:11 AM and it arrives in Bergen around 2:50 PM. There are 5 trains a day to choose from, including one overnight train. They all seem to run right on schedule, to the minute. It was quite confortable, and we managed to get first class very cheaply by looking for 'Minipris" (discount) tickets on the Norwegian Rail website. Coach class didn't look much different from first class, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. The scenery in the mountains is breathtaking. We saw a decent amount of snow, even in mid August. In Oslo, we were staying at the Scandic hotel right above the train station, so getting there was easy. In Bergen, the town is very small. We just walked from the train station to our hotel, and it took about 20 minutes. We went there a day before the ship left, so that we could sightsee in Bergen. They officially start boarding the ship at 5, but the next day we got on at 4 with no problems. Again, we walked from the hotel to the ship, but that was more difficult as there's a large hill between the area where we stayed and the Hurtigruten pier. You should be able to catch a taxi when you get off the train. We're just young and adventurous. We pack very light (one carry-on-legal rollaboard each and a small backpack each for any length trip!) and we like to walk everywhere.

If you can manage to get to Bergen a day early, I highly recommend it. there was quite a lot to see there. If you're looking for hotels anywhere in Scandinavia, I also recommend you check out Scandic Hotels. They are well priced, even in those very expensive countries, but they're really comfortable and well-located. They're also afilliated with Hilton, so if you collect Hilton HHonors Points, you can earn them (or cash them in for free nights) there. I used Hilton points for all my hotel nights, which is why we stayed at a Scandic Hotel in each city we visited before and after the cruise (Oslo, Bergen, Helsinki, and Tallinn).

Gtalum :

Thanks for your information.

Our package price includes hotels in Oslo at the beginning and Bergen at the end. Our hotel in Oslo is "The Bristol Hotel" and our package includes the following:

- Train journey from Oslo to Bergen

- The Oslo Card

- The Bergen Card

- A three-course dinner in Bergen

- Train transfers, between Oslo Airport and

Oslo Central or the National Theater.

They have recomended a train that departs Oslo at approx 10:30 and arrives Bergen approx. 3:30pm. Our ship leaves that day so I would probably take a taxi from the train station to the ship. Were the meals included in the train ticket or was that seperate?.

What ship were you on and what was that like?

Again, Thanks!

Tom Barton

Anybody ever tip on the Norwegian Costal Voyage? If so to whom?

Thanks!

Tom Barton

Were the meals included in the train ticket or was that seperate?

Meals are not included. You can buy some snacks and sandwiches and stuff in a diner car. or you can brign your own. There's a 7-11 in the train station in Oslo. You can stock up on food there. :)

What ship were you on and what was that like?

We were on the MS Trollfjord, one of the newest "Millenium" ships. I have never been on another cruise, so i can't compare it. But we found it to be quite nice. We really enjoyed getting a drink from the bar and then heading up to the observation lounge.

Anybody ever tip on the Norwegian Costal Voyage? If so to whom?

You don't have to tip anyone for anything in Norway. :) Additionally, the ships are officially tip-free. I tended to give a small tip to our favorite bartender on board, and she made sure we got a little extra in each drink.

Wow! It's been awhile since I've checked my original message. Thanks to all who provided information. I ended up booking a flight with SAS out of Seattle. It was $1,000 pp. We will be flying in a day early and staying overnight in a Bergen hotel near the wharf. I debated about doing the 11 night cruise, but decided it would be the way to go when traveling with my mom. We will overnight at a hotel near the airport on our return, then fly out the next morning. Found some decent hotel rates using Expedia.com and the hotels 800 number. We plan on taking 'the bus' to and from the airport. The hotel I booked at is a short walk from where the bus stops, so that's good.

As far as tours go:

There are two 'Geiranger' tours. One is the Geiranger-Alesund; 4 1/2 hours; $75. The other is Geiranger-Molde; 7 1/2; $130 pp (ouch). Which one? If dinner is the only difference, then I'd rather book the shorter tour.

Are there other tours besides the tours offered by the ship? I know this isn't a Caribbean cruise, but I usually do a lot of research and book our own tours. Are there touring companys waiting to take the ships guests when they pull into port? Just not sure if they would be available on this Norwegian trip.

How much is a typical drink on board? How were wine and liquor prices in the ports? Would you recommend purchasing alcohol in Bergen before the trip or try and bring some from home?

Thanks so much!!!

Caroline

WA state

Because of high tax rates on alcohol,all alcoholic drinks in Norway are very expensive.If you have favourite spirits/liquors I would suggest you buy them at your airport "duty free".