2015 Norway itineraries

[SnowshoeCat]

You are absolutely right. The second itinerary are by far the most scenic and the one to choose IMO.

 

Takk! That was a fast reply. HAL is actually a little less expensive, and flying to London is very convenient. I'm concerned about crossing the North Sea from Dover, though. I always imagine it as being kind of rough.

[I-Cruiser]

Takk! That was a fast reply. HAL is actually a little less expensive, and flying to London is very convenient. I'm concerned about crossing the North Sea from Dover, though. I always imagine it as being kind of rough.

 

The North Sea would be calm in the spring/summer season so I would not imagine you having a bad sea day.

Regardless departing from Dover or Rotterdam you have to cross the North Sea.

[rosiepea]

Fred Olsen just released their Norwegian 2015 cruises. We've booked another one!

[melody hounddog]

What about Seabourn? They have some interesting cruises for 2015.

 

http://www.seabourn.com/find-luxury-cruise-vacation/FindCruises.action?pageNumber=4&destCode=EN&flexibleMonths=false&noOfFlexibleMonths=1&displayMode=advertising

[Donna_In_India]

Disney Cruise Line released theirs today....http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2014/03/disney-cruise-line-announces-magical-summer-2015-itineraries/.

[kikki21]

I'm also looking to do a Fjord cruise in 2015 so looking with interest!

 

 

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[Pluto_fan]

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the input. I've been watching for the Disney itineraries but hadn't seen the actual dates and ports. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get a price, although I'm already confident that it's beyond our budget. :rolleyes:

 

SnowshoeCat, that HAL itinerary looks very appealing to me as well. Thank you, I-Cruiser, for all your helpful information on ports!

 

rosiepea, I found a couple more on the Fred Olsen website that I hadn't listed before, but please let me know if I'm missing any others.

 

Updating with more Fred Olsen, Disney, and Seabourn:

 

Azamara: one sailing on the Azamara Quest in July, 14 nights

Celebrity: three sailings on the Eclipse, May, June & August, 7-14 nights

Cruise & Maritime Voyages: six sailings on the Marco Polo, February-May, 6-14 nights

Crystal: one sailing on the Crystal Symphony in July, 18 nights

Disney: three sailings on the Disney Magic in June, 7-11 nights

Fred Olsen: six cruises on two ships, February and May-August, 8-16 nights

Holland America: 20+ sailings on four ships, May-September, 7-35 nights

Hurtigruten: too many to count!

MSC: 14 sailings on two ships, May-September, 7-14 nights. Three of the sailings on the Splendida go all the way up to Longyearbyen, if anyone was looking for that.

Norwegian: three sailings on the Star, May-June, 7-14 nights

Oceania: four itineraries on two ships in July, 20-50 nights

P&O: seven sailings on two ships, March-August, 7 or 12 nights

Phoenix Reisen: eight sailings on three ships, May-August, 13-18 nights

Princess: five sailings on two ships, June-August, 7-16 nights; also, several Baltic itineraries which include Oslo, and several TAs which include some stops in Norway

Quark Expeditions: one sailing on the Ocean Nova, May, 13 nights

Regent: two sailings on the Seven Seas Voyager, June-July, 20-30 nights

Royal Caribbean: five sailings on two ships, May-August, 7-12 nights

Saga: four sailings on two ships, February-March, 12 or 15 nights

Seabourn: four sailings on the Seabourn Quest, 14 or 21 nights

Silversea: 11 sailings on three different ships, May-August, 7-17 nights

Voyages of Discovery: one sailing on the Voyager in March, 15 or 28 nights

 

Still awaiting: Costa, possibly more from MSC...any others?

[SnowshoeCat]

About the HAL sailings: Forget what I mentioned about Dover. That's for this year. I must have typed in the wrong date. There are a couple of sailings out of Rotterdam for 2015. I don't remember now, but the one(s) out of England were either longer, or just a different itinerary. I'm such a big help :o

[Pluto_fan]

Hmm, you're right. The Ryndam is sailing out of Dover in 2014 but Harwich in 2015. I hadn't noticed since Rotterdam is more convenient for us anyway.

 

It looks like, similar to this year, the Ryndam and Rotterdam will be doing mostly the same itineraries as each other, just from different homeports. Two different, alternating 7-night Norway cruises, combinable into 14-night. The Rotterdam also has a couple north cape trips (May and September), plus some Baltic capitals sailings. The Ryndam also has three north cape trips (May, July, and August), plus a couple Norway and Iceland trips (June and August).

 

I really like the "Norse Legends" itinerary, visiting Alesund, Geiranger, Bergen, and Eidfjord. I think that's my favorite realistic option as of now. I need to just pick something and book it so I can stop obsessing over all the choices! :)

[SnowshoeCat]

 

I really like the "Norse Legends" itinerary, visiting Alesund, Geiranger, Bergen, and Eidfjord. I think that's my favorite realistic option as of now. I need to just pick something and book it so I can stop obsessing over all the choices! :)

 

I think that's the one I like, too. I haven't researched HAL at all, but this sailing is more about the destination, anyway. And as much as I enjoyed Copenhagen, Rotterdam seems more convenient. There are enough nonstop flights from New York to Amsterdam that I would even consider flying in that morning (shh, don't tell anyone).

 

Can anyone provide a little comparison between Royal and HAL?

[I-Cruiser]

Hmm, you're right. The Ryndam is sailing out of Dover in 2014 but Harwich in 2015. I hadn't noticed since Rotterdam is more convenient for us anyway.

 

It looks like, similar to this year, the Ryndam and Rotterdam will be doing mostly the same itineraries as each other, just from different homeports. Two different, alternating 7-night Norway cruises, combinable into 14-night. The Rotterdam also has a couple north cape trips (May and September), plus some Baltic capitals sailings. The Ryndam also has three north cape trips (May, July, and August), plus a couple Norway and Iceland trips (June and August).

 

I really like the "Norse Legends" itinerary, visiting Alesund, Geiranger, Bergen, and Eidfjord. I think that's my favorite realistic option as of now. I need to just pick something and book it so I can stop obsessing over all the choices! :)

 

Isnt obsessing all the fun?!:D

 

The Norse Legends is a very good itinerary...

[globltravlr]

We are currently booked on the Norwegian Star 14 night June 12th sailing for Norway. It has most of the ports we are looking for- North Cape, Lofoten... but we are teachers and aren't out of school until June 16!!! So, we are looking again. HAL is perfect, but is $10,000 for a balcony, which is important to us. That leaves us looking at Disney's new 9 day itinerary that focuses on the lower Fjords, or for about $800 less, Celebrity that does 2 fewer Norway ports and adds Iceland and Faroe Islands. Any advice??? It's driving me crazy thinking about it and I'd like to get the deciding part over!!

[Pluto_fan]

MSC's German website now has summer 2015 cruises listed! Three ships with five different itineraries, lots of departure dates.

 

Updated list:

 

Azamara: one sailing on the Azamara Quest in July, 14 nights

Celebrity: three sailings on the Eclipse, May, June & August, 7-14 nights

Cruise & Maritime Voyages: six sailings on the Marco Polo, February-May, 6-14 nights

Crystal: one sailing on the Crystal Symphony in July, 18 nights

Disney: three sailings on the Disney Magic in June, 7-11 nights

Fred Olsen: six cruises on two ships, February and May-August, 8-16 nights

Holland America: 20+ sailings on four ships, May-September, 7-35 nights

Hurtigruten: too many to count!

MSC: 22 sailings on three ships, May-September, 7-14 nights. Three of the sailings on the Splendida go all the way up to Longyearbyen, if anyone was looking for that.

Norwegian: three sailings on the Star, May-June, 7-14 nights

Oceania: four itineraries on two ships in July, 20-50 nights

P&O: seven sailings on two ships, March-August, 7 or 12 nights

Phoenix Reisen: eight sailings on three ships, May-August, 13-18 nights

Princess: five sailings on two ships, June-August, 7-16 nights; also, several Baltic itineraries which include Oslo, and several TAs which include some stops in Norway

Quark Expeditions: one sailing on the Ocean Nova, May, 13 nights

Regent: two sailings on the Seven Seas Voyager, June-July, 20-30 nights

Royal Caribbean: five sailings on two ships, May-August, 7-12 nights

Saga: four sailings on two ships, February-March, 12 or 15 nights

Seabourn: four sailings on the Seabourn Quest, 14 or 21 nights

Silversea: 11 sailings on three different ships, May-August, 7-17 nights

Voyages of Discovery: one sailing on the Voyager in March, 15 or 28 nights

 

Still waiting on Costa. What else am I missing? Haven't checked Cunard yet...I'll look for that, along with a couple of the German companies (AIDA, TUI).

 

globltravlr--I understand the school calendar constraint! Our kids have their last exams the morning of 11 June 2015...so my search window begins 12 June. School starts up again on 24 August so the last day we could leave for a 7-night cruise would be 16 August. On the bright side, it helps me narrow down my options!

 

Question for I-Cruiser (or anyone else who would like to chime in): if you had to choose between these two sets of ports, which would you prefer?:

Bergen, Geiranger, Flaam, Stavanger OR

Bergen, Geiranger, Alesund, Eidfjord?

[I-Cruiser]

"Question for I-Cruiser (or anyone else who would like to chime in): if you had to choose between these two sets of ports, which would you prefer?:

Bergen, Geiranger, Flaam, Stavanger OR

Bergen, Geiranger, Alesund, Eidfjord?"

 

This is a tricky one. I would say my hometown Ålesund is a must do, the same goes for Flåm and Sonefjorden.

Eidsfjord is also a beautiful place......Soooo, I will have to go for the second itinerary.

 

MSC is really pushing the boat out as it were:) Splendida to Norway could be really interesting.

[SnowshoeCat]

Thanks for the update Pluto Fan. I had to pull out the map to find Longyearbyen! Looks.... interesting ;)

[bobbisailsolo]

This thread has been really helpful. I too am planning on a Norway cruise in 2015. I have booked on NCL north cape for 14 nights, as it the most reasonable thus far. Ncl has assured me I can cancel if I change my mind, and will meet any price reductions.The HAL RYDAM and Rotterdam I've eliminated as they have 5 days at sea as opposed to 4 on the STAR. I do like the itinerary on the prinsendam , and the ocean princess, and will consider those if their prices drop B4 the final payment is due for the NCL Star. As I am going solo, NCL right now is 100% single supplement, where as princess and HAL offer about 60%. So if their rates drop a bit, it might be a wash. I have to admit though, I prefer the casual atmosphere on norwegian.

 

 

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Edited April 9, 2014 by bobbisailsolo

[bobbisailsolo]

With I cruisers help, I have changed my mind. Decided on the Caribbean Princess 14 day north cape sailing June 13 from Southampton. Now just waiting for a price drop, then I'll book!

 

 

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[I-Cruiser]

With I cruisers help, I have changed my mind. Decided on the Caribbean Princess 14 day north cape sailing June 13 from Southampton. Now just waiting for a price drop, then I'll book!

 

 

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Happy to help:)

[BEAN SPROUT]

Princess Cruises has released their northern Europe itineraries for 2015. We are already booked on 2 of them, Norway coastal and the Baltic.

[bobbisailsolo]

This is very interesting... I thought I would like an aft balcony on the princess cruise. I went to reserve on line and low and behold, the deck plan shows them all sold out! Along with MANY others on the port and starboard side. So just out of curiosity I looked on Expedia... And yep, they were available! Expedia shows it as a sale price... Which actually they are 200 higher...on top of that, Expedia wants twice as much deposit... I'm kind of flabbergasted. Think I'll call princess and see what up. I remember getting an aft balcony on a South American cruise... 14 days...for around 3000.00 when rates were just rolled out! total! Now they want 8000!

 

 

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[sippican]

I'll admit I have been stalking this thread for awhile. I was leaning toward the HAL 14 day, but am a little concerned about some of the reviews regarding staff attitude and demographics. We are not loyal to any one line. I like the RCI Brilliance class so this 11 day Arctic Circle cruise has really caught my eye:

It's a one time itinerary in June.

 

Departure Port: Copenhagen, Denmark

Ports of Call: Copenhagen, Denmark; Alesund, Norway; The Arctic Circle (Cruise); Honningsvag, Norway; Tromso, Norway; Geiranger, Norway; Olden, Norway; Bergen, Norway; Copenhagen,

 

I'd appreciate any opinions on the pluses and minuses.

[Oceandog]

We were tempted by the Arctic Circle Serenade cruise too. North Cape is supposed to be scenic, but this cruise does not include the Lofoten Islands, which is said to be the most scenic. Also, being early retirers, didn't think 24 hours of sun would be a plus. We decided on the July Brilliance cruise, which includes an Iceland stop.

[Pluto_fan]

I'm glad people are still finding this thread useful! Sorry I haven't updated it in quite a while...since most cruise lines have their itineraries out now, there hasn't been much to add. Costa recently put their itineraries up on their Italian website, though the US site still doesn't have them. They will have four ships sailing Norway itineraries. MSC has also not yet updated their US site although itineraries are available on other countries' sites. I've also spotted a few random itineraries from Cunard, Ponant Yacht Cruises, and Croisieries de France.

 

With I cruisers help, I have changed my mind. Decided on the Caribbean Princess 14 day north cape sailing June 13 from Southampton. Now just waiting for a price drop, then I'll book!

 

bobbisailsolo...if I may ask, what tipped you in favor of this one over the ? I've been looking at both, but Princess is currently about 1/3 more expensive for us (family of 5 in two oceanviews). Looking at the itineraries, most ports are the same but Princess has Flaam, Stavanger, and Gravdal, while NCL has Hammerfest, Molde, and Leknes. I believe Gravdal and Leknes are both Lofoten Islands ports (correct?), so I had been considering that a wash. Flaam does look fabulous but I'm not sure if that alone would make me overcome the cost difference. Thanks for any input you or I-Cruiser can give...I don't want to miss something great because I didn't realize it was important! :confused:

 

We are still undecided and haven't booked anything yet, although I would like to get something booked and watch for price drops since we want two connecting (or at least adjacent) cabins. Husband says "Seven days is too short!", which is music to my ears :), but he hasn't seen the prices yet so he may change his tune! I think that if money were no object I would go with Celebrity at the end of June, because Iceland is also on our bucket list, but I'm currently leaning toward the NCL North Cape. Still thinking!

[sippican]

We were tempted by the Arctic Circle Serenade cruise too. North Cape is supposed to be scenic, but this cruise does not include the Lofoten Islands, which is said to be the most scenic. Also, being early retirers, didn't think 24 hours of sun would be a plus. We decided on the July Brilliance cruise, which includes an Iceland stop.

 

We love the Brilliance! Iceland is very nice, we made a short land visit a couple of years ago. Thanks for pointing out the Lofoten Islands as being missed, I'll need to look into the other northern ports. We like the idea of the 11 day itinerary (not too short, not too long), but want to be sure we won't look back and wish we had seen other places. As far as daylight, you'll have it almost continuously in July in Iceland too, maybe not just quite as bright. Time for a sleep mask! :D

[generichandle]

We just signed for June 6 on Ocean Princess [Midnight Sun]. It goes to Bergen, Hellesylt, Geiranger, Tromso, Magdelena Fjord [cruising], Ny Alesund [near Santa's Cabin at the North Pole], Honningsvag, Alta [new stop for them, anyone know it?], Gravdal Lofotens, and Stavanger, back to Dover. I wish they still did Kirknes because I have heard great things from over there. But this seems an awesome iteneray.

 

Any insights?

 

Doug