Suggestions for Norway cruise?

[Janie1229]

Hi, my husband and I have always cruised in the Caribbean, and not to sound snobby but feeling a bit "been there done that" and I've turned my attention to Europe. I've been wanting to go to Norway and/or Iceland for a long time.

 

Do you guys have any recommendations for a Norway or Iceland cruise with a specific cruise, like Princess, Royal, etc.?  I'm not sure we can do a 12 night, may need to keep it to 7 due to work, and of course adding in travel time. Royal is having a WOW sale right now, and have several itineraries to Norway and also Arctic Circle that look great. Some are out of Copenhagen, some out of Amsterdam. 

 

Suggestions welcome!! Thank you

[ski ww]

Hard to make a recommendation because we all have such different tastes. The main things would be itinerary, cost, cruise line, time of year, how much time you have. We're doing HAL on the Nieuw Amsterdam 14 day Voyage of the Midnight Sun to the Arctic Circle July next year, it's been on our bucket list for awhile. Which ever one you decide, enjoy your cruise.   

[hallasm]

It’s more about the itinerary than the actual cruise line- you’ll probably need a 9 to 12 nights if you want to go inside the Arctic Circle - normally cruises sailing to Honningsvåg/North Cape or even Svalbard.

I’ll recommended cruises visiting Bergen,  and then Geiranger, Flåm or Olden for the mountains and scenic cruising.

Tromsø and Honningsvåg for the midnight Sun inside Arctic Circle.

You’ll find a lot of inspiration in this forum

 

[kitkat343]

I completely agree with hallasm .  Having sailed on Princess, NCL, HAL, Carnival and Cunard, I'd honestly have to say the main cruise lines are more similar than different, and the only thing that matters in Norway is the itinerary.  

 

If you can't do a longer cruise, then you can greatly enjoy  a 7 day  cruise to the fjords.  I chose my cruise because I wanted to see the fjords in Geiranger, and the Flam railway.  An unexpected highlight to my cruise was Olden, since the Loen skylift opened three days before we sailed and offers amazing views (its expensive though).  Olden also allows you to visit the Briksdal Glacier, which offers a lovely hike to the glacier, although you need to have reduced expectations of the glacier since it has been greatly reduced by global warming, and is not terribly impressive by itself (the drive to get there and hike through a park to reach it are quite lovely).

 

The only thing you need to note is that the heritage fjords (which at least include Flam and Geiranger) is that there are new environmental regulations that Norway will be enforcing which limits which ships will be allowed to sail into the heritage fjords.  There have been other CC postings about itinerary changes due to these regulations since some ships are already compliant, but not all are.  

 

 

Hurtigruten ships are compliant, but that's different from a traditional cruise line in that there wouldn't be the same level of entertainment.  But if you are just looking for a vessel to transport you from place to place, that's something to consider although its a different experience than being on a cruise.  

 

 

If you do want to visit Flam and Geiranger, you might want to post your itinerary on this forum, since there are members who are very familiar with the changes and they can tell you if your ship is compliant (at least according to the other forum linked above  some HAL ships not currently compliant are still listed as visiting those fjords as of June, and they either will be retrofitted in time, or HAL may be waiting until closer to sail date to change the itinerary, hoping that the implementation of the regulations might be delayed) 

 

 

  .   

Edited July 27, 2019 by kitkat343

[travellovers2]

We did a 7 days Norway cruise last year in May with Holland America on the Koningsdam and it was wonderful. It sailed out of Amsterdam which gave us the chance to see Amsterdam for one week after the cruise. We took a two weeks vacation from work. Like you, we are also tired of cruising the Caribbean, so we are now mostly doing cruises in Europe.

 

These are the ports it went to. They were all wonderful.

 

Eidford

Scenic Cruising Hardangerfjord

Alesund 

Geiranger

Cruising Geirangerfjord

Bergen

 

It looks like they're offering it next year. Good Luck!

 

 

 

[Janie1229]

Thanks everyone. I'm just beginning to do more serious research, so not really sure exactly what I want! I had not considered the Hurtigruten ships, so I'll take a look at those. I love the shows, but not the most important part of my trip. Especially for Northern Europe, for me it is more about the places we visit and not what is available for entertainment on the ship :-) 

[hallasm]

31 minutes ago, Janie1229 said:

I had not considered the Hurtigruten ships, so I'll take a look at those.

I'll suggest that you browse through the Hurtigruten Board

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/663-hurtigruten/

It¨s a 7 night Northbound from Bergen to Kirkenes and 6 nights southbound back to Bergen - each with 34 port calls - few with a stop of 3 to 5 hours - the majority for only 15 minutes. Excursions can start in one port and finish in another port - hence not many other choices than Hurtigruten offerings.

And Hurtigruten Q&A topic:

 

[westcoastcruiser]

16 hours ago, travellovers2 said:

We did a 7 days Norway cruise last year in May with Holland America on the Koningsdam and it was wonderful. It sailed out of Amsterdam which gave us the chance to see Amsterdam for one week after the cruise. We took a two weeks vacation from work. Like you, we are also tired of cruising the Caribbean, so we are now mostly doing cruises in Europe.

 

These are the ports it went to. They were all wonderful.

 

Eidford

Scenic Cruising Hardangerfjord

Alesund 

Geiranger

Cruising Geirangerfjord

Bergen

 

It looks like they're offering it next year. Good Luck!

 

 

 

We just completed 21 days (b2b) cruising Norway including up to the North Cape which was phenomenal and a huge highlight.  But realize not all have that amount of time. Agree with this poster that these ports cover major places a short cruise would want to see.  Eidfjord was unknown to us before our cruise but became a huge favorite .  

 

We were on Nieuw Statendam and between the beautiful ship and  jawdropping scenery it ranks as the top cruise out of dozens for us.

[naturelovergirl]

Pick your cruise based on itinerary... 

For example, on our first land trip to Norway we only got as far North as Trondheim...

So

It was important to us to get above the Arctic Circle on our next trip- which would be a cruise... so we found the best itinerary we could for the time frame we needed to go.

 

[BullyLvr]

We are booked on an 8 day cruise on the Crown Princess 25 July 2020.  I’m concerned they will modify our itinerary due to non compliance with the new emissions  guidelines.  Our  itinerary is Bergen, Alesund, Olden, Hellesylt/Geiranger, and Stavanger. 

 

Does anyone have any information?  I’d hate to miss Geiranger and would probably cancel and rebook something else.  We’re not able to do a 14 day trip until a few years from now when hubby retires so the 8 day was just right.

Edited July 29, 2019 by BullyLvr

[BullyLvr]

Well I see I posted this here instead of on the topic I should have.  Now to find it. The link takes me to a blank page and so then I searched, found it, and it also took me to .....nothing..a blank screen. I bet Princess won’t be able to answer me.

 

 

 

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, BullyLvr said:

Well I see I posted this here instead of on the topic I should have.  Now to find it. The link takes me to a blank page and so then I searched, found it, and it also took me to .....nothing..a blank screen. I bet Princess won’t be able to answer me.

 

 

 

Sorry I don’t know enough to answer your question. If no one responds here I’d start a new thread and hopefully the people who have been following this will respond.  But none of us will be able to predict if the cruise lines can negotiate a bit of a delay with Norway’s government.  Best of luck.  

[hallasm]

2 hours ago, BullyLvr said:

Well I see I posted this here instead of on the topic I should have.

I think it’s fine you posted here as well - might not be able to answer related to that specific sailing but more general answers to this emission compliance issue. 

By now and in 2020 I believe it’s more a matter of bunker fuel quality- with the right  bunker quality they will still be able to sail the heritage fjords in 2020 however it will change when moving toward 2026.

[BullyLvr]

Thank you for your replies. I’m sure hoping we can sail the itinerary we booked.  I’d sure like to go farther north at some point, but for now (next year) I think it will be wonderful.  

 

 

 

[capriccio]

Last month we were on a 14 day Princess itinerary that was fantastic.  Another cruiser has an informative review filled with wonderful pictures: 

I also posted about the various excursions we took.  Most were private or DIY; even those that were with Princess probably match those offered by other cruise lines.