Hurtigruten Expedition Cruises Cruise Reviews 2024 UPDATED: Ratings of Expedition Cruises Cruise Hurtigruten Cruises
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Also included is the use of the sauna, gym and top-deck heated swimming pool. In 1893 Hurtigruten first linked northern and southern Norway by steamship. Three years later, the company kicked off expedition cruising when it first ventured to Svalbard. Some passengers on our ship chose a competing tour at Honningsvåg, where the thing to see is the North Cape. They booked a local tour company which cost half as much as the equivalent excursion organized through Hurtigruten. These local companies will do their best to get you back to the port in time for the ship’s departure, but will not guarantee it.
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Hurtigruten Kong Harald Cruise: Expert Review (2023) - Cruise Critic
Hurtigruten Kong Harald Cruise: Expert Review ( .
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The boat stops every 2-4 hours through the night at the small ports and each time the door opens it makes huge noises and shaked the wall of the cabin. After 3 nights of no sleep I asked the guest services if we could be moved. I was informed the door was meant to be fixed in Bergen but wasn't. The cree and other guests were also complaining but there was nothing they could do! They mentioned that the rooms should not have been used but the boat was overbooked and they had no choice. Taking money, putting guests into a room the company knows is unacceptable and purposely making the trip a nightmare for your customer.
10 of 270 Hurtigruten Norway Cruise Reviews
Should you choose to pack light, all ships reviewed here are equipped with self-service laundry facilities, including irons and ironing boards. Just back from an excellent expedition around Svalbard with Hurtigruten. Well organised with a skillful Expedition Team ensuring safe shore and ice landings, and amazing kayaking in sea ice. Crew went the extra mile looking out for polarbears and northern lights (and smooth waters!) Great food, warm and comfortable cabins.
Not exactly a trip report, but an honest review of Hurtigruten Coastal Express
In January of this year, it also launched a seven-day western loop (“Iconic Wildlife & Sublime Scenery”) and a seven-day Northern Galapagos trip (its “Nature and Wildlife Expedition Cruise”). Travelers can also combine the northern and western routes to take an extended 11-day “Nine of the Best Isles” itinerary. The ship has three restaurants, as well as a lounge bar and (when sea conditions allow) a pool bar. Meals at top-tier Lindstrøm are included for suite guests (and dinner is available for all other guests at a surcharge, which is worth paying at least once). Lindstrøm is an elegant spot with Scandinavian-influenced decor—think muted colors, lots of natural light from big windows, wood accents, and contemporary artwork.
Customer satisfaction means nothing…
The excursions are expensivebut good quality; you pay a premium for the reassurance that you’ll get back tothe boat as planned. On the other hand, the price includes good, clean,well-thought-out accommodations and all meals, plus some absolutelybreathtaking scenery on a daily basis. Our stop in Bodø was short, only about two hours, which didn’t leave time to see some interesting sights further out of town (a reason to sign up for excursions). Limited to the town itself, we should have visited the Nordland Museum, a history museum, but instead went to the Salmon Center at the port. And that’s all without mentioning the entertainment and facilities onboard your ship.
Really difficult to put a rating , first of our Expedition cruise was excellent , 5 stars all the way . However the pre and post service from the office is a shambles and really disappointing . Ages to answer questions if they ever do , broken promises etc . Furthermore, Cruise Critic makes no guarantees for availability of prices advertised on our site. Listed prices may have blackout dates, qualifications or restrictions.
In Darwin’s Footsteps (Eastern Route)
Everywhere I turned, I encountered species I'd never seen before. Sea lions walked right up to me as if to say hello, pelicans swooped over me as I snorkeled, and friendly sea turtles swam beside my kayak as I paddled through the clear blue ocean. All contemporary ships and Finnmarken have an unstaffed children’s playroom but no organized activities for kids.
Iconic Wildlife & Sublime Scenery (Western Route)
It has a very pretty center for a stroll around, which we were able to do well in the three hours that the boat was docked in port. A river divides the town, lined with old warehouses painted in bright colors. Charming shops and a fortress on a hill overlooking the town complete the picture. Check out the bicycle cable track meant to help bicyclists up the hill toward the fortress. Even just cruising along between stops, usually with the mainland on one side and islands on the other, we saw one beautiful view after another. The landscape was mountainous and green during the first part of the trip, and the late light meant that the photographer’s “golden hour” actually lasted several hours.
The almost three-hour flight included a 45-minute stopover in Guayaquil, during which we were not allowed to leave the plane. As we touched down in the Galapagos, we passed through customs, where foreign tourists over 12 were required to pay a $100 entry fee in cash (the fee drops down to $6 for mainland Ecuadorians). I walked out of the airport and was immediately greeted with a land iguana sighting—I knew I had made it! My heart skipped a beat as I noticed my Galapagos passport stamp was a giant tortoise. The Nordnorge has no theaters or stages or musical performances or gambling. It does have a small gym with some equipment to work out on (on level 7, with a view), two hot tubs, and a sauna.
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Options may include hiking, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, snorkeling, glass-bottom boat rides, Zodiac trips to look for wildlife or even beach time. Often, a single day will include up to three such activities. In between, guests return to the ship for lunch or snacks, a change of clothes or to swap out equipment. On our final day, we disembarked at Baltra Island to once again make our way back to Quito.
Inside, there’s plenty of room to move around and look at the scenery. Lunches aresimilar to breakfasts, but we could choose a cooked main course or just stickto bread-based foods to make sandwiches. You might have issues if you are wheelchair-bound at some stops, where the gangway may form a stairway, depending on the height of the pier. On the other hand, the bed linen is high quality and the bed is high so there’s space under it for suitcases. We had plenty of cupboards and a closet for our clothing. I had a small desk where I could work and a kettle with tea and coffee makings.
The people on thebirdwatching tour were really interested in birdwatching. I would have hatedit, since city and culture tours are more my style. If you want to read more about the excursions, the person who wrote this Cruisecritic report on a trip on the MS Nordnorge a couple of years ago took lots of the excursions and was very enthusiastic about them all. The least expensive (about €43/$49) is ashort brewery visit and tasting in the Lofoten peninsula town of Svolvær. The most expensive (about €370/$413) is a six-hour tripinvolving a ride on a RIB boat at the North Cape, followed by a hike up amountain. This particular ship doesn’t have a huge amount of outside space, and I suspect none of them does.
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One of my favorites was an organized event held at the Katuaq cultural center in the capital, Nuuk, which featured a traditional drummer and mask dancers as well as contemporary pop singers. The event was followed by tastings of traditional dishes such as whale and seal blubber accompanied by beer from a Greenlandic microbrewery. Hurtigruten ships are truly casual, with no dress-up nights. Pack clothing suitable for the area and season in which you are traveling. During the day and throughout the voyage, weather fluctuations can occur rather quickly. It is recommended you dress in layers to accommodate the changes in temperature.
Greenland’s unique landscape—its sprawling ice sheet means its communities all lie around the coastline, none of which are connected by roads—makes cruising perhaps the best way to visit. This cruise visits a region that is environmentally and socially fragile and, with its commitment to sustainability and responsible, respectful tourism, I felt confident that it tries to do right by the people and places it visits. This meant that we had inadvertently assigned ourselves our permanent dining seats for the voyage on the first day.
Throughout the cabins and ship, interior design takes inspiration from Scandinavian nature and makes use of materials such as granite, oak, birch, and wool. The result is a calm, quiet sanctuary where you can relax and watch the landscape slide by or watch streamed and recorded lectures in privacy. European, North American, and Australian retirees were the typical demographic on my trip, although there were quite a few younger traveling couples, groups of friends, and singles in the mix. Guests were typically an adventurous bunch, likely to swap stories about sailing to Antarctica, backpacking across India, and more. Regardless of the many hoops I had to jump through to navigate my way to Ecuador and the Galapagos, my time spent there was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I won't soon forget.
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