The night before the trip we were all on pins and needles not knowing if we were even going to travel. Hurtigruten had contacted us earlier in the day, the MS Nordnorge was not going to able to sail down to Bergen in time for the next day, this was due to adverse weather.
Hurtigruten had sorted us and the rest of the passengers alternative arrangements to make sure we were all still able to travel. They worked very hard and until very late that evening. Everything was arranged like clockwork and although we couldn't board the ship in Bergen we stayed a night in a very nice hotel and flew up to Trondheim the next day where the ship would be sailing from. This gave us extra time to explore Bergen the afternoon we arrived and then again the morning before we flew.
I was pre-warned by customers to take my waterproofs for Bergen and with rain 260 days of the year it didn't let us down! Whilst there we took a trip on the funicular railway which connects the city centre with the mountain of Fløyen which has magnificent views of the city.
The airport experience in Norway is worth mentioning! It is like nothing I have every experienced. The efficiency is amazing. Everything runs smoothly with no real waiting times. The plane lands and you pretty much get off straightaway with limited times at immigration, security and collecting your bags.
We arrived at the ship, we each had our own cabin with configurations of 2 or up to 3 people. There are various upgrades on the ship if you would like more space as the cabins aren't large. You’re there for the experience and trust me you will get a fabulous experience the cabins won’t even be a concern.
As Hurtigruten is a working ferry docking in various ports along the way and picking and dropping people off it’s hard to think this cruise would be luxury. Although it’s not a 5* cruise ship its very clean, modern with several comfortable places to sit and watch the world go by. The food was great, its high quality and there is so much choice.
On a daily basis you are provided a cruise schedule. This provides information on the stops along the way, excursions leaving that day and times for the two lectures on board that day. You can disembark the ship at the various ports but some stops are just for a short period of time. If you don’t have time to depart you can go to the higher decks to take in the scenery.
The cruise we were on was an 11 night itinerary, we experienced five nights of the itinerary so took in some excursions on a daily basis. Including; Bergen City Tour, Trondheim Cathedral, Walk into Bodo, Meet the Vikings, Husky Farm and Tromso Tour. There are a variety of excursions to suit everybody.
We disembarked in Tromso and stayed in a hotel on our very last night. We heard rumours of the Northern Lights so after dinner we all set outside in anticipation. It’s very hard to see them with light pollution. But there they were! We felt so lucky and a nice ending to a fabulous trip.
