Cruising to Norway with teens

[MegBusset]

Planning a nice post-Covid holiday (hopefully!) for summer 2022 and am looking at going on a cruise to Norway. DC will be 13 and 15 and the cruises I've looked at so far seem to be aimed at over-50s (Fred Olsen) or families with littlies (Disney).

Can anyone recommend a cruise that fits the following:

• No formal dining / captain's table type nonsense
• Not a huge polluting monster ship, but one with a few things to occupy teens on the way
• A really good choice of shore excursions open to teens (eg fjord kayaking is a must)
• Decent family accommodation

We are in East Anglia so about the same time to Newcastle or Southampton.

We have done 14 cruises
Norway is lovely but its best to plan, if you look on cruise critic forum lots of ideas listed by port, we rarely book via the ship we usually get local transport or book on line in advance.
One typical example the ship do a bus ride to a glacier its about £20-40 each, the same local bus is a couple of pounds and does the same journey.
We hired a van and drive to Trollstigen its fantastic and a nice drive
www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/fjord-norway/northwest/listings-northwest/national-tourist-route-trollstigen/1000/
I would look at Holland America, celebrity etc, we have done P&O twice and they are the dirtiest ships we have ever been on so never again.

Have you looked at Hurtigruten? We've never used them but have consistently heard good things about them. I think they're especially good for visiting smaller ports. Although you don't get long stops, you can get off, travel overland, and then reboard the ship at a different port. Much more adventurous than the standard cruise.

We were supposed to be going on p&o’s brand new ship Iona to Norway later this summer, I think it would fit your criteria as they were aiming at the family market with this ship and it looks way nicer than their previous ships. No set dining times, just turn up and they seat you, lots of themed restaurants, grab and go lunches. Four screen cinema, clubs for teens to hang out, four pools, one under sky dome in case of rain. Big ship but runs on liquified gas which I believe is cleaner. Kayaking, cycling etc offered on shore excursions. I believe they have another new ship due to be launched in a couple of years with more features for families

Check out if Marella are sailing to Norway, some of there ships are mid size and have good family entertainment.
We always book two cabins to give us lots of space and privacy so you could look at that option.
Celebrity cruises have really good accomodation.
Disney are good for all ages, not just families with young DC. We went went out DC were 11 and 13 and we all had a great time. The cabins are bigger than in a lot of other cruise lines.
I've taken by DC on 10 cruises so if you have any questions ask away.

Hurtigruten would fit the bill I'm sure.
As Dressingdown1 says, the choice of active trips are fabulous, overnight adventures, kayaking, riding etc. and very informal dining options.
We had 3 guides on our ship, each with a specialty such as wildlife or geology and they offer entertaining informative presentations on where the boat travels and things to do there.
There was a real spread of ages when we sailed, as well as the locals who use the boat service as you might use a train in the UK.
The cabins are not plush but the 15 and 13 year olds will love having their own room and I felt nowhere could have been a better environment for our teens.

Celebrity are my favourite-the ‘formal dining’ option isn’t overly formal (big dining room, a la Carte, linen napkins but don’t need to be dressed in finery every night) but there’s other options on the ships if you didn’t fancy it. We also never book the ship excursions-they are so expensive! Also worth a look are NCL-I have never sailed with them but have considered it. Some of the ships look lovely inside and the have loads of dining options and it’s all with a more casual vibe.

Re. Pp, we looked at hurtigruten, not all nice reviews. We gave it up because it is very pricey and even though you pay a lot, the cabins don't look that fancy. You have to pay an arm and a leg to get a very nice cabin. That and apparently the passengers are on average very old.

In the end we decided to make our own plans by train or car, still not been though.

We have been with hurtigruten and Fred Olsen with nature loving teenagers, one in a wheelchair and it was a good experience for then. Plenty to see and do.

Check the boat size too, only the Fred Olsen boats can get down the narrowest fjord and even they have to do a zillion point turn to get out, you'd miss that fjord on any larger boat.