AIBU to ask which are the best Norwegian Fjords cruises?

[Germsny]

Would love to book one but don't know where to start. Also wondered what would be the best time of year for a Fjords cruise?

We really enjoyed doing the Hurtigruten (Norwegian mail ship originally) all the way up the coast to beyond the Arctic Circle and almost to the Russian border).

Not a traditional cruise - much smaller boats - and still the means that some cargo is carried up the coastline. Doesn't have alll the potential entertainment that the big cruise ships do, but can get places that the big boats don't.

We were very fortunate on our late Spring trip in that the weather was pretty clear and we got to see midnight sun in the far North.

I've been on several fjord cruises, all on P&O and all in the summer. The weather has been surprisingly warm every time; about 20-25c and usually sunny, which for me is perfect.

You're pretty much guaranteed breathtaking scenery wherever you go, but I think Flåm is particularly beautiful.

We did 7 day one with Cunard in august staying south - Stavanger , Alesund etc - loved it. Saw pulpit rock and did a coach trip on the troll road - magnificent. We intend to do another one going much further north.

Relatives have gone several times including in the winter to see the northern lights. Everyone has loved it.

We did 7 day one with Cunard in august staying south - Stavanger , Alesund etc - loved it. Saw pulpit rock and did a coach trip on the troll road - magnificent. We intend to do another one going much further north.

Relatives have gone several times including in the winter to see the northern lights. Everyone has loved it.

Timing wise End of May (not half term unless you are restricted to school holidays) June are a good time. You get really long days plus the waterfalls are likely to still be full with the spring melt.

Thank you for this advice!

Depends on what you want from the ship and what you can afford, most lines run up there. P&o offer a fairly affordable option midrange, semi formal service so traditional elements but not too stuffy. Small shops can access additional ports which larger vessels are banned from but its a different character onboard, usually more expensive and generally older clientele.

I'd just pick a time of year and budget you can afford bearing in mind that mostly ports will have excursions to pay for and most don't include drinks in the price - so leave money in your budget for those.

We did one in June on Celebrity. Absolutely stunning.

I have done two on P and O both during summer. Amazing place. Loved Olden.

only port we have been too I wasn’t keen on was Haugesund

Thanks again for these tips 😊

We've just booked to go on a Fred Olsen Northern Lights cruise to Norway for March 2024 - never done a cruise before so am v. excited 😀9 nights setting off from Newcastle and hopefully we'll catch the Northern Lights as we're going in very early March.

Sounds great!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but we are thinking about booking the FO cruise from Newcastle in October.
How was it @MooBaggage? Do you have any tips, which cabin? Clothes? Trips?
And was it full of older people? DH and I are late 50’s
TIA.

Aww - it was the most amazing holiday - I loved it!

The ship was great (we were on the Balmoral which is the oldest and smallest - it's a bit faded grandeur, but has a really nice feel. Our cabin was on deck 5 in the middle - very happy with this positioning as we high up enough to have lovely views and in the middle = less rocking!

The North Sea crossing was bumpy both ways, so I was glad I'd taken travel sickness stuff, but once we got over the sea it was amazingly smooth!

We only did a couple of organised trips - an arctic train trip which was incredible and a coach tour of Alesund on the final day as we knew we'd be knackered by then! On the other days we stopped we did our own thing - Tromso was very easy to do independently and we managed to do the cable car, cathedral and look around the town on our own, taking a couple of ubers!

The passengers were probably in the 50's - 70's age range - I'm mid-50's and felt very at home..! There were a few people a bit younger, but yes, it was mainly 50+ and pretty sedate 😀

Clothes - I'd taken a couple of posh sparkly things for formal nights - literally the first time I've ever dressed up like that... There were 2 x formal nights during the 10 night cruise but it's not compulsory to wear sequins - was just nice to do - but anything posher than jeans would be fine. Mostly people did make an effort at evening meals and dress down during the day 🙂

really hope you enjoy it if you book it - I'd definitely do it again!

@MooBaggage oh thank you so much for replying. I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple of years but timings were never right. Will definitely book for October now.