has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?

"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:

    > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?

My mum, this winter. Why?

Des

Des Small wrote:
    > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?
    > My mum, this winter. Why?
    > Des

how much, itinerary, highlights etc....

hints / tips, do's, don't do's

"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:

    > Des Small wrote:
    > > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > >
    > > > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?
    > >
    > > My mum, this winter. Why?
    > >
    >
    > how much, itinerary, highlights etc....

I've done it in the summer, dossing in a sleeping bag and my mum's
done it in winter twice, sleeping in nice cabins. The prices depend
on the boat, the time, the choice of cabin, etc. The website can
prolly tell you more than I know.

The itinerary is up and down the coast; I've been up from Bergen to
Tromsøe; my mum was lately planning Trondheim to Kirkenes (right up
round by Russia) but the weather got the better of the trip - it was
very outrageously fierce, and they were busy picking up oil workers
and stuff.

The highlights for me were the light and the norwegish coast, for
sure.

    > hints / tips, do's, don't do's

If you have the money and like fish, the all-in deals for meals are
worth it. The bier is outrageously priced, so make sure to take your
full duty-free allowance. I am very fond of the Bodø airplane museum,
the Tromsø aquarium is nice, the Lofoten islands are spectacularly
pretty even by the standards of the Norway coast, and Bergen is nice
too.

I never did an official Hurtigruten excursion, but the glaciers and
the malstrøm are highly spoken of by my mother.

Des

"Des Small" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    >> Des Small wrote:
    >> > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    >> >
    >> > > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?
    >> >
    >> > My mum, this winter. Why?
    >> >
    >> how much, itinerary, highlights etc....

    > I never did an official Hurtigruten excursion, but the glaciers and
    > the malstrøm are highly spoken of by my mother.

I though the malstrom was a complete waste of time.

I did go when it was at its lowest though. But this is something
that is randomly likely if you're on the boat trip [1]. Whilst I was
there the Hurtigruten coach arrived wit pax to look at, IMHO not
very much.

tim

[1] Yes I know that it all happens to a timetable but if you don't
check up what you are going to get at time X on day Y before you
go, when you get there it is a random result.

tim

tim (in sweden) wrote:
    > "Des Small" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > >
    > >> Des Small wrote:
    > >> > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > >> >
    > >> > > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?
    > >> >
    > >> > My mum, this winter. Why?
    > >> >
    > >>
    > >> how much, itinerary, highlights etc....
    > >
    > >
    > > I never did an official Hurtigruten excursion, but the glaciers and
    > > the malstrøm are highly spoken of by my mother.
    > I though the malstrom was a complete waste of time.
    > I did go when it was at its lowest though. But this is something
    > that is randomly likely if you're on the boat trip [1]. Whilst I was
    > there the Hurtigruten coach arrived wit pax to look at, IMHO not
    > very much.
    > tim
    > [1] Yes I know that it all happens to a timetable but if you don't
    > check up what you are going to get at time X on day Y before you
    > go, when you get there it is a random result.
    >
    > tim

did either you or Des go to the Geirangerfjord ?

Frank F. Matthews wrote:
    > tim (in sweden) wrote:
    > > "george" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > > news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > >
    > >
    > >>eetinBelgië wrote:
    > >
    > >
    > >>>did either you or Des go to the Geirangerfjord ?
    > >
    > >
    > >>If you travel in the summer Geiranger Fjord is part of the trip,
    > >>however I don't know the dates between which they visit there. When I
    > >>made the entire Hurtigruten round trip in 2000 you only entered
    > >>Geiranger Fjord when going north-bound. You could get off the boat at
    > >>the end of the fjord for an optional bus trip remeeting the boat in
    > >>Alesund. I didn't think that this trip was really worth doing, but you
    > >>can take some nice pictures of your ferry leaving the fjord from up
    > >>above. Others have mentioned the maelstrom, which couldn't be visited
    > >>on our trip because their wasn't enough time for this excursion.
    > >>Anyways, its name is not Maelstrom, and I could never find out if there
    > >>was one that all others in the world are named after.
    > >
    > >
    > > It's saltsraumen.
    > >
    > > and whilst searching for the correct spelling I found:
    > >
    > > http://www.travelcentre.com.au/trave...excursions.htm
    > >
    > > which the OP might find interesting.
    > >
    > > It's somewhat out of date, the tunnel to Nord Kapp was opened 5 years(?)
    > > ago.
    > >
    > > tim
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > The web site says that it is expected (sic) to open in June 1999. I
    > guess that they are light on their web maintenance. It doesn't generate
    > faith on the quality of their information.

initial research shows that it is cheaper to buy the trip through the
UK, probably due to larger volumes of 'cruisers'

eetinBelgië wrote:
    > initial research shows that it is cheaper to buy the trip through the
    > UK, probably due to larger volumes of 'cruisers'

I dealt directly with one (Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab AS,
Narvik) of the two (also Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap AS, Tromso)
parent companies in Norway by e-mail. They were very helpful. The
largest number of people on my boat were from the Netherlands. There
were also large numbers of British and Germans and some Americans. I
met my German wife on board. Every weekend in our German newspaper
there are ads for the Hurtigruten trips, now even including Antarctica
and Chile, and sometimes for Spitzbergen, besides their Norwegian
Coastal Voyage. It would probably pay to investigate several
possibilities of where and with whom to purchase tickets.

George

In article <[email protected]. com>,
"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > has anyone done the Hurtigruten recently ?
    >

Loved it madly 8-) A bit over a year ago.

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar), biblioholic medievalist

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

http://www.airstreamcomm.net/~erilarlo

In article <[email protected] .com>,
"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > did either you or Des go to the Geirangerfjord ?

_I_ did. If you like waterfalls, it is magnificent! I also kept
thinking the end was coming up every time we went around a corner
because it didn't look as if there was room for our ship 8-)

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar), biblioholic medievalist

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

http://www.airstreamcomm.net/~erilarlo

"tim \(in sweden\)" <[email protected]> writes:

    > "Des Small" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > > I never did an official Hurtigruten excursion, but the glaciers and
    > > the malstrøm are highly spoken of by my mother.
    >
    > I though the malstrom was a complete waste of time.

My mother really does want to go back specifically to that. Neither
of us is her, presumably, but she really really liked it.

Des

george schreef:

    > eetinBelgië wrote:
    > >
    > > initial research shows that it is cheaper to buy the trip through the
    > > UK, probably due to larger volumes of 'cruisers'
    > I dealt directly with one (Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab AS,
    > Narvik) of the two (also Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap AS, Tromso)
    > parent companies in Norway by e-mail. They were very helpful. The
    > largest number of people on my boat were from the Netherlands. There
    > were also large numbers of British and Germans and some Americans. I
    > met my German wife on board. Every weekend in our German newspaper
    > there are ads for the Hurtigruten trips, now even including Antarctica
    > and Chile, and sometimes for Spitzbergen, besides their Norwegian
    > Coastal Voyage. It would probably pay to investigate several
    > possibilities of where and with whom to purchase tickets.
    > George

Trip is booked via UK, www.hurtigruten.co.uk. We checked Norway and
Belgium but they were more expensive.
We did the flights ourselves with SAS.

What is the most expensive in Norway, booze or cigarettes (when
compared to other European countries) ?

"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:

    > What is the most expensive in Norway, booze or cigarettes (when
    > compared to other European countries) ?

If cigarettes are "Ouch!!", booze is "Oh sweet Jesus, let me die!".
Take your full duty-free allowance of both, and try to think in the
local zloties ("krone") while you're there to numb the pain.

Des

Des Small wrote:
    > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > > What is the most expensive in Norway, booze or cigarettes (when
    > > compared to other European countries) ?
    > If cigarettes are "Ouch!!", booze is "Oh sweet Jesus, let me die!".
    > Take your full duty-free allowance of both, and try to think in the
    > local zloties ("krone") while you're there to numb the pain.
    >
    > Des

do you know what the limits of both are ?

"eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:

    > Des Small wrote:
    > > "eetinBelgië" <[email protected]> writes:
    > >
    > > > What is the most expensive in Norway, booze or cigarettes (when
    > > > compared to other European countries) ?
    > >
    > > If cigarettes are "Ouch!!", booze is "Oh sweet Jesus, let me die!".
    > > Take your full duty-free allowance of both, and try to think in the
    > > local zloties ("krone") while you're there to numb the pain.
    > >
    > > Des
    >
    > do you know what the limits of both are ?

It is certainly very sad that they don't have Google in Belgium yet,
but if you visit somewhere with Interweb, you could check that the
officially official line is

"""
Alcoholic beverages

a) 1 litre of beverages with more than 22 up to and including 60 %
alcohol per volume as well as 1 litre with more than 2.5 up to and
including 22 % alcohol per volume or 2 litres with more than 2.5 up to
and including 22 % alcohol per volume.

b) 2 litres of beer with more than 2.5 or other beverages with more than
2.5 up to and including 4.75 % alcohol per volume.

This means that you may for example bring with you 4 litres of beer
provided you do not have with you any other alcoholic beverages.

Only persons over the age of 18 are allowed to import alcoholic
beverages. For importing alcoholic beverages with more than 22 %
alcohol per volume the minimum age is 20.

Tobacco

a) 200 cigarettes or 250 g of other tobacco products and
b) 200 leaves of cigarette paper.
The minimum age for importing tobacco products is 18 years.
"""

<http://www.toll.no/templates_TAD/Article.aspx?id=68487&epslanguage=EN>

I've given up smoking since, but when I was there I bought rollies as
being less painful, and was often Norwegished on the grounds of my
very domestic brand.

Des