Closure on Norway

Back in June when we were aboard Hurtigruten's Nordkapp, we had a problem. Our Kensington Tours invoice stated we had paid for breakfast, lunch and dinner while onboard, but the ship told us we were only entitled to breakfast. We went back and forth at lunch and dinner and in between meals for a couple of days. I notified our sales person at Kensington the first day and when she got back in touch it was to say that she did not think her Hurtigruten contact had booked us as full board. Kensington was willing to pay for our meals onboard but Hurtigruten would not take their money now because we were onboard with our own credit card on a shipboard account. She advised us to go to Reception and ask to pay for our own full board for the cruise and to mail her an invoice for reimbursement after we got home. We did. We paid $428USD for something like 5 days of 3 meals times 2 people. Today we finally got the reimbursement check.

I cannot fault Kensington Tours for their handling of our Norway tour. Things go wrong. They handled it in a satisfactory manner. I can still recommend Kensington Tours.

I still don't feel like I can recommend Hurtigruten. It was not a pleasant experience doing the Norwegian Coastal cruise. Hurtigruten sells and markets this as a "cruise". It is not. It is a ferry. It is a ferry with some very upscale-cruise-priced passengers onboard while it carries on its ferry business. I suppose if you bought the passage at ferry prices and had that expectation it would be a different story. Generally I tell people who ask to go ahead with less the optimal experience if the alternative is missing the experience entirely. In this case though, it was done badly enough that I would make an exception and advise not doing it at all if you have to use Hurtigruten to cruise the Norwegian coast. Save your money and wait until you can do it properly and actually have a chance to see it properly. Norway is spectacular. I might even advise skipping the coastal Norwegian cruise and just doing the 4-day version of Norway in a Nutshell between Oslo and Bergen. It would be a better use of your time and money than that ferry experience.

So, that closes the story of this spring's long trip. We leave in less than a week for a 2-week trip with Celtic Tours. Followed by a month of river cruising (we hope!) with Amras Cruises. I'd post a link to their website and the Complete Europe that we booked, but they've taken it down! I guess it is sold out for this year and either not offered again or not yet. I'm not sure. Check back! In any event, below is the brochure page I scanned from their catalog.