Cruise Review Hurtigruten Nordkapp

We sailed on the Nordkapp from May 5 -- May 10 from Kirkenes to Bergen. We were told there were 300 people on board with the ship listed as capable of holding 622. The ship is well appointed and run with reasonable efficiency. The rooms are small but well thought out.

In general we found the scenery disappointing. It should be noted that Hurtigruten -- as a coastal shipping company - makes no effort to enter fjords for scenic purposes with the exception of the Trollfjord, and that was cancelled due to "bad weather" on our voyage. The most famous of the Norwegian Fjords (Geiranger) is often visited by bus and not on the ship except at limited times. Southbound passengers do not have that option at all. We were going southbound and that's what this review applies to. We have been to Millford Sound in New Zealand, and to the amazing Kotor Fjord in Montenegro. With the possible exception of Trollfjord and Geiranger when visited, Hurtigruten offers pleasant scenery (quite good scenery in Lofoten) but not spectacular scenery as is available in New Zealand, the Balkans or Canada/Alaska. Hurtigruten, when they replied to this letter, said that in the summer months they enter Geirangerfjord in the ship. They also described themselves as a "coastal cruise" rather than a "Fjord Cruise". You should check your cruise specifically if you want to see a classic Fjord and be aware of the high probability of weather cancellation. It is possible that by going in early May we didn't get the full benefit of what can be seen due to the presence of snow over most of the first 1/3 of the trip. Fjords are also more spectacular from above than from sea level. We should have done more research before taking the cruise to discover all of this of course. Note that the word fjord in Norwegian has a meaning that's basically "bay", while in english it's more like "bay with steep cliffs". We heard one other passenger saying "his only regret regarding the cruise is that he didn't see any fjords". Ironic. Read more