Winter Europe Trip 3rd December 2022 (Saturday) Day 7

(This posted is written on 12th March 2023, I finally have time as the school term has ended and I really missed our Europe trip)

The Hurtigruten experience was one of the first things I had decided to do when researching our trip. There were generally good reviews but I also read some reviews of people who found it too boring so I was a little apprehensive and was mentally prepared this cruise was not going to be like our cruise on board Spectrums of the Seas. It was not cheap even though we opted for the cheapest cabin with a window and the cabin was kind of small (think Japanese style), but I would say I enjoyed the four nights a lot and it's one of the things I really missed about our trip in Norway. 

Walking past Bergenhus fortress

Spotted a Hurtigruten but that was not our cruise ship

 

Many cruise ships around the area

The most difficult thing about getting on board Hurtigruten was the lack of information, and we had to go online to find out where is the boarding place. I tried to watch many videos and read many reviews about the journey and decided to go onboard this cruise to spend a slow 4 nights getting to Tromso instead of flying since we have two weeks in Norway, and I wish to visit more cities. 

The Flybussen stop right outside our hotel, easy to find

Finally we got to the terminal

When I use my phone to google the location of the terminal to get on board the cruise ship, somehow it mistakenly showed a place about 10 min walk away from our hotel. After checking out at noon, we deposited our luggage with the concierge and tried walking to the Jektevik Terminal, which is a strange word that I couldnt pronounce. We met with a dead end and could not find the place so we decided to head back to the hotel and check with the hotel staff. I wonder why we did not think of that earlier. Anyway, everyone working in Bergen should know Hurigruten and she was telling us that it's some distance away and the airport bus Flybussen has a stop just outside the hotel, and it will be heading there. There were even big signs inside the hotel lobby showing the timing of the next bus, so we waited inside till the next bus was near.

Free flow food and drinks at the coastal kitchen

There were already many tables full with excited elderly

Staff bringing out fresh food now and then

We were excited when our ship docked

The ship was only leaving at 7pm but we could do early check in and I was glad the bus drop us right at the terminal. Thankfully, Bergen is a major stop for Hurtigruten so the transport facilities were built around that. The was a queue for checking in and dropping off the luggages but we were done in no time. We only had our backpacks with us and we headed up to the coastal kitchen to get some food and rest at the lounge. As the ship is only departing at 7pm, I thought we have another half a day at Bergen but it was hard to explore this part of the town with our heavy backpacks (our iPad and Macbook) with us so we only found a supermarket to get some snacks and went back to the lounge again.

Showing us the way to get on board

I still missed the pastries here as it was soooo good

Took a short walk to get some snacks

Our room cards

The safety briefing

We finally get on board at 4pm

The terminal for Hurtigruten at Bergen is actually the biggest one among all the stops we went on the journey, that was where the north bound journey start and the south bound journey end. We appreciated the free flow food and drinks while we waited for the safety briefing as we soon found out everything cost more when on the cruise. I would not say that Hurtigruten is only for the elderly as some couples in their 50s and 60s did not enjoy it, but we were easily the youngest among the travelers. The majority of the rest had grey or silver hair, we did enjoy our days among these elderly as they were mostly friendly and nice to one another, coming from different countries. 

The lounging area near the restaurants and cafe

We parked ourselves here while waiting for the room

Others start to stream in and hung around here

These seats were part of the cafe at the side

Seating area of the cafe, which we did not try

Nice paintings around the place

Cool.. Brygga bristro is the name

We can purchase post cards and post them

The restaurant where we have our breakfast and dinner

Although we got on board of the ship at 4pm, we found our rooms but the cleaning staff told us the rooms were not ready until 6pm. Our bags were heavy, so we got down to another level of the ship and park our things near the bistro lounging area and waited, while touring the ship a little. At around 5.30pm, I found the cleaning staff all gone and our luggages parked outside the rooms, so I told P that we could head to our room to check it out and rest. 

We found our luggages outside the room soon

This is how big/small the room is, with both beds foldable

Tiny bathroom but good enough

Our room, small but loved it

We opted for half board (room and two meals) since some of the days we will be out and will not need lunch on the ship, it cost us 1.1k euro each but I do realise the price fluctuate a little like a hotel room. We would loved to have a normal size hotel room on board but that will cost us at least 2k euro more, so we decided to just be happy with our smallish room. After reading the reviews, I was a little worried about the size so we checked with the staff regarding upgrading the room once we boarded but there were no rooms available other than the suite which is way out of budget. In retrospect, it was not too bad as the youngest couple on board and we were able to still place our luggages on the floor, side by side, although we have to keep it close and the full access was only possible when we fold up the bed. There were not much extra space for walking around but we were okay with it. 

We were on board Ms Nordlys, which mean Northern Lights

The information board and the ship is big on sustainability

Explorer Lounge and Panorama Bar

Games, puzzles and knitting on board (and people do work on those)

The bakery on Level 7 

Pastries looked good

Gelato looks good

The vomit bags next to the little trolls (we needed those days later)

While waiting for dinner, we went out and explore the ship, taking photos. Our room is on Level 5, the bistro and restaurant is one level down and Level 7 is also pretty cool for activities, no rooms there. There is also a walking deck right outside our window so most of the time I kept the blinds down, but it was quite okay and seemed like I was the only one who do peer into others' windows when walking around. At Bergen, there is a elevated boarding deck like what we do on other cruise ships and we boarded the ship from Level 5. In the room, we can switch between air-con and heating by just adjusting the thermostat and we really appreciated that it was quite effective. There was also heating on the bathroom floor so it was pretty impressive and dry things fast. 

Cheese platter which P loved 

Steak from the buffet line

P enjoyed the dinner a lot 

Goodbye to Bergen at around 9pm

We passed this place with my name

We headed to the restaurant at 630pm and this was the only night we could sit wherever we wanted. There is no fixed timing for entering the restaurant for the first night and we went earlier than usual as we opted for 8pm seating for the remaining nights. We did not know it at that time, but we only had buffet dinner at Bergen and the next time they served buffet for dinner was at Tromso after we departed. It's a pity as P enjoyed the dinner a lot that night as it had his favourite steak and mashed potatoes. 

The ship finally left Bergen at 9pm, the ship is smaller than the other cruise ship we boarded in 2021 but it was still quite steady and life went on as normal as we continued our journey to other parts of Norway.