Cruise South

Our tour included a "cruise along the fjords" on the Hurtigruten line, the Norwegian line that offers sightseeing and ferry services all over Norway. I was excited because, as you can probably tell by now, I am exceptionally fond of fjords.

The cruise was on the MS Nord/Norge, which has a past as an Antarctic cruise ship. 

Our boat

We were amazed with our room - definitely the nicest we've ver had on a ship. A bit wasted since we were just doing a day and a half. But, very nice.

Our cabin

Our cabin

Or view

We were able to board early, so we could hang out on deck watching one of Hurtigruten's sister ships pull in to the berth in front of us. Pretty impressive parallel parking of a ship!

Reflection

Plus, Scott got familiar with the lounge!

Cap'n Scott

The cruise started out auspiciously -- sunshine and relatively warm weather. That's Monkholmen (Monk's Islet), a former monastery off of Trondheim that is now a popular bathing beach.

Monkholmen

As we cruised south, we saw some pretty scenery, but we weren't real IN any fjords, just passing by them. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting and I am not sure I would do it again.

Mouth of a fjord

The food onboard was pretty limited (although the burger I had was tasty) and fairly expensive. Most people onboard were finishing a 10-day cruise and seemed to be enjoying themselves. But, then, I've heard a rumor some folks like to relax on vacations. The cruise also offered day tours, so some folks were off the boat for part of the trip (get off at one port and back on at another). That's how the 10-day worked.

Lighthouse

We saw a few porpoises (which they accidentally announced as whales, causing a little stir of excitement).

A quick glimpse

As we moved south, the weather deteriorated, getting increasingly cold, rainy and foggy. Because Bergen was their turnaround stop, they made  us vacate our rooms by 9:00 a.m., so there was even less advantage than we thought.

Below is the narrowest part of the trip -- pretty narrow, but not that impressive because the sides weren't very high. As I said before, not all fjords are alike.

Icky weather

It cleared slightly as we approached Bergen, but we didn't have much sunshine.

Pretty, though

Unfortunately, I was fighting a cold and by the time we got to Bergen, I could barely crawl upstairs to our room (same hotel as first time). Scott went and had a seafood feast at the fish market and I napped. Not too exciting, but, if you gotta be sick, this was probably the best days to do it.

Trip date: August 19-September 9, 2014