On a 7 night cruise you will not get to the North Cape.
One way on the NCV you will only see half the ports during daylight. On a round trip, those visited at night are called at during the day and vice versa.

The food on NCV is limited and not cruise ship standard.. but perfectly adequate. You get little time in port, but sufficient to see most things and may get woken from your slumbers at night in port.
You only visit Geiranger northbound in the summer months.

Cruise ships may not always stay close to the coast.. you won't get the views as on NCV. NCV also provide a running commentary of all the landmarks en route. You can visit the bridge.

2 very different ways to visit Norway. Both are enjoyable. B is my choice.

However Amsterdam is sometimes included, which is a very nice city, but I would rather have had another Norwegian port having been their before.

I'd now like to go further now, to the North Cape or even Spitzburgen.

The Hurtigruten - used to be or is - the more original expierience BUT...

...the short time in port also has the disadvantage that you have to do excursion disembarking in one port and embarking in another (..which somehow makes it more rushed than a conventional cruise - other than most people going with Hurtigruten would say...)

...the Hurtiruten ships are really cute but also VERY crowed in summer.

...the food is not as good (and not original) as one would expect for the price - not the main issue but still.

My recommendation: Summer - coventional cruise
Winter - Hurtigruten (excellent expierience!)

[ 08-19-2006: Message edited by: Ernst ]

Amsterdam(Rotterdam),Holland Boarding Depart 5:00 PM
Day 2 At Sea
Day 3 Oslo, Norway Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 3:00 PM
Day 4 Stavanger, Norway Docked Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 4:00 PM
Day 5 Flam, Norway Docked Arrive 7:30 AM Depart 6:00 PM
Day 6 Alesund, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM
Day 7 Bergen, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM
Day 8 At Sea
Day 9 Amsterdam(Rotterdam),Holland Departure Arrive 5:00 AM

Would there be any fjord cruising time in the itinerary? I see that the ship does not go into Geiranger Fjord.

Any general thoughts about this cruise, or other traditional cruises during May that might be better?

You'll also get food and entertainment of the standard associated with each line.

Although the Hurtigruten ships also offer excursions, they are limited because the time in port is much shorter. Their food is better than adequate, but not on a par with cruise ship food in terms of variety and availability. And entertainment is even more limited.

Patsy.. all the cruiselines do the same excursions. US based ships will charge more for them.

The Norvegian Fjords are among the oldest cruise destination, and the choice is immense, from mega ship, to budget classic.

I have seen departures for ships like Athena and Van Gogh, Costa Ships, Century, QE2, QM2, Albatros (nd probably sisters Black Watch and Boudicca), Maxim Gorkiy, Mona Lisa.

So you can really choose from
classic ex Transatlantic Liners like QE2 or Mona Lisa (for some ridiculous prices, Malcolm with his £100 a day would be in tears), so both in English and German

to smaller classics like Maxim Gorki(I am not sure of Marco Polo), Athena

I don't know if Van Gogh or Lili Marleen can be called classics

Modern british traditionals like P&O's various ships

British mass market Thomson Celebration

Modern american luxury like Century and Constellation, and i think also more massmarket american cruisers of RCI

and state-of-the-art Transatlantic liners like QM2

and of course the hybrid Hurtigruten

and this list is certainly not ended

This looks pretty good, in fact; perhaps not as cheap as P&O or Fred Olsen, but a newer ship, and with the advantage of sailing with a Norwegian company. I could be quite tempted if I wasn't already fully-booked, cruise-wise, for next summer... The only drawback might be that date: April 13th is pretty early for a fjords cruise.

But see here. The cruise starts and ends at Tower Bridge. Visits both Geiranger and Sognefjord.. fabulous in April I would suggest? and a bargain price too.

Pam

[ 11-13-2006: Message edited by: PamM ]

[ 11-24-2006: Message edited by: Galaxy ]