Norwegian Fjords Cruises
The Norwegian Fjords are generally a feature of a Northern European cruise or Norwegian Fjords cruises and many types of cruise lines can get you there in comfort to view them. They are without a doubt one of the most awesomely beautiful sights one can lay eyes on, and the majesty of these great peaks can often put even Alaska to shame.
Located in Norway, both the Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord now enjoy the status of being a UNESCO World Heritage site and people from all over the world come to view them each and every year. Both of these fjords have held an almost magnetic attraction for tourists ever since they first started visiting the region in the early 19th century.
Many cruise lines will get you to Norway to view the fjords, but probably the best option would be a small ship “soft adventure” type cruise operator, such as Lindblad Expeditions or Hurtigruten. These operators offer expanded itineraries of this area, including Lindblad’s 16 night Norwegian fjords sailings between Bergen and Oslo. This sailing will explore every nook and cranny of this pristine and untamed region of the world. Another interesting trip takes place between Dover in the UK and Iceland’s Reykjavik. This voyage makes stops in other areas as well, including Cork and Galway, the Aran Islands and Iona, as well as Scotland’s Isle of Lewis.
Many of the larger ships are also expanding their itineraries in this region so that they could offer something for everybody. In the past you needed to commit several weeks of holiday time for a cruise of this type. Not any longer. If you only have seven days available, for example, MSC can offer you a range of Baltic trips and Fred Olsen too can get you to the Norwegian fjords and back in that length of time too. Royal Caribbean International offers probably the most unique option with their four-night “taster” sailings out of Oslo or Stockholm that visit the fjords.
For most cruises headed to Northern Europe, and the Norwegian Fjords, Stockholm and Copenhagen would be the most popular embarkation and debarkation ports. There are some other options, however, and these would include Dover, Southampton and Harwich in England. Celebrity Cruises even runs some Northern European cruises out of Amsterdam. So there are plenty of options for visiting the fjords from the UK.
If you are planning on a longer, more exotic Norwegian fjords cruise, your embarkation port could be as diverse as Norway's Bergen, Iceland's Reykjavik, and Norway's Tromso.
A Norwegian Fjords cruise offers so much in the way of natural beauty that it has become an ideal location for a family cruise. Since the major draw of such a cruise is onboard viewing of nature’s splendours, this itinerary is ideal for multi-generational families. This is because unlike cruises to most other destinations, where the emphasis is on visiting ports and often taking extended tours, with a Norwegian fjords cruise the emphasis is viewing natural wonders from the ship. This makes such a sailing easy on the family since everyone from grandma to the littlest one can easily participate.
The best time to cruise the Norwegian fjords is during the months of July and August when the weather is at its mildest. The advantage of cruising at that time too is the fact that the kids are often out of school and the cruise lines are offering many options in terms of their kids programmes. Choices of cruise lines are varied as well, and in addition to the more exotic, “soft adventure” small ship operators, several mass market lines run Norwegian Fjords cruises, including Costa, MSC, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. All of these lines have very well-developed children’s programmes that are in full swing during the summer months. Other options include luxury ship cruising, and Regent Seven Seas serves this market nicely with its Norwegian fjords itineraries. They too offer a full-scale children’s programme onboard during the Norwegian fjords sailing season of July and August.
The entire countryside of Norway is absolutely breathtaking, but its west coast is particularly astonishing because of the fact that it contains most of the fjords, and there is no better place from which to view these mighty landforms – icy glaciers rising high above a majestic blue sea – than from the deck of a cruise ship during a leisurely sailing among them.
See all the great destinations you can visit in the Norwegian Fjords
|