We took the entire west coast of Norway trip over seven days on the Hurtigruten MS Nordlys. It was…read morewonderful. We had booked a small cabin that was just too small for two people to be moving in at the same time. I went to the front desk to ask about an upgrade and that worked. Yes, I had to pay for the upgrade but we ended up opting for a mini-suite. This had a king size bed and a TV that was two scenes, one facing the bed and the other facing the couch. Also a nice bar area, but standard ship sized bathroom. Very comfy and worth the price paid. Meals were centralized, buffet and were excellent as to variety & quality. Our group had arranged for a beverage for each person at every lunch and dinner, so wine, beer or soft drink were included. This is a working ferry that stops many times day and night to take on or drop off pass angers, mail and/or equipment. After the first night, we never heard the docking and departure noises. The coast of Norway is vast with many settlements along it. Some are too small for anything large to dock and others just large enough. The in and out of port work is amazing to watch. Very efficient. The ship has outdoor seating areas and indoor cafes, ice cream shop, bars and gift shops. There is an optional restaurant where you seat in a separate area, order from their menu an are served away from the mass feeding in the main dining room. Crew is exceptionally nice, courteous and accommodating. There was at least one port of call where we could leave the ship for a few hours to see sights and history. We would do it again, maybe traveling from north to south on another Norway trip. Highly recommended.

This company has some housekeeping to take care of. I booked a 12 day cruise and have really mixed…read morefeelings. First of all travel in this part of the world is very expensive and I was hoping for better service. Parts of the crew like the expedition team, and most of the serving staff in the dining room were fantastic. But the reception team and housekeeping were not always pleasant. Heading north the reception team was excellent, but on the way back towards Bergen, not so much. They have an intern Sammy, who yelled at me for a solid five minutes because I was late boarding even after I apologized. I don't like spotlighting people, but I contacted the company with a complaint and so far no response. In the words of a crew member's toast,"Hurigruten is not a cruise, but a connection for the Norwegian people" I must agree. It is better to think of this boat line as a ferry and not so much a cruise expedition. They do not stop at ports for long so another reason why it's more like a ferry because you don't have much time to explore the different stops. Once I almost missed the ferry because it docked 15 minutes late which I didn't factor into the departure. time. Use it to get from point a to point B with a possible one or two night stay in the cabins, or if you want to be thrifty, just sleep in one of the lounges, but you have to expect there might be noise. Also, they need to do a better job cleaning the bathrooms in between trips because there was some mold at the base.