Hurtigruten

Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes

Hurtigruten refers to the traditional passenger service along the coast of Norway between Bergen and Kirkenes. The companies Havila Voyages and Hurtigruten are operating ships on this itinerary. The company Hurtigruten was the result of merging Troms Fylkes Dampskibsselskap (TFDS) and Ofotens og Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab (OVDS) and claimed the traditional term 'Hurtigruten' (referring to the itinerary) as trademark when there was no other company serving this route. Havila Voyages therefore avoids using the previously generic term 'Hurtigruten'. However, since this page at shipvideos.net pre-dates these developments, the title 'Hurtigruten' is maintained.

Below are the links to all 'Hurtigruten' related video clips available at shipvideos.net. The links to the ship specific clips are found at the bottom of the video link grid or on the following sub-pages: MS Lofoten, MS Trollfjord, Richard With, Kong Harald, Nordnorge, Nordkapp,Polarlys, Vesterålen.
Useful links and personal remarks on Hurtigruten by Ernst Galutschek are posted below the links to the videos.

along the route

MS Lofoten

MS Trollfjord

Richard With

Kong Harald

Nordnorge

Nordkapp

Polarlys

Vesterålen

A plethora of information on Hurtigruten is found online - here some links:

Operators:

Havila Voyages
Hurtigruten

'Day for Night in Norway' - article by Reif Larsen for the New York Times
Official Hurtigruten Videos @ Vimeo
Hurtigruten - Minutt for minutt - 134 h live TV coverage of Bergen - Kirkenes trip
Hurtigruten Ships @ "Ships In Bergen" Blog
hurtigwiki.de - German webpage on Hurtigruten
Pictures of a trip aboard Polarlys (2002) by Pam Massey
www.postschiffreise.de German travel agency website with a lot of information on Hurtigruten

Personal remarks on 'Hurtigruten' by Ernst Galutschek

Since I am often asked about Hurtigruten I decided to make an exception and share a few personal remarks here on my webpage. A Hurtigruten trip is indeed a special experience. While I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys travelling by ship I encourage you to do some research before booking to avoid ending up aboard a Hurtigruten ship for the wrong reasons.

it IS a cruise (...well, it can be like a cruise...)

Hurtigruten is of course not what most consider to be a typical cruise experience found aboard large, contemporary, mainstream cruise ships. However, if avoiding a cruise experience is your motivation to book Hurtigruten, be aware that the itinerary is inherently superficial - more so than many cruise lines' itineraries since Hurtigruten ships only spend a very short time in ports. Beside that, Hurtigruten do mimic a cruise experience in that they offer activities and shore excursions similar to those offered by cruise lines - in a way this is working against the essence of a Hurtigruten trip. Fortunately it is possible to avoid these activities, however, that of course applies to cruise ships too.

it is NOT a trip to the fjords

Hurtigruten is a coastal voyage - it is beyond my understanding why it is frequently described as a 'Trip to the Fjords'. Yes, the itinerary does include fjords and e.g. Geiranger Fjord was added to the summer schedule some years ago to accommodate this expectation. However, if you want to see 'The Fjords' most people have in mind when referring to ‘Norwegian Fjords’ you will have to do another trip. Mind you, this is not a disadvantage - but a 'Trip to the Fjords' is just not what it is.

book a segment

As said above, Hurtigruten ships only spend a short time in ports - that and the fact that the ships call at many ports per day is one of the reasons why a Hurtigruten trip is so special. However, some shore excursions offered by Hurtigruten require one to disembark in one port and embark in another - a more rushed approach than that offered by most conventional cruise ships! If such excursions are what you wish to do, do not work against the forte of Hurtigruten: Do not plan it like a cruise vacation, but try to take advantage of being able to book segments rather than doing the whole round trip at once - e.g. spend a couple of days in one port, then catch another ship or plan several short trips during different seasons instead of just one longer trip.

choose your ship wisely

Hurtigruten and Havila's ships are not all the same, so investigate properly which ships suits your needs and your taste. e.g. Vesteralen built in 1980ies with more emphasis on transportation of cargo is substantially different to the other ships operated by Hurtigruten.