We did BKB coastal journey last December with Hurtigruten and loved it. I’d agree that if I could only do one direction I’d choose the northbound journey 🇳🇴
thanks for the video. i hope to eventually do this and experience where my ancestors came from. sounds perfect…. small ship with no casinos, cheesy floor shows, limited amounts of children, or mega water slides.
I’ll be on the Havila Capella next February 2025. Like you, I’m hoping to see Northern Lights. I’m sorry that they didn’t appear for you in Norway but glad you got to see them in Colorado! Really enjoying your channel. Your daughter is adorable.
Don’t they“blow” the ships horn? Honk the ships horn sounds funny. 😆 Great series! Love the simplicity of the cruise. Hope to see you do a summer cruise! Looking forward to more Norway videos! Sooo beautiful! Bummer there were no northern lights but sounds like it worked out good!
Thanks for the very informative and comprehensive video. We are planning to get on from Solvae at 11pm and arrive in Tromso at 6pm the next day. Do you recommend getting a room for one night vs the ferry seat? So if we get a room, do we get all the foods you showed 😋 . Also, is there a room that sleeps 5? 😝
Thanks so much for watching. If you do book a room, the food is included. The only exclusion would be the speciality restaurant. Not sure on a room that sleeps 5 though. The Havila customer service agents are amazing so suggest connecting with them.
Thanks so much. They did have some pretty adventurous excursions such as snowmobiling to see Northern Lights over night but it is hard with a 3 YO to do some of the more epic excursions. We did do three different ones that can been seen in the series.
We are thinking about having a trip with Havila with our little daughter in april. She will be 9 months old then. Would you recommend travelling with such a little kid? Does Havila provide beds for children, nappies...? Or should we maybe wait a little longer. I'm also a little concerned if we maybe bother other guests.
We started traveling internationally with our little one at 6 months so we would definitely say traveling with a little one at any age is worth it. However, with Havila it may be dependent on what you are looking for. If you want to sail and enjoy the towns then 100% yes and they are amazing with kids. But if you really want to do excursions probably wait a bit. Havila does have cots for the little ones but no nappies. And definitely don’t worry about bothering other guests, this is not adults only and kids are welcome. If they get bothered by a kiddo, they should try something else.
We will have an episode just on clothing and what to pack for this trip in the coming weeks. There are flights from Kirkenes all year that go to Oslo and plenty of hotels to stay in.
You guys are a cute couple. Thanks for sharing this video. My Dad is very keen on seeing the Northern Lights and so we are deciding between the round trip or just going North Bound. I don't want to spend 12 days on a ship and would prefer something between 5 to 7 days. However, we're also planning this specifically for the Northern Lights so maybe the round trip makes more sense. But I don't know if its necessary to be on the ship for that much amount of time. Can you share your thoughts here? I am also concerned my Dad might get bored on the ship since he is used to more of the traditional cruises where there are activities and entertainment. Also, did you guys get seasick at any time? We are planning on going either in Jan 2025 or February.
Thanks so much. We would probably recommend doing the Northbound and then spending a few extra days in Kirkenes to get the best chance at seeing the Northern lights. This would probably give you the best chance to see them and also more time on land. As for sea sickness, typically we don’t get sea sick but there was 1 day where it was very rough and we all felt it (except our daughter). Jack even had to go lay down. Overall though it is amazing and while we go on traditional cruises as well, we didn’t feel bored at all during this trip.
@@lindsayslivealittle Thank you for responding so quickly! We are deciding between early Jan or Feb. Someone mentioned to go later in Feb since we will have longer daylight hours. Did you find that the daylight hours were too short when you went over Christmas?
I would also say you could go from Bergen and stop in Tromso for a little shorter of a trip and stay in Tromso. Probably easier to fly out of and more to do. There are also companies that do northern light excursions there. As for the day light I will say when we went over Christmas we had a few days where we didn’t have daylight when we did Bergen to Bergen. We wanted to do it again when there is more daylight since the scenery was beautiful!
@@lindsayslivealittle Got it. In that case, would you recommend February over January since we would get more daylight then. Did you find anything special / unique about not seeing the sun for a few days or would you say its better to have some daylight so that you can see the scenery?
@@agavai07it was unique not seeing the sun but would probably suggest February just to get a bit of light and might make the small towns more enjoyable on the trip.
We used travel and medical combination from AiG. We aren’t loyal to a brand so we look at who as the best deal on each trip. But we usually use a larger brand just because especially on international travel we just have a higher level of trust in their network.
Germans are an increasing part of the Norwegian tourists. I don't think that there's been this many Germans visiting since the forties. I prefer this kind of tourism though, NGL.
Thanks for that info! We want to try it again in the summer! The views in the winter were amazing so I am sure the summer would be even more amazing!!!
They have a bunch (you can see them on their website) but to name a few: we fed reindeer and sled ride, Emma did a bus ride that included a church museum and lots of sights, bus tours of towns, ice hotel. (You can see these on our vlogs) There are several more that we didn’t do because we had a 3 year old with us but some of those were snow mobiles, midnight concert at a church, Viking home and dinner, king crabs! There are obviously some for summer as well like hiking and such but we were there in the winter.
Had a somewhat similar experience on a crossing on the old QE2. We flew from Amsterdam to Southampton the day before boarding but the British disease struck and the longshoremen went on strike so the QE went to France. We showed up at Cunard's pier early and the choice was ferry or plane, my wife insisted on the plane that turned out to be the right choice since the ferry wasn't expecting a thousand passengers (i.e. they ran out of food, etc.) Cunard chartered Freddy Laker and small fleet was lined up at a small airport near Southampton, that had a tarpaper shack as a terminal and one lone customs and immigration guy. Laker's guy bought this guy a cuppa and then did all the papers themselves and had us on the plane pronto, took off, short flight landed in France, the bus pulled right up to the plane we boarded and were driven right to the ship, no customs. The little French port was totally overwhelmed by the size of the Queen. Most of our partners on the flight were ship's crew on a changeover and there was literally nobody on the ship. As we searched about we finally located a bartender who had flown over with us, he had no boss and just put his uniform on and just started handing out drinks to us, free! The charge machines were locked up with nobody to open. It was that way till evening with small batches of passengers joining us now and then. Finally in early evening an announcement was made that dinner would be served, we were well toasted by then. After dinner the show was the French longshoremen loading cars that folks had picked up at the factory, i.e. virgins with nobody's fingerprints on them. Cunard had a crew of drivers take them over on the ferry and drive to the ship pier. French longshoremen are much faster and more efficient than their british cousins, but scary. We finally sailed about midnight, the Queen got out of the port and made a U turn in the basin without any tug assist, damn good seamanship, the next few days were interesting as she had to do about full speed to make up lost time on the schedule. Our luggage made it to our stateroom late day two. This included my tux for the captain's dinner.
Wow that sounds like an experience! Crazy your luggage took that long to get to you! We were the only people on board for the first few hours and then maybe 3-4 other couples arrived. The bus with everyone else didn’t arrive till the next afternoon. All the crew was on board for us.
Yes, you fly back. There are several airlines flying to and from Kirkenes. Many tourists that only do the one way trip probably does not fly back to Bergen, but to the main international airport in the capital Oslo, to fly back to their country. In this part of the Arctic, planes are the main mode of long distance transportation unless you go by ship.
I think the Norwegians have a rail service as well, if they don't the Sweds do, nicer ride than bus. I took the train from Oslo to Bergen, July 4, snow and skiing in the mountains.
Typically we use either Allianz or AIG travel insurance as it covers: Medical/Dental, Emergency transportation, Baggage, Travel Delay, BAggage Delay and Travel Accident. We will typically just input our trips into each for a quote and like working with the larger companies for piece of mind around availability.
According to a board onboard explaining the origin of Havila and how it got started this is what it said in regards to the name: The name was taken from "Havilah" in the Book of Genesis, where Havilah is associated with the Garden of Eden. 'And the gold of that land is good.' The logo is a mooring bolt. It depicts anchorage as well as the place from where the seafarer casts off. It is the start of new adventures and new opportunities. There is gold in the middle of the mooring bolt. The good gold. Personally the name is what it is. The experience is what really counts and we had an amazing time! Thanks for watching!
This was great! Just found you. Will be watching more of your stuff. You did a great job.
We did BKB coastal journey last December with Hurtigruten and loved it. I’d agree that if I could only do one direction I’d choose the northbound journey 🇳🇴
Great vid as I'm looking into the Southbound trip!
We had an amazing time! Thanks so much!
thanks for the video. i hope to eventually do this and experience where my ancestors came from. sounds perfect…. small ship with no casinos, cheesy floor shows, limited amounts of children, or mega water slides.
Thanks much!
Great video! I learned a lot. I moved to Ålesund a few months ago. Norway is fantastic and you guys are doing a great job with your videos.
We would move to Norway in a heartbeat. We have really fallen in love with our travels there. Thanks so much!
I saw the ring and I thought that was an Aggie Ring. Then, I saw your A&M cap. Gig 'em, and thank you for this info.
Gig ‘Em!
I’ll be on the Havila Capella next February 2025. Like you, I’m hoping to see Northern Lights. I’m sorry that they didn’t appear for you in Norway but glad you got to see them in Colorado! Really enjoying your channel. Your daughter is adorable.
We hope you have an amazing time. It was such a unique way to see so much of Norwegian coastal towns! Thank so much for enjoying the channel!
Don’t they“blow” the ships horn? Honk the ships horn sounds funny. 😆 Great series! Love the simplicity of the cruise. Hope to see you do a summer cruise! Looking forward to more Norway videos! Sooo beautiful! Bummer there were no northern lights but sounds like it worked out good!
That’s it!!!!! Whether we saw the northern lights or not, it was such an awesome trip!
Hope you have your next trip planned.
Pepsi products, no Coke but great coffee! Best coffee in Norway! 😊
Thanks for the very informative and comprehensive video. We are planning to get on from Solvae at 11pm and arrive in Tromso at 6pm the next day. Do you recommend getting a room for one night vs the ferry seat? So if we get a room, do we get all the foods you showed 😋 . Also, is there a room that sleeps 5? 😝
Thanks so much for watching. If you do book a room, the food is included. The only exclusion would be the speciality restaurant. Not sure on a room that sleeps 5 though. The Havila customer service agents are amazing so suggest connecting with them.
Would recommend getting a room for the night though if possible.
Looking forward to cruise with Havila Pollux, Round trip departure last week coming November!😁
Have an amazing time!
The summer months seemed to have TONs of German tourists the two times I was on the Hurtigruten coastal ferry.
It did seem that Germans were a large contingent of the cliental.
Great video! I was hoping to hear a little bit about some of the excursions.
Thanks so much. They did have some pretty adventurous excursions such as snowmobiling to see Northern Lights over night but it is hard with a 3 YO to do some of the more epic excursions. We did do three different ones that can been seen in the series.
The different dining places and the bar have interesting names.
Havblikk = seaview, Hildring = mirage, Havly = sea shelter and Havrand = sea edge.
Thank you so much for this comment!!! We didn’t know that! Very cool!
Thanks for watching.
Small correction here: havblikk is more like “dead calm” it basically means the absence of waves and the surface is almost like a mirror.
Having done the Hurtigruten and Havila, i would take the Hurtigruten every time. Foods better for a start.
If the food is better than we definitely need to give it a try!
We are thinking about having a trip with Havila with our little daughter in april. She will be 9 months old then. Would you recommend travelling with such a little kid? Does Havila provide beds for children, nappies...? Or should we maybe wait a little longer. I'm also a little concerned if we maybe bother other guests.
We started traveling internationally with our little one at 6 months so we would definitely say traveling with a little one at any age is worth it. However, with Havila it may be dependent on what you are looking for. If you want to sail and enjoy the towns then 100% yes and they are amazing with kids. But if you really want to do excursions probably wait a bit. Havila does have cots for the little ones but no nappies. And definitely don’t worry about bothering other guests, this is not adults only and kids are welcome. If they get bothered by a kiddo, they should try something else.
How do you get from Kirkenes to Oslo if you do a one way northbound and are there places to stay in Kirkenes? What about clothing for the Arctic?
We will have an episode just on clothing and what to pack for this trip in the coming weeks. There are flights from Kirkenes all year that go to Oslo and plenty of hotels to stay in.
You guys are a cute couple. Thanks for sharing this video. My Dad is very keen on seeing the Northern Lights and so we are deciding between the round trip or just going North Bound. I don't want to spend 12 days on a ship and would prefer something between 5 to 7 days. However, we're also planning this specifically for the Northern Lights so maybe the round trip makes more sense. But I don't know if its necessary to be on the ship for that much amount of time. Can you share your thoughts here? I am also concerned my Dad might get bored on the ship since he is used to more of the traditional cruises where there are activities and entertainment. Also, did you guys get seasick at any time? We are planning on going either in Jan 2025 or February.
Thanks so much. We would probably recommend doing the Northbound and then spending a few extra days in Kirkenes to get the best chance at seeing the Northern lights. This would probably give you the best chance to see them and also more time on land.
As for sea sickness, typically we don’t get sea sick but there was 1 day where it was very rough and we all felt it (except our daughter). Jack even had to go lay down.
Overall though it is amazing and while we go on traditional cruises as well, we didn’t feel bored at all during this trip.
@@lindsayslivealittle Thank you for responding so quickly! We are deciding between early Jan or Feb. Someone mentioned to go later in Feb since we will have longer daylight hours. Did you find that the daylight hours were too short when you went over Christmas?
I would also say you could go from Bergen and stop in Tromso for a little shorter of a trip and stay in Tromso. Probably easier to fly out of and more to do. There are also companies that do northern light excursions there.
As for the day light I will say when we went over Christmas we had a few days where we didn’t have daylight when we did Bergen to Bergen. We wanted to do it again when there is more daylight since the scenery was beautiful!
@@lindsayslivealittle
Got it. In that case, would you recommend February over January since we would get more daylight then. Did you find anything special / unique about not seeing the sun for a few days or would you say its better to have some daylight so that you can see the scenery?
@@agavai07it was unique not seeing the sun but would probably suggest February just to get a bit of light and might make the small towns more enjoyable on the trip.
How much did the tasting menu on hildring cost?
The price is about $28/person if you are staying on the ship. If you are only doing the ferry you can still eat there buy it is about $80/person.
Where can we get that medical ins? And was it just medical or travel insurance with medical.
We used travel and medical combination from AiG. We aren’t loyal to a brand so we look at who as the best deal on each trip. But we usually use a larger brand just because especially on international travel we just have a higher level of trust in their network.
Do you need to book within the month but also travel within the month when claiming the 2nd free trip as part of the northern light guarantee?
No you just need to book within the month. Believe you need to use within the next 12 months or over the next season.
@@lindsayslivealittle Thanks! Will be going in March 2025, hence the question.
Germans are an increasing part of the Norwegian tourists. I don't think that there's been this many Germans visiting since the forties. I prefer this kind of tourism though, NGL.
Thanks for that info! We want to try it again in the summer! The views in the winter were amazing so I am sure the summer would be even more amazing!!!
If they offer excisions, what would they be?
Excursions!
They have a bunch (you can see them on their website) but to name a few: we fed reindeer and sled ride, Emma did a bus ride that included a church museum and lots of sights, bus tours of towns, ice hotel. (You can see these on our vlogs) There are several more that we didn’t do because we had a 3 year old with us but some of those were snow mobiles, midnight concert at a church, Viking home and dinner, king crabs! There are obviously some for summer as well like hiking and such but we were there in the winter.
Had a somewhat similar experience on a crossing on the old QE2. We flew from Amsterdam to Southampton the day before boarding but the British disease struck and the longshoremen went on strike so the QE went to France. We showed up at Cunard's pier early and the choice was ferry or plane, my wife insisted on the plane that turned out to be the right choice since the ferry wasn't expecting a thousand passengers (i.e. they ran out of food, etc.) Cunard chartered Freddy Laker and small fleet was lined up at a small airport near Southampton, that had a tarpaper shack as a terminal and one lone customs and immigration guy. Laker's guy bought this guy a cuppa and then did all the papers themselves and had us on the plane pronto, took off, short flight landed in France, the bus pulled right up to the plane we boarded and were driven right to the ship, no customs. The little French port was totally overwhelmed by the size of the Queen. Most of our partners on the flight were ship's crew on a changeover and there was literally nobody on the ship. As we searched about we finally located a bartender who had flown over with us, he had no boss and just put his uniform on and just started handing out drinks to us, free! The charge machines were locked up with nobody to open. It was that way till evening with small batches of passengers joining us now and then. Finally in early evening an announcement was made that dinner would be served, we were well toasted by then. After dinner the show was the French longshoremen loading cars that folks had picked up at the factory, i.e. virgins with nobody's fingerprints on them. Cunard had a crew of drivers take them over on the ferry and drive to the ship pier. French longshoremen are much faster and more efficient than their british cousins, but scary. We finally sailed about midnight, the Queen got out of the port and made a U turn in the basin without any tug assist, damn good seamanship, the next few days were interesting as she had to do about full speed to make up lost time on the schedule. Our luggage made it to our stateroom late day two. This included my tux for the captain's dinner.
Wow that sounds like an experience! Crazy your luggage took that long to get to you!
We were the only people on board for the first few hours and then maybe 3-4 other couples arrived. The bus with everyone else didn’t arrive till the next afternoon. All the crew was on board for us.
If one goes from Bergen to Kirkenes, is there an alternative way back to Bergen?
Both SAS and Norwegian have flights. That's best option. By car it takes 30 hours with a distance of 2142 km. (thru Finland and Sweden).
You can fly back from Kirkenes to Oslo directly.
Yes, you fly back. There are several airlines flying to and from Kirkenes. Many tourists that only do the one way trip probably does not fly back to Bergen, but to the main international airport in the capital Oslo, to fly back to their country. In this part of the Arctic, planes are the main mode of long distance transportation unless you go by ship.
As everyone mentioned below, there is an airport that is open all year round.
I think the Norwegians have a rail service as well, if they don't the Sweds do, nicer ride than bus. I took the train from Oslo to Bergen, July 4, snow and skiing in the mountains.
Insurance questions: What coverage? Which insurance companies you researched?
Typically we use either Allianz or AIG travel insurance as it covers: Medical/Dental, Emergency transportation, Baggage, Travel Delay, BAggage Delay and Travel Accident. We will typically just input our trips into each for a quote and like working with the larger companies for piece of mind around availability.
Dont like that name Havila, it has literally zero Norwegian ring to it.
According to a board onboard explaining the origin of Havila and how it got started this is what it said in regards to the name: The name was taken from "Havilah" in the Book of Genesis, where Havilah is associated with the Garden of Eden. 'And the gold of that land is good.'
The logo is a mooring bolt. It depicts anchorage as well as the place from where the seafarer casts off. It is the start of new adventures and new opportunities. There is gold in the middle of the mooring bolt. The good gold.
Personally the name is what it is. The experience is what really counts and we had an amazing time! Thanks for watching!