We chose the Northern Lights voyage on the Midnatsol becuase we had taken the same trip two years earlier on a much smaller ship, the Vesteralen. We had had such a good time earlier that we decided to do it again. It just happened that the Midnatsol was the ship that was leaving Bergen on the day that we were able to start our trip.

First, don't pay attention to all the reviewers who complain because of the lack of entertainment or activities on board. Their travel agents must have given them the wrong impression about what the Norwegian coastal voyages are all about. In fact, the very reason we took Hurtigruten is that it wasn't going to be like a lot of other cruises we had been on with casinos, lounge acts, photographers every time you turn around, and way way way too much noise and way way way too many people. We weren't disappointed at all - in fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I'm going again in March 2018 and we've already booked the same trip for January 2019.

Second, our experience with the service from Hurtigruten has been phenomenal - whether with booking trips or flights or check-in or on the ship itself. Hurtigruten employees know how to provide superb service, and I've never experienced poor service - not once. In fact, on our most recent trip, our flight from the US was delayed, and we weren't able to board the ship in Bergen. When I knew that our flight was to be delayed, I called Hurtigruten and they got to work re-arranging flights so that we could meet up with the ship in Trondheim on the third day of the voyage, put us up in a wonderful hotel in Trondheim, and covered all the extra costs. (We had arranged flights through Hurtigruten, so they took good care of us. ) When our bags from Chicago didn't arrive in Trondheim, Hurtirgruten worked with United Airlines and SAS to deliver our bags to us on the ship on the 5th day of the trip. And they refunded the first two days of the trip! Who does that? If that' s not great service, I don't know what is. Read more