Great ship, ours was a poorly organized cruise. If you want to sail with Hurtigruten, book it yourself (not through a tour agent), as they will not communicate with you if you have a travel agent. Book a suite (extras are absolutely worth the costs). Book a longer "adventure" cruise, do _not_ book one that has short stops at multiple ports. "Adventure Expeditions" are Hurtigruten's forte, and they really aren't ready to go outside that comfort zone.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Chaotic, disorganized, late, changing piers, no communication, cattle call "process."
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The five meals offered were well prepared, but (obviously) a bit limited. Challenging when you have preferences (vegetarian) and allergies (gluten). No local / regional offerings, which was weird. Because we were a "tag-along" shorter segment of a longer cruise, we tended to get the "leftover" tables and reservation times. That's understandable, staff knows that tips are based on length of trip, not service. But very annoying.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
N/A
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Cabin steward and Reception Desk were each great. Dining staff, so-so. Because we were a "tag-along" shorter segment of a longer cruise, we tended to get the "leftover" tables and reservation times. That's understandable, staff knows that tips are based on length of trip, not service. But very annoying. The excursion staff had one great day out of the five we sailed (trip shortened due to ship maintenance issues). One of those excursion staff members clearly was miserable and unhappy, she should find other work.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Beautiful ship, great cabins, well designed and thought out. Get a suite, though, for the best experience.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Wonderful suite, very much enjoyed it.
Ship tip
Do not book this trip through a travel agent. Hurtigruten will not communicate with you, will not even let you access their website. You are not their client, the travel agent is. This was stated, in writing, to me. Take only their "adventure excursion" (e.g., polar) cruises. Ours was not and it was painfully obvious that they were not prepared for this different type of cruise.
Waited 45 minutes on the dock for tour to begin. Stated reason was that other attendees may still be going through customs check. Though I can not prove, one of the couples on our excursion was at the front of the customs line with us and I strongly suspect we were waiting while they ate lunch on the ship. I suspect another individual simply didn't want to wait in the customs line, so (ignoring instructions), he waited until those lines went down.
We spent extra time in Boston because "ship needed to be dry-docked." Turns out that wasn't quite true, as the ship continued on to Charleston to (allegedly) berry-docked there. Hurtigruten put us up at a nice hotel in Boston for two nights. The day-long "best of Boston" actually spent little time in Boston, much of it was in Lexington and Concord. And a painfully overextended (hour plus) visit to Harvard Yard that should have been about 15 minutes.
As with the customs debacle in Eastport, we once again had to wait for unspecified reasons. As in Eastport, it appeared that staff was not knowledgeable about, or prepared for, customer and immigration authority requirements.
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