And I’m very glad to have you as a viewer! Thanks for watching 🙌

You’re welcome. Thanks for watching! 🙌

You’re welcome! Have a great trip! 🚢

You're very welcome! I hope it was useful

You're very welcome! I have a few more recent videos about Havila if you're interested. Thanks for watching!

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching 🙌

I hope you have a great time!

They are very comfortable for a short hop. I hope to take the full roundtrip voyage soon too, and I'm sure they will be perfect for that. Watch this space!

Thanks!

You’ll have a great time I’m sure! But take a decent raincoat!

Do you have a travel agent to recommend ?

I really do recommend giving them a try. I'm doing the full voyage soon on Havila so keep watching for more videos :)

You’re welcome! Havila is actually the latest in at least 10 different companies to operate on the route over 130 years. Hurtigruten was the sole operator for the last 30 years or so though.

@@lifeinnorway1 Nope...... only since 2006. The first company that started the route in 1893 was VDS (Vesterålen Dampskipselskap) and since then has there been a range of companies to serve ...and share.... the coastal route ...called hurtigruten / hurtigruta (the fast route)... ....and all those companies has been located along the coast ..... The company Hurtigruten and it's name has only existed since 2006, when the two last companies with local ownership TFDS (Troms Fylkes Dampskipselskap) and OVDS (Ofoten og Vesterålen Dampskipselskap) merged. A couple of rich investors from Oslo bought a controlling part of the company ....just for a time later to sell their shares with good profit to a British investment company ....TDR Capital ...plus a bunch of other smaller institutional investors. It's all about money and they have no clue...and couldn't care less about the history of this route. One of my ancestors (1 of 2 persons) started the coastal route in 1893 ....and I'm quite pissed that our history has been sold out of the country. The name/term hurtigruten was given in a time when Danish language still had a strong grip on the official Norwegian language. With time the Norwegian language has changed and the -a ending (instead of the -en ending of the word) has become more the standard. Most of the dialects along the coast has -a ending and has always called it hurtigruta. So when the current company was formed in 2006 they simply stole the name/term of the coastal route ....and called it Hurtigruten. The Norwegian state authorities just went with it and renamed the route ...in stead.... ....to kystruten (coastal route). For coastal people that is a move devoid of history and coastal culture ....but Oslo isn't a coastal city ...and that shows in their way of acting. Hurtigruten has only had monopoly for a few years. But due to the EEA agreement Norway has with EU the contract for serving the coastal route must be open for competition. So I'm pleased to see that a new fully Norwegian company....with coastal roots.... has entered "the chat". Right now all 4 of Havila's ships are in service.

Yeah just like a Scandinavian hotel room, I loved them all 🤍

Thanks for the comment and for watching! 🙌

Tallinn is lovely :) Thanks for watching!

Hey! I'm Raj from Mumbai, India. I was planning Northern Lights tour in Norway this year in December and had some queries with regards to the cruise. Would you mind to clear some of them? Thank you!

Have a great trip!

Check in with Havila to ensure they will have the Polaris in their possession by then. Currently they do not possess the Polaris and have been cancelling cruises scheduled on it this month.

Left out a key word in the last sentence in my comment, however youtube is not allowing me to edit it. Should be: ”scheduled on it for this month.”

The route and excursions are the same, so it’s just the physical ship and the arrangements for meals that are different. Thanks for watching 🙌

They both operate the coastal route and hands down the Havila ships are better. But the expedition company is a different thing entirely. Have a great trip!

It skews older and quite a lot of Germans on my specific trip, but there were a range of ages. The Norwegian landscape is the entertainment!

Hi again! So the trip was AMAZING. And you were right, mostly elder Germans and other European nationalities. However, I was very happy to see Norwegian couples and younger couples (quite a few) in our age range so it was a lovely surprise. Most people were very keen on starting conversations. Totally recommend it. @@lifeinnorway1

I didn’t do a cruise booking, I just travelled from Ålesund to Trondheim

I travelled on Havila Castor in November 2023 on the 12 day voyage and didn’t pay a single supplement. A fantastic trip if you get the chance to do it. I saw the northern lights 3 times. I’d love to go again.

It will be quite dark in January, so you may want to consider later in the winter. March is a beautiful time with much more light. You should also check my latest video which is all about the full voyage in February: Norway Coastal Cruise in Winter | Havila Voyages Daily Diary kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bK-fYKt_y8DagKM.html

Thanks for watching! 🙌 I’m making my way around all the ships, there’s more videos to come :)

I have no idea, sorry! I only took a short hop along the coastline. There was a poster about upgrading somewhere on the ship, so I'm sure you can ask about it when you board.

@@lifeinnorway1 thanks! I booked a cabin with a window after all, particularly after your remark in the video on the fact that inside cabins were more of an overnight affair. Going in late October from Bergen to Kirkenes🙂 one more item crossed on my bucket list!

Hi How was your experience on the Havila cruise? Especially from Tromsø to kirkenes?

@@rajrijhwani6889 I must say that the segment on the Barents sea was quite rough, with waves 3/4 meters high. I was sorry for the people who boarded in Tromso and didn’t have their sea legs 😅

Impossible to say because prices vary on so many things. Because Havila has more capacity at the moment (less brand recognition) my guess is you’ll get better deals there, but as I say it depends.

I have booked a trip with Havila, we're sailing on 25th of December on Havila Castor. Before booking I obviously compared Havila with Hurtigruten. Hurtigruten would have sailed on the 26th (the two companies can't sail on the same days otherwise what would be the point of having two operators on the route? 😊). The price was 3800€ PER PERSON (7600€ per cabin!) in a Polar Outside cabin. I booked with Havila before the 31/03 (they had an offer on) and I paid 2700€ for THE CABIN (two people). The cabin is a Seaview superior, so it has a window and it's considerably bigger than Hurtigruten's Polar Outside. The trip they offer is exactly identical (12 days round trip from Bergen, stopping at the same ports). They both offer full board and water/juice. Excursions prices are almost identical. So for us it was a no brainer! Can't wait to sail with Havila on Christmas Day!

@@eleonora.adriani Great! Thanks so much for your thoughts. Have a great trip.

@@eleonora.adriani My husband and I are thinking of the Christmas one as well. Like you, I researched, and clearly, Havila is less expensive. The drinks package, though seems high, but as the narrator said, Norwegian prices are in effect. Happy sailing.

It’s a small ship and the coastline of Norway is vast, so yes you’ll feel movement at some point. There are only a handful of open sea crossings though, as for much of the time you are sailing between islands. No one can tell you how it will be for you as it depends on what time of you travel, how susceptible you are to motion sickness, and so many other things.

thanks for your answer :) @@lifeinnorway1