Sounds like a great trip, I think mixing up transport types is a great way to go…

It’s a great adventure..

Thx for the feedback, it helps in the future..👍

Thanks for the feedback. it is a great journey to make..:)

👍

Do you mean when you have been ashore? To be honest I was away from the ferry for more than 24 hours so travelled on a different ferry coming back.

👍

it is good to hear that you had a great experience with the crew. My experience did feel a little out of keeping with the overall experience on board. Michael

Congrats 👌

Congrats

🤷‍♂️😉👍

I have slept a few times since then, but I seem to remember that I couldn’t book through…but I may be wrong 🤷‍♂️

Great work. Another one on Thursday 👌👍

Hurtigruten it’s a little different, as the ship is quite small and there are not huge numbers of people on board compared to some of the big cruise lines. It’s also the best way to see a country like Norway. Michael

@@michaelhortin Michael, perhaps if you have some as yet unseen footage onboard the ship, this might persuade @beammeup8458 to reconsider. Johnnie.

Good for you - no-one made you watch this!

Thanks for the tip, why that way?

@@michaelhortin You will get a nicer cruise with a better wiev

Thx. We will explore driving Norway soon🙃👍

@@michaelhortin Not by hire car, I hope?

I'm pleased you enjoyed the video. I am working on one pulling together the whole trip which will go live in a few weeks. I have contemplated a winter trip, but I am not one for the cold and the dark! If you had to choose Havilla or Hurtigruten?

@@michaelhortin I would always choose Hurtigruten over Havila. When I traveled northbound on Havila Capella in April 2022, the ship had only been in service for four months and I expected some teething problems, but Havila's problems went much deeper. The food was excellent but the dining concept didn't work for me at all. The cabins are bigger, the ship is newer and I didn't pay much as the trip was discounted but I didn't enjoy it at all because the ship seems to be designed for pictures in travel brochures but not for its purpose. There is an atrium in the middle of the ship which looks nice but is too small if too many passengers use the stairwell. One of the two elevators was always out of service and so some passengers used the emergency corridors connecting the decks inside the ship. I would consider the hot tubs useless as you have to cross the open deck after taking a shower in the changing rooms. When you sit in the hot tub, other guests can stare at you from the deck above and from the deck around the hot tubs. In the summer there is a bar directly opposite the hot tubs and in the winter the water from the hot tubs pours all over the deck turning it into an ice skating rink. If you want to enjoy the view over the bow you are standing right in front of the windows of the panoramic lounge blocking the view of the passengers inside. The ship was very unstable and I could feel every change of its course. Although the shape of the hull looks very futuristic, the ship was very choppy in the water and was unable to keep to the schedule on my trip. It left Bergen more than 2 hours late and arrived in Ålesund too late for an excursion I was looking forward to. Since the ship was delayed it made no sense to me that it had to pass Havila's headquarters just before arriving in Ålesund. The delays didn't improve all the way to Kirkenes but became even worse as the bunkering capacity for LNG was too small and the ship hat to bunker along the route. The enrichment talks were not of the same quality as on Hurtigruten. The tour guides were friendly but constantly busy rebooking or cancelling excursions. The rest of the crew seemed to me quite frustrated. After the trip I had to call Havila more than once and had to wait a long time for the refund of my cancelled excursions and Havila did not bother to send me a survey to see if I was satisfied or where they could improve. A lot of things will probably have improved by now but the dining concept remains the same and the ships have not been re-designed. Maybe I would think differently about Havila if this was my first yourney on the coastal express route but I traveled on Hurtigrutens MS Norlys and MS Kong Harald before and afterwards and for me the travel experience on both Hurtigruten ships was so much better.

You are welcome 👍

It was a little later, it was mid July 😉

@@michaelhortin we took it from Bodø to Harstad early July

@@tootallhanssen9865 was your weather simillar?

@@michaelhortin it was good. It’s an overnight ride. I have never seen Vestfjorden so flat. Was beautiful

Ha ha, I think some of them specialize in that.

Thx for the feedback. Those who have known me a long time would say the inserts are somewhat reflective of my character. How much I use them will vary video to video. Next weeks has quite a bit, the week after (which I am finishing of now) won’t, as it is certain style. 🤷‍♂️

@@michaelhortin On reflection, Michael, change nothing...if it ain't broke etc

I welcome the feedback. How I tell the stories will always evolve and feedback plays part of that…

Thx. Hope you have as good a time as I did. You will have to let me know what the winter version of the cruise is like. There are a couple more films to come including what I paid and a full cruise film with content from a few of the smaller places we stopped at. Michael

Would be interested in returning to Norway for a snow/northern lights version of the trip.

Thx Johnnie. A few more to go from the cruise….🚢👍

As I remember it she was friendly and helpful👍

Hi, Not sure what you mean? Can you add a bit more info? Michael

Pleased you enjoyed it. Lots more to come in Norway. Then we are off to the Baltic states…

You would get detained by Norwegian border staff and get at best a substantial fine…

Thx and sorry I don't understand SafePal bit, sorry. 🤷‍♂️

Black Gate firmly closed

I know your point, but it'd be a long wall….

Thanks Paul, I have just come back from filming at a different part of the Russian border in Estonia. There are two castles facing each other. Video will be up a little bit later in the year or maybe early next year. Michael.👍

Thx. I fancy next time in Oz the Tazmania ferry👍

I think it is often the way, that you see more of places away from where you live than nearer where you live. There are large parts of the UK that I haven’t seen yet. The boat though was a great way of seeing Norway. I didn’t appreciate just how long a country it was until travelling on it. Michael.

Takk, Takk. Well said.

@@michaelhortin I did travel with Hurtigruten to Molde once. I have never been further north, but do want to take the whole Hurtigruten route one day. Still, I somehow think it will happen when I have retired, but who knows 😀 Maybe bring along the car onboard Hurtigruten to Kirkenes and drive back home.

Can migrants cross this border

Thx Johnnie. A step to helping (and hopefully entertaining) fellow travel lovers…👌

It was fine when I went. Imagine it can be rough at times though…

Was a very clear day

Thx for the info

Not been there, it is on the list though..

Thx Johnnie, just trying a few new ideas…

Thx Matt🙌👍

I loved my time in Norway. What a country! The North Cape scenery was great. The tourist trap bit wasn't so bad..😉

Thx Peter, I got very lucky with the weather..oh it was 11,738 😉

Seeing the top sights but becoming part of a problem is a challenge. On the next video I go off the beaten track to Vardø which was very rewarding…👍

Thx, Im pleased you enjoyed it.👍

The crew said we were very lucky. Bjorn commenting on my Hurtigruten ship tour video said they had, had a great summer in Norway. I prefer to think the sun shines on the righteous 😳🙃😉👍

@@michaelhortin There we are then, that's me put in my place...serves me right for choosing to live near Manchester!

😳😂😂🙃👍

Thanks for the answer.👍

Hi Bjorn, Thanks very much for your kind comment, particularly bearing in mind my error. When I first saw your comment, I thought what was that about. I then went to watch the video again, no Arctic Cathedral or Tromsø on screen. Im annoyed with myself, as I check these things a lot. For some reason the blue sky at Tromsø, had merged in my mind with the blue sky when I went to Sortland! I did though stop twice at Tromsø when I was in Norway and on the ship. There is a video already up from my time there on the journey north, and in a few weeks time they’ll be a video, from my journey south when I was there just before midnight! I thought Tromsø was great and hope to return with the channel in the future, maybe for a winter cruise. Hope you’re well Michael

@@michaelhortin Hi Michael, All is well here in Tromsø, and so am I 😀 We have had, and still have, the best summer ever recorded. Good for us so we are in a better shape to meet what is coming. The sun will be below the horizon from november 21. until january 21. Later in september the winter tourists will start to arrive and hopefully there will be lots of northern lights for them to see. We now have 35-40 direct fligths to and from every major european city each week. Pretty crowded here during winter season😄 Wish you all the best from Tromsø

Yes it was expensive. Day was made more of a challenge as the bridge was closed to traffic. i had spotted that before we got there, otherwise I may have used uber/taxi and not done museum. As you will see save for one shore stop and an afternoon in Bergen I was blessed with the weather when in Norway. Thankfully the next trip I am planning is a lot cheaper!

@@michaelhortin Can't wait!

Oh I had heard iceberg, but knowing me I miss heard. I go back to Tromso in a future video and got very lucky with the midnight sun and the Arctic Cathedral...