7 Small Ship Cruises To Norwegian Fjords: Reviews

Small Ship Cruises to the Norwegian Fjords

By Ted Scull & Heidi Sarna

Updated February 2025 by Jackie Sheckler Finch

The coast of Norway is long and beautiful. If you include all the shorelines of the bays, fjords, and myriad of islands — coastal Norway adds up to 63,000 miles.

The country has the second-longest coastline in the world after Canada (2.5 times more) with vast ocean-to-ocean expanses but much less indented and many fewer islands.

So, it may come as no surprise that a Norwegian cruise is one of the very best ways to explore its complex geography.

But which cruise ship to choose for this awesome adventure? Here are some small cruise ships to consider.

7 Small-Ship Lines Currently Offering Norwegian Fjords Cruises

The seven small-ship cruise lines below are offering Norwegian fjords cruises. Read more details about them a few paragraphs down.

Lindblad — 138-148 passengers
Ponant — 184-245 passengers
Windstar — 312 passengers
Hurtigruten — just under 600 passengers; we usually stick to 300 passengers and under, but we’re making an exception with this historic company
SeaDream Yacht Club — 112 passengers
Scenic — 228 passengers
Swan Hellenic — 192 passengers

Note: As Hurtigruten operates a scheduled daily year-round service, the out-of-high-season months will often carry far fewer than Hurtigruten’s maximum capacities.

Further Note: You may run into the name Havila, a company that operates 640-passenger ferries along the Norwegian coast, on itineraries similar to Hurtigruten, as some years ago the Norwegian government opened the coastal route to bidding and Havila came in to compete with Hurtigruten.

Norwegian Fjords Cruises Make Sense

Norway is an expensive country in which to travel independently, forking over many Norwegian Kroners for lodging, food and sightseeing expenses.

A major plus is the high percentage of Norwegians who speak English and often very well. That allows one to engage in conversations with the locals.

Best Time to Visit Norway

The best time of year for a Norwegian fjords cruise is summer. May, June, July and August are the best months to visit Norway for its warmer temperatures and longer days. The fabled midnight sun has an extended time span the farther north one goes.

From mainland Norway, the period to actually see the sun’s disk over the full 24-hour cycle is quite narrow, and just on either side of June 21st, the summer solstice (the longest period of daylight). Dusk and dawn produce sensational colors over a longer span of time.

These months are ideal for hiking, cycling, kayaking and berry picking. No standard cruise lines include Norwegian ports other than during the height of the summer.

However, visiting in late spring and early fall are my favorite periods, but then that was always with Hurtigruten which is a year-round operation. Once, it was the start of spring in Bergen with the first flowers in bloom, and by the time we reached Tromso several days later, we walked along the main street into an enlarged snowy version of an Advent Calendar.

Norway’s sognefjorden in Molden. * Photo: Visit Norway

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Interested in Small Ship Cruises to the Norwegian Fjords?

Check out these seven options.

Ponant, the French Cruise Line

The French-flagged cruise line’s six Explorer Yachts and one Icebreaker offer seven to 10-night cruises of the Norwegian fjords. Itineraries call at coastal ports and sail inland along fjords to see southern Norway’s rugged interior.

Smithsonian Journeys charters one of these ships. This line attracts passengers from Europe for a more international experience.

A 10-night cruise aboard the 184-passenger Le Champlain roundtrip from Tromso starts at $12,470 per person for a seven-night cruise. The seven-night Smithsonian charter on the 245-passenger Le Bellot from Oslo to Bergen starts at $10,254.

Windstar Cruises

Windstar offers similar itineraries depending on the departure aboard the 312-passenger Star Legend and Star Pride. Calls may be made at Molde, Bergen, Alesund,and Geirangerfjord or other ports, depending on the departure.

The nine-night Norway’s Famous Fjords cruise on Star Legend travels from Edinburgh to Copenhagen. Prices start at $9,199 per person.

On an expedition cruise, the use of a speedy RIB, a rigid inflatable boat, covers a lot of miles to get deeper into the narrowest and one of the most beautiful fjords — Lysefjord. From Gudvangen, climb via the Flam Railway through some 20 tunnels and over numerous bridges for breathtaking views, then a gondola ride and a short walk to greatly expand views to all directions.

A seven-night Norwegian Fjords & Danish Delights cruise on Star Pride from Copenhagen to Bergen starts at $5,799 per person.

Lindblad Expedition Cruises

Known for their hands-on excursions and excellent guides and naturalist staff, Lindblad Expeditions offer a variety of cruises of one to two weeks that include stops along the Norwegian fjords. Many combine a coastal cruise deep into several spectacular fjords well up the Norwegian coast with the ultimate destination of Svalbard with its polar bears. Itineraries typically sail round-trip from Svalbard (from the port of Longyearbyen) or one way between Svalbard and Tromso or Bergen, on the mainland.

Cruising in Zodiacs, continue inland between steep cliffs, and where the land is reasonably level, take casual hikes past glaciers and sometimes, almost to the Swedish border.

Further north along the Norwegian coast, the Lofoten Islands offer lovely villages, a thriving fishing industry, and birds galore. Call in at Tromso, a colorful small city and head on north over the Arctic Circle.

Ships in the area usually pause at bird-laden Bear Island en route north to Svalbard, with its rugged coastline, glaciers and enticing polar bears. No matter what the exact itinerary, with Lindblad one can expect to be offered more ambitious outings and less-visited locations.

The Lindblad ships that cruise in the Norwegian fjords and Arctic region include a duo of high-tech expedition vessels – the 138-passenger National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution.

Fares for the seven-night cruise on National Geographic Endurance for Nordic Flavors and Scenic Landscapes start at $8,111 per person.

Fares for the 11-night cruise Norwegian Discovery: Svalbard and the Northern Fjords on National Geographic Endurance and National Geographic Resolution between Svalbard, Norway, to Tromso, Norway, start at $16,425.

SeaDream Yacht Club

Lovely little 112-passenger ships, SeaDream I and SeaDream II, offer seven and 10-night sailings between Tromso, Oslo and Bergen.

On Deck 2 is a wonderful Watersports Marina Platform which allows passengers to enjoy exciting water sports such as sailing on personal sailboats and Hobie Cat catamarans, kayaking, banana boating, tubing, wakeboarding and waterskiing, snorkeling, stand-up paddleboarding, wave runners and jet skiing and floating island and trampoline.

Yachting the Norwegian Fjords from Oslo to Bergen for six nights on SeaDream II, prices start at $8,889 per person. A 10-night cruise from Oslo to Tromso with stops in 12 ports aboard SeaDream II offers prices starting at $13,956 per person.

Scenic

The elegant 228-passenger Scenic Eclipse offers 10 – and 15-night cruises between Bergen and Oslo. For a thrilling experience, take to the skies or below the water with onboard helicopters and custom-designed submersibles.

The Airbus H130-T2 helicopters feature expansive visibility from every seat with large windows and wrap-around windscreen. The Scenic Neptune I and Neptune II submersibles take up to eight guests alongside an expert pilot and have large, ultra-clear acrylic spheres for optimum viewing and total immersion.

Prices for the 13-night Norway to Portugal: The History & Traditions Europe itinerary from Bergen to Lisbon start at $16,195 per person.

Swan Hellenic

Launched in 2023, the 192-passenger SH Diana offers 10-night luxury cruises from Amsterdam to Tromso. Named after the ancient goddess of light, the moon, hunting and the wilderness, SH Diana staterooms face the water to boast ocean views and most have furnished balconies. An unusual artificial crackling fireplace provides a cozy spot in staterooms.

SH Diana has numerous places for scenic views. Deck 7 fore is home to the large Observation Lounge where daily briefings and lectures are held. Deck 3 offers Base Camp, the hub for shipboard operations. Special insulated boots are provided for use and passengers get a comfy Swan Hellenic branded parka to keep.

The 10-night Norwegian Fjords Cruise on SH Diana from Amsterdam to Tromso is priced starting at $9,180 per person.

Brief Overview of Norway’s Coastal Attractions Aboard Hurtigruten

The Hurtigruten is a classic coastal voyage that’s largely Norwegian — food, crew, many of the passengers and all of the port calls.

It’s 12 days’ round trip, with 34 ports, or just one way between Bergen and the turnaround port of Kirkenes.

Nearly all Hurtigruten’s eight-ship fleet today exceeds our passenger capacity limit of 300, with all but one less than 590, though in the off-season when the schools are open, the number of passengers may readily fall well below our official QuirkyCruise limit.

Of course, as it is a domestic coastal service, passengers embark and disembark at every port. Some of the fleet operate as expedition vessels, with Antarctica the major destination.

Many Norwegian fjords cruises aboard non-Norwegian cruise lines include destinations south of Bergen, with perhaps additional calls in neighboring countries — Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain.

Bergen is Hurtigruten’s home port, and a call on most small- and big-ship cruises.

The attractive city in a lovely setting offers a beautiful harbor, a historic row of colorful wooden buildings (Bryggen), dating from the Hanseatic League trading days, a large open fish market and several arts and history museums.

An incline railway climbs to a terrific site for taking in the surrounding North Sea, islands and urban geography.

Footpaths provide long hikes or short walks, and my favorite is simply returning to the harbor square via an easy downward trail that passes through an attractive residential neighborhood of fetching wooden houses.

Following are some of the stops on a typical Norwegian fjords cruise:

First, the Top Attraction — Geirangerfjord

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Geirangerfjord is the most astonishing fjord on earth.

Famous for its deep-blue waters, rugged mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls, Geirangerfjord is the place to go for a picture postcard setting from a spectacular view from on high.

Hurtigruten ships normally call at a town at the entrance to the Geirangerfjord, while cruise ships sail deep into the fjord, flanked by vertical cliffs with waterfalls pouring over the edge. (However, in the off-season, Hurtigruten passengers see the length of the fjord much in the same way as the cruise ships.)

Most ships allow time to explore the town (Geiranger) and then make the 30-minute climb (or via a bus excursion) to a viewpoint (often at Dalsnibba) overlooking the entire city and surrounding seascape.

A coach excursion might be available for enjoying a scenic mountain drive to Alesund, where passengers can then reboard for the continuing northward passage.

Other excursions to or from the Geirangerfjord port of call give you an opportunity for stunning hikes, like the one below.

Norway’s Geirangerfjord. * Photo: Visit Norway

Other Ports of Call & the Arctic Circle

Alesund

In 1904, Alesund experienced a massive fire that destroyed almost the entire city, and it was then rebuilt in the then-emerging Art Nouveau style.

It’s a lovely city for walking the streets and lanes, when time permits, the more ambitious may wish to follow the footpath to Aksla Lookout for a stupendous sight, the entire city below, out into the North Sea and the fjords twisting inland and out of sight.

Continuing northward along the coast, an announcement heralds the meeting of the northbound and southbound ships, and whistles and waves are exchanged.

Trondheim

On the third day, the call at Trondheim allows time ashore with time to visit the southbound Hurtigruten docked nearby. Every ship has different interiors, art works and open decks to explore.

Normally, there are no formalities, just identify yourself as a Hurtigruten passenger and walk aboard.

Arctic Circle Crossing

During the Arctic Circle crossing, King Neptune comes aboard to initiate the neophytes with a ladle or two of icy cold North Sea water poured down the back of the neck, followed by a restorative swig of cloudberry wine.

The shock gives the onlooking passengers great pleasure, not unlike the more familiar, and often more elaborate, Crossing the Line (Equator) Ceremony.

The Most Northerly Ports

Lofoten

Later that afternoon is a roughly two-hour call at Bodo, an important fishing port, and the start of a passage out to the Lofoten Islands, appearing like a formidable wall in the far distance.

A goodly number of deck passengers board for Stamsund, Svolvaer and Stokmarknes, the last-named, Hurtigruten’s headquarters and the museum location for the Finnmarken (1956), a preserved example of a traditional coastal ship. See what sea travel was like before the turn of the last century.

There is a remote feeling about the Lofoten Islands not unlike that of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

Tromso

Then on to Tromso, which makes for a lovely stop with its wooden houses and storefronts recalling the traditional town appearance before fires and German occupation and destruction leveled so many near the end of WWII.

When I saw the town’s main street for the first time in October, I thought this place is like an Advent Calendar with little doors to open beginning on December 1st.

The multiple-hour call permits a visit to the dramatic A-frame-style Lutheran Cathedral accessed via a hosted excursion, local bus or a longish walk over a bridge. The elevated cathedral offers a good view in several directions.

Honningsvag

With the shoreline increasingly rugged, brings the excursion to the North Cape from Honningsvag.

From the promontory, look down and across the emptiness of the Barents Sea towards the North Pole. The ship then rounds the North Cape for the final overnight passage to Kirkenes, the turnaround port, located just a few miles from the Russian border.

In addition, the Finnish border is quite close, where one can literally walk into that country.

Many ship passengers leave Kirkenes for flights south, while round-trippers return via the same ports but call at different hours, so those previously scheduled at night become daylight stops.

What’s Below Bergen to the South

South of Bergen, the coastline is not accessed by the Hurtigruten. Instead, several small ship cruise lines visit this region and on around the bottom of Norway into the Oslofjord for Oslo, the capital of Norway, with its varied museums, parks and lively waterfront attractions.

Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, is another lovely port and its heart is an architectural wonder.

The less-visited Norwegian destinations along the southwest coast are Sandnes with its towering granite cliffs towering some 2,000 feet along the Lysefjord.

Birkedal has perhaps Europe’s most beautiful glacier allowing visitors to walk along its base.

A Historical Background — Cruising Begins in Europe

As the steamship proved its capabilities in the latter part of the 19th century, providing departures and arrivals that could be timetabled and with reduced sailings times between ports, foreign travel became more prevalent.

Ships under sail were so dependent on the wind direction and strength, that the only given date they could provide would be a sailing date.

In Britain’s case, reliable cross-channel ferries to France and Belgium, and longer routes to northern Germany, Denmark and Norway, were most popular.

Heading south, the warmth of Portugal and Spain could be reached in two to four days.

Improved rail technology during the same period allowed the English to develop European travel destinations well beyond its borders for holiday stays in the South of France, Italy, along Swiss lakes, and in the High Alps.

Journeys to and from could be accomplished in just two days.

Beginning of International Cruising to Norway

Returning to Great Britain, one local Scottish ship operator way back in the late 19th century noted that some passengers were traveling aboard their small ships to see the regional scenery — lochs, bens (mountains) and innumerable varied islands.

Hence, in 1887 the firm ordered a new steamer, St. Sunniva, to cater to the foreign pleasure-seekers operating summer season “yachting cruises” across the North Sea to Norway.

Soon the Orient Line, a major British shipping firm followed suit, followed by P&O, Royal Mail, and others.

For the Brits, one major advantage was the proximity of Norway — merely two nights and a day sailing time, less when faster ships came on line.

Norway Becomes One of World’s First Cruise Destinations

In addition, some cargo ships carried passengers to Iberia and Mediterranean ports. These firms began responding to those who lived in the north and sought to seek the warmth of the sun.

Thus, the cruising bug burst open for those who could afford it.

Steamships did not just deposit passengers elsewhere over the horizon, instead, they used the vessel as a floating hotel to visit several different places not otherwise easily accessed.

While sunshine and warmth reigned in Southern Europe, Norway offered some of Europe’s most outstandingly beautiful destinations located east across the North Sea.

And so Norway was one of the world’s first cruise destinations.

The Hurtigruten Arrives

In 1893, north-south Norwegian coastal land travel was so slow or non-existent because of the highly-indented coastline, the government established The Hurtigruten (“fast route”). It was a shipping service, originating from Bergen in the southern part of the country.

The route today serves 34 ports, the last few situated above the Arctic Circle, and terminates at Kirkenes, a small settlement just shy of the Finnish and Russian borders.

This was a journey that could not be accomplished by Norwegian’s scant railway network nor even considered by road as so many bridges would have to be built to cross the inlets and fjords.

The new coastal shipping service took off in popularity. It soon became daily year-round, and today is a going concern for serving passengers, pets, vehicles and freight. Passengers embarked and disembarked at any port and the freight was handled the same way.

For today’s leisure travelers, they are rewarded by many pretty towns fronting on the North Sea, a rugged coast indented with numerous deep fjords, with their sheer cliffs, cascading waterfalls and wonderful mountain scenery.

While the weather cannot match the Mediterranean as a draw, Norway’s pull is its spectacular scenery found nowhere else in Europe.

The complete round-trip voyage is 12 days or six days one way between Bergen and Kirkenes.

Usually, those who disembark at Kirkenes fly back south, and the more adventurous may take a combination of connecting buses and trains to return to southern Norway, pass through Finland to Helsinki, or Sweden to Stockholm.

Hurtigruten route shows Norwegian fjords ports

The Hurtigruten route, includes the various ports of call visited on more traditional cruise ships. * Map: Hurtigruten

Ted’s First Connection to Norway

I first made a short two-day, two-night Norwegian coastal trip in the autumn of 1965 from Bergen north to Trondheim, the most northerly town with direct rail service back south to Oslo.

The charming Hurtigruten vessel, Erling Jarl, was tiny by today’s standards. Built just after WWII in 1949, cargo, mail and vehicles were hoisted aboard and deposited in the cargo holds or placed on the open deck.

Post WWII Erling Jarl arriving Bergen in September 1965.* Photo: Ted Scull

The interiors were woody and welcoming, and the cabin facilities were of the period, with public shower and toilet facilities along the corridors. Tiny outside and inside cabins had mostly two and four berths and a washbasin. Nothing unusual at the time.

I was hooked by the mission the ships were on, including carrying the mail with a box available at the foot of the gangway, plus Norway’s beauty.

Fast-forward to the present, and I have been back a half-dozen times on partial and full-length coastal voyages.

There is so much to take in, and the convenient daylight port calls northbound are replaced by those called during the night and now, southbound, visited in daylight. Hence the 12-day round-trip voyage reveals all at a reasonable hour.

You’ll find there are typically many Norwegians on Hurtigruten voyages.

And because many speak English, it is a delight to have the locals be your guide to what’s over the railing or what to take in when making a port call of as little as 15 minutes and on up to a couple of hours. I have been known to go ashore at every port, when making the round voyage. It is amazing what you can see in a small village in a short period of time.

The ship’s whistle calls you when it is time to return to the gangway. Travel adventures are the stuff that dreams are made of and the Norwegian fjords are among the most glorious explorations in the cruising world.