Hurtigruten are upfront and honest that MS Lofoten is not a luxury liner. She's an old, working cargo ship, but that was definitely part of the charm. This was my first cruise and it certainly met all my expectations.
I took the five night North to South fjord cruise, embarking at Kirkenes. Hurtigruten organised all the transfers I needed and all were done smoothly and at what turned out to be pretty reasonable prices (you're in Norway though and nothing is cheap). Embarkation was easy - checked in, on board charge card sorted and off to the cabin pretty quickly.
Cabin - I had a basic outside single one. There is very little storage space, but you don't have any fancy frocks to hang up, so that wasn't an issue. Whilst it was tiny, it was only for sleeping in and was very clean, with a comfortable bed.
I had a basic outside single one. There is very little storage space, but you don't have any fancy frocks to hang up, so that wasn't an issue. Whilst it was tiny, it was only for sleeping in and was very clean, with a comfortable bed. It was quite noisy as you're near the engine so I'd definitely recommend ear plugs. With these in, the noise was reduced to a very soothing rumble.
Nice walk up to the cathedral. There is an organised tour with a couple of other bits added on, but it was good to stretch the legs.