Maud Review

4.0 / 5.0
105 reviews

Expensive ferry boat, not a cruise

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Maud
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catkim2020
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2020
Traveled with children

I don’t think I’ll ever do the Hurtigruten again. First it was very expensive, over 5000 kr per person for a 36 hour trip from Bergen to Trondheim going through Geiranger. We ordered the Arctic Superior room which was twice as expensive as a standard room, but it just had a round port window. It was no better than standard rooms on a normal cruise ship. The Hurtigruten shouldn’t be thought of as a cruise ship, it’s more an expensive ferry boat.

The worst was really the staff. Really very rude service people. I understand that due to the corona, I’m not allowed to touch anything, but since there were no signs about it and I’m trying to grab something myself since the service people are ignoring me or just very slow. Then they are quick to rip out whatever is in my hands citing the corona. I wouldn’t have minded as much if they just told me nicely, but they were all just rude and irritated. One woman told me to just drink the water from the tap in our room instead of using the water dispenser even if we were following all the instructions on how to use the dispenser properly. The only person who seemed to be kind and service oriented was Yousef in the dining room who was very polite and tried to accommodate us when possible. The guys at the internet center was nice too. Be aware that the food doesn’t come with the “cruise” as it usually does. It must be purchased separately and as with most things Norwegian, it’s expensive, but it at least tasted good. However, the cafe closes at 9 pm and after that, only prepackaged foods like chips are available for purchase. Then there’s nothing you can eat until breakfast the next day.

Our arrival in Trondheim the next day was scheduled at 10 am so we were planning for that, but someone came into our room at 8:30 am to tell us our check out time was at 8 am and we must vacate our room and wait in the public area for 2 hours until we actually dock. I told them that this is absolutely unacceptable and it has been the worst experience, then someone came by as we’re packing up to say that we can stay until 10 as if they’re doing us a great favor by allowing us to use our own rooms until the ship actually docks on solid land. Even then, someone kept coming into our adjoining room to tell my kids to leave.

Cabin Review

Cabin Artic Superior

It was much smaller than expected. Since I paid twice as much as a standard room, I expected better. It had two very narrow beds with a tiny desk on one side and a standard cabin bathroom. It did have a port window, but no balcony. I wonder how bad the standard rooms are.

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