Norway Cruise - Northbound Voyage - 6 nights/7 days

Bergen is the bustling capital of Norway's fjord district. If you arrive a few hours before your Norwegian cruise's departure, stroll around the old wooden buildings in the Bryggen Wharf, remnants of its Hanseatic past. In travel's early days, it was easier to get from Bergen to the continent by sea than it was to get to Oslo-a fact apparent in this city's architecture and culture. You begin your Norway travel expedition this evening as you embark on your Norwegian cruise.

Wake up to the breathtaking beauty of Norway as your ship crosses the open Stadthavet and heads for Torvik. Along the way your Norway travel will be enhanced with a stop in the beautiful Art Nouveau town of Alesund. (Between April 15 and September 14, all ships call at Geiranger in the Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to see the beautiful Brudesloret, Friaren, and the Seven Sisters waterfalls.) After a call at Molde with its magnificent view of the Romsdal Alps, your ship will carefully navigate the Hustadvika, a belt of islets and skerries, before docking at Kristiansund. Many shore excursions are available.

The ship arrives early this morning in ancient Trondheim, where you'll have time to explore this jewel of a city, Norway's first capital. Did you know that the first Viking sale of goods from "the new found land" took place here about 1000 AD? Or that timber from Liev Eriksson's Vinland estate was sold to a Bremen merchant? You'll have plenty of time to discover Trondheim's secrets as you walk its charming streets, sit by the peaceful harbor, or cross the old city bridge to see the restored wooden buildings in Bakklandet. Don't miss the great gothic cathedral of Nidaros, where the new kings of old Norway once received their official blessing. Once you sail again it's on to Rorvik, where the southbound and northbound coastal ships meet. A number of enriching optional shore excursions are available.

Today you'll cross the Arctic Circle. Of course you can't actually see the line, but on your portside, the globe on the island of Vikingen serves as a marker. Prepare yourself for spectacular sites ahead including islands and skerries filled with majestic rock formations, whose origins are the stuff of legend. After Bodo, the ship heads out to open sea for the Lofoten Islands with their picturesque cabins on stilts and weathered wooden racks with drying cod. In the evening, your Norwegian cruise takes you through the narrow Raftsund Strait, passing the looming crags of the Trollfjord. Optional shore excursions are available.

This morning you'll pass the medieval Trondenes church before calling at Harstad for breakfast. Afterward, you'll sail across the Vagsfjord past the great island of Senja with its diverse countryside of farmland, pine trees, and plunging peaks. Later you'll stop at Tromso, the "Paris of the North." In the 19th century, Russian, British, Dutch, and German ships stopped here before heading off on Arctic expeditions for hunting whales, walruses and seals. Optional shore excursions are available.

Finnmark's landscape is austere in its beauty, teeming with wildlife. Watch for rookeries of puffins and gannets along the cliffs and pods of orca hunting for herring. After calling at Honningsvag, the capital of the North Cape, the ship heads east toward the pretty fishing villages of Kjollefjord, Mehamn, and Berlevag. On the seventh day, you'll arrive at Kirkenes, the journey's northern terminus and turning point. Optional shore excursions are available for both days.