Which excursions should you choose on a Havila Coastal Voyage?

When you’re getting ready to embark on a Havila Coastal Voyage, I can almost guarantee you’ll have this question: Which Havila excursions should I choose?

Watching the scenery scroll by is nice, but the excursions get you off the boat to explore the countryside. Excursions can be full of action, like catching your own gigantic crabs or mushing sled dogs.

It’s smart to think hard about your excursion choices before your Havila cruise. Because these excursions aren’t cheap! Several cost $300 or more. And of course, you have a limited number of days to work with on a cruise.

This post will review three excursions I took on my Havila cruise: the Gerainger & Trollstigen scenic bus trip, the Trondheim vintage tram ride, and the Sami experience. And I’ll talk about how to decide if a Havila excursion is worthwhile or not.

Are the excursions offered on Havila worth it?

On our seven-day Havila cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes last summer, we went on three excursions. That worked out to about every other day.

Were the excursions worth it?

I’m on the fence about two of them, but one was a definite “yes” for me.

How to calculate an excursion’s ‘worthiness’

What I didn’t really understand before our Havila cruise: When you choose to go on an excursion, it doesn’t only cost you money. There’s also an opportunity cost.

A 3-hour excursion means 3 hours that you’re not on the ship. If you’re meeting the ship at a port further down the line, you’ll miss the scenery the boat passes in the interim. If you’re taking an excursion during a port stop, you miss the chance to explore that same port on your own.

And of course, choosing one excursion means you don’t get to experience any other excursions offered at the same time.

If an excursion includes lunch or dinner, you’re missing a meal on board. That might not seem like a big deal — until you try the food served on Havila ships. It’s so good that I would seriously consider avoiding any excursion that caused me to miss a meal.

I would have loved our Havila cruise even if we hadn’t gone on a single excursion. The best experience of the entire trip happened on the ship: the moment we entered picturesque Trollfjord.

Geiranger and Trollstigen: A scenic bus trip

This was the first excursion we took, taking place less than 24 hours after boarding the Castor. Geiranger & Trollstigen is the excursion that most people say you should not miss. After all, it’s your one chance to spend hours on land, taking in the dizzying views, waterfalls and unbelievably twisty mountain roads.

Geiranger is also the longest and most expensive excursion we took during our Havila cruise. Am I glad we invested $242 on this “can’t miss” excursion? Well … kind of. I guess.

One thing this excursion has against it — and this almost stopped me from booking it — is that it’s 8 hours on a bus.

Eight. Hours. On. A. Bus.

I get car sick, and I like to be active. So that was a sticking point for me.

However, when I saw the photos on the Havila website, it felt like we’d be stupid not to take the opportunity to stand at these scenic viewpoints and absorb the full splendor of Norway. Otherwise, we’d just be looking at the coast all week.

So, on the second afternoon of the cruise, after lunch, we lined up by a portal on the side of the ship to disembark.

Things started off well. We stepped off the ship onto a tender for a short jaunt over to the dock at Geirangerfjord. This 10-minute boat ride was fun; we got to look up at our own ship and around at the gorgeous fjord.

Next, you disembark that boat and (if you’re me) get lost in a huge crush of people leaving different ships for different buses. Fortunately, my family eventually spotted me and flagged me toward our own bus.

Then we were rolling up the mountain. At first, it felt like it was going to be a great day. The boats down on Geirangerfjord looked so beautiful, far below us. And watching our driver expertly pilot our huge bus up the narrow, twisty road was thrilling.

But then. As we climbed, we entered a cloud. A thick, white cloud in which we would spend most of the next eight hours. Within minutes, the windshield wipers are the bus engaged. Water droplets pockmarked our view out the windows.

We spent the next few hours pulling into parking lots for scenic views, right on schedule. Since it was rainy and windy, some of the group stayed on the bus for these stops. I got off every time, glad I’d packed a raincoat with a tigh-fitting hood.

At most of the scenic viewpoints, I saw nothing. A total white out.

Of course, in 8 hours we did more than stop at invisible views. We also visited many gift shops full of troll figurines and refrigerator magnets. Our driver drove the bus onto several ferries, which was fun.

Eventually, we arrived at Trollveggen, an impressive sheer rock wall. Here, we had coffee and cake in a restaurant. They played a film about people who liked to illegally jump off the cliff.

After that, another ferry, and another restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was cute and folksy, and the dinner was fine. But it didn’t compare to the meals we were served on the ship.

The coffee and dinner stops felt too long. But we had to stay that long, to time our movements to the ferries. The tour was also timed to drop us off at the port of Molde not long before the ship arrived there.

If this report sounds dismal, I should add that my father absolutely loved this excursion. His grandparents immigrated from northern Norway. All the time he was growing up, he heard about the rugged mountainous landscapes of Norway. So although we didn’t see the views we’d hoped to see, what we could see from the bus — which was often spectacular despite the weather — was enough to satisfy Dad’s yearning to see his grandparents’ Norway.

Because my dad enjoyed it so much, I’m going to say YES, the Geiranger and Trollstigen excursion was worth it.

And if you’re lucky enough to take this excursion on a clear day? OMG. It will be spectacular! (Our guide told us that they had had mostly clear weather all summer up until about a week before we arrived.)

Trondheim by Vintage Tram

The trip sounded idyllic on the Havila website. The vintage tram looks so cute in the photo! What I probably should have considered is that you can’t see the vintage tram while you are riding in it.

Yes, it was cute inside too, but the overall experience of the Trondheim vintage tram tour was underwhelming.

First, we boarded a tour bus to the place where the vintage tram boards. Then we got on the tram.

Our guide was a Norwegian lady who was very knowledgable about the history of Trondheim. She spoke a little too quietly, though, so we didn’t catch everything she said.

We saw a few streets of Trondheim through the windows, then we headed out to the suburbs. Eventually, we got to the end of the line and boarded a waiting bus, which took us to a small lake. The lake was pretty, but there was nothing to do there but walk around.

Then, back on the bus. We stopped at a scenic viewpoint to look down on the city, which was nice. Then we returned to the tram.

The tram dropped us off at Nidaros Cathedral, the highlight of the excursion for me.

Unfortunately, our boat had arrived a bit late that morning, so we were behind schedule. We only had about 15 minutes to look at the Cathedral before we needed to bus back to the ship. So we didn’t go inside the cathedral. Still, walking around the cathedral and looking at all the carvings was the best part of the tour.

The carvings are gorgeous and intricate, not unlike Notre-Dame in Paris. Bring your binoculars so you can study them in detail.

In my opinion, Trondheim by Vintage Tram is not a worthwhile Havila excursion. It was pleasant, but a bit boring. I would have rather walked around Trondheim on my own, and toured the Cathedral. Or, it might have been fun to try the City Cycling in Tronheim tour.

Sami Cultural Experience

This visit with a Sami family was my favorite Havila excursion. We boarded another big bus at the port of Kjøllefjord, and trucked a short distance through the Arctic countryside. We saw white reindeer in fields on the way!

Then we arrived at Davvi Siida camp, where Sami herders Elinor and Ailu welcomed us into a traditional yurt to sit around a fire and learn about Sami culture. They both wore beautiful traditional clothing. They passed around artificats and shared about their way of life. Ailu even performed a traditional yodel for us.

Then we had the chance to buy things in their shop, which contained a lot of traditional crafts that Elinor made. I bought a necklace!

After less than two and a half hours, we met our ship at Mehamn, in time for our last dinner of the cruise.

I’ve always been curious about the Sami, so I loved this excursion. YES, the Sami encounter was very worth it to me. My husband said he would have been fine staying back on the ship.

Other Havila excursions to consider

Of course, these are only three of more than 50 excursions Havila offers. I took the Havila cruise in summer. If you cruise the coast of Norway in winter, you’ll have different choices, like dog sledding.

Excursions I’d like to try if I ever go on another Havila Coastal Voyage

1. Kayaking in Ålesund. Sadly this excursion was only offered in fall, winter and spring. That’s because in summer the ship goes all the way into Geiranger Fjord — which was scenic the whole way — instead of spending hours in Ålesund.
2. Experience Lofoten. I had never heard of the Lofoten Islands before boarding the Havila Coastal Voyage. Thanks to activity director Askjay’s onboard presentation, I now understand that this fishing region is very special, and I would have liked to see more of it.
3. Dog sledding in the Arctic. Havila actually lists two dog sledding excursions, this one in Kirkenes and another from Tromso. Keep in mind that Kirkenes is at the end of the line! So unless you’re doing a round trip, there’s no advantage to booking this excursion through Havila. You could book it directly through the Snow Hotel.

Excursions I wouldn’t go on

1. RIB-safari to Saltstraumen and the sea-eagles. Don’t get me wrong, this trip sounds spectacular. Saltstraumen is apparently “one of the world’s strongest maelstroms.” I didn’t even know there were maelstroms just swirling around in the sea off Norway! And I’d love to see a lot of sea eagles. But I get seasick, so I don’t think this excursion would be for me.
2. Feast with the Viking chieftain. Sound cheezy. Some people find it fun, but, like I mentioned before: I’d rather eat dinner on the ship than anywhere else!
3. North Cape. This might be controversial, because this trip to the northernmost point of Europe is quite popular. But to me it just sounds cold and windy, even in summer. And what’s the point? Just to say, “I stood on the northernmost point of continental Europe.” Meh. Besides, the North Cape outing happened during the ship’s stop in Honningsvåg , a town where we really enjoyed hiking up the hill and looking down on the town and harbor.

Why book excursions through Havila?

In a lot of these destinations, you could easily book your own tour, probably for less money. But the reason to book your excursions through Havila is simple: They’ll make sure you don’t miss the boat. For instance, when Havila was running late in Trondheim, our vintage tram guide waited for us before getting started, and made sure we got back to the ship before departure. An independent city tour might not have done either of those things.

If I ever do a Havila Coastal Voyage again, rather than book excursions, I might book port to port, so I could stop to explore on my own. I think this would allow me to see and experience more than you can take in on a bus trip of a few hours.