Monday 24 August 2026

We left Hamburg at a respectable time of 10:00 for a 7 hour drive to the Stena Line terminal at the Hook of Holland, near to Rotterdam. Nothing of note along the way; a few (what seem to be) standard traffic jams near cities and a couple of stops at half-decent service stations.

We boarded at 18:45 for a 22:00 departure. The Stena terminal is another piece of “what were they thinking” design. It’s about ½ mile from the ship! You reach the ship by a series of travelators (airport style) that take you up and along the (perhaps) first 700 yards, the rest is slightly uphill and on foot.  Eventually you arrive on board.

Then our travel-god decided we deserved a little good fortune.

We went to reception to ask for a cabin upgrade. In fairness, Edwards has booked outside double cabins and, apparently we’d been allocated one of the better ones. The agent spent a little time working out how to upgrade a group booking and finally, with the help of a senior colleague, offered us a “Captain’s Class” cabin for €60. It sounded like a good cabin so we took it.

And was it a good cabin? It was so good it could have been a cruise ship small cabin. Complementary items included:

• 4 small bottles of wine (2 red, 2 white)
• 2 cans of Heineken
• 2 cans of sparkling water
• 2 cans of Pepsi
• 2 cartons of still water
• 2 packets of crisps/snacks
• A Nespresso coffee machine (with several pods)
• A kettle with several teas (and milk cartons)
• An assortment of snack packets

The shower room was bigger than some hotels. There was a TV with all the “free-to-view” UK channels. A large double bed. Two comfortable armchairs. A coffee table.

Was that €60 well spent?!!

 

Tuesday 26 August 2026

We had a very good night’s sleep. The ships wake-up call at 05:30 was “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” played over the ship’s tannoy system (made us smile). Disembarkation at 06:30 was a little chaotic, but work efficiently. Overall, we’d recommend Stena (but the cabin upgrade made a massive difference).

UK passport control took a while but we were off and away by 07:30 to travel to and around London for a stop at Reading West and then home by 13:45.

Summary

We knew when we booked that this was to be an experience more than a typical holiday. It was, and the scenery and experience of inland Norway was exceptional. However, poor itinerary planning and timings, the inferior quality of “tourist-trap” hotels in Norway with rugby-scrum buffet meals cast a shadow. Distances to and from excursion destinations were too great at times. Too far for not enough on several occasions. Given the very long journeys into and from Norway, one felt there was more time spent on the coach than actual holidaying.

Sorry to say, this is not a tour we’d even consider recommending, even to someone desperate to visit Norway.