Perhaps you are considering a Norwegian summer cruise even as we speak. As wonderful as our winter cruise on the Midnatsol was, days of endless sunlight have to be an experience.
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and Travels With Sheila are not really cruisers. Why? Because we are two anal, obsessive-compulsive eaters when faced with abundant and plentiful food choices on ships. If something is not to your taste, don’t eat. Just order another item. There is always something that is bound to be extremely yummy. Cruise lines weren’t noted for “wonderful food” that long ago and we weren’t expecting much from Hurtigruten. Thinking “Norse,” fish would be a given and I am picky to the max about fish. Love fish on my terms only. The thought of herring, sardines, heads, bones, fish cheeks and other denizens of the deep left me cold. If you have special dietary requirements, let Hurtigruten know that before the cruise. We weren’t sure if they would honor the request but put that notification in when booking and, by golly, no problem. Our table for two had a little red tag on it that indicated “no fish.”
Norwegian King Crab
Surprise, surprise, surprise… Food ran the gamut from wonderful to outstanding. Breakfast and lunch were buffets on the Midnatsol, our nemesis. You don’t really want to know how many trips we made back and forth. Eating double helpings of outstanding foods, leaving a so-so dessert uneaten, selecting another, until stomachs were distended into infinity and beyond. Each buffet came with a new discovery. One breakfast had the best cinnamon rolls ever and they were not replenished when early birds polished them off and had to make do with another variety. (I ate two myself). Heartbreaking, isn’t it?
yummy breakfast rolls on the MS Midnatsol, Norway
steak for dinner instead of "fish with bones phobic" Sheila, Norway
luscious vegetables on the Midnatsol, Norway
Bowls of caviar were on every lunch buffet and never allowed to empty. Hot dishes, e.g. halibut filet, vegetables, pasta, cold dishes, a never-ending assortment of fantastic salads. A curried fruit salad. Pasta salad with big pieces of crab in it. Beet and apple salad. Green salad. Cheeses, and different desserts. It just went on and on. Cold foods are basically the same every day. Only the hot foods and desserts change.
Dinner was a sit-down, three-course meal at your designated table. The same dinner selections are served on every cruise and this will give you an indication of what to expect.
– Fried codfish balls as a starter (our “no fish request” turned out to be thin slices of cold roast beef on a salad); Chicken; and what was tasted like an apple muffin with a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
roast beef appetizer/starter on the Midnatsol
– Fish with tomato salad starter; chicken with risotto; and apple pie with ice cream.
– Cauliflower soup, herb baked trout (a wonderful steak for us while envious passengers drooled), and chocolate fondant with mango sorbet.
pork roast, beets and potatoes - dinner on the Midnatsol
– Vestfjord Mix on bruschetta with salad; spiced breast of pork with apple chutney, red cabbage, port wine sauce and oven baked potatoes; brown betty with whipped cream and caramel sauce.
– Green pea soup; loin of pollack – fish (we ate tenderloin of beef with wonderful vegetables and slices of potato) ; confectionery cake (really a small brownie) with coconut sorbet.
seafood on the farewell dinner buffet, Midnatsol, Norway Cruise
Travels With Sheila's motto - try one of everything on the Midnatsol
– North Cape Buffet for the last dinner is based on the season’s best ingredients with seafood dominating, including king crabs. Bring them on. When poached salmon, crab, lobster, shrimp, mussels appear on a buffet, I seriously tuck in. Finnmark reindeer meat was also on the buffet (give it a try; tasty).
By the time we docked in Kirkenes, clothes didn’t fit like they used to and the caviar probably added up to a year’s worth of salt intake.
There are cruise options without meals. Breakfast is 135 NOK ($25 U.S.); lunch 285 NOK ($51 U.S.); dinner 395 NOK ($71 U.S.); Bergen buffet 285 NOK($51 U.S.); and Honnigsvag buffet 369 NOK ($66 U.S.). All rates per person.
