Wanna go on a Norwegian coastal cruise from the comfort of your La-Z-Boy?
Now you can.
One Norwegian station is live broadcasting an entire coastal cruise up the length of Norway's west coast on the Hurtigruten. 5 days on a boat, just looking around.
I honestly can't decide if this is brilliant or the most boring thing I have ever heard of. (And are the exhorbitant tv taxes they charge me paying for this?) The fact that it is proving popular also shows that the state of Norwegian national broadcasting might leave something to be desired. But still, an interesting idea. I clicked on it for a while last night. They showed some mountains slowly going by, some shots of the deck, the bridge, and went down into the kitchens to check out what's for dinner. The food looked good.
This might be a really good ad for a Hurtigruten cruise, actually. 5 days non stop advertising!
Still, not every country can do a 5 day live broadcast of its scenery and keep it interesting. Norway, being quite possibly the most gorgeous country on earth, may well be the only one able to carry it off.
If you read this before Tuesday, you can watch the broadcast live, yourself, here.
Here's the thing though... a fjords cruise is something I have been dying to do ever since I first saw a film at the Disney EPCOT's Norway Pavilion which visited the coastal towns. This isn't even close to the actual experience... it can't be... but I'll still check in from time to time!
ReplyDeleteI want to take the Hurtigruten tour myself. Will set that up before we leave Norway, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI was in Elkjøp today, and they had it running on all their display TV's. Honest to God, it was the kind of boring it's hard to turn away from. It just sort of sucks you in and in, until 20 minutes later someone asks you if you need any help, and you've totally forgotten why you came into the store in the first place.
ReplyDeletePure genius.
It's a massive hit.... over 2 million viewers!!
ReplyDeleteBeen on the Hurtigrute 4 times now, loved it every time. Does get pricey though. If you want to rough it to save cash
ReplyDelete1. Don't bother getting a cabin. They charge far less just for passage from point A to point B. And they'll let you crash on the couches in the panaroma lounge. So if it's just one night or two, esp. in the summer when it's so light you don't want to sleep anyways and you want to stay up and see the ports they stop at in the middle of the night, why bother with a cabin?
2. Do you buffet on board once, but no more than that. Otherwise, load up on groceries in Bergen and the various larger ports of call, and save a bunch of money on food.
3. They'll let you stop at a port, stay a while, and jump back on. It's a good way to see some of the ports for a bit more, such as Trondheim, or a Lofoten excurison. Their organized tours are for the geriatrics and not worth it. We got off at Stockmarknes once and took a bus all the way out to the tip of Lofoten and stayed in old fisherman shacks for a couple of days. It was great. Then jumped back on and took it to Tromso.
4. Definitely no need to do the full 2 week go up and come back tour. Bergen to Tromso is plenty great. Then either fly back or if adventurous, drive back.