I went on my first solo cruise to the Caribbean in January, sailing on Norwegian Cruise Lines for three days from Miami to the Dominican Republic.
24.01.2024 - 13:23 / forbes.com / Royal Caribbean
Norway’s status as one of the world’s most attractive cruise destinations continues with the release of record-breaking visitor figures.
During the 2023 cruising season, there were a total of 3,943 cruise calls at Norwegian ports, up almost 500 on the previous year. Passenger numbers too have soared, with more than 6.1 million passenger visits recorded during 2023.
A passenger visit is counted per port, so one cruise passenger will be counted several times over a cruise itinerary with multiple port calls in Norway. Even so, that’s an increase of almost 1.9 million over the previous year.
Such a notable rise surprised officials at the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Arve Dimmen, director of navigation technology and maritime services, says the increase in passenger visits was “significantly greater” than they’d expected.
One major contributor to the sharp increase in passenger visits compared to port calls is the introduction of ever larger cruise ships.
The megaships of lines such as Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises—capable of holding more than 5,000 passengers—can often be seen in Norwegian ports during the summer.
This trend of bigger ships visiting Norway looks set to continue with several new cruise ships in 2024 continuing to set passenger capacity records.
The record-breaking cruise season is also partly explained by the increase in winter itineraries, and cruises in the shoulder seasons either side of the main summer season.
Northern lights cruises are growing in popularity, with northern ports such as Tromsø, Alta, and Narvik proving popular with British and German cruise lines between September and March.
The increase in off-season cruising is a natural development from the popularity of Norway as a cruise destination, explains Harald Borgø, senior adviser at the Norwegian Coastal Administration: “Part of the background to this development is limitations in the number of calls per port per day in the summer. When traffic increases, it must be spread over several days of the year.”
Both Bergen and Ålesund laid claim to be the busiest cruise port in 2023. Bergen, Norway’s second biggest city, welcomed 358 cruise ships, significantly more than any other port.
However, its coastal rival Ålesund welcomed more than 650,000 cruise passengers, more than any other port. This is explained by Ålesund having welcomed bigger ships, on average.
The cruise port in Bergen is capable of hosting three or sometimes four cruise ships at once, so smaller ships find it easier to secure a berth there during the busy summer season.
Bergen port officials say they expect fewer ships but more passengers in 2024. “That means many large ships are coming to Bergen with room for more passengers," said Frode Sagmo, cruise
I went on my first solo cruise to the Caribbean in January, sailing on Norwegian Cruise Lines for three days from Miami to the Dominican Republic.
When I was a travel consultant in the early 2000s, the concern I would most often hear from potential first-time cruisers were about crowded ships: “I don’t want to be cooped up with all those people,” they’d groan.
Norwegian Cruise Line is saying arrivederci to Venice, cutting the canal city from its cruise itineraries in 2024 and 2025.
After graduating from college in 2022 and working for a year, I used my bonus and some of my savings to book a nine-day Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line for my partner and me. Our $7,657 cruise package included airfare from Atlanta to Barcelona, Spain, via Newark, and Norwegian’s own BookSafe Travel Protection Plan, which included travel insurance and also allowed me to “cancel for any reason” for a 75 percent credit. Weather delayed our first flight, we missed the connection, and United Airlines could not get us to Barcelona in time to embark. I called Norwegian and agents suggested I buy last-minute tickets on a different airline, but I don’t have that kind of money. And even if I did, there were no direct flights to later ports, and I was unwilling to risk missing another connecting flight. So we spent the night in the Newark airport, paid for a return flight to Atlanta the next morning and canceled the cruise and remaining air legs. I got $1,184 back right away from Norwegian, and then an additional $232 back (for my return flight) from travel insurance when I filed a trip delay claim, but a trip cancellation claim for the cruise was denied outright. I feel I should at least get the 75 percent credit — otherwise what was the protection plan for? Can you help?
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This is an as-told-to story based on a conversation with David Purcell, 78, a retired attorney. It has been edited for length and clarity. Purcell was among the dozens of people who signed up for a three-year cruise with Life at Sea — an around-the-world journey that was canceled two weeks before its departure. He and 77 other would-be passengers who have not received refunds are asking the US Attorney in Southern Florida to open a criminal fraud investigation into Miray Cruises, the parent company of Life at Sea.