Oslo Cruise Trips

This trip captures a lot of the beauty of Norway and the wonderful villages of Denmark. You learn about the history of both countries and their current economies and environmental efforts.

This itinerary, “Country Roads of Scandinavia,” far exceeded our expectations. I feel the areas we visited and the time allowed at each location was adequate and allowed for good overview of the site. The bus and driver were great, plenty of room and great windows to view the scenery. The hotels were very nice and luggage porterage to the rooms handled very well. And then the food… The breakfast buffets were a smorgasbord of delights, choices for everyone’s taste. Then the included dinner meals, again far exceeded my expectations. The food was top notch, and expanded my palate in new ways. I was challenged to try food choices I would not have picked from a menu, but “wow!” I fully enjoyed the menus served and it gave us a wonderful experience in local cuisine. The tour directors were very knowledgeable and accommodating. Directors as we had the unfortunate need to change directors mid tour due to illness, but even though we loved the first director, the last one was equally great. That inconvenience was only a slight hiccup in the total experience but did not affect the overall superb attention and experience we received. This was a long awaited trip of a lifetime. We will definitely use Insight again and will pass that praise on to anyone considering that tour, or Insight as a tour company. Respectfully, Alan Noelck

Spitsbergen, Greenland and Iceland - M/V Greg Mortimer GREENLAND, SPITSBERGEN- TRIP CODE GMGI August 2024 We joined the Greg Mortimer in Svalbard having spent the night in a hotel in Longyearbyen. The ship is modern, clean and bright. Our cabin was on the 6th deck with a balcony accessed by a sliding door with room to sit out so long as we put enough clothes on. It had ample storage space, a wonderful en-suite with a heated floor, sheer luxury! All types of plug were catered for so recharging batteries was easy. The first 3 days were spent round Svalbard looking at the wildlife and scenery. Leaving the ship on the zodiacs was very easy and well thought out. We ended up wearing 5 layers to stay warm. Sitting in the zodiac for a couple of hours could get very cold with out the right gear. The ship itself is well appointed with plenty of observation space, both indoor and outdoor. The lecture theatre is excellent and, if you don’t want to attend, you can watch the proceedings from your cabin on the TV. The food was very good, Buffet style lunches and a good menu in the evenings. Crossing the Greenland Sea on the 4th day was a little rough but the ship has stabilisers which worked well. There was a noticeable lack of people in the dining room on the first night though. Reaching Greenland, the itinerary was adjusted based on the weather and conditions. Each day we generally had two zodiac trips with landings when we could. The supplied Wellington Boots were comfortable and warm although we did supplement them with a thermal sole insert and two pairs of socks. The landscape is fantastic with towering cliffs and glaciers coming down to the sea. The scale is hard to describe as there is not much to compare it with but some mountains like the Devil’s Castle loom over the ship at some 1100m. Very impressive. Each day was at a different site with the ship moving overnight. We did get to see a couple of Polar Bears, seals, walruses, musk ox and plenty of birds. All in all, a wonderful trip full of fantastic scenery and wildlife on a comfortable ship designed for the job. The crew were excellent and always helpful as were the very knowledgeable Expedition staff. If you want to see a mostly untouched wilderness with stunning views and wildlife, we can recommend this trip.

The captain and expedition team really pushed the limits to ensure that we visited as many interesting places as possible and saw a wide range of scenery and ecosystems. The crew were very friendly and helpful, and the expedition team was extremely knowledgeable and experienced in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The ship was very comfortable with a fantastic library and other good facilities, and our cabin was wonderful - peaceful, comfortable and beautifully furnished.

We enjoyed our trip to Norway and Denmark. Our tour guide and bus driver were amazing. had a wealth of information, very courteous, funny and was very attentive to all of our needs. Our bus driver was also amazing. Well dressed every day, extremely professional and always helped us on and off the bus and one night, even brought our luggage up to our rooms due to a change in our getting to our next destination. We found most of the choices that Insight planned, were good. We would have liked another day in Oslo. On our own, arriving a day early, we visited City Hall and the Nobel Peace Prize museum. Both should have been offered in the tour. The picture of the house where the president lives, that was featured in the brochure, we didn’t visit. We would have enjoyed more time in Denmark. It seems like we were riding on the bus for a long, long time. We know that you can’t control the weather, but it was a long, long ferry ride, in the rain to see another waterfall, cave and where Tom Cruise jumped off a cliff in his latest movie.

Norway was very scenic and the route gives plenty of opportunities to enjoy it. Some of the hotels were right in town which really added to our ability to get around and see things easily. Th hotel at Stavenger was in an industrial area with no restaurants or any where to eat which meant we had to eat before going to hotel this made for a very long day. I would also suggest if you go on this tour list every food dislike as menus are often set and the tour director was quite disagreeable if you didn't want a particular course on one occasion berating us at the table most unprofessional. The tour director was often inflexible I often heard comments from others that indicated they did not feel comfortable asking questions. On the first day I asked about putting cases out and the response was well haven't you travelled with Insight before. No we hadn't. Overall the trip was enjoyable you just have to try to ignore the guide issues.