What’s new in Norway's cruise ports and destinations

A whistle stop tour through Norway's cruise ports and destinations in (rough) alphabetical order:

Ålesund

Ålesund is offering a new closeby destination Hareid - a 20-minute ride away by regular fast boat or mid-sized ships can berth alongside. A new Viking Centre is opening next spring five minutes from Hareid which is expecting its first cruise call in 2026. Runde bird island is a 45-minute drive away and in the small town is a Polar Museum which has restored ships as exhibits.

Åndalsnes & Molde

Molde is undertaking dredging of the cruise berth to offer 10mtr, up from 9mtr in 2025 and expanding parking for buses which is almost doubling capacity to 16 spaces.

The railway track at Åndalsnes is within walking distance of the berth and here a tour privately run by Norwegian Travel focusses on The Golden Train running from Andalsnes to Bjorli. It’s a 2.5hr round trip, or can be combined with train one way/bus the other. Audioguides are in English, German and Norwegian.

It is possible to charter the whole train during cruise calls (220 seats) or passengers can buy a ticket on the regular timetable which runs three times a day, telling the story of how Norway’s gold reserves during WW2 were transported from Oslo to Lillehammer before continuing the journey by train on the Rauma track to reach the port and offloaded onto a ship and taken to the UK.  

Arendal and Flekkefjord

Flekkefjord close to Arendal in the south is Cruise Norway’s newest member port. Half way between Stavanger and Kristiansand (1.5hr drive either way) it’s a small town with traditional white wooden houses. The cruise berth is 180mtr long with 8mtr draft. Guided shorex include a tour of the Dutch Quarter of downtown Flekkeflord, visit to Hidra Island which has a maritime history and natural landscapes, sea rafting and rail biking along the 17km of the Flekkefjord railway line. This is suitable for all, including children, and electric bikes will be introduced soon.

New in Arendal is the opportunity for groups of up to 15 people to experience sauna bathing inside a gladed forest and tranquil spot, or walk an alpaca on a farm that also includes deer, or a cheese-making tour provided by a couple who run a successful cheese manufacturing business from their home and who tell their own story and demonstrate the entire process.

Eidfjord 

10 years in the making, and focussed on enhancing the visitor experience around Vøringsfossen, the work is now completed. The wheelchair and stroller friendly pathway offers numerous viewing platforms of the spectacular waterfalls and a larger parking area for buses. There are plans to offer shore power in 2026.

Flåm 

Flåm will become a year round port in 2024 with Mein Schiff 3 becoming the first criuse ship to call in December. Lengthening of the cruise berth from 120 mtr to 195mtr, which will be ready by 2026, will enable use of more gangways for the larger 300mtr+ ships visiting.

Hammerfest

Hammerfest will welcome 25 ships this year between February and November whereas two years ago ships only called in the summer months. Planned new cruise berthing will enable ships up to 270mtr to call alongside in the city.

Harstad

Harstad offers low voltage shore power for smaller vessels at its new 300mtr long berth which opened in 2023. With Tromsø to the north and Bodo to the south Harstad is located in the middle of other cruise ports of Narvik, Vesterålen and Lofoten, and is promoting the concept of slow cruising in the region. A year-round destination with 16 calls this year, summer used to be more of a draw for cruise ships but in the next three years winter calls will outweight summer visits. A new ski-centre is an attraction as well as reindeer feeding, Lavvu camp with an outside cinema and city centre sauna experience.

Haugesund 

New tours feature an art gallery offering workshops on painting techniques and lino cutting which can take 15-20 people a time; while Deadliest Catch TV programme captain Sig Hansen who owns Mortholmen island where he and his brothers crab fished as children, is opening a museum telling about the local herring fishing industry with audioguides and then offering crab tasting.

At Hovleveit brewery 10 minutes from the cruise berth visitors can learn about gin, aquavit and beer making processes followed by tastings.

At the Raw Ocean Lodge a new tour focussed on using seaweed in cookery is being trialed. Here you can learn about different seaweeds, don wet suits and go and harvest them and then partake in a cooking workshop using the seaweed and eating the meal.

Kirkenes, Vardo and Båtsfjord

North Norway ports of Kirkenes, Vardo and Båtsfjord are teaming up to promote the most easterly stretches of the country which are very close to Sweden, Finland and Russia and located a day’s sailing from the North Cape. They are using a tagline: Where Lapland meets the Arctic Circle. From next year with three direct flights operating from Oslo, Kirkenes is keen to offer turnarounds, particularly expedition cruise ships in a region which boasts over 200 nights of potential Northern Lights spotting. Kirkenes is kept open throughout the winter with use of a resident icebreaker and the other two ports are ice free. Three ships, including Greg Mortimer, called this year and two calls are planned for 2026.

Kristiansand 

The old Granary stores have opened as an art museum which are appealing both for the art inside but also the architecture of the silos. In the port area which is located in the town, the container terminal is being relocated in 2026 freeing up an area for waterfront development. The port is looking into the possibility of lengthening the cruise ship berth.

Kristiansund and Smøla

The tour manual for 2025-26 features new options including seal safaris, e-biking, and a VIP fishing tour and the destinatiion is welcoming newcomers Costa Cruises, Ritz Carlton and a return of Silversea next year. On track for a record breaking year in 2025 with 27 calls  – 22 to Kristiansund, 4 to Smøla, and 1 to Averøy – expected to bring around 25,000 passengers in total. In addition, the new opera house, Normoria, will open in 2025. It will seat 550 (450 with the orchestra pit in use) and offers potential for opera-themed cruises or unique musical souvenirs from Kristiansund. As home to Norway's oldest opera, nearing its 100th anniversary, Kristiansund also hosts an annual opera festival each winter.

Lofoten

Leknes in the Lofoten islands is undertaking a feasibility study on lengthening its 230mtr berth to 300mtr as among its 65 cruise calls around 36 larger ships are currently tendering. Plans also call for an extension of the tender pier. In 2025, Emerald Princess, Caribbean Princess, and some MSC Cruises and Mein Schiff vessels will be among those tendering.

Mo i Rana

Mo i Rana located one hour from the point of the Arctic Circle will welcome three calls from Phoenix Reisen, HX and Fred. Olsen this year and has one booked for 2025. Close to the Swedish border a popular tour is two countries in one day, tours around its industrial past as a major iron-ore mining centre and Sami culture.

Narvik

Whilst train tours to the Swedish border and visits to the Polar Park are the two biggest attractions for guests on the 50 ships calling in Narvik, a local market runs on call days which is popular and a new walking tour around the town is being scoped now to focus on restaurants and local cuisine sampling. At the port, an old warehouse has been renovated to welcome passengers and used for check-ins for turnarounds. Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot is doing a turnaround this month and shore power will be available on Pier 3, the primary cruise berth, by Q2, 2026.

Nordfjordeid 

The biggest attraction is the reconstructed Myklebust Viking ship believed to be the largest Viking ship ever built. Next spring will bring news if the museum and town will be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. On special occasions the ship is launched from the museum into the fjord for festivities and then returned to the museum.

Nordfjordeid welcomed 19 calls in 2019 rising to 94 next year with the local community behind the cruise industry realising that ships bring passengers and revenue which encourages the younger generation to stay and launch businesses in rural communities whose population are getting older and helping the local economy.

Nordkapp

Passengers from 150 cruise ships will visit Nordkapp (North Cape) this year, rising to 170 in 2025. The ships berth at Honningsvåg which can accommodate two ships alongside and two at anchor in the summer – with the expedition market increasing. The calls are a mix of turnarounds and transits calls on itineraries originating in Tromsø. Opening next summer in Honningsvåg a short walk from the port is Ocean Stories - a museum centred on maritime life. The biggest attraction is the North Cape statue however also popular are king crab safari and tasting, Northern Lights, snow shoeing, ice fishing and bird safari to Gjesvær.

Oslo

Norway’s capital continues to draw cruise ships both for homeporting and overnight stopovers despite reducing its dedicated cruise berths from four to two. 153 ships will visit in 2024 rising to 200 next year. In 2025, 22 ships will turnaround in Oslo and pre and post cruise take up is growing with VisitOslo curating special packages for these passengers to get the most out of their stay. AIDAnova will be in port overnight on New Year’s Eve again this year. 40% of ships calling this year will use shore power and both berths will offer it by end of 2025. On the attraction side, the Viking Ship Museum is closed for renovation and it is set to re-open in 2027 but meanwhile the popular Norwegian Maritime Museum is holding workshops explaining how Viking ships were constructed.

Skjolden 

43 ships will call in 2025. Always popular is the UNESCO listed Stave Church at Urnes, however visits are restricted to 25 people per hour to protect the ancient site. There are plans to build a new museum with government funding approved for half the investment. The centre will tell the story of the church and other exhibits including archeological findings from the area and how the craftsmen form the local active shipyard nearby, which specialises in restoring old wooden boats, use the building techniques to keep Urnes Stave church restored.

Stavanger 

A cruise network which was established 1.5 years ago now boasts 39 members and ensures the local community is behind visiting cruise ships which number around 250 a year.

Local politicians, media, inhabitants and industry stakeholders are offered tours on some visiting ships to see the environmental stewardship taken by the cruise lines which has made a difference and the port has a programme targeted at crew welfare too, offering free access to museums or discounts or guided tours.

New on the excursion front is a tour to the football club Bryne FK where Norway’s Erling Haaland played before joining Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City and find out about his life in Norway before becoming an international football legend.

Tromsø 

Tromsø is a popular year-round tourist destination with the airport weekly roster growing to 37 direct flights to 26 international airports in winter 2024/25. With 200 calls, 27 are cruise turnarounds too with Norwegian Star the largest ship so far with 2,400 passengers embarking and 2,400 disembarking on the same day. Viking Venus also conducted three turnarounds this year and another three in 2025. With the expanding air links so too more independent passengers are joining ships on vessels turning in Tromsø whereas even up to two years ago lines would charter planes to bring passenger on and off the ships. With two berths for cruise ships, one 500mtr long, the port also offers wet and dry waste collection, technical and maintenance services alongside as well as easy for crew changes.

Trondheim

Trondheim is set to welcome Ritz Carlton for the first time in 2025 and a return of Celebrity Cruises back for two calls out of 100 scheduled for next year. A year-round destination, but the shoulder season months of May and September are seeing more arrivals. New is a Home of the Trolls tour which involves a hike through the woods and Troll spotting and interaction, using mobile devices – aimed for children but proving popular with adults too!

Vesterålen 

Offering two cruise ports but is looking to grow cruise activity in a sustainable way so is restricting calls to just one vessel a day in either location. No two tour buses will go to the same place at the same time also in order to spread out passengers impacting on the local community. Sortland will receive 13 ships this year compared to nine in 2023 and arrivals grew from 9,000 to 18,000 passengers in the same period.

Right at the northern tip of the region is Andenes which is 1hr 20mins drive from Sortland and where whale safaris are a big draw. A new museum, The Whale, is being built at Andøy and planned to open in summer 2026. Only 10 km from the coastline, the continental shelf plunges steeply into the depths and the cold and nutrient-rich water wells up. The underwater canyon contributes to creating perfect conditions for an exceptionally rich and unique wildlife. The Whale is not a traditional natural history museum, a conventional art museum or a nature center but combines the best of such places and fuses it into something new. The building resembles the tale of a whale.