- I booked tickets on overnight Hurtigruten cruises in Norway without booking cabin space.
- I felt a little self-conscious whipping out a sleeping bag on a public couch in the ship's lounge.
- But after seeing fjords and how much cabins cost on board, I would do this again in a heartbeat.
One of the best ways to see Norway's jagged coastline is by boat, so I spent two nights traveling up the coast with Hurtigruten last fall.
Hurtigruten's hop-on, hop-off-style cruise allows travelers to spend just a night or two on board instead of sticking on the ship for the entire route. Passengers also don't have to pay for a cabin as long as their trip is less than 24 hours.
Our trips were 23 and 14 hours each, so we were able to book deck space, a ticket that doesn't come with a cabin. Tickets came to $230 per person for both nights — a cabin would have cost us a whopping $500 to $800 per person per night.
We got some strange looks when we pulled out sleeping bags on night one
I used the Hurtigruten Coastal Express Port-to-Port customization tool to book my trip, which allowed me to choose routes between the cities I wanted to see. Because I booked each route separately, I got to disembark at the end of each ferry ride and spend a few days exploring before getting back on the next ship for another journey.
Both of my ferry passages were overnight, so my husband and I packed our sleeping bags and crossed our fingers. I couldn't find a lot of information online about booking deck space, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
Once we were on board, it was clear that most passengers had booked cabins. On the first ferry, just one other passenger joined us on the couches in the lounge, and we saw two others on the second.
I felt a little awkward (and exposed — the ship doesn't turn off the lights at night) setting up camp on the couches when other passengers were going to their cabins.
The views from the ship were worth it, though. On our first night, the crew made a boat-wide announcement that the Northern Lights were visible.
The next day, I got to explore a fjord for no extra cost
Spending the next day watching snow-capped peaks rising up on either side of a fjord (a narrow body of water with land on three sides) made our awkward sleeping experience worth it.
The best part of our booking was the entire day the ship spent in the Hjørundfjorden, a spectacular fjord that cuts between the stunning Sunnmøre Alps.
The ship also stopped at a tiny town deep at the end of the fjord — passengers could disembark via a free tender boat to explore or book an excursion. The town is so small that I explored on foot, climbing up hills for a better view of the mountains surrounding it.
I loved not having to pay extra to explore this stunning area.
I'd totally do this experience again, especially since I saved so much money
I'd absolutely book a deck-space ticket again with Hurtigruten even though I didn't get much sleep either night on board. On the second ship, the couches we picked were more like love seats, and people were vacuuming and cleaning throughout the night.
Still, the views and exploration included with our ticket made the trip worth it.
If I were to make the journey again, I would do what we saw two other passengers do: Embrace the awkward, set up camping pads in a quiet corner, and marvel at what's outside the window.