UKC

Has anyone ever taken the Immingham to Brevik Freight ferry as a passenger? If so, what kind of prices would be expected, and how easy is it to get a place on?
Just thinking that if I could go across in the Campervan, I wouldn't have to pay for car hire, accomodation or flights, or excess baggage!...could work out cheaper than the conventional way of climbing in Norway?

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

We looked into it a couple of years ago, oddly every day we checked was 'full'. Costs were c£500 one way I think.


Chris

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

I had a go last year, but just getting booked in seemed to be a huge pain so we went for flight + car hire instead.

Norwegian Airlines seem to allow you to take an absurd amount of hold luggage quite cheaply.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):

I'm off to Lofoten in July. The cheapest way we found to get there is to fly to Kiruna in Northern Sweden, 6 hours drive from Lofoten. You get 25kg baggaged each, plus a hand bag with SAS Travel. Out flights are £280 each.

2 weeks car hire is £400. wheras in norway it would cost £800. We plan to do a big food shop and fill up with fuel before we cross the border.

HTH

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): No but I used the Immingham Goteberg many times with DFDS and found it very civilised. Booking was easy as I just called the Goteberg office or emailed the Immingham office with a booking form.

First time going through Immingham was confusing as there were no signs so I just followed a DFDS into the port. It is not like a normal ferry port. You sit on the dockside with the other "drive ons" and then get escorted by a man in a van onto the boat. Once on you squeeze around the trucks up a lift to the passenger area.

All meals are included, plus snacks and drinks at all times. I always had a cabin on my own with toilet and shower plus a sea view (passing oil rigs to look at). There is a TV lounge and a bit of deck to walk on.

Last journey was I think about £350 one way for me and my car. The crossing was 26 hours.

If you do go pack a high viz jacket or vest and a laptop with EU adapter plug.

In reply to JWB: Thanks JWB. I think looking comparitivley, it might just about work out to be affordable. Once I've added up the costs of flights (£60 pp?) + car hire (£400) + Accomodation (£350+)and it'd be a bit of an adventure!

In reply to Captain Gear:

Do all that in Kiruna. It's a pretty big town, but north of it there is next to nothing until you hit Narvik. I don't remember but I don't think petrol is hugely different in price each side of the border.

Sales on beer in Norway are annoyingly time restricted so the supermarket can be open, but they won't sell you any beer. So I'd stock up in Sweden on that especially!

In reply to TobyA:

Remember that in Norway they do sell real beer... but in Sweden it's the "mellan öl"...

In reply to HeMa:

Oh they do in sweden as well, you just have to go to the state owned shop "systembolaget"

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=opera&rls=en&oe=utf-8&chan...

http://www.systembolaget.se/Butik--Ombud/?searchquery=kiruna&hitsoffset...

http://www.systembolaget.se/English/

that is the place

It's not cheap but not extortionate either as long as you don't go for the spirits

In reply to Hannes:

Yeah, I know...

But System Bolaget has even worse opening times than Norwegian beer selling times...

In reply to davidbeynon: Does anyone know what the current ferry options are to Norway, preferably near Bergen? Been looking around and struggling to find much as the old routes seem to have been cancelled. Was originally looking at the Newcastle to Bergen but then found out it got canned years ago.
I have a kayaking trip planned there in july so flying is not really an option as we need a car with roof bars when you get there (and dont really have the funds to hire a van), and the drive is a long one but it's looking like the quickest and cheapest option (between 3/4people per car).

Any helpful input would be appreciated.
Cheers

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): Unfortunately the last time a passenger ferry from the UK docked in Bergen was during the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. And that was only to pick up stranded air passengers.

The most straightforward method of getting to Bergen would be to take the Harwich to Esbjerg ferry, then drive up through Denmark to take the Hirtsjals - Bergen Ferry with Fjordline.

Beware though, at peak season it is ridiculously expensive and very crowded. Also if you go with this option make sure you are VERY accurate regarding the height & length of your vehicle as if you are too large for the car deck you will have to pay a huge amount to move to the cargo deck, with no possibility of negotiating. (I used to work at the docks in bergen and part of our contract was dealing with the ferry from Hirtsjals, so I know how expensive/strict/bad it can be)

Hope this has helped, Matt

In reply to Nordie_matt:

You're not joking. When I checked recently it was about £850 return for 1 person in a car. I'm driving round!

In reply to Chaz2512:

Last time I investigated, which was about this time last year the best choices were the immingham-brevik cargo boat or a passenger ferry via denmark.

The cargo ferry was my first choice but they don't exactly prioritise random climbers with cars so we decided to bite the bullet and fly instead.

Unfortunately the trip fell through anyway for other reasons.

In reply to Robert Durran:

harwich esbjerg is very expensive over the summer. we're going hull to rotterdam instead in june - £298 v £800+. the timkngs of hull ferry mean we don't lose any days even with the driving

there is an immingham esbjerg cargo route but last time i looked you weren't guaranteed a place after booking

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): Last time I drove to Bergen I took the Hull - Rotterdam ferry and then drove to Hamburg and got the ferry to Göteborg, but this was due to a f**K up with the ferry from Fredrikstad to stavanger.

It might be worth checking the alternative ferries from Denmark to Oslo/Stavanger as it'll be a shorter crossing and may be cheaper . . .

In reply to Nordie_matt: You could use the Hirtshals -> Larvik option and then drive all the way. that route is operated by Colorline and is pretty cheep.
time wise it might just be the same to drive from Esbjerg to Copenhagen and then up trough Sweden as Sweden has Highways.

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC): It all depends on how long your going to be in Norway. we took a caravan loaded with supplies and the beauty of camping in Norway is one can camp anywhere!also take lots of whiskey we found its great to barter with!

In reply to ebygomm:



I sailed Imm to Got and back over 10 times and never had a place cancelled. They are just covering themselves. Also said I may have to share a cabin, only did that once and then I agreed to so a friend could get on the sailing.