Very early planning stages...trip to Norway

You say 'cruise with other Baltic stops' ? Norway is not a Baltic country ! That said, it might depend on fitness of your mother. A cruise would take you to the most scenic spots. I prefer to do planning with help from the net, most kind of tickets may be pre-bought, and you would be free to take detours if not too tight a schedule. Lots of tips here and on other travel forums.

www.fodors.com/community/europe/the-most-beautiful-voyage-in-the-world-and-the-northern-lights.cfm

This is my report on the Hurtigruten which will certainly give you a true taste of Norway but only Norway.

Enjoy Norway it is a lovely country

i dont like tours but in saying that i do acknowledge that they do get you places and you do know what youre looking at..must admit at times we didnt exactly know what waterfall had what legend attached to it when we did geiranger ourselves but we dont really care lol

i think cruising would be the way for your parents
relaxed and theres no unpacking

we are not cruising people
but we are planning our yachting trip next - im looking forward to the relaxed pace and having everything on hand and not having to pack up each time

now about norway

the prettiest places we saw were geiranger and flam and naeroyfjord/ aurland fjord..balestrand is beautiful too


sure we saw a ton of other breathtaking places but youd need to do a land tour to get to them ..so maybe you could do the norway in a nutshell from oslo to bergen and then catch the hurtigruten cruise north

norway is unbelievably gorgeous - one of those must see places along with canada switzerland and new zealand in our opinion

Last July we went to Norway on Crystal Cruises, and beyond. In a 14 day trip, we began in Copenhagen, and were primarily along the Norwegian coast line. We visited Bergen, Olden, Geiranger, Alesund, Trohdheim, then went on to the North Sea, North Cape and up to the Polar Ice Cap. We finished in Dover, England.
The scenery from the ship along that coastline was amazing. Just the fjords along Geiranger took your breath away. There are many excursions along the way, but the beauty of what you see from the ship alone is worth the trip, and it's very varied.
It works well to cruise, so that if excursions are not to everyone's liking, you can split up for a few hours, or just stay onboard.
There are other cruise lines, including smaller Norwegian vessels, so you will find something to your taste and price.