We booked this Hurtigruten cruise with the sole purpose of seeing the Northern lights in winter. WE were on the Bergen - Tromso segment which we booked directly through their UK website. Communication was good and easy. No other cruise line sails the Norwegian cruise during this time. We knew that it was a working ship / ferry service and expected as much. We also knew that Norway would be very expensive but we come from Singapore which was voted to most expensive city to live in and thought we would be prepared for the prices but it was still staggering for the value we got.

The embarkation process was pretty standard. We arrived at the terminal in a taxi from Bergen airport and we were the first there at 1030 am. Check in had not started yet and although the lady was sitting at the desk, refused to do anything and so we just sat and waited. Then the Hurtigruten bus arrived and 30 passengers came off with their bags and filled the queue lines and embarkation started. We joined the end of the queue and everything was smooth after that. After leaving our bags, we walked off to explore Bergen. Sailing was only at 1030 pm. This was plenty of time to see most of what Bergen had to offer (skip fish market and visit picturesque Bryggen Old Town and take the funicular up to Mt Floyen for the views).

There is a safety video shown in the terminal building and even for seaasoned cruisers like us, there was plenty to learn that was new to us, like how to put on an Arctic suit and how to survive if overboard in freezing water. So I would advise you to watch it carefully. Read more