We chose the cruise on MS Trollfjord after seeing an article in a women's magazine the previous year. It was a Northern Lights cruise with Wildlife. Michael Strachan was on the ship for a few days which was an added attraction. We had to book through Iglu Cruises/Planet Cruise and felt that it would have been better to have booked directly with Hurtigruten. Iglu told us that one of the excursions had been cancelled which we discovered was not the case when we chatted to other people on the same trip. The trip to the Snow Hotel in Kirkenes was apparently an accompanied trip with Michaela Strachan but she was kept apart from other guests on the coach by an Iglu rep and took a taxi away from the Snow Hotel site. The Lecture and Q&A answer session with Michaela was in fact a talk about her television career and was not very informative for anyone who has watched her programmes.

We found the interior of the ship almost unbearably hot and turned the air conditioning down as low as possible in our cabin particularly at night.

The first evening a buffet dinner was served and there was plenty of choice. From the next day dinner was at 6pm or 8pm depending on which time you were allocated and there were three courses with no choice. The staff were very helpful and offered an alternative if you requested it. The dinner was beautifully presented although some guests complained that the portions were very small. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and we would have preferred more choice on the cold dishes at lunch as the same items were served up every day. Many of the guests on board had colds and coughs and handled the food before putting it back which led to many more people picking up their colds. There was an epidemic of coughing on board. Read more