Hurtigruten

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Bergen

Norwegian Fjords

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Arctic

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Nordlys

Maud

Nordnorge

Polarlys

Otto Sverdrup

Richard With

Nordstjernen

Trollfjord

Halifax

Wanted to see Northern Lights - Hurtigruten recommended by friends, and YES we did see the lights for several nights.  But, be aware, the lights do not look bright green.  Often they are no more than white cloud.  Only when you photograph the sky do you capture the green colour.  It is very exciting when you get your first green images!

Polarlys is an expedition boat so has an expedition team on board giving talks on photographing the northern lights, facts about Norway, myths and legends, the Vikings, oil and gas......Excellent lectures

cabin 550, level 5. Arctic superior.  Near an outside door so we could very quickly collect camera and tripod and get outside. (There are announcements when the lights are showing)

Very comfortable double bed, plenty of cupboard space to completely unpack and store case under the bed.  Good shower.  Tea and coffee making facilities (nescafe)  The package included free tea and coffee from the cafes on board all day.  

Fantastic food, buffets at breakfast and lunch.  Set meal at dinner, served at your table.  You can change the main meal if you do not like it.  I am lactose intolerant and having told the head waitress, my meals were modified every night - different sauce/potatoes if they had milk in them.  That service was very impressive

Free tap water was available at every meal ( I think it is UV treated water so no need to buy the water package)

Beer, wine all about £10 a glass

Good public seating areas both up in the panoramic deck 7 lounge and on deck 4.  However, people do 'reserve' their seats by leaving books etc on the chairs when they go off for a meal.  Possibly not quite enough seating where you can get a good view.  However we never had a problem - lectures to go to etc

Excursions are expensive.  We did Taste of Vestalen - very good; North Cape, also excellent; Russian border - ok ( old video shown in the bunker - sound quality not that good); midnight concert in Tromso - fantastic

Overall, great trip, good value for money - our package inclusive of the flight

Northern Lights

As a group of friends who had always wanted to see the northern lights this cruise sounded perfect (free cruise if they don't appear and so on). None of us had ever cruised on any ship before. We heard feed back from fellow travellers and via reviews on this site about small cabins, lack of entertainment etc. But without a benchmark we didn't have any expectations. The cabins are snug it's true but beds wonderfully comfortable, showers good - we opted for artic superior. There was little in the way of evening entertainment but we spent time getting to know fellow travellers who were great fun. This is NOT a cruise ship more a working ferry with cabins! Drinks onboard were expensive , think £10 for a glass of wine(£40ish a bottle) but that reflects prices in Norway generally. Forewarned is forearmed we just settled for a single nightcap. With arctic superior cabins water at all meals is free. So on to the positives - and there were many. The food deserves a special mention , the evening meal of 3 courses was superb every single night Axel,PAtrick and the team were amazing and the waiters were fantastic. There is no choice and the set menu was not always what I would have chosen but there wasn't a single plate over the 11 days that wasn't outstanding. You do have the option, for an extra c£22 per night to go a la carte but we didn't at all. Breakfast and lunch was in the form of a buffet and the soups salads and seafood were divine. At both meals there were hot and cold options. The staff were outstanding, so friendly and helpful- special mention here to Amanda in the restaurant, she was wonderful. The best of the excursions we took were dog sledding at Tromso, the fishing villages and the ice hotel. Fellow travellers who did the snowmobile tour said it was great fun. The scenery as you sail up the coast was awesome and the towns and villages we stopped at picture perfect. In hindsight I think I would opt , as many did ,to sail Bergen- Kirkenes, stay at the ice hotel and fly back from there rather than make the return trip. Did we see the lights - you bet - 3 times

Fabulous experience

If you are an 'occasional' cruiser and prefer the smaller ships and more personal service, this may be for you.  Hurtigruten ships fit into the small ship category and we were lucky enough to benefit from the recent new fit-out of The Polarlys, our home for the round trip of 12 days. 

     One mustn't forget this is a 'working' ship with multiple stops to deliver and take on people, cars, food, laundry, equipment  and mail. We enjoyed this aspect very much and it gave us an insight into life in the far north Norway. It was fun to watch the small fork-lifts scurrying to and fro on the quay with their wares and some of the 'turnarounds' were as quick as 15 minutes.

     Choose the best cabins possible, we could recommend the U cabins near the Captain's suite, which is at the front and has wider passageways. Our new cabin fit-out included a huge comfortable double bed and European pillows.

     The staff were all very friendly and helpful and our Activity Leader Hans was outstanding.  We loaded up with as many activities as he recommended and enjoyed 9 in total which absolutely enhanced the cruise experience. For the record we did a bike tour in Trondheim, a RIB boat experience to the high tides at Bodo, snow-mobiling, dog sledding, eagle and fish safaris (where the fishing boat pulled up mid-fiord, so an exciting transfer), and a fabulous Midnight concert In the Arctic Cathedral at Tromso. 

I can't omit 2 fabulous night of Northern Lights, one over the Arctic Cathedral at Tromso just before the service, so very moving with its marvellous swirls of green!

    The food and new menus were excellent and plentiful, with chefs serving their delights of halibut, COD and fresh salmon. King crab was so delicious as were the shrimps in their various guises. I was in seafood heaven for 12 days.

      ......and I haven't even mentioned the weather yet. Until our last day of cruising back into Bergen when Thor dropped some rain on us, this was the first rain for the whole cruise. Day after day of sunny weather meant snow covered mountains were at their showy best and we saw fiords working their magic. 

Our snowmobile trip across a pristine snow covered mountain landscape with reindeer grazing on higher slopes was a real life changing experience and one we will never forget.

The sun shone as we scooted across the snowy landscape following the tracks of our local leader.

   We recommend starting and/or finishing in Bergen as our luggage was taken care of and there were absolutely no queues.

    Thank you Hurtigruten.

Cruising with stunning scenery through the Norwegian Fiords.

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