Fortunately we found ourselves on board the Hurtigruten as planned. Just a week ago we were terribly worried of missing this due to the closure of Heathrow Airport which has us trapped in London for 4 days. We already had it good, being able to stay in a hotel as arranged by British Airways while some other travelers had to contend with sleeping over at the airports for multiple days.
Boarding the ship was a no frills affair. The ship is docked right at the harbour and you basically just walked up the plank. Right beside the other crew members were loading up cargo and other cars. Talk about a working ship! You stop by the reception to get your cabin cards and you are all set to go. There was a mix up resulting in our initial cabin not being made up so they upgraded us to a cabin with a window. It was good to have a window but there was a walkway right outside the window which goes around the entire ship. It was due to the design of the ship so if privacy is your main concern you might want to consider other ships in Hurtigruten’s fleet.
We caught our first glimpse of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) after a couple of hours later. It was just a sliver of very fade green light wavering in the dark sky. After about 15 minutes, they disappeared and remain elusive for the rest of the journey. The lights did not reappear until another week has passed. The atmosphere onboard is generally calm and quiet since the passengers are mostly made up of families and couples. As far as I can remember, the only form of entertainment available is professional singers in the lounge. There are no slot machines or arcade machines on the ship. There is also no TV in the room either. Therefore most passengers hang out in the gallery watching the scenery, which is a fantastic thing to do in the summer. However the daylight hours are short in the winter and after that it gets too dark to see anything. However a full moon may provide some illumination but we didn’t have the opportunity to experience one. To summarize, you may want to bring a lot of books to read, or even better still, write one yourself!
Meals are not included in the fares if you did not book the full cruise package. If your journey is only port-to-port, all meals have to be ordered separately and it is advisable to order them in advance as it should be cheaper. Since meals are prohibitively expensive in Norway, we only tried the lunch buffet. You have a huge variety of cold cuts and many different kinds of fish which I think would satisfy most seafood lovers. However, if you like hot food, they only have 4 dishes. There is a good spread of desserts though.
For our journey of about 24 hours from Bodø to Tromsø, each of us have to pay £127 for the cabin and £24 for the lunch buffet. Hence we paid a total of £302. Those who find these prices steep should consider the full cruise. I have seen offers for the full all-inclusive cruise (either northbound or southbound) going for less than a thousand pounds per person in the winter. Prices tend to shoot up for summer cruises. A good time to go would be during late February or early March whereby you could still possibly catch the Northern Lights and also enjoy a longer day.
Moments ago we had just dragged our luggage across the plank.
Right beside the crew were loading up the cargo.
Our cabin with window. Cabins on ships tend to a tad squeezy.
There are some storage available but obviously we didn’t bother to unpack.
Typical Norwegian style, clean and functional.
Does the decor suits your taste?
The viewing gallery is located at the front and is the main hangout place of most passengers.
Just to give you an idea how cold it was.
Catching a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
Here you can relax to some songs or just enjoy a cuppa.
The one and only restaurant on the ship. It’s not a big ship afterall.
The lunch buffet is served.
The only hot food available. It’s easy to count them, right?
There is a layer of fog on the water surface, something which we don’t encounter in the sunny tropics.
Finally we see Tromso and the curiously shaped Artic Cathedral.
Overnight onboard the Hurtigruten’s Richard With – In Search of the Northern Lights
28 December 2011
Fortunately we found ourselves on board the Hurtigruten as planned. Just a week ago we were terribly worried of missing this due to the closure of Heathrow Airport which has us trapped in London for 4 days. We already had it good, being able to stay in a hotel as arranged by British Airways while some other travelers had to contend with sleeping over at the airports for multiple days.
Boarding the ship was a no frills affair. The ship is docked right at the harbour and you basically just walked up the plank. Right beside the other crew members were loading up cargo and other cars. Talk about a working ship! You stop by the reception to get your cabin cards and you are all set to go. There was a mix up resulting in our initial cabin not being made up so they upgraded us to a cabin with a window. It was good to have a window but there was a walkway right outside the window which goes around the entire ship. It was due to the design of the ship so if privacy is your main concern you might want to consider other ships in Hurtigruten’s fleet.
We caught our first glimpse of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) after a couple of hours later. It was just a sliver of very fade green light wavering in the dark sky. After about 15 minutes, they disappeared and remain elusive for the rest of the journey. The lights did not reappear until another week has passed. The atmosphere onboard is generally calm and quiet since the passengers are mostly made up of families and couples. As far as I can remember, the only form of entertainment available is professional singers in the lounge. There are no slot machines or arcade machines on the ship. There is also no TV in the room either. Therefore most passengers hang out in the gallery watching the scenery, which is a fantastic thing to do in the summer. However the daylight hours are short in the winter and after that it gets too dark to see anything. However a full moon may provide some illumination but we didn’t have the opportunity to experience one. To summarize, you may want to bring a lot of books to read, or even better still, write one yourself!
Meals are not included in the fares if you did not book the full cruise package. If your journey is only port-to-port, all meals have to be ordered separately and it is advisable to order them in advance as it should be cheaper. Since meals are prohibitively expensive in Norway, we only tried the lunch buffet. You have a huge variety of cold cuts and many different kinds of fish which I think would satisfy most seafood lovers. However, if you like hot food, they only have 4 dishes. There is a good spread of desserts though.
For our journey of about 24 hours from Bodø to Tromsø, each of us have to pay £127 for the cabin and £24 for the lunch buffet. Hence we paid a total of £302. Those who find these prices steep should consider the full cruise. I have seen offers for the full all-inclusive cruise (either northbound or southbound) going for less than a thousand pounds per person in the winter. Prices tend to shoot up for summer cruises. A good time to go would be during late February or early March whereby you could still possibly catch the Northern Lights and also enjoy a longer day.
Moments ago we had just dragged our luggage across the plank.
Right beside the crew were loading up the cargo.
Our cabin with window. Cabins on ships tend to a tad squeezy.
There are some storage available but obviously we didn’t bother to unpack.
Typical Norwegian style, clean and functional.
Does the decor suits your taste?
The viewing gallery is located at the front and is the main hangout place of most passengers.
Just to give you an idea how cold it was.
Catching a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
Here you can relax to some songs or just enjoy a cuppa.
The one and only restaurant on the ship. It’s not a big ship afterall.
The lunch buffet is served.
The only hot food available. It’s easy to count them, right?
There is a layer of fog on the water surface, something which we don’t encounter in the sunny tropics.
Finally we see Tromso and the curiously shaped Artic Cathedral.
No frills alighting and boarding at Tromso.
More photos are available at Globe Nomads’ Facebook page here.