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New to cruising: help needed with Northern Lights cruise!


london86
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Hi all

 

New to this forum and also pretty much brand new to cruising (unless you count a 7 night Nile cruise way back in 2008!).

 

My mum and I have wanted to do a Northern Lights cruise for quite some time now, and are finally in a position where we can start planning. We're looking at booking with the Hurtigruten line, for a number of reasons (reasonable prices; good itineraries; flexible dates (biggest factor)).

 

Due to work commitments I'm tied into the school holidays, so our options are late October 2018; Christmas 2018; or mid-Feb 2019. My preference is for October or February as my husband doesn't want to come, and so will be home alone for Chistmas/New Year if we go then. However, this massively limits the time we can go for; at a push I can probably book 2 days leave outside the holidays, which gives me 10 nights/11 days to play with (eg dept. Thurs ret. Sun). This limits us to the following options:

 

 

-8 day arctic wonder cruise (Bergen-Kirkenes, with the final night in the Snowhotel at Kirkenes)

-6 day taste of the arctic Northbound (Bergen-Tromso)

-5 day taste of the arctic southbound (Tromso-Bergen)

 

The key thing is being able to see the Northern Lights, as that's the main purpose of the trip. If we do the shorter cruises, we would also tag on nights at one/both ends (locations TBC but possibly a hotel that offers chances to see the NL at one end/city at the other end).

 

Alternatively, we could go at Christmas and do the 12 nights round trip cruise (Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen) and also still have 1 or 2 nights at one end.

 

We will have to do a cruise-only package due to dates; the ones with flights don't offer enough flexibility. So flights will be booked separately (this is an issue with the arctic wonder one as there are no direct flights from Kirkenes; so we would need to book a connecting flight/travel internally).

 

I would really appreciate any help or guidance as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment! There's no rush right now as dates haven't been released yet; but I would like to be in a position to book confidently when they are, if that makes sense.

 

Thanks very much in advance!

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If you want the cruise but still maximize your chances of seeing the NL, then I would choose a combination of cruise + land-based package, so probably choose one of the option that departs or leave from Tromsø (and add as many nights as you can in Tromsø before or after).

 

It's tricky to advise which way (Southbound or Northbound) is better, as you see different things in each direction :

- good things from Bergen : more time in the "big" cities such as Alesund and Trondheim, crossing of the Arctic Circle in the morning (I think it is kind of fun to cross the Circle while going North), crossing of the Vestfjord towards Lofoten in the day (if the weather is good, seeing the Lofoten Wall rising up from the horizon is something). If you go in October, you will sail into Hjørundfjord on the second day of the cruise, quite something.

- good things from Tromsø : the first day of cruising through Vesteraalen and Lofoten archipelago is for me the most beautiful day of the whole journey, if you go in October you will cruise into Trollfjord. The day after that along the Helgeland coast is also quite beautiful. On the minus side : limited time in the main cities (Alesund visited at night) and the last day of cruising, coming into Bergen, is not as great (in my opinion).

 

Same for the season, they offer different things:

- October is autumn, so beautiful fall colors on the trees and not so much snow (although late October you can get the first onset of winter in the North and leaves may have already fallen if the first storms have come). More scenic cruising options (Hjørundfjord or Trollfjord). Possibly more cloudy/more rainy (but that varies a lot from one year to the other).

- Mid-February is full winter, so mountains covered in snow, colder temperature but you can have nicer weather.

In terms of daylight, both dates are about the same.

 

I have done this trip several times, including in October (early) and in winter (February and March). I would pick the Southbound journey in February because I think the winter lights and landscapes are so special, and I just love the day of cruising in Vesteraalen/Lofoten, but this may not be the case for everybody. I have several trip reports on my blog with pictures if you want to have an idea (apart from the first trip, all have texts in both French and English : https://voyageterremer.blogspot.com/ ).

 

Note that the ship itself will offer a wonderful journey along the coasts of Norway, but may not be the best option for Northern Lights, as you cannot move around to escape unfavorable conditions (if there is clouds above you, you are stuck). On land you can move around to find an area with no clouds (hugely recommend to do that with a tour guide if you are not confident driving in winter conditions – they can be brutal). I have been lucky to see the NL on each of my trip with Hurtigruten, but my interest was first in the trip, the lights were just an added bonus and I would have been fine if I hadn’t seen them. On the trip you can only see them once you are above the Arctic Circle, so the first days from Bergen (or last days to Bergen) are not in the right area. If your main goal is Northern Lights, and the cruise is just an afterthought, then consider a full land-based trip. In that amount of time, you can have a wonderful time in Lofoten for instance.

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Very many thanks for your detailed reply, it was very helpful. I've received similar feedback on Trip Advisor, so we are now looking at the 4 night/5 day cruise from Tromso, with 4 nights in Tromso beforehand to maximise the chances of seeing the Northern Lights, and a final night in Bergen at the end (alternatively, we can do the Northbound cruise but this would reduce the time in Tromso at the end to 3 nights as the cruise is a night longer, so I'm undecided). Prices haven't yet been released for Autumn/Winter 2018/2019 so will keep checking back and then book once they have (the lady I spoke to from Hurtigruten advised that this would likely be around March time) this may also impact which way we decide to do it.

 

Very much leaning towards February as this works best for me in terms of work, and I think I prefer the sound of the weather then. It will also work nicely with the timings of our other trips as it will spread them out a bit, whereas if we do October we'll have 2 or 3 close together, and then nothing until the following July.

 

Good thing is I now have more time to research so I'll do some more digging. Also, do you have any recs for Northern Lights tour providers? There are so many out there and we want to go with a reputable company.

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I think I'm one of the person discussing with you on TA, so don't be surprised you are receiving similar advice! ;p

 

Many aurora tour guides have reviews on TA, so you can have a look to help you choose. I have done a trip only with one, and he's now away from Tromso (and established in Alta). I had previously booked with this tour guide : http://www.arcticx.no/ which was recommended to me by a local, but the tour had to be cancelled because of weather.

 

The important thing when you choose a tour is to make sure that is it of the "aurora chase" type, ie the guide will drive you around as far as necessary to find a spot with clear skies (and not an "aurora camp" where you will go to a given location and hope the sky is clear).

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Thank you both for your thoughts and advise.

I'm considering a NL trip next winter. My thoughts are flying into Kirkenes and stay for a couple og nights and then take Hurtigruten from Kirkekes to Bodø and fly home from Bodø.

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Thank you both for your thoughts and advise.

I'm considering a NL trip next winter. My thoughts are flying into Kirkenes and stay for a couple og nights and then take Hurtigruten from Kirkekes to Bodø and fly home from Bodø.

Be aware that the ship arrives in Bodø in the very early morning (around 2am) so not very convenient to get stuck there at this time in winter. Maybe consider staying on board one extra night until Trondheim, it's a very beautiful day of sailing along the Helgeland coast and the arrival in Trondheim around 7am is much more convenient.

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We have done Bergen to Tromso (with an additional night in Tromso to allow for dog sledding) in February, and Tromso - Kirkeness - Bergen in October.

 

In terms of northbound or southbound, we preferred northbound for its time in larger 'settlements' like Alesund and Trondheim. Southbound didn't offer so many opportunities to have a look around the bigger communities. We also preferred the voyage up to Tromso rather than that going further north: we felt that we appreciated the changes in the landscape as it became more rugged and whiter as we left Bergen behind and neared Tromso.

 

On both trips we saw the Northern Lights multiple times both from the ship and ashore.

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Thank you for the warning. Starting in Bodø northbound was fine but 2am is not that great. Trondheim is a good alternative.

 

Bodo was far from one of our favourite ports. There was little to see there and we were drenched to the skin in a sudden rainstorm as we returned to the ship!

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