Questions about Polarlys

[erinmarie424]

Hi all, been doing research for our upcoming family trip on the Polarlys. We have a few questions about the Polarlys specifically:

1. I have seen coat hooks on the back of the cabin door in pictures of another Hurtigruten ship. Does Polarlys have these?

2. Closet space/clothing storage - I'm guessing it's pretty tight. Any info would be appreciated. How about hangers? Should we bring a few extras? (I usually bring dry cleaner hangers and leave them behind)

3. Bathroom storage space. I have seen some ships have the little shelves, some have a shelf under the sink....what does Polarlys have?

4. Fitness room - what equipment is there?

 

General Hurtigruten questions:

1. Do they give you a schedule each day for the stops and activities or where would this information be posted?

2. Looking for a couple of examples of prices of food in the snack bar and beer/drinks in the bar.

3. Any excursions that were awesome or terrible? Is it difficult to get in the boats on the RIB excursions?

 

Thanks in advance!

Erin and company

[erinmarie424]

Bumping.... Any info appreciated. We head to Norway next week!! [emoji4]

[NavyVeteran]

The scheduled arrival and departure times for each of the ports is posted at http://www.hurtigruten.com/us/repository/Traffic-info-service/schedule-and-traffic-info/. This information may help with your planning.

[SarniaLo]

I have travelled once on MS Polarlys a few years ago but I don't remember specifically the answer to your questions for MS Polarlys, but she should have the same kind of amenities as other similar ships. I found her very cozy and light inside, I quite enjoyed the ship. Extra coat hooks might come in handy.

 

A schedule for each day is given in the form of a paper with the stops of the day, hours for meals (they can vary a bit from day to day), excursions, point of interest along the way, other ships you will meet and so on. This paper is available for grab every evening at the tour leader office (deck 4, I think).

 

As for the excursion, I have done the North Cape one (North Cape in itself is a bit of a tourist trap, but the bus ride along the island is very nice, and off season there are not too many tourists there and the view is rather incredible, if the weather is nice) and the Sea Eagle Safari (very touristic as well, and they bait the eagles with fish, which is a bit of a cheat, but I wanted to take pictures of my ship in Trollfjord and Raftsundet from the outside and it was a fun ride). I have heard good things about the excursion in Urke in the Hjorundfjord, about the Vesteraalen excursion, and very mixed reviews about the Viking Feast between Stamsund and Svolvaer (there is longer in bus ride than in actual meal). The towns can easily be visited on your own with a guide book, there are usually town plans available at the tour leader office.

Edited September 7, 2015 by SarniaLo

[erinmarie424]

Thanks for the responses! We will be doing the North Cape tour as part of our Vantage package but had the option to upgrade to a longer tour which we passed on. Sounds like we made the right choice. We were still up in the air about the RIB excursions so we decided to wait until we were on the boat to decide. Thanks for the info on the schedules and maps, I was thinking about printing out the ones I had found but I'm sure whatever they have will be better and one less thing to do. [emoji4]

[janetcbl]

If you are on the Southbound trip, the excursion to the North Cape is really nice. You leave the ship early in the morning and have breakfast at the North Cape (the breakfast is fine, nothing special), but Hurtigruten is the only ship there and you have the place pretty much to yourself. The one problem can be the weather....if it is foggy you may not be able to see anything. We try to check the weather a day or so before, and book onboard....as long as it is not the summer season, this can usually be done.

[erinmarie424]

Coming back and answering my own questions in case it can help someone else. I know the Polarlys will be undergoing a remodel soon and that some things may change...

 

Hi all, been doing research for our upcoming family trip on the Polarlys. We have a few questions about the Polarlys specifically:

1. I have seen coat hooks on the back of the cabin door in pictures of another Hurtigruten ship. Does Polarlys have these?

 

Yes, three double hooks on the back of the bathroom door. We used them for wet coats.

 

2. Closet space/clothing storage - I'm guessing it's pretty tight. Any info would be appreciated. How about hangers? Should we bring a few extras? (I usually bring dry cleaner hangers and leave them behind)

 

Plenty of space. Clothes hang front to back in the closet and there was one rack for each of us.. I brought five hangers and there were five in the closet so that was enough for me and everything fit. Top shelf held our duffels and shoes went in the floor. There were two cupboards with shelves that easily held the rest of our clothing with room to spare.

 

Shelves were wide enough for the dollar store bins. The desk had little cupboards on each side with shelves for little items - we put books, playing cards, etc here.

 

3. Bathroom storage space. I have seen some ships have the little shelves, some have a shelf under the sink....what does Polarlys have?

The mirror in the bathroom was medicine cabinet style. There was also a wire rack under the sink.

 

4. Fitness room - what equipment is there?

Haha never made it even to look. Did plenty of walking at the ports and easily hit my 10000 steps without having to find a treadmill!

 

General Hurtigruten questions:

1. Do they give you a schedule each day for the stops and activities or where would this information be posted?

Yes a very detailed schedule is available each afternoon for the next day. Port arrivals may fluctuate depending on weather and water conditions. Port departures stay on track even if that means the stop is only five minutes.

 

2. Looking for a couple of examples of prices of food in the snack bar and beer/drinks in the bar.

Meals are pricey, about $20 U.S. For a burger and fries or a pizza. Candy bars were 10NOK which was just a bit more than the cost I saw in grocery stores. Draft beer two sizes 74NOK and 99NOK. (.4 and .6 pints). Bottles 69 or 99 NOK. We bought beer in cans at grocery stores for about $4U.S. And used our Hurtigruten coffee mugs if we wanted to take it outside the room.

 

3. Any excursions that were awesome or terrible? Is it difficult to get in the boats on the RIB excursions?

Most of our tours were through Vantage but we did do the Midnight Concert at the Arctic Cathedral and it was wonderful. The biggest issue was trying to stay awake and then having to be ready for an 8:00 excursion in the morning.

 

Thanks in advance!

Erin and company