Into the Midnight Sun - preferred travel date

[THR]

Hi all,

So, we are looking at booking our first Viking cruise (in fact, our first cruise ever!).

 

We have been looking at both of the Into the Midnight Sun and the Viking Homelands options, and at this stage we are pretty sure we will elect for the Into the Midnight Sun (although the decision has been hard!).

 

We are looking to travel on the new 'Venus' ship (Homelands would have been on the Jupiter) - and we have date options of June 14 or July 12.

 

It seems the July 12 option is booking out faster, and I guess this is the crux of my question. I am leaning towards the June 14 option, as this would nicely overlap my partners birthday, but I am concerned that the weather and experience would be better on the July 12 sailing? Should I be? Perhaps the July 12 option is preferable?

 

Any feedback greatly appreciated :)

[just_dont]

It seems the July 12 option is booking out faster, and I guess this is the crux of my question. I am leaning towards the June 14 option, as this would nicely overlap my partners birthday, but I am concerned that the weather and experience would be better on the July 12 sailing? Should I be? Perhaps the July 12 option is preferable?
 
Any feedback greatly appreciated :)

We did Midnight Sun this past June, departing from Bergen on June 16. We had great weather with just a bit of bit of rain on a couple days. The June date will have more snow melt feeding the waterfalls in the fjords. We didn't miss any ports.

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[THR]

Thanks! We are doing London to Bergen route (as Venus doesn’t go the other way it would seem).

[just_dont]

Some pix from Norway

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[THR]

Looks stunning! Amazing photos, thanks for sharing. 

[Farawayeyes]

Hi, we are booked on the 27th June sailing from London, our Ship is The Sun. 

Being from the UK we wanted to start in London and enjoy the sail away down the Thames. I was under the impression that all Viking Ships are almost identical. 

 

The weather is is very hard to predict as June is know locally as “flaming” but to be honest can equally we cold and wet. July, technically should be warmer and dryer, BUT one of the reasons we Brits love talking about the weather is that it’s so unpredictable. 😂

 

So, don’t worry about the weather, just go with the date/rotation/ship that suits you. I’m sure you’ve have a wonderful time.

 

[Peregrina651]

There is absolutely no way to predict the weather!  We were on board the first year they did Midnight Sun. The inaugural cruise starting June 3 had terrible weather -- cold, rain, overcast -- for most of the cruise. The next cruise, ours, had mostly bright skies and warm for most of the trip. You just never know what it going be like.

 

Personally I like the June sail date because most schools are not our for summer yet and family vacations have not yet begun. Not that it is an issue on board the ship where the minimum age is 18, but because the ports won't be quite as crowded with local travelers.

 

Also, how cool is it to be on board for the summer solstice! Midnight sun is about the sun never setting, never going below the horizon . You have to be above the Arctic Circle to experience it and you have to travel at the right time. Example, Tromso has 24 hour sun from about May 18 to July 26. Timeanddate.com has all of this figured out for us (https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/norway/tromso) As you go further north to Honnigsvag, that window changes. South of the Arctic Circle, the sun will set briefly but the sky will be lit up all night long.

 

 

[CCWineLover]

12 hours ago, THR said:

Thanks! We are doing London to Bergen route (as Venus doesn’t go the other way it would seem).

Hi THR -

We are doing the London to Bergen route on the Viking Sun leaving June 27, so that's about halfway between your two choices.  Due to our schedules, we really only had 2 choices, that one or the Jupiter on June 28 that went Bergen to London.

We picked London to Bergen because we wanted to finish in Bergen and see some more sights.   We are also going to have a few days in London ahead of time (we've been many many times but always find something new to see/do there).

I hope that all of our weather this June/July in Norway is good, but one never knows.

We did the Homelands Cruise on the Sky in April/May 2018 and had the most spectacular unusually warm sunny weather in Norway (and nearly all the other ports as well!).  Everyone told us how fortunate we had been.

[THR]

Thanks everyone! Have made a booking request for the June 14 sailing (2021). Appreciate all your contributions!

 

 

[mariavii]

Enjoy the trip!  We did the Midnight Sun 2 years ago (Bergen-London, June 30) and had spectacular weather on all but 1 day.   It was our first Viking Cruise and our first cruise (as adults) and we loved everything about it.  The sites and scenery are spectacular.  Shetland was a must see for me, so we hired a private guide who was great (Kitty Wake tours) and we covered a lot more of the island than a Viking tour.

[Peregrina651]

SWEEET!!

 

Now, your next step is to join or at least start following the roll call for your sailing. Easier said than done at this point since it hasn't been started yet-- and I am not even going to suggest that you start one. For now, keep an eye here for the roll call to be started: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2468-viking-venus-roll-calls/

 

Until then, follow some of the existing roll calls just to learn what a roll call is all about. Then when the roll call for your sailing starts, you can jump in with both feet. Once you open each one of these threads, you will see a button at the top that looks like this: .  Click to choose how you would like to notified (I suggest once daily) and then click the big red button that says follow. You will only get a daily e-mail if there is new content to read. To unfollow, just return to the same box and click.

 

June 8,2020 Land of the Midnight Sun

Into the Midnight Sun, London to Bergen, July 1st 2021

JUNE 28, 2020 JUPITER-INTO THE MIDNIGHT SUN

Viking Jupiter, Into The Midnight Sun, 12-24 July 2020

 

BON VOYAGE!!!!!!