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Viking Ocean - Chasing the Northern Lights - Feb 2022


ChiefLnc7
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Have taken a Viking River Cruise from Basel to Amsterdam during Christmas Market time and had a great experience.  Now my lovely wife and I a looking forward to Chasing the Northern Lights with Viking Ocean.  We know that it is a little more expensive but the perks seem to make it worth it. 

 

We do not use the casino or drink, so the drink package is not something we would use in either cruise. 

 

We are seasoned cruisers having something like 20 or more cruises with various line (Sitmar, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity to name a few), but have stayed mainly with Princess.  So we are wondering, is there really a comparison between Princess and Viking?

 

General comments would be welcome or thoughts about keeping the reservations for Viking.

 

Thanks.

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3 hours ago, ChiefLnc7 said:

Have taken a Viking River Cruise from Basel to Amsterdam during Christmas Market time and had a great experience.  Now my lovely wife and I a looking forward to Chasing the Northern Lights with Viking Ocean.  We know that it is a little more expensive but the perks seem to make it worth it. 

 

We do not use the casino or drink, so the drink package is not something we would use in either cruise. 

 

We are seasoned cruisers having something like 20 or more cruises with various line (Sitmar, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity to name a few), but have stayed mainly with Princess.  So we are wondering, is there really a comparison between Princess and Viking?

 

General comments would be welcome or thoughts about keeping the reservations for Viking.

 

Thanks.

 

Welcome to Viking Ocean.

 

I worked for, or cruised with P&O/Princess for 40 years, with the 2015WC being our final Princess cruise. We found the Princess standards have declined to a level we find unacceptable. The Viking standards are what P&O, Princess & Cunard provided back in the 70's & 80's.

 

Please check out my travel blog for a number of comparisons between Viking & Princess. www.andyandjudi.com

 

 

 

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Have been looking at what to take lists, and have a pretty good handle on the interior clothes to take.  Dress casual collared shirts, couple pairs of dress pants, lounging wear for between meals,  and semi dress shoes or loafers.  Wife dress pants and blouses, lounging suits, etc.  But I am somewhat at a loss as to what to pack for shooting the Northern Lights and the shore excursions.

 

Any suggestions or places to check?

 

Hope this works out well as we have done a Viking River and this will be our first Viking Ocean, although we have in the past taken Princess,  Norwegian, Sitmar, World Explorer cruise lines.  Have over 25 trips, most with Princess, so wondering how this cruise will work out.  Fingers crossed.

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Chief --

 

For more information, there are three places to check here on Cruise Critic.

  1. Check all of the old roll calls for this itinerary. You should not have to go back very far since it is a fairly new itinerary and has only sailed one or two seasons. Sorry I can't tell which two ships have done this itinerary. You might try searching the Viking Oceans roll call forum for "Northern Lights"; once you find the name(s) of the ship(s), you can navigate to the forum to find other roll calls.
  2. Check the Viking Oceans forum (this forum) for threads about the itinerary.
  3. Check the "Ports of Call" forum for possible discussions of what to wear. It doesn't matter which cruise line you sail on, the advice for what you need to wear outdoors will still be the same. The advantage to the Ports of call forum is the size of the audience -- and the larger the audience, the more chance of finding an answer.
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We took this Viking cruise in Feb 2019.  As far as what to pack for the outdoors — a warm jacket, snow pants, long underwear, warm socks, hat, boots, gloves, goggles, and hand/foot warmers.  
 

Some of the excursions we really enjoyed — Arctic Landscapes by Husky (Alta) and Lifestyle of the Sami (Tromso).  Try to plan a private excursion (or two) to see the Northern Lights.  We did the ship’s excursion and it was too short and too crowded.  Sadly, we didn’t see the lights.  If you plan to do any of the excursions involving wolves, be aware that you can’t wear anything containing down or leather.  
 

We love Viking.  Don’t miss the Chef’s Table, Manfredi’s, afternoon tea, or the spa!  Hope you have a great trip!

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We took the infamous March 2019 Northern Lights cruise (the one that had to be evacuated near the end of the cruise).  Even with that unfortunate incident, we are still avid supporters of Viking.  The way they handled that situation, the follow-up, and the excursions were excellent in our opinion.  We did get to see the Northern Lights.  Dress warmly, as it will be cold!  Remember you will have to have patience if you plan to photograph or view the lights.   They are very random, with clouds playing a a huge role on visibility, and requiring patience! If you view some previous posts on this forum, you can see some of the pictures from the cruise.  If you want me to attach some, just let me know.  Again, we found this cruise as with all our other Viking cruises was very good.  If you need further info, let me know.   JohnEB

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Yep...I was there too. I reserve judgment on how things were handled (as I've probably stated many times back during the extended threads dealing with that episode) leading up to the day of the storm. Once in the situation...yes...I agree on things being well handled. Before that, I felt the passengers were ill informed (at best) of the conditions we were going to be sailing into. This became even more pronounced on the cruise we did after the NL, where the captain went out of his way to present detailed info on two weather systems that we'd be dealing with, and went as far as even holding 2 presentations in the theatre with detailed graphs, etc. showing several different possible scenarios and why the one was chosen that put us in the safest possible position. Both DW and I felt it was handled the way one would expect, rather than suddenly finding yourself in the middle of a storm of that magnitude without any prior warning whatsoever. 

 

Otherwise, I agree with everything you said. The trip was fantastic and indeed some of the excursions were amazing. 

Edited by OnTheJourney
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1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Yep...I was there too. I reserve judgment on how things were handled (as I've probably stated many times back during the extended threads dealing with that episode) leading up to the day of the storm. Once in the situation...yes...I agree on things being well handled. Before that, I felt the passengers were ill informed (at best) of the conditions we were going to be sailing into. This became even more pronounced on the cruise we did after the NL, where the captain went out of his way to present detailed info on two weather systems that we'd be dealing with, and went as far as even holding 2 presentations in the theatre with detailed graphs, etc. showing several different possible scenarios and why the one was chosen that put us in the safest possible position. Both DW and I felt it was handled the way one would expect, rather than suddenly finding yourself in the middle of a storm of that magnitude without any prior warning whatsoever. 

 

Otherwise, I agree with everything you said. The trip was fantastic and indeed some of the excursions were amazing. 

 

OTJ - We experienced a similar presentation from the Master on the 20 WC, when we missed Melbourne and sailed from Hobart direct to Sydney. First time I have ever seen, or even heard of this level of communications.

 

Melbourne weather forecast were not outside the ship's operating envelope, but the wind and seas between Melbourne and Sydney, would have resulted in a 12 to 24 hr delayed arrival at a TAR port. Showed charts of the daily predictions, which I found interesting and definitely agreed with his decision.

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My husband I were on the January 2019 Northern Lights sailing and it was fabulous, despite never seeing the Lights!  We are booked on the February 5 2022 sailing to do it again. Highlight was definitely dogsledding in Alta (wear 2 pairs of woolen socks and a face shield if you do this) and ship itself was wonderful, especially Manfredi’s and the spa.  Had a rough crossing from Tilbury to Norway but ships clinic handed out seasickness medicines which got us over the worst. 

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On 1/8/2021 at 2:29 PM, pduncan said:

Highlight was definitely dogsledding in Alta

Yep....I agree...fun experience!  Didn't see the need for any sort of face shield though. Polar park and reindeer sledding were both terrific as well. On both sledding excursions, the snow was just sparkling in the sun as we went along - truly lovely.    Nice way to experience a bit of Sami culture on that trip. Would I go again?  Hmmm...not sure on that one. I think my next trip to Norway would be one during warmer weather. I'd love to see the Hustadvika area by daylight...and in far calmer conditions. 

 

On 1/8/2021 at 2:29 PM, pduncan said:

and the spa.

I was on my way to do this when things went crazy due to the storm and then the spa was closed (never to reopen to us since the cruise ended prematurely) and so, never even got there once. 😟 Hopefully on the rescheduled Chairman's cruise - whenever that might be. When all you-know-what broke loose, DW went down to the theatre to watch a movie and I went to the spa - was really looking forward to it. I'll never forget the spa attendants saying it'll "reopen" once things settled down...uh huh.....

 

On 1/8/2021 at 2:29 PM, pduncan said:

Had a rough crossing from Tilbury to Norway

never made it that far. I'm sure what we went through off the coast of Hustadvika was far worse. Ironic being that we had heard (and expected) the potential for rough seas going to Tillbury. 

 

On 1/8/2021 at 2:29 PM, pduncan said:

seasickness medicines

to this day I can't imagine how I survived 3/23/19 without getting sick. Possibly adrenline rush accompanied by a mental preoccupation with all that was going on, i.e. too worried about other things (like maybe drowning?) to even think about how I was feeling!  

Edited by OnTheJourney
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  • 3 weeks later...
3 hours ago, jtwind said:

How serious is Viking about actually "chasing" the Northern Lights?  Do they make small changes to their itineraries to position themselves in clear skies, or alter plans due to predictions and current reports?

The cruise is actually named "In Search of the Northern Lights", so that kind of answers your question. Not much chasing, just searchin'. 😉

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The ship sticks to the schedule so doesn’t search in that sense. We had a great sighting of the Northern lights on the sailing up to Narvik and the Ship makes announcements when there is something to see.

We did a proper chase privately with Glod in Alta when we saw them again. Hope this helps to answer your question.

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2 hours ago, cruisinchrissy said:

The ship sticks to the schedule so doesn’t search in that sense. We had a great sighting of the Northern lights on the sailing up to Narvik and the Ship makes announcements when there is something to see.

We did a proper chase privately with Glod in Alta when we saw them again. Hope this helps to answer your question.

I would recommend Glod as well, they found us a great spot and we did get to see the lights on a night when the sips tours missed out, 

DSCF3121.JPG

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On 1/31/2021 at 9:50 AM, Haworth said:

I would recommend Glod as well, they found us a great spot and we did get to see the lights on a night when the sips tours missed out, 

And, other times, a sighting might be made right from the ship on eveings when the tours didn't even find any. That happened on our sailing that one evening if memory serves me correctly. 

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On 1/31/2021 at 11:04 AM, jtwind said:

Does the ship itself shut lights down to help viewing when they are present?

 

Yeah..I seem to recall this happening. I DO know they keep a watch and will announce it. The night we saw the lights it was announced during dinner. Sorta funny to see a few hundred people all get up mid-meal and head out for the decks!!  

 

Wow...in consideration of everything we've all been through this past year, that trip back in March '19 seems like a lifetime ago. How about it, Haworth???  😉 I'd take another emergency helicopter evac in a heartbeat if it could in some magical way undue all that covid has wrought. 

Edited by OnTheJourney
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9 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Yeah..I seem to recall this happening. I DO know they keep a watch and will announce it. The night we saw the lights it was announced during dinner. Sorta funny to see a few hundred people all get up mid-meal and head out for the decks!!  

 

Wow...in consideration of everything we've all been through this past year, that trip back in March '19 seems like a lifetime ago. How about it, Haworth???  😉 I'd take another emergency helicopter evac in a heartbeat if it could in some magical way undue all that covid has wrought. 

 

OTJ - any word from Viking for updated plans for your Chairman's cruise?

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1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

And, other times, a sighting might be made right from the ship on eveings when the tours didn't even find any. That happened on our sailing that one evening if memory serves me correctly. 

 

Did you get the impression that they had purposely adjusted their speed or altered their course to position themselves under clear skies?

 

Was it dark enough on the ship for the viewing to be as good as it was on land?

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7 hours ago, jtwind said:

Did you get the impression that they had purposely adjusted their speed or altered their course to position themselves under clear skies?

......really can't say for sure. As I said, we were eating dinner when the announcement came

Was it dark enough on the ship for the viewing to be as good as it was on land?

......well, for one thing we had a waxing moon and so not as dark as during closer to new moon. It was a pretty good sighting though - went on for about 20 minutes.

 

I got the first two pics with a cell phone and an aurora app. Surely not good photography by any stretch of the imagination, but considering that I had no tripod and simply propped the phone up against a covered stack of deck chairs to steady it a bit, I'm pleased that at least we got to see it and I have some pics to remember it by.

 

The sighting I got the evening we went out with the ship tour (bottom pic) was far less dramatic than what we saw from the ship. It's luck of the draw really. The one group stayed out till like 3 a.m. and drove really far to "chase" after the lights. I don't recall how they fared. I had no interest in making anywhere near that long an evening of it. The best part of the ship evening tour was the hot chocolate and cakes served in the lodge! People tended to hang out in there in between going outside to look for any lights. Most humorous part of the evening was on the bus when leaving the ship. Being that everyone had on layers of warm clothing, we told the bus driver to actually put on the a/c even though it was like 20 degrees outside. 

 

IMG_2571.jpeg

IMG_2573.jpeg

IMG_2584.jpeg

Edited by OnTheJourney
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On 1/31/2021 at 11:04 AM, jtwind said:

Does the ship itself shut lights down to help viewing when they are present?

On our March 2019, we did have two nights when the auroras were visible from the ship.  I recall they did turn down the lights on the upper decks.  They were clearly seen.  Attached is a picture taken from the top deck one night.   JohnEB

2S9A9257 Narvik __fm.jpg

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John...you were on my sailing, right? The 3/23/19 debacle? I seem to recall your username, though may be wrong. So much has transpired since that trip. That's a great picture. Seem to recall you posting that back when the various Viking issues was being discussed. I guess there were indeed two sightings while onboard...I specifically remember one. 

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