Veteran cruiser Renagh Holohandescribes her recent trip inside the Norwegian Arctic Circle and divulges all you need to know to choose the perfect voyage
IT WAS SNOWING when we landed at Tromsø and it was snowing when we flew out from Kirkenes. And it snowed, but not all the time, in between. We were in the far north of Norway, next door to Russia. But we weren't complaining. We had signed on for this three-day experience, cruising inside the Arctic Circle. And it was worth it.
A ship of the Hurtigruten fleet leaves daily, 365 days a year, from Bergen near the start of the fjords, for Kirkenes beyond the North Cape and another ship leaves Kirkenes for Bergen. So Hurtigruten ships are constantly on the go, up and down the North Atlantic coast, delivering people, post, cars and friends to the hundreds of isolated fishing villages that cling to the sides of sheer cliffs or lie deep in hidden fjords. There are literally thousands of islands off the west coast of Norway and hundreds of isolated communities. In addition, little holiday cabins, a Norwegian obsession, dot the desolate landscape. They are called ghost houses because they are occupied only in June, July and August. Despite the latitude, the sea never freezes thanks to the Gulf Stream.
The Hurtigruten ships make over 30 stops during a seven-day voyage north, mostly for only several minutes, before turning around and coming back down again. Since their main passengers are holidaymakers, many do the 11-day round trip because the night-time stops are visited in daylight on the return. Not, at this time of year anyway, that there is much darkness. The land of the midnight sun might not always be sunny, but it is bright. In midsummer the sun never drops below the horizon, so it's preferable to travel then rather than in midwinter, when the sun never rises above it.
Having said that, winter is when the spectacular aurora borealis or Northern Lights are a common - but never guaranteed - sight. I have seen the phenomenon on a different occasion - the lights are well worth a winter trip. And it's not fully dark even then. Hurtigruten sails on through the twilight of the days and eerie Northern Lights, stars and moon of midwinter.
The ships on this route are like passenger ferries. The MS Richard With, our ship, is typical. It takes 691 passengers. Most are holidaymakers and come from all nations. The others are travellers of various types. The Classic Voyage North takes six days and the Classic Voyage South lasts five. But there are endless permutations and tailor-made packages available, some of which can entail leaving one ship and joining another.
Most holidaymakers take the one-way voyage - and what a journey it is. This is not your average cruise - gourmet cuisine, swimming pools, movies and event organisers mark it out. This is a working ship. The cabins are plain, though most have portholes. There are no private decks, however. The food is Scandinavian, which means fishy, and drinks cost a fortune (€9 for a glass of wine, much the same as elsewhere in non-EU Norway). But there are daily land excursions to places of note and some of the voyages are based around special interests with lectures to match. Birdwatching is a favourite as is Norwegian music and national life and heritage. Trekking, glacier-viewing and boating are other activities available.
While the ships are comfortable but not luxurious, an effort is made at providing entertainment. A small band plays each night but alas, on my voyage, few took to the dance floor. But then, this trip into the Arctic Circle is all about scenery. Hurtigruten boasts that the voyage is the most beautiful in the world, and it has a point. Fellow passengers raved about the natural beauty they had experienced before we joined them for our mini-cruise. Trollfjord in particular was so spectacular they stayed up until 2am to savour it. They also got terrific weather and they sat out all day to marvel at the natural wonders surrounding them.
Once the MS Richard Withcrossed the Artic Circle at 66 degrees latitude, two things happened: the weather changed and our small press group came on board. Tromsø boasts that it enjoys more sunshine than Mallorca, but it snowed for us. We had a few hours in the city, which used to be the capital of Norway during the short period when king Haakon VII fled here during the second World War. It is now very much a university town. We took the cable car up Storsteinen mountain and, while we didn't see much through the snow, we enjoyed reindeer stew in front of a roaring fire. Then it was off to the Polar Museum, which details all the expeditions which set out north from here.
During the bright night we passed snowy wastes, dramatic scenery and pretty, brightly coloured fishing villages with dried cod hanging in the breeze. In the afternoon we were bussed to the North Cape, a mecca for travellers in the past because of its location at 71 degrees north. It is now the site of an interpretive centre for the most northern land in Europe and for the nomadic Sami people.
From Kirkenes you can take a bus trip to the Russian border a few kilometres away or stay on board and see the sights missed on the way up north. We flew back back to Oslo and a totally different climate.
Renagh Holohan's cruise inside the Arctic Circle was with Hurtigruten, 01-6074420, www.hurtigruten.ie
Cruise views: top tips for on the ships
CRUISING IS TERRIFIC. How else can you see so much of the world and sleep in the same bed each night?
Our first cruise was on the wonderful Minerva II, run by the British company Swan Hellenic. It took us from the west coast of Costa Rica to San Francisco, stopping in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. When we came ashore, lines of coaches were waiting to whisk us off to do the sights. Some interior locations were reached by a small aircraft.
The food was good, the company was great and the cabins were spacious. There were four restaurants, where we sat with different people every day, along with a couple of bars, a bridge class, a gym, a small pool and, happily, little in the way of on-board entertainment except for after-dinner dancing.
The following year we travelled on the same ship from Barbados to Aruba, Curaçao, Venezuela and through the Panama Canal to Ecuador and Peru. It was equally good.
Unfortunately, Minerva IIhas been taken over by an American company and the library has been converted to a casino. The good news is that, after an 18-month absence, Swan Hellenic is back under new management and with a different boat, which started cruising in June.
Minerva IIwas small, by cruise standards, with 600 passengers. But there are much smaller, and this year we tried the MS Island Sky, run by Noble Caledonia, no stranger to these shores during the summer months.
It had 92 passengers, just under its full complement. We boarded in Dar es Salaam, after much hassle getting Tanzanian visas, and visited Zanzibar, the atoll of Aldabra (a World Heritage Site in the Seychelles), the west coast of Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa.
Other cruises I have done are "discovery" or "expeditionary" cruising, where you call to small, out-of-the-way places. More often than not you go ashore on an inflatable boat while strapped into life jackets, with the options of snorkelling, birdwatching and nature walks as well as the usual sightseeing.
Choosing a cruise
Cruising has a bad name in some quarters. People are put off by stories of honky-tonk games and glamorous granny competitions led by Butlins-style red coats, or at the prospect of suffering cabin fever and being cooped up with bling-clad strangers for two weeks.
I have heard stories of low-paid staff demanding tips, a rigid two-sittings meal policy that locks you into a particular time at a particular table, and ships that provide constant annoying entertainment.
So it is vital that you choose your cruise carefully. Here are some tips:
• Pick a ship with a no-tipping policy or one that adds the tips to your final bill.
• Avoid back-to-back cruising (ones that start and end at the same port). These tend to attract a rowdy young crowd.
•Pick ships that offer free seating at meals. You don't want to be stuck with the same group for the entire cruise.
• Remember - the bigger the ship the more organised it has to be, and if it is an American company it can be very loud and raucous.
• Unless you want to gamble, don't go for a boat with a casino.
• Unless you have children, avoid those that advertise kids' clubs.
• Avoid the larger ships, unless you like Butlins-style entertainment and class divisions where those with pricier cabins eat in different restaurants to those paying less.