Northern Lights Norway, March 2018 - Hurtigruten... or... ?

We are about to make reservations for a "northern lights" cruise (or hoping to see them, anyway) in March, 2018.

We are strongly considering the Hurtigruten Trollfjord, but are having a bit of trouble finding other alternative cruiselines.

This cruise has an Astronomer/Physicist on board (maybe they all do?), with some lectures and special excursions.

We understand this isn't a "typical" cruise ship, also being a local ferry, but that seems to add a bit to the experience.

Main questions are:

1) Are there other choices the some of you recommend instead?

2) Does it make sense to go round trip from Bergen, or should we get off half-way in Kirkenes, spend a few more nights there, and either take a different ship back to Bergen, or just fly out from Kirkenes?

3) Is there any reason to prefer a different Hurtigruten ship?

Our PRIMARY reason for this trip is to have a chance to see the Northern Lights. Having the spectacular scenery... big bonus :)

Thank you.

I responded already to your post on the Hurtigruten forum, but I loved the Trollfjord, and did the 11 day round trip from Bergen, but in May, so no northern lights for me. I am not aware of any other cruise lines that do a similar route in winter...Hurtigruten does it 365 days a year. On some of their cruises they even guarantee you will see the northern lights, and if you don't, you get either a discount on another cruise or even a free cruise. Having an astronomer on board is not the norm, so a plus for this trip as long as you have clear skies.

If your primary goal is to see the Northern Lights, I think you'd be better off planning a land trip and either booking some lights-chasing tours or renting a car. On the Hurtigruten trip, you'll only be within the aurora activity band for a few days of the trip, and if the ship is keeping to its scheduled route, you'll be out of luck if there's cloud cover in that area on those days.

If you do a land trip and base yourself someplace like Tromsø, you're in the middle of the activity band, and with a dedicated lights safari or a rental car, you can check the meteorology websites and find areas without cloud cover. For example, even when it's cloudy in Tromsø itself, there may be clear skies at Skibotn or Kilpisjärvi.

Spending a few days in Kirkenes could give you the same flexibility, and it's also close to the middle of the auroral band (http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe) but I don't know of much to do there.

For Auroras, Aurora Sky station at Abisko (100km west/north-west of Kiruna) might be of interest if you do a land trip.

March is also a quite late in the Aurora season.

Thanks all!

Regarding the timing of this trip, we based it in part on accommodations/availability and especially upon the following from that Alaska.edu Aurora Forecast website:

"Clear skies are a requirement, so you should try to choose a location and a season that is blessed with the clearest skies. The continental locations in Russia, Alaska and western Canada, shown to have the clearest skies under the auroral zone in the figure, will also be at their clearest around the spring equinox. So the dark of the moon in March is the best time of year to travel to the auroral zone since the yearly variation of auroral activity also peaks around the equinox."

We had read similar that specifically mentioned Norway, as well, plus this from the same website:

"Northern Scandinavia offers excellent viewing, especially in the spring of the year. In fact, the only cruise ships with a regularly scheduled route under the auroral zone are the ships of “Hurtiruten,” the Norwegian Coastal Ferries."

I think it is a bit of a trade-off among amount of night ski, solar activity, cloud cover, and of course, the phase of the moon.

Keeping our fingers crossed!

We had seriously considered stopping for a few days in Kirkenes, but for several reasons, we've decided not to do that, and also not to try to chase the Lights on land.

Thank you again!

Well not sure I agree with the spring part since spring in northern Scandinavia usually doesn't happen until late May.

Then I think Scandinavia is used to broadly in the article, you are much less likely to see the northern lights

in southern Scandinavia then in northern Scandinavia, especially in March.

Here are some more info about Aurora Sky station: http://www.auroraskystation.se/en/night-visit/

Statistics: "Statistics from previous seasons show that STF Aurora Sky Station is open from 85 to 90 percent of

the scheduled dates and the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is visible 50-60 percent of the nights it is open.

That means that on average there is about 76 days each winter where it is possible to see the Northern light at Aurora Sky station,

based on an 180 day season with it being open 85% of the nights with 50% of those providing Aurora Borealis,

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/the-worlds-most-illuminating-experiences

Perhaps if your budget allow you do a combo trip with Hurtigrutten and ASkSt?

I don't know if it's possible to do Bergen-Kirkenes and continue and disembark at Tromsö or Narvik?

There are trains from Narvik to Abisko and buses from Tromsö to Narvik,

We are about to make reservations for a "northern lights" cruise (or hoping to see them, anyway) in March, 2018.

 

 

1) Are there other choices the some of you recommend instead?

 

Thank you.

If sailing from the UK is a viable alternative for you, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines are good going north (as I mentioned on another thread) and offer Northern lights cruises. No one can guarantee seeing the lights and sometimes they are only visible as a whitish, cloud like vision. Cameras pick them up better on specific exposure, but you will need one where you can set the exposure etc. rather than one that just does automatic snaps. The multi coloured moving films tend to be made that way by technical means and you are highly unlikely to see anything like that. Fun looking though.

I can see the point of a land trip, though even then, there can be no guarantee you will see them.