Spitzbergen

We are historically Oceania cruisers. We want to do the Norway coast in 2017, and I've always wanted to go to Spitzbergen. Oceania does not go there, but turns up to the Russian coast. For those of you that have been that far up, do you believe the extra expense for Regent is worth the price for seeing? Spitzbergen and whatever may be there?

While I have not personally visited Norway with Azamara [yet!] and do not know if they specifically call at Spitzbergen [they did visit The North Cape this past July], they have a reputation for doing a particularly fine job with their two week, destination-immersive Norwegian Coast itineraries...

As a potential bonus if aboard [seemingly he tries to be for all/most of the Norway sailings], Captain Johannes [one of two Masters on Journey]--native to Bergen and a very affable/engaged guy--apparently loves to showcase his homeland with personal insights and--sometimes--unexpected touches along the way...

Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest are--like most of Oceania's fleet--former Renaissance [R-Class] ships....

Their offerings may be worth a look...

We sailed the Regent Voyager from Oslo to Copenhagen in summer 2014 which did the port call to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. It's a fascinating port with the possibility of polar bear sitings and a visit to the global seed bank (well the door, anyway). It's also one of the most northern ports in the world you can visit, less than 800 miles from the north pole, so bragging rights!

A caveat to the Norway trip is the 24-hour sunshine in the summer. After a week the bright daytime sky at 4am can be disconcerting! You'll want to take extra steps to insure your suite stays dark (pants hangars to clip curtains shut and the blue wool lap blanket does wonders).

All in all, this was one of our favorite Regent itineraries, despite with the high cost of excursions, food and beverage ashore. A quick perusal of the McDonald's menu in quaint Bergen showed a Big Mac that cost 79 Kroner or more than 14 dollars!

How nice it was that "it's all included" on the Regent Voyager!

We were on the cruise with TPA, and couldn't agree more. The cost was worth it, and Svalbard was a fascinating port.

One caveat: never book a cruise with the feeling that: "if I miss a particular port, it will ruin the cruise." With that in mind, the cruise that includes Longyearbyen is fabulous.

We visited Svarlbard with Regent last year which had been a destination I had wanted to visit for a long time. We were not disappointed, it is somewhere quite different, a bit like frontier land . We would recommend it to everyone. It must be marvellous to visit in winter but the summer was very interesting. Magdalena fjord was fantastic but I think the cruise ships can't go there anymore. I read that this year Regent went up to the arctic ice cap which must have been stunning.

Looking at all the small ship, upscale cruise line itineraries for the next couple of years, it appears only Silversea's Silver Explorer is going to Longyearbyen and Svalbard.

Wife, 17yr-old GD and I did the Regent cruise this year that went to Longyearben - fascinating day! DW and GD thought that it was the highlight of our on-land adventures.

Looking at all the small ship, upscale cruise line itineraries for the next couple of years, it appears only Silversea's Silver Explorer is going to Longyearbyen and Svalbard.

Hi, I'm not exactly sure what specific ports you want but you may want to look at Azamara as I know they do some Norwegian cruises. If you love Regent for the small ships, great service and luxury, you will also love Azamara. Tip: book a Club Continental Suite to have a comparable cabin to Regent.

Hi, I'm not exactly sure what specific ports you want but you may want to look at Azamara as I know they do some Norwegian cruises. If you love Regent for the small ships, great service and luxury, you will also love Azamara. Tip: book a Club Continental Suite to have a comparable cabin to Regent.

As I wrote "Longyearbyen and Svalbard". Not just a Norwegian fjord cruise. And we've cruised Azamara 5 times and love that line (just did an Adriatic cruise on the Journey back in June). And, yes, we book a Club Continental Suite for cruises much more than a week.

We cruised up to Spitsbergen and over the North Cape to Murmansk and the White Sea in Russia on the Voyager in July this year, and felt that most everything north of Trondheim wasn't worth it, except perhaps the White Sea stop. I have limited mobility and that may bias my judgment. There were very few "1 walker" excursions I could handle, and no "seated" ones at all on the whole 20 day cruise; the territory just doesn't lend itself to limited mobility touring. The fiords and excursions in southern Norway, particularly at Geiranger, made the trip worthwhile however; that particular one was glorious. As for the north, I guess the best reason to go is to say you've made the "Murmansk Run" (see WWII history).

For me, the interesting thing about Spitsbergen was the requirement that everyone going beyond certain points be armed with a powerful rifle - polar bears! In an Air Force survival school we learned polar bears are the only mammal that will naturally hunt and eat humans, or so an instructor told us back in 1959 or '60. Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears, either there or later on the Arctic ice pack, which was pretty broken up.

Having been to Antarctica and So. Georgia on Seabourn over last Christmas/ New Years, the Arctic trip was by comparison a notable disappointment. One man's opinion, of course.