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[Heartfelttraveler]

In September 2016 I booked our 6 Day (5 night) Classic Voyage South traveling in March 2017 on the MS Spitsbergen. Final payment was just made. I am very excited to take this trip and have a few questions. (We are traveling with another couple so there will be four of us.)

 

1. Will I receive travel documents in the mail?

 

2. Or will my travel documents be emailed?

 

3. What is the best way to get to the Kirkenes Port? (We will be coming from the Kirkenes Snow Hotel.)

 

After docking in Bergen we have an 8:30 PM (20:30) flight. Hurtigruten gave me the names of two hotels to stash our luggage at so that we can walk around Bergen for a few hours.

 

4. Is there really time to do this? Is there anything to see or any shopping? And how far is the airport from Bergen?

 

The only Hurtigruten excursion we have booked is the Magnificent Marble Mine.

 

5. Any suggestions for other Hurtigruten excursions? We will have done a snowmobile ride with Northern Lights, and a Dog Sled Ride at the Ice Hotel in Sweden.

 

6. Any suggestions or advice for the MS Spitsbergen?

 

We have only done a few cruises, one of which was a small explorer ship. I know that this will be very different from a main stream cruise line. That is why we chose it.

 

7. Are the naturalists/guides interesting?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer any of my questions.

[hallasm]

Cannot answer all you questions - hope that others will answer also

 

Travel documents will be emailed, assuming you have booked direct by Hurtigruten.com. You should also have received your deposit invoice by email.

 

Need a transfer from Kirkenes Snow Hotel - it can be arranged by the hotel, distance is 10 km. Distance from airport to the hotel is 14 km.

 

There will be plenty of time for shopping in Bergen. Small city. For the airport you can either take the airport bus or a taxi (20 minutes). Airport is very small.

See my Bergen video below - also a magnificant Norwegian fjords video

 

Hurtigrutens ships are different from the main stream cruise line. Most of the ships are car ferries.

MS Spitsbergen is one of the newest ships in the fleet and refurbished 2015 - you can get all details here: http://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/MS-Spitsbergen-1120

Since she is not a traditionally Hurtigruten car ferry , all ports Hurtigruten normally docks at night, is taken out of the ship's schedule, so instead time to spend a few hours more in selected ports in the day time.

 

Excursions will vary by ship and travel dates - here are some of my recommendations:

The Northernmost town in the world; Honningsvåg: Fishing village visit; Experience Bodø and Saltstraumen; A taste of Vesterålen if included in your travel schedule.

 

Not so sure about naturalists on MS Spitsbergen when sailing along the coast of Norway.

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