Northern Lights, Jan. 25 - Feb. 6, Bergen to London

[hobse]

Tromso day 2.  Ship dock location is right in town, so no shuttles.  Before leaving home we booked an independent outing with Tromso Arctic Reindeer Experience.  They picked us up at the Raddison Blu hotel which is only a 2 minute walk from the ship.  Roughly a 25 minute drive to their winter grounds for the reindeer.  They have over 300 reindeer.  You are allowed to walk all over the several acres and feed, pet, photograph the cute reindeer, and sleigh ride if you wish.

A tamer version of NL could be seen early from the ship tonight before we sailed out.

 

 

[hobse]

Bodo.  Uggggg.  Will not be able to report on this port because the stop was CANCELLED!  Very disappointing, but Captain makes the decision.  Thinks the wind was too much.  So, we get to have another Sea day (not my favorite thing and a downside of cruising).  But, oh boy, the replacement for Bodo this afternoon is a showing of Robin Hood.  Really? They really should have more back up options for filling the time when ports are cancelled.

Tomorrow is another (scheduled) sea day, next stop and last will be Stavanger on Monday.

 

[OnTheJourney]

11 hours ago, hobse said:

Bodo.  Uggggg.  Will not be able to report on this port because the stop was CANCELLED!  Very disappointing, but Captain makes the decision.  Thinks the wind was too much.  So, we get to have another Sea day (not my favorite thing and a downside of cruising).  But, oh boy, the replacement for Bodo this afternoon is a showing of Robin Hood.  Really? They really should have more back up options for filling the time when ports are cancelled.

Tomorrow is another (scheduled) sea day, next stop and last will be Stavanger on Monday.

 

 

lol (about the underlined portion). Which Robin Hood movie? Kevin Costner? You'd think at least they'd show something that has some Nordic relevance. Can't help but wonder if they didn't know WHAT to do and so some staff member pulled the first DVD he came to off a shelf in the ship library (do they even have DVDs for rent?) Or run something about the Vikings.  Sorry to hear that you lost Bodo. As you said, it can happen, on any cruise. Oh well, on the bright side - you had that fantastic viewing of the lights in Tromsø. I think I'd have to come away from the whole cruise thinking it was well worth it to have gotten so fortunate. Thanks for the nice review of the home stay. I considered that, but then opted for 2 other ship excursions while in Tromsø. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by gretschwhtfalcon

[hobse]

Tromso day 2.  Ship dock location is right in town, so no shuttles.  Before leaving home we booked an independent outing with Tromso Arctic Reindeer Experience.  They picked us up at the Raddison Blu hotel which is only a 2 minute walk from the ship.  Roughly a 25 minute drive to their winter grounds for the reindeer.  They have over 300 reindeer.  You are allowed to walk all over the several acres and feed, pet, photograph the cute reindeer, and sleigh ride if you wish.

A tamer version of NL could be seen early from the ship tonight before we sailed out.

 

 

[hobse]

Last port, Stavanger.  We have been here before and made no plan for optional excursion but to do the included panaramic tour.  Decided not to go for the bus ride (trying to avoid the close confines with all the coughing going on). Instead we walked to the Petroleum museum which is included in the bus tour.  We had a great dock location, easily walk everywhere, including Starbucks.  The small sardine canning museum was surprisingly interesting.  The day was rainy and much warmer.

 

 

 

 

[hobse]

Departed Stavanger around 6 PM last night, Monday.  Heading across the North Sea toward Tilbury.  The seas were rolling a bit at times, but overall not too bad.  One especially large wave hitting us and sending a huge shudder through the ship around 3 a.m.  One guest in Q &A this morning asked the Captain what did we hit?  Hopefully the rest of our sea day and arrival at Tilbury will remain smooth.  

Everyone had to go through U.K. Immigration this morning on the ship.  There were two Immigration officers, the process was efficient, lines moved quickly.  Took all of about 7 minutes.

 

 

 

 

[DGHOC]

38 minutes ago, hobse said:

Departed Stavanger around 6 PM last night, Monday.  Heading across the North Sea toward Tilbury.  The seas were rolling a bit at times, but overall not too bad.  One especially large wave hitting us and sending a huge shudder through the ship around 3 a.m.  One guest in Q &A this morning asked the Captain what did we hit?  Hopefully the rest of our sea day and arrival at Tilbury will remain smooth.  

Everyone had to go through U.K. Immigration this morning on the ship.  There were two Immigration officers, the process was efficient, lines moved quickly.  Took all of about 7 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Hobse, I'd very much like to thank you for your kindness in posting the detail of your trip: it's been enormously helpful and interesting for those of us following you. We leave on the 14th March so really not very long now!

 

All good wishes to you.

[hobse]

We arrived Tilbury around 05:00 a.m. 6 February.  The rest of the sea crossing was smooth.  Disembarkation started at 06:30 for the first groups (meet at 6:15) bussing to Heathrow (Viking transfer).  Disembarkation was smooth, luggage ready to claim and load.  The drive to Heathrow should have been 1.5-2.0 hours (rush hour).  However, our driver and guide decided to detour through the city (at rush hour!), and we arrived at Heathrow 2.45 hours later.  Not concerned as we had plenty of time, but it was annoying.  The busses that left after us had already arrived.

 

Happy travels to all future Northern Lights hunters!

 

[OnTheJourney]

Hobse....I also thank you for your time and efforts in posting along the journey! Safe travels home.... 🙂

[hobse]

1 hour ago, gretschwhtfalcon said:

Hobse....I also thank you for your time and efforts in posting along the journey! Safe travels home.... 🙂

 

Thank you, and DGHOC for your kind comments.  Being a new journey, I know many people have lots of questions.  Hope it helped a little.  I am including just a few photos for those to look forward to, and some quirky tips.

 

[OnTheJourney]

Hobse....GREAT photos!  That one of the Northern Lights...WOW! Hope we get to see them next month :)