Northern Lights Viking Cruise

[ChiefLnc7]

Afternoon,

 

Wife and I are booked for a cruise on the Viking Venus in February 2022 entitled In Search of the Northern Lights.    So what I am wondering is if anyone has suggestions for:

 

1) Packing suggestions for the winter time conditions in Norway during our ports of call up the coast to above the Arctic Circle and for just walking around the overnight ports of call.

 

2) For the photographers of the Cruise Critic group, suggestions as to taking the best photos.  I have a remote shutter release for my three Nikons but looking for other suggestions as well as reference material that I might peruse or get off line to review.

 

3) Any other suggestions for clothing to pack for onboard the cruise ship.

 

Thanks and if anyone is also going on that cruise, let me know and maybe compare notes.

 

The Chief or the GOAT

[Roger88]

5 minutes ago, ChiefLnc7 said:

Afternoon,

 

Wife and I are booked for a cruise on the Viking Venus in February 2022 entitled In Search of the Northern Lights.    So what I am wondering is if anyone has suggestions for:

 

1) Packing suggestions for the winter time conditions in Norway during our ports of call up the coast to above the Arctic Circle and for just walking around the overnight ports of call.

 

2) For the photographers of the Cruise Critic group, suggestions as to taking the best photos.  I have a remote shutter release for my three Nikons but looking for other suggestions as well as reference material that I might peruse or get off line to review.

 

3) Any other suggestions for clothing to pack for onboard the cruise ship.

 

Thanks and if anyone is also going on that cruise, let me know and maybe compare notes.

 

The Chief or the GOAT

1) I suggest you take warm clothes with you just in case. Make sure to wear scarfs

2) Usually you can find photographers on board, but I would simply use an iPhone and ask other people on board to take a picture of you

3) make sure to have two types of clothing both for warmer and colder season

[donaldsc]

On 2/14/2021 at 11:50 AM, Roger88 said:

 

On 2/14/2021 at 11:43 AM, ChiefLnc7 said:

Afternoon,

 

Wife and I are booked for a cruise on the Viking Venus in February 2022 entitled In Search of the Northern Lights.    So what I am wondering is if anyone has suggestions for:

 

1) Packing suggestions for the winter time conditions in Norway during our ports of call up the coast to above the Arctic Circle and for just walking around the overnight ports of call.

 

2) For the photographers of the Cruise Critic group, suggestions as to taking the best photos.  I have a remote shutter release for my three Nikons but looking for other suggestions as well as reference material that I might peruse or get off line to review.

 

3) Any other suggestions for clothing to pack for onboard the cruise ship.

 

Thanks and if anyone is also going on that cruise, let me know and maybe compare notes.

 

The Chief or the GOAT

 

Re the reply from Roger88, I think that the OP is worried more about them taking pictures of the cruise and especially of the aurora and really didn't care about having pictures taken of them.  The camera in an iPhone is totally useless for taking pictures of aurora. 

 

There are lots of sites on the WEB that will give you info on aurora photography.  I spent more than a week in AK one winter doing aurora photography.  Basically you need a fast wide angle lens and a tripod.  The problem w using a tripod on a ship is that although the pictures will be sharper than if you tried to hand hold the camera, the ship does vibrate and move from side to side and up and down so this motion will be transmitted through the tripod to your camera.  I was shooting mostly 5 to 20 second exposures when I did my aurora trip.  

 

Another thing to consider is that you want to be in a dark area with no outside lights.  I have no idea what the status of the moon will be when you take your cruise but if you have anything approaching a full moon, this will play havoc w your aurora shots.  Finally, there will probably be lights around you from the lights on the ship which will interfere w your long exposures.  You need to try to find the darkest spot on the ship that is available as I doubt that they will turn off most of the lights on the ship to accommodate the aurora photographers.  

 

I don't want to be discouraging but the bottom line is that if you really want to get good aurora photographs, a ship is not the place to be.  You need to take a land trip in the winter to a good location such as northern AK, Iceland or northern Norway at the right time of the month when there is minimal or no moon.  You also need to plan to spend enough time there so that if you have a run of cloudy nights, you will not waste your trip.  In my case, I lucked out since every night I had clear skies and good aurora but you can't count on this.

 

Hope that this helps.

 

DON

Edited February 17, 2021 by donaldsc

[TheOldBear]

I just looked on the Viking site for tour descriptions - there are four evening excursions on Day 6 Tromso [two on land, two on water] for northern lights.

 

The land mini-bus tour likely would have the most passenger room to bring a tripod [check on with Viking or on their forum]. Also, check over in the DPreview astrophotography forum if there are any gotchas about your particular camera/lens combinations for astro photography [e.g. some focus by wire lenses have difficulty doing a starlight infinity focus]

[pierces]

It's a small thing, but consider investing in a couple of extra batteries. Cold weather reduces the capacity of batteries in general. Also, keep your extras in an inner pocket where they will stay warm until used. 

 

Consider taking along a gallon ZipLock to put your camera in when you return from the cold into a warm cabin or bus. Though to a lesser extent, the transition from cold to warm can cause a lot of condensation to form on the camera, lens and even the sensor much like it does when you go from A/C to steaming hell in the tropics.

 

Dave

[Heidi13]

On 2/14/2021 at 11:43 AM, ChiefLnc7 said:

Afternoon,

 

Wife and I are booked for a cruise on the Viking Venus in February 2022 entitled In Search of the Northern Lights.    So what I am wondering is if anyone has suggestions for:

 

1) Packing suggestions for the winter time conditions in Norway during our ports of call up the coast to above the Arctic Circle and for just walking around the overnight ports of call.

 

2) For the photographers of the Cruise Critic group, suggestions as to taking the best photos.  I have a remote shutter release for my three Nikons but looking for other suggestions as well as reference material that I might peruse or get off line to review.

 

3) Any other suggestions for clothing to pack for onboard the cruise ship.

 

Thanks and if anyone is also going on that cruise, let me know and maybe compare notes.

 

The Chief or the GOAT

 

Chief - suggest coming back over to the Viking Board, as I haven't seen you on the thread you started for a while. It has expanded to 4 pages, with some great discussion, ideas and photos from some who sailed that cruise in 2019.

[ChiefLnc7]

On 2/18/2021 at 9:22 AM, pierces said:

It's a small thing, but consider investing in a couple of extra batteries. Cold weather reduces the capacity of batteries in general. Also, keep your extras in an inner pocket where they will stay warm until used. 

 

Consider taking along a gallon ZipLock to put your camera in when you return from the cold into a warm cabin or bus. Though to a lesser extent, the transition from cold to warm can cause a lot of condensation to form on the camera, lens and even the sensor much like it does when you go from A/C to steaming hell in the tropics.

 

Dave

Just bought the smallest waterproof canoe/kayak bag for 9.99 and it is large enough for the D700 and the lens.  Also, a lot sturdier than a plastic zip lock bag.

 Hope it works, and I have a large ziplock as a back up.

 

[ski ww]

On 2/14/2021 at 2:43 PM, ChiefLnc7 said:

Afternoon,

 

Wife and I are booked for a cruise on the Viking Venus in February 2022 entitled In Search of the Northern Lights.    So what I am wondering is if anyone has suggestions for:

 

1) Packing suggestions for the winter time conditions in Norway during our ports of call up the coast to above the Arctic Circle and for just walking around the overnight ports of call.

 

2) For the photographers of the Cruise Critic group, suggestions as to taking the best photos.  I have a remote shutter release for my three Nikons but looking for other suggestions as well as reference material that I might peruse or get off line to review.

 

3) Any other suggestions for clothing to pack for onboard the cruise ship.

 

Thanks and if anyone is also going on that cruise, let me know and maybe compare notes.

 

The Chief or the GOAT

February in Norway is cold, it's winter, dress accordingly. There are lots of good suggestions for the photography part. Enjoy your cruise. 

[ski ww]

16 hours ago, zen ten ten said:

Is there even much daylight in February above the circle?

Here is the sun rise/sun set for Honningsvag Norway in Feb 2022. Don't the itinerary for this cruise.should give you some idea how much day light there is.

[Heidi13]

20 hours ago, zen ten ten said:

Is there even much daylight in February above the circle?

 

Since the winter solstice was about 21st December and by the end of February you are only 3 weeks from the Equinox, of-course you will have daylight.