14 day Northern Lights cruise?

[phabric]

I have taken the Norwegian Fjords (7 day cruise) before.

 

I just booked 14 day Northern Lights cruise on the Caribbean Princess, Sept 2024 with 5 Norway ports and 7 sea days.

 

New Norway ports for us - 

Trondheim

Tromso

Alta

Lofoten

Alensund

 

Has anybody taken this cruise?

 

Any tips on excursions or options on this cruise?

 

 

[beg3yrs]

That cruise was the first of a B2B2B we just finished last month.

 

Alta was a two night port as it's the northernmost and best for Northern Light viewing. There's an overnight excursion where you are glamping (glamorous camping) in your own luxury tent/hut thingamabob. It's pricey and was immediately sold out. If it's available and you can afford it jump on it. If the overnight isn't your thing, we did take a night excursion into a rock quarry for lights viewing. It was great. There were several outings at different times, we took the earlier one and actually had the best light show of all the various times.

 

We didn't take many excursions as we'd been to all the ports except for Alta.

 

Viewing tips: If the particles from the sun aren't very strong, you can still see the lights, they're just fainter. Mostly for us they were very faint and grayish to the naked eye and only at times did we get stronger flashes of green. But wait! The human eye is the least sensitive to green which was the predominant color. Turns out that modern digital cameras see green much better than we do and folks were getting amazing photos when the eye couldn't see them. So, be sure and bring a digital camera or phone with a camera. A note here is the older iPhones (below 8 I believe, we had a 6) aren't sensitive enough.

[phabric]

Thanks for the information 

[suzyed]

4 hours ago, phabric said:

I have taken the Norwegian Fjords (7 day cruise) before.

 

I just booked 14 day Northern Lights cruise on the Caribbean Princess, Sept 2024 with 5 Norway ports and 7 sea days.

 

New Norway ports for us - 

Trondheim

Tromso

Alta

Lofoten

Alensund

 

Has anybody taken this cruise?

 

Any tips on excursions or options on this cruise?

 

 

Yes, we did a similar one!  Alta was where we saw the Northern Lights!

Edited December 14, 2022 by suzyed

[phabric]

Love the picture of you with the lights behind you.  Was this Princess photo?.

 

Do they announce when they expect to see the lights?

 

I did the Norwegian Fjords in late May 2022.  We wore light spring jackets.  Sea days, it was freezing cold worst than our Canadian winter weather.

 

My 14 day Northern Lights cruise is Sept 24-Oct 8, 2024.  These ports are farther north than the Norwegian Fjords cruise.

 

It looks like your are are wearing heavy winter jackets.  Should we bring heavy jackets?

 

Is one side of the ship better than the other?

 

I have looked at the Oct 2023 cruise's excursions to give me an idea of what to expect.  They do not list any excursion for Alta yet..

[beg3yrs]

4 minutes ago, phabric said:

Love the picture of you with the lights behind you.  Was this Princess photo?.

 

Do they announce when they expect to see the lights?

 

I did the Norwegian Fjords in late May 2022.  We wore light spring jackets.  Sea days, it was freezing cold worst than our Canadian winter weather.

 

My 14 day Northern Lights cruise is Sept 24-Oct 8, 2024.  These ports are farther north than the Norwegian Fjords cruise.

 

It looks like your are are wearing heavy winter jackets.  Should we bring heavy jackets?

 

Is one side of the ship better than the other?

 

I have looked at the Oct 2023 cruise's excursions to give me an idea of what to expect.  They do not list any excursion for Alta yet..

For us yes, heavy jackets or at least layers. It's Fall and above the Arctic Circle and the sun has been down for a while. Yes, it's cold. Bring gloves and a warm head covering too.

 

One side of the ship better than the other is really unpredictable. That said, we were on the port side and for several nights we had good viewing from the balcony.

 

Prediction of the lights is like forecasting lightning strikes. You know they'll happen but just not exactly where. That said, here's a good site for getting an idea of the likelihood you'll get a good show: https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast

 

Even though it's based in Alaska, they show the forecast for Europe as well. I felt it was a darn good website.

 

While at sea, if the lights were visible, an announcement from the bridge was made into the public areas. Typically this was in the wee hours of the morning (1 to 3 AM) and if you were sleeping and your cabin door wasn't close to a hallway speaker, you'd miss it. We just slept with our drapes open.

[phabric]

Thanks for the helpful information.  I have port side cabin.  My cabin mate is always cold so will advise her about her jacket.

[phabric]

On 12/13/2022 at 7:48 PM, beg3yrs said:

That cruise was the first of a B2B2B we just finished last month.

 

 we did take a night excursion into a rock quarry for lights viewing. It was great. There were several outings at different times, we took the earlier one and actually had the best light show of all the various times.

 

Thanks, for the information.  We will bring our winter jackets, hats,gloves.

 

Princess has not released Sept 24, 2024 excursions yet.  I have looked at excursions offered for Oct 4, 2023 to give an idea of what they offer..

 

We will visiting -

Trondheim

Tromso

Alta - overnight

Lofoten

Alesund

 

I don't think that camping is my friend's thing as she gets cold even in Florida.

 

I don't see any excursion in Alta for rock quarry?

 

Since you have been to the other ports, can you make suggestions for the other ports?

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by phabric

[CeCe_]

On 12/13/2022 at 7:53 PM, suzyed said:

Yes, we did a similar one!  Alta was where we saw the Northern Lights!

 

Nice picture, thanks for sharing!  Did you have to take excursion to see the lights?  If so, was it the excursion through Princess?   Were you able to see the lights on the ship or has to be on land?  Sorry so many questions!

[kaisatsu]

12 hours ago, CeCe_ said:

Did you have to take excursion to see the lights?  If so, was it the excursion through Princess?   Were you able to see the lights on the ship or has to be on land?  Sorry so many questions!

Your ability to see the lights will vary depending on conditions. If the ship is in an area that is overcast, you would need to move somewhere without clouds, since the aurora would be above them and thus out of sight.

 

If the sky is clear, it depends on the intensity. A strong aurora can easily be seen even when there is surrounding light, but a very faint display can be masked by light pollution. In those cases, you will be better off finding a reasonably dark area to watch from.

 

There are some local lights-chasing tours that use experience and real-time weather monitoring to find small clearings on otherwise cloudy nights.

 

And as mentioned before, a digital camera with a longer exposure will be able to see the lights when you can’t. A low intensity display will often look white in person, so when it’s faint, we typically use the digital camera to verify if what we’re seeing is actually the aurora or some other light source.

[bjkTX]

I have been looking at that cruise - it's on the top of my interest list since it's an area we haven't been to.  But I can't make myself agree to travel to Southampton (through Heathrow) again after doing it for a British Isles cruise last October.  Heathrow was a disaster and the lines went on forever and then emptied into other lines that went forever.  But it sure looks like a fantastic cruise!!!

[mnocket]

15 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

And as mentioned before, a digital camera with a longer exposure will be able to see the lights when you can’t. A low intensity display will often look white in person, so when it’s faint, we typically use the digital camera to verify if what we’re seeing is actually the aurora or some other light source.

This is what I'm afraid of.  "Seeing" the lights to me means seeing the spectacular display it is routinely shown to be.  Seeing some faint white aberration that may or may not be the aurora would be a huge letdown as would having to use my camera to actually '"see" the lights.  Also, is Sept a good time to see the lights?  My impression has been that this is actually a poor time to try to see the lights.  I may well be wrong.  Can someone chime in on this?  Thanks.  

[gottagocit]

We looked at this voyage and almost booked it before deciding to see some of this area on a land based trip on our own. Will work in a few days in Sweden and Finland while ‘in the area’.  Tromso is a short flight from either Stockholm and Helsinki and we are thinking spending several days there will improve the odds see the Aurora. 
Yes by September theres a few hours of darkness over night and allows for viewing them when cloud cover isn’t an issue. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by gottagocit

[kaisatsu]

In Alta, at the beginning of September, darkness is from 21:00-3:00, and that stretches to 19:00-6:00 by the end of the month. The darkness hours are similar in Tromsø with a slightly later dusk early in the month.

 

The recommended months for seeing the Northern Lights in Norway is September to March, and many people recommend Sept/Oct due to the milder temperatures. March is sometimes said to have statistically better chances of clear skies, but I feel the difference is negligible, and it's a matter of chance no matter what.

 

Personally, if the primary aim of a trip is to see the aurora, I would always recommend a land-based trip over a cruise, since it gives you more opportunities and more flexibility. The more days you can spend in the area around Tromsø and Alta, the more chances you have of clear weather and higher activity. And on a land-based trip, you have the flexibility to book lights chasing tours on any/several nights. Tromsø is a good base for a multi-day trip, since there are lots of activities available to fill the days (especially if you're willing to brave the snowy winter months in Jan-Mar), and the infrastructure for lights-chasing is well-established (there are several microclimates in the area that tend to have clear skies even when the city itself is overcast).

[suzyed]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:34 AM, phabric said:

Love the picture of you with the lights behind you.  Was this Princess photo?.

 

Do they announce when they expect to see the lights?

 

I did the Norwegian Fjords in late May 2022.  We wore light spring jackets.  Sea days, it was freezing cold worst than our Canadian winter weather.

 

My 14 day Northern Lights cruise is Sept 24-Oct 8, 2024.  These ports are farther north than the Norwegian Fjords cruise.

 

It looks like your are are wearing heavy winter jackets.  Should we bring heavy jackets?

 

Is one side of the ship better than the other?

 

I have looked at the Oct 2023 cruise's excursions to give me an idea of what to expect.  They do not list any excursion for Alta yet..

It was COLD!! We were 200+ miles above the Arctic circle!  We were on the Sapphire Princess and took a tour way far away from the ship while docked in Alta.  Our sailing was called "In search of the Northern Lights"!  The astrophysicist on board predicted the exact day after all his calculations of the conditions.  It was amazing!

Edited January 11, 2023 by suzyed

[phabric]

Thanks

[Ken the cruiser]

We had this Northern Lights cruise booked for Oct 2020, but it of course was cancelled because of the pandemic. We were going to book it again, but then we went on a B2B this past August from NJ to Greenland and Iceland and then back to Boston. On the way back between Iceland and Greenland on Aug 25 around 11 pm, we saw the Lights for about 15 minutes from our aft-facing cabin and they were awesome! BTW this picture was taken with my iPhone SE, which doesn’t have a means to keep the lens open for any extended period of time to capture more light to make the Lights seem brighter than they are. So what you see is what we saw.
 

If you’ve never seen the Lights before, they are definitely worth the hunt! 😁

 

 

[CeCe_]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:06 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We had this Northern Lights cruise booked for Oct 2020, but it of course was cancelled because of the pandemic. We were going to book it again, but then we went on a B2B this past August from NJ to Greenland and Iceland and then back to Boston. On the way back between Iceland and Greenland on Aug 25 around 11 pm, we saw the Lights for about 15 minutes from our aft-facing cabin and they were awesome! BTW this picture was taken with my iPhone SE, which doesn’t have a means to keep the lens open for any extended period of time to capture more light to make the Lights seem brighter than they are. So what you see is what we saw.
 

If you’ve never seen the Lights before, they are definitely worth the hunt! 😁

 

 

 

Think Princess must have taking the "Greenland and Iceland" off the agenda.  We wish to sail that itinerary.

[milolii]

@CeCe_NCL has a few Iceland/Greenland.  Here is one 

https://www.ncl.com/cruises/10-day-iceland-and-greenland-round-trip-reykjavik-STAR10REYDJUAKUISANANPAANUKREY?destinations=4294938434&numberOfGuests=4294953449&sortBy=featured&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=STAR10REYDJUAKUISANANPAANUKREY

 

OP,  lots of great  information here. Thank for the thread.   For excursions, another  thing I do is look at the roll calls for the cruises from the previous year.  This will often give you options. 

[CeCe_]

7 minutes ago, milolii said:

OP,  lots of great  information here. Thank for the thread.   For excursions, another  thing I do is look at the roll calls for the cruises from the previous year.  This will often give you options. 

Thank you!  We will look into it!   💗

Edited January 13, 2023 by CeCe_

[LadyL1]

On 1/8/2023 at 3:58 PM, bjkTX said:

I have been looking at that cruise - it's on the top of my interest list since it's an area we haven't been to.  But I can't make myself agree to travel to Southampton (through Heathrow) again after doing it for a British Isles cruise last October.  Heathrow was a disaster and the lines went on forever and then emptied into other lines that went forever.  But it sure looks like a fantastic cruise!!!

For us from the UK, lines are the same for entering USA! Have you thought of taking transatlantic crossing from NY to Southampton and return to tie in with a Northern Lights cruise? Can highly recommend if you have time.

[Ken the cruiser]

58 minutes ago, CeCe_ said:

 

Think Princess must have taking the "Greenland and Iceland" off the agenda.  We wish to sail that itinerary.

Here’s one the Island Princess does in 2024.

 

 

https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=2413

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[bjkTX]

49 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

For us from the UK, lines are the same for entering USA! Have you thought of taking transatlantic crossing from NY to Southampton and return to tie in with a Northern Lights cruise? Can highly recommend if you have time.

I hear you.  When we got back the lines in Houston were almost as bad - 20 booths available but only 2 with operators...  I have been looking at the TA - we'll see 🙂  Thanks!

[bjkTX]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s one the Island Princess does in 2024.

 
https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=2413

 

That looks fantastic!!!!

[Ken the cruiser]

34 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

That looks fantastic!!!!

I have to admit, the Island goes on some pretty cool 3-4 week itineraries. We’re hoping they go back to Longyearbyen in 2025 as we’re not able to go on the one this year and next year they go in June, which is not good for us.  😁