Oslo

“A ship in harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships were built for.”– John A. Shedd
We have booked a cruise from Kirkenes to Bergen aboard the Havilla Capella. Probably visiting the Titanic exhibition wasn’t the wisest preparation. When we first saw the ship Tony couldn’t help wondering whether the 2 lifeboats each side would be sufficient for the 600 passengers and 70 crew (fortunately there are only 148 aboard so far).
Justin drove us to the airport. We had overkilled on booking the flights. Seems we are in business class. Oops. Let’s see if we can get into the lounge. No problem for an early lunch. Same in Oslo for an early ‘dinner’. Arrived into Kirkenes in the evening. Let’s see what this midnight sun is all about. (See photo near midnight.)
Kirkenes is around 400km inside the Arctic Circle. Over 70° North. Norway wraps around Sweden and Finland so we are only about 10km from the Russian border.
Haven’t been to Norway before. The Hotel Scandic is fine. Comfortable room and really nice breakfast. Had a quick look around town, then walked the 1.5km to the ship. She’s the first built of Havila’s 4 ships, in 2001. Electric and LNG main engines. Designed to be convertible to hydrogen power when it becomes available. Can cruise electrically (and silently) for 4 to 6 hours.
We check in and make ourselves at home in our cabin. Plenty of room, fridge, tea and coffee making, TV, lots of charging points, desk, sofa. Amply sized ‘window’. We can show vision from the bow camera on the TV so can see forwards and out to port. We look around the ship. We are on Deck 4. Deck 6 has the restaurant. Deck 9 has the promenade deck (for Tony’s morning walks), observation lounge (huge windows) and the bar. There are other bars, but why would you bother? Ship not that big. Looks stumpy to Tony. 103m long.
We have a welcome briefing at 12 noon from our excursions manager, extending through the scheduled departure time which Tony wanted to watch. We did find out some useful information. “We now have 148 passengers on board”. He started in Norwegian, English and German. Finally ascertained that all could understand English so saved a lot of time. One gem: “Divide the cost of the cruise by the number of hours. You will realise you have no time to sleep. You need to make the most of every hour.”
Next adventure is lunch. No buffet. You get the same table (and companions) each meal. We get the late time slots for all meals which turns out to be good. Our companions are 2 elderly Norwegian ladies (about our age) who speak no English. Quite relaxing really. No need to make polite conversation. One of them spends a lot of time on Deck 9 knitting. Tony has read (too much) about what to expect from the food. People have complained about the portion size and the waiters and the food itself. In fact the food is fresh and delicious and the wait staff are lovely. Small portions but you can order as many as you want. We start on 3. There is a whole-voyage selection and a regional one which changes 3 times throughout the trip. Now we are enjoying the Arctic menu section. You order what you need, so if you want toast with a breakfast egg you have to order it and order the butter and or jam etc. The idea is to minimise food waste. Hardly rocket surgery.
There are 32 stops on the 6 day cruise from Kirkenes to Bergen. Shortest are only 10 minutes, the longest is Trondheim for 3 hours. To obtain permission from the government to operate, Havila has to carry some goods. Also they offer ferry-like transport between any stops for about the same price as bus or rail. Local passengers have a lounge where they can sit or recline. Cabins and meals cost extra. You often see people with backpacks getting on or off at the tiniest stops.
Vardo is our first stop. Tony probably won’t explain the other 31 in such detail. Vardo has a population of around 2000. The length of the stops on the cruise seems very roughly proportional to the population; we are here for about an hour. Time for a quick look at the town and a walk around the 17th century fort. By comparison, some of the later stops are only 10 minutes Berlevåg (population 892) and a 15 minute stop at Øksfjord (population 496).
Delicious dinner followed by a comfortable night. Physically comfortable that is. Getting used to the midnight sun is akin to jetlag. Aside: wonder how the reindeer, sheep and cattle cope. For exercise we decide not to use the treadmill in the gym nor the promenade around deck 9 at the top of the ship. Instead we have a 1 and 3/4 hour stop in Hammerfest where the ship docks a 30 minute walk into town. Brisk walk. Not cold. Look at the town. Local shopping experience to buy some milk. There is coffee and tea in our cabin but only powdered ‘creamer’ stuff.
Two short stops follow, Øksfjord and Skjervøy, then tonight we visit Tromsø.Leer más