I must admit that I married well, to someone nearly as offbeat as I am and who indulges my desire to travel and see the moon shine on the other side of the world. Only this trip, we're thinking more about the sun than the moon.
In February 2015, we flew to Oslo, Norway, took a scenic train ride to Bergen, boarded one of the ships in the coastal ferry/mailboat fleet, and sailed over the Arctic Circle to Tromso, where we got off and flew back to Oslo. spending only four nights on board the ship. There were some people who were taking the full 12 days and 11 nights to sail from Bergen to Kirkenes and back to Bergen. The husband and I wondered how they could do it; wouldn't they get bored? Here we are, approaching four years later, and we're quite looking forward to the full sail. When I saw that there were discounts to mark the 125th anniversary of the coastal fleet, well, it seemed like time for another adventure.
Did I mention "offbeat" above? After doing some research, we decided that we wanted to take one particular ship. In 2015, we sailed on the MS Midnatsol (I'm pretty sure that means Midnight Sun). If you read to the bottom of the linked web page, you'll see that she can carry up to 900 passengers, though she was far from full when we sailed. We decided that for just for the heck of it we would this time sail on the MS Lofoten, the oldest and smallest ship in the fleet. She can take up to 400 passengers. As a better measure of the size, the woman with whom I spoke to make reservations told me that MS Lofoten was so small you could fish from the deck. (Guess who now wants to fish from the deck.)
One other distinguishing mark about the MS Lofoten is that you will not see it listed on any of the websites through which you can book lower-priced, unsold cabins on relatively short notice. All the other ships in the fleet will be listed, so why not the MS Lofoten? It has no stabilizers. We will be sailing in the North Atlantic in December and January on a ship with no stabilizers. I will admit I have no idea just how much rougher that will make things. I am planning ahead and have purchased and packed enough seasickness preventative for the whole trip plus the wrist bands plus ginger gum and candy. I'm so well prepared that I may have no problems at all and will have wasted some cash. But what do other people's mothers say? Better to have it and not need it ...
Besides taking a particular ship, we decided to make the trip as low-cost as possible, meaning that we are sailing in one of the cheapest cabins on the ship. We did get a cabin at the center of the ship which will be a bit more stable. It's not a large cabin. No porthole, but then as the husband and I discussed, we did not spend much time in our cabin last time. Bunk beds, but then our cabin last time had two separate twin beds, one of which became a couch during the day. Just a sink, no bathroom, but then the toilets are just right across the hall from our cabin. The showers are a bit further along. This was the thing that the reservation agent had trouble with. She kept trying to book us into a more expensive cabin, with en-suite facilities. She had trouble with the idea that this was an adventure and we really did want the cheapest cabin.
This will be our fifth trip north in winter, and on which we hope to see the aurora or Northern Lights. We've been to Iceland three times and Norway once before. I fully expect that we will see them on this trip, at least once and likely more often. What I am even more excited about, though, is that for about six days we will be north of the Arctic Circle, and in the polar night. Some people go north to see the Midnight Sun; I've never had the desire to do so. The polar night on the other hand, I really want to see.
As for our thought four years ago that the people going the whole way got bored, perhaps they did. Perhaps we will, though right now we're actually quite looking forward to some down time. Walking the deck for exercise, reading while watching the coast go by, continuing the cribbage contest we began on our honeymoon and continue whenever we're on vacation. At our stop in Trondheim, we hope to have coffee with some of the husband's Norwegian cousins. And, travel gods willing, come back refreshed and ready to start the new year.
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