Arctic Explorer – Northern Lights

My friend and I travelled with Hurtigruten from Tromso to Kirkenes and reverse. This company does not appear on your drop down list, so have just chosen any as your site doesn’t let you progress if you don’t make a selection.

The ferry boat Richard With was much nicer than I was expecting, with good decor and carpeting. The time on board was very boring with nothing to do and the places it visited had nothing much to offer either, but as the purpose of our visit was to see the Northern Lights we wern’t too concerned about this.

It was rather noisy when mooring at each port, some of which were in the middle of the night, which I suppose was to be expected as it is a working boat. The cabin was adequate, apart from the shower cubicle which was very small.

We were put on the 8:15pm sitting for our evening meal, which did not suit my friend. She asked the restaurant manager if we could swap to the earlier sitting and he was very curt with her and wouldn’t even consider her request. There was no choice of menu – if you didn’t like what was on offer then it was tough luck. The meals were predominantly fish, which did not suit some of the guests.

The staff were not friendly at all. The staff on reception did not speak to the customers – chatting and laughing amongst themselves rather than acknowledging our presence.

Overall, I thought the trip was very poor value for money and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.