ADVENTURE CRUISING
A DINING DELIGHT
The cuisine on board was extremely good. Breakfast is open sitting and consisted of a vast selection of traditional Scandinavian cheeses, sliced hams, cereals and yoghurts, with cooked local dishes such as mushroom and bacon served on a fried egg. Lunch again is open sitting, with a
buffet table of a variety of hot and cold dishes Scandinavian style. Dinner is a three-course set meal (no choice of menu) served at an allocated table. The meal changes every day and it was of the highest standard. Kystein Valle has been a chef on the Hurtigruten for 38 years and has a love of Norwegian cooking. He explained: “We try to source all our food locally. Menu items such as reindeer, cod roe, king crab, salmon and traditional Scandinavian breads and cloudberries are good exam- ples of this.” The dining room is large and spacious with full, double-length windows along three sides that not only allow the evening light to flow in but also give you exemplary views of the snow-capped mountains as you sail along. You are allocated set places for the evening meal but, as the trip continued, many people switched tables on various nights to be with people they had met. The Maitre D’ was highly obliging and, as a long as notice was given before the start of the meal, there was no trouble whatsoever. Alternative dining is limited to a small café, however, and drinks can be a bit pricey.
their way through channels with hundreds of islands of all shapes and sizes. At times, it feels as if you can almost literally stretch out and touch the walls of the cliffs, as well as those of the pitched rich red, mustard yellow and brown houses so beloved by the Scandinavians. This is not a cruise with vast open water
stretching to the horizon for hours at a time. In fact, this is not a cruise about getting to a destination at all but the cruise itself. At any given time there are 11 vessels on this route and clever timing means the ports visited by day going north are arrived at by night going south, and vice versa. there are options of flying to either kirkenes in the north or bergen in the south to start your journey but, to many people, the there-and-back of the full 12-day round-trip is the ultimate in cruising. I found myself on the Nordlys (“Northern lights”), a comfortable, modern vessel on which all the crew spoke
excellent English, although if you actually want to see the Aurora Borealis you must visit in the latter or early stages of the year. If, like me, you go during mid-summer,
you are more than amply rewarded by the fantastic colours and the phenomenon of the Midnight Sun. It did not seem at all odd for the entire ship to be up at 1 o’clock in the morning as the captain took the ship to visit some spectacular rock formations. I counted some seven nationalities chatting and laughing and gladly warming ourselves with the hot soup provided.
ou also soon see why Hurtigruten has picked up the ‘most beautiful cruise’ label. When you travel down the 10 miles of fjord leading to the World Heritage site and village of Geiranger, cliffs thousands of feet high glower over you and dwarf any ship beneath them while impossibly scenic waterfalls cascade down their sheer rock faces. And all against a backdrop of pure blue
Y
sky and white clouds, with Sea eagles drifting nonchalantly past to keep you company. The stern of the ship is cleverly designed to enable passengers to appreciate the passing scenery, with three levels of sightseeing deck. The highest deck is a large open area that will comfortably accommodate you and the other passengers in the chairs and loungers provided should you wish to sit and watch the world go by, and catch a few rays at the same time. If, however, it’s a bit breezy or there’s a drop of rain in the air,
20 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2010
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