I had a very delayed flight to Oslo, and was not happy to be sitting next to a lady who coughed most of the flight. On arrival in Oslo, an hour and a quarter late, had a bad time in Passport control where they blamed Brexit for keeping us in a queue for three quarters of an hour! Thankfully my expensive taxi was waiting for me and I got to my hotel in reasonably good time.
Check in at the Clarion Hub Hotel was unimpressive. No one to help me with my luggage, a nightmare trying to find my room in this huge hotel, tiny room which to my mind was badly designed and very difficult to live in. No hangers, no shelves, nowhere to work on my computer. Safe at ankle level [great for an 80 year old!]. Decided to dine inhouse but trying to find the restaurant on the 13th floor was a challenge! The whole place is a nightmare to stay in. You have to be very very IT literate to understand anything! Glad to have only two nights at the hotel. As for breakfast, I was speechless! Absolutely awful to try and get down to the second floor [the lifts are digitalised and impossible to understand!]. Eventually found this huge breakfast room - you cannot sit until you have picked up your food and drink. No trays, so you can only carry one drink and one food, and then almost impossible to find somewhere to sit. So I did’t stay long there! Awful!
However, Sunday was a gorgeous day in Oslo so I spent 2-3 hours walking around the capital – did about 5 miles, and saw all the main sites in glorious weather. Even went into the Cathedral during a service which was very impressive. Had a quiet afternoon in my tiny room sorting emails, photos and packing. Thankfully by Monday my hotel was half empty. I was told the chaos on Sunday was that the hotel was full – and they have 810 rooms – and one breakfast room – or should I say breakfast floor!!!!
After a quiet morning in my room, I had to take a local taxi to the airport [my booked taxi let me down]. As it was a holiday the taxi driver kindly trebled the price of taxi – so probably cost around £200! A bit of a nightmare at the airport, but eventually took off on time. Quite a good flight with Flyr but no booze on board!!! Arrived in Longyearbyen, in Svalbard, around 7.30pm local time. Hurtigruten were very inefficient for their arrangements on arrival, but somehow or other we all got to our hotels for the night. I had quite a nice room in the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel – with a good view.
On Tuesday morning I worked in my room until 11am and then had to put luggage in the luggage room, and sit around until lunchtime. After a quick lunch, we were due to set off on the “Spitsbergen Experience” which was a complete farce! We were told to be ready by 2pm, but no buses turned up for about 40 minutes as we stood around in the freezing cold. Then bus1 turned up, and then eventually bus2, but there was a long wait for bus3 [mine]!. We knew not what they were going to do with us – we were taken to a strange place somewhere 20 minutes outside Longyearbyen to listen to a film about polar bears! {why not do it in the hotel?!], then it was suggested we look at some rather sad huskies nearby. Nothing very interesting. Everytime we got somewhere we had to take our hand luggage with us, as one bus had broken down and therefore two buses were doing the job of the third bus! We were then taken to the Longyearbyen museum [some had already been in the morning at great expense]. I did not want to walk around with my hand luggage so sat at the entrance for 30 minutes. Then eventually we were taken to the ship to embark. My luggage had not been taken to my room as it had a bottle in it and they wanted to store it for me. I told them they were welcome but it was empty [it had been a very small bottle of whisky which I had enjoyed in Oslo and Longyearbyen.] They eventually allowed me my luggage in my cabin! So I unpacked before going down to an early-ish dinner. First there was the safety drill and then we had to go to the Hotel Manager’s talk for an hour, and finally we had to go and pick up a red Helly Hansen jacket. After that back to my cabin to enjoy a smuggled-in miniature of whisky!!!
Wednesday morning was spent wandering around the ship’s decks as we continued our cruise to Hornsund Inlet where we stopped for a while to admire 5 glaziers. Saw quite a few birds but nothing more interesting. In the afternoon we were all taken ashore for an hour, but there was nothing of importance to see so after a walk around I took the zodiac back to the ship. A quiet dinner, and then ‘meet the Captain’ in the Lounge – and all the team, the plan for the next day. Nothing very interesting emerged. Back to my room for another miniature!
On Thursday it was warm and raining but in the morning they took us ashore to Bamsebu – did a walk around but there was nothing to see so returned an hour later. I have to say getting dressed up for these excursions is quite an activity in itself! Three jackets, hat, scarf, gloves, plus life jacket, not to mention big heavy boots, as well as camera and binoculars. I hope there is something to see before long, otherwise it doesn’t feel worth the effort! In the afternoon we cruised down to Recherchefjord and then went out on zodiacs for 40 minutes to see the glazier, but not much else!
At long last we cruised North overnight and arrived in Poolepynten. Spent the morning on Prins Karls Forland Island watching walruses, and in the late afternoon went on a zodiac cruise around St Jonsfjorden for 40 minutes watching bearded seals and seeing the huge glaciers there. It was absolutely freezing cold.
That evening it looks like we are heading South but somehow overnight they went around an island and we cruised up north to Ny Alesund. Went on a morning walk of the little mining/scientific town. From there we cruised down Kongsfjord to find at least three glaciers! Went on a rather poor zodiac cruise around icebergs to the biggest glacier.
On Saturday night we cruised to the north of Spitzbergen, arriving in Raudfjorden, but the Captain decided it was too icy, so after an hour or so in the fjord we turned around and cruised out again. As we were cruising, we spotted a polar bear so the expedition team decided to get the zodiacs out and take us over to have a closer look at the bear. After that we cruised to Moffen Island to take a look from a distance – a lot of walruses there – but no one is allowed to go near the island between May and August! It was the furthest north I have ever been and I have a certificate to prove it! [80Nx14.48E]
That evening we set off south again, arriving at Smeerenburgfjord at 7am. It is a very beautiful fjord with many glaciers. I eventually went ashore at 10am but there wasn’t much to see except for a few walruses, and some good views of the fjord. In the afternoon we cruised to Magdalenafjord and en route caught some very distant views of four polar bears – a male as well as a female and two large cubs. Magdalena is a really beautiful fjord with many mountain ranges and glaciers. I went ashore for a short wander around but there was not that much to see there.
On the final day we cruised along all morning heading for Yoldiabukta, and once there very late in the day, I went on a zodiac cruise of the huge “iceberg field” – all rather beautiful, if very cold! After a quiet dinner I had a whisky with two English ladies – the Captain was meant to come to the bar, but needless to say he didn’t. You rarely hear him and saw him once! Big fuss on board as 10% have Covid – us ladies were convinced it is mostly amongst the crew as they have been falling like flies these last few days.
The next morning at 7am, after an early breakfast, I took a tender into Longyearbyen, and eventually got on quite a good Neos Flight to Oslo with a reasonable meal including two glasses of wine. Once in Oslo – about an hour late – I checked into the Grand Hotel. Nipped out to buy some wine and snacks and spent the evening quietly in my room. In the morning did a walk around some of the places I had missed last time and saw an Ambassador [of Kosovo] arriving at the Royal Palace. Spent the rest of the day catching up with myself in readiness for a long day tomorrow.
I left the hotel at 7.45am and checked into the flight soon after arrival. Had a good journey back to London and was glad to get home by 3.30pm. Not the best of cruises!
