Blogs from Honningsvag, Northern Norway, Norway, Europe

Happy Father's Day, to all the Fathers reading about our adventure. We arrived in Honningsvag Norway, which is also known as North Cape. This sits on the north part of Norway, between the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. There had originally been one more port on our cruise even further north, but it was cancelled some time ago for "environmental reasons". It's been light at night lately, but tonight we will try to actually get a photo of the sun at midnight from this northern most location. The excursion we have booked today is a dinner on shore, so we had most of the day to do whatever we wanted on the ship. Janet got to spend some time with a few of her knitting friends. We also worked on the BLOG from yesterday. We ... read more

Day 6 of our cruise of the Arctic Circle with MS Kong Harald, and we sailed through Oksfjord and Hammerfest during the night. After breakfast, there's a Point of Interest talk on Deck 7, as we sail through Mageroysundet, about the Sami people and reindeers. It was really interesting but don't ask me to quote any fun facts, unfortunately I don't retain information unless I write it down. We arrrive in Honningsvag at 11.15am and have another shore excursion booked - The North Cape. This is one of the northernmost points on the European continent and during our 45minutes bus trip we marvelled at the spectacular sub-Arctic landscape. The latitude is North 71.10.21 degrees and the plateau itself soars 307 metres, almost vertically, above the Arctic Ocean. The North Cape is the point where the Norwegian ... read more

Cruise day 7 North Cape exploring, giant crabs and reindeer hearts July 21st 2019 We ventured ashore again today as we had arrived in Honnigsvag. There had been a few Fred Olsen tours but none we really fancied. Claire had looked on Tripadvisor and found a company called Blue Puffin which sounded like something more our style....and they had good reviews. After breakfast we got off the ship and had a wander until our guide turned up. It turned out there were only four of us and we were in a minibus which was great and so much better than a big coach. This meant we could stop when we want to get photos and go to more places as well, giving it more of a personal touch. We got lots of information on life here ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Voilà je suis au bout de la route. Le point le plus au Nord de l’Europe accessible par voie terrestre. Passé le 71eme parallèle. Petit retour sur Alta, ville quasiment angoissante, avec son absence de vie.Les autobus arrivent, déversent les touristes dans les hôtels, ceux-ci mangent à l’hôtel (je suppose compris dans le forfait), et personnes ne traînent dans les 3 rues de la ville. Ce qui fait que la soirée a été tristouille, malgré une température très agréable. Le blog, un match, à la télé, un peu de lecture, et dodo à 10h30. Pas besoin d'éteindre la lumière, ici on ne l’allume pas. Le problème c’est que vers 11h est arrivé un car de chinois, je l’ai compris ce matin. Ma chambre étant proche de l’ascenseur, jusqu’à plus d’une heure, j’ai eu ... read more

Following all day at sea yesterday and cruising overnight we docked in Honningsvag at 8:00am and by 9:00am we were cleared to leave the ship. No - we haven't left the rain behind in Russia, as today was very overcast and misty with intermittent showers. The high for the day was 9C and this is Summer. Honningsgvag is located on the large island of Mageroya in the extreme northern reaches of Norway and is a small, tight-knit fishing community with colourful hillside homes overlooking the harbour and Barents Sea After the restrictions of not being able to leave the ship in any of the Russian ports unless we were on a organised tour, and even those with a Russian visa were unable to just wander about and also had to have proof of a tour organised ... read more