For the last 20 plus years I have traveled the world. Over the millennium I left the world of cruising the Caribbean behind and took my first overseas trip to Europe. Well let me tell you -- it was love at first site and I was hooked. The more I traveled the more I wanted to explore the 4 corners of the globe. Like most people who dream of traveling, I had my bucket list as well as places that didn't interest me at all. Norway fell into the later. In fact, none of the Scandinavian countries appealed to me.
That was until... Despite my lack of personal interest, Norway was chosen as one of the 15 countries represented in The Blog Master: Exploring Europe. Then to my surprise, while doing research for the game, I kept finding myself saying "I want to do that, and that and that...". So before you knew it I was researching trips to Norway. I wanted a winter itinerary that would cover many of the sites and activities highlighted in the game. Afterall doesn't everyone want to vacation in the Arctic during winter? In the end, because of my love of cruising and the convenience of being able to unpack once I chose Havila Voyages. They offer a round-trip itinerary that travels between Bergen and Kirkenes and had excursions for several of the things I wanted to do. So Norway it was for our next vacation.
Havila Voyages met our needs, but is a 12 day cruise right for you? We sailed on one of their new ships (maiden voyages was in August of 2023), the Pollux. They pride themselves on being eco friendly and reducing waste. During our 12 day venture we found many positives but also a few things we felt could be improved upon. In the event you find yourself dreaming of visiting Norway here is our review of using Havila as you mode of transportation.
Lets begin with: Booking our Trip... Everything is done via their website. Booking the trip itself and paying the down payment was fairly easy. You can add excursions along the way. Upon booking each excursion a deposit is required. Making that payment was a little confusing. There was no way to make partial payments (other than those deposits) or split the final payment via 2 different payment methods. For example, if traveling with a friend, one of you will have to pay the entire bill and then collect your friend's portion from them. Other than a receipt for what was booked and paid for prior to sailing you don't receive any other paperwork. Even on board it is up to you to know what excursions you booked and show up at the designated time.
Moving on: The Ship Itself... Overall both Brad and I agreed that the ship is very nice. Although rather simple with regards to amenities (as opposed to modern cruising vessels), it has 2 fitness rooms, self-service laundry area, a jacuzzi, and a men's & women's sauna. There is plenty of seating areas with convenient electrical outlets and large windows to enjoy the Norwegian coastline. In addition to a formal dining room with assigned seating there is a snack bar from which you can order small meals throughout the day. Perhaps one of the best amenities, to us personally, was unlimited internet / Wi-Fi usage on board. Unlike most major cruise lines there was no extra fees for the internet and as an added bonus it was actually decent most days regardless of our location along the coast.
In an effort to make the Pollux as efficient as possible it has some of the largest battery banks found on a vessel of its size. This allows the ship to cruise for up to four hours at a time while producing zero emissions. When not operating on battery power the ship utilizes a liquid natural gas; reducing CO2 emissions by over 35%. In Norway environmental efficiency is a major concern and Havila has rose to the challenge.
Personally, when cruising I prefer an inside cabin. I like it dark when I sleep and tend to take the occasional afternoon nap while on vacation. That said, we question the configurations of their interior cabins. There are 2 options to choose from. A "standard interior" cabin with one lower and one upper berth for sleeping or an "interior accessible" cabin with two lower berths and 2 upper berths. At 70 and 50 years old, neither of us were thrilled with having to use the upper berth! This left us with booking the later. Upon arrival, we quickly realized the "accessible" rooms were designed for the guests with mobility issues. In practicality this trip would be difficult for someone with mobility issue; nevertheless, we felt bad occupying this room. Side note: we did have one actual issue with the room. The shower, for obvious reasons, had no raised edges to contain the water. Although there were several large drains in the bathroom floor we found that if the boat leaned even slightly to the starboard side the drains did not stop the water from flowing all over the bathroom floors or out of the bathroom and across our cabin floor. Other than that the room was spacious and comfortable.
Dining and Service... As a whole the food was very good. However, this is the one area we felt could be improved upon. Below are our list the positives and negatives:
Set Dining Hours. While this seems like a fairly normal way to operate the dining room it was not very user friendly to many passengers. For example, since we had missed an unannounced meeting (in the hotel the night before our departure (long story)) we were basically assigned to the last time slot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In our case not really an issue as we tend to sleep in. However, when arriving for dinner and hearing the table next to you be told "you may want to place your order right away as the kitchen is preparing to close" is a problem! As long as you have passengers seated during their assigned meal time the kitchen should not be closing! Second, on several occasions we ordered an item only to be told they had run out, would we like to choose something else to eat. Again, because you are in the last seating time you should not have to order a less desirable meal.
No assigned staff. During every meal we had anywhere from 3-5 different people doing various aspects of our meal service. At the beginning of the meal one staff member took your order and enters it into their automated ordering system. Next you have different staff members deliver each course of the meal, usually all at the same time. Note since they are not the one who took your order, in most cases, they have no idea which person ordered which items. Since no one person was actually assigned to your table (after you place your order) you had to flag someone down to get refills, more butter, etc. With that said, the staff is extremely friendly and quick to satisfy your needs once you had their attention!
Inconsistency or disproportionate pricing of on board items. The first thing that makes this cruise different from most cruises is that you have a standard meal package included in the trip. However, there is also an option to add a "Gold Package" which includes extra items that appear on the regular menu and at the snack bar. There is also a specialty dining area with yet a third set of prices. It becomes very convoluted and sometimes difficult to know if you are ordering the right thing from the right place and if it is in your plan. For example: I decide to grab lunch at the snack bar one afternoon. Looking over the menu I spot a Margarita Pizza. It had a small cup icon next to it; signifying it was included in the standard plan. So, I decided to order the peperoni pizza just below it on the menu. As the staff member began to enter my order into the register he informed me that the peperoni pizza was only available with the gold plan. Since I had the standard plan I would have to pay for it. So... I could order a Margarita Pizza for free but to add 7-8 slices of peperoni it would cost me $22.00? Needless to say, I changed my mind and got the Margarita Pizza! Overall the food was very good but I found the chooses to be somewhat limited. My take away is to be very careful when ordering to avoid any billing surprises.
Not assigning drinks to the right passenger. Brad had purchased a drink package (50 soft drinks, coffee and such) and Havila allows sharing of the package between guests in the same cabin. Each guest is given a room card that you use to get on and off the ship, unlock your cabin and present for meals. This card is coded to each person individually. Rather than a staff member scanning your card, they typically would just type in your cabin number. The only problem with this was that my name was first on the cabin assignment so drinks were consistently assign to me (no drink package). It was an easy fix but it involved getting a printout of the cabin bill, then going to the dining room to have them reverse the drinks. So while fixable it was certainly an inconvenience.
Cancelations of ports and excursions. In most cases cancellations were not the fault of Havila. However, it is still a point worth mentioning as we were truly looking forwards to participating in the activities we had booked. During our trip we had 4 of our 9 excursions cancelled due to either weather or limited interest from other guests. I fully understand that the weather in the arctic can make things challenging, but as a prospective passenger you need to be prepared that some of the activities you planned on partaking in might not happen. Each of our port stops were for the exact amount of time needed to complete the excursion. This tight timetable made it impossible to schedule a private excursion (from a local guide) to replace an activity cancelled due to lack of interest. For example, Brad had his Arctic Dip excursion cancelled due to lack of interest. It was high on his list of must do activities when in Norway. He inquired about a different excursion but that was also not going. In the end he opted to do nothing as he wasn't interested in doing the one I had signed up for. Good thing.... mine was cancelled because of weather. So.. unfortunately if you miss one specific activity you probably will not get a chance to do it elsewhere. That said, if last minute changes can upset your whole trip this might not be the right choice of vacations for you... In hind sight, we probably should have used Havila for the northbound leg of the trip (6 days) instead of round trip (12 days) and then added several days at the end of the cruise in Kirkenes. This would have allowed more time to do some of the activities we had hope to do along the way but were unable to (ATV's & Polar Dip).
The last point I would like to touch on is that this type of vacation is all about relaxing and watching the amazing scenery of the Norwegian Coast as it goes by! There is a lot of down time while sailing on Havila. Between the limited stops (and time in these ports being only a hour or 2 at most) and the limited activities on board this vacation is definitely for those who do not get board easy. If you like photography (of the coastline), are an avid reader, or just like to unwind playing games on your phone this vacation can be heaven. For me this trip was perfect. It gave me time to work on some much needed web site tweaks and further development of our game while not dealing with machines and the normal distractions of being at home!
At the end of the day despite some minor negatives and some setbacks due to weather, I have definitely enjoyed our trip in Norway and our journey on board Havila! I think the key to this vacation is simply knowing what to expect and deciding if it is a good fit for your taste in a vacation...
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