Arctic Transportation

by globetrott

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Transportation
by globetrott
Transportation
by globetrott
Transportation
by globetrott
Transportation
by globetrott
Transportation
by globetrott

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Cruises through the Belomorsk Canal

by globetrott

This ship is the only one in the fleet of Russian hotelships, that is able to go through the Belomorsk-canal: M/V Princess Arabella"as it is the smallest ship of the russian fleet.This ship was built in order to serve as a floating hospital in Amsterdam before it was sold to Russsa. This ship has extra-wide corridors, large bathrooms and even an elevator big enough for the rolling beds of a hospital. BUT unfortunately it has disadvantages as well: all decks were extra-low and I very often hit my head when entering the restaurant.What you can see in my main photo is an ordinary sight in Russian rivers: there is 1 landing-stage and that is shared by all ships that are docking there and you have to walk through other ships in order to get back to your own ship.Only our ship "M/V Princess Arabella" did not fit to these ships, because it was much smaller and the decks were not in the same...

When you are cruising to Longyearbyen

by globetrott

In Longyearbyen you will not find a port that is big enough for ordinary cruiseships to dock there, so they will use their tenders in order to get their passengers ashore.Do NOT expect taxis in the port, when you arrive by cruise-ship.You can only WALK to town instead - it will take about 20-30 minutes and you will pass by plenty of kids selling great souvenirs of Spitzbergen:stone-plates with insects, shells and other prehistoric animals fossiled inside !Be aware of the fact that the large trucks of the mining-companies, that will rush with high speed over the dusty roads will not really care a lot about pedestrians taking a walk from the port to Lonyearbyen !

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flying over Alaska

by globetrott

In 1980 , when I came to Alaska with M/S Sagafjord, I once took a flight with a small airplane that flew us over the glaciers of Alaska.We started in Juneau and the flight was about 45 minutes over some glaciers closeby. Flying over the glacier was great fun in this small aircraft, taking 3 passengers in addition to the pilot.Everybody had a seat at one of the windows then and could take lots of photographs.What a peacefull landscape there on the glacier, absolutely no human beeings or animals seen on the glaciers, when you fly over it.It looks the same as thousands of years ago. - lets all hope it will stay like this another 1000 years...

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Snow Scooters & Quads for rent in Kirkenes

by globetrott

This might be another idea for your stay in Kirkenes, no matter if you come by Hurtingruten or not: You can rent a QUAD while staying in Kirkenes for a longer time, or while your ship is in port. There were several quads waiting for customers, so that would be another way to have a great time and explore the area around Kirkenes on your own.In winter you can rent a snowscooter, but I was told that in recent years it is not always sure that you will actually have enough snow there in wintertime.Renting such a trip through Hurtigruten is quite expensive, maybe you will get a better offer when you reserve it directely through the webpage below !

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private tours from Kirkenes

by globetrott

This does not apply to all ports of the Hurtigruten-ships, but for Kirkenes, where you will have about 4 hours to spend it might make sense for you: There are a lot of small tour-buses and taxis waiting for customers in the port of Kirkenes, every day when the Hurtigrutenship arrives. Most of them had been reserved, but some are also hoping to find some customers renting them for a private tour. On the total I think that is a good way to see Kirkenes and the surrounding area including a tour to the russian border, and when you are a larger group, why not save some money that way instead of booking the expensive tours offered by the ship and follow your own ideas of itinerary ?Trafic-jams are almost totally unknown in this part of Norway, so you will certainly make it back to the ship just in time.----------------------------------------- The name of the bus-company doing the tours for...

Free transport of your car by Hurtigruten

by globetrott

This might be an interesting point for you, when planning to drive into Norway's Arctic, to the Northcape and/or Kirkenes: At certain dates Hurtigruten is taking your car free of charge from Kirkenes to Bergen, you simply have to book a cruise on that same ship. And the idea behind of this is certainly that they have a lot of loading-space on the way back, when they have unloaded all the transportation-goods in the different ports.Unfortunately that does not work for larger motorhomes, because the cars are not allowed to be higher than 2,5 meters and not wider than 2,45 meters.When you considder the costs for fuel and the boring roads and how many times you dont have to search for a hotel and restaurant, this might be a great way to explore Norway:Driving all the way to Kirkenes in your own car and take the Hurtigruten back to Bergen.

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Driving in your car through Norway

by globetrott

I had the idea to drive all the way from Vienna to Nordkapp and even to Kirkenes in my motorhome in August 2009 but then I unfortunately had a problem with the engine in Trondheim, so I had to give these travel-plans up.My conclusions after driving a motorhome ca. 6000km through Norway:You need a lot of time and patience in order to really enjoy the norwegian landacape that way. The roads are quite narrow and not always in perfect condition, your average speed will be between 60 and 80km/h, petrol&Diesel are more expensive than in the rest of Europe, restaurants with a good service are quite pricey and they are hard to find and self-service restaurants will have mostly just sausages and french fries, that gets quite boring already after a few days.You will find lots of parking-spaces along the way, many of them with grilling-facilities, free of charge, that was great, but "wild"...

Onboard of M/S Sagafjord to Alaska

by globetrott

In 1978 I made 4 cruises to Alaska onboard of the cruiseship M/S Sagafjord of "den Norske Americalinje" / NAL. I was working as a diningroom-waiter but we also had some time to go ashore and explore Alaska and I had a really great time there !As a passanger I think a cruise is the best way to explore Alaska: no packing of your luggage every day, you get onboard in a warm climate - like we did in San Francisco - and your accomodation cruises with you north. You will get perfect food onboard and a great service and can enjoy the landscape from deck or from the observation-lounge.

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Onboard of M/S Vistafjord to Spitzbergen

by globetrott

This is a picture of 1978: M/S Vistafjord cruising as far north as possible & Everybody was standing out on deck, watching the ship reaching the area of the Ice barrier - that is just about 800 nautical miles from the Northpole.Cruise-ships are certainly a great way to explore the Arctic seas, as you will not have to pack and unpack every day and the very few hotels in the Arctic regions of Spitzbergen and Alaska are also rather expensive.

M/S Nordstjernen - cruising from Longyearbyen

by globetrott

M/S Nordstjernen is a small coastal-ship offering cruises of 4 or 5 days, starting in Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard / Spitzbergen.The greatest advantage against bigger cruiseships is the fact, that a ship of that size ( just 2500 GR-tons ) can easily go into small fjords and bays without danger, where larger ships like Vistafjord would have to stay outside...M/S Nordstjernen has just 79 cabins and 164 berths and offers cruises in Svalbard between june and August only. It is one of the Hurtigruten-ships !

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