Our visit to Tromso didn’t go quite as planned because of the weather. When we arrived it was rainy, windy, and very overcast. We had expected to go out the first night to see the Northern Lights on a private tour, but it was cancelled because of the overcast skies. On the following day we were supposed to go on a dog sled tour, but it also was cancelled because of possible avalanches with the warmer weather causing snow melt. It was raining and windy, so the tour probably would not have been too fun. We went to a local tour operator and found an Arctic Reindeer tour that seemed interesting where you could feed the reindeer and learn a little about the Sami (native people in the area). We scheduled this tour for the second day and had a Viking tour on the first day. This tour facility was called Visit Tromso and was city operated. It has a great website if you ever want to schedule a tour in Tromso. This facility was located in the Hurtigruten Cruise Port (just down where Viking had docked) and the people were extremely friendly and easy to work with.
The Viking tour, included in the cruise package, was a bus tour that took us around the city and over to the Arctic University that had a planetarium. We learned that Tromso was the largest northern city of Norway with almost 80,000 people and it is the third largest city north of the Arctic Circle (the two largest cities are in Russia). The city also has the only university in the northern part of the country. Tromso was much larger than Alta and had plenty of bars, restaurants, and shops within easy walking distance of the ship. Our first stop after our brief tour of the city of Tromso was the planetarium where we watched a display of the Northern Lights. This was a very impressive display of the lights and was created by a Norwegian poet who was in search of best picture of the Northern Lights. We were shown many time-lapsed photo shots of the lights taken in different areas of Northern Norway at different times and different months. You cannot take good videos of the lights because you need a greater exposure time to see the brilliant colors in the darkness of the night. Time-lapsed photos take pictures every 2 to 5 seconds allowing enough time to capture the lights and yet you can sequence them together into a video. It allows you to see how the lights seem to move and change over time. The artist who put it together narrated the presentation very articulately and the photos/videos were very impressive. It made us realize that there are much better views of the Northern Lights than what we saw but it also made us realize what we saw was comparable to many of the pictures this poet had captured. Our pictures certainly did not fully capture what we saw and seeing this presentation made you want to learn how to take better photos of the lights to better capture exactly what was being viewed. This planetarium had the largest dome in Norway for this presentation and it is definitely a must see if you go to Tromso. As we drove back to the ship, we stopped briefly to view the Arctic Cathedral which is a large triangular church with the second largest stain glassed window in Europe. We made one final stop at an overview of Tromso where we took pictures of the city below.
On the following day we went on our Arctic Reindeer tour, meeting at a nearby hotel. We had about a 40-minute bus ride to the reindeer farm. When we arrived, they informed those people that had also booked the dog sledding that this would not be possible that day. We were offered to dress in their snow suits and boots to visit the reindeer. Once everyone was outfitted, we were given a brief orientation about the reindeer, and a bucket of reindeer food. As we entered the area where there were at least 100 reindeer, we were attacked by hungry reindeer. They knew what was in the buckets and wanted that food. As we fed them, we took many pictures of all the different types of reindeer there. Some had horns others had none and some had one (we were told they fought a lot and sometimes lost a horn). Some of them were very large while others were small, but no very young reindeer could be seen at this time of year. The area they were penned up was very muddy and icy. There were a few shy reindeer, but most were rather aggressive. One person in our group exited rather quickly because he didn’t feel comfortable with them. It was fun to be up close and personal with them and get some good pictures and videos.
After feeding the reindeer we changed out of our outfits and went inside for a little lunch of hot chocolate and reindeer stew. While we ate, we were given a talk from the Sami girl that ran the camp. She explained about the Sami culture and gave us many personal examples about her life as a Sami. These native people live in the northern area of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. There are tens of thousands of Sami in the area and they just look like anybody else in Norway unless they are dressed up in their Sami clothes. The blonde, blue-eyed girl giving the talk told us of her love of the reindeer and how she owned 100’s that she kept up in the mountains. She would go to the mountains every year to collect her herd and assure they were doing well. The mountains were her sanctuary where she felt most comfortable in the world. She was very articulate and extremely passionate about the reindeer and being a Sami. It was quite an interesting talk, and the reindeer stew was very good!
We were informed on the second day in Tromso there was a weather system with hurricane (90MPH) winds in the North Seas that would impact our cruise itinerary. Since Tromso is an island and we were on the mainland side of the island, we were in a well-protected harbor. The captain told us we would be staying there an extra day and unfortunately, we would be missing our remaining two port stops in Narvik and Amsterdam due to this weather. With the extra day in Tromso we spent it just walking around the city. It is actually a very nice city to spend a little time, but 3 days may have been a little too long with few excursions available. If we could have done more excursions, it would not have been a problem, but with the weather as it was, we really couldn’t get out and do some of the activities we would have like to do. You must be flexible when on a cruise or any trip you take. We were able to catch a couple of more glimpses of Northern Lights while we were docked in Tromso. Nothing spectacular but it is always nice to see them and that was the whole reason for this cruise!
Our remaining cruise back to London ended up being much slower with weather and we ended up arriving 2 days later than planned. Unfortunately, that caused us to miss our entire post cruise extension in London. Well, we just might have to do a Northern Lights cruise again and hopefully catch London then. Let us know if anyone is interested in seeing the Northern Lights and go with us. We might be back here late next year or the following year!
Here is a list of our future cruises:
If anyone wants to join us on any of these, please let us know.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
The Viking tour, included in the cruise package, was a bus tour that took us around the city and over to the Arctic University that had a planetarium. We learned that Tromso was the largest northern city of Norway with almost 80,000 people and it is the third largest city north of the Arctic Circle (the two largest cities are in Russia). The city also has the only university in the northern part of the country. Tromso was much larger than Alta and had plenty of bars, restaurants, and shops within easy walking distance of the ship. Our first stop after our brief tour of the city of Tromso was the planetarium where we watched a display of the Northern Lights. This was a very impressive display of the lights and was created by a Norwegian poet who was in search of best picture of the Northern Lights. We were shown many time-lapsed photo shots of the lights taken in different areas of Northern Norway at different times and different months. You cannot take good videos of the lights because you need a greater exposure time to see the brilliant colors in the darkness of the night. Time-lapsed photos take pictures every 2 to 5 seconds allowing enough time to capture the lights and yet you can sequence them together into a video. It allows you to see how the lights seem to move and change over time. The artist who put it together narrated the presentation very articulately and the photos/videos were very impressive. It made us realize that there are much better views of the Northern Lights than what we saw but it also made us realize what we saw was comparable to many of the pictures this poet had captured. Our pictures certainly did not fully capture what we saw and seeing this presentation made you want to learn how to take better photos of the lights to better capture exactly what was being viewed. This planetarium had the largest dome in Norway for this presentation and it is definitely a must see if you go to Tromso. As we drove back to the ship, we stopped briefly to view the Arctic Cathedral which is a large triangular church with the second largest stain glassed window in Europe. We made one final stop at an overview of Tromso where we took pictures of the city below.
On the following day we went on our Arctic Reindeer tour, meeting at a nearby hotel. We had about a 40-minute bus ride to the reindeer farm. When we arrived, they informed those people that had also booked the dog sledding that this would not be possible that day. We were offered to dress in their snow suits and boots to visit the reindeer. Once everyone was outfitted, we were given a brief orientation about the reindeer, and a bucket of reindeer food. As we entered the area where there were at least 100 reindeer, we were attacked by hungry reindeer. They knew what was in the buckets and wanted that food. As we fed them, we took many pictures of all the different types of reindeer there. Some had horns others had none and some had one (we were told they fought a lot and sometimes lost a horn). Some of them were very large while others were small, but no very young reindeer could be seen at this time of year. The area they were penned up was very muddy and icy. There were a few shy reindeer, but most were rather aggressive. One person in our group exited rather quickly because he didn’t feel comfortable with them. It was fun to be up close and personal with them and get some good pictures and videos.
After feeding the reindeer we changed out of our outfits and went inside for a little lunch of hot chocolate and reindeer stew. While we ate, we were given a talk from the Sami girl that ran the camp. She explained about the Sami culture and gave us many personal examples about her life as a Sami. These native people live in the northern area of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. There are tens of thousands of Sami in the area and they just look like anybody else in Norway unless they are dressed up in their Sami clothes. The blonde, blue-eyed girl giving the talk told us of her love of the reindeer and how she owned 100’s that she kept up in the mountains. She would go to the mountains every year to collect her herd and assure they were doing well. The mountains were her sanctuary where she felt most comfortable in the world. She was very articulate and extremely passionate about the reindeer and being a Sami. It was quite an interesting talk, and the reindeer stew was very good!
We were informed on the second day in Tromso there was a weather system with hurricane (90MPH) winds in the North Seas that would impact our cruise itinerary. Since Tromso is an island and we were on the mainland side of the island, we were in a well-protected harbor. The captain told us we would be staying there an extra day and unfortunately, we would be missing our remaining two port stops in Narvik and Amsterdam due to this weather. With the extra day in Tromso we spent it just walking around the city. It is actually a very nice city to spend a little time, but 3 days may have been a little too long with few excursions available. If we could have done more excursions, it would not have been a problem, but with the weather as it was, we really couldn’t get out and do some of the activities we would have like to do. You must be flexible when on a cruise or any trip you take. We were able to catch a couple of more glimpses of Northern Lights while we were docked in Tromso. Nothing spectacular but it is always nice to see them and that was the whole reason for this cruise!
Our remaining cruise back to London ended up being much slower with weather and we ended up arriving 2 days later than planned. Unfortunately, that caused us to miss our entire post cruise extension in London. Well, we just might have to do a Northern Lights cruise again and hopefully catch London then. Let us know if anyone is interested in seeing the Northern Lights and go with us. We might be back here late next year or the following year!
Here is a list of our future cruises:
- Family Mediterranean cruise in June
- Norway/Svalbard/Iceland/Greenland cruise in August
- Canada/New England cruise in September
- Greek Isles/Mediterranean cruise in October
- Vietnam/Singapore/Bangkok/Hong Kong cruise in January 2024
- Antarctica Scenic cruise in February 2024
- South America/Panama Canal cruise in March 2024
- Kenya/Masai Mara Safari in July 2024
- Christmas Market River Cruise (Paris to Prague) in December 2024
- Amazon/Brazil cruise in January 2025
- Transatlantic/Cape Town cruise & Safari in February 2025
If anyone wants to join us on any of these, please let us know.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
A great day in Tromso, as we took a drive into the countryside where we visited a Sami reindeer ranch. We had the opportunity to get up close and feed the reindeer. Following, we had met a local Sami as she shared her culture and history. Quite fascinating!
Last day in Tromso after staying 2 days longer due to Hurricane force winds of 80-100 MPH that was unsafe for us to travel. We’ve been at sea for 4 days that has caused us to miss our stop in Narvik, Norway; Amsterdam and our 2-day stay in London after experiencing 30-50 foot waves for 2 days. Seas have settled down and amazed how the Viking ship is built with incredible stabilizers and Captain/Crew that kept us all safe! We arrive in London on 2/14 and return home that evening.
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