Emma's Arctic Circle Cruise - Tromso, Norway
Day 8. Island Princess - Tromsø 🇳🇴
Island Princess - Arctic Circle Cruise - Tromso Norway
Emma recently cruised to the Arctic Circle aboard Princess Cruises' Island Princess. She had such an incredible experience that we are sharing her daily diary with you, so that you can see just what an amazing time she had!
Every day we sail further north and expect the weather to change, but again we have been blessed with a warm and sunny day, 23° and even our Norwegian Captain is shocked at how great the weather is! Tromso's weather is milder than most places on the same latitude, due to the effect of the westerlies reaching this far north.
Tromsø's latitude of just below 70°N also makes it perfect for the midnight suns in summer and polar nights in the winter. On 21st January the sun rises for the first time after 2 months at 12.00pm and sets again at 12.05!
The sail in to Tromsø is wonderful as you navigate the channels into the port. Millpond conditions and my camera is on overdrive!
We took a tour with Northern Light tours, we had booked an Arctic drive and Picnic with a stop in Sommeroy, but due to roadworks on the island of Sommeroy, the tour was rerouted to Grotfjord instead. I’ll do Sommeroy when we come for Northern Lights cruise now.
Our wonderful guide George drove us to some incredible viewpoints of the fjord, there was only 8 of us so it was easy to detour and stop where we chose.
George took us foraging for wild berries, the Cloudberries are a delicacy in this region and a single berry can be found on the ground, they don’t grow in clusters, so you have to tread carefully. When ripe, this little peach colour berry is quite bitter to taste and if you picked them too early, once upon a time, you could be fined! Also wild Blueberries were found too and they were sweet and tasty.
Our lunch stop was on a pretty beach in the fjord, white Sandy beaches and clear waters, just beautiful! We kicked off our shoes as we wanted to feel the cold water, but surprisingly it was ok and really lovely to paddle in.
George had prepared Norwegian sandwiches for us, with hummus and jam fillings, a weird combo, but tasted good. He brought hot flasks of coffee and little camping chairs to perch on and watch the spectacular views!
Time to move on again and we drove the single track road over the mountains and down to a village with a pretty pond offering reflections of the mountains above and again we found more cloudberries. Reindeer were wandering around and we followed behind then, in our van as they strolled down the dirt road.
Our final stop was another stunning beach, children swimming in the clear waters and four beautiful reindeer sunbathing on the warm sands, not giving anyone any notice! Days don’t get better then that!
Back to the ship and it’s Formal night, so dress to impress. We ate in the Main Dining Room, our waiters Roy and Trevor look after us so well. I chose a lobster bisque vol au vent and a rack of lamb with mint jelly and Dave had oxtail soup and Beef Wellington. We both opted for a raspberry and lemon slice on a coconut crumb.
Ships company performed a show called On the Bayou, singing and dancing to wow the audience.
Midnight Sun territory is upon us, though as we are now in August, the sun does set. Sunset 23.56 and rise at 01.26. However for that hour and a half, it doesn’t get dark, just a dusk light. Sleeping is definitely a challenge!
Next stop: Top of Europe at North Cape 🇳🇴
If we’ve inspired you with this itinerary search for your own adventure here!
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