Just north of the Arctic Circle, a man dressed up as Njord, the Norse god of the sea, dipped a ladle in a bucket of ice water.
asserted
man → dress → water
Njord loosened the neck of a cruise passenger’s puffy coat and poured the ladle’s contents down her back, eliciting a grimace and a high-pitched squeal.
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Njord → loosen → grimace
That didn’t stop dozens of Havila Polaris passengers from volunteering to get ladled by Njord as our cruise ship sailed up the coast of Norway in March.
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ship → stop → March
Early spring might seem like a strange time to take a cruise in the Arctic, where the weather is still very much in winter mode.
uncertain
weather → seem → mode
But the colder months have a charm of their own on a Norwegian coastal cruise.
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months → have → cruise
Havila Voyages’ 12-day round-trip cruise from Bergen starts at $1,919 U.S. per person in January.
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cruise → start → January
In July, it starts at $2,642 U.S. each.
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it → start → U.S.
The family-owned operator launched the first of four identical ships in 2021.
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operator → own → 2021
Its modern, hybrid-powered vessels function as both a ferry service and a more traditional cruise ship.
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vessels → power → service
Each has two restaurants, a café, a lounge and 179 cabins outfitted in minimalist, Scandi-chic decor.
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Each → have → decor
Cruises range from day trips to the 11-night Round Voyage, a 2,500-nautical-mile journey between Bergen and Kirkenes, near the Russian border.
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Cruises → range → border
The 640-guest-capacity ships sail year-round, depositing mail, cargo and people at 34 stops along Norway’s coast.
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ships → sail → coast
Port calls are made day and night, some lasting as little as 10 minutes.
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some → make → minutes
Havila is one of two companies contracted by the Norwegian government to service this long-standing coastal route.
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Havila → contract → route
The other is Hurtigruten, which had a lock on the market until Havila arrived.
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Havila → have → market
Both lines offer passengers a northern lights promise.
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lines → offer → promise
From roughly October through March, if the aurora borealis doesn’t show up during longer voyages, guests get a free weeklong cruise.
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guests → show → cruise
The chance to see the northern lights dance in the winter sky ups the appeal of cold-weather cruising.
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lights → see → cruising
The Norwegian Sea tends to be rougher this time of year.
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Sea → tend → year
During my March voyage, periodic announcements were made on the loud speakers — always in English, German and Norwegian — warning passengers not to go outside because of strong winds.
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announcements → make → winds
One night, so many white flakes accumulated on deck, someone built a snowman.
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someone → accumulate → snowman
Weather forced some changes to a few shore excursions.
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Weather → force → excursions
That meant no reindeer sledding.
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That → mean → sledding
But we still visited the reindeer farm owned by an Indigenous Sami family.
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we → visit → family
We sat around a fire while 20-year-old Inga Katharina Gaup shared stories about her Sami culture and her grandmother, who was part of the last generation forced into Norwegian assimilation boarding schools.
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who → sit → schools
Gaup gave us buckets of pellets to feed her uncle’s reindeer herd.
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Gaup → give → herd
We mixed and mingled with at least 100 of the antlered animals, who aren’t shy about tapping your leg with a hoof when they’re hungry.
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they → mix → hoof
Snow cover wasn’t a problem in the far north Finnmark region, where I bundled up for a thrilling snowmobile ride through wide, white valleys and plains.
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I → bundle → valleys
Our group disembarked Polaris in the fishing village of Kjollefjord and hopped on our motor sleds as the sun set.
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sun → disembark → sleds
We zoomed across a blanket of powder all the way to the next port, where the ship sat waiting under an inky sky.
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ship → zoom → sky
The weather often made it too cold to spend much time on deck, unless you sought refuge in one of the two hot tubs.
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you → make → tubs
Thankfully you didn’t have to be outdoors to enjoy the slow-rolling reel of rugged mountains and villages peppered with colourful houses.
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you → have → houses
The lounge’s floor-to-ceiling windows let you soak up the views from the comfort of an upholstered chair.
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you → let → chair
Some passengers camped out for hours in Polaris’s serene public spaces, shifting between sightseeing and knitting, reading a book or playing cards.
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passengers → camp → cards
The views are just as good in the main dining room, where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served by a largely Scandinavian staff.
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breakfast → serve → staff
Unlike some mass-market cruise lines, Havila’s cuisine skews more toward quality than quantity, with a heavy reliance on Norway’s esteemed seafood.
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cuisine → skew → seafood
Don’t expect a lot of the typical bells and whistles, like themed buffets, a spa, Broadway-style shows or a casino — none of which mattered to passenger Rebekah Miller, a teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio.
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none → expect → Cincinnati
“I liked that this isn’t one of those booze cruises …
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this → like → cruises
it’s very chill, just right for us,” said Miller, who was travelling with her husband.
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who → ’ → husband
“It’s such a drop-dead gorgeous country,” Miller said as she leaned against the deck railing, dressed in a parka and wool hat.
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she → ’ → parka
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
