Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol FYI.

The ship's company

There is an onboard laundry, deck 4. Purchase a token from Reception, which includes a sachet of washing powder (30NOK). Dryers and irons are available free of charge.

638 berths over 298 cabins. This trip, the northbound leg, is a bit over half full according to the waitress at dinner. Built in 2003 and is one of the more modern ships in the fleet, fitted out in a modern style. It looks like a small mainstream cruise ship, the food is dangerously good, there just aren’t the organised activities found on a cruise ship.

We always knew where we were

We brought a deck of cards with us, but they are still in their packet. Scenery watching is the main pastime here, it is always interesting, especially to people like us who have never seen this type of landscape before.

Deck 6 is the Promenade deck. You can walk all the way around the ship on this deck undercover. We chose not to have a cabin on this deck for that reason.

Deck 6

Free internet available and computers free to use if you don’t bring your own. The internet is painfully slow but there are areas on board where it works faster/better than others. These areas are not marked and you have to discover them for yourself. Just use common sense.

Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and the lines were very civilised and not too long. The waitresses love to clean up, so don’t leave anything unguarded if you’re not finished.

Our cabin was 430, and I was a bit worried that we’d get noise from the Reception area, but heard nothing. We were on the starboard side because I thought we’d see more of the coast heading north but it didn’t really matter. At all of the ports we docked on the port side of the ship. We were never bothered by noise at the night time ports.

First and last dinners are served buffet style, the last one having a great variety of seafood.

There is a metal Midnatsol coffee mug that you can buy for 295NOK anytime during the cruise. This entitles you to tea or coffee all day at no other cost. Tea and coffee are served complimentarily after meals, so at 26NOK for a tea/coffee outside these times, you’d need to drink many cups to make it worthwhile. I don’t think I covered my cost but Trevor may have. Hot chocolate is not included in the mug deal, it’s available at no charge only at breakfast.

There is a 25% tax included in all onboard spending.

The staff are all English and Norwegian speaking, with many speaking a 3^rd language as well. Puts us Aussies to shame. They are all also so friendly and helpful, and are quite willing to have a chat and a joke with the passengers.