It’s getting dark at the end of the world, and the snow is falling fast. It’s too dark to see the sea below—for all I know, krakens are churning the water white. The cliff top I’m standing on is Norway’s North Cape, the northernmost point on continental Europe (71°10′21,″ to be exact). To reach it, my group steered Ski-Doos over frozen lakes and drove through a blizzard on fat-tired quad bikes, our headlamps turning the snow into brazier sparks. As we return to our cruise ship, we pass wind-carved formations as the northern lights appear and swirl across the night sky.
We’re sailing with Hurtigruten, which is woven into Norway’s fabric in a way that’s unlike any other cruise line. For the past 130 years, its Coastal Express route has stitched together fishing communities, ferrying mail, machinery, and a whole lot of cod in its belowdecks holds. It is held in such regard here that, in 2011, more than three million tuned in to the pioneering “slow TV” show Hurtigruten: Minutt for Minutt to watch one of its ships make a 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, on the Russian border, parts of which were later rebroadcast on PBS. For travelers, it’s the best way to experience Norway’s famous fjords. But until now, adventures like mine were only possible if you packed up your possessions, spent a night or two onshore, and then hopped on, bus-style, to the next scheduled Hurtigruten ship to come to port.
This year, however, Hurtigruten is introducing two itineraries aboard its Norway line designed to let passengers dig deeper into Norway’s landscape, culture, and cuisine: the summertime Svalbard Express, which takes passengers into the midnight sun of Norway’s northernmost islands, and the wintertime North Cape Express, which will sail the entire length of Norway’s coast. Earlier this year, I sailed aboard the MS Trollfjord on one of its last voyages before it was refurbished and relaunched, trying out some of the new shore excursions in a behind-the-scenes preview.
The ship, which began operating the Svalbard Express route in June, now has smartly decorated cabins, a photo studio, and an extensive cocktail lounge serving Norwegian gins and aquavits. The menus champion ingredients gathered from farms and small producers along the ship’s route, from tangy Lofoten goat cheese to the cod we see air-drying like the morning’s wash on wooden racks all along the coast. Cloudberry honey is gathered on the tiny island of Rolvsøy, king oyster mushrooms from the family-run Trøndersopp farm.
