This Expedition on MS Spitsbergen was booked in April 2021 and promised a circumnavigation of the island as well as multiple landings to see sites on Svalbard as well as perhaps even a walk on a glacier.
We are fans of Hurtigruten having travelled on the Coastal Voyage and had a fantastic Expedition to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands before. Only Covid had prevented us from booking on other expeditions on their updated fleet and to new expedition destinations..
We are finally taking a breath after our very stressful return from Longyearbyen via Oslo. My blogs are drafted all that remains is to process my 100s (perhaps 1,000s) of images. Please follow the links below as I complete the blogs:
Three Days in Oslo
We extended our trip and had three wonderful days in Oslo before flying to Longyearbyen. I managed to find lots of street art and we had some amazing meals.
Day 1: Sunday 19th June 2022 London to Oslo
Day 2: Monday 20th June 2022 Oslo
Day 3: Tuesday 19th June 2022 Oslo
See the review of the Clarion Hotel The Hub in Oslo here.
This is where our Expedition officially started with catching a charter flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen.
Longyearbyen
Day 1: Wednesday 21st June 2022 Oslo to Longyearbyen and evening at hotel
See the review of the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel in Longyearbyen here.
Circumnavigating Spitsbergen – In the Realm of the Polar Bear on MS Spitsbergen.
Day 2: Longyearbyen and onto the ship Thursday 22nd June 2022
( plus a mandatory coach trip organised by Hurtigruten)
Day 3 to Day 8: Svalbard East Coast 24th June to 29th June 2022
I will need to decipher my What3Words to help determine where we were on each day before I can post my blogs!
Sadly no circumnavigation and three cancelled landings but we did see polar bears swimming – see the review of the expedition below.
Day 9: Landing (?) then hanging around off Russian settlement and anchoring off Longyearbyen 30th June 2022
Day 10: Longyearbyen to Oslo and then London Heathrow 1st July 2022
This was a day of truly stressful travelling.
And to rub salt into the wound, SAS overcharged us for our snacks on the flight – same snacks on flight to Oslo were over £7 cheaper!
Review of MS Spitsbergen and the expedition
(Includes collection of images of the ship and a comparison to MS Fram)
Updated 29th July 2022