---
Choose a Cruiseline or a ship
Question or 
quote?

Ask an agent

Itineraries of the MS Midnatsol

Price and Availability Notice
Prices displayed are provided for informational purposes only. They reflect the rates in effect at the time of their most recent update and are shown in Canadian dollars, per person, based on double occupancy, unless otherwise specified.

Supplier rates, exchange rates, taxes and fees, room or cabin categories, and promotions are subject to change at any time. The applicable price is the one confirmed by a travel advisor at the time of booking, subject to availability. Only the confirmed price shall be considered valid.

It is the traveler's responsibility to confirm the price, inclusions, and applicable terms and conditions before making a reservation. While every effort is made to keep our content up to date, transmission, display, or pricing errors may occur. In such cases, the correct price will be communicated to the traveler before any booking is confirmed. Certain terms, restrictions, and exclusions may apply.

decks plans

Deck 9

Fitness room, sauna, hot tubs, observation deck
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 9

Deck 8

Cabins, bar, lounge, librairy
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 8

Deck 7

Cabins
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 7

Deck 6

Cabins
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 6

Deck 5

Restaurant, bistro, shop
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 5

Deck 4

Cabins, reception
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 4

Deck 3

Car deck
Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol Pont 3

Ship's attributes

Services And Amenities

  • Self-service laundry room

Technical specifications

  • Tonnage:  16151
  • Speed:  15.0 knots
  • Decks:  9
  • Length:  136 m
  • Width:  21 m

History

  • 2003: Année de construction
  • 2021: Année de rénovation

Three names in five years for one hull

This ship was called Midnatsol from entering service in 2003 until 2020. She became Maud in 2021, converted to an expedition ship for the group's expedition brand. She has come back to Hurtigruten and becomes Midnatsol again: she joins the Signature fleet in May 2026, after another refit.

A traveller who sailed on the Midnatsol in 2019, the Maud in 2022 and the Midnatsol in 2026 has sailed three times on the same hull. It is the kind of thing a page must say, or it misleads anyone searching for their ship under the old name.

A rogue wave in December 2023

In the middle of storm Pia, in the North Sea, a wave broke the bridge windows and flooded the bridge. The ship steered by hand, with two hundred and sixty-six travellers aboard, and diverted to Bremerhaven for repairs. She resumed service in January 2024. Earlier in her history: an engine failure in 2003 between Alesund and Maloy, with passengers boarding the lifeboats and the anchor holding one hundred and fifty metres off shore, and a fire in a service room in 2015, out within an hour with no injuries.

The ship today

One hundred and thirty-five metres, 272 cabins, out of the Fosen Mek. Verksteder yard at Rissa in 2003. Our inventory carries twenty-five dates only: four in 2026 and twenty-one in 2027. The Signature programme explains that figure, not any problem with the ship. Four cabins are adapted for a wheelchair: 614, 616, 619 and 625.

The other ships

The MS Trollfjord is her Signature twin. The MS Nordkapp and the MS Kong Harald work the contracted coastal route. The la flotte au complet page brings them together.

The contract that governs everything

Between 2021 and 2030 the Norwegian state entrusts the coastal route to two shipowners. The contract sets the calls, the passing times, the mandatory freight north of Tromso and each ship's minimum capacity. It bans heavy fuel oil and requires shore power. It is a transport service that can be bought as a cruise, which is not the same thing.

Two concrete consequences. First: thirty-four calls northbound and thirty-three southbound, several of fifteen minutes and eight in the small hours. Second: Havila Kystruten provides four of the eleven ships and alternates departure days with Hurtigruten. The date determines the company, and therefore the ship.

What the fare covers

Full board on the full voyage, with tea, filter coffee and water. Nothing else is automatic. Alcohol is paid for, excursions are paid for, transfers and flights too, and gratuities remain at your expense: they are not included, while the same group's expedition brand claims the opposite without publishing its conditions.

Watch the segment ticket, sold port-to-port: it is transport, meals are not included, and a cabin is compulsory only beyond twenty-three hours. There is no choice of location and suites are not sold that way. Wi-Fi, finally, is described three different ways by the carrier depending on the page: we commit to none of them.

Northern lights: read the conditions, not the poster

The sky cannot be ordered, and the carrier's guarantee changes nothing about the weather. It requires an eleven-day voyage minimum, a departure between 20 September and 31 March, and the higher fare. The entry fare does not qualify.

And it is extinguished as soon as an aurora has been logged by the bridge officers and announced on board, even if you were asleep, even if it was faint. The ship's decision is final. The compensation, where it applies, is a classic coastal voyage the following season in a two-berth inside cabin, to be claimed within twenty-eight days of return. Your advisor explains which of these conditions applies to your departure.

Accessibility, unrounded

Two to four adapted cabins per ship, on vessels carrying two hundred cabins or more. Companion required. No personal care from the crew: no washing, no dressing, no meals, no lifting, no moving between cabin and public spaces.

The carrier states it offers no excursions designed specifically for wheelchair users, and it does not guarantee ramp-equipped coaches: you must be able to board unaided. No list of inaccessible calls exists publicly. Your advisor puts each question to the supplier, in writing, before booking.

Why go through an agency here

Because the contract binds you to a Norwegian company, under Norwegian law, before the court of Bergen. There is no imposed arbitration, but there are short deadlines: one year for most claims, two years for personal injury. A traveller home again and busy with other things can be time-barred without noticing.

Nothing establishes a Quebec licence for this carrier. Voyages AquaTerra holds one, with a trust account and the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents. And someone who answers when a connection collapses the night before departure, or when the date booked belongs to the other company on the contract.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, two. Midnatsol from 2003 to 2020, Maud from 2021 to 2026, then Midnatsol again. The hull has been the same since 2003: a traveller who sailed all three sailed the same ship three times.
A rogue wave, during storm Pia in the North Sea, broke the bridge windows and flooded the bridge. The ship steered by hand with two hundred and sixty-six travellers aboard and diverted to Bremerhaven for repairs.
Twenty-five only: four in 2026 and twenty-one in 2027. The ship belongs to the Signature fleet, which sails outside the contracted coastal route on shorter and less frequent programmes. It is not a sign of trouble.
She dates from 2003, out of the Fosen Mek. Verksteder yard at Rissa, Norway. Refitted in 2021 for her move to expedition, then again in 2026 for her return to the Signature fleet.
Two. An engine failure in 2003 between Alesund and Maloy: one hundred and two travellers boarded the lifeboats and the anchor held one hundred and fifty metres off shore. And a fire in a service room in 2015, out within an hour with no injuries.
Two hundred and seventy-two according to the carrier, two hundred and sixty-two according to a specialist database. We keep the carrier's figure, as everywhere else when the two differ.
Four: 614, 616, 619 and 625. Her Signature fleet twin carries the same numbers, which is plausible between sister ships but which we could not confirm with the carrier.
On Signature programmes: in summer, a Svalbard route out of Bergen; in winter, the North Cape route out of Hamburg, alternating with another ship in the same fleet.
No. Seven Hurtigruten ships work the coastal contract and four others belong to Havila Kystruten. This one sails the Signature programmes, outside the contract.
By searching for Maud for the 2021 to 2026 period. The hull is the same, but the layout changed twice: conversion to an expedition ship in 2021, then a return towards the Signature fleet in 2026.
Yes, freight and local passengers, by contractual obligation. The contract requires a minimum of 320 travellers, 120 berths and 150 europallets per ship, plus goods carriage between Tromso and Kirkenes.
Yes, between Hurtigruten and Havila Kystruten. Eleven ships provide the service, seven on one side and four on the other, with alternating departure days. A traveller can therefore board a ship from a company whose page they never read.
A classic coastal voyage the following season, in a two-berth inside cabin, suites excluded, to be claimed within twenty-eight days of return. It requires an eleven-day voyage, the 20 September to 31 March season and the higher fare.
Not with personal care. The carrier states that its crew provides no washing, no dressing, no feeding, no lifting, no escort between cabin and public spaces. An able companion is therefore required.
Nothing establishes it. No entry in the Quebec register was found, neither licence nor exemption. It is the licensed agency that brings the protection: a trust account and the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents.
  • #MS Midnatsol
  • #Hurtigruten cruise
  • #Norway cruise
  • #Norwegian fjords cruise
  • #coastal cruise Norway
  • #Arctic expedition cruise
  • #Arctic travel
  • #Lapland cruise
  • #Svalbard cruise
  • #Northern Lights cruise
  • #Midnight Sun Norway
  • #polar expedition ship
  • #Hurtigruten ship
  • #expedition cruising
  • #Norway coastal voyage
  • #Scandinavian cruise
  • #Arctic Norway
  • #fjord exploration cruise
  • #wilderness travel Norway
  • #northern Europe cruise
Ask an agent
1-866-628-6241
Entrez le code de sécurité