Gone in March 2012, now a hotel ship
The Nordstjernen left the Hurtigruten route in March 2012, replaced by a
larger ship. Sold twice, she has belonged since 2013 to a Norwegian company and
sails for a Bergen shipowner as a hotel ship and charter vessel. She carries no
departure dates with us.
A detail few people know: Hurtigruten went on chartering her seasonally for
Svalbard from 2015. That arrangement ended in 2025, because it became impossible
to reconcile the lifeboat rules with the constraints of her heritage protection.
A listed ship cannot be altered freely.
A 1956 hull
Built in Hamburg, protected by the Norwegian heritage directorate since 2012,
restored at Gdansk between late 2012 and July 2013. Eighty metres. She is the
oldest hull ever to appear on our Hurtigruten pages, and she still sails, seventy
years after her launch.
Why this page stays online
Because a protected ship still sailing deserves better than a 404 error. The
reader searching this name learns here what became of her, and moves on to the
ships that carry dates.
The ships in service
The MS Nordkapp carries the largest inventory. The MS Nordnorge came to the rescue twice in
Antarctica. The MS Polarlys has been hybrid since 2023. 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.
