The ship that carries the founder's name
Richard With is the man who created the coastal route in 1893. The ship that
carries his name left the Volkswerft yard at Stralsund, Germany, in 1993. One
hundred and twenty-one metres, 199 cabins including 20 suites, refitted in 2018
and again in 2023, with battery hybrid conversion in 2022. Our inventory carries
six hundred and ninety-three dates: two hundred and thirteen in 2026, four
hundred and fourteen in 2027 and sixty-six in 2028.
She is, with the Nordlys, the ship in the series with the most suites: twenty
out of 199 cabins. The ratio stays modest, but it is ten times the Kong
Harald's.
A contradiction on the official page
On accessibility the carrier contradicts itself. Its page announces two
adapted cabins, then lists four: 331, 333, 335 and suite 643. Two accessible
toilets sit on decks 4 and 7. We do not settle it in the carrier's place: we
flag the gap and recommend written confirmation before booking for anyone
concerned.
Two groundings are on file. On 5 August 2022, near the mouth of the
Sognefjord at Ytre Sula island, the ship was empty and bound for Bergen. On 6
January 2009, at Trondheim, a propeller was damaged and a seal leaked; one
hundred and fifty-three travellers went ashore.
The other ships on the route
The MS Kong Harald is her twin from the same year. The MS Nordlys followed in 1994. The MS Nordnorge comes
from the Norwegian yard at Ulsteinvik. The MS Polarlys has been hybrid since 2023.
The coastal route, and who really runs it
It is a public service route, created by government contract in 1893 to
carry the mail along the Norwegian coast. The current contract runs from 2021
to 2030 and requires daily calls at every port, mandatory freight between Tromso
and Kirkenes, and a minimum capacity per ship. The full voyage takes twelve days
and two thousand five hundred nautical miles.
Eleven ships provide the service, but they do not all belong to the same
company: seven to Hurtigruten, four to Havila Kystruten, with alternating
departure days. A traveller who books a date without knowing this can therefore
board a ship belonging to a different company from the one whose page they read.
It is the kind of thing better learned beforehand.
Included, not included, and it depends on the ticket
Included on the full voyage: the three daily meals in the main restaurant,
tea, filter coffee and water. Not included: alcohol, excursions, land transfers,
flights and gratuities. On that last point the same group's expedition brand claims the opposite, with an asterisk whose footnote is not published: check it before you compare.
The port-to-port ticket does not include meals: full board, half board or à
la carte are bought separately. A cabin becomes compulsory past twenty-three
hours of sailing. Wi-Fi is announced in three contradictory ways by the carrier
itself, depending on the page; we would rather say so than promise it.
Before setting out for the lights
The season runs from 20 September to 31 March, the guarantee requires a
voyage of at least eleven days, and it attaches to the higher fare only. Three
conditions, and they stack. A shorter voyage, an out-of-season departure or the
entry fare, and there is no guarantee at all.
Then comes the definition. A sighting means an aurora seen from the ship,
logged by the bridge officers and announced to passengers; the ship's decision
is final. In other words, a night announcement while you were asleep is enough.
If the guarantee applies, it gives a classic coastal voyage the following
season, two-berth inside cabin, suites excluded, to be claimed within
twenty-eight days.
What is written about accessibility, and what is missing
What is written: companion required, no personal care provided by the crew, a
central lift serving the main public areas, two to four adapted cabins depending
on the ship. The carrier adds that it offers no excursions designed for
wheelchair users and does not guarantee ramp-equipped coaches.
What is missing: the list of calls where access is impossible, never
published. And confirmation that the lift serves every deck, which the carrier
asserts nowhere. On one of its ships it even notes that some outer decks are
reached by stairs only and that the pool has no lift.
The legal frame
Norwegian law, the court of Bergen, no imposed arbitration. Liability for
personal injury is capped under the international maritime conventions, as with
most European carriers. The deadlines are tight: one year to claim, two years
for personal injury.
Nothing establishes that any entity in this group holds a Quebec licence.
Voyages AquaTerra holds one, with the trust account and the Compensation Fund
for Customers of Travel Agents that go with it. A booking made elsewhere does
not carry that protection.
