A grounding against the master's orders
On 9 May 2007, at Svartsundet, the Trollfjord ran aground. The inquiry
established that the chief officer, on watch, took the ship into a narrow strait
at low water against the master's orders. Ten years later, on 29 March 2017, she
struck the quay at Risoyhamn: serious damage to quay and hull, a breach at the
bow above the waterline, plating torn away, the ship laid up until 12 April.
Both episodes belong to the ship's history and an honest page carries them.
Today's Trollfjord was refitted in 2023, with battery hybrid conversion, and she
belongs to the Signature fleet: she is no longer one of the coastal contract
ships.
The ship, and what Signature means
One hundred and thirty-five metres, 270 cabins including 21 suites, out of
the Fosen Mek. Verksteder yard at Rissa in 2002. Our inventory carries one
hundred and forty-six dates: twenty-three in 2026, one hundred and two in 2027
and twenty-one in 2028. That is few next to the coastal ships, and it is normal:
the Signature fleet sails outside the contracted route, on shorter and less
frequent programmes.
Published capacities differ sharply: five hundred travellers according to the
carrier, eight hundred and twenty-two according to a specialist database. The
gap reflects the difference between cruise berths and the total certificate,
deck passengers included. Four cabins are adapted for a wheelchair: 614, 616,
619 and 625.
The other ships
The MS Midnatsol is her Signature fleet twin. The MS Nordkapp and the MS Nordnorge 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.