Our inventory carries no dates for this ship
Let us say it straight away, because it is what you need before anything
else. The Vesteralen carries no departure dates with us, and yet she is very
much in service: she returns to the contracted coastal route in the spring of
2026, after a 2025 refit, to free the capacity the Midnatsol is leaving. It is
an inventory gap, not a withdrawn ship, and we are raising it with the
supplier.
The distinction matters. Two ships in this fleet really have left the
service, and this is not one of them. If a date on this hull interests you, your
advisor asks the supplier directly rather than hunting through an empty
calendar.
The smallest and the oldest
One hundred and eight metres, 133 cabins, out of the Kaarbo Mek. Verksted
yard at Harstad in 1983. Forty-three years, which makes her by far the senior
vessel in the working fleet. Her size lets her enter ports the larger units do
not touch, and that is exactly why she stays on the route.
Her official page is the only one in the fleet to state both capacities: 274
cruise travellers, and up to 516 people counting the local passengers. Elsewhere
the same distinction exists without being explained, which accounts for the gaps
between sources. Two cabins are adapted for a wheelchair according to the
carrier, one according to a specialist database.
The ships that carry dates
The MS Polarlys covers the same route with a full inventory. So does the MS Nordlys. The MS Richard With
carries the founder's name. The la flotte au complet page brings them together.
This is not a cruise liner, it is a public service route
The Bergen-Kirkenes coastal route has existed since 1893 and today runs
under a state contract, from 2021 to 2030. The contract requires daily calls at
every port, year-round, freight carriage between Tromso and Kirkenes, and a
minimum capacity of 320 travellers, 120 berths and 150 europallets per ship.
Thirty-four calls northbound, thirty-three southbound.
The direct consequence for your trip: the timetable was not built for you.
Some calls last fifteen minutes, eight ports are served in the small hours, and
the ship loads freight while you sleep. That is what makes the charm of it and
also what disappoints anyone expecting a cruise. One more point: the contract is
shared with another shipowner, Havila Kystruten, which provides four of the
eleven ships and alternates departure days. Depending on the date you choose,
you board one or the other.
What is included, and what changes with the ticket
On the full voyage, full board is included: three meals in the main
restaurant, tea, filter coffee and water. Not included are alcohol, excursions,
transfers, flights, and gratuities, which remain at your expense. The same group's expedition brand claims the opposite, with an asterisk whose footnote is not published: check it for the departure you choose.
The port-to-port ticket is a transport ticket: meals are not included and are
bought separately. A cabin becomes compulsory beyond twenty-three hours of
sailing, you choose a category but never a location, suites are not sold that
way, and sales open only six months before departure. On Wi-Fi, caution: the
carrier announces it free on one page, reserved for the higher fare on another,
and excluded in its conditions. Three versions, no promise from us.
The northern lights guarantee, as it is written
It exists, and it has conditions worth knowing before booking. The voyage
must last at least eleven days, depart between 20 September and 31 March, and
above all be bought at the higher fare: the entry fare does not include it.
The point that surprises most: what counts as a sighting. The carrier writes
that it means an aurora seen from the ship, logged by the bridge officers and
announced to passengers on board, and that the ship's decision is final. A faint
aurora, announced at three in the morning while you sleep, extinguishes the
guarantee. If it does apply, it gives a classic coastal voyage the following
season, in a two-berth inside cabin, suites excluded, to be claimed within
twenty-eight days of your return.
Accessibility: what the carrier writes
Wheelchair users are accepted, most public areas are step-free and served by
a central lift. But the carrier requires a companion for safety reasons, and it
states that the crew provides no personal care: no washing, no dressing, no
feeding, no moving between cabin and public areas, no lifting.
The most important sentence is this one: it writes plainly that it offers no
excursions designed specifically for wheelchair users and does not guarantee
ramp-equipped coaches, guests having to board by themselves. No list of
inaccessible calls is published. Adapted cabins can be counted on one hand per
ship.
Booking from Quebec
The contract is signed with a Norwegian company, falls under Norwegian law
and names the court of Bergen. No arbitration clause is provided for, which is
rather good news. The deadlines, on the other hand, are short: two years for a
personal injury claim, one year for any other claim.
Nothing establishes a Quebec licence for this carrier. Your protection
therefore comes from here: Voyages AquaTerra holds a licence from Quebec's
Office de la protection du consommateur, your payments move through a trust
account, and the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents covers your
file as the law provides.
