On a Norwegian Steamer Across the Arctic Circle

BERGEN, Norway —  The early morning sun slanted pale and ineffectual across the afterdeck. It was August, but it was blanket-wrapping, parka-wearing, scarf-winding and glove-tugging cold.

We were traveling up the rocky, fiord-pocked shore of Norway on the Nordstjernen--one of the Hurtigruten coastal express steamers that daily sail north from Bergen.

Though not yet 7 a.m. the day was alive with chilled, bundled passengers, all awaiting the crossing of the Polarsirkelen-- the Arctic Circle.

Our little vessel, a motor ship of just 2,295 tons, plowed on through the icy, dark-blue waters at 16 knots.

Mountains loomed black to the east, craggy backlit silhouettes against a pale, post-dawn sky. Strewn across these waters of the Norwegian Sea were small islands--barren, uninhabited outposts of weathered rock.

Cheek-Stinging Breeze

Peering ahead into a sharp, cheek-stinging breeze, I wondered how we would know when the mystical moment arrived.

I conjured images of a cartographer’s dotted line knifing across the seascape. Then, amid a world of desolation, 100% natural, there appeared on a small island to port an icon clearly manmade.

As the Nordstjernen approached, this construct resolved itself into an impressionistic open-metal sculpture of an encircled globe. We steamed past with a resonant blast of the whistle, then hastened inside for a cup of hot coffee.

Norway’s coastal express boats are unusual in ways other than the Arctic Circle crossing. To start with, the Hurtigrutenor “quick route” service is almost daily.

Nearly every night at 10 one of these modest boats steams out of Bergen, heading north with mail, light cargo and passengers on an 11-day, 2,500-mile round trip along the coast of Norway. This odyssey includes 35 port calls on a trek around North Cape to Kirkenes by the Soviet border. The service was begun in 1893 by the steamer Vesteraalen .

Particularly on the northern end of the run the steamers still provide essential transportation to a coastal region where highway access is often limited at best.

Water Route Reliable

For locals traveling between the smaller ports, and for mail, the water route is often the most direct and reliable, particularly in bad weather.

Tourists keep the service alive. Increasing numbers of visiting Germans, Americans and Brits have discovered the spectacular scenery and reasonable prices of the coastal steamers.

Four lines pool their boats into an 11-vessel fleet to provide daily service. Eight of the boats are similar, built between 1952 and 1964 and weighing 2,189 to 2,611 tons. The other three are nearly identical car ferries, substantially larger, built in 1982-83. Express steamers have 142 to 228 berths.

Preferring to sell the full round-trip voyage, the lines offer a special cruise rate that includes meals.

We sailed from Bergen to Bodo, a small city above the Arctic Circle, then headed back south by train to Trondheim and Oslo. We were on the ship just under three days and covered about 600 miles.

We began our journey on a rainy August evening. The white superstructure and black hull of the Nordstjernen (North Star) glistened in the drizzle. With a traditional round funnel amidships and carrying the striking, red-banded white-on-black markings of the Troms Fylkes Steamship Co., she looked a doughty, hard-working coaster of classic design.

Like the Older Ships

Seeming to hark from a date earlier than her 1956 builder’s plate allowed, she was patterned after considerably older, now-scrapped fleet mates.

Inside, however, the illusion of antiquity was shattered. The Nordstjernen was refurbished in 1983 as all eight older boats were, some more drastically than others.

Her comfortable though undistinguished public spaces on the promenade deck--two lounges, a dining room and a cafeteria--are characterized by pastel shades and contemporary furniture.

Our tickets guaranteed us berths, but because we were not full-cruise passengers they were not assigned in advance. The cabins, aft on the main deck, to which we were assigned by the purser, were tucked against the slope of the hull and Spartan: two berths, narrow but comfortable; washbasin, mirror, but no toilet or shower; coat hooks but no closet, and a porthole.

But who wants to be in the cabin anyway when coastal Norway is outside?

Though we were still tucked into our berths for the first port call, Floro at 5:30 a.m., we were on deck for arrival at Maloy a bit before 8. Our brief stop there was typical of the small ports: an item or two of cargo taken on or off, along with a passenger or two and a sack of mail.

Million Miles a Year

“Express” is a term more often used for trains than boats, but it does accurately apply to the coastal ships that annually steam nearly a million miles in aggregate.

To maintain their relentless schedule, which calls for departures on all except about a dozen off-season days a year, they dock and sail just as the published schedule says.

At each port, departure time is chalked on a blackboard hung at the gangway. A single long whistle blast sends late arrivals scrambling for the gangplank, where seamen are already standing by to help.

Particularly at the smaller villages, the express boats’ daily calls are still events of consequence, and the townspeople come down to the quay to watch.

The presence of these local kibitzers helps form the special ambiance of a working boat, along with the whining of winches during the loading and unloading of cargo, the shouted commands among crew, the bright red mail truck at dockside.

Between Moloy and Torvik, while we rounded Cape Stadt and traversed one of the few stretches of open sea on the itinerary, came breakfast: a koldtbord of eggs, meats, tinned sardines, cheeses, herrings, breads, butter (Norwegian butter is wonderful enough to rate a mention), orange juice, hot chocolate, coffee and tea.

The spread was plentiful and cost about $6.50 U.S. The daily luncheon was also a koldtbord, costing about $20.

Dreary Overcast

One advantage of a partial voyage with meals not included was that we felt no compulsion to eat both breakfast and lunch. That first day aboard we skipped lunch to walk around Alesund, Norway’s largest fishing port, where we made a stop of more than two hours.

Our appreciation of this attractive little city was subdued by the dreary overcast that had dogged us since Bergen and had hung over our presailing stay there. This was, we knew, not unusual weather for coastal Norway.

But finally, late in the afternoon, the day broke open to beautiful sun as we approached Molde, a commercial center in a spectacular setting. Heavy clouds still brooded over an expansive range of jagged mountains, forming a deep gray backdrop against which the nearer panorama--white ferries crossing, gulls wheeling--seemed dazzlingly brilliant.

Then came a memorable dinner. The dining room was attractive, with low, bright sunlight flooding in through the broad windows. Colorful gloxinias, which I had noticed being delivered to the gangplank at Alesund, appeared on the tables. After cups of consomme, the waitress brought steaming platters of succulent poached salmon steaks accompanied, in typical Norwegian manner, by boiled potato, cucumber with dill and a dish of sour cream.

The dessert was chocolate pudding with custard, and the tab was about $15, with second helpings of salmon offered and after-dinner coffee served in the lounge.

Our second day featured two port calls. The first was an all-morning stop at Trondheim, Norway’s third-largest city. A late evening stop at Rorvik was memorable because the schedule brought a southbound express steamer, the Finnmarken, into port just a few minutes after we docked, and we were able to go aboard for a visit.

Special Privileges

Full-cruisers on the coastal steamers are accorded some special privileges not available to “shorts” like us or to deck passengers.

The tour guide, for example, is there basically to cater to the cruise crowd. But the worst thing about a partial voyage is watching your ship sail off without you--which we did after disembarking at Bodo in the early afternoon of the third day.

Through my binoculars I watched the Nordstjernen churning across the wind-ruffled harbor, growing smaller. Suddenly the chunky, stalwart vessel, for which I had developed a genuine affection in just a few days, swung sharply to starboard, showing me a full broadside before slipping out of sight between rocky piles of island.

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To book either a full cruise or partial voyage, contact the general sales agent for Norwegian Coastal Voyages: Bergen Line, 505 Fifth Ave., New York 10017, (212) 986-2711. For the summer months, reservations should be made well in advance.

Fares fluctuate based on season: In July a top-rated cabin--an outside double with two lower berths, shower and toilet--costs $1,770 per person for the 11-day cruise, all meals included. From November through February, the same cabin costs $754.

At any time of year the best buy is a cruise booking rather than a short hop. And there is little duplication involved in a round trip, as few of the southbound port calls are the same as northbound, and different areas are traversed in daylight.

The coastal steamers are licensed to sell only beer (at about $4 a bottle) and wine, no hard liquor, though passengers can take that aboard if they choose. Credit cards are not accepted, which short-haul passengers paying for meals should keep in mind.

Two final caveats: One, this is not a cruise ship in the usual sense. There is a no entertainment, no gambling and no bar. And the meals, while hearty and delicious, are by no means elaborate or exquisite.

Second, as working boats, the express steamers go to ports. This means that, though the scenery is nonstop spectacular, there are no idle excursions into the deepest, steepest, most breathtaking of the fiords.