How Can He Bear It?!

(Continuing the day-by-day look at my recent Arctic cruise around Spitsbergen with Hurtigruten)



Quite an eventful day today as we saw our first polar bear swimming beside the ship. I'm not really sure who was looking at who!



It's also great to see so many old faces from our recent Antarctic trip with Hurtigruten, and the Fram is as lovely as ever.



The scenery is truly spectacular up here and the bird life amazing. Longyearbyen is a tax-free zone so we have stocked up on booze and goodies for the flight home. Still strange to have no night time, though; the bar bill is starting to mount up already!



For more info on the cruise, visit www.hurtigruten.co.uk or contact the UK's adventure-cruise experts of The Cruise Line Ltd.

Blogging from the Arctic

From Steve Newman in Longyearbyen



Well hello! Here we are in Spitsbergen deep inside the Arctic Circle. We board Hurtigruten's MV Fram in about two hours so I'm writing this in the hotel. It's snowing! But the scenery is fantastic - wild reindeer are grazing outside our hotel but we can't go out to the end of the road as there are polar bears about!



Amazing last night sitting in the bar at 1am with the locals in broad daylight. Well, we have a meeting with the expedition staff now so I'll write again tomorrow (Internet connection permitting) and hopefully have some pictures for you.



(NB: Pic added from Hurtigruten via World of Cruising editor)

Noble Caledonia's New Arctic Cruises

Svalbard is a remote and spectacular archipelago of immense glaciers, narrow fjords and abundant wildlife, somewhere we have featured several time in World of Cruising in recent issues. And here's a new opportunity to visit it in style and comfort:

Let Noble Caledonia's small but comfortable sister expedition ships, the MS Quest and the MS Ocean Nova, take you on a memorable journey into the realm of the polar bear. In Spitsbergen, there are twice as many polar bears and walrus as there are people. The polar bear population is estimated at more than 3,000 and we hope to encounter some of them during our summer voyages.

Our guests will witness a vast geological spectacle of soaring mountains and immense glaciers. A photographer’s paradise unfolds before us: black basaltic islands rise from shimmering waters punctuated with gleaming ice sculptures, and lush tundra blazes with purple saxifrage and moss campion. Within this dramatic landscape resides a wealth of wildlife: seals, walrus, whales, Arctic foxes and, our ultimate goal, polar bears. The area is also home to hundreds of thousands of breeding seabirds, including kittiwakes, murres, dovekies, puffins and rare ivory gulls.

Guests will take full advantage of the long daylight hours and embark on numerous Zodiac excursions to view the profuse wildlife up close.

In the beginning of the season, Spitsbergen’s flowers are in full bloom and the bird colonies are bustling with life. In the latter part of the season we have very good possibilities of exploring the eastern parts of the archipelago when the ice is slowly starting to lose its grip.

Our expedition ships have the highest ice class and can carefully break through the pack ice, which is also home to seals, walrus and the king of the Arctic, the polar bear.

For more info, visit Noble Caledonia or contact the adventure-cruise specialists of The Cruise Line Ltd.

Great Arctic Early Booking Deal!

By guest blogger Steve Newman

If it’s your dream to see polar bears, walrus, reindeer and whales in their natural habitat, then look no further than Gap Adventures M/S Expedition. Gap Adventures is offering an early booking bonus of 25% off expeditions to Norway and Spitsbergen in May, June and July 2011.

Terms & Conditions: Promo code is ArcticEBB. Discount is 25% off Arctic expeditions for 2011. Excludes Arctic Highlights (XVAHNX) tour. Valid for new bookings only in a category 2 and higher cabin only. Cannot be combined with any other offer, promotion or discount. Does not apply to air fare, hotels, transfers or other in-country services or on-board ship charges.

The offer is available until January 31.

Realm of the Polar Bear is just one of the amazing deals Gap Adventures has on offer for travellers.

Now: £2339 pp (was £3119 – save 25%) Departs: July 10.

Highlights: Svalbard Islands and Longyearbyen, Isfjorden, whales, Spitsbergen, Hinlopen Strait, polar bears, incredible scenery, Arctic swimming, Ny-Ålesund, birdlife and glaciers.

Enjoy an eight day trip from just £2339 per person. Price includes seven nights aboard the M/S Expedition, all meals onboard, Zodiac excursions with expert expedition team, lecture and educational programmes, Longyearbyen airport transfers depending on passengers flight details, live evening entertainment, waterproof boots supplied and Arctic destination guide.

For full details, visit: http://www.gapadventures.com/. For more great ideas on adventure cruising and the Arctic North, look up the Adventure Cruise Collection.

The Adventure Cruise Collection

By guest blogger Steve Newman

Adventure cruising is the fastest growing section of the market, with more and more people of all ages wanting to 'get up close' to nature.

The Cruise Line have just launched their new Adventure Cruise Collection brochure, and I strongly advise you to get a copy if this is your style of cruising.

From watching bears fishing for salmon in Alaskan rivers to swimming with turtles in the Caribbean, getting up close to polar bears in the Arctic or lying on the snow to snap away at Emperor Penguins, this is a must for any adventure cruiser. Destinations include the Galapagos, Hawaii, New Zealand, Central America and a whole lot more. Find out more by logging on to the http://www.cruiseline.co.uk/ or call them on 0800 008 6677.