Ferrying

Post by Ella.

Late this afternoon, (now I suppose that would be yesterday the 23rd because it’s early morn the 24th as I write this)  we boarded the MS Nordnorge, run by Hurtigruten, bound for Tromsø in the far north of Norway. We arrive the afternoon of the 27th. There is WiFi aboard so we will continue our blogging.

The MS Nordnorge is a working passenger and car ferry, calling in at many small ports along the way. Serving the local public for 130 years. It used to serve as the only mail delivery vehicle and was crucial for people in small villages for transport of supplies before roads were built.

I didn’t get great pics of the ferry before we boarded.

We are not going to call this a cruise, because, as the expedition leader told us tonight at the Captain’s briefing, this is not a cruise. “If you aren’t back on board by the time we are scheduled to leave, well, bye-bye. We must stick to our schedule because people are counting on us”. So, this not-a-cruise for multiple days on a boat is a new thing for us. We’ve never been on a cruise much less a 5 day ferry ride.

Dinner was a massive buffet which started before we sailed. Open seating for the first night. After that, we have an assigned table. Yes, the food was quite good.. We sat with a couple of retired journalists, one Swedish, one Danish. Somehow the conversation turned to the “happiest” place (supposedly Finland) and Jacob (the Dane) said he always thought Americans were the happiest because we are always so friendly. Huh.

Then it was time to go up to the observation deck to watch as anchors up and we slowly chugged away from Bergen promptly at 8:30pm. 

More on ferry life to come.