This is going to be short one to describe the Havila Castor—the ship we took from Tromso to Trondheim.
We boarded at around midnight so our goal after a long day was just to get to our cabin and get some sleep. As budget travelers, we booked a small interior room with the thought that we would be spending all of our time on one of the many observation decks – and in fact that is what we did.
When we made our way to our cabin, we were surprised that we were given an accessible room. This had its good points, and a few downsides as well. It was surprisingly large, with two upper and two lower bunks which was nice, since one of us didn’t have to climb into an upper bunk. The bathroom was also roomy, but there was no shower stall to speak of so taking a shower resulted in water everywhere, especially when the seas were a bit rough.
The ship was more a mini cruise ship than a ferry, with many lounges scattered throughout. The top level, deck 9, was, among other things, the location of a very spacious bar with a jovial Spaniard tending to patrons much of the time. With great views this, not surprisingly, turned into our main hang out. There was even a gym on Deck 7 which, also not surprisingly, we never saw the inside of.
The cooler weather, and frequent misty rain, here didn’t make staying out on deck particularly comfortable much of the time, but there were a few spots with good views where you could get out of the wind a bit. And sometimes you just had to get outside to take in the views of the fjords, mountains and islands we were cruising through.
The food—where to start? Breakfasts were a feast that could be ordered hot from the kitchen or a variety of meat, fish, fruits and breads from the buffet. Lunches involved ordering 3-4 small dishes (or more if you wanted), and dinners were 3 course affairs every evening.
The ship stopped frequently, usually every 2-3 hours (with some notably longer exceptions), but the time in port was generally brief. At some of the longer stops, we disembarked to stretch our legs and check out the docks and shops in these small towns. But the time on board, just sailing through the fjords, was the highlight of this leg of our journey.
We were only on the ship for a couple of days but given the opportunity, we’d come back and do the full route for Kirkenes to Bergen.
