Chasing the Northern Lights to Norway 13th March 2026. - in order to view the northern lights you need minimal light polution and clear skies, we had mistakingly thought the ship would alter its route to achieve clear skies, or speed up / slow down it doesnt the route was pretty fixed and it was more a matter of luck if you got clear skies. You would have thought a ship in the middle of the ocean it would be dark, no the decks are lit up like a lighthouse, the light pollution is appalling and ships crew make no effort to turn the lights down or off, when the lights are out. They have no dedicated viewing area for dark skies and lights are located so that they are always in front of you. On TV adverts the boat is shown in darkness to see the northern lights, this doesnt happen. It is seemingly badged up as a northern lights trip to entice people into winter crusing, no specific provisions are made to facilitate this.
The staff arnt predicting when the lights will be out, they wait until they are observed, put a call out and by the time most get on deck, their eyes adjust it’s too late.
On the last night we were on the rear deck, hanging over the back to minimise light pollution. Given we were sailing south and needed to look North, the only place was the back of the ship, staff closed this area off so they could stack luggage ready for off loading. Fred Olsen does nothing to increase your chances of seeing northern lights, it’s lucky if you happen to be in the right place / right time. If you are going for the lights, consider staying in Tromso or Alta for 10 nights and let the lights come to you. It will be considerably cheaper than our £7k chasing northern lights cruise on Balmoral.
No complaints about the boat, staff or food these were excellent,
We went specially to see the northern lights, the advance prediction it was the best week of the year, forecasts suggested we had opportunities but either had too much light pollution or the boat had turned to sail into cloudy skies. Others in Norway were seeing it. It felt like a standard cruise, a couple of talks about photographing and what it was, however when it got dark, the experience ended.
Other things to consider, not Fred Olsens fault, the ships moving so you can;t use an SLR on a tripod to photograph it, keeping your phone steady is extremely difficult.
Fred Olsen, please think about how you deliver your northern light experience, an area of the ship on the upper decks with low light pollution would be a good start, perhaps close the top deck off at night, turn off the lights around the outside and have a designated viewing area sectioned off in the middle of the ship, you don't have lights at the front of the boat under the bridge, why not elsewhere.
Really Disappointed, Wouldn’t do a Northern Light Cruise again. (2 starts only because of the room / staff / food)
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