Cruise in Search of the Northern Lights on P&O Oriana

2In February I sailed from Southampton on a 12-night cruise to the Arctic Circle and back on the P&O Oriana. The Oriana is a lovely traditional ship which has recently had a re-fit and has been very tastefully done. I had an outside cabin with a restricted view, but it was very spacious with a separate dressing area and with plenty of storage. The shower room was adequate and had plenty of storage for toiletries. There were tea and coffee making facilities and a mini bar. The flat screen TV was small. The bed was very comfortable.

I had anytime dining, and I was extremely impressed with the standard of food and service in the restaurant. The choices were excellent and the wine prices very reasonable from about £16 per bottle. The lunch in the self-service restaurant was adequate but it would have been good to have more choice although the salad buffet was very good. I ate in Atul Knocher's Sindhu speciality Indian restaurant one night. There is a cover charge in here of £25 but the food and service was excellent. Drinks in the many bars were reasonably priced. I particularly liked the Crow’s Nest forward of the ship to sit and have a drink and watch the fantastic scenery.

My first port of call was Andalsnes. It was very cold with snow on the ground, but I expected this in February. I booked an excursion locally in the town when I arrived which went to the Romsdal Valley, the small skiing village of Bjorli and the Troll Wall. The scenery was stunning. The excursion was about €68 and was of about four hours duration.

The next port of call was Tromso, the gateway to the Arctic. Again, it was very cold. It was a pretty town and I had a long walk around and to the Arctic Cathedral as there was no tour that I wanted to do here. The ship stayed overnight and set sail the following morning. The scenery with the snowy fjords was stunning and after overcast weather in Tromso we sailed into beautiful sunshine.

The next port of call was the most northern point on our Arctic cruise, Alta, were we stayed for two days. It was bitterly cold here with a wind chill factor of -25c. Plenty of layers of clothing are recommended and some suitable boots for the snow and icy pavements. I did two tours from Alta. The first one was an evening trip in search of the Northern Lights. The conditions were ideal, and we saw the Northern Lights from the ship before I left for the tour at 9.30pm. They took us to an area inland where there was no light pollution and we were very fortunate to get a spectacular show of the Northern Lights. It was very cold but there was a tepee type tent which had a log fire and where hot chocolate was served. There were coaches running back to the ship regularly, so you could stay as long as you wanted up to nearly midnight. The cost was £135 per person.

The next morning, I took a tour to the Igloo Ice Hotel which was a great experience. There was an ice wedding chapel and wonderful ice carvings in the igloo hotel. Everything was made of ice, even the beds in the rooms. We were served a vodka in an ice glass. I really enjoyed this trip. The cost was £65.

The final port of call was Stavanger which was a pretty town with lovely wooden houses and shops. I wandered round the narrow streets and looked round the shops. There was a Petroleum museum that some of the passengers went to visit which was near to our berth. Our next stop was our home port of Southampton.

I was very impressed with the Oriana. The entertainment was excellent with a couple of shows every evening, one in the Pacific Lounge and one in the theatre. There was also plenty going on during the day on sea days with talks, lectures, quizzes, an excellent classical pianist and a cinema with several showings of a different film every day. Another plus point is that it is an adult only ship.

I have visited the Fjords in both summer and winter and the contrast is amazing but beautiful at both times of year. I could certainly cruise to Norway again.