20260612 Friday, June 12, 2026 Tromsø, Norway

20260612 Friday, June 12, 2026 Tromsø, Norway

As the ship eased into Tromsø Harbor, it slipped past the National Geographic Resolution Expedition ship, which is in a very similar class to the Viking Polaris and Octantis Expedition ships. What the ship was doing was a bit unclear because it was just station keeping just outside the navigation channel and not docked or conducting any tender operations.   

The Viking Neptune tied up at a prime berth on the Tromsø waterfront, spinning itself 180º before setting the mooring lines.  We had breakfast in the World Cafe before meeting up with Mark and Jan to go ashore and wander a bit around Tromsø’s waterfront.  

We ended up doing a self-guided tour, stealing an itinerary from Tours By Locals and combining this with Wikipedia descriptions of each site. 

 

Tromsø Protestant Cathedral

Tromsø Library

Tromsø Catholic Cathedral

Tromsø Public Library

Tromsø Storgata shopping district

Tromsø Polar Museum

We started at the Protestant Cathedral, wandered down Storgata, which is the historic main business street, visited statues of Roald Amundsen and King Haakon VII and other sculptures, peeked inside the Tromsø Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady, wandered around the remains of the ancient fortress Skansen, through the old Vervet shipyard, which is actually still being used as a dry dock, around the Polar Museum, which was closed at that hour, and then out to the jetty of the marina, where we found great views of the ship and the Arctic Cathedral.  

Jan and Janet did some window shopping and found some free postcards for souvenirs while Ben walked along the waterfront trying to get a photo of Doug and Sandy who had chosen to climb up the Sherpa’s Stairs to have lunch at the Fjellstua Café at the top of Mount Storsteinen.  These are stone stairs built by Nepalese Sherpas to the top of Mount Storsteinen from the Arctic Cathedral.

The peak is 421 meters above sea level and provides a spectacular view, but the 1,200 steps can be hard on the knees.  

A leisurely lunch was enjoyed in the World Cafe before meeting up again for our scheduled 1:10 p.m. excursion “Panoramic Tromsø”.  Doug and Sandy were making their way back from their hike, and it looked like they might have made the excursion, but they ended up stopping short, opting to relax on the waterfront rather than sprinting the last block to the bus. 

 
The “Panoramic Tromsø” tour did take us well beyond walking distance from the ship, starting with a tour of historic houses and buildings in the foothills behind Tromsø, then heading north along the east side of the island that Tromsø is situated on.  

We could see the huge Celebrity Apex cruise ship docked several miles north of Tromsø’s city center in front of the University and Science Center.  

The bus unloaded us at the Tromsø Planetarium.  There is a lot of “Furthest North” stuff in Tromsø including the Protestant and Catholic cathedrals, and the University and Planetarium.  We were treated to a planetarium show highlighting the Aurora Borealis through the lens of a famous Tromsø filmmaker and photographer.  

There was video of some amazing displays of the northern lights, as well as some explanation of the science behind the northern lights.  Of course, with the very comfortable fully reclining chairs and mesmerizing music, it wasn’t hard to “rest your eyes” for a bit during the show.  

Of course, being north of the Arctic Circle during the summer means it is impossible for us to view the Aurora Borealis on this itinerary during the midnight sun, so it was nice that they gave us the opportunity to experience the Aurora Borealis in the planetarium setting.  

We were then taken through some amazing underwater tunnels to the Arctic Cathedral, which is quite a landmark across the Tromsø Bridge from the city center.  It is made of 11 aluminum-sheathed concrete panels, a little like the Sydney Opera House but with a more pyramid-like form.  The huge crucifix on the western face gives the building the shape of a tall masted ship, while the eastern face features one of the largest and most monumental glass mosaics in Europe.  While the church was completed in 1965 (designed by Jan Inge Hovig), the mosaic was created by Victor Sparre in 1972.  The church hosts over 500 concerts annually.

In a nod to Norwegian historic stave churches, which almost all feature a hanging votive model ship to give thanks for surviving the sea, the pipe organ in the church features elements reflecting a sailing ship in the abstract. 

 
Since we were in the neighborhood, we took a brisk walk to see if we could get a peek at the Sherpa’s stairs because the trail starts right behind the Arctic Cathedral, but the first part of the trail is just a gravel path.  The actual stone steps begin about 1km from the church, so we didn’t have time to actually see the start of the steps.

The bus took us back through another tunnel running under a hillside which contains an underground roundabout lit up like a disco club.  There is actually a huge underground parking lot and shelter space that is used as an event venue, but was originally built as a Cold War-era shelter for Tromsø residents.  

That was pretty much the end of the tour, which delivered us back to our ship.  
We enjoyed a bit of relaxation in the thermal spa after returning to the ship.  We even had some time for a nap before dinner.  

Janet had managed to nab us reservations in the Chef’s table to try the California menu, although they were for 8 p.m.  She was able to get that moved up to 7:15 p.m. so we could enjoy the evening theater show featuring the Cruise Director Philip Morgamon doing some Broadway and other songs.  

After our ship pulled away from the dock in Tromsø, the National Geographic Resolution fired up its motors and headed in to dock where we had been without a single passenger visible on deck.  It was probably preparing to take on a new load of passengers to begin a voyage out of Tromsø.  

20260611 Thursday, June 11, 2026 Lofoten Island, Leknes, Norway

20260611 Thursday, June 11, 2026 Lofoten Island, Leknes, Norway

We awoke to the sounds of the hoists deploying one of the tenders below, which came as a surprise because we were scheduled to be at dock in Leknes for our call on Lofoten Island.  Pulling open the blinds, the ship appeared to be stationary, but there were two tenders in the water.  As we prepared to go to breakfast in the World Cafe, an announcement was made explaining that due to high winds predicted for the afternoon, the ship would anchor outside Leknes and would conduct tender operations to shuttle passengers ashore. 

 
Our shore excursion was scheduled for 12:55 p.m., but since we have never been to Leknes on Lofoten Island before, we wanted to be able to explore a bit on our own. So we had a quick breakfast in the buffet and hopped on an early tender.  These are dedicated to scheduled excursion groups before 10:30am but those who wish to explore on their own can go ashore earlier on a standby basis.  We had no trouble getting on the first available tender after we got to the tender embarkation deck.  

Leknes is a very small industrial marina dock with very little to see aside from a tiny gift shop at the head of the dock.  

Viking ran a shuttle into the Leknes city center, which was several miles distant.  There is a small downtown core consisting of stores, restaurants, and other local businesses which looked indistinguishable from any suburban modern city.  

There was a tourism guide at the bus stop who suggested a scenic walk which took us on a 3.5-mile walk with a 350’ elevation gain to the top of a hill with an overlook of the fjord that Leknes is situated on.  There is an outcropping of flat rocks on the top that are reminiscent of Goose Rock back home.  The walk was also an opportunity to see up close the explosion of wildflowers brought on by the onset of the midnight sun.

  

The sky was overcast, and we did get a tiny bit of rain spit upon us early in the walk, but the main issue was it being windy.  After our walk, we got back on the ship with just enough time to grab lunch at the buffet and join our friends to head back to shore on a tender for our scheduled excursion.

This excursion was “Scenic Lofoten & Seafood Visitor Center”.  This started with a 20-minute bus ride to the Lofoten Seafood Exhibition Center run by Lofoten Seafood.

Lofoten is most famous for a unique, highly valued seafood product called stockfish.  
Lofoten is situated in the center of the spawning grounds for Atlantic cod.  These fish are gutted and hung to ferment and dry in the cold wind during the long winters in Lofoten for 3 months on wooden racks and then allowed to further dry in dry storage for another 2-3 months to reduce the moisture content by 80%.  This creates a product that has a shelf life of years.  It is this method of preservation that allowed Vikings to travel such long distances in their explorations and conquests.  

When an Italian merchant became shipwrecked near Lofoten, he was introduced to stockfish.  When he eventually returned home, he introduced stockfish to Europe, and it became extremely popular in Portugal and Italy for its convenience, versatility, and unique taste.  

Stockfish can be pounded into flakes which can be eaten as a snack or used in making soup stocks and can also be rehydrated and used in many different preparations.  It became extremely popular in Catholic Mediterranean countries because it was a convenient protein alternative for periods when consumption of meats was forbidden.  

It was more recently introduced to Africa as a source of food aid in the 1960s, and its popularity since has made Nigeria the third largest importer of stockfish in the world, consuming $30.5M annually, behind Portugal ($244M) and Sweden ($76M).
Economically, stockfish has had a profound impact on Norway’s trade balance over history.  After WWII, Norway actually paid for the construction of 4 large Italian sea vessels with stockfish instead of currency.

We saw racks and racks of stockfish at the end of their outdoor hanging time, as well as many empty racks and a warehouse filled with stockfish in the process of additional indoor aging and drying, and processing for export.  We had the opportunity to sample stockfish flakes and fermented stockfish roe.  The flakes were a bit like fish jerky, although Japanese bonito flakes are also very similar.  The fermented roe is served as a spread like caviar and has a similar briny taste.  There was also a creamy cod spread made with reconstituted stockfish that was tasty.  

The stockfish factory also had a small museum attached with displays explaining the various steps required in stockfish fishing and processing.  Lofoten Seafood also farms salmon and had displays on salmon aquaculture as well.  We have seen many floating salmon pens throughout our cruise through and around the fjords of Norway. 

 
The last stop of the tour was Haukland Beach, a large sandy beach surrounded by towering fjord walls. This is quite a beautiful site.  There were lots of locals camping in tents in campgrounds that surround the beach and hiking trails heading up into the steep sides of the fjord.  

We had a great tour guide who was very tall (over 6’ 7”) and great at delivering stories and jokes about life in Lofoten. 

 
The clouds had eased a lot in the afternoon, yielding frequent sun breaks, and there was no rain during our afternoon tour.  The tender ride back was a little bumpier due to chop and swells induced by the wind, but we got back on time and dry. 

 
We got back with enough time to spend a while relaxing in the thermal spa before dinner.

We were on our own for dinner, so we dined at a table for 2 in the restaurant.  We both ordered a reindeer stew, which was really delicious, and one of the tastier meals we’ve had on this cruise.  

After dinner, we were joined by Mark and Jan for Name that Tune trivia.  We did OK, scoring 21/24 with two teams tied with 23 points as high scorers.  The tiebreaker was what was the run time of Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.  The correct answer was 4’ 9”, and one team remarkably guessed 4’ 8” for the win.  

We closed out the evening with a second show by Becki Biggins, this time featuring women singers from the Great American Songbook like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Peggy Lee.  She again put on a high-energy and excellent show, but this time backed by a canned soundtrack instead of the live band.  Now that we are further along in our recovery from jet lag, it was a bit easier not to nod off during this performance. 

 

Tomorrow we arrive in Tromsø, Gateway to the Arctic.  We should be tied up at the dock at 8 a.m., and have our inclusive tour “Panoramic Tromsø” at 1:10 p.m.  We will probably wander through the town in the morning after breakfast since the ship ties up right on Tromsø’s waterfront.