Emma's Island Princess Arctic Circle Cruise Honningsvag Norway

Island Princess – Arctic Circle Cruise – Honningsvag Norway

Emma recently cruised to the Arctic Circle aboard Princess Cruises’ Island Princess. She had such an incredible experience that we are sharing her daily diary with you, so that you can see just what an amazing time she had!

Day 9. Island Princess – Honningsvag The North Cape🇳🇴

Situated at 71° North, this remote region of Norway is on the same latitude as Siberia and Alaska though due to the Gulf Stream the average temperatures range between 10° and -3°. So lakes freeze, but the ocean doesn’t and snowfall can still happen in June! However our good weather is continuing and we were very lucky to arrive on a clear summer’s day and a glorious 20°.

Honningsvag was known as The Meagre Island and has a population of approximately 2500 residents. All buildings are post war with exception of the church. The island was a safe haven during conflicts and home for many.

The Sami Tribe live and farm here. Their language is spoken widely here and also taught in school and their national dress includes a four point hat that symbolises the points on a compass. A very safe community and only five policemen work here, last year a bike was stolen, but never found and this is about as challenging as crime gets!

The Midnight Sun arrives on 12th May and sets on 31st July and in contrast, the Polar Nights have no sun for two months, but glorious Auroras dance in the night sky.

Mountain flowers grow at sea level and over 200 species of flowers are found here. The only trees that grow are Dwarf Birches and due to the climate, the Autumn colours the trees red and orange. It is uite a barren environment make it a geologists paradise, with the landscape made up of slate,crystals, minerals, granite and white marble.

A sanctuary for 1000’s of species of seabirds, gulls, gannets, puffins and white tipped eagles to name a few. Home to the King Crab that spans 6ft wide and weights approx 13kgs, just massive!

Reindeer roam wild here and swim to the mainland each winter, they are very good swimmers! In the winter the male Reindeer shed their antlers so at Christmas time, only the pregnant females have antlers! Don’t tell Rudolph that!!

We visited the North Cape centre with the Globe to symbolise the most Northern point. The Children of the Sun statues are here too and there is a Chapel and panorama cinema screen within the Guest Centre too!

If you look at a map, the actual North Point is next door to this area, but there was no option to run a road here, so they used the cliff instead. You can hike to the true northern point and it will take you approximately 4 hours each way. There are more details on our tour here

The Captain made an announcement, once we had set sail, to say we were approaching the cape from the sea, so the outside decks were filled with passengers and crew, all photographing this unique location.

We enjoyed a delicious meal in the main dining room. I had fried calamari, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, followed by treacle tart and ice cream! I have to say, the food on this cruise has been wonderful!

Island Princess is becoming one of our favourite ships, we love the older classic feel of cruising.

Next stop Newcastle after a much needed few days at sea, but I hope you’ve enjoyed sailing the coast of Norway with me!

If Emma has inspired you to take an Arctic Circle Cruise you can search for your own voyage here…

We hope you find this helpful on your travels. Don’t forget to share this to anyone who may be interested and pin us on Pinterest for future reference.

Please subscribe to us on Youtube and to our newsletter below for future updates!

You will also find some small affiliate links in the blog that help towards the cost running of the website – if you click through and buy anything from them it gives us a few pence but doesn’t cost you any extra! It’s a great help and our huge thanks go to all those who do!