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While at night the prospect of the Northern Lights is enough to tempt you from your stateroom into the crisp, still, darkness beyond. The superb wildlife-viewing opportunities are endless in the astonishingly biodiverse nature reserves we visit. Kayaks offer a unique opportunity to view marine and land mammals, coral reefs, tropical fish, sea birds and an astonishing range of rainforest birds. We will bring our snorkelling gear with us during our paddles and take advantage of any opportunities to view marine life up close.
Do cruisetours in Alaska improve my chances of seeing the lights?
Your chances of seeing them increase the farther north you are, which in turn makes Iceland an ideal place to try your luck at Northern Lights gazing. Under the Northern Light Promise, if the Northern Lights do not appear on a traveler's applicable Norway Expedition cruise, the expedition group will give travelers another Norway cruise free of charge. Glimpsing the Northern Lights in all their mystical and sky-transforming glory is one of those bucket-list life experiences that many world travelers often wait years to see. Some local initiatives protesting against cruise travel have also gathered momentum, so cruisers should be aware of these issues before setting foot ashore. It passes through remote parts of eight countries—the U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia—but it's frozen at 65 degrees north.
best northern lights cruises for a spectacular adventure
Essentially, the northern lights are caused by an interaction between solar wind and the earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. The northern lights, also called the aurora borealis, is the result of electrons colliding with the Earth’s atmosphere. The electrons transfer their energy to the molecules in the atmosphere, which eventually release the energy in the form of colorful light. Popular destinations to see the southern lights include Cloudy Bay, Tasmania and Ushuaia,Argentina, the latter of which is a popular gateway for cruises to Argentina during the summer months. New Zealand's Mt. Cook (known to the indigenous Maori people as "Aoraki") also provides a stunning foreground for the aurora australis, as does the Church of the Good Shepherd in nearby Lake Tekapo. As for where in Iceland to see them, it really depends on how comfortable you are with winter driving.
Can You See The Northern Lights From A Cruise Ship? The Best Cruises for Viewing the Northern Lights
Rather than travelling large distances, our aim is to ensure you see as much as possible. We paddle between 5 to 15 kilometres (2 to 4 hours) per outing, often taking a snack and a flask of hot chocolate to enjoy on our excursion. Led by experienced guides, you and your small group of like-minded adventurers will paddle between ice floes, brash ice and icebergs of all shapes and sizes. Paddling is one of the best ways to access and intimately explore the beautiful coastlines we visit and therefore make the most of your time in the wild and remote destinations we visit. We will attempt to enter Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord, a remote and rarely visited fjord system with countless opportunities for exploration, located within the Northeast Greenland National Park.
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Tromso is another Norwegian destination known as a hub for aurora borealis viewing. In late January, there's a northern lights arts festival featuring top artists in various musical genres. Alta's credentials include the world's first permanent observatory for viewing the aurora borealis; it was built there in 1899. A whole industry has sprung up around the lights, including such extravagant shore excursions as an overnight in a tent with viewing windows at a Sami dog-sledding camp. The lights are best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere and especially in locations on the so-called auroral oval, a ring zone over the polar regions.
Want to book flights and accommodation with us or simply want some additional information? Click the button below and fill out the form, our expedition experts are more than happy to help. Passengers are unable to share a kayaking place as we customise the kayaks and dry suits for each individual kayaker at the beginning of each voyage.
Frequently asked questions about Northern Lights cruises
The 6 Best Cruises for Northern Lights Viewing - AFAR Media
The 6 Best Cruises for Northern Lights Viewing.
Posted: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Passengers will enjoy the magical display from the comfort of the ship, creating a truly extraordinary and unforgettable experience. An aurora is a natural light display that can appear as brilliant green, yellow, red, blue and purple light patterns, spirals or dynamic flickers covering the night sky. The aurora borealis originates on the sun’s surface with a massive explosion of electromagnetic matter, which projects a stream of charged particles known as solar wind into space. When these particles approach Earth a few nights later, they distort our magnetic field. The excited, ionised atoms that enter our atmosphere through the poles emit light which, when emitted on a large scale, causes the phenomenon of the Southern and Northern Lights. Northern Lights experiences are best with a dark sky as the aurora is not strong enough to outshine the sunlight.
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See The Northern Lights with Aurora Expeditions and our Expedition Team will take you on excursions unique to the High Arctic, fully included in the cost of your expedition. For those interested in a little extra excitement, there are optional activities designed to get you closer to the action. Our Northern Lights expeditions provide a mix of comfort and adventure; for those willing to explore the Arctic the memories will last a lifetime.
Rates for the eight-day itinerary start from $4,600 per person for the 2023 sailings. For the best chance of viewing the northern lights, you’ll want to be somewhere with little to no light pollution, and there are few places darker than the middle of the ocean. The first time I ever saw the northern lights in all their glory was on an expedition cruise with Adventure Canada that was traveling from Greenland to Arctic Canada. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, cruise staff made an announcement over the loudspeakers that the northern lights were active outside. They encouraged passengers to head to the top deck (nearly all of us did!), and they provided binoculars and telescopes for anybody who wanted them.
Even so, look for independent tours that take place earlier in the day to reduce any time-related risk. Cruising in Northern Europe offers a fantastic variety of excursions and experiences, from historical city tours to adrenaline-filled outdoor adventures. British line P&O Cruises operates its relatively new megaship Iona in the fjords region for much of that period, with regular departures from Southampton on a popular 7-day itinerary. Whether you prefer the action-packed ships of Royal Caribbean or MSC, or the smaller ships that can sail along narrower fjords, there will be a Norwegian fjords itinerary for you. If you want to explore modern Scandinavia while gaining access to some of the region’s best museums, such an itinerary is a perfect choice.
However, most Northern Lights cruises visit just Norway, Iceland, and Greenland because those countries have open waterways that aren’t frozen over. As mentioned, the lights like to appear in the wee hours — particularly between 11 p.m. An advantage in Norway is that it's dark enough to see them for a longer period as you get into the fall and winter. The mesmerising and otherworldly spectacle of the aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, has captivated humanity for centuries. While we can’t guarantee you’ll see the Northern Lights on your cruisetour, we can promise you’ll walk away with a deep appreciation for Alaska’s rugged wilderness, flora, fauna, and rich history. Aurora Borealis, as it’s officially known, can only be seen above the magnetic pole of the Northern Hemisphere.
The good news is that, once you’re there, you can see the Northern Lights from almost anywhere in the country – even in the heart of its capital city, Nuuk! This is because Greenland’s population is tiny and scattered across small, remote communities, so it has minimal light pollution. Not many Northern Lights tours go to Greenland but Aurora Expeditions Northern Lights cruises explore using a small expedition ship which makes it easy to visit the prime locations in Greenland to see the Northern Lights. Enrichment is an important component of our expeditions – we hope that you will leave changed and become lifelong ambassadors for the natural world and the wild, important destinations we visit.
Cunard Line and Hurtigruten are among the lines that visit northern Norway in the fall. If you are on a cruise in the Inside Passage before April 21 or after Aug. 21 and are willing to be awake in the middle of the night (the lights tend to appear in Alaska after midnight), there's a chance you'll see the aurora borealis. The ‘auroral zone’ starts in Northern Norway just above the Lofoten Islands and extends up the coast to the North Cape (Nordkapp) and beyond. You will observe the same light display from anywhere in this region, but from a different angle. Some of our favourite places in Northern Norway to witness the Northern Lights include Tromsø, Kirkenes, the Lofoten Islands, Bodø and the North Cape. Dreaming about seeing the Northern Lights is easy; figuring out the logistics of viewing those shimmering colors in the nighttime sky aren’t so simple.
Northern Lights cruises and expeditions with Aurora Expeditions offer a unique and enchanting experience, providing travellers with the opportunity to witness the mesmerizing natural phenomenon known as the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. These expeditions take place in regions near the Arctic Circle, such as Norway or Iceland, where the Northern Lights are frequently visible. Our cruises are strategically timed to coincide with periods of high auroral activity. Passengers will embark on comfortable expedition vessels, equipped with expert guides, to explore remote and dark-sky locations.
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