Spitzbergen-walks with independent operators

[emac]

We are in Longyearbyen from 8.00-17.00 and would like to do a walk with a local company. Has anyone used Spitzbergen Travel or Poli Arctici? Or any other ideas what to do there?

We are also in NY Alesund, Spitzbergen from 12.00-17.00 and not sure what to do.

[kaisatsu]

We did the kayak trip with Spitsbergen Travel and had a great experience. However, I believe they just broker the trips for the various local outfitters, so the actual activities are run by different companies. A few other people on our sailing never had their hiking outfitter show up, so they were very disappointed.

 

My advice is to check and double-check the activity times against your ship times to make sure they fit. We contacted Spitsbergen Travel directly by email to discuss our port times and what our options were. Then we worked out in detail where/how we would meet up with the kayaking people. This is very important, especially if you're arriving on a Sunday like we were, since their office is closed. The other people on our cruise had no one to contact when their outfitter didn't show.

 

I think we had a much better experience because we'd had so much communication beforehand.

[luvnorway]

We've been to Ny Alesund 3 times and are returning again this summer.

 

The enjoyment of the place is not what you do while you’re there, but just marveling at being in such a remote and beautiful area. It’s a very very small settlement with a population under 100 even in summer. Believe me, it makes Longyearbyen look like a metropolis!

Wander around the town roads and paths - you can cover them all easily in an hour - soak up the fantastic scenery and appreciate the tiny Arctic wildflowers that bloom on the tundra http://svalbardflora.net/index.php?id=1 - and don’t forget to look for the reindeer that are often in town.

 

Unfortunately it’s been our experience that many cruise ship passengers limit themselves to doing the following:

1) complaining about slow tendering - and, depending on the size of the ship you’re on, it can be very slow here - but there's no rush to get ashore - there's lots of time to see everything

2) fighting off the terns that will dive-bomb you if you get to close to their nests beside the paths

3) spreading rumours that they’ve seen a polar bear

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1174336&highlight=alesund

4) taking pictures of each other standing in front of the polar bear warning signs

5) taking pictures of each other beside the Roald Amundsen monument

6) crowding into the little shop and complaining there aren't enough souvenirs to buy

7) complaining about the temperature -it seems to be big surprise to some people that, when you’re less than 800 miles from the North Pole, maybe wearing your sandals and shorts wasn’t the smartest idea!

 

Then, in the tender on the return to the ship you’ll overhear comments like “there wasn’t much there”, “don’t know why we stopped there” etc.

 

It’s really a shame that so many people select this cruise and pay the uplift in the cost incurred because of the remote itinerary and then don’t appreciate it. If you do some internet searches and read about Svalbard before you go, you’ll get a lot more out of the experience.

[emac]

We did the kayak trip with Spitsbergen Travel and had a great experience. However, I believe they just broker the trips for the various local outfitters, so the actual activities are run by different companies. A few other people on our sailing never had their hiking outfitter show up, so they were very disappointed.

 

My advice is to check and double-check the activity times against your ship times to make sure they fit. We contacted Spitsbergen Travel directly by email to discuss our port times and what our options were. Then we worked out in detail where/how we would meet up with the kayaking people. This is very important, especially if you're arriving on a Sunday like we were, since their office is closed. The other people on our cruise had no one to contact when their outfitter didn't show.

 

I think we had a much better experience because we'd had so much communication beforehand.

 

 

Thanks for the advice. I will email them and see what they can offer and try to find the name of the company running the tour.

 

Luvnorway-

 

Luckily we are not tendering as the ship is relatively small.

Yes I will be doing a lot of research and I'm taking lots of warm clothes. When we visited Greenland last year we were amazed at how many people had not brought warm clothes thinking it was summer! I read the post about the polar bear sighting!