In a nutshell
- The cruise leaves Tromso at 10:00 and is back alongside at 14:30, with roughly two of those hours spent sailing.
- The outbound hour carries the introduction and the wheelhouse visit, then the pot comes up, then lunch is served on the way home.
- Reviewers consistently say the sail out is used rather than idle, which is what keeps a four-hour trip from feeling long.
Before ten: finding the boat
The meeting point is a vessel rather than an address, so the day starts by finding MS Tromso at the quay, marked with the Norwegian Fjord Explorer Lines livery. Arrive with enough margin to walk the quay and look at boats rather than sprinting the last hundred metres, because a departure time on a boat is a real departure time. Fifteen minutes of slack is comfortable and thirty is better if you have not been to that part of the harbour before.
Once aboard there is time to put a bag down, look at the saloon and work out where you will want to stand later. It is worth doing that early. When the pot comes up everyone moves to the same side and the good positions are the ones you already know about.
Ten to eleven: out through the harbour
The boat leaves at ten and works out through the harbour before opening up towards the deeper water where the gear is set. This first stretch is when Tromso gives you its skyline from the water, with the island, the bridge and the mountains behind, and it is the easiest photography of the day because the boat is still relatively steady and the light is at its best in the middle of the day.
It is also when the introduction happens. The crew explain what a red king crab is, how it arrived in the Barents Sea from the Pacific, how it spread west and how pots work. This is not a speech delivered at the group; reviewers describe it as conversational and full of stories, and it is the reason the outbound hour is one of the better parts of the trip rather than a transfer.
The wheelhouse, at some point along the way
Guests are invited up to the wheelhouse during the sailing, where the captain talks about navigating polar waters. It happens in small groups because a wheelhouse is not a large room, and it is worth taking up when your turn comes. Reviewers single out the captain repeatedly, usually for a sense of humour and for being willing to explain things properly.
This is the part of the day that most resembles being shown around someone workplace rather than being entertained, and it is better for it. You come away understanding a little about how a boat finds a marker in a fjord in the dark, which is exactly what is about to happen.
4h30
Ten in the morning to half past two, of which roughly two hours are spent sailing and the rest is the crab.
Around eleven to twelve: the haul
The boat comes up to the marker and the rope comes aboard. A crew member takes the weight, guests take a turn pulling, and the pot breaks the surface where everyone can see it. This is the centre of the trip and it is genuinely quick once it starts, which is why knowing where you want to stand pays off.
What comes up gets sorted on deck with the crew explaining as they go, and some of the catch goes to the galley to be cooked. This is also when the crab gets passed around for anyone who wants to hold one and photograph it, which happens whether or not your own pot delivered.
Midday onwards: lunch on the way back
Lunch is served in the saloon while the boat heads home: red fish soup, a taste of freshly cooked king crab claws, and coffee, tea and fruit. Eating warm food indoors after standing on deck in the wind is a large part of why the day is structured this way rather than with lunch at the far end.
The return leg gives you the fjord from the other direction, which in winter can mean a completely different quality of light from the outbound run. If you spent the way out taking photographs, the way back is the part to spend sitting down.
Half past two: alongside in Tromso
The boat is back at the quay at 14:30, which leaves the rest of the afternoon and the whole evening free. That matters more in Tromso than it would elsewhere, because plenty of people combine this with something in the evening and the timing works cleanly for it.
Four and a half hours is the right length for what this is. It is long enough to reach real fishing ground, work the gear properly and eat without rushing, and short enough that a cold day on the water does not become an endurance exercise.
How the day feels different by season
The clock stays the same all year and the light does not. A ten o clock departure in June happens in broad daylight that will not end, and the same departure in December happens in a long blue twilight with the sun below the horizon for the whole sailing. Neither is dark in the way people fear when they hear polar night, because the middle of the day is when what light there is arrives, but they photograph completely differently.
This is the main reason two people can describe the same four and a half hours in very different terms. The structure of the day, the haul and the meal are identical. What changes is what the fjord looks like while it is all happening, and that is worth thinking about when you choose your dates.
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Answers before you go
What time does the cruise leave and return?
How strict is the departure time?
How much of the trip is spent sailing?
When is lunch served?
Is there time on deck for photographs?
Can the return time slip?
Arrive at the quay
Find MS Tromso before 10:00
The meeting point is the vessel itself. Allow fifteen to thirty minutes to walk the quay and board without rushing.
An hour towards the deep fjords
The Tromso skyline from the water, then the king crab introduction from the crew as the boat heads for the gear.
The captain on polar navigation
Guests go up in small groups during the sailing to hear how the boat works these waters.
The catch comes over the rail
A crew member takes the weight and guests pull. Whatever is in the pot is in full view when it breaks the surface.
Soup and claws in the saloon
Lunch is served under way: red fish soup, freshly cooked king crab claws, coffee, tea and fruit.
Ashore in Tromso at 14:30
The boat ties up at half past two, leaving the rest of the day free for anything else you have booked.
