King Crab Fishing Tour Tromso: MS Tromso and What Is Aboard

In a nutshell

MS Tromso is a classic arctic explorer boat with an indoor saloon, which changes a winter trip more than anything else you can choose.
There is seating, there are toilets, and coffee and tea are available for the whole four and a half hours.
You can be outside for the haul and inside for the sailing, which is what most people actually do.

What kind of boat this is

MS Tromso is described by the operator as a classic arctic explorer vessel, and the practical meaning of that phrase is a proper enclosed boat rather than an open one. There is an inside and an outside, and you can choose between them at any point in the trip. On a four and a half hour sailing in northern Norway, in winter, that single fact matters more than almost anything else about the day.

The comparison worth making is with a RIB. Rigid inflatable boats are fast, exciting and completely exposed, and they are the right choice for a short high-speed trip in a survival suit. This is the opposite kind of vessel: slower, steadier, warmer, and built around the idea that you will be aboard for hours rather than minutes. Neither is better in the abstract. For a trip whose centre is a pot being hauled and a meal being eaten, the enclosed boat is the one that makes sense.

The saloon

The indoor saloon is where the trip lives when nothing is happening on deck. Reviewers list what is there without much fanfare: seating, toilets, hot drinks. One reviewer describing a rainy, windy March day mentioned being glad the ship was not crowded, which is the other half of what makes an interior comfortable, and another simply listed the comfortable facilities on board as one of the reasons the trip worked.

It is also where lunch is served, under way, on the return leg. Coming in from a cold deck to a warm room where soup is arriving is a specific pleasure that the structure of the day is clearly built around.

The deck, and the haul

The deck is where the pot comes up, so everyone goes outside for that regardless of the weather. It is worth working out early where you want to stand, because the haul is quicker than people expect and everyone moves to the same rail at the same moment.

Outside of the haul, the deck is optional. Some people stay out for most of the sailing, especially in summer when the light is endless and the fjord sides are green. In December, with no sun above the horizon at all, most people alternate: out for a while, in to warm up, out again when something is happening.

Crab being cut on a board on deck with a knife

The wheelhouse

Guests are invited up to the wheelhouse to hear the captain talk about navigating polar waters, which is one of the genuinely distinctive things about this particular boat. It happens in small groups because of the size of the room, and it is the part of the trip that most feels like being shown around a working vessel rather than being hosted on a tourist one.

Reviewers mention the captain frequently and warmly, usually for humour and for taking questions seriously. If you have any interest in how a boat actually works, this is fifteen minutes to make sure you do not miss.

How it rides

A vessel of this type is steady compared with a small boat, and the fjords around Tromso are sheltered compared with open sea. That combination means most people are comfortable most of the time. It does not mean the boat is motionless, and anyone who knows they are sensitive to movement should take the usual precautions before boarding rather than after.

Winter weather is real here and reviews from the coldest months mention rain and wind as ordinary conditions rather than as a problem with the trip. The boat is large enough that ordinary winter weather makes the deck unpleasant for a while without affecting the sailing itself.

Choosing this boat over another

If you are deciding between king crab trips, the vessel is the axis that will actually change your day. An enclosed boat with a saloon suits families, older travellers, anyone who feels the cold and anyone who wants to sit down for part of a four-hour trip. It also suits anyone who wants to eat a proper hot lunch on the water, which is difficult to do well on an open boat.

What you give up is speed and the exposed, immediate feeling of a small craft close to the water. If that is what you are after, a RIB trip will serve you better. For most people doing this in a northern winter, the saloon is worth more than the speed.

Where the boat leaves from

MS Tromso sails from the quay in the city, which is the other practical advantage of this trip over some of its alternatives. There is no road transfer at either end and no meeting point in an industrial harbour some distance out of town. You walk to a boat, and four and a half hours later you walk off it back into the same city.

Because the meeting point is the vessel rather than an office, the thing to look for is the boat itself and the Norwegian Fjord Explorer Lines markings it carries. That is easier than it sounds once you are on the right stretch of quay, and it is the reason to leave a little margin the first time.

Sail on MS Tromso from the city quay

Dates and spots

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Answers before you go

Is there anywhere warm on board?

Yes. There is an indoor saloon with seating and toilets, and coffee and tea are available throughout the trip rather than only at lunch time.

Are there toilets on the boat?

Yes, reviewers list toilets among the onboard facilities alongside seating and hot drinks, which is one of the practical advantages of an enclosed vessel over an open one.

Can I stay outside on deck the whole time?

You can. Most people alternate, going out for the haul and for photographs and coming back into the saloon to warm up during the sailing legs.

How steady is the boat?

Steadier than a small craft, in fjords that are sheltered compared with open sea. It still moves, so take any seasickness precautions before boarding rather than once you are out.

Is seating guaranteed?

The saloon has seating and reviewers describe the boat as not crowded. It is a shared space rather than allocated seats, so arriving aboard early gives you a better choice.

Can I visit the wheelhouse?

Yes, guests go up in small groups during the sailing to hear the captain talk about navigating polar waters. It is one of the better parts of the trip.

On board