Havila Polaris

Cabins are comfortable with clean-lined Nordic design. There’s a wide range, from basic interior rooms with bunk beds to seaview and panoramic view rooms. Most of the exterior rooms are designed like typical cruise ship rooms with a pair of single or full-size twin beds. Rooms are well-wired with outlets and have a minibar, coffee and tea maker, TV, safe, and free WiFi. Bathrooms are stocked with local Norway-made bath products.

Suites

There are two suite categories: junior suites with a separate sitting room and balcony, and the luxurious lighthouse suite with bathtub, reclining loungers, and balcony with outdoor Jacuzzi. Both junior suites and lighthouse suites come with a package of extra amenities, including welcome sparkling wine and the ability to dine in the fine dining restaurant Hildring instead of the main dining room for breakfast and lunch (dinners remain available for a separate cover on specific evenings during the voyage).

18 of the ship’s cabins are wheelchair accessible, and there are also designated cabins for passengers traveling with service dogs. There are also floor-level indicators for guests with limited vision at the tops and bottoms of flights of stairs. In addition, there’s braille signage at stairs, on cabin number signs, outside accessible restrooms, and in common areas. Deaf passengers can request a vibrating alarm at reception which can be placed under the pillow to awaken them in the event of an emergency.

Corridors and doors to accessible cabins are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, and accessible cabins are equipped with automated doors and roll-in showers.

The ship can accommodate most dietary restrictions, and strongly recommends giving advance notice. There are many vegetarian dishes on the regular menus, some of which are vegan, but for passengers with stricter vegetarian requirements it is recommended to let the ship’s staff know at least three weeks in advance.

Havila rotates menus based on the region the ship is sailing through. There are two separate menus for the Fjords region to the south, and the Polar Region to the north. There’s also a roundtrip menu of always-available standard dishes at every meal, regardless of region.

Most guests dine in the main dining room Havrand. Breakfasts are buffet-style, with guests selecting their cold items from a buffet; they can also order drinks and hot items, tapas-style, which are delivered by staff. There’s a selection of cheeses, smoked salmon, yogurt, muesli, bacon and eggs, veal sausages with baked beans, pancakes, meatballs in tomato sauce, hot cereals, pancakes, fruit, salads, cold cuts, or smoothies.

Lunches are also served tapas-style, with a mix of meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes, including salads, soups, schnitzels, and salads.

Dinner is three courses—starter, main, and dessert, with a two meat or seafood options and two vegetarian options for the starters and mains on the regional menu, and one of each type on the roundtrip “always available” menu. The focus is on Norwegian seafood like trout, salmon, and cod, with meats like steak, pork, or meatballs.

Suite guests dining in Hildring for breakfast and lunch enjoy a similar menu, but in the intimate, quieter space with attentive table service. At dinner, there’s an elevated regional tasting menu with a separate cover, and several theme evenings available during the voyage, like the king crab feast out of Tromsø and Hammerfest, and the nine-course farewell dinner out of Bodø.

Havly Café is an a la carte café offering ice creams, pastries, sandwiches, and other light snacks and beverages throughout the day, including cinnamon buns and skolebolle, a yeasted bun filled with custard and topped with shredded coconut.

There’s one bar, Havblikk, with a panoramic view over the bow of the ship—particularly popular when the ship is sailing in the fjords during summer. There’s an impressively broad selection of beverages, with a focus on Norwegian beers, ciders, mead (a brewed beverage made from honey), and of course the spirit aquavit, in addition to a long list of wines, international spirits, aperitifs, digestifs, soft drinks and juices, coffees tea, and non-alcoholic beer.

Beverage packages are available in non-alcoholic and alcoholic varieties, based on a pre-paid number of units in increments of 50/70/100. Most beverages on the menu are included in the packages.

Onboard entertainment is more in line with a ferry company than a cruise line. You won’t find flashy stage shows onboard this ship, just port talks and good conversation with the expedition team, taking in the surrounding scenery (and the northern lights in the winter).

The lack of whizzbang entertainments onboard is made up for in the quality of the shore excursions, which range from kayaking or hiking adventures in the ports where the ship spends a few hours, or a snowmobiling trek between two ports while the ship traverses them by sea. Highlights include trips to Nordkapp (North Cape) near Honinngsvåg, King Crab Safari or Dogsledding new Kirkenes, or a boat trip up Geirangerfjord while the ship is docked in Ålesund.

There are two fitness rooms on deck 7—one for cardio, and one for weight training, where there are weight machines but no free weights. There are two jacuzzis outdoors on deck 8, and changing rooms with men’s and women’s saunas, which are available to all guests free of charge during the day. There are not, however, spa facilities offering spa treatments onboard.