Arctic Cruise in Norway AS — Local services in Tromsø

We can only warn you to book with this company!

We had booked a whale watching tour for 8 people on the 30. of December 2022. The weather this day was quite stormy and we were surprised, that the tour wasn’t cancelled in advance. After our arrival at the harbor, our skipper informed us, that the sea was very stormy. He told us, that he had a lot of experience with the sea and this kind of weather was rather an issue for us than for himself and that some of us could get seasick. We assured him, that we already did some tours and that we were prepared for this and no one would get seasick.

Additionally, the skipper told us that he could not move our group to another day, as the weatherforecast was also bad for the 31. of December and, on the 1. of January, another private group would be touring with him.

Finally, we started our tour and left the harbor. Approximately 1h15min into the tour, the skipper called us and said, it would be impossible to reach Skjervoj as the weather was too stormy. The boat would not withstand the strong waves and he could not hold the rudder if we continued. I asked him for alternatives and he told me the only realistic option would be to drive back as the storm could come closer to the Fjords we were already in.

Afterwards, we continued and asked why he did not inform us before leaving, that due to the weather there was no chance to reach our final destination. His answer was, that he told us the sea was stormy. I do not deny that he told us this, but he never stated that there was no possibility to reach Skjervoj (that's where the whales are). Very disappointed, we turned back and after 2h 30min we arrived at the harbor in Tromso.

We wrote Kurt 3 times, always with the answer, that the skipper told us, that the sea was very stormy but he'll check again with the skipper. We didn't get an email back until we wrote again, again with the answer "I'll check with the skipper". So now here we are, 3 months later, still with no apology or any kind of compensation. The planned tour was a birthday trip for which we paid a lot of money, let us make this clear, around 2'700 Dollars! We booked almost half a year in advance and this company is not even trying to find an appropriate solution.

Maybe this tour could be quite cool if everything works out the way it's planned. But they are not even a bare minimum interested in finding a solution with their customers if something's going wrong. This trip was a absolute...

I had a wonderful experience on the 3-hour cruise around Tromsø island, which I highly recommend for people with short stays in Tromsø. The weather was not perfect (of course this is not affecting my rating) and communication has a lot of room for improvement (more on this in a bit), but our informative and jovial skipper really made the experience memorable and pleasant. I left the activity feeling that I have learned about Tromsø’s culture and nature, and some satisfaction of being on the water.

My constructive criticism would be for the company to be more disciplined with communication prior to the activity. I found Arctic Cruise in Norway on three different platforms online, each of them had different availability dates on the reservation system and slightly different activity descriptions when I checked on the same day (two weeks before my arrival in Tromsø). I inquired via email on multiple channels to get some certainty—email was never answered and WhatsApp was left read but with no follow-up. The lack of response to my inquiries made me uncertain whether the activity was even available, but I took a risk and booked the 3-hour catamaran tour anyway on the day I planned to do it (around 10 am for a 2 pm start). When I arrived at the pier, the skipper told me that I will instead join the group tour on a motor yacht and that I should’ve received communication from his boss (I never did). For me, the change of vessel was a big deal, I specifically wanted to watch how a professional crew sails a multihull as I have never done so. Though I ended up on a different vessel than I hoped for, the intimate setting felt luxurious and personal, and I personally prefer this over larger vessels with dozens of other guests.

I would definitely recommend this company still, maybe communication would be better if I did my planning further in advance. I am also accustomed to the uncertainty of activities done in nature, but I imagine this can be frustrating for other customers who perhaps made big investments to partake in an experience in Norway—being prompt with notifications and responses can...

Worst experience ever. Completely disappointed with this sea fishing trip on the newest boat. The captain was blatantly disrespectful and discriminatory：

Upon arriving at the harbor, there was no guidance. We had to find the boat ourselves. The captain's attitude was shockingly bad. While giving safety instructions, he made sarcastic comments like, "If you continue playing with your phone, I can’t talk, and everyone will have to wait for you!" Is that the right way to treat paying customers? After his instructions, I asked my partner about something I didn’t understand, and the captain mocked me again, saying, "My explanation is so bad that you can't accept it?" Unacceptable behavior. During the fishing session, nothing was organized. Despite being told two people would share one rod, four of us ended up with nothing. The captain didn’t bother explaining patiently or helping us out. Any question we asked was met with an impatient and rude tone. We even had to find and set up our fishing rods ourselves. Out of a supposed 3-hour trip, we barely got 1 hour of fishing time! ⚠️The most infuriating part: During fishing, he suddenly announced, "Lunch is ready." Since I wasn’t hungry, I politely asked if it was mandatory to go down immediately. He just kept repeating condescendingly, "Do you understand me? Lunch is ready!" What am I paying for – fishing or his attitude? Lunch was terrible – just a quick soup packet, a piece of fish, and some bread. Absolutely not worth the price. After lunch, we were told we had only 10 minutes to fish before the trip ended. What can you do with just 10 minutes?

The entire experience was a waste of money. Instead of enjoying fishing, I spent the trip enduring the captain’s bad attitude and poor service. If you’re looking for a pleasant sea fishing trip, avoid this one...