Norway's sheltered port of Tromsø is aiming to become the Arctic hub for cruises to Spitsbergen and northwest Russia as well as a possible northern turnaround base for cruises of five, seven and 10 days to the fjords and continental Europe and UK.



Tromsø Airport, 4km from the harbour, has numerous daily flights to Oslo and on to international destinations and the city boasts good infrastructure as one of northern Scandinavia's natural hubs for communications and services.

A booklet produced by Northern Norway, Port of Tromsø and Visit Tromsø entitled 'Turnaround at 69° North' outlines a host of possible itineraries such as an eight-day fjords/Lofoten Islands cruise starting in Tromsø and finishing in Copenhagen or Dover (or vice versa), or an 11-day cruise departing Tromsø calling at Spitsbergen, the fjords and finishing in Hamburg. Another option is a 10-day round-trip Tromsø cruise to the White Sea with stops at North Cape and Russia's Murmansk, Archangel and Solovets or a seven-day round-trip Tromsø itinerary to Spitsbergen.

2011 marks the birth of Fridtjof Nansen 150 years ago and it is 100 years since Roald Amundsen and his expedition reached the South Pole. The Polar Environmental Centre in Tromsø (Fram Centre) has special exhibitions focussing on these events this year. 

Tromsø is expecting 80 cruise calls in 2011, including around eight turnarounds, says Harriet Willassen, the port's marketing manager. A new quay will be ready in August allowing for larger cruise ships to call at the city centre berth where a new terminal is scheduled to be ready by 2014. 

Four cruise ships called this winter, notes Willassen, so Saga's landmark call in 2009 has inspired others, she adds.

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