Broaden Your Horizons

Nothing reframes your worldview like a cruise. Here are a few resonant examples, from a new chapter in a father-daughter relationship to a fresh way of looking at wild creatures. Plus, the next hot spots, the coolest jobs at sea, and more

NORTHERN EXPLORER

New itineraries from Norway's beloved Hurtigruten line let travelers slow down and experience the country's miles of coastline in deeper ways

It's getting dark at the end of the world, and the snow is falling fast. It's too dark to see the sea below-for all I know, krakens are churning the water white. The cliff top I'm standing on is Norway's North Cape, the northernmost point on continental Europe (71° 10'21," to be exact). To reach it, my group steered Ski-Doos over frozen lakes and drove through a blizzard on fat-tired quad bikes, our headlamps turning the snow into brazier sparks. As we return to our cruise ship, we pass wind-carved formations as the northern lights appear and swirl across the night sky.

We're sailing with Hurtigruten, which is woven into Norway's fabric in a way that's unlike any other cruise line. For the past 130 years, its Coastal Express route has stitched together fishing communities, ferrying mail, machinery, and a whole lot of cod in its belowdecks holds. It is held in such regard here that, in 2011, more than three million tuned in to the pioneering "slow TV" show Hurtigruten: Minutt for Minutt to watch one of its ships make a 134-hour voyage from Bergen to Kirkenes, on the Russian border, parts of which were later rebroadcast on PBS. For travelers, it's the best way to experience Norway's famous fjords. But until now, adventures like mine were only possible if you packed up your possessions, spent a night or two onshore, and then hopped on, bus-style, to the next scheduled Hurtigruten ship to come to port.