If you’re looking for an exciting adventure in the Norwegian Sea, MS Polarlys has you covered and then some. This remarkable Hurtigruten cruise ship draws its name from the Norwegian for “polar light”, the stunning Arctic aurora this ship pursues in the winter months. Refurbished in 2016, this stylish ship blends the unique feel of the Hurtigruten fleet with a contemporary Arctic-inspired interior design that compliments the fantastic facilities onboard perfectly. With several modern restaurants, a welcoming panoramic lounge, and a well-informed Coastal Experience Team ready to enrich every excursion ashore, a voyage with MS Polarlys is guaranteed to be an enchanting – and wonderfully memorable – experience.
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The ship in numbers
What's onboard
Dining
As is characteristic of the Hurtigruten fleet, dining onboard MS Polarys is a relaxed and informal occasion, with freshly-prepared dishes made from seasonal, local ingredients beautifully served at each mealtime. Despite the small size of the ship, the three restaurants onboard means that guests can enjoy a range of different menus:
- Torget Main Dining - this casual main restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner made by the dedicated team of chefs
- Kysten Arctic Fine Dining - for a more private, intimate setting, treat yourself to a meal at this exquisite restaurant serving some of the best seafood in the world alongside exotic meat and other produce sourced from the Arctic wilderness
- Brygga Bistro - if you’d prefer café-style food, this bistro serves sandwiches, burgers and beverages throughout the day
Entertainment
While the emphasis on MS Polarlys may not be on glitzy entertainment like on larger cruise lines, this doesn’t mean that guests will be disappointed by what is on offer. Once night falls, many guests like to head to either the Explorer Lounge or Panorama Bar. Here, in amongst the comfortable and stylish décor, you can order your favourite drink, sit back and relax or exchange stories of the day with fellow cruisers. Given the more intimate aspect of this cruise ship, you’re bound to find new friends during your voyage.
Things to do
Hurtigruten like to ensure guests travel in comfort and style, and MS Polarlys is no exception. With so much to see onboard, cruisers will be sure to have the time of their life.
- Coastal Experience Team
- Fitness Room and Sauna
- Two hot tubs
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Iglu Cruise customer reviews for MS Polarlys
Having just come back from Bergan - Kerkenes - Bergen cruise on MS Polarlys from 21/12/2025 - 01/01 2026. What an experience we have had. We went as far as Hammerfest and managed to complete the excursion to the North Cape and couldn't go any further due to the stormy weather - we went back down to Atla for 24 hours to sit and wait for the storm to reduce. MS Polarlys was lovely it was decorated for Christmas , Cabin was very nice a bit tight to get around the bottom of the bed . We really enjoyed the heated bathroom floor and that we were able to control the heating in the room as we like it cooler at night. Housekeeping is early starts at 080;00 - 15. 00 so remember to put the sign on the door at night so you aren't disturbed - we had a outside cabin on deck 3 which meant we could leave the blind up during the night so we were able to see the ports of call when we docked and the scenery when in the fjords etc. ( Day light hours permitting as once over the Artic Circle remember at this time of year its pretty dark most of the time) The experience of docking in many places was fantastic - had to keep ahead of where you were going but that made it exciting and to plan where we had the time to get off. Booking the excursions prior to going on the cruise is a must - however it was a little frustrating to not to be able to book directly with Hurtigruten -- as we had booked with Iglu they had to communicate with Hurtigruten who then gave them a link to enable us to look at the excursions but had to get Iglu to book them - because of this we missed out on one excursion that we really wanted to do - perhaps this can be looked at for future cruisers so that you could book directly with Hurtigruten as you can with other cruise lines !! Saying that we were able to book excursions whilst on board that was really easy. Food was excellent - We had buffet the first night and a couple of times during the cruise in the evenings which was lovely - Buffett for Breakfast there was so much choice. Buffett for lunch there was a fantastic choice. The set dining at night we were group 6 20:15 dinning (no control over the time allocated) the set meals were nice but limited options. It was nice to try foods from the local areas. We choose this cruise as we wanted to experience the beautiful scenery and snow. ! and to experience a white Christmas which we got both. We were luck enough to see the northern lights for the first couple of days after leaving Bergen but due to the storm and weather being heavy snow we sadly didn't see them again. Although some parts of the cruise was really rough the ship navigated this with its experience staff . It was described by them as a "Little Movement". Staff were friendly, helpful . the excursion team were knowledgeable and we enjoyed the daily updates that they did and all of them made you feel welcome.
Absolutely amazing
wow where to begin!!! the accommodation exceeded my expectations, plenty of room, 2 portholes open to the sea without any disruption. the staff were open, friendly and extremely helpful, well done on the training. the rood was excellent in the restaurant, I tried things I never thought I would such as reindeer and caviar, the 2 café bars also offered the best quality snacks. overall a fabulous experience.
Trip was everything we had hoped for - comfortable, high quality food, fantastic scenery and every possible weather condition for the time of year. We had two good nights of Aurora borealis in the Lofoten Islands
