• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

Norway Travel

  • Home
  • Photos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Shopping
  • Food
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Sightseeing / So What’s a Trollfjord Drink?

So What’s a Trollfjord Drink?

By Helen Page 1 Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

A Hurtigruten Tradition on Crossing the Arctic Circle:

Hurtigruten cruise

Neptune and the Viking Captain

We reached the Arctic Circle this morning and as we pass the entrance of the Trollfjord, it is a tradition on  a Hurtigruten cruise that you have a Trollfjord drink.

Our invitation says to put on warm clothes and to be out on the deck at 23:30 and we’ll have the opportunity to taste some fishcakes and to buy a Trollfjord drink!!!

The Trollfjord Drink Tradition

It’s freezing and drizzling and there’s not much cover on the deck. After a few minutes of waiting, our cruise director arrives, followed by the drinks trolley. There’s a huge bucket of ice on the trolley and I wondered at the necessity of ice in this freezing temperature.

Next a scary looking Neptune arrives, followed by the ship’s viking captain. It now becomes clearer what the three exclamation marks are. The Trollfjord drink is a laddle of ice water down your back, and you get rewarded with a Certificate of the Arctic Circle to confirm that you’ve made it to the Arctic Circle.

Most of the passengers take the Trollfjord Drink in good spirit and Tony decides that the best way to survive this is to take off all layers of clothing leaving only one garment on to get wet.

Tony having a Trollfjord Drink..

Tony having a Trollfjord Drink..


It’s only the ship’s officers who administer this tradition and these sadistic Norwegian officers are merciless in dishing out the ‘drinks‘ and enjoy seeing the passengers scream and squirm.

The certificate is a nice souvenir of the voyage and  is signed by the captain.  It wishes all recipients “Måtte hell og lykke følge deg på denne reise og i all din tid” or in simple English “May good luck and happiness follow you on this voyage and forever after.”

A Trollfjord Battle

For just a little bit of history – the famous Battle of the Trollfjord took place here in March 1890. Trollfjord is a highly sought after fishing area as there are plenty of cod in this part of the Norwegian fjords. The night before the eventful battle several steam boats had broken the ice in the fjord. They then blocked the entrance to the Trollfjord and demanded that fishermen pay a cost to get in.

The fishermen refused to pay, broke through the barricades and a big fight ensued. This matter made headlines and the Parliament and authorities subsquently worked out new and fairer laws in regard to the fisheries in the Lofoten Islands.

If you’ve been on a Hurtigruten cruise and experienced a different kind of Trollfjord Drink, we’d love to hear about it.

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Sightseeing Tagged With: arctic, Arctic Circle, arctic travel, circle arctic, cruise norwegian, fjords, fjords cruise, hurtigruta, hurtigruten, hurtigruten coastal voyage, lofoten, lofoten islands, northern lights tours, norway cruise, norwegian cruise, norwegian fjords, travel norway, trollfjord, visit norway

avatar

About Helen Page

Helen Page is a prolific blogger and ardent traveller; she runs Travelsignposts with her professional writer and photographer husband Tony.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • VAT Refund in Norway
  • Summer Chamber Music by the Moscow Chamber Music Academy
  • Bergen – Famous for its Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf
  • The Legend of the Seven Sisters
  • Airport Transfer – Bergen Flesland Airport

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Devon & Cornwall
  • England
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2022 ·Lifestyle Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address