Cruising To The Top of The World on the Svalbard Express

There was no Broadway show nor ice-skating rink, no go-cart track nor robot bartender. And my stateroom, albeit comfortable, had only a small window instead of a balcony.

Yet, of the 30+ (mostly Caribbean) cruises I've taken, my voyage on Hurtigruten's 500-passenger MS Trollfjord last summer – complete with a frigid Arctic plunge and a hike over snow-dusted hills –was arguably the most memorable.

Read all about my voyage on the Svalbard Express - an eight-day, 7-port north-bound routing from Bergen, Norway that took us past the Arctic Circle to the northernmost town in the world - in the February issue of Travel + Leisure and online, here.