Cruise Lines

I've never had a cabin so low down on a ship as on Lindblad's National Geographic Explorer.

My daughter and I are at the very front of the vessel, as low as it is possible to go if you are a passenger - neither places I would choose to be. I just hope we don't hit bad weather as we will be the first to feel it!

The cabin has a pole - guess it's a structural thing rather than decor - and a tiny porthole, which is really not great as you can't enjoy the views and it is always dim in there (it looks bright in the picture as the sun was shining in - but we haven't seen sun for two days!).

The other drawback for me is that you either have to close the porthole at night, in which case the room is too dark for me (I always sleep with cutains a bit open on a cruise ship), or leave it open, in which case it is too light to sleep (there is 24-hour daylight up here). However, we have discovered that a towel, drapped over the window, works to dim the light enough.

On the plus side we have a huge shower, which is wonderful, and bath robes and slippers, which seem a little incongruous but did a sterling job this afternoon when we returned wet and cold from a fabulous non-landing Zodiac cruise, of which more later.

Walking along the corridors at cleaning time I have been able to spot bigger and better cabins, and ones with proper picture windows. Yesterday, as we were returning in the Zodiacs from a walk on shore, I spotted some balconies.

OK, so it's too cold to sit out on them up here in the frozen wastes of Svalbard but how lovely to have the view.