We are planning a 14 days NCL cruise in the arctic circle NEXT Year at the end of August. Wonder if anyone had seen Northern Light during that time frame. The cruise starts in Tromso, Norway, ports of call including Northern Norway ports, Shetland Is., Faroe Is., Iceland and Greenland.
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I have not…however, I have heard if you let them know at the pursers desk that you would like a wake up call regardless of time if the northern lights are seen they will call you. I know 2 groups of people who went on 2 different trips, one put the request in and was woken around 2am with the announcement - the other hadn’t known they could do that and missed out. It’s kind of an “off menu” thing, if you know to do it you do. Follow along on Cruise Critic for the months leading up to the trip & get all sorts of hints and clues.
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Are you aware that for most of August, northern lights are not visible? It’s because there’s a lot of daylight that far north. If possible, maybe reschedule for September if you want to go when it’s not too cold.
I used to work for an airline and usually saw Northern lights in fall through spring.
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Many years ago we did a Scandinavian tour which included Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Tromso (where we did see the Northern Lights)-- but we went in the fall (I believe October). It was a wonderful trip.
As @Lindagaf suggests it does appear that mid-September through April is the best time to see the Northern Lights. Northern Lights | Norway | Visit Tromsø | Visit Tromso
That is the reason I asked. Aug 26 is the last sailing for NCL on that route, I am betting when the ship arrives Greenland on Sep 6, we would have a chance to see it. Do I have a good assumption?
In Tromso on the 26th, it is either day or twilight. It doesn’t get dark.
Further, we are at the minimum of the solar cycle. That means few auroras (aurorae?).
Further further, the solar activity over the last few cycles has been lower than it’s been in a while - certainly lower than in the 50’s.
We were in Anchorage, which is south of the arctic circle, in the second week of August 2019, and at no point during the night was it dark enough for northern lights to be visible.
It’s not possible to determine if you’ll see them only if it’s likely. I used to live in Canada and saw them many times there ( different times of the year).
Didn’t see them in Iceland ( late August) though we tried, we were there 2 weeks and up most nights.It doesn’t get very dark at all. Maybe darkest around 3AM. But not pitch black and we were about 1/2 miles from the next house so no light pollution factors. Whenever I’ve seen them it’s usually been very dark. And I’ve seen them mostly in the Fall and Winter in Canada.
Would like to see them again.
We took Norway cruise after Xmas one year hoping to see them. Most of them are not as spectacular as what you see in pictures, green, red, purple, etc. What I saw was just a white wisp. I didn’t see anything colorful. It was still nice.
The sun has been uncooperative lately.
There is a set of webcams for the Shetland Islands, and we have seen the Northern Lights, live, on those more than once. Pretty amazing stuff plus I am sitting on my couch.
You want to choose the webcam for Burrafirth, late in EST afternoon. There are many aurora predictor sites to help you know when it might be visible
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When I’ve seen them, they’ve been fantastic. Mostly green and white, but I’ve seen the red and other color versions. I’ve never seen purple. I often wonder if the colors are based on different times of the year/place. I think I read once that it depends on the minerals/debris floating around. The intensity of the movement with the colors was the most amazing part. Once saw it from an airplane and that was cool too as it was a different perspective.
The colors are related to the physical process and target element. Ionizing nitrogen might be purple, and exciting oxygen might be red. (These may not be correct - hence the “might”) This depends on altitude, and that depends on latitude and solar activity.
Thanks. Well, seeing ionizing nitrogen is on my bucket list.
Look at lightning. 
Thanks. What about Sep 6-7 in Greenland? The ship will be around Scoresby Sound on Sep 7. Will it be north enough to get dark skies?
I would be totally shocked if you saw the lights on this trip unfortunately. Not impossible, but almost. If you really want to see the lights, you should do a winter trip. Even a winter trip has no guarantee of lights, however. The farther north you are, the lighter it will be until the fall equinox.
That said, late August and early September is the best time to visit the far north, in my opinion! The mosquitos are often dwindling, it’s not too cold yet, and you still get a ton of daylight to do fun stuff. Sometimes the fireweed has even started to turn by then. Enjoy!
Thanks for your comments! It is a wishful thinking any way, thought I can kill two birds with one stone.