My Experience with Basecamp Explorer

I started planning a trip to Norway in mid 2022.  I had never been there, but had bought a guide book that provided the typical tourist information.  It was very helpful.

While planning this trip, I became aware of Spitsbergen Island, and the city of Longyearbyen.  I had never heard of them, but I decided that I had to go there because of how far north it is, because of the wildlife there and because of the unique opportunities to photograph wildlife.

Then I discovered that a company based in Longyearbyen had an even more special place available for exploration.  Basecamp Explorer had taken over a remote radio station on Spitsbergen and over a period of time it had been turned into a unique tourist destination.

I had to see this place.  So, I booked my flight to Norway, booked my flight from Oslo to Tromso and on to Longyearbyen and made a reservation with BaseCamp Explorer.  I made all the arrangements online and via email, and worked exclusively with a young woman named Jenny.  I was on my way!   I paid a total of 16,960 NOK ($1,750.00, approx.) for this trip to Isfjord ,which was supposed to include round trip by boat to Isfjord Radio hotel, lodging for me, certain meals, a guided excursion and then one night in Longyearbyen.  

I received none of those things from Basecamp Explorer, except the last night at their hotel.

The day before I flew from Oslo to Longyearbyen, I found out via email that Basecamp Explorer was not going to pick me up at the airport on arrival.  I only found this out because I called Jenny, the young lady with whom I had been working the entire time to book this trip.  I was shocked.  Had I not called, upon arrival at the airport I would have been left standing there with no idea what to do next.  Jenny did give me the phone number for a woman who owned her own van and operated a shuttle service from the airport to town in Longyearbyen  Jenny told me to have the shuttle take me directly to the boat owned by Basecamp, for the trip to Isfjord.  I paid $77.00 for this van ride which lasted no more than 10 minutes.  But the real problem was that I received a text message upon arrival at the airport telling me to have the shuttle van take me to the Basecamp Hotel in Longyearbyen where I would be met by staff from their office, which is at the hotel.  I found out after I was taken there that I could have taken the shuttle bus that runs between the airport and the village for $7.00, and the stop for that hotel is directly outside the Basecamp office.  What a fucking rip off.  Regardless, at the hotel I was told by Maiken (manager) that because of the weather that their boat would not be able to take me to Isfjord Radio.  Instead they had booked two nights hotel for me in Longyearbyen, which included breakfast, and they had also made two dinner reservations for me at two restaurants.  I only found out later that it was their intention that I pay for my dinners, which would have been included had I made it to Isfjord.  I was given no choice in the hotel I stayed at or the restaurants I would dine at.  They had made no effort to provide any sort of guided trips or walks or anything else that were included with the trip to Isfjord.  When I was chatting with Maiken just outside her office after my arrival and she was giving me this bad news, I asked if they had guests from Isfjord that they would be picking up and bringing back to Longyearbyen for their departure from Spitsbergen.  I was told that yes, they had gone to pick up some guests.  When I heard this I was beside myself.  How in the hell could they go pick up passengers but not drop one off?  I have gone ashore in Antarctica in zodiacs and never had a fucking problem but they could not be bothered taking me to Isfjord Radio.  What a fucking rip off, from start to finish.

For my last night in Longyearbyen, I had to change hotels and move to the Basecamp Hotel.  Another ripoff.  

You have to understand that I was traveling solo, and had to pay a single supplement.  That means I paid for two people.  But that last night at the Basecamp was a horror.  They put me into a very tiny room that had BUNK BEDS!  It had one outlet for charging devices.  To illustrate how tiny this room was, imagine this.: I laid down on the bed and put my back against the wall.  I then reached out my arm and could touch the other wall!  Keep that in min, and now imagine a bunk bed above you!  It was like a coffin!  I am 6'5" tall and weigh 250.  There was no, no way in hell that I was sleep[ing in that room.  I walked down to the desk (there are no phones in the rooms) and asked for a different room.  None available.  Fuck this tiny little room.  I slept in the TV room just up the stairs from my room.  It was huge! .  That room was a fucking joke and I would never, ever do business with this company.

They did relent and provide two young guides in a van to drive me around Longyearbyen for about an hour, and they also paid for me to sail to Pyramiden on the ship Polar Girl.  

I was absolutely ripped off by this company.  I never got to see Isfjord Radio, nor take the boat ride out and back.  I never got to see the wildlife in that unique location.  I had no choice in the hotel that they placed me in.  I spent three days basically just sitting around the small village of Longyearbyen.  Don't get me wrong; I really like that town.  But that is not why I went there.  And finally, the last email I got from Jenny said that she was leaving the island the same day that I arrived, and would return the same day I was leaving.  Thus, she could not be there to answer any questions I may have had.  Additionally, Maiken informed that hunting season had just opened on the island, and she would not be available either.  And lastly, the desk and the hotel is not staffed at night.  The desk clerk departed sometime around 22:00.  I had to take a glass from the dining room to have one to use in my room, so that I could get a drink of water from the tap.  And for this I paid over $1,700.00.

Please have a look at the photos I have posted.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Norway.  It is a unique country.  But these people that run Basecamp  Explorer should be ashamed of themselves.

I would never do business with them again.