LOCATION
The symposium will take place during a six day cruise on the Norwegian cruise ship MS Midnatsol between Kirkenes and Bergen, starting on Monday, 19 April 2004. Departure from Kirkenes is at 12:45 pm, and arrival in Bergen on Saturday, 24 April is at 2:30 pm. The ship is new; it entered service in April 2003.

See the Bentours International page for information about the trip, and also the Visit Norway page for an indication of what is in store for us.

Midnatsol has inside and outside cabins, mini-suites, suites and special cabins for physically disabled passengers. All cabins (except grades D and E) have private facilities. Cabins in various grades were held until the end of 2003 for CHT-04 participants, but are now being released for general sale. If participants have not yet made a reservation, they must do so as soon as possible as the ship is rapidly filling.

These photographs show cabins of grade I, grade P, grade U and grade F.

All available K2 and F2 cabins have now been allocated; however, L2, N2, P2 and some U2 cabins are still available.

The ship has comfortable lounges, bars, buffet, restaurant and observation decks. The auditorium seats 200.

There is an Internet Cafe. Access cards are available for sale from the reception desk. Cost NOK 50 for 30 minutes. Cash or credit cards are accepted as payment for the internet cards. MS Midnatsol is within range for mobile phone use during most of the voyage. All cabins are also equipped with international credit cards phones.

April is a good time of the year because of the special light leading up to summer, although it will, of course, be cool on deck - we will be north of the Arctic Circle during the first days of the voyage. General conditions can be found on the Visit Norway website.

The possibility exists of spending one or more days in northern Norway or Finland before the symposium, and in southern Norway afterwards. Information about these tours is given on the Travel and Registration page.

If you have not already done so, would you please complete and return the Pre-registration form as soon as possible.