Any recommendations on boats? Experiences? So far have found the Geographic Explorer - very pricey, and the M/S Quest which looks reasonable and is less expensive even at current Euro/Dollar exchange rates.

An alternative to cruise ships is just to fly to Longyearbyen yourself, stay in town (there's a nice Radisson hotel), and use one of the couple of local tour agencies that do day hikes and multi-day tours (hiking, kayaks, or small ships) with their guides. Not as posh as most cruise ships, but also much cheaper I'd imagine, and you're seeing the place with much less of a crowd. I haven't done it myself, but my spouse did once; I think the one he used was Svalbard Wildlife Service.

Lisa

Hi,

I've been twice on M/S Origo in june around the western coast of Svalbard. For polar bears maybe august is better. June is better birding.
Search for M/S Origo and check who are offering and what. Very nice small boat and excellent crew.

Kirmo

I thing this period of the year is not the best one, I was there in March many years ago , really a great place for trekking and shooting