Marquette98

In Eidfjord we enjoyed a private bus tour to the nature center and the water fall. There really is not a lot to do in this town. I think we had pre-booked our tickets online. We got off the ship in the morning, walked around town until our tour time. The tour drove us to the nature center, the movie here was good, the rest ok and then on to the waterfall. We enjoyed the scenery and the drive as well as letting someone else worry about how to get to where we were going. I think this would be a great option for you. By booking privately we saved money over the cruise ship tour.

Having traveled quite a bit in Europe with my kids (ages 10, 12, 15) here are a few of my tips.

Get them involved in the planning of what to do in a port. This may be as simple as watching a You Tube video of the activity you have already pre-chosen or as complicated as giving them access to TripAdvisor and letting them choose it all. I have found balancing activities including a range of museums and sights with active choices to be helpful. My kids will tolerate a half day or even full day of museums and castles if they know later or the next day they are kayaking, biking or hiking. Things like bike tours can combine the active for kids and the learning for all. Some of our favorite shore excursions have been biking and kayaking. My kids are also all animal lovers so we try and include a zoo, aquarium or other animal activity when we can. There are also some fabulous kid museums that we have found in Europe. My kids also really enjoy the kids club activities, depending on the cruise line, so knowing that after touring they get to go hang with friends has been a good incentive. We have also found some wonderful tour guides in places that are very kid friendly and share stories that are interesting for kids or turn museums into scavenger hunts. And as others have suggested, get books from the library and read about your destinations!

Following! Also considering renting a car for our day in port.

I also traveled with a similar group last summer (my parents and my kids ages 9, 11, 14.) We really enjoyed the boat cruise, the information you listened to was good and being up closer and lower was also interesting. We had planned on getting off to do the mountain farm climb, but we were discouraged from trying it because of the iffy weather. Instead we walked around town, up past the waterfall and around some farms. The electric cars looked like fun but were too expensive for us.

I showed them some videos of the bike path I found online, most of it seems fine. They seem more concerned about the parts where the path has no railing along the edge but instead rocks that are spaced out, and the other side of the rocks it looks like a long way down ;). The rocks seem pretty big that they would act as a decent guardrail but could anyone who has done it give any insight?

Honestly, as long as you walk your bike down in the beginning if you don't feel comfortable, the rest of the way will be a breeze. The only other time I was slightly uncomfortable (and I'm afraid of heights) was in the tunnel and that was because it was dark and you couldn't see the trail. You could see the end though so you just pedal along aiming for that!;p;p

Is there a difference in purchasing the tickets from the official nsb website and from the visitflam website? Visitflam has the tickets on sale earlier than the nsb site, which doesn't have them available until 90 days ahead of the departure date. The price seems to be the same. I'm just wondering if there is any advantage to waiting to purchase from nsb, ie do you get a "real" ticket from visitflam or is it just a voucher or reservation that you have to trade in for a ticket?

I think the difference between the two is that the Flam site is primarily for cruise passengers or those driving in for the day, while NSB is more for people using the trains to visit around Norway. They both seem to have a certain allotment of tickets for each train ride so it's to your advantage to check both if you can't find the times you want on one. The price may be slightly different, although I think when I booked I ended up saving money booking through NSB. The price difference isn't such a huge deal when you consider the overall cost of the trip! In terms of what you get for a ticket, I don't think either makes a big difference. What we got from NSB was our actual ticket that I had to print off and then validate at the train station. We did not find a long wait to validate, but we were there plenty early. We were a large group so we had seats on both sides of the train. I sat on the left with my husband and we felt like we had good views as well. There were many people getting up out of their seats to take pictures. No matter where you book your tickets, this will hopefully be a wonderful experience for you!

We visited the aquarium last summer on our cruise. We chose it because we were traveling with kids who love all animals. While it was a great place to visit with the kids, unless you really love aquariums, I wouldn't recommend it for most adults. There were tour buses dropping off groups of adults, but my parents and myself agreed we wouldn't visit it if it weren't for the kids. If you do decide to visit though, make sure you look for what time the hands on room is open. This was the most interesting part of the museum for all of us. There were animals to touch and feed and it was fun to watch all of the kids, including a group of Norwegian preschoolers.

We rented bikes from the cafe, you can make reservations online. We rented adult and kid sized bikes. There is also a bike rental place in the town of Flam, but then you have to worry about booking a ticket for the bikes on the train as well as the hassle getting them to and on the train. We were very happy with the ease of renting the bikes from the top. There is not really any concern of getting lost, as long as you keep heading downhill you will be fine!

Here you can see an example of what the trail is like once you get down the first section. The views the entire way are absolutely fantastic!

Here is a picture of us walking the bikes down in the beginning.

And another view showing the steep terrain. It is very doable, just take your time. The fun riding will come soon!

Here are some of my pictures from the bike ride. Hope this helps with your planning and to get you excited for your trip. First one is from the train ride, getting closer to the top. You can just see the train station at the top of the fjord and you can see the beginning part of the bike path you will take down. (It is the zig zag next to the waterfalls.)

Here is a view from the top at the train station.

We are on NCL Breakaway docking, June 14, 2018 at Nynashamn. We are in port from 8:00 until 16:00, so only eight hours. By my calculaion with train times, wait times and need to be onboard earlier than 16:00, this will give us 4 hours or less actually in Stockholm. Can anyone tell me if they have had a similar experience? Also if that is really the case, are there other options near to the port that we should consider instead? We are a group of 11, including 6 kids, so not sure if the short time in Stockholm warrants all of the travel time.

Agree with previous poster, snow may still be a problem. That being said, I believe there is also a bike rental in Flam, but you will need to pay for a bike ticket on the railway in order to take it up the mountain with you.

I am also traveling to Norway in June, 2018 and have booked one way tickets on the Flåm railway and bike rental. For anyone who has done this, how steep is the beginning portion of the bike ride? Also, how wide is the area that you have to walk down and are there cliffs near where you need to walk? My group (3) ride bikes when we can but are not expert riders in any way. We are also in our mid sixties but fairly active (as much as we can be with bad knees ). Any comments on this is greatly appreciated :).

It is quite steep with many switchbacks. My boys who were 11 and 14 at the time as well as their father rode down most of the way while my mother, daughter and myself primarily walked. My dad probably would have biked most of it as well but took up the back of the pack position so was stuck at the walking pace. It is a steep trek down to start and I do remember my toes rubbing the ends of my shoes because you are putting a lot of pressure on them. The area is wide enough to walk two or three across as we did go back and forth passing a couple of hikers when we started. (We would pass them then stop for pics and they would pass us, etc.) Once you are past the first bit you are on a road so can ride bikes at least side by side or better, just watch for possible traffic. We only saw a couple of cars until we got back close to town. I felt very comfortable doing this with my three kids, youngest was 9. My parents were late 60's and 70, my dad bikes regularly but other than the kids he's the only adult who does. None of us had a problem riding. This was easily our favorite excursion of the two week cruise!!!

I may be a little late to respond to you, but we kayaked in Trondheim and would highly recommend it. We walked through town to the meet up spot, took nearly an hour of leisurely walking. You get in the kayaks outside of the main part of town and kayak the river back through the old part of town. We loved this excursion. It was an easy enough kayak for most of the time although the wind did pick up significantly towards the end as we were racing an incoming storm. Seeing the stilted buildings from the water was wonderful and not being around all the crowds was a bonus. You get out of the kayaks in a marina that is about a 20 minute or less walk back to the ship.

I see no one ever replied to you, While I can't exactly answer your question, I can tell you what we did. We took the train all the way up to Myrdal and then rented bikes to come back down. I would highly recommend this to anyone who can handle some moderate exercise. We are not regular bikers but found this quite doable. We hiked down the beginning because it is so steep and then enjoyed biking down from there. We stopped often to take pictures and enjoy the views. Just make sure you prebook your train tickets. We took nearly 3 hours to come down I believe, you could go faster or slower depending on how much time you want to take enjoying the views. Bike drop was at the train station at the bottom of the hill and very easy!

Second the train up at Flam and bicycle down. We did this with my kids and parents and it was our favorite excursion of the cruise! The train ride up is about an hour. It doesn't take long to get fitted with bikes and to start your descent. Plan on 2-3 hours down so you have time to stop and take lots of pictures. Bring snacks and drinks along.

I would also recommend the Pulpit Rock hike. We attempted this with our cruise line tour, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and they canceled the tour 20 minutes into our hike. I can say it was a strenuous 20 mins for me, but I'm not used to steep hiking living in Illinois! If I ever get back, I will attempt the hike again.

We did the same bike ride down and it was absolutely the highlight for all of us of our two week Norwegian cruise. My kids were 9,11 and 14 at the time as well as my parents and we all enjoyed the trek thoroughly. Some of us are not very regular bike riders but once we walked the switchbacks had no problems. Highly recommend you bring snacks and drinks with you so you can take a break as you go.

We are just booked on our first Norweigan Fjord cruise in May.

We are extremely disappointed to find that the Flam Train Ride, which was one of our reasons for booking this cruise, is all booked out.

We are on a ship's tour wait list.

 

Is there any other way we could be confident that we will be able to do this tour on 2nd May?

The Flam train website seems to only have train rides that get back to late for us to catch the ship! We have to be back on board at 4.30pm.

 

Really hoping that someone is going to have a great idea for us!

Also try the Norwegian Rail website http://www.nsb.no. When we found our times sold out according to the Flam website, I was able to book my tickets through the Norwegian Rail site. There is also a chance of getting standby tickets the morning you dock. To do so you will need to get off the ship as soon as possible when docking and head immediately to the ticket booth. I wish you luck, the ride was amazing!

We were there last summer as a group of 7. We rented a car and I would highly recommend you try doing that. Navigating the island was quite easy after googling directions before our trip. We drove first and took the bird watching cruise, while we did enjoy this I wouldn't recommend it as a must do. If you are really into birds it might be worth your time, if not it's quite expensive for what it is. We then drove up to Nordkapp and were able to see several reindeer on or near the road, honestly they were the highlight of the island for us. We did enjoy our visit at Nordkapp and wished we had a little more time to visit there. (We probably could have stayed longer, but we are always concerned with our times and wanted to give ourselves more than enough time just in case.) We also really enjoyed walking around the town, but as it was a Sunday the only thing open was a tourist gift shop. If you can't or don't want to rent a car, then by all means take a tour to Nordkapp.

On a side note, we saw a man mowing his yard in just his shorts, no shirt and someone at Nordkapp laying out sunbathing. Definitely locals since we were in jackets, gloves, etc. :D:D:D

I have taken 3 kids on two HAL cruises, 11 days on Noordam and 14 days on Koningsdam. My kids love the kids club on HAL and wanted to spend every available minute there. The first cruise they were 6, 8 and 11. The second cruise they were 9,11 and 14. My kids love the smaller number of kids, makes them feel like they are really connecting with the other kids. They like knowing them and saying hi ti them as they see them around the ship. My teen even had the pleasure of hanging out with the captain's son on the Koningsdam. The kids club counselors we have experienced are great and really interested in the kids. We have found other passengers enjoy seeing the younger kids on board as well as long as they are well behaved. HAL is a favorite cruise line for us because of the laid back pace. Time to just relax and spend time together. I wouldn't mind seeing a little more offered on sea days though.

Have you looked into car seat laws for where you will be driving? Most 9 year olds wouldn't be required to have one, although I know that as a parent you may want your child to use it still.

I'm following, wondering the same thing. We will have 2 families with kids from age 3-14. Neither husband likes crowds and interested in decent food, not necessarily all inclusive.

Thank you, thank you for your report. This is exactly what I was looking for. We were also thinking about renting car to get around and see the island. So grateful to you for sharing your itinerary and advice! Looking forward to visiting it next June!

I agree with previous posters, pick your itinerary and budget. We have taken our 3 kids on Disney, Carnival, MSC and Holland America. Their ages ranged from 3-11 depending on the cruise. We enjoyed each and every cruise but we did our research and new what to expect each time. Holland America was in Europe and was primarily an older clientele, however it was one of my kids favorite trips because there were fewer kids and they really got to know each other. Disney was lots of fun for us and my kids loved the kids club, but not all kids will. MSC we loved the ports, didn't love the cruise, but the kids still loved the kids club activities. Do your research for the cruise line and ship you pick and you will know what to expect. You can find activities do to in each port as a family and sometimes all kids need on board is a deck of cards or a swim in the pool to make it fun for them!