Flam railway tickets July 2014

[marlene53]

We have booked Celebrity Infinity Norwegian Fjords cruise next July and hope to travel on the Flam railway. There doesn't 't appear to be a Celebrity excursion on the train. Have been researching today and there are a couple of options but tickets seem to sell out very quickly. Leaving it to chance on the day next July doesn't look like an option. Looking on the website where reservations for groups of 10 can be made in advance some trains are already full. There may be other cruise ships in Flam that day and their excursions have already booked the tickets. Does anyone know if Celebrity have a Flam train excursion.....there doesn't appear to be one available on their website. I can't find out if there are other ships in Flam at the same time as Infinity.

My husband would be extremely disappointed if we don't get to travel on the train. :(

[Bobocasey]

I bet Celebrity just hasn't listed the shore excursion for the rr yet. They usually buy up most of the seats. I would suggest that if possible you book the 10 tickets and then sell them to other cc on your roll call. We rode the rr part way and then hiked back down the mountain. Enjoyed it

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Celebrity's website is currently being non-cooperative regarding excursions (and other things). It's "new and improved." No indication as to when it will begin to function properly again.

 

Celebrity will certainly offer an excursion on the Flam railway. They may be offering one now, you just can't see it. It is more expensive than doing it on your own, and you get off the train one stop before the top and have a pancake or waffle or something.

 

I would recommend getting together with some of the folks on your roll call and getting group tickets instead. We had a whole train car to ourselves on the way up this spring. They did put some others with us on the way down.

[sddsddean]

Celeb will definately have several tours on the train, but at double the price of doing it yourself. I organised a trip for our CC group this July and it is dead easy, but you have got to do it before mid January, because Celeb (and the other lines) will block book all the tickets, so here is what you do.

 

Go to http://www.visitflam.com/flam-railway/timetables/ and check the timetables. Our group got train 1852 up and 1855 back. Set yourself up an account and book at least 10 places for your trip. Do this about mid December or earlier if you can.(I booked for 29 of us, but with hindsight would book half a carriage...49 seats...'cos you will sell them on your roll call no problem. Even if you don't sell them, demand is so high that the Flam people will just sell them on the day). You can start the reservation and add people to it if you want, but once the cruise lines do the block bookings in mid January, you can't add to it. Don't worry about money, you can pay in cash on the day (I got everyones money from them at our Meet & Mingle). On the day you arrive, just go to the ticket window with your reservation e mail and they will give you the ticket (one for the whole group) and even tell you which number door to get on the train! It is a very slick operation and your reserved area is marked by stickers like this

These are the ones on the train door showing all the groups in that carriage, but they are on the windows by the seats of your section too.

 

It is really very easy to do. Lots of people on our cruise couldn't get tickets on the day (especially as another ship got their 'tender' operation in action quicker than the Eclipse got their gangways out, so people off the other ship nabbed any spare tickets.

 

Use this site to check ships in Flam http://aurlandhavn.no/cruise/skipsanlop-2014/ . If you are there on the 11th, looks like you might be on your own.

 

If you want any more info, feel free to drop me an e mail.

 

Simon

Edited November 10, 2013 by sddsddean

[MTJtraveller]

I would add one small caveat...

I would keep my group small, 10 is the minimal group booking size I believe. I had a bit larger group I was in charge of and it's a bit of a hassle making sure you have money from each person in your group ahead of time. It all needs to be the same currency. You also all need to board together at the same time. Luckily everyone in my group met at the appointed time. I had one couple no show to collect their money. While I was able to get another couple to take their place it was a stress I did not want while on vacation.

 

Also, when you collect your ticket at the station don't be intimidated by the long line of seemingly grumpy people quite aware there's no chance they will get a ticket. :eek: Politely proceed to the front and get in the group sales line...easy as cake!

 

I'd do it all again in a second but keep it as simple as you can. Seating is assigned in the coach, be on time and all is well.

[Ma Bell]

We don't usually take ship's tours but really enjoyed this one. It wasn't much more than just buying the group tickets and the stop was nice. There were lovely little waffles with the best raspberry preserves I ever had with coffee and tea. The hotel where we stopped was charming and a nice place to stop.

[sddsddean]

Also, when you collect your ticket at the station don't be intimidated by the long line of seemingly grumpy people quite aware there's no chance they will get a ticket. :eek: Politely proceed to the front and get in the group sales line...easy as cake!

 

 

When we did it this year, left side was for reservations, right side for 'everyone else'!

 

Simon

[sddsddean]

We don't usually take ship's tours but really enjoyed this one. It wasn't much more than just buying the group tickets and the stop was nice. There were lovely little waffles with the best raspberry preserves I ever had with coffee and tea. The hotel where we stopped was charming and a nice place to stop.

 

Ma Bell refers to the penultimate stop at Vatnahalsen. You can get off here if you want, but you won't be able to continue to Myrdal on a later train. Similarly, your reservation will be in place at Myrdal for the return, but you can get on at Vatnahalsen if you want. Myrdal is just a station...there is nothing there except a cafe and a bike hire place (if you want to bike back down to Flam), so Vatnahalsen might be a better stop. Its probably where I'll go if I do it again.

 

Simon

[TLCOhio]

Very good info, tips and background from Simon, Ma Bell, etc. Buying independent? You can save money that way, but there are challenges and questions. Much depends on how different ships will be in this small port that day to compete for the limited number of seats on this train. Below are some of my notes on this great port, its options, history, etc. More for Bergen and other key Norway ports on my full live/blog connected below.

 

We spent a little more to purchase through the ship as we only had only four hours in this port and then needed to be sailing to our afternoon in nearby Gudvangen.

 

Flam, with a population of about 500, is nestled in a tributary of the world's longest and deepest fjord. It is 128 miles long and has a maximum depth of 4,291 feet. On the question of how deep are these fjords, local say: “A mermaid could swim all the way to China.” The chief attraction here is the 73-year-old Flam Railway. It includes twenty tunnels and eight stops as it goes up the mountain. This rail lines rises from Flam’s gingerbread rail station going up 2,835 feet to Myrdal and this "Roof of Norway" rail station. In 2010, this railway was chosen as one of the top ten most beautiful train journeys in Europe by National Geographic Traveler Magazine. In 2012, there was a new passenger record of 635,368 riders carried. That is a big jump up in ridership from 475K in 2005 and 380K in 1994.

Railroad website with more history and technical details for its construction, operations: http://www.flaamsbana.no/eng.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 123,515 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

Arriving at Flam, our Captain is right there directing this docking process. You can see here some of the fjord mountains, waterfalls in the background. This town is fairly small with the rail trip being the main attraction and activity here.:

 

 

 

Here are a few highlights from the Flam train ride, including where you stop in a stone tunnel to get out and then see this dramatic 305-foot-high Kjosfossen Waterfall half-way on this 12.4 mile trip. We then exit the train at the Vatnahalsen Hotel, to see the grounds, nearby mountains, etc. Lots of great views on this routing, up and down. :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a nice farm view along this great fjord and another Flam train view.:

 

 

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We had absolutely no trouble putting together a group or collecting payment. Our group was organized by a man in Great Britain and a woman in Australia, all over the internet. We set a specific day on board where people needed to show up to pay in cash. Everyone paid and everyone showed up on time to board the train. And it was a lot cheaper than the Celebrity excursion, you get group rates.

 

Our great internet team had actually organized an all day event. We gathered in the morning, took the local bus to Gudvangen, took the ferry through the Naeroyfjord (which was spectacular) back to Flam, and then took the Flam railway.

[marlene53]

Thank you all for your speedy and very comprehensive responses! :)

[biggerbearmom]

I was part of a group of 10 that was put together in our roll call. We all paid in advance to our group leader and then met up at the train station. It was a lovely ride up and down the mountain. After the train ride we went into the tourist information office and purchased ferry tickets to Gudvangen and let me just say, this was the highlight of our visit to Flam; absolutely spectacular scenery.

The bus ride back to the port was great too as you travel through a long tunnel.

 

 

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