north cape cruise which ports can i do on my own

[bobbisailsolo]

Hi. I need some help here. Trying to determine whether this cruise is for me. Im considering a 20 day north cape on the Prinsendam for summer 2016. The ports are Oslo, Copenhagen, Kristiansand,Stavanger, Bergen, Geiranger, Narvik, Tromso, Hammerfest, Honningsvag, Bronnoysund, Trondheim, Alesund, and Flam! Quite a few! Im wondering which ones i should plan on doing an excursion, and which ones might I just wander around on my own. Ive already read about some of the excurisons available. Some sound good, some not so much. btw I am traveling solo.. if that makes a difference.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[dsrdsrdsr]

Assuming form your post that you want to DIY, you can (because I have done it) do Stavanger, Bergen (with a shuttle bus), Geiranger, Narvik, Tromso, and Alesund on your own and without public transport. Most of the best-known sights are within walking distance.

 

Oslo, Copenhagen, and Trondheim are suitable for DIY with public transport. The drivers all speak English, if it helps. (Everyone in Norway and Denmark speaks English, basically. They are very well educated.)

 

I would recommend the railway at Flam. Whether that needs to be an excursion or not depends on number of ships in port and hence number of rival passengers for the limited number of trains.

 

Whichever of Hammerfest and Honningsvag goes to the North Cape (I always get those two mixed up) probably wants an excursion. The other, you can DIY on foot.

 

I don't know Kristiansand and Bronnoysund well enough to comment.

[SenatorRose]

Dear dsrdsrdsr,

 

We are doing a Holland America cruise (the Eurodam) of the Norwegian fjords from July 31st to August 7th, 2015.

 

Do you have advice on how to best see Stavanger and Oslo? If you do, could you post your reply on the Cruise Critic roll call postings for the Eurodam July 19th or July 31st sailings? We are doing a back-to-back cruise starting in Copenhagen on July 19th.

 

Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

 

I am already tuned in to buying DIY tickets on the Flam Express instead of paying the cruise ship high prices for a ticket on that train.

 

Thank you.

 

SenatorRose

[sjaak]

It's been a while since we've been there, but I don't think much changed.

 

In Stavanger you dock right in town, a very nice town to walk around.

 

We also had to use a shuttlebus to get into Bergen, but since Prinsendam is a small ship, perhaps she will dock closer to towncentre and will you be able to just walk off the ship. Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, is on the UNESCO World heritage list, and certainly worth a visit.

 

Main attraction of Geiranger is the view from the top of Mount Dalsnibba over Geirangerfjord. We took a ships excursion, but maybe you can find information on public transportation to get there. We found the ships excursion worth every cent, we got off at Hellesylt and had a very nice scenic drive going - with a detour, seeing several reindeer - to the top of the mountain. There we had a very nice view of our very, very tiny cruiseship all the way down in the fjord. Then off course followed by the scenic drive back to the ship.

 

Tromso was a short walk too. We didn't find it a very attractive town. Not much to see, however the small polar museum was interesting. We walked trough town in the morning and had a ships excursion in the afternoon. If you love dogs I would highley reccommand - if possible - to go and see an Alaskan Huskies farm. The farm we went to had about 250 dogs and puppies. They love to be cuddled! I had the best afternoon of my entire vacation :D

 

Honnigsvag was our stop for the North Cape. I had read a lot on CC about this stop and the offered excursions. On base of the gathered information I decided to make sure I was one of the first to get of the ship, hurry myself to the touristoffice and rent a car for the day. That was several years ago, so don't know if it is still possible. The car we rented was from the owner of a local gas station. There were only a few cars available. We had a great day, just driving to all corners of the (sort of) island. We did see the North Cape before all busses arrived, saw several small fishing villages and lots and lots of reindeers with their calfes.

 

Dsrdsrdsr said to use a shuttlebus in Trondheim. When we where there no shuttlebusses were available. No problem, it was a very easy walk into this colorful town. Don't forget to visit the large church, the Nidaros Domkirke, it's beautiful. Again, a very nice town to stroll around.

 

Definitly take the railway at Flam. It's a beautiful scenic ride with a photostop at a waterfall. We took the ships excursion. The train stopped at Myrdal, where we boarded another train to Voss. We had some free time there. The journey continued by motorcoach. The surroundings are beautiful. We drove along Norway's steepest road with more then 10 hairpin bends. Again, beautiful views and several photo opportunities.

 

We haven't been to the other places you mentioned.

 

Regarding the stops our best cruise till now.

[dsrdsrdsr]

Dear dsrdsrdsr,

 

We are doing a Holland America cruise (the Eurodam) of the Norwegian fjords from July 31st to August 7th, 2015.

 

Do you have advice on how to best see Stavanger and Oslo? If you do, could you post your reply on the Cruise Critic roll call postings for the Eurodam July 19th or July 31st sailings? We are doing a back-to-back cruise starting in Copenhagen on July 19th.

 

Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

 

I am already tuned in to buying DIY tickets on the Flam Express instead of paying the cruise ship high prices for a ticket on that train.

 

Thank you.

 

SenatorRose

 

I'll post it here because it's easier, but feel free to copy and paste it to the other thread.

 

I've been to Stavanger recently. The ship literally berths in the city centre. Imagine Stavanger is the shape of a circular pie with a slice taken out. The remaining pie is the land, the missing slice is an inlet of the North Sea, which is where the ship comes in. If you then imagine standing on the pointy end of the ship where Kate Winslet stood in Titanic:

 

1. To your left is part of the old town, with a fire tower, an oil museum, and some other stuff - I've spent less time there than in the rest of the city. It's all in easy walking distance.

 

2. Straight ahead is a paved area with a few wide steps, a market, a tourist office, a cathedral, and all of this within sight of the ship. If you walk just past the cathedral there is a large lake, and just past that the main city museum. There are shops round there as well.

 

3. On your right is the really old part of town. Lots of tiny twisty streets, wooden white painted houses, mostly with flowers strewn around their doorways, looking as picturesque as any streets can. There's also a small sardine canning museum in there which is worth a visit - it costs about 30 kroner or so.

 

4. Somewhere in the same harbour as you (it's a small harbour) will be a boat or several running 3-hour boat trips to the Lysfjord and Pulpit Rock views. Note these are views from the bottom of the cliff, not the top. you can't walk there. You can pay on board, assuming it isn't all booked up (they do have spare boats if they get loads of customers) or you can use the ship's expedition at a premium, but you'll be sure to be on board.

 

It's longer since I've been to Oslo, and so I'm a lot vaguer, and I can't remember where the ship docks. But from memory, you can get boats across the harbour to the boat museums, one with the Ra and Kon-Tiki, the other with the Fram. Vigelunds statue park is reachable by bus, you'd need to research which bus, and so (I believe) is the Holmankollern ski jump, though the only time I went there was by car. The park is free, and is one of the places I would visit every time I'm in Oslo. It's official name isn't Vigelunds statue park, it has another name which you would need to google. When on the bus, if in doubt, ask one of the natives to tell you when to get off. (If you hold a map looking a bit puzzled, they'll probably advise you anyway. they're very helpful.) That, from memory, is what I did, but there's probably more.

[SenatorRose]

Dear dsrdsrdsr,

 

Thank you. I really appreciate your taking the time to give me a thoughtful description of what we could do in Stavanger and Oslo. It provides me with a good start of what to do for DIY tours of these two cruise ship stops.

 

SenatorRose

[pmjnh]

I have not done this trip yet. Our cruise to the North Cape is in July 2015.

To answer the idea of car rental in Honningsvag, I have secured a car that we will pick up first thing in the morning and drive to Gysaever, to take the bird safari to stappen island. There are 2 different companies offering boat tours to Stappan Island, which is home to many different species of birds. One has a small boat experience (max 8 people) and the other much larger capacity. We have opted for the smaller boat. Having the car will also give us the opportunity to visit North cape on our own and we pay a fraction of the cost of the ships excursion.

There are 2 car rental agencies in Honningsvag and one is Avis, the other (I think) is Nordkapp

 

We also have a car rental booked in Gerainger to drive to Dalsnibba.

 

Have fun planning!

Edited February 6, 2015 by pmjnh