Norway Fjord Cruise Q&A - Keys to Successful Planning

[hallasm]

I’m not aware of any easy way getting to Vøringsfossen from Eidfjord - it’s a very tiny city and limited taxi opportunities- no public transportation to Vøringsfossen located  17 km from Eidfjord - you might contact turistinfo@visiteidfjord.no 

[gogiantsfan29]

Just wanted to post what we did at our stops on our recent cruise.  

Alesund - Fantastic Day .  We got off the ship and head right for Fjellstua Viewpoint.  Walked up the 400+ stairs for a great view that day. We then head to Sugar Mountain where we hiked to the top.  This was a great hike the views were spectacular.  Head back into town with enough time to walk around, shop and we ended getting dinner at a great place before being last to board the ship.  Got our full day in. 

 

Bergen- Head right for the funicular and brought our tickets on their app on my phone to save us a long line.  By the time we got to the top it was snowing, sleeting and raining.  Headed back down and made our way with some shopping stops to Bergen Segway where we had a private tour for the 8 of us.  This was awesome.  Did rain on us as some points during the 2 hours but we all enjoyed it. 

 

Geiranger - The weather did prevent us from doing everything on our list.  We had rented the little electric cars which were so much fun just could not go to the top.  But, we went to two other look out instead which were nice.  We were supposed to do a hike but the weather got worse as the day went on and just too rainy to enjoy the hike.  We shopped in town before getting back on the ship a little earlier then planned. 

 

Olden - Another excellent day. We rented two cars and left the ship right at 7am to beat the tours bus up to Briksdal Glacier.  We had the whole place to ourselves we never saw a single soul the entire time until we were leaving.  Then we headed to Kjenndal Glacier.  Again timing it in between tour bus tours and had the place to ourselves. We finished the day at the Leon skylift were it was snowing at the top.  But, sure enough the clouds opened up for a fabulous view and enjoyed Lunch up there.  We were last back on the ship again.:)

 

Belfast - We hired a private driver and van to take the 8 of us up to Rope Bridge, Giant Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Dark Hedges and tour of Belfast. Excellent day with great weather.

 

 

[Redheadindixie]

How much to rent a car in Norway? 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Redheadindixie
delete

[Redheadindixie]

 

Hubby and I are booked on the Crown to Norway for June 2020.  when I was younger I sailed Holland America I think twice- to the Caribbean and also to Alaska.  So long story short while I respect HA, I think I'm gonna be a Princess girl from now on out.  They just do everything right in my opinion- from an overall very classy operation to food, service and onshore excursions.  They have won awards for best onshore excursions and itineraries for awhile now.....

 

PS number of passengers is not a factor if the cruise line is organised and the ships layout is maximised. It helps if the elevators are fast also - Princess's are!

[Sucellos]

48 minutes ago, Redheadindixie said:

How much to rent a car in Norway? 

 

As it is depending on location, car size, how far in advance you book, campaigns and a whole lot of other things it's almost impossible to say. But to give you an idea, here in Trondheim I would estimate around 100 USD for a 1-day rental of a rather small car from one of the major rental companies without any particular campaign/discount. Some places you could find considerably cheaper alternatives via "AirBnB-like" services for renting a car, for example https://nabobil.no/en

[Redheadindixie]

thank you!

[gogiantsfan29]

2 hours ago, Redheadindixie said:

How much to rent a car in Norway? 

In Olden for the day was 160 Euros. 

[kaisatsu]

18 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

Some of the deals are with the Isalnd Princess (2,200 passengers) and take in:

Haugesund

Hellesylt

Geiranger

Tromso

Honningsvag

Longyearbyen

Trondheim

Alesund

Skojolden/Sognefjord

 

Or I found a smaller vessel Marco Polo (800 pp), does this get closer to the beautiful scenery??

London to:

Trondheim

Narvik

Barentsburg

Longyearbyen

Honningsvag

Alesund

Boknafjord

Stavanger

Between these two, the Marco Polo spends two days in Svalbard, giving you the chance to visit the Russian settlement at Barentsburg. Both visit the main settlement at Longyearbyen.

 

However, the Norwegian coastal ports for the Marco Polo trip are a bit more limited. On the Island Princess, Skjolden (Sognefjord) and Geiranger/Hellesylt (Geirangerfjord) give you two classic fjord sail-in/sail-outs. And I’m quite fond of Tromsø’s Arctic gateway history and mountain scenery.

 

Aside from the surprising omission of Bergen, I think the Island Princess trip looks like a pretty nice itinerary with the unusual chance to travel all the way up to Svalbard.

 

Unlike the Hurtigruten, the smaller Marco Polo won’t dramatically increase your scenic sailing opportunities. The fjord ports are deep enough to accommodate some pretty big ships, so the sail-in and sail-out will be the same. In between ports, all of the traditional cruise ships (regardless of size) typically return to international waters, far from the scenery. The Hurtigruten visits so many small ports in between its main stops, and it hugs the coast the entire way, so there is always scenery outside. But it comes at the expense of longer port visits and cruise ship amenities.

[Sallyandtex]

1 hour ago, kaisatsu said:

Between these two, the Marco Polo spends two days in Svalbard, giving you the chance to visit the Russian settlement at Barentsburg. Both visit the main settlement at Longyearbyen.

 

However, the Norwegian coastal ports for the Marco Polo trip are a bit more limited. On the Island Princess, Skjolden (Sognefjord) and Geiranger/Hellesylt (Geirangerfjord) give you two classic fjord sail-in/sail-outs. And I’m quite fond of Tromsø’s Arctic gateway history and mountain scenery.

 

Aside from the surprising omission of Bergen, I think the Island Princess trip looks like a pretty nice itinerary with the unusual chance to travel all the way up to Svalbard.

 

Unlike the Hurtigruten, the smaller Marco Polo won’t dramatically increase your scenic sailing opportunities. The fjord ports are deep enough to accommodate some pretty big ships, so the sail-in and sail-out will be the same. In between ports, all of the traditional cruise ships (regardless of size) typically return to international waters, far from the scenery. The Hurtigruten visits so many small ports in between its main stops, and it hugs the coast the entire way, so there is always scenery outside. But it comes at the expense of longer port visits and cruise ship amenities.

Thankyou all so much for your advice. I think Azamara might be out of price range...I have 3 more for comments.

 

HAL Veendam 1350 pax 8 august 2020 14 nights

Amsterdam,

Eldfjord

Hardangerfjord,

Bergen,

Tromsoe, Honningsvag,

Lofoten

Bronnoysund,

Trondheim,

Molde,

Alesund,

Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

Crown Princess  22 Aug 3080 pax thats a lot!14 nights

Southampton

Haugesund

Flam

Olden

Trondheim

Honningsvåg,

Tromsø,

Lofoten Island

Andalsnes

Bergen

Southampton

 

QVictoria 7 Aug 12 nights

Southampton

Stavanger (Norway)4

Olden

Leknes, Lofoten Island

Bodø

Ålesund, Norway

Skjolden

Haugesun

Southampton

 

Thankyou so much the top 2 include Bergen not sure which Cunard one you had in mind nature girl was it the 3rd one?

[ski ww]

HAL's Nieuw Statendam does a 14 Day Voyage of the Midnight Sun, return Amsterdam 5 July 2020, which we are on. Which ever cruise you decide on enjoy. 

[naturelovergirl]

10 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

 

Thankyou so much the top 2 include Bergen not sure which Cunard one you had in mind nature girl was it the 3rd one?

 

Yes it was that one...

 

I think all of those 3 itineraries have interesting and good choices for a great Norway trip

 

Now... it really depends on the ship you want to go on, in my opinion

 

Each line has their own personality... 

choose the one that fits your itinerary goals AND also fits what you want while on board. Look at each ship layout, photos, the dress codes, the activities... and find the one that suits you best. 😊

[laurieb]

23 hours ago, gogiantsfan29 said:

Just wanted to post what we did at our stops on our recent cruise.  

Alesund - Fantastic Day .  We got off the ship and head right for Fjellstua Viewpoint.  Walked up the 400+ stairs for a great view that day. We then head to Sugar Mountain where we hiked to the top.  This was a great hike the views were spectacular.  Head back into town with enough time to walk around, shop and we ended getting dinner at a great place before being last to board the ship.  Got our full day in. 

 

Bergen- Head right for the funicular and brought our tickets on their app on my phone to save us a long line.  By the time we got to the top it was snowing, sleeting and raining.  Headed back down and made our way with some shopping stops to Bergen Segway where we had a private tour for the 8 of us.  This was awesome.  Did rain on us as some points during the 2 hours but we all enjoyed it. 

 

Geiranger - The weather did prevent us from doing everything on our list.  We had rented the little electric cars which were so much fun just could not go to the top.  But, we went to two other look out instead which were nice.  We were supposed to do a hike but the weather got worse as the day went on and just too rainy to enjoy the hike.  We shopped in town before getting back on the ship a little earlier then planned. 

 

Olden - Another excellent day. We rented two cars and left the ship right at 7am to beat the tours bus up to Briksdal Glacier.  We had the whole place to ourselves we never saw a single soul the entire time until we were leaving.  Then we headed to Kjenndal Glacier.  Again timing it in between tour bus tours and had the place to ourselves. We finished the day at the Leon skylift were it was snowing at the top.  But, sure enough the clouds opened up for a fabulous view and enjoyed Lunch up there.  We were last back on the ship again.:)

 

Belfast - We hired a private driver and van to take the 8 of us up to Rope Bridge, Giant Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Dark Hedges and tour of Belfast. Excellent day with great weather.

 

 

Thank you!!

[laurieb]

What port(s) would you suggest for purchasing wool clothing and other handcrafted items?

[Sallyandtex]

Thanks so much nature girl, one more question (for now hehe), which company do you think has the best shore excursions for reasonable prices? I think i saw another post saying you can't do local companies like in many other destinations.

😀

[Sallyandtex]

12 hours ago, ski ww said:

HAL's Nieuw Statendam does a 14 Day Voyage of the Midnight Sun, return Amsterdam 5 July 2020, which we are on. Which ever cruise you decide on enjoy. 

Thankyou, I will take a look.

[naturelovergirl]

34 minutes ago, Sallyandtex said:

Thanks so much nature girl, one more question (for now hehe), which company do you think has the best shore excursions for reasonable prices? I think i saw another post saying you can't do local companies like in many other destinations.

😀

That I am not sure of as far as the ship sponsored excursion costs... There are local companies in some towns... but again, it is not the amount of choice like in other ports around the world. Sometimes, it is good to contact the tourist info center. Try visiting VisitNorway.com... and then some of the bigger cities have great Visit sites too like VisitFlam, VisitBergen, VisitTromso, VisitTrondheim... and they sometimes have information on independent tours and sites to see... Enjoy planning!!!!

[Ehg]

Hello everyone, my husband and I are sailing to Bergen, Alesund, Flam and Stavanger in September with Celebrity. When we go on cruises I like to get off the ship early in the morning and go for a run. I am particularly looking forward to doing this in Norway as I am hoping the scenery will be great. My question to anyone who may have been before is, is this going to be possible in all the ports I mentioned? I am not a great distance runner, 2 to 4 miles will be plenty for me...…

 

Thank you in advance for any help. 😊 

[Redheadindixie]

I've been on this board about a month and am getting all these ports are quite small except for Bergen. Also get the impression the weather can change in a hurry there, even in the summer so wear a change of clothes, maybe tied around your waist. Running is a great way to see a new town - my late Dad did this everywhere he went on conferences, but once got lost in Moscow lol! Hubby and I are going in June 2020. I'm planning two excursions but two "walk into town and see what happens" ( Bergen). 

As a runner, too, you won't be automatically labelled a tourist- big plus! 

Btw, if people don't wanna be mistaken for tourists I recommend going to google images and typing in the search bar "street fashions in Belgrade, street fashions in Hungary" et cetera. it really helps. 

[hallasm]

9 minutes ago, Redheadindixie said:

these ports are quite small except for Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city while Stavanger is the fourth largest city in Norway - Ålesund and Flåm are both quite small. In Flåm there is a road along the River. 

 

11 minutes ago, Redheadindixie said:

Also get the impression the weather can change in a hurry there,

Sure - layers is a good suggestion.

Running will be fine in all four locations.

[Ehg]

Perfect! Thank you both. It really is a great way to see new places. Especially as I go first, come back, shower, eat and then I have an idea of where we should stroll later. 😊

[laurieb]

On 6/11/2019 at 11:04 AM, laurieb said:

What port(s) would you suggest for purchasing wool clothing and other handcrafted items?

Any suggestions?

[hallasm]

22 minutes ago, laurieb said:

Any suggestions?

It’s a very broad question - you can find ‘husflid’ shops in most Norwegian cities and also many souvenir shops does sell wool clothing. 

I might be able to find some stores if you have specific ports.

Here just some  example of a Norwegian manufacturer and Norwegian ‘husflid’

 

[laurieb]

On 6/12/2019 at 1:18 PM, hallasm said:

It’s a very broad question - you can find ‘husflid’ shops in most Norwegian cities and also many souvenir shops does sell wool clothing. 

I might be able to find some stores if you have specific ports.

Here just some  example of a Norwegian manufacturer and Norwegian ‘husflid’

 

We’ll be in Flam, Geiranger, Alesund, Svolvaer, Tromso, Honningsvåg, Bodo, Trondheim, Molde, Olden and Bergen

[Madinlondon]

On 5/25/2019 at 9:42 PM, Penelope1213 said:

Hi I am struggling with Eidfjord.  I think we waited too long to book stuff as we are cruising July 21 on HAL.   We'd like to maybe hike and do see that there are taxis we can take when we get to the port.  They say they will NOT prebook which makes me NERVOUS!  Also a bit nervous about the hike, finding the trail, staying on trail etc.  Can anyone provide any information regarding hikes at this port.  And prefer to not go to the waterfall that most will be going to.  Prefer less traveled trails if possible.  THANKS!

 Did you find the answers you were looking for re  eidfjord! We are going on a HAL cruise Niew Statendam June 30.  We will be taking a tour to the Åkrafjord & Langfoss   waterfalls in Haugesund, and  a RIB BOAT Tour a Hardanger Fjordsafari 
In Eidfjord.  

[Madinlondon]

On 6/1/2019 at 7:10 PM, saltshell said:

Rotterdam, Bergen, Flam, Alesund, Geiranger, Haugesund, Kristiansund, Oslo. 

Check your weather app,  it I am in England now and weather is in the high 60’s. Not too cold, but chilly enough for a jacket.  I’m sure with clouds, rain and wind i will be cold so bring layers. I used my packable down jacket this weekend in Winchester, England. It packs small, so it was in my purse most of the day, but useful for when it got cloudy and colder.