Norwegian Fjords

[hallasm]

11 minutes ago, Caravan 37 said:

We're sailing 5 May from Southampton on P&O Britannia to:

 

May is a bit early - roads to viewpoints might be closed due to snow.

Stavanger: Excursion to Lysefjord and Pulpit Rock

Olden: Loen Skylift - shuttle bus 

Flåm: the railway - book trickets in advance at Norways Best - roundtrip only

Haugesund: I don’t know

For scenic cruising into Olden and Flåm be at upper deck at sunrise 05:00am - sunset is 9:45pm

Enjoy

[wineoclock]

Thank you @kitkat343 that’s really helpful. 

[mackfam]

Considering the itinerary below but I think I’ve realized from reading this thread that no deep fjords are included. Opinions?

[mackfam]

I think I’ve found a better itinerary that includes

Hellesylt/ Geiranger

Alesund

Flaam

Stavanger

 

Looking for September 2024

[hallasm]

11 hours ago, mackfam said:

Considering the itinerary below but I think I’ve realized from reading this thread that no deep fjords are included. Opinions?

Correct - no deep fjords. This is a Midnight Sun cruise (assuming June/July ) to North Cape.

10 hours ago, mackfam said:

I think I’ve found a better itinerary that includes

Hellesylt/ Geiranger

Alesund

Flaam

Stavanger

Yes, deep fjords to Geiranger and Flåm. Hellesylt is a technical stop for excursions to Geiranger.

Ålesund is a nice coastal city - Stavanger has option of excursion to Lysefjord and Pulpit Rock.

[styme123]

I'm just starting to look into some different itineraries for a July or Aug 24 cruise with a focus on just Norway.

How do I know when looking at the ports if it just a sail in/out for the fjords or a stop where we get off the ship and do something in town or an excursion?

Here is one from RC . What are your opinions about these ports?

1	Amsterdam, Netherlands Departs at 4:00 PM
2	Cruising Day at sea
3	Molde, Norway From 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
4	Arctic Circle (Cruising), Norway
5	Honningsvag, Norway Tendered from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
6	Tromso, Norway From 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
7	Arctic Circle (Cruising), Norway
8	Olden, Norway From 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
9	Geiranger, Norway Tendered from 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
10	Flam, Norway From 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
11	Stavanger, Norway From 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
12	Cruising Day at sea
13	Amsterdam, Netherlands Arrives at 6:00 AM

 

 

[hallasm]

@styme123
Scenic cruising of the deep fjords includes a full day port stop - in this itinerary there are three deep fjords - you sail in and out the same way - scenic cruising is often two to three hours before arrival and the same  When sailing out.
In this itinerary, ports visited in deep fjords are Olden, Geiranger and Flåm. Nice view points and the Flåm railway.

Arctic Circle cruising I ‘just a sea day’. Also the July cruising will be Midnight Sun from day 4 to 7 - August will be too late for Midnight Sun.

A very nice Itinerary - Tromsø and Stavanger are two nice coastal cities - Honningsvåg is at North Cape.

Edited January 28, 2023 by hallasm

[styme123]

3 hours ago, hallasm said:

@styme123
Scenic cruising of the deep fjords includes a full day port stop - in this itinerary there are three deep fjords - you sail in and out the same way - scenic cruising is often two to three hours before arrival and the same  When sailing out.
In this itinerary, ports visited in deep fjords are Olden, Geiranger and Flåm. Nice view points and the Flåm railway.

Arctic Circle cruising I ‘just a sea day’. Also the July cruising will be Midnight Sun from day 4 to 7 - August will be too late for Midnight Sun.

A very nice Itinerary - Tromsø and Stavanger are two nice coastal cities - Honningsvåg is at North Cape.

Thank you so much for the reply. That's awesome that the ports are scenic with fjords going in/out and you can get off the ship and see the town-double bonus! I didn't realize that as when I was looking into HAL they specifically stated scenic fjord cruising. So I was thinking if it doesn't say it they don't in that deep and just stopped at the town.

 

This itinerary from NCL is a bit cheaper by about $1000/1500. They have NCL Air also but I haven't used them before for plane tickets. It makes me a little nervous as I've heard some real mess-ups and horrible connection times/lay-overs etc. I was kind of trying to stay away from the itineraries that have Iceland as well as it's my intention to go see it on it's own later.   

• London (Southampton),England
• Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge),Belgium
• Amsterdam,Netherlands
• Bergen,Norway
• Geiranger,Norway
• Ålesund,Norway
• Akureyri,Iceland
• Isafjordur,Iceland
• Reykjavik,Iceland

 

 

[styme123]

1 hour ago, styme123 said:

Thank you so much for the reply. That's awesome that the ports are scenic with fjords going in/out and you can get off the ship and see the town-double bonus! I didn't realize that as when I was looking into HAL they specifically stated scenic fjord cruising. So I was thinking if it doesn't say it they don't in that deep and just stopped at the town.

 

This itinerary from NCL is a bit cheaper by about $1000/1500. They have NCL Air also but I haven't used them before for plane tickets. It makes me a little nervous as I've heard some real mess-ups and horrible connection times/lay-overs etc. I was kind of trying to stay away from the itineraries that have Iceland as well as it's my intention to go see it on it's own later.   

• London (Southampton),England
• Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge),Belgium
• Amsterdam,Netherlands
• Bergen,Norway
• Geiranger,Norway
• Ålesund,Norway
• Akureyri,Iceland
• Isafjordur,Iceland
• Reykjavik,Iceland

 

 

RC also has a 13 day that adds Bergen and Olden. You lose Stavanger. All the other ports are the same. Which would you choose?

[hallasm]

5 hours ago, styme123 said:

RC also has a 13 day that adds Bergen and Olden. You lose Stavanger. All the other ports are the same. Which would you choose?

Olden is included in the itinerary post #256. Bergen is an excellent substitute for Stavanger. 
You have not mentioned date. If in June/July I would chose RC based on cruise line - the itineraries are very similar Bergen versus Stavanger doesn’t make a huge difference- however U do prefer Bergen over Stavanger 

Many might have different preferences.

I have no comments for the itinerary in post #258 - very different itinerary- only Geiranger and Bergen in Norway.
I prefer to do Iceland as land tour rather than cruise.

[styme123]

3 hours ago, hallasm said:

Olden is included in the itinerary post #256.

Oh that's right I looked back and it's actually Ålesund, and Bergen that are changed out 

The 12 day is beginning of Aug and the 13 day is in beginning of July 

 

I prefer to do Iceland as land tour rather than cruise.

Yes that's what I have heard as well. So I will be going back to see it on it's own.

 

 

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, styme123 said:

The 12 day is beginning of Aug and the 13 day is in beginning of July 

Just note that Midnight Sun above the Arctic Circle is June/july

1 hour ago, styme123 said:

Yes that's what I have heard as well. So I will be going back to see it on it's own

Easy to go to Iceland from NY - an alternative might be to have a stop over in Iceland when travelling to Europe - Icelandair does have some good offers including three days in Reykjavik

 

[styme123]

46 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Just note that Midnight Sun above the Arctic Circle is June/july

 

So I'm thinking the longer 13 day one would be better since we will see the Midnight Sun and the added port stops of Ålesund, and Bergen. Thoughts?

[hallasm]

9 hours ago, styme123 said:

So I'm thinking the longer 13 day one would be better since we will see the Midnight Sun and the added port stops of Ålesund, and Bergen. Thoughts?

Bergen and Ålesund are probably the two best coastal ports at the Norwegian west coast.

[styme123]

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

Bergen and Ålesund are probably the two best coastal ports at the Norwegian west coast.

Thank you so much for your reply. It's very helpful when I'm trying to decide what to pick! 

[drsel]

Dear experts & experienced cruisers,

I apologize for not reading all 265 posts.

My wife & I are doing the Norwegian Fjords & Baltic ports for the 1st time ever.

It's a once in a lifetime experience for us, so we would like to plan it perfectly.

We always do shore excursions on our own, on a budget ( in other ports in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean, etc). We would like to know--

 

A) Is it possible to get taxis and/or shared minivans for ON THE SPOT shared tours with CASH or CARD payment at these ports below--

 

B) Which is the single BEST full day/ 4--8 hour tour at--

1. Maloy

2. Molde

3. Trondheim

4. Honningsvag (North Cape) from 12 noon till 12 midnight

5. Tromso

6. Alesund

7. Olden

8. Nordfjordeid

9. Stavenger (Lysefjord)

10. Gdynia (Gdansk-Danzig)

11. Klaipeda

12. Riga

13. Stockholm

14. Copenhagen

15. Warnemunde

16. Kiel

Thanks in anticipation!

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by drsel

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

We always do shore excursions on our own, on a budget

You can easily arrange tours yourself in the mentioned ports, but you must arrange them in advance - there will not be tours available on the pier upon arrival.  
Many of the Norwegian ports are very small towns and a very limited selection of excursions.

Credit card is widely accepted. Your trip does have five different currencies.

Seach for activities for the different ports in this ‘Northern Europe Forum’ - this actual topic is Norwegian fjords only. A lot of information available.

[Rock1t]

Hi everyone, looking some advice or opinions for a RCCL trip I have planned for July 2024. I'm mostly curious if it is possible/realistic to take the Alesund-Geiranger RT day cruise and if anyone would recommend this? I'm a very active 32 year old, so I think I have a good mix of activities and exploration. 

 

7/12 - Southampton

7/13 - At Sea

7/14 - Stavanger (Pulpit Rock hike through RRCL)

7/15 - Flam (either the Flam railway or Panorama Stegastein through emobflam.no) leaning toward the emob smart car tour

7/16 - Alesund (we are here 8am - 6pm and I REALLY want to see the Geiranger fjord so I'm looking at the RT cruise from 9am - 5pm on geirangerfjord.no. Official times for July 2024 don't seem to be out yet but that would take the entire day and I'm okay with missing Alesund for a day of seeing the fjord and exploring the town)

7/17 - Bergen (only here until 2pm so looking at the Funicular and exploring the town on my own or a kayak tour through RCCL)

7/18 - At Sea

7/19 - Southampton 

 

The itinerary originally had us stopping at Nordfjordeid instead of Alesund and I found a very recommended Geiranger tour from this thread but the port change to Alesund has thrown me as I had my heart set on seeing Geiranger. I feel like this a decent mix of fjords and cities. 

[hallasm]

15 hours ago, Rock1t said:

Hi everyone, looking some advice or opinions for a RCCL trip I have planned for July 2024.

In Flåm it should be possible to do both the train and Stegastein - book train well in advance - will sell out. You might also want to do kayaking in Flåm rather than Bergen

 

In Ålesund the cruise to Geiranger is a good option - I believe timetable will be the same as 2023. 
 

For Bergen I’ll strongly recommend to explore the city rather than the Kayak.

[Rock1t]

3 hours ago, hallasm said:

In Flåm it should be possible to do both the train and Stegastein - book train well in advance - will sell out. You might also want to do kayaking in Flåm rather than Bergen

 

In Ålesund the cruise to Geiranger is a good option - I believe timetable will be the same as 2023. 
 

For Bergen I’ll strongly recommend to explore the city rather than the Kayak.

Thank so much for the insight! I hadn't thought of doing both in Flam so now I'll look at booking the train in the morning, have a quick lunch back onboard, and then book the Stegastein for after lunch. I'll also keep Bergen to just an exploration day. Now that I have a rough outline of my days, I'll just wait for bookings to start to open in 2024. 

[hallasm]

8 minutes ago, Rock1t said:

have a quick lunch back onboard,

You just have to check whether the ship is at the Quay or tender - there is only room for one ship at the Quay, so if several ships the rest will tender - only possible to check at the beginning of 2024

[Doh15]

We had a great itinerary booked with Azamara pre-covid with great coastal/fjord stops, and then it went up to the Lofotens, North Cape and Svalbard, but the cruise got cancelled and I've had problems trying to find something similar (especially in mid-size to smaller boat)

 

This new cruise from Viking caught my eye as the closest I've seen.  No Alesund, but does stop in Geiranger and we could visit Flam/Naeroyfjord from Bergen (they also do the trip in reverse but I thought it might work better to maybe add a day at the end in Bergen; have already been to Reykjavik so could honestly do without that part of the trip).  Also we might have to pick between a land excursion to see the Lofotens and RIB boat to the Trollfjord.  

 

Anyway curious what people think of this itinerary or if you have other suggestions--

 

Day 1 — Reykjavík, Iceland

Day 2 — ĺsafjördur, Iceland

Day 3 — Sail the Norwegian Sea

Day 4 — Sail the Norwegian Sea

Day 5 — Svalbard, Norway

Day 6 — Svalbard, Norway

Day 7 — Scenic Sailing: Barents Sea

Day 8 — Honningsvåg, Norway

Day 9 — Tromsø, Norway

Day 10 — Narvik, Norway

Day 11 — Lofoten, Norway

Day 12 — Sail the Norwegian Sea

Day 13 — Geiranger, Norway

Day 14 — Bergen, Norway

Day 15 — Bergen, Norway

Edited February 20, 2023 by Doh15

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, Doh15 said:

Anyway curious what people think of this itinerary or if you have other suggestions--

I think it is quite an acceptable route.  Stay few nights in Bergen - one option is the train from Bergen to Oslo with a detour from Myrdal to Flåm - one or two nights in Flåm.  Instead of continuing from Flåm to Oslo, it is of course also back to Bergen

[Doh15]

40 minutes ago, hallasm said:

I think it is quite an acceptable route.  Stay few nights in Bergen - one option is the train from Bergen to Oslo with a detour from Myrdal to Flåm - one or two nights in Flåm.  Instead of continuing from Flåm to Oslo, it is of course also back to Bergen

 

Thanks very much for the response, and the suggestion to consider staying in Flam on the way to Oslo.  I'm sure if we book this one I'll be back with lots more questions!

[Capt_BJ]

we did the Bergen Voss Flam Oslo trip with a night in Flam ... it was great. Train>Bus>Ferry>train>train

 

start on the Bergen Oslo train 

get off at Voss and transfer to a bus - but not too long

transfer to the ferry for fjord trip to Flam

Flam railway to end of the line rejoining the Bergen / Oslo line in Myrdal

 

booked thru 'nutshell'

 

Flam is a totally different place with no cruise crowd!

Edited February 20, 2023 by Capt_BJ