Norwegian Fjords

[RHDZ]

Hello,

We had an excursion booked for Seydisfjordur for June 11, 2023 and the company cancelled on me today. We are now looking for an excursion. I have done some research and just about everything is sold out. The ship excursions are expensive. If we don't have excursion booked what are some things we could do in town on our own.

Thank you!

[hallasm]

3 hours ago, RHDZ said:

We had an excursion booked for Seydisfjordur for June 11, 2023

This topic is Norwegian Fjords - Seydisfjordur is in Iceland. Also try tåyour råRoll Call

You have already posted this topic

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by hallasm

[YVRteacher]

5 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Hello! I will be cruising solo on NCL from Reykjavik to Tromso then back Reykjavik. 23 days in this gorgeous part of the world in July/August 2023.

The ports we visit in Norway are:

Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen)

Alta

Honningsvag

Hammerfest

Tromso

Harstad

Olden

 

The shore excursions offered through NCL are very expensive.  Are there any “must see” sights in these ports?  I love small towns, walking, photography, being by the ocean, walking by the ocean and art.  I am looking at a few local walking tours and would be grateful for any and all suggestions.

 

I have been to Bergen and Alesund before and am beyond excited to see more of Norway.

@hallasm

[drsel]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

@hallasm

 At Honningsvag you get a 2 way transfer to North Cape on the spot for 700 kroner.

 

Tromso can be done on your own. We visited all these by local buses, in this order 

1. Arctic cathedral 70 kroner 

2. Polaria 

3. Hard Rock cafe

4. Magic Ice bar expensive 

5. Prestvannet lakel

We skipped Tromso Polar museum.

 

At Olden and Nordfjordeid there are travel agents selling tours on the spot to the Bricksdal glacier (29 krona extra for the troll car), lowen sky lift and the geiranger fjord

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by drsel

[hallasm]

8 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The ports we visit in Norway are:

Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen)

Alta

Honningsvag

Hammerfest

Tromso

Harstad

Olden

In fact only Olden is in The Norwegian Fjords and I do not have knowledge on the other ports

All ready some tips for Tromsø and Honningsvåg (North Cape), search this forum for tips on the other ports.

Longyearbyen is in Svalbard,

Harsted in Lofoten.

Alta and Hammerfest relatively small citien in Northernn Norway.

If your cruise is in June/July you’ll have midnight sun except for Olden.

For Olden make sure to be up early and enjoy the scenic sailing through the deep fjords. Be at upper decks at sunrise.

Also check if your ship dock in Olden or is tendering to Loen.

 

Some links to explore for Olden - plan for Loen Skylift and Briksdal Glacier - you should be able to do both in a day

Loen Skylift Shuttle

Loen Skylift including transfer

How to get to Briksdal Glacier

Briksdalsbussen

Public Skyss bus

[kaisatsu]

On 5/31/2023 at 4:52 AM, YVRteacher said:

The ports we visit in Norway are:

Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen)

Alta

Honningsvag

Hammerfest

Tromso

Harstad

Olden

This is very much an Arctic itinerary rather than a fjord itinerary, since Olden is the only fjord port on the list. You may get more responses starting a new thread asking for northern Norway port suggestions.

 

In Honnigsvåg, most people visit North Cape, which requires booking a tour (ship or independent) or renting a car.

 

In Tromsø, I really like the Polaris aquarium, Polar Museum (Arctic history and exploration), and Mack brewpub Ølhallen, but if you’re more interested in scenery, consider taking the cable car on the other side of the water. From the top, you can enjoy the view of the city and surrounding mountains, and it’s easy to walk a bit further up if your after a bit of light hiking.

 

In Longyearbyen, you can’t leave town without a guide (armed and trained for polar bear spotting), so if you want to do more than wander the town and visit the small museum, you should book an excursion. When I visited on a cruise, our cruiseline didn’t even offer any, so I booked one with a local tour operator (we did a half-day kayak trip across the fjord to the abandoned mining village).

[YVRteacher]

@kaisatsu Thank you! This is all very helpful.

[cfkm1]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:52 PM, YVRteacher said:

Hello! I will be cruising solo on NCL from Reykjavik to Tromso then back Reykjavik. 23 days in this gorgeous part of the world in July/August 2023.

The ports we visit in Norway are:

Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen)

Alta

Honningsvag

Hammerfest

Tromso

Harstad

Olden

 

The shore excursions offered through NCL are very expensive.  Are there any “must see” sights in these ports?  I love small towns, walking, photography, being by the ocean, walking by the ocean and art.  I am looking at a few local walking tours and would be grateful for any and all suggestions.

 

I have been to Bergen and Alesund before and am beyond excited to see more of Norway.

 

I was on a NCL cruise with Olden in the itinerary last year. Olden is absolutely my favorite port. Private tour operators will be available right at the pier with a much cheaper price than NCL shore excursion.. If you are into photography, taking the skylift to see the entire fjords without taking too much hiking. As Olden is small village town, you can walk around or take another tour bus or trolley train to ride around for photography after your skylift or Briksdal Glacier tour.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by cfkm1

[TLCOhio]

From Conde Nast Traveler in March, they had this headline: “Most Beautiful Small Towns in Europe” with these highlights: “Flåm, Norway.  Population: 350.  Undoubtedly one of Europe’s most beautiful cruise ports, the tiny village of Flåm welcomes ships passing through western Norway’s vast Sognefjord. The town is scattered with boldly colored houses and surrounded by unblemished green hills, but it’s perhaps best known for housing Flamsbana—the world’s steepest railway. Hop on the train in Flåm, which will take you past waterfalls and snow-capped peaks to the summit of Myrdal Mountain.”

 

Yes, the magazine profile brings back wonderful memories!!   Many other excellent small towns to visit all over Europe.  Need to pack and go?

 

From our adventure in and all over Norway linked below, you can see more and maybe gain added options, suggestions, tip and ideas.  Good luck with your research and planning. 

 

Full story at:

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/25-most-beautiful-small-towns-in-europe

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 247,434 views.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1172051-livesilver-cloud-norway-coastfjords-july-1-16-reports/

[hobgoblin]

Heading off to the Fjords end of next week.

Has anyone left booking the Skylift at Olden till the last minute?

Thinking if weathers bad we won't go and not have wasted the fares.

[hallasm]

11 minutes ago, hobgoblin said:

Has anyone left booking the Skylift at Olden till the last minute?

Thinking if weathers bad we won't go and not have wasted the fares.

The Loen Skylift has a fairly large capacity - personally I wouldn't book until I knew what the weather would be like.

[drsel]

There is a travel Agent at both Olden and Nordfjordeid ports to book the loen sky lift with transfers

so you should book it only if the weather is good

[badtwin]

We are booked on a HAL cruise that is supposed to be at Flam 7 am to 7pm in September 2023.  I am looking at booking the mini best of Norway trip (Boat to Gudvangen. bus to Voss, train to Myrdal and another train back to Flam.  

 

Two questions.  Will we really be there that long in September?  I know the days will be getting much shorter by then that far north and didn't know if that affected the cruise timing at all.

 

Second does this really work?  I am always a bit nervous about missing the ship and booking four separate travel legs seems to be tempting fate.  Even if you book with the one company service, it is my understanding is all you are getting is a list of bookings and you are still basically one your own.

 

Would love to hear from anyone who actually did this

 

 

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, badtwin said:

We are booked on a HAL cruise that is supposed to be at Flam 7 am to 7pm in September 2023. 

September is basically before the autumnal equinox - sunrise around 7 am and sunset after 7 pm. Somewhat longer daylight at the beginning of the month.
Yes, you will have separate bookings but if you have a reasonable time buffer it should not be a problem - The transport is very reliable.

You must be on the upper deck before sunrise and at sunset to enjoy cruising the deep fjords.

[wineoclock]

We used this company on our recent celebrity cruise. But please note they also used coaches but cheaper than the ship’s excursions. 
 

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/search-tours/?tour-search=&tax-tour_category=fjord-tours&tax-tour_tag=&tax-tour-destination=&tax-tour-activity=

[alexgtp]

Just back from Norwegian Fjords with RCL.

Port's we stopped in.
Gerainger (my favorite deep Fjord stop)
Honnisvag (overnight for summer solstice)

Flam (hiked waterfall path and went to Stegestein , which was a terrible choice)
Olden (went to Loen for skylift and hiked Mount Hoven)
Alesund
Molde (stop was skipped due to Amsterdam and their lock/salinity levels, so we had to come home 1 day early)

So if you have any question's I am now an expert.. LOL

(thanks to hallasm for pointing me in the right direction when choosing the right Fjord trip for us, we ended up doing a deep Fjord's for the scenery and beauty)

[McGarrett5oh]

4 minutes ago, alexgtp said:

Olden (went to Loen for skylift and hiked Mount Hoven)
Alesund

Thanks for offering to answer.  Can you give me an idea of how long the bus ride took from the port to Loen Skylift base, how long the trip up and down takes and if you have a time limit up top so as to get a your bus back to the port?    TIA

[alexgtp]

 

 

 

Bus from port of Olden to Loen is 15 minutes tops. Very straight forward route.

Bus ran all day every15-20 minutes.

To the top was about a 4 minute ride.

We stayed on Mount Hoven for about 5 hours hiking the different trails. No time limit's

technical plaque they had on wall with info.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by alexgtp

[alexgtp]

18 minutes ago, McGarrett5oh said:

Thanks for offering to answer.  Can you give me an idea of how long the bus ride took from the port to Loen Skylift base, how long the trip up and down takes and if you have a time limit up top so as to get a your bus back to the port?    TIA

 

Sorry for some reason it double posted!!

Edited July 6, 2023 by alexgtp

[McGarrett5oh]

@alexgtp Thank you very much for the quick response & detail. 

 

One more question, how long did it take the ship once you entered Nordfjord to cruise to Olden or the other way around when departing?  We are wondering how long we'll get those beautiful views cruising in the Fjord in daylight.   Thanks again!

[alexgtp]

Just now, McGarrett5oh said:

@alexgtp Thank you very much for the quick response & detail. 

 

One more question, how long did it take the ship once you entered Nordfjord to cruise to Olden or the other way around when departing?  We are wondering how long we'll get those beautiful views cruising in the Fjord in daylight.   Thanks again!

We were to be in Olden at 10AM.

I was up at 440AM and barely caught us entering the Fjord. I would say about a 4-5 hour journey.  So to be safe I would say 5 hours pre if you want to see entry into Fjord

This picture was taken at 4:45AM.  this might be an entry marker??

Here is a map of were we were at that exact time, already entering into the Fjord.

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, McGarrett5oh said:

We are wondering how long we'll get those beautiful views cruising in the Fjord in daylight. 

About 5 hours - depending on your sailing date sunrise is 3 to 4 am and sunset at 11 pm to midnight. Most of fjord sailing in daylight. I do prefer the views in the morning. 
 

2 hours ago, McGarrett5oh said:

Can you give me an idea of how long the bus ride took from the port to Loen Skylift base

Check if you ship is docking in Olden or if tendering into Loen. If tender landing is just at the Skylift base.

[ericosmith]

8 hours ago, alexgtp said:

Flam (hiked waterfall path and went to Stegestein , which was a terrible choice)

Curious why it was a terrible choice?

[alexgtp]

14 hours ago, ericosmith said:

Curious why it was a terrible choice?

The amount of people all crowded on lookout point made for a terrible time. People were rude, pushing, and hogging up the good picture spot's. We had a family of 10 doing some sort of fashion shoot! and they were rude on top of it. The ride up and down made for more entertainment. Wishing I would have booked a RIB tour and or Railway.

Amazing view's but probably could have seen that view elsewhere!

Here is a picture of how crowded this place can get.

[John Bull]

On 7/6/2023 at 8:09 AM, wineoclock said:

We used this company on our recent celebrity cruise. But please note they also used coaches but cheaper than the ship’s excursions. 
 

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/search-tours/?tour-search=&tax-tour_category=fjord-tours&tax-tour_tag=&tax-tour-destination=&tax-tour-activity=

 

We used this same company for their 7.5 hr Troll tour from Alesund . Excellent operator, excellent day.

Same itinerary as https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-private-from-fjords-to-trolls/ but in a coach. IIRC €125 pp, similar Carnival tour was $199.

The photo is of the Trollstigen, which tests the coach drivers to the limit - we met a coach on one of the really narrow bits.

Near  Gudbrandsjuvet, we passed lots of fields of strawberries - yes, strawberries this far north. Our guide bought some to pass round the coach, they were every bit as good as the best English strawberries. At the lunch-stop we bought a punnet ourselves.

 

They collect & return to the cruise terminal, very easy. They will accept on-spec passengers, but our coach was full so probably best to pre-book.

Seats aren't allocated - for best views get yourselves seats on the same side of the coach as the door.

 

JB 🙂