Bergen to Oslo Train excursion. Why sold out? Is it such a great trip?

[stormz]

We are booked on Viking and cruise ends in Bergen. The Bergen to Oslo train excursion is sold out over  16 months in advance. What am I missing? Is this excursion a must do? What’s the attraction? Thanks to anyone that can explain. Maybe we can book ourselves.

[millybess]

We booked a train from Oslo to Bergen through this website

https://www.vy.no/en/traffic-and-routes/stations-and-network-maps/the-bergen-line

You can also try Norway in a Nutshell. There is some discussion here https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2831995-norway-excursions/page/2/#comment-62971701

 

[Twitchly]

It’s great (we did it), but you can easily buy your own train tickets and find your own lodging in Oslo. 

[dwlmg]

The Bergen to Oslo train is regarded as one of the premiere scenic rail journeys in the world. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/europes-best-train-journey

[donaldsc]

I did 1 trial booking in June and 1 in July.  Seats were available.

 

DON

[Let Me Travel!]

I have a cruise inAugust ending in Bergen.  I really wanted to book the train to Oslo also, but it was sold out…I really want to do this, so I booked it myself! We will stay at the Raddison Blu…just across the tracks from the Central Station and I booked the train on Train Ninja.  The cost is just a hair less than the post extension.

[millybess]

20 minutes ago, Let Me Travel! said:

I have a cruise inAugust ending in Bergen.  I really wanted to book the train to Oslo also, but it was sold out…I really want to do this, so I booked it myself! We will stay at the Raddison Blu…just across the tracks from the Central Station and I booked the train on Train Ninja.  The cost is just a hair less than the post extension.

We looked at booking with Train Ninja, but we couldn't choose our seats, so we went with vy.no.  Were you able to choose your seats?

[Peregrina651]

11 hours ago, stormz said:

We are booked on Viking and cruise ends in Bergen. The Bergen to Oslo train excursion is sold out over  16 months in advance. What am I missing? Is this excursion a must do? What’s the attraction? Thanks to anyone that can explain. Maybe we can book ourselves.

 

The Oslo extension may be sold out today but over the next year, there maybe cancellations.  Keep trying to add it to your booking if doing the extension is your preference but doing it on your own is entirely feasible (and gives you the chance of a adding a scenic detour/overnight on the way to Oslo (but darned if I can remember the name of the town)).

[Let Me Travel!]

3 hours ago, millybess said:

We looked at booking with Train Ninja, but we couldn't choose our seats, so we went with vy.no.  Were you able to choose your seats?

No - my invoice just says 1st class seat...I hope that will not make a difference...We bought the tickets in December...I wonder if purchasing it so early makes a difference

[millybess]

No, I don't think it does make a difference.  From everything I've read, it doesn't matter what side you sit on and the windows are huge.  We wanted to choose because we didn't want to ride backwards.

[janetcbl]

13 hours ago, stormz said:

We are booked on Viking and cruise ends in Bergen. The Bergen to Oslo train excursion is sold out over  16 months in advance. What am I missing? Is this excursion a must do? What’s the attraction? Thanks to anyone that can explain. Maybe we can book ourselves.

16 months in advance! Excursions were available this far in advance. Wow! We leave in less than 75 days and excursions are still not available! (We were supposed to be able to book excursions 87 days out.) Patience, patience…….

[Squawkman]

4 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

16 months in advance! Excursions were available this far in advance. Wow! We leave in less than 75 days and excursions are still not available! (We were supposed to be able to book excursions 87 days out.) Patience, patience…….

Extensions are different from excursions. They’re usually available when a new booking opens.

[philw1776]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

The Oslo extension may be sold out today but over the next year, there maybe cancellations.  Keep trying to add it to your booking if doing the extension is your preference but doing it on your own is entirely feasible (and gives you the chance of a adding a scenic detour/overnight on the way to Oslo (but darned if I can remember the name of the town)).

THIS ^^^
An EXTENSION I wanted was marked SOLD OUT many months in advance. Waited & checked. An opening eventually appeared erasing the SOLD OUT & I booked it.

 

Also the train station in Oslo is right next to Viking's Thon Hotel. Easy to walk next door & board on your own.

Edited April 11, 2022 by philw1776

[CurlerRob]

1 hour ago, Let Me Travel! said:

No - my invoice just says 1st class seat...I hope that will not make a difference...We bought the tickets in December...I wonder if purchasing it so early makes a difference

My experience with Rail Ninja is that you can reserve your seat class well in advance, but your seat will only be assigned closer to the travel date. In correspondence with them, they advised that I would be able to follow up with vy.no once tickets were made available (I had the same request regarding riding backwards as @millybess). 

 

I  had to cancel and rebook for a later date, so still haven't taken the train trip - their service was just fine regarding the rebooking.

 

I found that I could not book with vy.no until much closer to the actual travel date - is it possible that you and @millybess are looking at very different dates? That would explain the difference.

 

Enjoy the trip!  🍺🥌

[millybess]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

The Oslo extension may be sold out today but over the next year, there maybe cancellations.  Keep trying to add it to your booking if doing the extension is your preference but doing it on your own is entirely feasible (and gives you the chance of a adding a scenic detour/overnight on the way to Oslo (but darned if I can remember the name of the town)).

Voss possibly?

[millybess]

1 minute ago, CurlerRob said:

My experience with Rail Ninja is that you can reserve your seat class well in advance, but your seat will only be assigned closer to the travel date. In correspondence with them, they advised that I would be able to follow up with vy.no once tickets were made available (I had the same request regarding riding backwards as @millybess). 

 

I  had to cancel and rebook for a later date, so still haven't taken the train trip - their service was just fine regarding the rebooking.

 

I found that I could not book with vy.no until much closer to the actual travel date - is it possible that you and @millybess are looking at very different dates? That would explain the difference.

 

Enjoy the trip!  🍺🥌

Right.  We could only book 3 months out  -- so February for a May trip.

[janetcbl]

31 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

16 months in advance! Excursions were available this far in advance. Wow! We leave in less than 75 days and excursions are still not available! (We were supposed to be able to book excursions 87 days out.) Patience, patience…….

Thanks!  I misread  the comment.

[Gojagators]

Definitely keep checking on MVJ for availability.  We were able to get a booking for the train trip 2 months after we booked our cruise for this fall when it was originally marked as sold out.  

[mhb1757]

If you have the time do the overnight version of this trip. You leave Bergen on the train, exit the train at Voss and take a very scenic bus ride to Gundvagen (or my preference is just to take the bus from Bergen to Gundvagen). From there you take the ferry to Flam, which is one of the most beautiful trips in the world). You can spend the night right at the foot of the fiord in Flam. The next day you take the Flamsbana tourist train up to Myrdal (a beautiful trip as well) where you rejoin the Bergen-Oslo train back to Oslo. 
I cannot begin to describe how beautiful this trip is. The Viking excursion misses the most beautiful part by skipping the detour to Flam. 
if you want to simplify your journey a bit there is a company, Porter Service Norway, that will for a very reasonable fee, collect your luggage from your hotel in Bergen or the dock and transport it to your hotel in Oslo. That way you can just take an overnight bag with you on the train/bus/ferry, etc. and not have to schlep all your luggage around. Then your luggage is waiting for you at the hotel when you arrive. 

[CCWineLover]

8 hours ago, Let Me Travel! said:

No - my invoice just says 1st class seat...I hope that will not make a difference...We bought the tickets in December...I wonder if purchasing it so early makes a difference

The only way to choose your seats guaranteed is to buy 90 days ahead of time on the official site vy.no

[stormz]

9 hours ago, janetcbl said:

16 months in advance! Excursions were available this far in advance. Wow! We leave in less than 75 days and excursions are still not available! (We were supposed to be able to book excursions 87 days out.) Patience, patience…….

 

[stormz]

This is not an excursion it is a post cruise trip.   Still 15 months out!

[stormz]

22 hours ago, dwlmg said:

The Bergen to Oslo train is regarded as one of the premiere scenic rail journeys in the world. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/europes-best-train-journey

Thanks no wonder it sells out.

[stormz]

4 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

If you have the time do the overnight version of this trip. You leave Bergen on the train, exit the train at Voss and take a very scenic bus ride to Gundvagen (or my preference is just to take the bus from Bergen to Gundvagen). From there you take the ferry to Flam, which is one of the most beautiful trips in the world). You can spend the night right at the foot of the fiord in Flam. The next day you take the Flamsbana tourist train up to Myrdal (a beautiful trip as well) where you rejoin the Bergen-Oslo train back to Oslo. 
I cannot begin to describe how beautiful this trip is. The Viking excursion misses the most beautiful part by skipping the detour to Flam. 
if you want to simplify your journey a bit there is a company, Porter Service Norway, that will for a very reasonable fee, collect your luggage from your hotel in Bergen or the dock and transport it to your hotel in Oslo. That way you can just take an overnight bag with you on the train/bus/ferry, etc. and not have to schlep all your luggage around. Then your luggage is waiting for you at the hotel when you arrive. 

Thanks so much great info!

[stormz]

On 4/11/2022 at 5:17 PM, mhb1757 said:

If you have the time do the overnight version of this trip. You leave Bergen on the train, exit the train at Voss and take a very scenic bus ride to Gundvagen (or my preference is just to take the bus from Bergen to Gundvagen). From there you take the ferry to Flam, which is one of the most beautiful trips in the world). You can spend the night right at the foot of the fiord in Flam. The next day you take the Flamsbana tourist train up to Myrdal (a beautiful trip as well) where you rejoin the Bergen-Oslo train back to Oslo. 
I cannot begin to describe how beautiful this trip is. The Viking excursion misses the most beautiful part by skipping the detour to Flam. 
if you want to simplify your journey a bit there is a company, Porter Service Norway, that will for a very reasonable fee, collect your luggage from your hotel in Bergen or the dock and transport it to your hotel in Oslo. That way you can just take an overnight bag with you on the train/bus/ferry, etc. and not have to schlep all your luggage around. Then your luggage is waiting for you at the hotel when you arrive.