Please help me rank these cruises to Norway

[exm]

Hi, my family want to do a cruise to Norway. We don't care that much about the ship, but we love to see nature (not that interested in cities). We did our Google research, but we would love to hear if some of the destinations below are "can't miss":

 

Cruise 1:

 Hellesylt
 Alesund
 Olden

 Kiel (Germany)

 

Cruise 2:

 Haugesund
 Flaam
 Olden
 Kristiansand

 

Cruise 3:

 Oslofjord
 Oslo
 Stavanger
 Sogneford
 Flaam

 

Please let me know which ports stick out positively and "negatively". Thanks!

[hallasm]

difficult to rank - see my comments - some interesting and less interesting ports of call. Month might also be a factor. May might be too early - June has snow in the mountains and water in the rivers.

Cruise 1:

 Hellesylt -deep scenic fjord -  small port - used for excursions to Geiranger
 Alesund - very nice small coastal city
 Olden - deep scenic fjord - small town / excursions to glacier end view point

 Kiel (Germany)

 

Cruise 2:

 Haugesund - not that interesting
 Flaam - deep scenic fjord and the railway
 Olden - deep scenic fjord - small town / excursions to glacier end view point
 Kristiansand - not that interesting

 

Cruise 3:

 Oslofjord in to  Oslo - interesting city
 Stavanger - coastal city - excursions to Lysefjord and Pulpit rock
 Sogneford in to  Flaam  - deep  scenic fjord and the railway

Edited November 13, 2022 by hallasm

[exm]

Thanks! We'll be sailing in August by the way.

[kaisatsu]

It depends a bit on what you’re looking for. Do you want bigger ports with museums and typical city sightseeing? Are you primarily looking for scenic fjord cruising from the ship? How much scenic cruising is “enough?” How much variety do you want? Maybe there are particular activities you’re interested in?

 

All of these include at least some classic fjord scenery, so none of them are an obvious “no” on that count, which means the rest is a matter of personal preference.

[exm]

2 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

It depends a bit on what you’re looking for. Do you want bigger ports with museums and typical city sightseeing? Are you primarily looking for scenic fjord cruising from the ship? How much scenic cruising is “enough?” How much variety do you want? Maybe there are particular activities you’re interested in?

 

All of these include at least some classic fjord scenery, so none of them are an obvious “no” on that count, which means the rest is a matter of personal preference.

 

Mostly nature and scenic fjords to be honest.

[Celialeah98]

Look at RC July 11  2023 Arctic circle cruise on the Jewel

 

Geiranger, Molde, Honnisvag, Tromso, Flam, Stavenger, Kristiansand (not that interesting and may skip if water levels in Amsterdam are low next summer too).

 

Happy Planning

[kaisatsu]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:23 PM, exm said:

 

Mostly nature and scenic fjords to be honest.

Then I’d choose the Hellesylt, Olden, Ålesund option, cruise 1 and plan a small boat excursion from Hellesylt to Geiranger. That’s one of the UNESCO-listed fjords and (IMO) more beautiful than Nærøyfjord near Flåm/Gudvangen. Ålesund is a pretty little town and has the typical scenery of Norway’s coastal cities (lots of islands). Olden offers some more fjord sailing in/out, and the skylift has replaced the climate-change-decimated Briksdal Glacier for scenic shore excursions. (Kiel probably won’t add a lot.)

 

In comparison, for #2 you replace Hellesylt with Flåm, but most of the Sognefjord sailing is quite wide and less dramatic than other fjord cruising. And the iconic Flåm railway (while pretty) loses sight of the fjord a few minutes into the trip, so it’s more mountain and valley scenery than iconic fjords. A lot of people like the train for the variety and novelty, but I would definitely choose the Nutshell circuit to include the Nærøyfjord cruise and even the Myrdal-Voss train segment, which is up above the tree line and typically has patches of snow late into the summer. The big draw of the Flåmsbana for me is the difference in scenery between the bottom and top (though it’s still a pretty trip). Haugesund is not known for being the most beautiful coastal city, and Kristiansand is known more for its southerly location than its scenery.

 

Option #3 is city-centric, and while the Oslofjord is a pretty sail-in, it’s more suburban coastal settlements than natural beauty. Oslo has great nature for a city, but it’s still a city. In Stavanger you would probably want to get out of town, visiting Lysefjord or hiking Pulpit Rock (time permitting).

[janetcbl]

On 11/13/2022 at 4:16 PM, hallasm said:

difficult to rank - see my comments - some interesting and less interesting ports of call. Month might also be a factor. May might be too early - June has snow in the mountains and water in the rivers.

Cruise 1:

 Hellesylt -deep scenic fjord -  small port - used for excursions to Geiranger
 Alesund - very nice small coastal city
 Olden - deep scenic fjord - small town / excursions to glacier end view point

 Kiel (Germany)

 

Cruise 2:

 Haugesund - not that interesting
 Flaam - deep scenic fjord and the railway
 Olden - deep scenic fjord - small town / excursions to glacier end view point
 Kristiansand - not that interesting

 

Cruise 3:

 Oslofjord in to  Oslo - interesting city
 Stavanger - coastal city - excursions to Lysefjord and Pulpit rock
 Sogneford in to  Flaam  - deep  scenic fjord and the railway

Cruise 3 would be my first, second and third choice.