Rare exm Posted November 13, 2022 #1 Share Posted November 13, 2022 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallasm Posted November 13, 2022 #2 Share Posted November 13, 2022 (edited) 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare exm Posted November 14, 2022 Author #3 Share Posted November 14, 2022 Thanks! We'll be sailing in August by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaisatsu Posted November 16, 2022 #4 Share Posted November 16, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare exm Posted November 16, 2022 Author #5 Share Posted November 16, 2022 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celialeah98 Posted November 16, 2022 #6 Share Posted November 16, 2022 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaisatsu Posted November 20, 2022 #7 Share Posted November 20, 2022 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). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janetcbl Posted December 5, 2022 #8 Share Posted December 5, 2022 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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