Bergen to Oslo post extension - train class question

[longterm]

We're on a British Isles cruise that is not until mid 2024; I'm looking ahead at the post extension, which would be 2 nights in Oslo, and which includes the train trip between Bergen and Oslo, which we've been wanting to take.

 

Has anyone done this extension, and if so, do you know what travel class Viking provides--Economy or 1st Class? If it's Economy, can we pay extra and get 1st-class instead?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Bob

 

[dd57]

We did this extension in August 2022.  I don't know what class it was, but the windows were small and the seats not very well padded.  What I would expect from a Metrolink vs Amtrak or european regional train vs TGV.  Better than all of the subways I have been on all over the world.  The Viking reps came around twice during the long trip, once to explain they would be handing out a sack lunch and once to hand it out.  They  never said anything about the trip.   It was clear that most of the people in the car were commuters.  I don't think there was an option to upgrade.   The scenery was beautiful.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, longterm said:

We're on a British Isles cruise that is not until mid 2024; I'm looking ahead at the post extension, which would be 2 nights in Oslo, and which includes the train trip between Bergen and Oslo, which we've been wanting to take.

 

Has anyone done this extension, and if so, do you know what travel class Viking provides--Economy or 1st Class? If it's Economy, can we pay extra and get 1st-class instead?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Bob

 

We experienced something that happens in the summer - track maintenance.  End of July 2022, the tracks were closed for a week.  Those who took the extension with Viking I believe had to do some buses.  We were on our own and since the train was not available, we flew the one hour flight from Bergen to Oslo.  Just keep this in mind, they do maintenance in the summer.  It could happen just when you will be going.

[CILCIANRQTS]

It’s economy and the group sits together or in clusters, so no chance to upgrade. The dining car is just a takeout place, and alcohol needs to be consumed in the dining car. Not very fancy, but the views from the train are great!

[longterm]

Hmm... not encouraging. Thanks for the input.

 

I'm wondering if a) it's really such a wonderful trip as I've heard, and b) whether we should just book the train and hotel in Oslo ourselves, so that we can go 1st class on the train.

 

We're leaning towards booking it ourselves, which would be cheaper in the long run anyway. 

 

Again, I appreciate any insights from those who have done the extension.

[CCWineLover]

If you do it yourselves, it likely will be less a hassle and cheaper.

There have been a number of threads discussing this train and booking it.  We were, as I said, all set to book ours in first class (on the advice of friends), when the train shut down for maintenance for the week we needed it.

Doing a simple search, here is the most recent thread, but there are plenty of others.

 

[dd57]

Also be aware that the first half to 2/3 is very scenic, but the last part isn't.  So being in more comfy surroundings would be more satisfying.

 

But, boy that first part is awesome.  

[duquephart]

We were sent on this train after being stranded in Bergen by the SAS strike. Not all seats have a window in the right place and the last 1/3 of the trip it was dark.

[molymoo]

I guess the experience depends on when you go and who are your tour escorts.  We have done this extension twice; once in 2018 and just this last summer.  The 2018 trip was a post and the one last summer was a pre.  On the first (2018) the seats were comfortable enough, not luxurious but good enough.  We got a voucher for food from the dining car and could eat what we wanted, when we wanted.  The tour escorts checked in on us periodically and answered any questions, but largely left us to our own devices.  This last summer we received "sack lunches" shortly after we boarded the train.  The seats were the same as our first trip and the views from either side were great.  The tour escorts stayed in the cars with their "groups" and gave us a running commentary on what we were seeing; including history, geology, culture, and current events.  It was a far more interesting trip than our trip in 2018 but apparently not all tour escorts do the same.

 

[longterm]

I’ve reached out to my TA to see what he thinks, but there are lots of things to consider here.

 

I’m a seasoned traveler, and not afraid of being on my own, but Norway is a place where I would not know a single word of the language. Also, if we go on our own, we would have to fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen; I know that I have to pay $100 per person to make alternate flight arrangements (which we will do anyway because we are flying into London a few days early), but how does Viking charge when you fly home from a different city?

 

Also, it occurs to me that if there is any issue with the train, Viking would be there  to help us. Doing the math, the difference in cost is about six or $700; we would pay for first class train if we did it ourselves, and probably stay in a similar hotel in Oslo. We would also have to pay for transfers in Bergen and Oslo, and would not get a tour in Oslo, but I can certainly arrange a private one.

 

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards doing this ourselves, and not taking the post extension. Even though the trip is a year and a half away, we have to pay the balance by the end of next month, so I have a decision to make very soon.

 

Thanks for all insights.

 

 Bob

[janetcbl]

8 minutes ago, longterm said:

I’ve reached out to my TA to see what he thinks, but there are lots of things to consider here.

 

I’m a seasoned traveler, and not afraid of being on my own, but Norway is a place where I would not know a single word of the language. Also, if we go on our own, we would have to fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen; I know that I have to pay $100 per person to make alternate flight arrangements (which we will do anyway because we are flying into London a few days early), but how does Viking charge when you fly home from a different city?

 

Also, it occurs to me that if there is any issue with the train, Viking would be there  to help us. Doing the math, the difference in cost is about six or $700; we would pay for first class train if we did it ourselves, and probably stay in a similar hotel in Oslo. We would also have to pay for transfers in Bergen and Oslo, and would not get a tour in Oslo, but I can certainly arrange a private one.

 

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards doing this ourselves, and not taking the post extension. Even though the trip is a year and a half away, we have to pay the balance by the end of next month, so I have a decision to make very soon.

 

Thanks for all insights.

 

 Bob

Every Norwegian speaks English, except maybe the very elderly. They start learning it early in primary grades. Many signs are also in English. You will have no problem. The Scandinavian countries are easy to manage on your own, transportation, hotels, sightseeing, etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CCWineLover]

13 minutes ago, longterm said:

I’ve reached out to my TA to see what he thinks, but there are lots of things to consider here.

 

I but Norway is a place where I would not know a single word of the language. Also, if we go on our own, we would have to fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen; I know that I have to pay $100 per person to make alternate flight arrangements (which we will do anyway because we are flying into London a few days early), but how does Viking charge when you fly home from a different city?

In Norway, especially Bergen and Oslo, we had NO problems with the language as everyone spoke English - quite well.   A couple other points:  you might find better flights home from Oslo than Bergen;  the cost of transfers is not that much (we did the train to/from the airport in Oslo and it wasn't that much; the train station in Bergen is a very short taxi or uber ride from the ship or hotels); if something happens and you are a seasoned traveler, you will figure out what to do.  Worst case you can always get a flight from Bergen to Oslo as we did.  Easy peasy for seasoned travelers.   To me, it seems like a no-brainer decision.

[duquephart]

15 minutes ago, longterm said:

I’ve reached out to my TA to see what he thinks, but there are lots of things to consider here.

 

I’m a seasoned traveler, and not afraid of being on my own, but Norway is a place where I would not know a single word of the language. Also, if we go on our own, we would have to fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen; I know that I have to pay $100 per person to make alternate flight arrangements (which we will do anyway because we are flying into London a few days early), but how does Viking charge when you fly home from a different city?

 

Also, it occurs to me that if there is any issue with the train, Viking would be there  to help us. Doing the math, the difference in cost is about six or $700; we would pay for first class train if we did it ourselves, and probably stay in a similar hotel in Oslo. We would also have to pay for transfers in Bergen and Oslo, and would not get a tour in Oslo, but I can certainly arrange a private one.

 

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards doing this ourselves, and not taking the post extension. Even though the trip is a year and a half away, we have to pay the balance by the end of next month, so I have a decision to make very soon.

 

Thanks for all insights.

 

 Bob

 

NTW about language. They speak better English than we do. The reason Viking sent us to Oslo is that the Bergen airport sucks.

[Squawkman]

1 minute ago, janetcbl said:

Every Norwegian speaks English, except maybe the very elderly. They start learning it early in primary grades. Many signs are also in English. You will have no problem. The Scandinavian countries are easy to manage on your own, transportation, hotels, sightseeing, etc. 

 

This is true. My daughter was an exchange student there 25 years ago. English is taught starting in 3rd grade and a second foreign language is often added in high school. Not sure when this started, but her host parents did not start English in 3rd grade.

[Squawkman]

1 minute ago, duquephart said:

 

NTW about language. They speak better English than do.

My daughter was in advanced English there and studied literature way beyond her home high school. She was not the star pupil in that course.

[longterm]

16 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

In Norway, especially Bergen and Oslo, we had NO problems with the language as everyone spoke English - quite well.   A couple other points:  you might find better flights home from Oslo than Bergen;  the cost of transfers is not that much (we did the train to/from the airport in Oslo and it wasn't that much; the train station in Bergen is a very short taxi or uber ride from the ship or hotels); if something happens and you are a seasoned traveler, you will figure out what to do.  Worst case you can always get a flight from Bergen to Oslo as we did.  Easy peasy for seasoned travelers.   To me, it seems like a no-brainer decision.

Sounds like booking this myself may be the way to go. My rudimentary budget for booking it ourselves came out to about $1500 with 1st-class train, versus $1938 from Viking. The only difference would be 1 guided tour in Oslo, which I could probably arrange for less than $200.

 

Viking's arranging flights for us; we're already paying $100/person for Air Plus, but if we fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen, is Viking going to uncharge for that? We've never flown out of a city other than the termination city of a cruise.

 

Good to hear about the lack of a language barrier; I speak French and Italian, but certainly no Norwegian. 

 

 

[longterm]

35 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

My daughter was in advanced English there and studied literature way beyond her home high school. She was not the star pupil in that course.

Not surprising these days, unfortunately. I'm constantly appalled at the bad grammar I see online, the butchered English spoken by talking heads on TV, the tortured headlines on news sites. 

 

When I went to Japan years ago, everyone told me, "Not to worry! Most Japanese people speak English!"

 

The very first day, in Kumamoto, we went to a bank to exchange money, and nobody spoke English. We did all our transactions with hand signals; I was surprised that more Japanese people didn't speak English, but of course, in our arrogant American way, most Americans speak English only, while expecting other countries to just fall in line and understand us. Before I return to Japan, I'll learn at least some rudimentary phrases; it shows respect and I've always enjoyed trying to converse in foreign languages.

[Moonlion]

12 minutes ago, longterm said:

Sounds like booking this myself may be the way to go. My rudimentary budget for booking it ourselves came out to about $1500 with 1st-class train, versus $1938 from Viking. The only difference would be 1 guided tour in Oslo, which I could probably arrange for less than $200.

 

Viking's arranging flights for us; we're already paying $100/person for Air Plus, but if we fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen, is Viking going to uncharge for that? We've never flown out of a city other than the termination city of a cruise.

 

Good to hear about the lack of a language barrier; I speak French and Italian, but certainly no Norwegian. 

 

 

@longterm I'm curious how you came up with a budget of $1500 if doing yourself.  We're on the BIE cruise this May (London to Bergen) and plan to spend 3 days post cruise on our own - 1 extra night in Bergen at the Thon Hotel Orion (at $138 USD through booking.com) and 2 nights in Oslo.  In Oslo, I booked two nights at the Thon Hotel Opera (same hotel that Viking uses for the post-excursion for $250/night including taxes (I booked directly with the hotel website).  Both hotels include breakfast.  Doing a dummy train booking since you can't book on vy.no site until 60-90 days in advance, fully refundable, plus train tickets from Bergen to Oslo come to just under $300 for the two of us.  Just pricing the Bergen Oslo part, it comes to about $800 USD for the two of us (2 nights in Oslo plus train tickets).  Transfers and a tour shouldn't come to $700.  Hopefully, I'm not missing something 🤣!

 

If you are using Viking Air and want to change the arrival/departure date or airport, there is a deviation fee.  However, the last time we did this, we only paid the deviation fee once and it included both inbound and return deviations.  Call Viking Air to see if there is an upcharge for flying back from Oslo instead of Bergen.  Good luck with your travel planning!

[longterm]

2 minutes ago, Moonlion said:

@longterm I'm curious how you came up with a budget of $1500 if doing yourself.  We're on the BIE cruise this May (London to Bergen) and plan to spend 3 days post cruise on our own - 1 extra night in Bergen at the Thon Hotel Orion (at $138 USD through booking.com) and 2 nights in Oslo.  In Oslo, I booked two nights at the Thon Hotel Opera (same hotel that Viking uses for the post-excursion for $250/night including taxes (I booked directly with the hotel website).  Both hotels include breakfast.  Doing a dummy train booking since you can't book on vy.no site until 60-90 days in advance, fully refundable, plus train tickets from Bergen to Oslo come to just under $300 for the two of us.  Just pricing the Bergen Oslo part, it comes to about $800 USD for the two of us (2 nights in Oslo plus train tickets).  Transfers and a tour shouldn't come to $700.  Hopefully, I'm not missing something 🤣!

 

If you are using Viking Air and want to change the arrival/departure date or airport, there is a deviation fee.  However, the last time we did this, we only paid the deviation fee once and it included both inbound and return deviations.  Call Viking Air to see if there is an upcharge for flying back from Oslo instead of Bergen.  Good luck with your travel planning!

Here's what I came up with; these are just rough approximations, although I did look up train travel, and it looks like it will be approx. $250/person for 1st-class. I hope that's high, but when I looked at a random date in the next couple of months, it came back with $247 each (I forget what site it was).

$500 - 2 1st-class train tickets

$50 - transfer from ship to train station

$50 - food on the train

$300 - food in Oslo (2 nights, 1 morning)

$600 - hotel (2 nights - high, but I estimate high)

$1500 - TOTAL ESTIMATE

I know that the hotel's a little high, but there are always extra expenses that come up, like a souvenir or a museum entry fee, or perhaps an Uber.

 

 

[Moonlion]

1 minute ago, longterm said:

Here's what I came up with; these are just rough approximations, although I did look up train travel, and it looks like it will be approx. $250/person for 1st-class. I hope that's high, but when I looked at a random date in the next couple of months, it came back with $247 each (I forget what site it was).

$500 - 2 1st-class train tickets

$50 - transfer from ship to train station

$50 - food on the train

$300 - food in Oslo (2 nights, 1 morning)

$600 - hotel (2 nights - high, but I estimate high)

$1500 - TOTAL ESTIMATE

I know that the hotel's a little high, but there are always extra expenses that come up, like a souvenir or a museum entry fee, or perhaps an Uber.

 

 

What train booking site did you you use?  If booking directly with vy.no, I came up with ~$150 per ticket.  They only offer "plus" seating which I believe is their first class experience.  

[longterm]

7 minutes ago, Moonlion said:

What train booking site did you you use?  If booking directly with vy.no, I came up with ~$150 per ticket.  They only offer "plus" seating which I believe is their first class experience.  

You're absolutely right; I just created an account on vy.no and came up with $288.50, so that's good to see. Yes, the "plus" seating is their 1st-class seating.

 

I looked at daylight hours, and found that the average day in Oslo during July has 18.0 hours of daylight, with sunrise at 4:21 AM and sunset at 10:21 PM, so we'd be good to take that train. 

[Moonlion]

3 minutes ago, longterm said:

You're absolutely right; I just created an account on vy.no and came up with $288.50, so that's good to see. Yes, the "plus" seating is their 1st-class seating.

 

I looked at daylight hours, and found that the average day in Oslo during July has 18.0 hours of daylight, with sunrise at 4:21 AM and sunset at 10:21 PM, so we'd be good to take that train. 

Whew, thought I had missed something!  We'll be in Norway toward the end of May with about 18 hours of daylight (https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/norway/bergen)...almost hitting the "midnight sun" time. 

[CurlerRob]

1 hour ago, longterm said:

I’ve reached out to my TA to see what he thinks, but there are lots of things to consider here.

 

I’m a seasoned traveler, and not afraid of being on my own, but Norway is a place where I would not know a single word of the language. Also, if we go on our own, we would have to fly home from Oslo instead of Bergen; I know that I have to pay $100 per person to make alternate flight arrangements (which we will do anyway because we are flying into London a few days early), but how does Viking charge when you fly home from a different city?

 

Also, it occurs to me that if there is any issue with the train, Viking would be there  to help us. Doing the math, the difference in cost is about six or $700; we would pay for first class train if we did it ourselves, and probably stay in a similar hotel in Oslo. We would also have to pay for transfers in Bergen and Oslo, and would not get a tour in Oslo, but I can certainly arrange a private one.

 

The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards doing this ourselves, and not taking the post extension. Even though the trip is a year and a half away, we have to pay the balance by the end of next month, so I have a decision to make very soon.

 

Thanks for all insights.

 

 Bob

 

Lots of useful responses already, but a few thoughts from me, as we are doing the same post in July 2023 ...

 

As stated by many others, language is a total non-issue. I always feel like a bumpkin when interacting with Norwegians and their multiple language fluency. I wouldn't hesitate to do any kind of independent travel in Norway for any reason.

 

Book with vy.no - Rail Ninja sold me a "Plus" booking, but it's not a ticket until the ticket window opens closer in. There have been some reports of problems with Rail Ninja on this board, so I plan to book Plus tickets with vy.no when the 90-day window opens.

 

We also have booked the Thon Opera. Transport from Oslo to the airport appears to have various options - one of which is Flytoget airport express train (same station).

 

I found that it was actually cheaper to fly from Oslo to Toronto (via KEF) on Icelandair than from Bergen, as when I was booking, the Bergen flight routed through Oslo. You may want consider them in your discussions with Viking Air.

 

Lastly, I am looking at using the www.porterservice.no luggage transfer rather than schlepping our large bags (we are on the NYC to Bergen trip, so more than carryon). I'm told that the train can accommodate the bags easily, but not sure I want the hassle. Enjoy! 🍺🥌

[longterm]

Lots of moving parts.

 

I decided to schedule the train trip on our own rather than using Viking, since it'll be cheaper and we can get reserved 1st-class train seats. 

 

After looking at flight arrangements, I was told by Viking that on this particular cruise, they don't allow deviations in departure cities in Norway; this would mean getting an additional flight on our own to get back to Bergen, then taking the return flight. 

 

After pricing the same day in 2023 (our trip's in 2024), I determined that we'd get better flights on our own, and not have to hop from Oslo to Bergen, then back to the US, if I booked it myself; plus, I can select a nonstop from DFW to London, which I'm sure Viking wouldn't do if left to their air department.

 

Plus, I'd have to pay $200 for us to be able to fly into London earlier, bringing flights for one of us to $1900, versus about $1700 each for us if I book it myself--which I'm going to do.

 

The only downside is not getting transfers from Viking, but with carryon bags and a short distance to the ship and to the train station in Bergen, it won't be a problem; we've done our own transfers in Amsterdam and Rome in the past, without any trouble at all.

 

Thanks for all the input; with our payment due date a little over a month away, I wanted to get all this squared away beforehand.

[Moonlion]

5 minutes ago, longterm said:

Lots of moving parts.

 

I decided to schedule the train trip on our own rather than using Viking, since it'll be cheaper and we can get reserved 1st-class train seats. 

 

After looking at flight arrangements, I was told by Viking that on this particular cruise, they don't allow deviations in departure cities in Norway; this would mean getting an additional flight on our own to get back to Bergen, then taking the return flight. 

 

After pricing the same day in 2023 (our trip's in 2024), I determined that we'd get better flights on our own, and not have to hop from Oslo to Bergen, then back to the US, if I booked it myself; plus, I can select a nonstop from DFW to London, which I'm sure Viking wouldn't do if left to their air department.

 

Plus, I'd have to pay $200 for us to be able to fly into London earlier, bringing flights for one of us to $1900, versus about $1700 each for us if I book it myself--which I'm going to do.

 

The only downside is not getting transfers from Viking, but with carryon bags and a short distance to the ship and to the train station in Bergen, it won't be a problem; we've done our own transfers in Amsterdam and Rome in the past, without any trouble at all.

 

Thanks for all the input; with our payment due date a little over a month away, I wanted to get all this squared away beforehand.

We're also doing our own flights for our May '23 London to Bergen cruise , arriving a day early in London and departing 3 days later from Oslo.  I used United frequent flyer points to book Premium Plus seats.  However, even without points, it was much less expensive to book flights on our own rather than going through Viking Air, especially after purchasing Air Plus and the deviation.  Pricing a cab or car from LHR (Heathrow) to London or Greenwich comes to between $100-150; I booked my Greenwich hotel through booking.com and was able to add on a cab from LHR to hotel for $100. 

Also, be aware that for the Bergen-to-Oslo train, seniors can get a 25% discount when booking through vy.no (not sure the age cut-off).