Need some help with Norwegian ports

[fluffybunny22]

I booked a Norway cruise on MSC for June 2024. I'm not having much luck trying to find independent excursions for the ports we have. There's nothing loaded on the cruiseline's website so I have no clue what they offer. Ideally we'd like to book independent excursions. We call on Bergen, Molde, Trondheim, Honningsvag, Tromso and Alesund. The advice I've gotten so far from my research is to get as high as possible for good views and to get on the water to see the nooks and crannies of the fjords. Any suggestions for tour companies, sights to see and just general advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

[PLee]

Which ever tour group you go with, check the cancelation policy.  Some you need to cancel 14 days out.  We have worked with Marriott and Viator and had great experiences.  There are many to choose from, What's in Port is a great way to begin your search too.

[queen_kathy1]

In this Northern Europe forum, you can type in your ports in the search bar on the top right of the screen and you'll find all sorts of dialogue from previous times this question has been asked.  Another suggestion is to try trip advisor, as you can find private excursion options rated there.

 

[paradiselivin1]

Agree. I created a spreadsheet for each of our ports and made notes on much of what I found on whatsinport.com. That site does provide links to several vendors in some of the towns I was exploring. Our cruise isn't until June 2024 as well but want to be ready to pull the trigger when tours become available. I have also borrowed a current tour guide from my local library and also am "following" several roll calls with stops in the same places such as the Sky Princess "Land of the Midnight Sun" cruise in August of this year. Plenty of places to find information if you dig around a bit.

[hallasm]

It’s a Midnight sun cruise - no deep fjords. All ports are coastal cities. No deep fjords.
The highlight is North Cape in Honningsvåg. Excursion must be booked in advance.

Bergen has the funicular ‘ Fløibanen’ and Tromsø the Fjellheisen Cable Car to view points.

Also viewpoint in Ålesund and Molde.

Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø and Honningsvåg are all good DIY cities. Honningsvåg and Molde are small towns.

Search this Forum - lots of suggestions. 

 

[fluffybunny22]

12 minutes ago, hallasm said:

It’s a Midnight sun cruise - no deep fjords. All ports are coastal cities. No deep fjords.
The highlight is North Cape in Honningsvåg. Excursion must be booked in advance.

Bergen has the funicular ‘ Fløibanen’ and Tromsø the Fjellheisen Cable Car to view points.

Also viewpoint in Ålesund and Molde.

Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø and Honningsvåg are all good DIY cities. Honningsvåg and Molde are small towns.

Search this Forum - lots of suggestions. 

 

My husband was the one who choose the cruise after watching an episode of Mighty Ships. I think North Cape is specifically what caught his attention. I'm not sure if getting deep in the fjords is something that even interests him. He looked up all of the ports before he suggested it to me so it must meet whatever he thinks is important.

[edinburgher]

This recent thread has info for Tromso and Alesund to get you started.  See post #6

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2930127-on-the-spot-shared-taxisminivans-at-these-ports/#comment-65199301

 

As already pointed out above, there have been many many previous hreads about your ports, you only need find and read them.

 

I have a different way of finding them from poster #3 so you may want to try both versions for best results.

 

Go to the main  N. Europe and  Baltic Sea Forum (but not to an individual thread).  In the empty SEARCH box under your username, input the name of one of your ports, hit the little magnifying glass and threads containing that words will appear in the results. Follow the same method for each port in turn.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by edinburgher

[janetcbl]

I agree with all of  hallasm’s suggestions! Would only add that if you are in Bergen for more than one day, consider the full day “Norway in a Nutshell”. It will give you a view of the fjord as well as a spectacular railroad ride. Just Google “Norway in a Nutshell” for more info.

[JD in MD]

We are experienced cruisers and have been to Norway several times. In fact, we are going again in May and July. Here are some of the websites we have used for shore excursions:

• www.shoreexcursions.com
• www.viator.com
• www.getyourguide.com  
• www.stromma.com
• www.ventureashore.com
• www.gofjords.com
• www.norwayexcursions.com
• www.blue-puffin.com

 

Hope this helps you.

[KKB]

OK I am doing Norway on MSC next month.

I understand that each port is VERY walkable & excursions not terribly necessary.

So that is my plan for the most part. 

I also used whatsinport.com or just Googled "What to do in XXXX" to create a list of things that people recommend/look interesting to me.

 

You do NOT need an transfer to the North Cape from Honningsvag.

Cabs are available at the port for half the price of the ship transfer.

If it is foggy/drizzly that day, it has been suggested that it might not be worth it.

Apparently when the weather is like that it severely limits what you can see at North Cape.

[JD in MD]

1 hour ago, KKB said:

If it is foggy/drizzly that day, it has been suggested that it might not be worth it.

Apparently when the weather is like that it severely limits what you can see at North Cape.

That is what happened to us the last time. The fog was so thick.I'm hoping for better luck this time.

JONI

[beachluver9]

We did an MSC Norway cruise back in 2019, but did not go as far north as Tromsø.  We also did an MSC cruise through the Baltics.

 

Our experiences:

 

MSC will cancel an English speaking tour if there aren't enough guests signed up.  Yes, surprisingly this happened to us in Stockholm.  We were offered to join a German speaking tour, but opted to grab tickets on the HoHo instead.

 

Going through a tour broker such as Viator and ShoreExcursions doesn't work as well there.  We had a rib-boat fjord tour booked through Viator for one of the Norwegian ports.  When we arrived with our printed tickets (emailed to us ahead of time), the tour provider said our tickets were invalid and sent us to their ticket sales kiosk.  The ticket kiosk said that Viator cancelled our reservation.  The provider said that it is pretty common with US brokers for there to be problems.  We were not able to get an answer or the tickets reinstated from Viator (after expensive long distance phone calls), missed the excursion, and have never used them since.  Viator refunded our tickets a couple of weeks later and never gave any explanation of what happened nor any sort of apology.

 

As for MSC excursions:  they are often times significantly less expensive than the identical excursions with US cruise lines.  They normally are not as large a group, either.  Perhaps because the English speakers are the minority on their European cruises?  With the exception of the Stockholm excursion, we have been very happy with their tours.