Norway - shore excursions (Bergen/Flam)

[buchanan101]

Shore excursions are up for Bergen and Flam for next June on Queen Anne

 

These - as I expected - seem very pricey...

 

Bergen - ship only arrives in the afternoon which is a bit rubbish, but I guess that's geography - funicular or cable car. $82 or $107pp respectively. I believe the wise move is to see what the weather is like and do either of these DIY using public transport to get there

 

Flam - $149 for a return ticket, from a station right by the dock. A return ticket is currently 500NOK for turn up (prices not available for June yet), or 680NOK through norwaysbest.com (£51pp). Seems a no brainer to do DIY.  I guess the only advantage of Cunard is that if unable to dock you get a refund, but for £51pp I am prepared to prebook through a 3rd party site and take that risk.

 

Am I missing anything? 

Edited September 12, 2023 by buchanan101
spelling

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've been to both places and what you plan makes sense to me. By "turn up" do you mean purchase on arrival at Flam? Don't do that, because the train could sell out. I would buy the advance online ticket.  If you have time in Flam, also go to the museum about the construction of the railway. 

 

I try to check out DIY options when I cruise, and I'm pretty good at identifying the ship's vendors, looking at tours and reading the blurbs. In some ports, the difference is minimal. In others, it's ridiculous. I'm seeing huge markups on tours in Iceland on HAL. The whale watch tours through HAL are twice what they cost to buy directly from the company. One tour even says that it isn't "exclusive to Holland America passengers." So why should I pay twice the going rate when I'll get the exact same boat ride? 

[buchanan101]

I meant the price is 500NOK if you turn up, but I will pre-buy (I think you can do it 3 months in advance) rather than pay Cunard price

 

I don't think there's another ship in at the same time as the QA - Anthem of  the Seas is day before (a monster)

 

[sogne]

4 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

Shore excursions are up for Bergen and Flam for next June on Queen Anne

 

These - as I expected - seem very pricey...

 

Bergen - ship only arrives in the afternoon which is a bit rubbish, but I guess that's geography - funicular or cable car. $82 or $107pp respectively. I believe the wise move is to see what the weather is like and do either of these DIY using public transport to get there

 

Flam - $149 for a return ticket, from a station right by the dock. A return ticket is currently 500NOK for turn up (prices not available for June yet), or 680NOK through norwaysbest.com (£51pp). Seems a no brainer to do DIY.  I guess the only advantage of Cunard is that if unable to dock you get a refund, but for £51pp I am prepared to prebook through a 3rd party site and take that risk.

 

Am I missing anything? 

There are 2 docking options in Bergen. Both are 15 /20 min walk from ship to funicular.

[Winifred 22]

5 hours ago, buchanan101 said:

I meant the price is 500NOK if you turn up, but I will pre-buy (I think you can do it 3 months in advance) rather than pay Cunard price

 

I don't think there's another ship in at the same time as the QA - Anthem of  the Seas is day before (a monster)

 

Definitely pre book last time I was there in May P&O had block booked all the early ones and very little left to buy on the day especially with p m trips not a lot of choice and because of needing to  be back onboard. Tip I was given travel up with window seat to the right back down change to left. 

[buchanan101]

@sogne Funicular or cable car better?

 

 

[Host Hattie]

Don't forget our Port of call boards

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

 

 

[seasickphil]

We were in Flam 3 weeks ago but not on Cunard, we had an excursion in the afternoon, we had time on our hands after getting off the ship therefore giving us a chance to do the train ride,so we walked the 100 yards to the train ticket office and enquired if there was any availability on the next train 10.45am, we had no issues as over 50 seats were available, from 01/06 the price is 680NOK return either booked online or bought on the day. I was told that you can keep an eye on ticket availability on line beforehand but obviously you can’t be totally certain of getting seats if leaving it like we did.

[BrisbaneR]

Firstly, thanks to Buchanan101 for alerting us to the shore excursions. I'll also be on QA for the fjords cruise in June and will be visiting Flam. I want to take the Flam Scenic Rail trip, either with Cunard or DIY.  I've noticed that Cunard is offering three possible time slots for the trip: 9.15am, 1pm or 2.15 pm.  I'm wondering how to decide.  Is it much of a muchness or are there factors that might make one slot better or worse than the others?  I'd welcome anyone's experience of this.

[sogne]

On 9/13/2023 at 8:38 AM, buchanan101 said:

@sogne Funicular or cable car better?

 

 

https://ulriken643.no/en/webcam

 

https://www.floyen.no/en/webcam

 

webcams from both locations  if look at times u will c  ship berths QA likely to be at berth just below hills nearest top middle of wc display

[buchanan101]

5 hours ago, BrisbaneR said:

Firstly, thanks to Buchanan101 for alerting us to the shore excursions. I'll also be on QA for the fjords cruise in June and will be visiting Flam. I want to take the Flam Scenic Rail trip, either with Cunard or DIY.  I've noticed that Cunard is offering three possible time slots for the trip: 9.15am, 1pm or 2.15 pm.  I'm wondering how to decide.  Is it much of a muchness or are there factors that might make one slot better or worse than the others?  I'd welcome anyone's experience of this.

I'm waiting until tickets can be bought on line. I don't think you can buy them direct from the railway but there are various places you can get tickets much cheaper than Cunard. Seems to be a 3 month window.  Tickets on this site are 610NOK (about £50) return. Says immediate return whereas Cunard may allow you to spend time at Flam and return later? 

 

https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/

 

I'm going to try to book at the end of March (3 months from end June) - Cunard will be a fall back option

[Winifred 22]

31 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

I'm waiting until tickets can be bought on line. I don't think you can buy them direct from the railway but there are various places you can get tickets much cheaper than Cunard. Seems to be a 3 month window.  Tickets on this site are 610NOK (about £50) return. Says immediate return whereas Cunard may allow you to spend time at Flam and return later? 

 

https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/

 

I'm going to try to book at the end of March (3 months from end June) - Cunard will be a fall back option

You can buy them at the railway station but there is usually a queue and often very few available . Once was one of the first off and ran over and there were only a few left for later in the day that was on Iona. On a QM2 visit there was more availability. They don’t check the tickets on the return and the two times I bought mine from the station I did not have to

specify a return time. I did come straight back but plenty didn’t.  They are not that frequent. I don’t think it makes any difference what time you go . I wouldn’t chose the very late one because of being back on board in case there was a delay 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Winifred 22

[buchanan101]

@Winifred 22 yes ticket office seems cheaper (500 NOK v 680 NOK for the price I found), but as you say, more risky.  Seems that QA is the only ship in that day so won't be fighting a 5000PAX megaship for space. QA is 3000PAX though and is just about sold out for that cruise

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by buchanan101

[buchanan101]

1 hour ago, sogne said:

https://ulriken643.no/en/webcam

 

https://www.floyen.no/en/webcam

 

webcams from both locations  if look at times u will c  ship berths QA likely to be at berth just below hills nearest top middle of wc display

 

Cable car looks higher as I'd expect.  Thanks

[seasickphil]

35 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

@Winifred 22 yes ticket office seems cheaper (500 NOK v 680 NOK for the price I found), but as you say, more risky.  Seems that QA is the only ship in that day so won't be fighting a 5000PAX megaship for space. QA is 3000PAX though and is just about sold out for that cruise

 

 

Prices are the same if bought in the ticket office or online 680 NOK, these prices are from 01/05 till 30/09the 500 NOK price is for a different time of the year.

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by seasickphil

[buchanan101]

@seasickphil Ok - I assumed that there'd be a premium on 3rd party sites. 

 

Much better deal than Cunard with their something like 100% mark up... (good for my Carnival shares though...)

[seasickphil]

On 9/12/2023 at 1:00 PM, buchanan101 said:

Flam - $149 for a return ticket, from a station right by the dock. A return ticket is currently 500NOK for turn up (prices not available for June yet), or 680NOK through norwaysbest.com (£51pp). Seems a no brainer to do DIY.  I guess the only advantage of Cunard is that if unable to dock you get a refund, but for £51pp I am prepared to prebook through a 3rd party site and take that risk.

Really $149? that sure is a lot, we were on Saga and the excursion price was only £79. We paid at the ticket office on our clarity card and it was £101 for both of us, still a saving of £57 but nothing like the savings you would make if paying Cunard's prices.

Spirit of Adventure was full when we were on, about 980 people but nothing like the 3000 that will be on Anne, so i would definitely prebook online with norwaysbest.com.

If you do prebook then it is best to get to the station at least 20/30 mins before the departure time as it's best to be near the front of the queue so you have a better choice of the window seats. We were told in the ticket office that the seats with the best views are on the right hand side of the train. What happens is the first 2/3 carriages in the front of the train are pre-booked by the ship, passengers on the ships excursion are in one line giving them sole access to those carriages, there is then another line for walk up passengers who can go in any of the other carriages.

There is only one track with two trains operating on [there is a passing place somewhere in the middle] i would not be too worried about breakdowns/delays as there would be many passengers from the ships excursion's onboard anyway, so if anything untoward did happen you would not be alone.

There is a Viking pub in Flam 50yds from where the ships dock, it brews all it's own beers, there are many different ones too choose from, this is well worth a visit if you like sort of thing. 

[buchanan101]

@seasickphil Yup - $149 (see below). And I bet the cable car ($107pp) and funicular ($82) in Bergen are way overpriced - will turn up to whichever one seems better on the day

 

Was in Oslo recently (to see "The Boss") and strangely Norwegian prices in general actually weren't that bad - not what we'd heard about scare stories for Brits travelling. More than one Norwegian was complaining that the NOK was weak and affected their travels...

 

[seasickphil]

2 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

@seasickphil Yup - $149 (see below). And I bet the cable car ($107pp) and funicular ($82) in Bergen are way overpriced - will turn up to whichever one seems better on the day

 

Was in Oslo recently (to see "The Boss") and strangely Norwegian prices in general actually weren't that bad - not what we'd heard about scare stories for Brits travelling. More than one Norwegian was complaining that the NOK was weak and affected their travels...

 

I can't help you on the funicular/cable car as we didn't that, we had an excursion with Saga and along with others stayed in Bergen afterwards, someone asked the guide how far it was to walk to get the cable car/funicular [not sure which] and was told it was no more than a 10 min stroll. For us, we just walked round Bergen which is a lovely town with plenty to see and do and then had a couple of beers, as you say not overly expensive especially if comparing it to prices on Cunard.

[Winifred 22]

13 minutes ago, seasickphil said:

I can't help you on the funicular/cable car as we didn't that, we had an excursion with Saga and along with others stayed in Bergen afterwards, someone asked the guide how far it was to walk to get the cable car/funicular [not sure which] and was told it was no more than a 10 min stroll. For us, we just walked round Bergen which is a lovely town with plenty to see and do and then had a couple of beers, as you say not overly expensive especially if comparing it to prices on Cunard.

I understand it’s more like 20 to 30

mins walk form the port I walked into town and had been walking a good 20 mins and I was told it was still another 10 or more mins to walk  again gets very booked up.

[TowandaUK]

We were in Bergen earlier this year. We were on a ships excursion (Celebrity). We passed the funicular and it was further from the ship than I would be comfortable to walk with my stick. Bergen is one of the rainiest places to go in Norway, and we didn’t go as high as the funicular but it was so rainy we couldn’t see much at all. It might pay to wait and see what the weather is like when you get there.  

[sogne]

we have done both funicular and cable car in Bergen but always independent of ship tours. We have been lucky with weather in Bergen 5 visits only one rain and that last Nov for northern Lights  on QM2.  Both have been offered by Cunard in the past but in my opinion not worth spending on (unless lots of OBC). Judge the weather on the day.

[buchanan101]

40 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

We were in Bergen earlier this year. We were on a ships excursion (Celebrity). We passed the funicular and it was further from the ship than I would be comfortable to walk with my stick. Bergen is one of the rainiest places to go in Norway, and we didn’t go as high as the funicular but it was so rainy we couldn’t see much at all. It might pay to wait and see what the weather is like when you get there.  

Definitely waiting - no point going up if tops are in the clouds

[buchanan101]

17 minutes ago, sogne said:

we have done both funicular and cable car in Bergen but always independent of ship tours. We have been lucky with weather in Bergen 5 visits only one rain and that last Nov for northern Lights  on QM2.  Both have been offered by Cunard in the past but in my opinion not worth spending on (unless lots of OBC). Judge the weather on the day.

OBC goes on tips/wifi/drinks...PG OBC +$100 share owner so not enough to spend on Cunard trips

[sogne]

58 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

OBC goes on tips/wifi/drinks...PG OBC +$100 share owner so not enough to spend on Cunard trips

Google Norwegian met Office very accurate and comprehensive info 3/4 days out also UK Met Office very accurate 4cast  this may help u decide whether to do either/or in Bergen.