LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

twangster · June 8

I've got no plans today. In truth I could have used a day off yesterday but I wasn't going to go easy in Flam.

It's getting dark here in Chops for breakfast. Heavy rain moving in. This may be a good port to explore on my own close to the ship given the weather.

Hoopster95 · June 8

And ok que again…

45 degree angle driving rain.

Sinders99 · June 8

7 hours ago, twangster said:

Soon we were back down at the river level so that meant town was approaching.

It was a very enjoyable ride but the whole seating scramble and too many people left a lot to be desired.

Next time I'll book direct with assigned seating and avoid the Royal sardine can experience.

I'm sorry you weren't aware of this before your trip. I've spent quite a bit of time researching this particular port on YouTube before our July sailing and I had heard that booking direct was much better than booking via the ship.

We booked through Norways Best but they don't assign a seat.

What I was able to find out through researching (in case it helps others yet to cruise) is that the ships book out a certain number of train cars and that they then pack those cars to capacity. If you book directly, there's no such requirement to stick to designated cars and much more room and flexibility to move about. I also found the price booking through Norways Best a lot better. When our itinerary changed slightly and they switched our Flam and Alesund days, Norways Best was really helpful in making sure our booking date was switched to the new date. We're doing the morning train up and back to Myrdal and then in the afternoon we're doing a 2 hour Twizzy (electric car) tour up to the big lookout (Stegestein).

Can't wait! Only a few weeks and we'll be there ourselves! Your photos have me so excited for this stop! It was one of the stops that was on our "MUST SEE" list before the UNSECO fjords are closed to only zero emissions ships in 2025. Loving following along but I'm sure the photos just don't do the real thing justice.

twangster · June 8

twangster · June 8

This has the appearance of being our pier today.

twangster · June 8

The city of bridges.

twangster · June 8

Thunder rolling overhead. I saw lightning flashes at breakfast. Heading back inside.

twangster · June 8

Balcony maintenance yesterday. New coat of varnish.

Blue skies and rain.

twangster · June 8

New varnish and rain = photo op.

twangster · June 8

Hopefully this line of showers moves through and the projected blanket of rain doesn't materialize.

Accuweather:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/no/stavanger/260665/weather-radar/260665

Edited June 8 by twangster

twangster · June 8

8:07am shipped cleared.

6:30pm all aboard time

As they say, it's a good day... to be a duck.

I'm going to hang out and see if this rain clears up at all.

twangster · June 8

I may head down to deck two and offer to rent my rain pants and rain coat.

$199 plus 18% gratuity seems reasonable.

twangster · June 8

Since I'm in a holding pattern watching it rain outside in Stavanger, here are some more Flam 360 images:

Flam Train River 360

Myrdal Train Stop 360

Flam River Bridge 360

Flam Arched Bridge 360

twangster · June 8

One of the reasons I decided to go live for these cruises was to document the heritage fjords from a cruise ship given this isn't going to be possible soon.

Here is a big photo dump from the departure from Flam out towards the seas.