Cinatown

Hi Thanks for taking the time to post- I think I have read your review somewhere online already! 😊 So I would be happy to do Briksdale independently but my concern is that it says possible tender for Olden (9am port and both Olden Advebtures and P&O tours start at 9.30) I would be worried about missing the independent tour if there were any delays getting of the ship. So probably safer to pay a bit extra to go with P&O on this occasion. I did look at bus and taxis options but found conflicting information about both, so maybe things have changed since you visited. my other concern was that without departure/arrival times I wasn’t sure if doing both excursions would be a push but I’m pleased to say that I emailed P&O the other day and they confirmed that it’s 9am - 6pm so that should definitely leave enough time to do the Loen skylift independently in the afternoon, so think everything has worked out okay! Thanks again for your info. Olden is one of the ports I’m most excited for so really pleased it looks like we’ll get to do two excursions

Wow thanks, I’ll keep an eye out. We will be travelling on the Britannia if we are there til 6pm then I don’t think it’ll be too tricky to fit both in

Hello all, We will be visiting Olden on our P&O cruise in July 2023 As lots of you probably know, P&O do not advertise their port times so it’s making DIY excursions difficult to organise. I desperately want to do the both the Briksdal Glacier and Loen Skylift when in Olden. I managed to find our exact cruise advertised on another website and they had the port timings, saying that we will be there 9am - 6pm but that it’s also a possible tender port. This website is the only site I’ve found that is advertising exact port timings so I can’t say that it’s 100% correct either. I’m worried that we won’t have enough time to do both excursions. Tours to the Briksdal Glacier run at 9.30am (4 hour round trip with P&O) or 9.30am and 11.30am (3.5 hours round trip with external provider) Given that it’s a possible tender port, it’s probably safer to book the Briksdal Glacier excursion via P&O as I understand excursion groups would have priority off the ship ? But if we get back to the port at 13.30 would we have enough time for a trip up the Skylift ? It’s most likely that we wouldn’t be able to get a shuttle until 2pm earliest, maybe 2.30 if delayed coming back…. So questions… have you been to Olden and managed to fit two excursions in? If you have done the Loen Skylift before was there large queues etc to get up? To be honest we would be happy just spending an hour at the top of the Skylift but I’m worried about how frequent the shuttles are to/from the port and worried we would be pushed for time. This is the theoretical timeline that I’ve figured out, based on the information online from that the shuttle from Olden to Loen runs every 30 mins (so perhaps every on the hour and half past the hour?) 9.30 - 13.30 Briksdal Glacier tour 14.00 - should be back to Olden port 14.30 - shuttle to Loen 14.45 - 15.15 - que/Skylift 16.00 - make our way back down 16.30 - shuttle back to Olden 16.40 - arrive back These timings are probably fine if we are docked until 6pm, but risky if what I’ve seen online isn’t accurate! Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated and if you have visited Olden, would be good to know what your experience was!

Thanks for info 🙂 the Pulpit rock hike doesnt seem to be offered as an excursion on our cruise which is really disappointing (we will be travelling on the Britannia) as I do feel this is one of the main activities/attractions in the area. The only excursion involving Pulpit rock on ours is a cruise excursion. Its very frustraiting that they don't let us know the docking times as I am not sure if I should book something with P&O for that day or try to do an independent activity. I think it is doable if we are there 9-5 but on the website it says docked from 'morning to early afternoon' as opposed to 'morning to early evening' which makes me think we will be leaving before 5pm!

Thanks Barabra. Your post doesn't come off as negative at all. All good points to consider! You are right that there is a risk of cancellation. And this is one of the pros for booking with the cruise liner. I've done lots of scoping of online forums and tripadvisor etc for things to do in each port. Flam and Olden are not a problem, I just wish P&O did a trip to Pulpit rock when in Stavanger 🙂 the only trip they do around this is a boat excursion rather than visiting it. I am sure we will still have a great time whatever we get up to Thanks again for all your comments!

Thanks! The Ryvarden Lighthouse Walk is offered as an excursion, we'll consider this !

Hi FangedRose Thank you for your reply. I had seen this on some of the boards here and it is a bit worrying but I suppose it is the nature of taking a cruise in this area. I think we can only hope for the best! I looked at lots of different types of cruises before deciding on the Fjords and now I am pretty set on them. I do appreciate your honesty though!

Thanks for your reply. Flam and Olden look like they have great days out (you can combine the train in Flam with a zip-line and walk or cycle back to town) and Olden has the glacier walk and you can also book to go on the Loen Skylift. I am struggling for options at Stavanger and Haugesund. They both only seem to have boat trips but ideally I would have liked to have done the Pulpit hike in Stavanger. I am not sure that we will be there long enough to do this but have seen other cruise lines offer this as an excursion so it was a disappointment. I think it is more that Stavanger and Haugesund both seem very same-y at the moment as the only activities are cruises. I am sure that we will have a great time no matter what but it would have been a perfect line up if we could get to Pulpit Rock!

Thank you for your reply! Yep I know there is just the railway at Flam but it looks so pretty there. You can take the train up and then you can take a zip wire partway back down! From there you can walk or cycle back into Flam (depending on whether this excursion is booked with P&O or privately) Sounds like a perfect day weather permitting 😄

I have spent ages looking at different Fjord cruises and finally settled on P&0 Brittania to Stavanger, Olden, Flam and Haugesund. Its our first cruise ever and I booked this specific cruise because out of all ports, Olden and Flam are the two that I would really like to visit and there doesn't seem to be many 7 day cruises that go to both these ports (its either one or the other!) However, now that i've booked and seen the available excursions I am not so sure... I am disappointed with the excursions to Stavanger - the main attraction is Pulpit Rock (so Stavanger was also on the must-do list) but there are no hikes advertised, only boat tours which see Pulpit from below. It says we are docked from morning to early afternoon so assuming we will not have enough time to book an independent excursion to Pulpit Rock (as these say around 8/9 hours). Then there does not seem to be a lot to do in Haugesund either. I would love to hear from anyone who has visited Stavanger and Haugesund - what did you get up to in the ports? Do you have any recommendations for independent tours/excursions ? We like walks but are open to suggestions.