Gnoelj

This may not help the OP, who already bought Flamsbana tickets through the Norwegian Railways website... but another option is to do the whole "Norway in a Nutshell" loop: boat, bus, and two trains. It costs more (NOK 1270, about $150), but you get a reportedly spectacular fjord cruise in addition to the Flamsbana. You can buy tickets in advance from Fjord Tours; they have a dedicated website at www.norwaynutshell.com. Both on my date and the OP's date, they're showing availability for the whole loop. Make sure you specify that you want to begin and end in Flam (if that's where your cruise calls). The trip leaves Flam at 10:00 a.m. and returns at 4:55 p.m.; hopefully that's adequate for a 6:00 sailaway.

Thanks for the info. But as mentioned, someone else has already helped us and we have since booked the Flambana train, without having to pay the huge extra if we were to use the Holland America excursion - the latter which we understand would include a wonderful waffle. We feel we can do WITHOUT the waffle!!!:D

As to your suggestion of doing the Norway in Nutshell loop, it does sound good but as others mentioned, it may be cutting it a bit thin before we board the last sailing. For us, after the Flam train trip, we have booked a HAL excursion in the afternoon - as this excursion is organized by HAL, we hope they will at least be responsible enough to get us back on the ship on time.

There is a "fall back" if anyone misses the boat. You could probably take the Flambana, and Myrdal, and (schedule permitting) then take a connecting train to Bergen to catch the Koningsdam. That way, you might even get to Bergen before the ship does! From the map, Myrdal is not very far from Bergen.

With regard to the food offer deteriorating there are a couple of factors which make it far more difficult now to do the sorts of things they did 15 years ago. First of all most of the newer ships coming into operation are significantly bigger than before, for example Britannia has a capacity of nearly double that of the Oriana. The scale of cruise ship catering is staggering anyway, but some things just aren't possible to produce and serve consistently at such levels, regardless of the additional galley space or staffing. They can't be seen to have their new flagship vessel operating with lower quality service or food, so they bring everything down to the level of what is achievable. Likewise, the more staff you need, the less choosy you can be with their skill level, so there are people working on ships now that would never have come close to the standards required previously.

 

The second issue is the whole 'freedom dining'-style service becoming the demanded norm. Under the old two sitting service, the kitchen operation was done with military precision and because the service times were known it could be planned and executed much easier and more consistently. With the freedom dining, there is a necessity for more cook-hold items to be used as the items are called off all through the evening, and food quality will always suffer. This is one of the prices you have to pay if you want more 'control' as a passenger.

 

Don't get me wrong, there is a huge amount of cost cutting to try and keep prices as near to the psychological £100pppn barrier as they possibly can, as well as trying to attract new generations of cruisers, but there are some mitigating circumstances with the food that aren't altogether within their control.

You could be right. However, those issues you mentioned that affected food standard would be similar with other cruise lines too, wouldn't they? However, if you look at other threads and posts on Cruise Critic, it appears that P&O has more than its fair share of complaints about food standards but these complaints were fewer with other cruise ship companies.

Even Princess Cruises, which is really a "sister" company to P&O, in our view, their quality and consistency of their cuisine is much better. And their buffet offerings also seem to be way better than P&O in its execution and quality.

You would think Princess would face the same challenges as P&O, wouldn't you? And their fares are not that different (some may disagree on this score!). If we are correct, both P&O and Princess have "Grand Class" ships. And then ,the Britannia is the same class ship as the Royal Princess and Regal Princess. Yet they seem to manage the food quality and consistency issue better. Why is it?

As well as the Flam Railways site, you can also book on the Norwegian Rail website (they have a separate allocation of tickets) You might some available there

https://www.nsb.no/en/?gclid=CMuvnubiitMCFYoy0wodZb8BnQ

 

*eta* You want Flåm - Myrdal and return

Dear debsjc

Thanks so much for your information.

We went to that Norwegian Railway site you recommended and booked the tickets. They were more expensive than the original site, at about 720 Norwegian Krones (approx. USD84 per person), but they are still a lot lower than that charged by HAL.

You know, you are even better than the travel agent. The travel did not seem to know what you know. Sometimes, we feel that experienced cruisers here are more knowledgeable than the travel agents themselves - or at least, some of them.

Thanks again.

Does HAL's price include transportation to/from the Railway?

If not, the extra is because of insurance. Still not right though.

The railway station is only 20 meters from the ship port, so one would imagine the transportation to/from the railway would be on foot!

We have booked to sail on HAL on June 11th, andare due to stopover in Flam on June 13th.

Like many visitors, we were looking forward to go on the famous Flam Railway, to experience the ride and enjoy the breath-taking scenery up the hill. The ticket price 490 Norwegian Kroners per person(approx USD 57) for a round trip ride, about an hour each way. Not the cheapest ride for two hours but we thought because of the views, and it would be a train ride “of a life time”, it would be worth it.

We went to the site related to Flam Railways to book the tickets (for two), and were disappointed to find that all the trains were fully booked until after 4pm. If we were to take the train which leaves Flam after 4pm, we may not be able to get back in time for the ship which leaves at 6pm.

We phoned the travel agent and she said she did not sell tickets for Flam Railways but it is not unusual that cruise line companies would buy up most of the tickets so that the could sell to passengers.

We checked with Holland America and indeed, they have tickets for the rail ride. To our horror, we discovered that they were selling the same tickets for USD149.95. Compared to the original price of approx USD57, that would be about two and half times more. That means,for the two of us, instead of paying USD114, we would have to fork out USD299.90 for them.

We realise HAL is a business and the company is there to make a profit, but even so, we still feel somewhat peeved at the HUGE MARK-UP. Probably they knew that capacity on the Flam Railway is limited,and so is our time in Flam. We do not mind that they make a profit at our expense but we still think the mark-up is somewhat excessive and unreasonable, and we feel perhaps they are taking advantage of passengers because of our situation. Would we be right to think they knew we could not take the train the next day because we would have sailed off by then? We realise not everyone would agree with our feelings, but there you are.

We just wondered for other excursions, do excursions via HAL cost a lot more too?

Anyway, as a result, we have to give up the opportunity to take the “rail ride of a lifetime”. Oh well, c’est la vie!

You might note the difference between your claim and that of your friend on Firefly was very timely filing of the claim.

 

I am assuming the only acceptable customer service to you would be an immediate bag replacement?

The difference with Princess Cruises and the airline was the airline was straight-forward and they (the airline) did not make any fuss at all.

The problem I found with making the claim with Princess was I was not able to send in my claim when I was on the ship. After all, their crew had seen the damage with their own eyes. And then, they had to get me to contact their head office in the US, and the claims department there had to get me to go around here and there before they even consider my claim. I would understand if the claim was a lot of money, but for such a relatively small sum, they seem to make the process a bit too "bureaucratic", in my view.

It could have been done better.

That was quite a shame as I found generally, the cruise itself was quite alright and there were some enjoyable moments. I found most of the crew on board to be very friendly, more than some other cruise companies I had been with. So Princess isn't all bad, but there's still room for improvement !(isn't everything in life?)

DAMAGED BAGS? PRINCESS DAMAGE LUGGAGE CLAIMS NOT CUSTOMER FRIENDLY?

Has anyone experienced having your luggage damaged while being transferred onto/off a Princess ship, and having difficulty in making a baggage damage claim? Perhaps you can share your experience with me.

From my experience, reported property damage and getting it attended to or replaced was UNLIKE the relatively easy , standard procedure with flying with an airline and reporting property damage at an airport. Reporting damage bags with a cruise line, in my case with Princess Cruises, was a lot more difficult, and quite customer unfriendly.

This was what happened:

I was on the Regal Princess recently on one of their Baltic cruises. The day before the end of the cruise, I discovered that my suitcase had been damaged. One of the wheels had been nearly ripped off and part of the side of the suitcase was cracked. I know I should have been more aware of that when I first got on board the ship at the beginning of the cruise, but I guess I was so excited then that I just unpacked quickly and put the suitcase away in the separate luggage/clothes quarter. And as that area was usually dark, I did not notice it until the day before we got off when I had to take suitcase out to pack my clothes.

I went down to the reception but unfortunately, on the last days of the cruise, there was a long queue as passengers wanted to sort out their accounts. I waited around 30-40 mins. I was told I had to bring my suitcase down. So, I went to my cabin, brought it down and queued another 30-40 mins. I had to explain my problem again to another receptionist. He indicated it could possibly be the stevedore at the port who were rather heavy handed, but the repairman on board would try to fix it for me. I was to leave it with him and when it is ready, I would get a call.

A few hours later, I received a call from the repairman and he said he could not fix that, or that there was not sufficient time to fix it as we were leaving the next day. He advised us to take the suitcase back from the reception. Again another 30-40 mins queue.

This time, I was advised to fill in a “REPORT OF LOSS, DAMAGE, THEFT” form. However, that form had to be taken to the Customer Services Director to be signed and stamped. After filling in the form, I had to leave it with the receptionist, and was told to come down to collect it later.

When I came down later, it meant another 30-40 mins queue to collect the form!

After getting the form signed and stamped, I was informed that there was not much they could do on board for me. I had to “struggle” with the damage suitcase and prayed that it would not crack open on my return flight back to the UK from Copenhagen. I was informed upon returning home, I could contact Princess property claims in their office in the US.

Once back home, I called (international) to the Princess office in the United States. Unfortunately, it was a public holiday in the States, and there was no one in the property claims office. So I had to call again the following day.

When I called them again, the lady on the line in Princess Claims department, she told me that I had to go to a repairshop in my city and get a quote. It did not seem a problem to them that I had to travel and make my own way at my own expense to the repair shop.

And if the repair shop said that it could not be repaired, I think she indicated I had to get a note from them (!). I was a bit puzzled. If the repair shop could not fix something and therefore, they would not get the business, why would they be bothered to write a note to say they could not do it?

Anyway, assuming that I got that note they could not fix the suitcase, I was supposed to go online to search for a similar suit case and make a copy of the advert. with the price, and I was to email it to them .

They would then take a while before they would consider if they would reimburse me . I asked how werethey going to do so? She said they would send the money to my bank account. And for that, I think they said I have to fill in a “bank mandate” form or something. And I think they would have to send me yet another form to fill in.

All that for a claim for a “princely” sum of UK £53 (around USD $77).

In the end , I just GAVE UP!!!!

I got the feeling that Princess Cruises made it so onerous and difficult for customers to make the claim that they would eventually give up. For me, getting Princess to compensate for damage claim seemed to be like pulling hen's teeth.

If you have similar experience to share, it would at least “enlighten” me that I am not the only cruise passenger who had such an unpleasant experienced this with Princess Cruises.

I just wish that Princess Cruises will NOT make baggage damage claim so customer unfriendly, and instead do it like they do with airlines. (A friend of mine fly to Penang, Malaysia on a domestic flight. When he found his suitcase was damaged, he filled in a form, and the following day, the airline Firefly Malaysia, called him and brought over a replacement suitcase. Job done!)