Advice Please - Fjords

a question to those who have done the fjords cruise.

Which itinerary ?

1) Stavanger, Flam, Olden, Bergen

OR

2) Stavanger, Olden, Alesund, Bergen

Thanks

Personally I would go with Flam if you have never been before, I think that it is more picturesque and you can take the trip on the little train (very easy to diy rather than expensive P&O trip).

Hi....it's a choice between Flam & Alesund. I would say if you haven't done the Fjords before I would choose the cruise that included Flam as the Flam Railway is a " must see/do". Stavanger has the Petrol Museum which by all accounts is much more interesting than what you would think.

Hi...Josy1953 is quite correct in that to do the railway on your own is much cheaper....but....it is very very popular and you need to be off the ship very early to book your tickets at the station....especially if there is more than one ship docked. We paid the inflated cruise price and glad that we did because some people didn't and rushed off the ship early to get to the station. They then rushed back to the ship after finding that there was no availability on any of the trains at the station. They went straight to the excursions desk only to find that all the ship's Railway Trip was fully booked too so they missed out completely.

We loved Flam and thought it was the highlight, Olden wasn't on our itinerary which is a shame as we would loved to have gone to the glacier.

You can book the railway at Flam the day before or on the actual morning via their website, cheaper than through P&O and don't have to rush and queue at the station.

Definitely number one. Make sure you go to Olden Adventures website and book the Loen Skylift. It opened in 2017 and is one of the steepest cable cars in the world and the area at the top is amazing. 70 euros pp but they pick you up at the ship and you can stay up there as long as you want.

I would agree with all other posters - I'd go for the one which includes Flam on the basis of the long sail down the Fjord to get there. Olden is lovely but hasn't got the same feel as being surrounded by the mountains and enveloped in the Fjord. The itinerary with Alesund, Stavanger and Bergen are good - all lovely places to visit but don't imo give you the same sense of the awesome nature of the landscape (in the true sense of the word) or the majesty of the Fjords.

Without doubt Flam it's truly wonderful and the cruise in and out of Flam is spectacular

definately go for the Flaam option. We have done many fjords trips and never tire of the beautiiful scenery

Definitely number one. Make sure you go to Olden Adventures website and book the Loen Skylift. It opened in 2017 and is one of the steepest cable cars in the world and the area at the top is amazing. 70 euros pp but they pick you up at the ship and you can stay up there as long as you want.

Summer 2018 return fare on the cable car is 505 kroner for an adult, about £50. You will pay to get there as well. It is expensive but if a nice day well worth it IMO

Summer 2018 return fare on the cable car is 505 kroner for an adult, about £50. You will pay to get there as well. It is expensive but if a nice day well worth it IMO

Thanks. We are doing it in mid Aug but have small kids so too far to walk and taxis don’t take kids without car seats in Norway so have to do the package deal. Everything is expensive in Norway so just have to accept it :-) On the plus side they said kids will go free so 140 Euro for the family which we can live with.

Our cruise was to Bergen, Flåm & Geiranger, at Flåm the journey on the train was amazing, we do this with a visit to Voss and Stalheim

Looks like the Norwegian government will ban cruise ship in both Nærøyfjord (Flam) and Geirangerfjord in the next 5 years so now is the time to go. As others have said the other ports will not give you the same majestic fjord feel :-)

Looks like the Norwegian government will ban cruise ship in both Nærøyfjord (Flam) and Geirangerfjord in the next 5 years so now is the time to go. As others have said the other ports will not give you the same majestic fjord feel :-)

Is there any hard news concerning this, or is it just a rumour? I would have thought that imposing a size limit would be more likely than an outright ban. If it was a total ban, then what would happen with Hurtigruten, whose ships seem to combine being cruise ships with being ferries?

I don't suppose that businesses based in Flam that rely on tourists for the great majority of their trade would be very happy with any ban or size restriction on ships. Would the railway be economically viable any more?

Is there any hard news concerning this, or is it just a rumour? I would have thought that imposing a size limit would be more likely than an outright ban. If it was a total ban, then what would happen with Hurtigruten, whose ships seem to combine being cruise ships with being ferries?

 

I don't suppose that businesses based in Flam that rely on tourists for the great majority of their trade would be very happy with any ban or size restriction on ships. Would the railway be economically viable any more?

It's real, just google Norwegian Fjords cruise ship ban:

The Government wants to ban polluting cruise ships from Norwegian world heritage sites

Cruiseships face fjord restrictions

Norwegian fjords could be as polluted as London - and now there are calls to electrify cruise ship travel

a many many more

There is no talk of banning cruise ships completely just the most polluting ones because of the environmental damage. This might affect up to 50% of current cruise ships which companies or actual ships that wont meet the polluting standard nobody knows.

Yes, I was going to make the same point.

Actually, as you probably know P&O made a point of saying that their new ship IONA will have a more environmentally friendly propulsion system.

Although, the fact that due to its size it may not be able to visit some of the smaller ports is another issue.

Having just been to Flam and seen how the valley fills with the smoke from the ship, I get what the Norwegian government are saying.

>... P&O made a point of saying that their new ship IONA....

Iona cruise ship?

Ira

>... P&O made a point of saying that their new ship IONA....

 

 

Iona cruise ship?

 

 

Ira

You mean you haven't heard about P&O's new cruise ship !! :D

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2637057

We returned from our cruise to the fjords on saturday, our first to the region. We did the first itinerary you mentioned. We were the only ship in flam that day and we went to the railway station around 10.30 a.m. and had our choice of tickets for the railway. So glad we did the trip. Olden we did a P & O excursion coach trip (called Panorama something) 4.5 hours and saw beautiful scenery with an excellent local guide - coffee and cakes at a hotel included. Stavanger and Bergen we did solo.

Not much difference between both of them. I would let cabin availability dictate. I would also consider doing a two week cruise if possible. Done this twice all the way up to North cape and it was excellent.

Not much difference between both of them. I would let cabin availability dictate. I would also consider doing a two week cruise if possible. Done this twice all the way up to North cape and it was excellent.

I would say that there is a huge difference, as most others have stated. Flaam is at the end of a very long (100 mile plus) very scenic Fjord but Alesund is via a very short far less scenic Fjord.

You can book the railway at Flam the day before or on the actual morning via their website, cheaper than through P&O and don't have to rush and queue at the station.

You must have been lucky as we tried to do this online a month before but it was already sold out for the times we were in port - and we were the only ship in. I have heard stories of people rushing off the ship to get tickets, but we are on holiday and not prepared to do that. I have also spoken to several people who tried this approach but it was sold out (as reported by someone earlier). So, we have bitten the bullet and paid the P&O price (less loyalty discount) as we may only go there once and don’t want to miss it. We are also doing the trip at a time to suit us.

We have just returned from a wonderful cruise to Norway on Azura, we did the first itinerary with Flam, which was spectacular. We booked the train with P&O but if we get to go there again, we will go to the ticket office which is a 2 minute walk from the ship when we dock. I sat on the balcony watching lots if people doing this at 8.00 am and then return to have breakfast.