Tips for these Norwegian ports ship excursions

Hi,

Off on our first ever cruise to the Fjords in April and now that we are home from our Summer cruise it is time to start to do some homework about what to do in our ports. I hope that this is not repeating many threads and if it is please feel free to point me in the right direct. If you have done the ship's excursions that would be really helpful for ones to do or avoid. Many thanks.

Stavanger

Olden

Innvikfjorden : sail by

Nordfjord : sail by

Alesund

Bergen

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2671488

Take a look at my "Live from"...threads - the above is for last month and I also did one in May last year.

Enjoy - beautiful place.

Happy to answer any questions if I can!

Cheers

Pat

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2671488

 

Take a look at my "Live from"...threads - the above is for last month and I also did one in May last year.

Enjoy - beautiful place.

Happy to answer any questions if I can!

Cheers

Pat

Hi, many thanks Pat. :-)

I am currently looking at excursions and we tend to go with the ship excursions when we travel.

Have found a number we like the look of but am not inspired re Alesund. Not sure if it is me or is isn't being sold well.

We love cold holidays (usually in Lapland for February so we are happy to be cold and will go prepared!) Have seen some excursions with hikes but some look a bit too much -- I think I have seen one where there is a 1.5 mile hike before you seen anything. That can mean anything ! We once did a volcano hike on Britannia to the Canary Islands and it nearly finished me off. It was MAJOR hiking, honesly, only for the very very young and ultra fit !!! Just worried about booking something like that and endng up on something similar where they will need to return me / us to the ship on stretcher. :o

Only been to Olden. We waited to see if it was a clear day and it was. Got off the ship and there is a tourist info 25 yards from the ship. Booked the bus to Loen and the sky lift, 15 mins away. Absolutely fantastic view, you can see 200 mountains. Back to the ship for lunch and then a walk to the new church right through the village. Had a lovely day.

Only been to Olden. We waited to see if it was a clear day and it was. Got off the ship and there is a tourist info 25 yards from the ship. Booked the bus to Loen and the sky lift, 15 mins away. Absolutely fantastic view, you can see 200 mountains. Back to the ship for lunch and then a walk to the new church right through the village. Had a lovely day.

Sounds wonderful ........ have only cruises to somewhere hot, so this cold one will be a new one for us ;-)

This was our first cold cruise and we were well prepared. However had fabulous weather, very lucky. Will be colder for you in April but you should see plenty of snow on the tops, it will be beautiful.

This was our first cold cruise and we were well prepared. However had fabulous weather, very lucky. Will be colder for you in April but you should see plenty of snow on the tops, it will be beautiful.

Ironically we did not particularly enjoy our cruise on Ventura but have booked an aft cabin on Azura and for some reason we have always thought that the ship looks nicer than her sister. Just hope the weather is kind ...... then again, we like 'boppy' so will be happy as long as we can see the mountains !

Any tips re the sail by days ...... are they early or late in the day? Best place for the views? On deck or will the aft cabin be ok do you think?

Stavanger - lots to see within walking distance. Near the Cannery Museum is another small house museum where you can go into one of the white houses to see how it looked in the 1950's and the 1930's. They have a small patio and you can get a snack and coffee. Visit the Church and, if you are lucky, the organist will be practicing. We also booked our own ticket to the ferry to Pulpit Rock. Also the Oil Museum looked interesting.

Alesund - Walk into town and take the tourist train tour - fantastic views over the area. Also visit the artisans in the old warehouse area. The Art Nouveau/Jugendstilsenteret located in an old pharmacy is well worth a visit. Lots of art nouveau buildings make walking the area a joy.

Stavanger - lots to see within walking distance. Near the Cannery Museum is another small house museum where you can go into one of the white houses to see how it looked in the 1950's and the 1930's. They have a small patio and you can get a snack and coffee. Visit the Church and, if you are lucky, the organist will be practicing. We also booked our own ticket to the ferry to Pulpit Rock. Also the Oil Museum looked interesting.

 

Alesund - Walk into town and take the tourist train tour - fantastic views over the area. Also visit the artisans in the old warehouse area. The Art Nouveau/Jugendstilsenteret located in an old pharmacy is well worth a visit. Lots of art nouveau buildings make walking the area a joy.

Ooooooo thank you. Where does the tourist train go in Alesund. :-)

Hi, Presto. We have been to the Briksdal glacier using the troll car. I really enjoyed it, but the Loen lift wasn't open then so you have a choice.

I would recommend the funicular in Bergen. There are some nice walks at the top or you can walk back down if the weather is being kind. Book on line before you go as the queues can be quite long.

For your first time in Stavanger I think there is plenty in the town to keep you busy.

Sitting on your balcony at the back of the ship with access to drinks, hot or cold;), will be perfect for the sail by.

Alesund

Can highly recommend Land of the Trolls tour a P&O excursion

Great guide amazing scenery superb meal in an idyllic setting and still back to the ship in time to wander round the town independently

Which cabin have you booked? Have had great aft views from B748 :)

Hi, Presto. We have been to the Briksdal glacier using the troll car. I really enjoyed it, but the Loen lift wasn't open then so you have a choice.

I would recommend the funicular in Bergen. There are some nice walks at the top or you can walk back down if the weather is being kind. Book on line before you go as the queues can be quite long.

For your first time in Stavanger I think there is plenty in the town to keep you busy.

Sitting on your balcony at the back of the ship with access to drinks, hot or cold;), will be perfect for the sail by.

Thanks - had pencilled in the glacier via troll car so that is a definite now :-) Thank you

s

For Stavenger we are thinking an excursion to the Pulpit Rock and Lysefjord but that may change :-)

Alesund

Can highly recommend Land of the Trolls tour a P&O excursion

Great guide amazing scenery superb meal in an idyllic setting and still back to the ship in time to wander round the town independently

 

Which cabin have you booked? Have had great aft views from B748 :)

Ohh thanks, had looked at that one. Will look again more carefully now.

We have booked B749. I think that someone on CC told us that it had a nice corner balcony and from what we have seen on Youtube it looks great. Next door to yours too I guess :)

Getting over my cruise blues planning the next one already :D

Be prepared that there isn’t much of a glacier left! Global warming etc., the scenery is lovely however.

Hi,

 

Off on our first ever cruise to the Fjords in April and now that we are home from our Summer cruise it is time to start to do some homework about what to do in our ports. I hope that this is not repeating many threads and if it is please feel free to point me in the right direct. If you have done the ship's excursions that would be really helpful for ones to do or avoid. Many thanks.

 

Stavanger

Olden

Innvikfjorden : sail by

Nordfjord : sail by

Alesund

Bergen

we have done a few of the ports a couple a month ago.

In Stavanger this time we did a Viking tour, I pre booked but you can book on the day they will have a stand outside the tourist info building. But as others have said there is lots to see on foot to.

Olden is a lovely stop at the end of a fjord, easy to walk but although we haven't done it there is the cable car sky lift.

Alesund this was one of my least fav ports. We walked up the steps on the side of a cliff face to the top there was a lovely view over the port from the top. Coaches do go up there. we then walked all the way back down the steps and then headed for the town.

Bergen beautiful place, really wish we had more than the few hours we had. If we ever go back we'd go on the train, as was we just walked about and visited the fish market.

The sail away from most of the Norway ports are lovely. In one of the fjords we saw a sea eagle fly past us.

What ever you do you should enjoy it.

we have done a few of the ports a couple a month ago.

 

In Stavanger this time we did a Viking tour, I pre booked but you can book on the day they will have a stand outside the tourist info building. But as others have said there is lots to see on foot to.

 

Olden is a lovely stop at the end of a fjord, easy to walk but although we haven't done it there is the cable car sky lift.

 

Alesund this was one of my least fav ports. We walked up the steps on the side of a cliff face to the top there was a lovely view over the port from the top. Coaches do go up there. we then walked all the way back down the steps and then headed for the town.

 

Bergen beautiful place, really wish we had more than the few hours we had. If we ever go back we'd go on the train, as was we just walked about and visited the fish market.

 

The sail away from most of the Norway ports are lovely. In one of the fjords we saw a sea eagle fly past us.

What ever you do you should enjoy it.

Many thanks for this info. Much appreciated :-)

Bergen. We went up funicular get there early to avoid queues and then walked back down. Great views from top and woodland walk littered with troll carvings. Brings you out in town and the able to do market and Bryggen at own pace. Great port.

Hi

It seems an age since we asked the questions re these ports.

Our excursions are now available and just wondering if anyone else out there has any tips as we have no idea what to do here. We have no knowledge of this area at all.

Thanks

What sort of things do you like doing? Just to have an idea of what to suggest.

1 hour ago, happy v said:

What sort of things do you like doing? Just to have an idea of what to suggest.

May sound daft but really am not sure what to expect at all! Usually cruise to hot places but go for the places not the ship ---

Have been to Lapland in February many times so are happy to be cold !

Looking forward to the scenery

Happy to do any sort of boat trip would be fine

Don't want to just wander around shops all of the time and want an experience .. if that makes sense

Happy to hike / walk as long as it is not too extreme. (We once did a volcano hike in the canary Islands with P&O and it nearly finished us all off)

Any suggestions welcome

As you get off the ship in Olden there are people selling trips to the Loen Skylift. You get the bus very near to the ship and it takes you to Loen in around 20 minutes. The cable car goes up the mountain very quickly, there are amazing views at the top. No need to pre book and better to wait and see how clear it is on the day. There are walks at the top and a cafe with brilliant views.

29 minutes ago, dronnygirl said:

As you get off the ship in Olden there are people selling trips to the Loen Skylift. You get the bus very near to the ship and it takes you to Loen in around 20 minutes. The cable car goes up the mountain very quickly, there are amazing views at the top. No need to pre book and better to wait and see how clear it is on the day. There are walks at the top and a cafe with brilliant views.

Great info. Just seen that on a YouTube clip and was wondering how to do it. Thanks

Make sure you are on deck for the sail away from Olden. The people from the village come out to see you off. There are houses right up the hill waving flags.

I did this cruise last year and booked only P&O excursions as it was my first time cruising and I wanted to play safe / wasn't sure what I'd be getting into by booking privately 🙂

At Stavanger - Stavanger Highlights

This was a very enjoyable tour, spoilt only by the torrential rain!  (It was raining so hard it broke my camera, to put it into context - it's never been the same since that day).  I always like touring around looking at new places so enjoyed the coach tour; the Viking Voyagers exhibition at the museum was surprisingly interesting (and we had a short time to look around for ourselves too); and the walk round the town afterwards also provided some good background and history.  (And fortunately the rain had stopped by then - bonus!)

At Olden - Kjenndalen Glacier and Lovatnet Lake

This was my birthday so a special day for me in any case, but I did really enjoy... errr, leaving the cruise ship to go on a boat trip across a lake 😛 The scenery was stunning and we had a little stop between the lake and the glacier to visit a waffle restaurant too.  Coach on the way back had a couple of stops to let us view places of historic interest too.

At Alesund - Alesund Heritage Walk

Again, gave good background to the town's history and let us see some of the stunning architecture there.

On 9/9/2018 at 8:08 PM, Traveling Library said:

The Art Nouveau/Jugendstilsenteret located in an old pharmacy is well worth a visit. Lots of art nouveau buildings make walking the area a joy.

After the walk I did my own thing and stumbled across the Jugendstilsenteret (Art Nouveau building) museum mentioned above.  This is truly amazing and I would recommend it if you like the Art Nouveau style.

At Bergen I didn't follow any official tour and did my own thing since everything I'd read said this was eminently possible.  I would strongly recommend Det Hanseatiske Museum og Schoetstuene though, this was great and the tour is available in English.  

14 hours ago, Tacu said:

I did this cruise last year and booked only P&O excursions as it was my first time cruising and I wanted to play safe / wasn't sure what I'd be getting into by booking privately 🙂

 

At Stavanger - Stavanger Highlights

This was a very enjoyable tour, spoilt only by the torrential rain!  (It was raining so hard it broke my camera, to put it into context - it's never been the same since that day).  I always like touring around looking at new places so enjoyed the coach tour; the Viking Voyagers exhibition at the museum was surprisingly interesting (and we had a short time to look around for ourselves too); and the walk round the town afterwards also provided some good background and history.  (And fortunately the rain had stopped by then - bonus!)

 

At Olden - Kjenndalen Glacier and Lovatnet Lake

This was my birthday so a special day for me in any case, but I did really enjoy... errr, leaving the cruise ship to go on a boat trip across a lake 😛 The scenery was stunning and we had a little stop between the lake and the glacier to visit a waffle restaurant too.  Coach on the way back had a couple of stops to let us view places of historic interest too.

 

At Alesund - Alesund Heritage Walk

Again, gave good background to the town's history and let us see some of the stunning architecture there.

After the walk I did my own thing and stumbled across the Jugendstilsenteret (Art Nouveau building) museum mentioned above.  This is truly amazing and I would recommend it if you like the Art Nouveau style.

 

At Bergen I didn't follow any official tour and did my own thing since everything I'd read said this was eminently possible.  I would strongly recommend Det Hanseatiske Museum og Schoetstuene though, this was great and the tour is available in English.  

Thanks for that excellent help - off to check the excursions again now