Norwegian Fjords

[Ciadan]

Yay!  Delighted to have found this thread.  My husband & I are doing a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the QM2 (Cruise M421) in July 2024.  It's our first cruise together, and our first visit to Norway.  Our itinerary is:

 

Southampton, England, UK 14JUL24

At Sea 15JUL24

Kristiansand, Norway 16JUL24 In Port Arrive early morning Depart early afternoon

Olden, Norway 17JUL24 In Port Arrive morning Depart early evening

Innvikfjorden, Norway(Cruise-by) 17JUL24 Cruise By Arrive early evening Cruise By Depart evening

Nordfjord, Norway (Cruise-by) 17JUL24  Cruise ByArrive evening Cruise By Depart evening Alesund, Norway 18JUL24 In Port Arrive early morning Depart afternoon

Stavanger, Norway 19JUL24 In Port Arrive morning Depart afternoon

Oslofjord, Norway19JUL24 Cruise By Arrive afternoon Cruise By Depart early evening

At Sea 20JUL24

Southampton, England, UK 21JUL24

 

I haven't read through the thread yet - but I will!  Hoping to pick up lots of tips from experienced cruisers!

 

[hallasm]

2 hours ago, Ciadan said:

My husband & I are doing a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the QM2 (Cruise M421) in July 2024.

 
Lots of information in this topic and Forum. Search for the different ports - there is plenty of information about the places you visit - specific questions are welcome.

 

The itinerary on the web makes the cruise look significantly better than it actually is. There is one deep fjord stop: Olden. Innvikfjorden and Nordfjord are the Long fjords you sail through in the morning and evening to get to Olden.
Kristiansand, Ålesund and Stavanger are coastal cities. in Ålesund and Stavanger Some good opportunities.

A bit strange sailing from Stavanger and past the Oslofjord - not the most interesting fjord in Norway.
I am sorry for the not too positive assessment.

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by hallasm

[Fergus]

On 9/14/2023 at 6:02 PM, Anubi said:

We were looking to do the Troll Road in Alesund, if that helps.  We haven't actually done it as we had to reschedule but it looked like a good time.  

Take the excursion!  The Troll Road is beautiful and some of the other things you see along the way are as well.  The weather wasn't good at all when we were there, but it was still worth it - the Aksla overlook too.

 

Weather was the only problem we had with our Norway cruise in June 2022.  (Besides the fact that we had no luggage for 3 days, had to track it own with no help from cruiseline, finally found it and got it shipped to our first stop.)  It rained, drizzled, was foggy and cloudy every.single.moment of our 9 day cruise.  We flew to Iceland for 4 days after that, exactly the same.  We never saw sunshine for one second during our whole trip.  While that didn't completely ruin the trip - because the portions of Norway that we could see were lovely, it was a disappointment for sure.  

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

[John Bull]

8 hours ago, Fergus said:

Take the excursion!  The Troll Road is beautiful and some of the other things you see along the way are as well.  The weather wasn't good at all when we were there, but it was still worth it - the Aksla overlook too.

 

 

 

Agreed - we had a great day.

We booked with local operator, very good and significantly better value than ship's tour.

Pick-up just a few yards from the ship. A seat on the right (same side as door) will give you the best views.

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-from-fjords-to-trolls/

 

JB 🙂

[frogfish12]

Hi @hallasm and Norway experts, can you please take a look and tell me what you think of this itinerary? Star Legend from Edinburgh to Copenhagen. I looked back 4-5 pages but didn't see anything about this one

https://www.windstarcruises.com/cruise/overview/northerneurope/edinburgh-to-copenhagen/norways-famous-fjords/?pkgid=366949

 

Flam is 10:00-15:30. Olden is 11:00-18:00. Geiranger is 10:00-17:00. Is the arrival time ok and will there be enough time? What do you think about the rest of the ports? Thank you!

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by frogfish12

[LindaD22]

We are in Alesund for a short day, I think - from 1100 to 1800. This looks like it won’t be enough time for an excursion on the Troll Road, which are 7-8 hours. How best to spend our time?  This will be with Royal Caribbean next June. 

Edited September 18, 2023 by LindaD22

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, frogfish12 said:

Flam is 10:00-15:30. Olden is 11:00-18:00. Geiranger is 10:00-17:00. Is the arrival time ok and will there be enough time? What do you think about the rest of the ports? Thank you!

Interesting Itinerary.

Overnight in Bergen sounds great. The Stavanger stop, like several of the other stops, is quite short. Kristiansand is the least interesting port. 
There should be enough time to reach viewpoints in Olden and Geiranger and a trip with the railway in Flåm.
A good itinerary with as many as three deep fjords. sailing through each of the fjords will take 5 hours - same route in and out - be early on the deck.

[hallasm]

22 minutes ago, LindaD22 said:

We are in Alesund for a short day, I think - from 1100 to 1800. This looks like it won’t be enough time for an excursion on the Troll Road, which are 7-8 hours. How best to spend our time?  This will be with Royal Caribbean next June.

Many options in Ålesund for a day - topic has been discussed many times - search the forum - here is an example - much more available.

 

[LindaD22]

11 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Many options in Ålesund for a day - topic has been discussed many times - search the forum - here is an example - much more available.

 

Thank you, I will do more research!

[John Bull]

32 minutes ago, LindaD22 said:

We are in Alesund for a short day, I think - from 1100 to 1800. This looks like it won’t be enough time for an excursion on the Troll Road, which are 7-8 hours. How best to spend our time?  This will be with Royal Caribbean next June. 

 

It might be worth checking with the Troll Road tour operator - our tour concluded with the Aksla Overlook which is on the outskirts of Alesund and a brief tour of the town - no doubt included as a hedge against a delay during the day (skip either or both if time is pressing).

Or perhaps RCI will offer an abbreviated version of the Troll Road.

 

JB  🙂

[LindaD22]

11 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

It might be worth checking with the Troll Road tour operator - our tour concluded with the Aksla Overlook which is on the outskirts of Alesund and a brief tour of the town - no doubt included as a hedge against a delay during the day (skip either or both if time is pressing).

Or perhaps RCI will offer an abbreviated version of the Troll Road.

 

JB  🙂

Great suggestion, I will contact them. So far Royal Caribbean has not posted any excursions for Alesund. 

[frogfish12]

@hallasm thank you for your answer. I'm mainly interested in the fjords and have been to Oslo and Bergen before so concerned that one of the ports will be switched, canceled or missed the day of due to whatever reason. From reading here it happens quite often. Also as you said the port times are short and sometimes the ship can arrive late! Therefore the alternative is to do this land-based, can you please take a look at this itinerary? 

https://norway.nordicvisitor.com/travel-deals/coastal-voyages-cruise-tours/geiranger-fjord-majestic-railways/653/

It has Flam railway. Geiranger, Sognefjord, Aurlandfjord, no Olden but Alesund. It's not a guided tour so an extra night can be added along the routing. What do you think of the tour? Will it be about the same as doing the above cruise? Thanks again

[hallasm]

@frogfish12 A somewhat different trip - an individual train and bus trip combined with a short 1 night voyage with Hurtigruten coastal ship. New hotel every night.
There are no more fjords included in this tour and I doubt there will be time to visit the viewpoints in Geiranger.
I am not aware that ports are often canceled or missed in the Norwegian fjords - it happens in Iceland, but the Norwegian fjords are very calm waters and I have not yet heard of ports such as Olden, Flåm or Geiranger being canceled or ships being significantly delayed due to weather.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by hallasm

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 9/18/2023 at 9:34 AM, frogfish12 said:

Hi @hallasm and Norway experts, can you please take a look and tell me what you think of this itinerary? Star Legend from Edinburgh to Copenhagen. I looked back 4-5 pages but didn't see anything about this one

https://www.windstarcruises.com/cruise/overview/northerneurope/edinburgh-to-copenhagen/norways-famous-fjords/?pkgid=366949

 

Flam is 10:00-15:30. Olden is 11:00-18:00. Geiranger is 10:00-17:00. Is the arrival time ok and will there be enough time? What do you think about the rest of the ports? Thank you!

 

 

I'd been looking at that itinerary also. Have you sailed with Windstar before? 

[frogfish12]

were you asking me or hallasm? I've never sailed on Windstar

 

One of the fjord ports was switched on Silversea this summer, canceled the day of on Disney cruise, NCL and RCCL have also changed/canceled ports on their Norway itinerary. I have to search to find the specific port/ship

 

Also interested in the Silver Dawn itinerary someone asked about a few pages back but after learning about the port change....

 

Has anyone visited the Norway fjords land-based? If yes, please share your experience, is it worth doing? did you take a day cruise and which one? (I hope it's ok to ask this question here). Thanks in advance!

 

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, frogfish12 said:

One of the fjord ports was switched on Silversea this summer, canceled the day of on Disney cruise, NCL and RCCL have also changed/canceled ports on their Norway itinerary.

I know of Norwegian fjord cruises where ports of call have been canceled for reasons I am not immediately aware of. In contrast to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, it is extremely rare for port calls to be canceled due to bad weather. Most cancellations are often due to reasons over which the cruise line has control.

 

1 hour ago, frogfish12 said:

Has anyone visited the Norway fjords land-based?

You’ll probably see replies from people who have done the Railway from Oslo til Bergen with overnight and fjord cruise in Flåm when starting (or ending) a cruise in Bergen but probably none for the tour you have linked to - you might want to create a separate topic with you land tour question.

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by hallasm

[Simon-t]

On 9/18/2023 at 2:34 PM, frogfish12 said:

 

 

Flam is 10:00-15:30. Olden is 11:00-18:00. Geiranger is 10:00-17:00. Is the arrival time ok and will there be enough time? What do you think about the rest of the ports? Thank you!

 

 

 

As per other posts, Flam, Olden and Gerainger are great ports. Three deep fjords is an excellent itiniary, and those three are amongst our favourite stops in Norway. I would have a look at a trip to the Briksdal Glacier from Olden, Flam railway, and the various viewpoints around Gerainger which are spectacular.

[Anubi]

3 minutes ago, Simon-t said:

 

As per other posts, Flam, Olden and Gerainger are great ports. Three deep fjords is an excellent itiniary, and those three are amongst our favourite stops in Norway. I would have a look at a trip to the Briksdal Glacier from Olden, Flam railway, and the various viewpoints around Gerainger which are spectacular.

We had to book two separate cruise lines in 2025 to be sure we got all the ports we wanted.  We visit Flam and Geiringer on a 7-day on MSC roundtrip Copenhagen and then two weeks on HAL roundtrip Rotterdam for the rest.  Ought to be interesting.  LOL

[TheOldBear]

2 hours ago, hallasm said:

I know of Norwegian fjord cruises where ports of call have been canceled for reasons I am not immediately aware of. In contrast to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, it is extremely rare for port calls to be canceled due to bad weather. Most cancellations are often due to reasons over which the cruise line has control.

 

You’ll probably see replies from people who have done the Railway from Oslo til Bergen with overnight and fjord cruise in Flåm when starting (or ending) a cruise in Bergen but probably none for the tour you have linked to - you might want to create a separate topic with you land tour question.

 

 

This past November we missed two scheduled ports [Alesund, Stavanger ] due to an inclement weather forecast [never did check how bad the weather actually was]. QM2 diverted to Zeebruge instead where it was warm and sunny, but only a single port day.

[hallasm]

13 minutes ago, TheOldBear said:

This past November we missed two scheduled ports [Alesund, Stavanger ] due to an inclement weather forecast [never did check how bad the weather actually was]. QM2 diverted to Zeebruge instead where it was warm and sunny, but only a single port day.

Thanks for the update regarding canceled ports.
I can easily imagine that coastal cities along the coast of Norway as well as the sea out to the south of Norway can be hit by even very bad weather - especially autumn and winter - my answer was not detailed enough as the answer concerns the itinerary with ports of call in the deep fjords in July.

[janetcbl]

3 hours ago, hallasm said:

Thanks for the update regarding canceled ports.
I can easily imagine that coastal cities along the coast of Norway as well as the sea out to the south of Norway can be hit by even very bad weather - especially autumn and winter - my answer was not detailed enough as the answer concerns the itinerary with ports of call in the deep fjords in July.

It seems the only ship that seldom has ports cancelled is Hurtigruten (and Havila but I have never sailed with this line). Getting into Bodo is sometimes a challenge, but they usually manage. Hurtigruten does it twice a day (North bound and South bound), so perhaps practice is what counts.

[cfkm1]

8 hours ago, Simon-t said:

 

As per other posts, Flam, Olden and Gerainger are great ports. Three deep fjords is an excellent itiniary, and those three are amongst our favourite stops in Norway. I would have a look at a trip to the Briksdal Glacier from Olden, Flam railway, and the various viewpoints around Gerainger which are spectacular.

These are the 3 best ports I ever visited ..

[thefamilycruisers]

On 9/18/2023 at 8:03 AM, LindaD22 said:

We are in Alesund for a short day, I think - from 1100 to 1800. This looks like it won’t be enough time for an excursion on the Troll Road, which are 7-8 hours. How best to spend our time?  This will be with Royal Caribbean next June. 

I will be on the Jewel in July and we have a shorter day also.  Since we are interested in this tour I sent a note to the tour company asking if it is possible to alter the last tour to accommodate the cruise ship schedule.  I've posted on the roll call to see if others are interested but it is very quiet so far.  RCCL has no excursions planned in this port so far but  maybe that will change as we get closer.  

[mickeysgal]

Hi- we were on a cruise a few years back to the Fjiords and loved it so much we want to visit again. We are heavily considering this itinerary - it’s almost sold out. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this but when the itinerary says Arctic Circle cruising…for two days, what would one expect to see? 

[hallasm]

3 hours ago, mickeysgal said:

Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this but when the itinerary says Arctic Circle cruising

‘Arctic Circle cruising’ is just another word for ‘Sea day’ - you are passing the Arctic Circle but nothing to see. There is an ‘Arctic Circle Globe’ at Vikingen island, but you’ll probably not be close enough.

Inside Arctic Circle you’ll have midnight sun.