Private Shore Excursions/Tours

[jkrotaru]

How does one go about finding private tours/excursions for Norway?

We just booked our first trip to Norway with Holland America for end of July 2024. Most of the ship's offered excursions are already full.  

I have never done a private tour, nor do I know how to find one.

Ports we are visiting : Eidfjord, Stavanger, Skjolden.  

Interests are waterfalls, scenery

Easy to Moderate levels. 

[crystalspin]

2 minutes ago, jkrotaru said:

How does one go about finding private tours/excursions for Norway?

We just booked our first trip to Norway with Holland America for end of July 2024. Most of the ship's offered excursions are already full.  

I have never done a private tour, nor do I know how to find one.

Hi JK and welcome to Cruise Critic!

Norway is included on this board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

 

If you give me your ship's name and date of sailing, I can find and give you your Roll Call, where you may find people organizing private tours. Asking on Norwegian Line is probably no help as NCL sails many other places as HAL goes other places than Holland! 

[ColeThornton]

24 minutes ago, jkrotaru said:

How does one go about finding private tours/excursions for Norway?

We just booked our first trip to Norway with Holland America for end of July 2024. Most of the ship's offered excursions are already full.  

I have never done a private tour, nor do I know how to find one.

Ports we are visiting : Eidfjord, Stavanger, Skjolden.  

Interests are waterfalls, scenery

Easy to Moderate levels. 

 

 

Just do a simple Google search, i.e......."private tours Skjolden".

[LindaD22]

For Stavanger we booked with Rodne Fjord Cruise (link below). I recommend joining the roll call for your specific cruise to see what others are booking. 

 

https://rodne.no/en/fjordcruise/lysefjord-preikestolen/#anchorDeskdepartures

 

 

[jsn55]

5 hours ago, jkrotaru said:

How does one go about finding private tours/excursions for Norway?

We just booked our first trip to Norway with Holland America for end of July 2024. Most of the ship's offered excursions are already full.  

I have never done a private tour, nor do I know how to find one.

Ports we are visiting : Eidfjord, Stavanger, Skjolden.  

Interests are waterfalls, scenery

Easy to Moderate levels. 

You can make a two-pronged effort .. do a search for 'private tours, excursions, sightseeing City Norway'.  Post on your Roll Call and get specific answers and suggestions, plus  opportunities to join other pax on private tours that they are arranging.  

[YourWorldWithBill]

We have used Tours by Locals - which I found out about from others on a forum here - a couple of times for smaller group tours, and there are some other organizations, as others mentioned. The challenge is that the cost might be such that you might need to connect with others on your cruise, so as others mentioned, posting on the Roll Call for your cruise is important.

[nini]

Often, members on your Roll Call will have ideas and I also use TripAdvisor. I will not advise using Viator as they are a BROKER and not a tour company. I have known of many times when Viator cancelled tours for cruisers (often the day before) and then they were unable to replace it in a timely manner. Sometimes they are reimbursed, and others not.

[nini]

@jkrotaru Also, just try doing a search for each city, one at a time, on this board.

[kitkat343]

In Stavanger, you can walk around the picturesque town by yourself.  We also  took the Rodne cruise LindaD22 is describing.  It was a very nice boat ride, but not an absolute highlight of Norway.  You'd want to consider if you have enough time to visit Pulpit Rock if your traveling party is fit enough for this excursion (its not a strenuous hike, but you'd need to research whether it would be a good option for you) 

[edinburgher]

On 1/7/2024 at 7:35 PM, jkrotaru said:

Ports we are visiting : Eidfjord, Stavanger, Skjolden. 

Do you have other ports on your itinerary or are these the only ones you are are undecided about?

 

Reason for asking is that it is not always necessary to take a private tour, as some ports are easy to sightsee independenty. and if you name your ports, you would get suggestions.

 

And do join your Roll Call which others have already suggested.  As you are new to CC you may not know what a RC is, and reading this would explain.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2594924-what-is-a-roll-call-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

(Be aware that to access RCs, even to read posts, unlike other CC forums it is necessary to be logged in otherwise you will be denied access.)

 

It is one of the topics on the help center which is where you could learn more about CC functions.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/community-help-center/

 

Edited January 17 by edinburgher

[wandb]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:35 PM, jkrotaru said:

How does one go about finding private tours/excursions for Norway?

We just booked our first trip to Norway with Holland America for end of July 2024. Most of the ship's offered excursions are already full.  

I have never done a private tour, nor do I know how to find one.

Ports we are visiting : Eidfjord, Stavanger, Skjolden.  

Interests are waterfalls, scenery

Easy to Moderate levels. 

Welcome, jkrotaru!

 

l believe you must be booked on the Rotterdam (as are we!). There are Roll Calls for the July 20-27 cruise as well as the July 27-Aug.3 cruise. Wayne and I are doing the full two weeks and there is a Roll Call for the July 20-Aug 3 cruise also. I'm just getting started planning, but some folks have posted lots of good info already. 
 

I look forward to meeting you on board. The fjords have been on my bucket list for 58 years!!!  (When I was VERY young!!😁)

 

On the Cruise Critic home page just scroll down to "Roll Calls". Click on Holland America Roll Calls. Then scroll down till you get to "Rotterdam Roll Calls" and click on that. Just look for the date of your cruise then and you have found us!

 

We booked at least 4 months ago, and many of the shore excursions were already sold out. Unbelievable. So we are also looking for private tours---or shared tours. 

 

Have you gotten your plane tickets yet?  Wow!  Sticker shock!!

 

Barb