Norwegian fijords on Sky Princess

[Traderboy]

Hi 

I am looking for assistance in deciding what to do in these ports:

Haugesund

Aalesund

Olden

Skyolden/Sognefjord

Stavanger

 

My first question is how easy is to get from the ship to the local town (or whatever)

Secondly  it would be helpful to know what is easily accessible in these various places

 

i would be grateful for any information or experience that you might have had

We are sailing on Sky Princess at the end of April 2024

[ChristopherTracy]

Hi - we did a similar sailing last year so can let you know about Stavanger and Olden. 

 

Stavanger is very walkable, you are moored right next to the old town and can easily walk into the new town, see the cathedral etc etc. Other options there are boat trips (locally or all the way to Pulpit rock) and these are all accessible very near the ship - no prebooking required on my cruise.

 

Olden - we prebooked (locally) a coach trip to and from the Briksdal glacier and then walked up ourselves without using the troll cars. It was a fantastic excursion and much cheaper than the P&O excursion that did exactly the same. There isn't much to walk to in Olden - you have to bus out to places, other people were getting on small land trains for trips or going up to the cable car. Again right off the ship was a local agent selling all of the excursions independently. The did a lovely sailaway for us as well. 

 

We were supposed to stop in Haugesund where I had booked a local excursion to a goat farm/homestead but we missed that port in the end. I got a full refund from the local operator.

 

Our other port was Hellesylt where we did a RIB trip out to into the Geiranger Fjord. This was both spectacular and exciting and I think you can do them from Stavanger as well.

[elaine5]

4 hours ago, Traderboy said:

Secondly  it would be helpful to know what is easily accessible in these various places

if you mean mobility impaired, I'd highly suggest:

Olden-above mentioned tour, but adding troll cars. It's a very fun excursion. You must be able to transfer to the four wheel, jeep-type vehicle. 

Stavanger-Boat excursion to fjords, view (from bottom) of Pulpit rock. Short walk around small pier to get to boat. Same one used for ships' excusrions. https://rodne.no/en/

 

Edited January 23 by elaine5

[clarky213]

Haugesund is easy accessable as long as you don't mind a hike over the bridge, which is quite a steep slope to get to the Middle.

On Our Walking tour in September, we started with 30 people, but by the time we got over the bridge, we were down to 18.

[ChristopherTracy]

Ah sorry @Traderboy I assumed you meant accessible as in right there from the ship without needing a shuttle bus. If you mean how are these ports for those with accessibility issues then yes, troll cars in Olden. Stavanger old town is hilly and cobbled but the walkway along the harbour is flat and accessible into the new town and main harbour area.

[Traderboy]

Thank you for these comments,

I did not mean mobility impaired.

We ware reasonably fit septuagenarians!

It sounds as if we need to book a local tour in Olden. 
is it possible to book one in advance or are they easily available on disembarkation?

 

Does anyone know anything about  Skyolden/Sognefjord?

[milolii]

Here is the roll call for your cruise.  Join the roll call.

 

 

[elaine5]

2 hours ago, Traderboy said:

It sounds as if we need to book a local tour in Olden. 
is it possible to book one in advance or are they easily available on disembarkation?

We booked in advance. It was an excellent tour. 

 oldenadventure.com

For Alesund, we walked into town and walked up the 500 steps to the top of the mountain/lookout point. It is fabulous if you have good weather. Easy walk (5 yr olds were doing it), not steep.

Edited January 23 by elaine5

[ChristopherTracy]

We booked with the same company as @elaine5to the glacier and back and it was very good. The highlight was the walk itself and doable even for unfit people (me) and a slightly mardy 14 year old girl.  

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

14 hours ago, milolii said:

Here is the roll call for your cruise.  Join the roll call.

 

 

We are booked on that one! We live in Torpoint so near you on the Tamar.

 

There is a Facebook group too with over 215 members 🙂 

Edited January 24 by Snaxmuppet

[capriccio]

Our Midnight Sun cruise in 2019 visited some different ports, but here is my write-up of the ones on your itinerary:

 

Stavanger - the Princess excursion to Flor & Fjaaere ( https://florogfjare.no/en/), an island near Stravanger that is amazing if you are the least bit interested in gardening.

 

Alesund - we (group of 4) hired a taxi for the short ride from the pier to the Sunnmore Museum, an open air museum.  We spent a couple of hours there and then the staff called us a taxi to return to Alesund.  Upon our return we did a DIY walk thru the lovely Art Nouveau section of the city.

[PATRLR]

On 1/23/2024 at 2:27 PM, Traderboy said:

Does anyone know anything about  Skyolden/Sognefjord?

We're doing a similar itinerary in July.  My research on Skyolden/Sognefjord so far indicates there isn't a whole lot there.  Very small town.  We're probably going to book a RIB tour there.  

If you haven't done so, I'd suggest spending some time in this thread over in the  Northern Europe and Baltic Sea ports of call forum (there is a lot in that thread, but, it really is loaded with information):

 

[Cobber76]

On 1/23/2024 at 1:27 PM, Traderboy said:

Thank you for these comments,

I did not mean mobility impaired.

We ware reasonably fit septuagenarians!

It sounds as if we need to book a local tour in Olden. 
is it possible to book one in advance or are they easily available on disembarkation?

 

Does anyone know anything about  Skyolden/Sognefjord?

 

Walk up to the Skjolden Viewpoint.  From the center of town, It’s roughly a 1-mile hike up. There’s a paved road for part of it, before it veers off to a pretty decent trail.  If it’s a nice day, you can get a beautiful view of the end of the Sognefjord.  We took this photo at the end of August this past year.

[Torfamm]

I can recommend the Fjords to Trolls tour with Norway Excursions from Ålesund!

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