10-Day Norwegian Fjords from London

Husband and I are sailing on the Norwegian Jade in August 2017. The itinerary is:

Southampton; Stavanger; Hellesylt; Geiranger; Flam; Alesund; Haugesund; Oslo; Disembark Southampton (London)*(England).

What are some must sees in any of the ports? Can some ports be done on our own without booking an excursion? What excursions would you recommend? Are they through the ship or with independent companies?

We are also planning on spending 5-7 days prior to the cruise in London; other than the obvious tourist attractions in London, any other must sees??

Thanks for any info!!

Husband and I are sailing on the Norwegian Jade in August 2017. The itinerary is:

Southampton; Stavanger; Hellesylt; Geiranger; Flam; Alesund; Haugesund; Oslo; Disembark Southampton (London)*(England).

 

What are some must sees in any of the ports? Can some ports be done on our own without booking an excursion? What excursions would you recommend? Are they through the ship or with independent companies?

 

We are also planning on spending 5-7 days prior to the cruise in London; other than the obvious tourist attractions in London, any other must sees??

 

Thanks for any info!!

Geiranger there is a HOHO bus which has 2 stops!

seriously it takes you to 2 scenic viewpoints and can be booked on the day

we did a bus tour which did these 2 stops and included trip to top of Mount Dalsnibba very high up-or at least it would have if the mountain road wasn't closed by snow end of May:eek:

they substituted a visit to a mountain lake and village which was great

we found details on the Geiranger tourism site

Flam the attraction is the mountain railway

ships tours available but at an inflated price

you can book tickets directly from the company website but a lady on our roll call arranged a group of about 30 and we got a discounted rate

London-well my daughter lives in London and I visit every few months and we are still finding new things to do!

What are you interested in?

bike tours?

walking tours[including Harry Potter]

climbing over the millennium dome?

Beatles theme minibus tours?

the list goes on

Geiranger there is a HOHO bus which has 2 stops!

seriously it takes you to 2 scenic viewpoints and can be booked on the day

we did a bus tour which did these 2 stops and included trip to top of Mount Dalsnibba very high up-or at least it would have if the mountain road wasn't closed by snow end of May:eek:

they substituted a visit to a mountain lake and village which was great

we found details on the Geiranger tourism site

 

Flam the attraction is the mountain railway

ships tours available but at an inflated price

you can book tickets directly from the company website but a lady on our roll call arranged a group of about 30 and we got a discounted rate

 

London-well my daughter lives in London and I visit every few months and we are still finding new things to do!

What are you interested in?

bike tours?

walking tours[including Harry Potter]

climbing over the millennium dome?

Beatles theme minibus tours?

the list goes on

Well we will be walking as we don't want to rent a car. So we are hoping to stay right in London and see the typical attractions; Tower of London, Westminster Abby, Thames River Cruise, Tower Bridge, etc.

Any recommendations for walking tours? Bus tours?

I suggest you take one of the HOHO buses on your first day in London which will give you a good overview of the main sights

Then its pretty easy to cover central London on foot to go back to those you are interested in

we did a Harry Potter walking tour which was fun and was based around filming locations for the films but there are several other themed walks depending on your interests eg food and markets

Trip advisor and things to do is a good starting point to get an idea of what is on offer

I suggest you take one of the HOHO buses on your first day in London which will give you a good overview of the main sights

 

Then its pretty easy to cover central London on foot to go back to those you are interested in

 

we did a Harry Potter walking tour which was fun and was based around filming locations for the films but there are several other themed walks depending on your interests eg food and markets

 

Trip advisor and things to do is a good starting point to get an idea of what is on offer

Thanks! Next on my list is to check out Tripadvisor.

Any recommendations of places to stay in London? We are hoping to book through our timeshare, but that may not pan out so we will have to have a plan B. Looking for a good B & B or at least a hotel that offers free breakfast.

Thanks! Next on my list is to check out Tripadvisor.

Any recommendations of places to stay in London? We are hoping to book through our timeshare, but that may not pan out so we will have to have a plan B. Looking for a good B & B or at least a hotel that offers free breakfast.

sorry cant help with London accommodation as usually stay with my daughter

but don't think you will get Band B guesthouses in central London

Holiday Inn Expresses will include breakfast

I hate seeing cruise lines quoting cruises from "London" when they mean Southampton, which is about 75 miles away. :mad:

No hotel in London is convenient for more than a few sights, you'll be travelling quite a bit on the city's extensive underground system, the tube.

So wherever you choose, make sure its handy to a tube station.

IMHO, the best compromise of hotel rates & walkable sights, plus cheap & convenient travel to Southampton, is Waterloo / Westminster Bridge. Places like Premier Inn (County Hall or Waterloo), Marriot County Hall, Park Plaza (County Hall or Westminster Bridge). Handy to London Eye & river cruises, and across Westminster Bridge to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Churchill's War Rooms, & sights along Whitehall (Downing Street, Banqueting Hall, Horse Guards Parade, etc up to Trafalgar Square. And perfect for strolling along the South Bank of the river, perhaps as far as Tate Modern & Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - plenty of restaurants & bars along the way.

Travel by train from Waterloo station to Southampton Central for as little as £5 by pre-booking on https://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx This is a trusted bucket-price website, run by a consortium of travel operators to encourage travel on under-utilised trains & buses. Tickets are available from about 6 weeks out, must be bought in advance on-line and only valid on the train that you book. Megatrain tickets are only available for half-a-dozen Southampton trains per day (no cheap tickets for sundays), but two or three of those trains suit a cruiser's timetable.

Walk-up train fares are over £40, two or three trains per hour. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Hotels in the area are nearly all major international chains. Premier Inn, a well-respected budget chain, is probably the least-expensive of them.

If hotel rates there are too steep, try around Victoria.

Not quite so convenient, but Buckingham Palace & Big Ben / Westminster Abbey are walkable.

A wider range of hotels, including smaller private hotels and b&b's.

From Victoria, an hourly bus service to Southampton coach station, fares only £5.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

Booking is strongly recommended, because they do book-out. Unsuitable if you have a mountain of luggage, check the luggage limitations

Other areas of central London are OK, but not so convenient for travel to Southampton.

Waterloo and Victoria both have tube stations and both are on the main ho-ho routes.

Ho-ho (either London Original or Big Bus) is a good idea for your first 24 hours.

A 48-hour ticket may seem a bargain, but although the ho-ho is great for an over-view it's likely to be a painfully slow way to get from A to B and you'd do better to follow a 24-hour ho-ho with an Oyster card for travel on the tube.

https://www.londontoolkit.com/accommodation/southwark.htm

I've linked you to the Waterloo / Westminster Bridge hotels page of this website.

But the rest of the website is also a great resource for all sorts of logistics such as other accommodation in the city, sightseeing, ho-ho's, transport within central London and between the city and Heathrow, Gatwick & Southampton.

Any UK-specific questions are better on the Britain / Western Europe forum

JB :)

I hate seeing cruise lines quoting cruises from "London" when they mean Southampton, which is about 75 miles away. :mad:

 

No hotel in London is convenient for more than a few sights, you'll be travelling quite a bit on the city's extensive underground system, the tube.

So wherever you choose, make sure its handy to a tube station.

 

IMHO, the best compromise of hotel rates & walkable sights, plus cheap & convenient travel to Southampton, is Waterloo / Westminster Bridge. Places like Premier Inn (County Hall or Waterloo), Marriot County Hall, Park Plaza (County Hall or Westminster Bridge). Handy to London Eye & river cruises, and across Westminster Bridge to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Churchill's War Rooms, & sights along Whitehall (Downing Street, Banqueting Hall, Horse Guards Parade, etc up to Trafalgar Square. And perfect for strolling along the South Bank of the river, perhaps as far as Tate Modern & Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - plenty of restaurants & bars along the way.

Travel by train from Waterloo station to Southampton Central for as little as £5 by pre-booking on https://uk.megabus.com/megatrain.aspx This is a trusted bucket-price website, run by a consortium of travel operators to encourage travel on under-utilised trains & buses. Tickets are available from about 6 weeks out, must be bought in advance on-line and only valid on the train that you book. Megatrain tickets are only available for half-a-dozen Southampton trains per day (no cheap tickets for sundays), but two or three of those trains suit a cruiser's timetable.

Walk-up train fares are over £40, two or three trains per hour. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Hotels in the area are nearly all major international chains. Premier Inn, a well-respected budget chain, is probably the least-expensive of them.

 

If hotel rates there are too steep, try around Victoria.

Not quite so convenient, but Buckingham Palace & Big Ben / Westminster Abbey are walkable.

A wider range of hotels, including smaller private hotels and b&b's.

From Victoria, an hourly bus service to Southampton coach station, fares only £5.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

Booking is strongly recommended, because they do book-out. Unsuitable if you have a mountain of luggage, check the luggage limitations

 

Other areas of central London are OK, but not so convenient for travel to Southampton.

 

Waterloo and Victoria both have tube stations and both are on the main ho-ho routes.

 

Ho-ho (either London Original or Big Bus) is a good idea for your first 24 hours.

A 48-hour ticket may seem a bargain, but although the ho-ho is great for an over-view it's likely to be a painfully slow way to get from A to B and you'd do better to follow a 24-hour ho-ho with an Oyster card for travel on the tube.

 

https://www.londontoolkit.com/accommodation/southwark.htm

I've linked you to the Waterloo / Westminster Bridge hotels page of this website.

But the rest of the website is also a great resource for all sorts of logistics such as other accommodation in the city, sightseeing, ho-ho's, transport within central London and between the city and Heathrow, Gatwick & Southampton.

 

Any UK-specific questions are better on the Britain / Western Europe forum

JB :)

Thank you so much...I was hoping to get feedback from locals as to the best areas to stay, accomodations. We have never been to London or any where in Europe before, so everything will be brand new. I will post something on the forum you suggested for questions about London. etc(non cruise related).

Hi - I think you may be on the same cruise we are - is it the August 9th on the Jade? If so, be sure to register for the Roll Call for that trip. We are Maureen and Fred from Denver. I am working on plans for the trip and happy to share my work with you if you like. We tend to prefer to go private for tours, with a guide for just the 2 of us so that we have good views for pictures from the car and also can stop when we want to for pictures etc. But on this cruise some things will definitely be groups because private guides are not feasible at all the ports. Feel free to email me at crimlaw@ecentral.com.

Hi - I think you may be on the same cruise we are - is it the August 9th on the Jade? If so, be sure to register for the Roll Call for that trip. We are Maureen and Fred from Denver. I am working on plans for the trip and happy to share my work with you if you like. We tend to prefer to go private for tours, with a guide for just the 2 of us so that we have good views for pictures from the car and also can stop when we want to for pictures etc. But on this cruise some things will definitely be groups because private guides are not feasible at all the ports. Feel free to email me at crimlaw@ecentral.com.

Yes that is the cruise. We usally go it alone as well in ports. I did post on the roll call, but posted we were not booked yet, but looking at booking soon. Thanks for sharing your email, as we get closer and planning moves along I may take you up on your offer. Thanks!!

Husband and I are sailing on the Norwegian Jade in August 2017. The itinerary is:

Southampton; Stavanger; Hellesylt; Geiranger; Flam; Alesund; Haugesund; Oslo; Disembark Southampton (London)*(England).

 

What are some must sees in any of the ports? Can some ports be done on our own without booking an excursion? What excursions would you recommend? Are they through the ship or with independent companies?

 

We are also planning on spending 5-7 days prior to the cruise in London; other than the obvious tourist attractions in London, any other must sees??

 

Thanks for any info!!

We did an NCL Star cruise out of Copenhagen in 2014 the planned to stop in Bergen and Alesund Norway as well as other ports including Iceland.

Here is my review of that cruise, since it might help a bit with Norway.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=264272

The ship's excursions for Norway were very, very expensive. I organized tours for Bergen and Alesund. For Bergen (see review) I found an excellent walking tour that was not so expensive and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I know others that took a short cruise up the fjord that they enjoyed.

For Alesund, I wanted to see the Path of the Trolls tour. NCL wanted a ridiculous $299 pp for the excursion. This to me was a must do.

I finally found a tour company and organized a bus tour and fellow cc roll call folks signed up. We had 40 persons booked for that Path of the Trolls tour. Cost was about $60 pp. The only problem was that the tour company wanted cash when we stepped on the bus and in Norwegian currency. I had collected about 2/3 of the booked cash, when the Star's Captain announced that Alesund port was cancelled due to a storm. It turned out to be a Cat 2 hurricane.

Our next port was the Shetland Islands (we also missed the Faroe Islands, but picked up Belfast). We had a rough couple of days avoiding the storm with many sick passengers and staff (not us).

You should enjoy Norway. Note, that it may be the most expensive country in Europe. A beer costs $10. Good luck on your tours.

Hi

We visited some of these ports last July, and spent a week in Norway prior to our cruise

Stavanger - many people did a fjord cruise - we stayed in town and really enjoyed a visit to the Petroleum Museum

Geiranger - we stayed here on a land tour - the town is tiny, so I suggest some type of tour

Flam - we did the train which we enjoyed (book it independently). We also stayed here on a land tour and did the fjord safari which we absolutely loved!

Oslo - we did on our own thanks to great directions on this board! We took the ferry to the Fram Museum which was fabulous, then hit the Viking Museum and Nobel Peace Center. I wish we had done the Folklore Museum instead.

Can't help with London - we will be there in 2017 for the first time in many years.

Have a great cruise!

Stavanger, Geiranger, Alesund and Oslo are all very doable without paying for a ship's excursion. I can 't help with the others I as I haven't been there.

Stavanger - the ship will berth near to the town ( there are a couple of berths but both are near to the sights.) The old town is worth a visit and consists of a collection of old white houses higher up the hill as you disembark the ship. It is very scenic and there is a warren of little alleyways which are great to explore. Worth a look. Stavanger has lots to see and do for being quite a small place and you will easily fill a day. Museums include the excellent oil museum (much, much more interesting than it sounds.) 3D exhibitions and hands on activities. Brilliant. There is also the Sardine Canning Museum where you can pack sardines - great fun. There is also a Fishing Museum, shopping centre, Cathedral, HoHo bus/train and a beautiful lake to walk around.

Geiranger, as has been said is small and walkable - set at the top of a beautiful fjord. The Nordic centre is walkable from the tender drop off and well worth a visit. You take the main road leading up from the shops and head up the hill, following the road. It takes you past houses and a couple of hotels. The Centre is very interesting with lots to see, buy and it has an attractive cafe.

Alesund is also easily accessible - the walk into town is only a few minutes and you can start exploring. We found guided walking tours available from the Tourist Office for a small fee and we enjoyed them. Everyone very friendly and the guide was great.

Oslo is lovely and you can take a small ferry across from near where the ship docks to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum across the fjord. You will also be very near the City Hall where you can visit and see inside where some of the Nobel Prizes are given out. There is also lots of examples of Nordic Art and Life of the Sami people. (Although this may not be there now, not sure.) The City Hall is very close to where the ship docks.

So there is no need to take a tour in these particular stops if you prefer not to. They are all easily walkable.

Regarding staying in London we are biased towards the Tower of London area as we find the transport links to be excellent as well as it being an area where there is lots to see and do. There is a good choice of hotels of varying prices : the Tower Hotel, the Grange, the Chamberlain, Hilton etc.

From here there are very easy connections to many sights - the 100 bus the 15 bus and the RV1 are to hand and you are on the spot for the Tower, Tower Bridge, Museum of London, Old Wapping (trendy pubs) and further into town. Easy connections. You can also walk to Borough Market , HMS Belfast , St Paul's, along the river, the Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern and the Globe.

For areas not normally on the tourist trail we can recommend the area behind (to the north of St Paul's ) is very interesting - we especially like the church of St Sepulchre Without near the Old Bailey and open to the public at lunchtimes, Charterhouse Square - where you can see where Poirot is filmed and lots of other period dramas such as Downton , also the William Wallace (Braveheart) monument is nearby. All totally free. The Museum of London is superb and well worth a visit and again is free. St Katharine Docks is gorgeous and a haven of peace across the road from the Tower. Buy an Oyster Card and off you go. a good choice! Any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks! Next on my list is to check out Tripadvisor.

Any recommendations of places to stay in London? We are hoping to book through our timeshare, but that may not pan out so we will have to have a plan B. Looking for a good B & B or at least a hotel that offers free breakfast.

I stayed at Albro House in Sussex Gardens - it is very near to Paddington Station where you can get the tube. Breakfast is included - full breakfast. It is only a two star but there are neat, clean rooms (small) that are well looked after. I think it's only two star because there is no lift so depending upon which floor you're on, it's a walk up but on a nice carpeted stair well.

Otherwise, it's on a very pretty street near hotels that are VERY pricey and the hotel is always quite full and booked - mostly by people from Europe - I met many nice and interesting people while I was staying there. The only way I found it was via my friends in Hampshire - they found it via their copy of Britain magazine, it was advertised in the back. I had never, and still do not, see it advertised here in the US. They don't need to.

The hosts of the hotel were always there and it was a pleasure to be there. I'll return again - cannot beat the price and location, plus breakfast and wifi too...though I was on the fifth floor (3 years ago) and the wifi drifted out a bit. Still...kinda loved this cosy place. I usually stay 3 star minimum in Europe - though standards vary from country to country and sometimes it's roses - more or less things don't change much.

Definitely worth checking out as it'll save travel time also, there are some decent restaurants in walking distance, the HoHo bus stop is nearby if you do that the first day - it's just a nice area to be in.

Good luck with the rest of your planning :)

Paddington is not the pleasantest of areas to walk around but is close to the express train link to Heathrow.

I would be more inclined to look for a hotel around the Bloomsbury/ Covent Garden or Westminster areas. They are much closer to most of the major tourist attractions and can travel to Heathrow in the Piccadilly line.

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