shore excursions

Hello everyones, I have been booked cruise to norway (14 nights north cape) and I will visit Eidfjord,Bergen,Geiranger&Hellesylt,Trondheim,Honningsvag,Bronnoysund,Flam and Stavanger.

I am planing for shore excursions by cruise company itself but it is expensive.

my question is, can I do shore excursions by another ways like local tours agents. any others options please tell me

You certainly can do shore excursions with local tour companies. Many people do so.

Depending on your plans, you can also just head off by yourself if you want.

Join the roll call for your cruise on these forums. You can then talk to other people on the cruise and get advice. Many people organise shared private tours there, which can be a big help, and save some money.

If you look at Visit Norway website there are local operators for all those places.

In Stavanger we did tour to Pulpit Rock with Rodne Cruises. In Flam book the train direct online. In Bergen it is an easy walk to the funicular and buy tickets at the tourist office on the quay.

I have t been to the other places, but know local tours are available. Trips are at least half the price charged by the cruise ships. Plenty of info on Tripadvisor too.

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I forgot to mention there are HOHO buses in many of the ports too.

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There aren't a huge number of private tour operators in Norway, but there are a few. We found ours on TripAdvisor, and were very happy with the operators in Flam.

If you want to ride the amazing Flam railway, you should book this first, since the railway tickets tend to book up quickly during the height of the tour season. The Flam railway is a five minute walk from where you dock or tender, so this can easily be undertaken as an independent excursion. We booked our tickets online at the Norwegian Railways site at https://www.nsb.no/en/?gclid=CMuvnubiitMCFYoy0wodZb8BnQ .

If that site is showing that everything is booked, other cruise critic posters have mentioned trying https://booking.visitflam.com/en/to-do/a585205/the-flåm-railway/showdetails , and other posters have stated that this site has access to different tickets and sometimes has availability even when the Norwegian railway site lists no availability. Also, people have reported on the forums that when the train was initially sold out, they kept checking and eventually tickets opened up due to cancellations. Another option is to check with your cruise line – it will be more expensive to purchase this excursion through the cruise line but worth it if you cannot purchase the tickets independently.

A quick online search seemed to recommend that you should sit on the right side of the train on the Flam to Myrdal journey. The view on that side was quite lovely, but might also be on the other side.

In Flam, we had a lovely afternoon visiting a goat farm, exploring the beautiful town of Undredal, and then eating local cheeses (including brown caramel goat cheese) and a delicious lunch that was organized by Flam Guide Service (http://www.fjordsafari.com) . Fjord Safari's booth is located about a minute away from the Flam railway platform, so you will have no problem finding your tour. You can combine this tour with a hike and boat ride along the fjords if your group is all physically fit. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable excursion, which I would highly recommend. We traveled in May, before the goats move to their summer farms so this excursion had to be individually arranged. Flam Guide service stayed in contact with us and gave us updates as they worked to book this reservation, and they also helpfully provided car seats for our children. Our tour guide was highly knowlegdable and helpful and this tour was one of the highlights of our cruise.

The highlight of Stavanger is Pulpit Rock. If you aren’t able to make this hike (and please note that it is rated as an easy hike, although it may take about 2 hours each way) you can still have a nice day in Stavanger, but it isn’t a must-see city if Pulpit Rock is not accessible for your family (or if the weather is bad, since you won’t be able to see much from the top ifit is foggy).

Because of our two year old and six year old, we decided not to attempt to hike Pulpit Rock. Our ship docked very close to the Old Town of Stavanger, and we enjoyed a pleasant and easy walk through the charming streets. We visited the Petroleum Museum, which was a bit underwhelming but a nice place to spend some time. Children will like the crane where you can knock down giant foam blocks, and there is a lovely playground right across the street from the museum.

We greatly enjoyed our Fjord cruise with Rodne cruises. The only bad reviews for the fjord cruises in Stavanger on Tripadvisor were written by people who were disappointed because they had seen most of these views on the ship during the sail-in. We had two interior cabins, and were chasing two kids around, so we didn’t see much of the sail-in and therefore cannot address these concerns. It was a pleasant and lovely cruise for our family, and a nice way to get out of the rain. The Rodne boats have a covered interior downstairs and an open top on their ships, so you can be completely protected from the rain if you choose to stay on the bottom level. The ship is very safe for young children, and most of the bottom floor of the boat is childproofed so a small child cannot fall in the water (the exception is the back of the ship, where there is a tiny area with a railing with wide gaps. That section isn’t very dangerous, but you would need to stay close to a young child since they can wriggle through wide railings quickly).

In Geiranger, visitors should please note that if you are planning on driving to the beautiful scenic viewpoints at Dalsnibba that Road 63 opens between mid-May and early June, depending upon how long it takes to clear the snow and when the avalanche risk has ended (the engineers wait until the big spring avalanche occurs before opening the road). You should consider choosing a cruise that visits later to ensure you will be able to experience all of the beauty of Geiranger. We were told in Flam that the waterfalls all looked gorgeous in May because they are currently filled with snow runoff. This will melt, and then the waterfalls won’t be nearly as impressive later in the season so that might be one reason to choose a May cruise. Crowds also tend to be a bit thinner, so you may experience more availability about booking tickets on the Flam railroad (we booked at the last minute and might have been shut out if we’d tried to book last minute tickets in June.

In Geiranger, Geiranger Fjordservice is the dominant tour operator. We booked a private limousine tour for just our family to visit the various scenic viewpoints. The private tour was not as strong as I would have hoped. Cunard initially refused to allow us to tender, because they said our 2 year old needed to pass a step test to prove he could step across 18 inches independently so he could safely transfer onto the tender. We offered to carry him during the step test, but were told by the crew that wasn't acceptable. The purser's office finally issued us tender tickets an hour after we docked, causing us to be late for our tour. The tour operator refused to stop at a farm near the lake we were visiting because he claimed you aren't allowed to go near animals in Norway without vaccinations (which is odd since the Flam goat tour is advertised on the visit norway website). We had been promised by the company we could stop anywhere we wanted, and were disappointed this didn't happen. Although I would not recommend using Geiranger fjordservice for private transportation, they do run a bus to the panoramic viewing stations and I don’t think you would experience the problems we did on a group bus tour. You should just note that these are very hairpin roads to reach the viewing platforms, and travelers who are prone to motion sickness need to consider if this tour will work for them.

At the end of the tour, we decided to stop for lunch in Geiranger. We were a little scared to stop at Braserie Posten, since it is in a tourist trap location right near the cruise ship terminal, but the yelp reviews were positive and the food was excellent. There is seating with a beautiful view of the harbor in the back of the restaurant. We went through two bowls of fish soup, since the kids were so happy eating all of it. It is a very short walk from this restaurant to the dock, so this is a nice way to conclude your day in Geiranger.

There is some public transportation available in Bergen, but it is limited and may not take you everywhere you want to go. There are HOHO buses, plus a museum shuttle bus (https://en.visitbergen.com/things-to-do/museum-shuttle-bus-p1685153) which is less expensive and takes you to several museums, and stops very close to the fish market and funicular. Please note that you may wish to purchase funicular tickets ahead of time online to avoid an extra line, but the risk you are taking is that if the fog is bad you won't be able to see anything.

Great info and tips. Thank you!

Eidfjord is a very small village (290 inhabitants), but there is a large awesome waterfall about 30 minutes away. There were a few taxis around, but we managed to rent a car and did it ourself. Check what the cruiseline offers.

Geiranger is easy to do yourself. The excursion of 3 hours offered by the cruiseline is also offered by the tourist office. The Panorama exclusive bus. http://www.geirangerfjord.no/bus-turer-i-geiranger-2

You stop at 3 viewpoints, but only about 15/20 minutes each, This excursion only is offered when the road to Mt. Dalsnibba is open.

On that same website other excursions are offered.

Bergen is also easy to do. The Floybahn is walking distance from the ship. However the HoHo bus also stops there. You can buy tickets for just the bus or incl. the Floybahn. If you have a ticket incl. the Floybahn you can skiop most of the sometimes long line.

Flam, book the train as soon as possible. This can be done without jolining a group.https://www.visitflam.com/en/flamsbana/rutetider/

and/or the bus to Stegastein: https://www.visitflam.com/en/se-og-gjore1/se/stegastein/

In Alesund you will find another HoHobus, that also goes to the viewpoinbt at Mt. Aksla.

Hope this helps