Flam Railway- HAL selling rail tickets at TWO AND HALF TIMES the price!.

More likely the last tender would be at 5:30, since the last one is generally 1/2 hour before sail-away.

However, I agree with your point about it possibly being a tight schedule. If sail-away time needed to be changed for some reason (unlikely, but it does happen), or the tour were to return late (also can happen), there isn't a lot of wiggle room there.

Sorry, I must be out of date. On our last cruise all aboard was 30 mins before sail away when we were alongside, but at tender ports the last tender was 1 hour before departure. I know you have cruised much more recently than me though :)

This may not help the OP, who already bought Flamsbana tickets through the Norwegian Railways website... but another option is to do the whole "Norway in a Nutshell" loop: boat, bus, and two trains. It costs more (NOK 1270, about $150), but you get a reportedly spectacular fjord cruise in addition to the Flamsbana. You can buy tickets in advance from Fjord Tours; they have a dedicated website at www.norwaynutshell.com. Both on my date and the OP's date, they're showing availability for the whole loop. Make sure you specify that you want to begin and end in Flam (if that's where your cruise calls). The trip leaves Flam at 10:00 a.m. and returns at 4:55 p.m.; hopefully that's adequate for a 6:00 sailaway.

Thanks for the info. But as mentioned, someone else has already helped us and we have since booked the Flambana train, without having to pay the huge extra if we were to use the Holland America excursion - the latter which we understand would include a wonderful waffle. We feel we can do WITHOUT the waffle!!!:D

As to your suggestion of doing the Norway in Nutshell loop, it does sound good but as others mentioned, it may be cutting it a bit thin before we board the last sailing. For us, after the Flam train trip, we have booked a HAL excursion in the afternoon - as this excursion is organized by HAL, we hope they will at least be responsible enough to get us back on the ship on time.

There is a "fall back" if anyone misses the boat. You could probably take the Flambana, and Myrdal, and (schedule permitting) then take a connecting train to Bergen to catch the Koningsdam. That way, you might even get to Bergen before the ship does! From the map, Myrdal is not very far from Bergen.

Does HAL's price include transportation to/from the Railway?

If not, the extra is because of insurance. Still not right though.

You can walk the distance from ship to railway in 5-10 min. No transport required.

Here are some alternate suggestions when visiting Flam from Rick Steves:

 

"The train from Myrdal to Flåm is quite scenic, but the ride doesn't do the view justice. For the best single day's activity from Flåm, take the train to Berekvam (halfway back up to Myrdal), then hike or bike (rentable from the Flåm tourist office) the gravelly construction road back down to Flåm. Bring a picnic and your camera.

How long would this take?