Norway - Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavenger, and Flam: More Port Questions

[adventuregrrl]

Hi all - just coming back to this thread to thank you all for all the info that helped us plan our trip! We're back from the Southern Fjords and had an awesome time in each of the ports, as well as on board the lovely ms Rotterdam.

 

Here's what we ended up doing:

 

Olso - because of a strike at the time, we actually came into port in Sandefjord. Holland America was great about putting together a last minute excursion that we took into Oslo. We rode a bus for about an hour + each way and saw the countryside before doing quick stops at the ski jump museum, Vigeland Park, downtown, and the Viking Ship Museum. The Viking Ship Museum was the highlight for us. The best ship probably belonged to a woman - so that was a neat piece of Viking history I hadn't thought about.

 

Our Olso pics are at:

 

 

Kristiansand - Many, many thanks to MacThespian for encouraging us to venture out to Dyreparken - which is a fabulous zoo about 10 km outside of town. We had a great nature walk up and down some hilly trails and really appreciated seeing the animals of Norway. The park is really pretty and we needed a good walk after all that good Rotterdam food. It was an easy ride out to Dyreparken on the M1 bus. We capped the day off with a beer and really tasty/fresh fish and chips at a cute seaside restaurant called Sommermeny and had a nice walk back through the fish market on our way back to the ship.

 

Our Kristiansand pics are at:

 

 

Stavanger - This was our day for walking around town and shopping. Stavanger is a really cute town with an interesting medieval church. We toured the church, then went shopping (bought a beautiful sweater) and cool pewter as well as our troll featured in several of our pics, then walked around all the old houses in Gamle Stavanger, followed by a good beer and our first ever Akevitt. Akevitt is a Norweigen liquor made from potatoes and caraway seeds. (It was really strong.)

 

Our Stavanger and Lysefjord pics are at:

 

Flam - Thanks to Terry's good advice, we took the train excursion in Flam. We really enjoyed the ride and seeing the waterfalls. At the stop at the top, we saw a fox near the wood pile. (We enjoyed the really beautiful scenery and were glad we book through HAL. One of the later trains was delayed by a few hours and our ship waited for them since they were a ship excursion.) We ended the day with some of the best beer we've ever tasted at the Aegir Brygerri. The decor is really neat and the beer from light to dark was outstanding.

 

Our Flam and Sognefjord pics are at:

 

 

On Board - This was our third cruise with HAL and we liked the Rotterdam the best. Our view may be a bit jaded though, because we had a once in a lifetime surprise. We had booked a Deluxe Verandah Suite. When we checked in for our cruise, they called over the port manager who said he would help us to our room. He took our room cards, so we didn't see until we got to our room that our room number had changed. When the concierge opened our door, we found out that we'd been upgraded to a Penthouse Suite!

 

I have no idea how or why this happened, but we were so excited that the upgrade fairy smiled upon us.

 

Our ship pics are at:

 

 

Pre-cruise - We stayed at the Hotel Des Indes in Den Haag (The Hague) and took day trips to Amsterdam and Delft. We really enjoyed our time there. If you're interested, our pics are at:

 

Icelandair - We were able to save on airfare going through Icelandair and booked Economy Comfort for less than the other carriers were for Economy. Icelandair upgraded us to First Class on our flight to Amsterdam which was really nice. The scenery in and out of KEF was interesting and we posted a few pics here:

 

Again, many, many thanks for all of the advice and help in our trip planning!

[TLCOhio]

Hi all - just coming back to this thread to thank you all for all the info that helped us plan our trip!

Thanks to Terry's good advice, we took the train excursion in Flam. We really enjoyed the ride and seeing the waterfalls. At the stop at the top, we saw a fox near the wood pile. (We enjoyed the really beautiful scenery and were glad we book through HAL. One of the later trains was delayed by a few hours and our ship waited for them since they were a ship excursion.) We ended the day with some of the best beer we've ever tasted at the Aegir Brygerri.

 

Appreciate, adventuregrrl, your mention, follow-up and details for how things worked in Flam and these other Norway stops. Good added details and pictures for others to consider. As you note, ship tours are not perfect, but this is one port where there can be "complications" and having it covered by the ship lessen the risks by trying to do it on your own or saving a few dollars.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 72,377 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[adventuregrrl]

here are a few general and port-specific questions:

 

- What was your single most favorite site/attraction/experience?

 

- What was your favorite souvenir?

 

- What was the best thing you put in your mouth and what was the worst?

 

- Has anyone been horseback riding in Norway? Do you know of any tour operators near any of these ports?

 

 

 

 

Just in case it's helpful to anyone else, I thought I'd go back and answer my original questions. :)

 

1) Favorite attraction: Hands down - we really enjoyed our morning walking around Dyreparken (zoo/nature park) in Kristriansand. It was like a beautiful walk in the forest and we enjoyed looking at the gardens and traditional grass-roofed buildings. A close second was walking around all the old buildings in Stavanger. And, the Viking Ship Museum was awesome!

 

2) Our pewter replica of the Oseberg Viking Ship. But, we also really like our Norwegian flag that we bought from the Maritime Shop in Stavanger...it's a high quality flag crafted to sustain days on the Norwegian waters.

 

3) Best thing (other than the good food on the Rotterdam) was the beer at Aegir Brygerri in Flam. We want to go back to Flam just for the beer. ;) The worst thing (to my finicky American palate) was a curry chicken salad in downtown Oslo at the Nobel Center cafe...it had all the chicken parts in it.

 

4) We saw some fjord horses at a distance, but in doing our research there aren't any short excursions...most of the horse adventures around these ports are overnighters.

[MacThespian]

 

Kristiansand - Many, many thanks to MacThespian for encouraging us to venture out to Dyreparken - which is a fabulous zoo about 10 km outside of town. We had a great nature walk up and down some hilly trails and really appreciated seeing the animals of Norway. The park is really pretty and we needed a good walk after all that good Rotterdam food. It was an easy ride out to Dyreparken on the M1 bus. We capped the day off with a beer and really tasty/fresh fish and chips at a cute seaside restaurant called Sommermeny and had a nice walk back through the fish market on our way back to the ship.

 

Our Kristiansand pics are at:

 

 

Glad you enjoyed Dyreparken. You got some really nice photos, too!