Norway

[Nanacajc]

Has anyone taken a small cruise ship thru Norway and cac recommend tours to take?

[LHT28]

how  small are we talking ??

In Flam  we prebooked the railway  it was an interesting journey 

it depends on your interests & ports what tours to do

 

[Woodside Lady]

We went on the Konsingdam last year to Nord Kapp.  So all the way up the western coast.  But not a small ship.  

1) Haugesund- CC group took the town bus to Skudenshavn (old fishing village) and then on to Avaldnes Viking History Center/St. Olav's Church.  Nice shopping area in Haugesund.   

2) Eidfjord:  Tiny village.  Two wonderful hikes.  The yellow route took a couple of hours and was beautiful.  Viking graves.  If you have any walking issues, take the Troll Train up the hill then walk down.  The blue route was more in town.  We picked up some apple juice at the store, which the area is known for.  If you need a hand-crafted fiddle, this is the town.  

3) Bergen: took the Flotbanen Furnicular up and planned to walk down but it was pouring rain.  Have really good rain gear with you.  Set up the "Walking Tour on Foot" which was recommended by Rick Steves.  Goes through the Bryggen District.  For a snack, Bar Barrista which is around the corner from where the tour ends.  If it hadn't been teaming rain we would have gone and seen the Stave Church.  

4) Flam: Another tiny town.  We didn't do it, but many in the Cruise Critic group did Norway in a Nutshell from here and picked up their tickets in Bergen.  Went like clockwork.  About $125 if you arrange it on your own.  We went to buy better raingear then took the bus to Gudvagen where there are Viking reenactors.  Fjord Safari is popular and goes to the tiny village of Undredall which has more goats than people to learn about making goat cheese.  You can kayak in either Flam or Gudvagen, but it was pouring part of the day so we didn't.  People on the cruise ship that signed up for it looked miserable.  There was a Sami group selling reindeer related items in Flam and a LARGE store for buying Norwegian trinkets (and GOOD rain gear).  I wanted to go to the Bergund Stave Church but couldn't figure out a way to get there.  I think we could have rented a car there to go, but didn't.  

5) Geiranger: another 200 person town set up to handle tourists.  We took a bus up to see the Panorama.  Gorgeous.  Delsnibba is the higher point but we were happy with what we did.  Arranged on-site at the Tourist Office.  Then we did the waterfall walk up to the Norwegian Fjord Center.  Good gift shop and interesting museum. 

6) Molde: Our Cruise Critic group arranged an 8 hour bus tour to the Troll Road.  Fabulous!  This can also be done from Alesund.  There is also a Folk Museum here.  Our ship was there on a Sunday and nearly everything in the town, the City of Roses, was closed so glad we took the tour.  

7)Honnigsvag/North Cape.  I highly recommend contacting Monica at North Cape Sightseeing.  Again a CC organized trip.  Reindeer, a trip to a crab fishery, learned a lot about drying fish and Nord Kapp.  Plus met a local artist.  

😎 Stavanger: If you are ambitious, you can hike up Pulpit Rock.  Easy to organize on your own.  Take the ferry just past the Oil Museum, but start as soon as you are off the ship.  The CC group took the boat ride to the bottom.  It was cold and windy that day so we went to Domkirken (oldest Christian cathedral in Norway), Gamie Stavanger (the old town and went to the canning museum then got a waffle) then to the Oil Museum which was fabulous and the primary source of wealth in Norway.  Great shopping in this town.  

 

No idea where you are talking about going in Norway so the above are just a few ideas.  

 

As a heads up, food prices in Norway are breathtaking so we usually had breakfast on the ship and took a sandwich and water with us then ate again when we got on-board.  

 

 

 

[kaisatsu]

How small? Which part of Norway?

 

A lot of the expedition ships that spend summers in Svalbard have started offering cruises along the Norwegian cruise during the shoulder season as part of their repositioning. I’ve seen these trips from GAdventures and Quark, but I would imagine that other companies (Lindblad, Oceanwide, Ponant, etc) have something similar. Most of those ships are around 100-200 passengers.

 

Slightly bigger, there’s the Hurtigrtuen coastal ferry. Not a traditional cruise, but certainly smaller ships.

[kitkat343]

after you choose an itinerary, please post again.  People will be happy to help you find independent tours once we know what cities you visiting.