Geiranger - Mt Dalsnibba Bus tour

[Skicruiser55]

I am looking at doing the bus tour and I see there are lots of curves/hairpin turns and I wanted to know if there is a big drop off and are there guardrails.  I can handle curves but not high drop offs.  I’d love to hear thoughts on what this tour is like.  

[dd57]

Yes there are steep dropoffs.  I was on a tour that went to Eagle's Bend view point and to Lake Djupvatnet at the base of Mt Dalsnibba.    I found this youtube of the drive from the top of Mt Dalsnibba down to Lake Djupvatnet. 

 

The person has a second video of the drive from the Lake down to Gerainger.

 

The other problem, though, is that all the roads seem to be, at least from inside a tour bus, 1.5 lanes wide with traffic in both directions.  Makes encountering another tour bus a really interesting event.  

 

One other point - "curves" does not begin to describe some of the switchbacks.  The tour buses are built in Norway with a third axle at the back with steerable wheels - like a fire department ladder truck - so that the back end is steered around the tight swichbacks.  When our bus went around one of these, traffic coming the other way stopped as we made the turn.  All the drivers seemed to understand the etiquette of driving on these mountainous roads.

[Skicruiser55]

THANK YOU - this is what I was afraid of.  Not for me!!  I did the drive up and down with 25 switchbacks in Montenegro with a single lane and barely survived it with sheer panic.  At some points we’d have to back up to let a tour bus maneuver by (we were in an 8 pax van.  I swore never again.  I will be sending my husband - he can take the great pictures. 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, Skicruiser55 said:

THANK YOU - this is what I was afraid of.  Not for me!!  I did the drive up and down with 25 switchbacks in Montenegro with a single lane and barely survived it with sheer panic.  At some points we’d have to back up to let a tour bus maneuver by (we were in an 8 pax van.  I swore never again.  I will be sending my husband - he can take the great pictures. 

 

Hi @Skicruiser55.  My wife already concluded this tour would not be for her, for the same reasons.  I'm doing it, on the Panorama Bus Tour. Maybe your husband and I can meet up!  🙂 

[Skicruiser55]

31 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Hi @Skicruiser55.  My wife already concluded this tour would not be for her, for the same reasons.  I'm doing it, on the Panorama Bus Tour. Maybe your husband and I can meet up!  🙂 

My husband is on the 10am Panorama tour.  I plan on just wandering around town and we are doing a 2pm RIB tour.  Getting so excited about this cruise!

 

Kathy 

[Turtles06]

59 minutes ago, Skicruiser55 said:

My husband is on the 10am Panorama tour.  I plan on just wandering around town and we are doing a 2pm RIB tour.  Getting so excited about this cruise!

 

Kathy 

 

The 10am is what I'm on too!  🙂    My wife is doing the RIB tour in the morning.

 

(We can move the discussion over to the Roll Call. 🙂)

 

Judith

[Ladybug18]

On 5/4/2023 at 8:25 PM, Skicruiser55 said:

My husband is on the 10am Panorama tour.  I plan on just wandering around town and we are doing a 2pm RIB tour.  Getting so excited about this cruise!

 

Kathy 

@Skicruiser55 would you mind sharing which company your husband is booked on? The panorama bus tour I’m seeing in Geiranger departs at 9:30am but I would prefer the 10am

[Turtles06]

26 minutes ago, Ladybug18 said:

@Skicruiser55 would you mind sharing which company your husband is booked on? The panorama bus tour I’m seeing in Geiranger departs at 9:30am but I would prefer the 10am

I’m on the same cruise as @Skicruiser55 and am booked at 10am with these folks:

 

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/panorama-exclusive-bus

[fishman620]

4 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

I’m on the same cruise as @Skicruiser55 and am booked at 10am with these folks:

 

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/panorama-exclusive-bus

I am trying to make this same reservation.....but for some reason it will not accept my credit card, what am I doing wrong???

[Turtles06]

5 minutes ago, fishman620 said:

I am trying to make this same reservation.....but for some reason it will not accept my credit card, what am I doing wrong???

 

How can we know? 🙂  

 

Are you sure you don't have any typos?  Is there any restriction on your card for international charges?  Do you have another card you can use?

[fishman620]

5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

How can we know? 🙂  

 

Are you sure you don't have any typos?  Is there any restriction on your card for international charges?  Do you have another card you can use?

I was able to get the reservations.....I had to call my credit card company and okay the payment....so all is well.

[Skicruiser55]

1 minute ago, fishman620 said:

I was able to get the reservations.....I had to call my credit card company and okay the payment....so all is well.

Make sure that you alert you credit card company(s) that you are traveling.  Many years ago someone on one of tours hadn’t done that and had a mess trying to use his credit card and get cash.  

[Turtles06]

3 minutes ago, Skicruiser55 said:

Make sure that you alert you credit card company(s) that you are traveling.  Many years ago someone on one of tours hadn’t done that and had a mess trying to use his credit card and get cash.  

That was definitely important to do years ago. But many if not most credit card companies no longer ask you to do that.  (The bank thru which I have my ATM card doesn’t even have a way to record that info now.)

Can’t hurt to try though. 😊

 

[Ladybug18]

On 5/6/2023 at 8:18 AM, Turtles06 said:

I’m on the same cruise as @Skicruiser55 and am booked at 10am with these folks:

 

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/panorama-exclusive-bus

Thank you for your response. This is the company I have been looking to book with but the day we will be there they do not have a 10AM tour, they only have two tours: 9:30AM & 1:00PM. I would have preferred the 10AM tour to give us more time to get to the tour as I am told by NCL our ship has to tender and I don't know how long that will take with us arriving in Geiranger at 8AM.

[fishman620]

1 hour ago, Ladybug18 said:

Thank you for your response. This is the company I have been looking to book with but the day we will be there they do not have a 10AM tour, they only have two tours: 9:30AM & 1:00PM. I would have preferred the 10AM tour to give us more time to get to the tour as I am told by NCL our ship has to tender and I don't know how long that will take with us arriving in Geiranger at 8AM.

We are on the NCL Prima with a tender @ 8AM into Geiranger in August......was concerned about doing the 9:30AM bus tour because NCL excursions will be the first to tender (or so I was told)....so we are choosing to take the 1:00PM panorama exclusive bus tour and added an 11AM RIB boat safari with the same company... and it was less money than just the bus tour with NCL....so two excursions for the price of one!!

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Ladybug18 said:

I would have preferred the 10AM tour to give us more time to get to the tour as I am told by NCL our ship has to tender and I don't know how long that will take with us arriving in Geiranger at 8AM.

 

1 minute ago, fishman620 said:

We are on the NCL Prima with a tender @ 8AM into Geiranger in August......was concerned about doing the 9:30AM bus tour because NCL excursions will be the first to tender (or so I was told)....

 

Cruise lines list Geiranger as a tender port, because it is for most ships. However, one ship per day gets to "dock" at the Sea Walk, essentially a floating pier, and so no tendering is necessary.  The calendar on the port's official web site, linked below, will show you where your ship will be; if you see Pos. 4B/SW, I've read here on CC that's the sea walk.

 

https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/

[Ladybug18]

10 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

Cruise lines list Geiranger as a tender port, because it is for most ships. However, one ship per day gets to "dock" at the Sea Walk, essentially a floating pier, and so no tendering is necessary.  The calendar on the port's official web site, linked below, will show you where your ship will be; if you see Pos. 4B/SW, I've read here on CC that's the sea walk.

 

https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/

@Turtles06 Thank you so much for this link. Our ship, the NCL Prima is listed as Pos. 4B/SW so that must mean our ship is scheduled to use the sea walk. That is wonderful news so that we don't have to waste time waiting for the ships tender boats to take us to and from Geiranger. 

 

@fishman620 We are on the NCL Prima in July. The prices are SO much cheaper to book independently than with NCL. We want to do the panorama bus tour first and then the RIB boat later in the afternoon. 

[fishman620]

9 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

Cruise lines list Geiranger as a tender port, because it is for most ships. However, one ship per day gets to "dock" at the Sea Walk, essentially a floating pier, and so no tendering is necessary.  The calendar on the port's official web site, linked below, will show you where your ship will be; if you see Pos. 4B/SW, I've read here on CC that's the sea walk.

 

https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/

Thanks for that information Turtles.....I had called NCL to ask if we would be using the Sea Walk about 2 weeks ago.....and they told me no, that we would be tendering, the person mentioned that NCL would have to pay to use the Sea Walk, so thus the tender.  But yet I do see on the above website the our position was 4B/SW....makes me wonder???

[Ladybug18]

1 hour ago, fishman620 said:

I had called NCL to ask if we would be using the Sea Walk about 2 weeks ago.....and they told me no, that we would be tendering, the person mentioned that NCL would have to pay to use the Sea Walk, so thus the tender.  But yet I do see on the above website the our position was 4B/SW....makes me wonder???

I had also asked NCL and they told me the same however I just checked the Geiranger webcam and the ship that is currently docked at the sea walk 4B/SW is the one listed on the schedule of ships and their docking locations that Turtles shared. I made note of the days the NCL Prima is in Geiranger and all of the dates she is there except for one she according to the schedule is suppose to be docked at the sea walk. I will check the webcam on those days to see if the Prima is docked at the sea walk.

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, fishman620 said:

I had called NCL to ask if we would be using the Sea Walk about 2 weeks ago.....and they told me no, that we would be tendering, the person mentioned that NCL would have to pay to use the Sea Walk, so thus the tender.  But yet I do see on the above website the our position was 4B/SW....makes me wonder???

 

3 hours ago, Ladybug18 said:

I had also asked NCL and they told me the same

 

I wonder what level of folks you talked to at NCL.  I'm not saying they are wrong, but I think we all know that cruise line phone reps, especially front line reps, don't always have correct information. Yes, according to what I've read here on CC, the cruise line has to pay to use the Sea Walk; I really doubt the official port site would show a ship at the Sea Walk if payment hadn't been made or contracted for.  I suppose the port site could be wrong, but . . . 

[fishman620]

Need advice from those that have been on this excursion.....we will be in Geiranger in Mid-August...is it better to take the bus tour in the morning or early afternoon...

[janetcbl]

13 hours ago, fishman620 said:

Need advice from those that have been on this excursion.....we will be in Geiranger in Mid-August...is it better to take the bus tour in the morning or early afternoon...

Often more cloudy in the morning, but that is no guarantee that afternoon is better. If you have to book ahead, take your chance…..one never knows….