Oceania Northern Delights cruise - Independent excursions?

[chocchic]

We are planning our cruise on Sirena with stops in

Hamburg, Germany

Haugesund, Norway

Alesund, Norway

Nordfjordeid, Norway

Stavanger, Norway

Kristaiansand, Norway

Skagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Gothenburg, Sweden

Oslo, Norway

Wondering if anyone has must - do's for these ports.  I have some mobility issues so long hikes are not an option.  We do love visiting gardens and have done cooking classes on a number of our travel stops on previous trips.  Even though we will be on a cruise ship are there boat trips we should do?  Or maybe fishing trips? (My husband would love me even more if I found one for him).  Thanks so much

 

[CruiserBruce]

All those ports are covered extensively here. Take a look around. "Must do" is what interests you, not what we tell you to do.

[edinburgher]

17 hours ago, chocchic said:

We are planning our cruise on Sirena

This is a copy/paste of a reply  I  gave quite recently.

 

It is of course a personal decision as to whether to buy excursions in every port, but in some, IMHO it can be very easy and inexpensive to sightsee independently. One of your port calls is to Alesund, a favourite with cruise pax, partly as you dock in the centre of town, partly because there are a number of sightseeing options and partly because some of which would be  easy to do on your own even with mobility challenges.

 

You would find it helpful to read this thread for Alesund  which has a number of posts which would help you decide. And Norway is expensive so a saving in at least one or two ports is better than no saving at all.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2963492-alesund-excursions/#comment-66098932

 

You could read past threads for your ports using the SEARCH tool under your username as reading them might help you decide which options would be your personal "must do's"

 

You could also try googling something along the lines of "boat trips from ( name of port town)" or  "fishing trips from (name of port town)" ditto for cooking classes and gardens.Be aware that in these countries, "gardens" may not be what you are used to due to their northerly location and more challenging weather. And of course visit sites which are in the results when you internet search (name of town/city) tourist information" and join any Roll Call which may already be in place as you can exchange ideas and info with fellow passengers.

 

 

Edited January 11 by edinburgher

[chocchic]

thanks for good suggestions.  I'm also wondering if we will see fjords from our ship on our way from one port to the next or is it necessary to take a separate fjord cruise from one of our port stops?

 

[gnome12]

43 minutes ago, chocchic said:

thanks for good suggestions.  I'm also wondering if we will see fjords from our ship on our way from one port to the next or is it necessary to take a separate fjord cruise from one of our port stops?

 

If the ports you list in post 1 are all the ports, you aren't going to any of the major fjord ports. Nordfjord is the only fjord that you sail into, and it isn't one of the 3 main deep water fjord ports (Geiranger, Flåm and Olden). Most of your Norwegian ports are coastal (Haugesund, Ålesund, Stavanger and Kristiansand).

[hallasm]

When is your cruise? - if outside the summer season there are very few opportunities and many activities are closed in the small towns.

[chocchic]

so it appears that my best opportunity to see fjord would be taking excursion from Alesund so Geirangerfjord.  Do I have that right?  Someplace I thought I saw an excursion on a RIB boat - I'm not terribly nimble but would love to do that or would a drive up be better? I'm not excited about a big coach bus tour.

Our cruise is August so should have plenty of options.

[hallasm]

Yes, there are trips from Ålesund to Geiranger. Definitely an option if time permits - often an excursion of 8 to 9 hours.

[chocchic]

It is definitely an issue - I did find one that said it was an afternoon trip but when I clicked on it to get more information it reverted back to the 9 hour journey.