Flam Railroad

[Terpsfan1]

I am with a group of women who will be traveling in May on a Holland America cruise.  One of the Norwegian stops is in Flam.  We would like to see and ride on the Flam Railroad. This tour is sold out from the ship but, you are able to get tickets through the Flam Railroad company.

 

We have been attempting to purchase tickets through the Flam Railroad site with some difficulty.  The earliest tickets are at 8:25.  However, our ship is supposed to be in port starting at 8:00. We are worried that this is cutting it too close to get off of the ship and onto the train.

 

Could someone with experience answer the following questions:  1). How far is in from the port to the spot that you board the Flam Railroad? 2). If you have taken the Holland America cruise, do they let everyone off at 8:00 or just those with tickets on HAL shore excursions? ( I have seen this on other cruises) 3) Do you see any problem getting 8:25 tickets to begin the Flam Railroad tour?

 

Thank you,

[BuckeyeMark]

Following this very closely.  My understanding is the Flam RR is about 400 yards from the port so it's not far. But wow, that does seem to be cutting it close!

[MeHeartCruising]

The distance is indeed a matter of a couple hundred yards, if that.  So not far at all.  From the bottom of the gangway to boarding the train could take 5 minutes or less I would think depending on your walking speed.  The question will be how quickly you can get to that bottom of the gangway.  And would you need to stop at the ticket office to pick up any tickets first or would you have them already in hand?  It's going to be tight.  Isn't there a train later in the morning that you could also take?  I'd probably do that if possible.

Edited January 12 by MeHeartCruising

[MeHeartCruising]

Here is the distance.  This is a picture I took as I was getting off the train and walking back toward the ship at the end of the ride.

 

 

[nini]

Our ship was basically right there! It is a tiny town. We directly pre-purchased our tickets online.

[MeHeartCruising]

I guess the other thing I'll add is that for almost all my cruises, when the itinerary says the port arrival time is 8:00, that is when the ship literally pulls up to the dock.  Sometimes a few minutes early.  Rarely later than that.  But they still need to then tie the ship to the pier, lower the gangway, set up security, get the photographer off the ship to take pictures of you, etc.  I would not expect anyone to be getting off the ship until at least 8:15 - 8:30.  So I'm not sure what the excursions will do.

[BuckeyeMark]

In our situation (on Apex in May) I was told by the railway that Celebrity has tickets for an excursion on that 8:25 train. So I guess they think they can make it?!  Seems very tight to me.

[nini]

Follow this link and in the upper right hand corner is a green tab that says "Book Now".

 

https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/

[gnome12]

Just remember that only one ship can dock at a time. Any others will anchor and use tenders. While the tender dock is even closer than the ship dock, it will take time to get a tender. 
 

Further to Celebrity having tickets for that 8:25 train, I am certain that passengers on their own excursion will have priority to disembark. 

[LeeW]

They did load the non-cruise passengers first and then put all of us in a couple of cars at the far end of the train afterwards (tours had reserved areas in various cars).  The two problems as mentioned above are getting off the ship and if you need to pick up tickets.  If the ship gets in on time and you don't need to pick up tickets you can make it. 

 

Meeting time for our tour was 730 onboard and we got to the train around 815.  Our docking time was 700.  Herding a bunch of people in a group does take a while, especially when we had a few wheelchairs in the group.  Our ship used multiple gangways to get off - avoid the forward one coming from the theater where the tours are leaving the ship!

 

Keep an eye on the ship tours - sold out ones do become available.  For example the cheaper "train on your own" was sold out months before so I bought the "train and waffles" tour for around $40pp more.  A month or so before sailing the "train on your own" became available and I cancelled the more expensive tour.  

 

By the way, there is a beach right across the stream from the cruise ship and people were using it in August.

 

Other stops:

In Honningsvag book with North Cape Tours (bookfinnmark).  Cheaper than ship tour and you get as much as 1 1/2 hours at North Cape.  Waffles there are great, and great exhibits and gift shop.

 

In Olden some ships tender to the base of the Loen lift and some dock in Olden.  But if you want to see the glacier and take the troll cars, book with oldenadventure, who meet both locations.  While you can just get a ride up to the visitor center the troll cars tend to be booked up in advance.  We had reservations, so got off bus and almost immediately got our troll car ride to the glacier.  We would NOT have wanted to walk that couple of kilometers up the steep hills.  Last 200 yards from troll car dropoff is steep but doable.  If you want to do the Loen lift, the line can be over an hour long so you must do that early.

[gnome12]

There should be no issue with picking up tickets. If you order them online in advance they are sent to you electronically. And I would not suggest not booking in advance because tickets do sell out. 

[BuckeyeMark]

14 hours ago, LeeW said:

They did load the non-cruise passengers first and then put all of us in a couple of cars at the far end of the train afterwards (tours had reserved areas in various cars).  The two problems as mentioned above are getting off the ship and if you need to pick up tickets.  If the ship gets in on time and you don't need to pick up tickets you can make it. 

 

Meeting time for our tour was 730 onboard and we got to the train around 815.  Our docking time was 700.  Herding a bunch of people in a group does take a while, especially when we had a few wheelchairs in the group.  Our ship used multiple gangways to get off - avoid the forward one coming from the theater where the tours are leaving the ship!

 

Keep an eye on the ship tours - sold out ones do become available.  For example the cheaper "train on your own" was sold out months before so I bought the "train and waffles" tour for around $40pp more.  A month or so before sailing the "train on your own" became available and I cancelled the more expensive tour.  

 

By the way, there is a beach right across the stream from the cruise ship and people were using it in August.

 

Other stops:

In Honningsvag book with North Cape Tours (bookfinnmark).  Cheaper than ship tour and you get as much as 1 1/2 hours at North Cape.  Waffles there are great, and great exhibits and gift shop.

 

In Olden some ships tender to the base of the Loen lift and some dock in Olden.  But if you want to see the glacier and take the troll cars, book with oldenadventure, who meet both locations.  While you can just get a ride up to the visitor center the troll cars tend to be booked up in advance.  We had reservations, so got off bus and almost immediately got our troll car ride to the glacier.  We would NOT have wanted to walk that couple of kilometers up the steep hills.  Last 200 yards from troll car dropoff is steep but doable.  If you want to do the Loen lift, the line can be over an hour long so you must do that early.

Really good info.  I note you docked at 7, met your group at 7:30 and got to the train at 8:15. That's 45 minutes ship to train. That makes docking at 8 and train at 8:25 look very very unlikely.

[CCJack]

When we were in Flam, our ship docked and allowed only cruise excursion passengers off.   then they  backed out and everyone else tendered (another ship was waiting to dock).   Tendering was not fast, would not have made a close connection as suggested by the OP.    Also, I have noticed lately that more cruises are starting to prioritize embarkation at ports for their own cruise excursion ticket holders first....  

 

 

[Terpsfan1]

Thank you all very much!  It seems that although the train is close to the dock and we already have tickets , 8:25 seems very dicey.

[LeeW]

6 hours ago, BuckeyeMark said:

Really good info.  I note you docked at 7, met your group at 7:30 and got to the train at 8:15. That's 45 minutes ship to train. That makes docking at 8 and train at 8:25 look very very unlikely.

Except that it took forever to get down a couple of flights of stairs from theater (some took elevator) and get the whole group onto shore.  Then a couple hundred yards with wheelchairs to the boarding area.  Then wait for the arriving train to unload and independent people to get around our group to the boarding area.  Tight, yes, but doable. Just avoid that forward gangway to bypass the excursion crowd.

 

We didn't try getting tickets on our own but I think I would take the later train at 10 or so if I had a choice.  The trains run constantly  and unless you want to take one up and a different one down (for waffle stop) it shouldn't be tough to book direct.  The up and back trains stop for 10 minutes halfway up/down at the waterfall and around 20 minutes at the top.  Really nothing at the top station except a platform.  All the gift shops are between the train and the ship.

Edited January 13 by LeeW

[oakridger]

Go later.  HAL prioritizes their excursion groups getting off the ship.  

 

~Nancy

[biggerbearmom]

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Edited January 23 by biggerbearmom

[mkaalong]

@Terpsfan1-what did you decide to do? We are in a similar situation, boat docks at 8am and only avaiable time slot is 8:25 am. 😞

[ericosmith]

6 hours ago, mkaalong said:

@Terpsfan1-what did you decide to do? We are in a similar situation, boat docks at 8am and only avaiable time slot is 8:25 am. 😞

If Norway's Best is sold out try VY.no for a one way ticket in each direction.

[Terpsfan1]

We were able to get 12 tickets for the 10:45 train.  If you keep checking on the website, more become available at various times. Best of luck!