Queen Mary II Shore Excursions Northern Lights November 24

[Dans_mom]

Hello. I’m wondering if anyone has comments on the most worthwhile/best shore excursions in Bergen, Tromsø, Alesund, Trondheim and Stavanger. I am considering not booking any excursions and using local transportation or the ship’s bus (if there is one) to get from the pier to the town center. 

[TheOldBear]

There should be many past discussions in this subforum - just search the ports by name.

 

Most Norway ports will have a tourist web site - e.g. visittromso.no with local attraction guides [maps, transit and tour vendor information]

 

We last did the Norway and Northern Lights sailing in 2022 - with weather diversion [forecast freezing rain], we missed Alesund and Staganger - and gained Zebrugge

 

Bergen looked to be quite walkable, but we opted for the 'sights and sounds of Bergen' tour as it featured a visit [with concert] to the Edvard Grieg museum. It was raining when we got back to the pier, so I elected not to take a trip on the funicular.

 

In Tromso, Cunard runs a shuttle bus into town, and there is a Tromso city bus route stopping just outside the port gate [check the visit Tromso web site for rout and fare detail] We did three excursions 1) Concert at the Arctic Cathedral, 2) A visit to the Polarea Aquarium & Tromso Wilderness Center, and 3) A Cunard's northern lights bus tour.

 

Trondheim was quite walkable - we took the ship's shuttle into town and spent time [and had a nice lunch] near the Cathedral. Mrs Bear elected to take the bus back to the pier - I decided to walk. If I had known about the next day's diversion to Zeebruge I would have visited a few more Trondheim locations, including ones off the direct route to the pier.

 

 

[ClaireRuss]

I was on QV's northern lights voyage in November 2023. In Alesund we booked a walking tour through Viator with a local company - Uniktur. We met them in the square just across from the dock. The tour was good and they leave you at the park entrance where you can climb on your own up to the Aksla viewpoint which is worth doing. 

In Tromso we got the cunard shuttle into town, then a local bus to the cable car station. Going early meant we missed the queues and were straight onto the next car. We even witnessed a proposal on the way up! After coming back down it was a short walk to the arctic cathedral, then a 10 or 15 minute walk over the bridge back to town where there are several museums etc. All of this was on snow covered ground but it wasn't slippy. At night we took a cunard northern lights chase tour. I know others who took local tours with no issues. The ship actually asked folks to declare if they were taking aurora private tours, presumably so they could check times etc with the operators.

Hope that helps.

[kaisatsu]

If you’re in Tromsø overnight, I’d look at the local aurora chasing tours. If you can survive without a bus bathroom, some of the smaller van tours will drive all the way to the Finnish border to reach areas that are free of cloud cover even when most of the area is overcast.