Cost of Celebrity Apex Norwegian Fjords & Arctic Circle Excursions?

[nordicacres]

Can anyone who has been, or will be, on this cruise give general input as far as cost of excursions? I am considering this itinerary in 2025, but I’d like a more realistic idea of what total costs may be after excursions are factored in. Thanks!

 

I would be looking at excursions in Flam, Geiranger, Honningsvag, Molde, Olden, and possibly Stavanger.

[edinburgher]

10 hours ago, nordicacres said:

Can anyone who has been, or will be, on this cruise give general input as far as cost of excursions? I am considering this itinerary in 2025, but I’d like a more realistic idea of what total costs may be after excursions are factored in. Thanks!

As your question is very Celebrity specific, consider cross posting on the Celebrity forum where passengers who have taken this itinerary or passengers who have one upcoming and can access the information would be more likely to see it and respond.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/16-celebrity-cruises/

 

Edited April 27 by edinburgher

[Scottishclover]

We are going on this cruise in July. I can tell you, I thought the Celebrity shore excursions were extortionate but then I am Scottish and a bit of a cheapskate😂 We also are paying for 4 as our adult daughters are travelling with us. Plenty folk must think otherwise as most excursions are sold out and have been for a long time!

 

As an example,  Celebrity are charging £ 172 for one person for a transfer only to the North Cape. We are hiring a car for the whole day for that price. Also they have a big up charge for things like hikes, kayaking, Flam railway, RIB boat tours which are easily accessible from the port independently. We are very comfortable booking independently but I understand not everyone is. Celebrity do have flash sales where you can get money off excursions,  so keep that in mind. 
 

A caveat to this is that even booking independent tours in Norway is expensive. Last time we were in the Fjords we did a lot of hikes and as they say the best things in life are free. This time we are mixing it up a bit with tours/hikes. It really does depend what your interests are and how much you are willing to spend.

 

In summary, if you book independently, you will save money in comparison to booking with Celebrity.

[TMLAalum]

@Scottishclover

I agree! We are looking at private tours and as you mentioned, even those are quite expensive.

Could you please provide me with the car hire agency you've booked for Honningsvag? 

For Flam, I plan on booking the railway independently with an immediate up and down to Myrdal and back.  

[Scottishclover]

1 hour ago, TMLAalum said:

@Scottishclover

I agree! We are looking at private tours and as you mentioned, even those are quite expensive.

Could you please provide me with the car hire agency you've booked for Honningsvag? 

For Flam, I plan on booking the railway independently with an immediate up and down to Myrdal and back.  

We booked with Nordkapp Bilservice. They are a local mechanics firm who also do car rentals. As far as I am aware they are the only ones to rent from. I will report after the cruise how we got on. We used this strategy of renting a car when we were in Skagway in Alaska and loved the freedom we had to stop when we wanted. 
 

We booked Flam railway with Norways Best, one way only as we are cycling back down. You need to be in quick as they do sell out quite quickly. You can also get tickets from Norwegian railways about 60 days out too.

[nordicacres]

TY! We were in Norway in 2017 for a land tour. This itinerary is exciting to me because the only repeat would be Flam. I’m comfortable booking independent excursions and renting cars, but car rental prices seem to have increased dramatically since then!

[nordicacres]

Specifically looking at Destination Highlight: Bird Safari By Boat Honningsvag, Norway. Anyone have access to prices? TY!

[Scottishclover]

23 minutes ago, nordicacres said:

Specifically looking at Destination Highlight: Bird Safari By Boat Honningsvag, Norway. Anyone have access to prices? TY!

Just checked on my cruise planner. Full price is £288.70 per person but there is a 15% off at the moment. Hope that helps!

[nordicacres]

Thank you! Oof, that’s high! Approx $365 USD. 

[ShawninFL]

We did the Norwegian Fjord in 2022 on RC Jewel OTS.  I will list the ports we visited on our cruise, what we did and what the cost was (I maintain spreadsheets for all our trips to track cost).

 

Flam:  We booked the railroad, with zipline and bike ride back to town.  We booked this on our own and the cost was $175.00 per person.

 

Honningsvag:  We booked a tour separately from the cruise line through Blue Puffin Tours called the North Cape Tour.  It cost $146 per person and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

 

Molde: We rented a car for the day.  We had to take the bus to and from the airport, but it was easy enough to do and only required about 15-20 minutes each way.  The cost of the rental with full coverage insurance was $282.00 for the day.  We drove from Molde to the Atlantic Highway.  We had a nice leisurely drive at our pace and enjoyed being able to stopp where we wanted when we wanted.

 

Stavanger:  We booked a boat tour through the fjords on our own separately from the cruise line.  It left from right in the center of town where we disembarked the ship.  I don't have the price listed on my spreadsheet for this tour as our friends booked the tickets for this an we reimbursed them, but I believe they were around $75.00 per person.

 

This cruise was amazing, especially if your doing it around the summer solstice where there is 24-hour sunlight.  I is really amazing being out an about on the ship at 2 AM and its still completely light outside.

I hope this helps.

 

Shawn

[nordicacres]

Amazingly helpful, thank you! 

[canadianjovigirl]

On 4/27/2024 at 9:48 AM, nordicacres said:

Specifically looking at Destination Highlight: Bird Safari By Boat Honningsvag, Norway. Anyone have access to prices? TY!

For August 2025 this is what I get in cdn dollars. We to are booking thru outside vendors for a bunch

[cruizingOmi]

Norway is expensive on a whole. So anything you do or purchase will reflect that. we are going in Sept. 2025 and are looking at excursions, but just like others mentioned even private ones are pricey.

In Flam you can buy the Train tickets for alot less then thru Celebrity. In Geiranger the Kayak tours are less but not by much. 

I suggest you Google all the Ports and see what is offered at what price, thats what I am doing,and if Celebrity is having a sale I know I know if its good or not.

[nordicacres]

We did a two week land tour to Norway in 2017. Oslo/Bergen were expensive, but the countryside I found to be no more expensive than what we were used to at home. Of course we weren’t doing excursions and avoided sit-down restaurants and alcohol! I’m sure things have increased a lot since then.