Fair warning – This is a lot of text, without a lot (or any) of photos. This is truly a planning post.
Because I can be a go with the flow type of person (once I know where I’m sleeping and how I am getting there), I wasn’t too concerned with coming up with a solid plan at each of our port stops. That said, I enjoy researching and learning about the different areas the boat will be taking us. I usually start with the cruise line’s excursion options to see what types of activities can be done. Then, I’ll usually Google each port to see what the inter-webs suggest.
A couple of blogs/websites really helped me along this research journey. Google gave me a lot of perusing material, but these are the ones that I came back to multiple times…..
Disney Tourist Blog – This is actually the blog that got me interested in this cruise to begin with! I am a Disney lover and have enjoyed Tom/Sarah’s Disney content for years.
Before I get into the individual ports, something that I always tend to explain when I’m talking to people about this trip. We had four stops: Stavanger, Flam, Olden, and Bergen. Stavanger and Bergen are very much coastal cities. There are still fjords to see, however, you’re seeing the outside/edges of them. Neither of them “feel” huge, but both do have large populations and are more industrial. They’re gorgeous and have a large variety of options when looking for things to do. By contrast, Flam and Olden are both very small and deeply inside the fjords. Both days, I’d wake up for a few minutes super early and take a peek outside. We’d clearly be cruising into a narrow passageway, but then I’d go back to sleep. It was when we were sailing out that it would hit us. We’d be sailing with these GIANT fjords on either side of the ship. Also, in terms of population, both are less than 500 people as of 2023.
Stavanger
From everything I read, Stavanger was an easy port to get around if you wanted to stay in town. There were several museum options, Old Stavanger, and – the most suggested – hiking Pulpit Rock. We were all mildly interested in the hike, however, the excursion option on RC was sold out. That meant we would need to find our own transportation there and back. The links above had GREAT info on how to accomplish that. I explored all of those options, but we were a bit leary as it seemed to require semi-perfect timing and little room for error.
Once we discarded that idea (which was actually pretty close to the actual trip), we zoned in on a Boat Through Lysefjord excursion. I think that was the name of the excursion, but we didn’t actually book it until we were on the ship, lol. I’ll review the actual day/excursion in greater detail in that day’s report, but I would recommend the cruise and ultimately what we did after it.
If I were ever to go back to Stavanger, I’d definitely like to hit up some of the museums and/or try hiking Pulpit Rock. Our ship pulled right up to the entrance to town, so it’s easy to navigate. There’s so much to do in Stavanger and the above links all lay that out extremely thoroughly.
Flam
Researching Flam also proved to be fruitful. There was a lot of information out there and Full Suitcase (linked above) has a really great one-day Itinerary, as well as other suggestions. This is probably the port that I became the most enamored with as I was researching. I really wanted to follow the one-day itinerary and tried to see how I could make it work. Unfortunately, the railway and the ferry tickets were all sold out for when we were in port. I soon realized that the cruise line had booked everything up and turned it into excursions, thus forcing you to go through them. As annoying as it was, there was no way around it. Unless we booked through Royal Caribbean, we couldn’t do anything we wanted.
I presented options to my friends and we all decided that we wanted to do The Flam Railway excursion. Hopefully, this link works! It’s working for me, but Royal’s website is difficult when trying to look at excursions when you don’t have a cruise booked. Anyway, we went ahead and booked this one.
In addition, I decided that I really wanted to do the Natural Norway by Land and Sea excursion (again, hopefully the link works for you). No one else was interested, but based on everything I read I just had a feeling this was a must-do. Despite the fact that I would be on my own, I booked it! I’d be doing this in the morning and they would be joining me for the railway.
Olden
When I sent out my list of ports and possible of things to do in each to our group, I legitimately wrote, “I have found very little about Olden, so we may need to wing this one.”
Honestly, I couldn’t find anything about Olden, lol. For a while, I’d been thinking of doing some travel blogging, but Olden was one of the main things that helped push me to actually doing it. As someone who had never been overseas and who likes to have an idea of what she’s getting into, I wasn’t a fan of not being able to find a single blog or ANYTHING about a port we would be going to.
On Royal’s website, there weren’t a lot of excursions available for Olden and they were basically one of two things:
1) Going to a glacier.
2) Kayaking
The few excursions available were gone quickly.
TripAdvisor/Viator/Google didn’t give me a lot of ideas, besides a glacier tour. As with Flam, nothing was available off cruise because (presumably) they were bought up by Royal.
For anyone who happens to come across this blog specifically to learn what there is to do in Olden….
There is not a lot to do in Olden.
It turns out that I couldn’t find anything else because there was nothing else, lol! Don’t get me wrong, we had a lovely day. I’ll expound in the day’s report. However, it’s a very small village that is deep into the Fjords. Unless you’re going outside of the village (which requires some pre-arrangements), your only option is to get off the ship and walk into town. A very, very small town.
So, if you’re going to Olden, either go to a glacier, kayak, or enjoy a relaxing and chill day. Those are your options!
Bergen
Like Stavanger, there were a plethora of things I was interested in doing. Museums, tours, etc. However, after lots of discussion, we decided we were going to just play it by ear and walk around. I knew I wanted to take the funicular up to Floen, which most were game to do. We were under the impression that a lot of what we could do would be easily walkable. The links above do lay out several potential plans for a great day in port!
I hope to make it back to Bergen, as I’d like to see/do things that we just didn’t get to see/do. Overall, I am happy with our day in and was happy with a go-with-the-flow approach.
London/Norway 2022 Trip Report (August 26 – September 7, 2022)
– The Beginning (Wild Hair)
– The Planning Process (England)
– The Planning Process (Norway)
– Pre-Trip Panic (August 24, 2022)
– Day 0: Leave for London (August 26, 2022)
– Day 1: London Arrival and Tour of Countryside (August 27, 2022)
– Day 2: Southampton and Board the Anthem (August 28, 2022)
– Day 3: Sea Day (August 29, 2022)
– Day 4: Stavanger, Norway (August 30, 2022)
– Day 5: Flam, Norway (August 31, 2022)
– Day 6: Olden, Norway (September 1, 2022)
– Day 7: Bergen, Norway (September 2, 2022)
– Day 8: Sea Day (September 3, 2022)
– Day 9: Disembark and Downton Abbey Tour (September 4, 2022)
– Day 10: London: Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden (September 5, 2022)
– Day 11: London: Hop On, Hop Off and West End (September 6, 2022)
– Day 12: Leaving London (September 7, 2022)
– Trip Wrap-Up: Final Thoughts
Related Reviews
– International Friends (Private Tour: Winchester, Stonehenge, and Salisbury)
– International Friends (Private Tour: Downton Abbey filming locations, Cotswolds & Highclere Castle)
– Moxy Southampton Hotel
– Royal Caribbean – Anthem of the Seas
– Strand Palace Hotel
MyFriendJess 
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