Hi Friends,
I'm sure you'll be happy once my trip to Norway is over. I know, too many questions! We will be on the MSC Preziosa arriving in Alesund (as per the plan) at 8:00 a.m. on 6-September. I'd like to take the 'Trollstigen, The Land Of The Trolls' excursion that starts at 9:00 a.m. The site shows that the tour start location is only 100 meters/.05 miles. I've asked whether there's an option to take a later tour if we get off the ship later than 8:00. There are hourly tours from this company but they show sold out; not sure if they can accommodate one group of 2. Anyway, just looking for some thoughts. Thanks, as always! Mike
Posted by
Chicagoland
996 posts
I have no experience arriving in Ålesund by cruise ship. I would suggest a couple of things.
- Contact your cruise line and ask what time can you expect to disembark in Ålesund when booking an independent excursion
- Ask the Cruise Critic MSC forum if anyone can give you their experience disembarking in Ålesund
- Contact the Ålesund tour company and ask if they are aware of any issues with MSC passengers disembarking in time for the 9am departure.
I hope you have beautiful weather. The views are spectacular.
Posted by
OP
23 posts
Hi Jean,
Thanks again for the guidance. Very helpful! And we lived in Louisville for 10 years. Chicago was our go-to place for a Chinatown weekend, or concert or hot dog festival! But only once for Valentines Day - I was cold for a week!
Be well. Mike
Posted by
Citizen of the World
3334 posts
In small-town Alesund, the cruise ships dock near City Hall which also happens to be the Ferry Port and Alesund’s major bus stop and the disembarkation location for most tourist buses and Fjord boat cruises.
Basically, it’s Grand Central station for every tourist-oriented mode of transportation. So, if you can get off the cruise ship shortly after 8am, it really should not be a problem to get to your tour start-point by 8:15am,
9:00 am is absolutely no problem. You’ll have time for breakfast in Alesund!
This is Norway— and the Norwegians have their tourism industry fine-tuned like a Hardanger fiddle.
Posted by
Lake District, England
10095 posts
For anyone doing independent tours from a cruise ship the standard advice is that you should have missed ports insurance, as well as cruise specific insurance.
While it is true that you will easily manage this if the ship is on time, and they are not busy disembarking their own excursion passengers first, the great unknown is that cruise ships can be late or even miss ports entirely for all manner of reasons.
A delay can occur at the very last moment for instance if the port pilot is delayed.
The sensible advice is that a ship doesn't just arrive to an airbridge and immediately disembark. The ship has to be cleared on arrival, then a gangway set up and secured. 8.15 is a bit optimistic, although 9.00 is pretty safe if the ship is on time.
The big unknown is whether they will hold independent guests until the ships excursion guests are off. That will depend on ship's crew on the day.
Posted by
Virginia
407 posts
The other commenters are correct that nothing is certain and it would be good to try to get more info from the tour company, but I would think that much of this tour company’s business likely comes from cruise passengers and they would probably not offer a 9 am departure if their customers regularly had trouble getting there in time. And if (as is likely) your ship is arriving from another Norwegian port the port clearance will probably be more expeditious than an international arrival.
Posted by
OP
23 posts
Thanks Kenko, InS31c, and Slate. I do have international travel insurance and I have written to the tour operator as well. Although I can likely get the money back, it’s the tour I don’t want to miss. Sounds really great! Thanks again!