Norway

In addition to the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet, have a look at cruisecritic.com. They have online port guides, and you can join your roll call for your individual cruise and find others who will be on your ship, then see what they are doing.

Thanks to both of you for the help.

If you like architecture, Alesund has an Art Nouveau center with small museum. Alesund was rebuilt after a fire with the assistance of German architects so it has a lot of stone and stucco art nouveau buildings, it looks very different from other Norwegian cites. The church is also interesting in this regard.
I'm not a cruise person but these are just less-than-one-day excursions, correct? If you have more than a day in Alesund and can rent a car, drive the Atlantic Road, a scenic highway with arcing bridges that hop over the bays and inlets on the atlantic coast.

Thanks, Francis, for the heads up on the architecture. We will watch out for that. Unfortunately, we only have one day so renting a car is not an option.

dont forget that noway is VERY expensive some americans get a chock when they see the prices f.ex 1 cup of coffe and a cake costed 25 dollars at a cafe.

Thanks for that piece of information - that actually is very helpful in the planning of our time.

Ålesund, like the previous poster said, is a lovely small city to stroll. The city center is like a living museum of architecture c.1900. The small city museum is worth a few $. I believe there is also an aquarium near the tip as well, but we didn't get that far. There is a city park on a hill near the center that is great for a climb and views. The setting for Geiranger is lovely, but the town itself is little more than a transit hub for tourism with lots of shops and only a few streets of actual homes. There are some great hikes from there if you are energetic. Buses can take you to hikes that begin out of town. Similarly, Fløm is little more than a transit hub as well, but the setting is less dramatic and the buildings less "cute". You can ride the cog train up & down the steep hill from town. That would be fun. But other than that, some casual souvenir shopping and a little aimless strolling, there isn't much to do there in a few hours.

Thanks Randy - we leave today - I wrote all the information down to take with us.

Alesund is one of the most beautiful towns I've ever been in. The view in every direction is stunning. There is also a nice aquarium on the outskirts of town. It's worth the climb to the top of the big hill, too, for the view.