Come over to cruisecritic, register and join the roll call, there are a bunch of us on the trip.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=548015

So far not a lot of DIY options have been found for this Norway trip, we are still to think about what we are going to do.

Did you book US ot UK? Have you cruised with NCL before?

Make sure you do the on-line registation.

The big attraction at Flaam is the steam railtrain which goes up the mountain, gives you some time there, and brings you back again. There is nothing really in Flaam itself. We DIY'd the train without any problems and it took up most of the time we had in Port. If you are an early riser it is worth getting up for the scenery as you sail down the fjord towards Flaam.

Bergen is easy to DIY, nice town reasonable size with pretty row of houses, which you always see in the photos. Also there are 2 panoramic view options, one of which you get to by cable car and the other by funicular. Recommend spending your day in and around Bergen.

The other ports you listed we have not visited.

Hi welshmark and welcome to HT!

I would recommend getting the Flam train tickets before you get there, even the day before at the Tourist Info of whatever port you are in. There were a lot of disappointed people who couldn't get on when we were there in June 2004.

I would also recommend taking a mixture of clothes, including a warm jumper/cardigan and jacket. Went we went the weather wasn't wonderful and very chilly on deck. Some people had hats, scarves and gloves on and they were the wise ones.

luci

here is the itinerary
[code]
Sun Jun 29 London England 4:00pm
Mon Jun 30 Cruising North Sea
Tue Jul 1 Alesund, Norway Noon 9:00pm
Wed Jul 2 Kristiansund,Norway 8:00am 6:00pm
Thu Jul 3 Cross the Arctic Circle/ Cruising Svartisen Glacier
Fri Jul 4 Honningsvag, Norway 8:00am 3:00pm
Sat Jul 5 Cruising Barents Sea
Sun Jul 6 Trondheim, Norway 8:00am 7:00pm
Mon Jul 7 Hellesylt, Norway 8:00am 11:00am
Mon Jul 7 Geiranger, Norway Noon 6:00pm
Tue Jul 8 Bergen, Norway 8:00am 7:00pm
Wed Jul 9 Stavanger, Norway 8:00am 6:00pm
Thu Jul 10 Cruising North Sea
Fri Jul 11 London England 6:00am
[/code]

If Alesund is included in itinery it is a beautiful little town to self explore. There is a trolley train right at the port if you enjoy that type of thing. It will take you up to the top of the town for a panoramic view and give you 15 minutes or thereabouts for photos etc.

We did not have any problems getting train tickets at Flaam, but were there in May whereas June will be much busier....good advice from Luci to pre-book.

I did this cruise with RCCL some years ago and we did the train on our own. I remember well passing a large waterfall with a girl holding up a beautiful red shirt (in costume of course) as the train passed. Can't remember how much we paid but it was a lot less that the excursion. It was Guest Relations told us exactly what to do.
The only place we did an excursion was at Can't remember the name but right at the top and it was a coach trip and would not have been possible unless you took a taxi or something similar. For the rest Bergen Stravanger etc and of course my favourite Geiranger the DIVA of the Fjords. Just breathtaking!!

Sue

This cruise does not go to Flam the itinerary was changed a long time ago.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply. We now realise that our first stop is Alesund and not Flam.

Is it just chilly on the ship and better on land or can it be chilly on land as well?

It wasn't so cold on land as it was on the ship, but we were still wearing thick jumpers and jackets. You may be lucky and the weather could be a lot better, but it was like a winter's day most of the time for us.

luci