craz

Before I redid my routing of flights I booked the Blu Royal in BGO , thinking it looked like a nicer area, and when I was gonna be starting the NIAN from BGO. After I changed all that I read a post of yours (maybe even on this thread) where you said the 1 good thing about the Norge is its right by where you end up after finishing the NIAN. That was it for me, and I booked it.

That all said, I happen to have a large stash of HH,MR,SPG,Hyatt, and CC pts and would prefer to use them up (but not blow them for blowing sake) before buying other pts, especially the CC pts where the handful of Rads Ive stayed in here in the US were almost as nice as a Knights Inn. There are some very nice CI&S but usually theres a MR or HH(nowadays probably 40k) so I find that I use my CC pts when Im overnighting @ ZRH for the Rad Blu there in airport. But with LX now not letting a person chose a seat before T-24 at least a non-elite M&M person, my nights @ ZRH will be far and few in between, so I prefer to use up my CC stash

craz

...........

ksu

Both Royal and Norge are in nice areas, but Norge is more central. Norge is THE classical hotel in Bergen, but be aware that it will become a Scandic in September, and will close for renovation.

craz

My res is 1 night the last week of Aug, do I have to be worried they will close up by then? I guess if they do they will have to relocate me but its a pts stay

craz

I understand there are 2 routes the scenic and express. Are there more then 1 company plying the route? I ask since it seems the scenic bus (#950) last departure is @ 17:45 while the express (#4500) has a 19:07 as its last run

I prefer the scenic route but that would mean catching a 6:25 train from Oslo when I prefer the 8:25 but the 15:00 boat from Flam is soldout leaving the 17:00 boat that arrives @ 19:15

So either I need to find another company that has a boat after 14:30 but before 15:15 so that I can catch the last 950 to Voss. Or is there another bus company that will leave on the scenic route after 19:15

boat was looking at fjord1 and bus at skyss

although the 6:25 departure all works out it means 45 mins to reach Flam for some reason and the new boat from Flam which is 1 1/2 hrs rather then the 2 1/2 boat. Would rather spend more time on the water

ksu

They accept reservations up to 30 of August (i.e. last check-out on the 31) on the homepage, so I wouldn't worry. If they should close early (which I doubt) they would relocate you, but as Bergen is a crowded city, they would have to relocate many people, which would be very expensive and difficult, something the owners would do anything to avoid. Norwegian consumer protection is strong.

craz

Thx, my res is for 1 week before they close up, so I can count out any beenies that I might have gotten otherwise> Ive come across that several times over the yrs since the hotel has nothing to lose.

Do you know apx how long of a walk it is from the train to The Royal?I should get into BGO either at 1900 or 2230 depending how I do the NIAN. If I end up on the fast boat out of Flam (1 1/2 hrs) I might checkout a boat trip the next day but I have a 1915 flight to OSL so it may not work out as Id like to explore Bergen as well, is either hotel closer to the docks for a day tour?

ksu

Norge is far closer to the railway station than Royal. Norge is a 7 or 8 minutes walk, the Royal about 15 minutes. The center of Bergen is very walkable, though.

Strandkaiterminalen, for the boats to Flåm, should be about equidistant to both hotels, about five minutes walk from each.

Ed: Google maps agrees about 15 minutes station to Royal. The distance is 1,2 km

craz

Ive sent a couple of emails but havent heard back yet. While playing around on different sites I saw that the only option for the NIAN out of Oslo is a 6:25am departure. I would prefer the 8:25am train. However when I checked out the boat out of Flam it seems most days the 3pm boat is Soldout. Yet on NIAN site they offer a couple of different routings out of Bergen 1 of which they are still selling that includes the 3pm boat, so I guess its soldout according to the boats site but NIAN has plenty of tkts.

I emailed NIAN if they would put together a NIAN using the 8:25am train and that 3pm boat (which it seems they still are selling seats on maybe they prepurchased them). Anyone have any idea if theres any other company that sells these tkts?

CaptainMiles

You may recall that I had asked for planning help here for my NIAN on my own.

My initial plan was
Day 1: Bergen-Voss-Gudvangen-Undredal-Aurland
Day 2: Aurland-Flåm-Myrdal-Oslo

Alas, all the best plans went to h*ll when there was a major rockslide on E16, cutting off the E16 road between Voss and Gudvangen. I only learned about this at 10 a.m. the day of departure when I wen to the Skyss office in Bergen to confirm schedules and buy a ticket for the Voss-Gudvangen bus and they told me "no such bus" and told me about the rock slide. Uh oh. Now what?

So I put my thinking hat on. I went to the tourism office in Bergen and learned that people that had booked the pure NIAN were getting refunds. I also learned that all operators (Fjord1, NSB and Skyss) were giving refunds to anyone who wanted, even if it was not their segment. Perfect. I had bought NSB minipris tickets Flåm-Oslo, and those became refundable.

With my thinking hat on, I rerouted as follows:

Day 1: Bergen-Myrdal-Flâm-Gudvangen-Undredal-Aurland
Day 2: Aurland-Flåm-Hâbakken-Oslo

This allowed me to keep my boat segments and my hotel in Aurland, and still do everything except the hairpin bus on E16 (because the road was closed and no one could get through anyway), and even allowed me to add the Lærdal Tunnel which was something I wanted to do but had not been able to squeeze in.

On Day 2 going through Flåm was not strictly needed (I could have gone Aurland-Hâbakken direct) but I went to Flåm anyway because I wanted to see the rail museum and had not had time on day 1 (just 8 minutes in Flåm).

The fjord boat cruise was amazing. No NIANers around. None. On the Gudvangen-Undredal segment there were five passengers (the two of us plus a family of three). On the Undredal-Aurland boat there were three passengers (the two of us plus one). Amazing, we could go anywhere on the boat for any photo ops without fighting crowds for space.

Everyone else's misfortune due to the E16 closure became our good fortune.

craz

1stly Im only gonna be in Norway for 3 nights and thusly only day 2 makes sense to do NIAN. On top of that with the pts I have there was no award stays in Bergen for my 1st night and with a 6am departure from OSL my last day it meant night 1-Oslo, night 2 - Bergen and night 3- OSL(where I plan to store my checked bag for 2 nights).

Im not really flex. That said I did look into Oslo-Voss and the Gudvangen-Flam-Myrdal-Bergen Prices out on my own all of 39 Nok less then what NIAN wants But the main problem is the boat to Flam is the new boat which I was trying to avoid (not only since its 2x in price) but mainly in order to spend more time on the water. True Id get the extra 2 hrs of sleep in and arrive into Bergen on the same train from Voss if I could get onto the 3pm Flam-Gudvangen boat. But Id rather take the train to Flam then from Flam. Had the price of everything been alot less then I might have jumped on it.

So Im simply trying to find a way to get onto the 3pm boat out of Flam, if there is any

CaptainMiles

So let me get this straight... are you asking how to book yourself on a boat that is already fully booked?

craz

sort of, in that NIAN is still offering that same boat when a person books starting in Bergen and instead of doing as you did and getting off @ Voss and going Gudvangen-Flam, instead goes to Myrdal and then does Flam-Gudvangen. That soldout 3pm boat is a part of that itin, well if its soldout how come NIAN is still offering it?

So a person can still buy the 3pm only if booking starting in Bergen and via NIAN. Beats me why they wont sell it leaving Oslo with the 8:25am train, unless they are so undersold on the 6:25am train that they want to limit their losses by not selling the 8:25am and the 3pm boat that would come along with that

Update:

Now NIAN is offering the 3pm from Oslo but only with the 6:25am train and hang around in Flam for a few hours, why not allow me to take teh 8:25am train and connect directly?
Day 1
Wed xx Aug 06:25 11:48 12:13 13:10 15:00 17:15 Departure from Oslo 06:25
The Bergen Railway
Arrival Myrdal 11:48
Departure from Myrdal 12:13 *
The Flåm Railway
Arrival Flåm 13:10
Departure from Flåm 15:00
Fjord cruise - ordinary boat
Arrival Gudvangen 17:15




Day 1
Wed xx Aug 17:45 19:00 19:40 21:04 Departure from Gudvangen 17:45 *
Bus
Arrival Voss 19:00
Departure from Voss 19:40
The Bergen Railway
Arrival Bergen 21:04

The above NIAN is a r/t Oslo-Oslo where you take the night train from Bergen back to Oslo. So if the 3pm is soldout on the boats site seems it doesnt affect NIAN.

Oslo to Flam that 8:25 gets to Flam @ 2:25pm enough time to get the 3pm boat

Departure
at 08:25
Arrival
at 14:25
6h

Lowest price

939,-
Standard price

1 034,-
1 transferTransfer rules
On board services
08:25Oslo S
Region towards Bergen
13:27Myrdal
towards Flåm
14:25Flå

Boat Flam to Gudvangen:

14:00
Flam
15:30
Gudvangen 1h 30m Vision of The Fjords
Total 595 NOK
1 traveler, One way
15:00
Flam
17:15
Gudvangen 2h 15m NF102 Fully booked

CaptainMiles

It sounds like the 3pm boat was sold out all along but NIAN had not caught up to it (they do not see real time availability).

If you really want the 8:25 departure out of Oslo to arrive in Bergen same day, consider this:

08-25 train Oslo-Myrdal-Flåm, arriving 14:25
hang out in Flâm for 90 minutes, do the museum and whatever else
16:00 shuttle bus to Gudvangen
16:30 boat (Fjord1 NF103) Gudvangen to Aurland, arriving 18:20
18:37 bus (Nettbuss NX450) Aurland to Bergen, arriving 21:45

craz

But that means not taking the bus Gudvagen-Voss on the hair-pin road. although Im gonna look into what you posted

I also edited that the 3pm isnt offered any more as it is once again but I cant understand why they will offer it again only when taking the 6:25 train and not the 8:25 train and thusly do a seamless direct connection w/o a 2 hr layover in Flam and the 8:25 takes 45 mins less to get you to Flam over the 6:25 train Could be youre correct and they dont have a live up-to-date connection, but then why if they dropped it from the Bergen-Bergen r/t did they go ahead and put it on the Oslo-Oslo r/t