Yaffalawyermom

I'm not jumping... I was surprised at how easy it was for us as I was expecting problems. So much so that I got cash in advance (euros and Swedish kroners before changing my mind). To the thread's point, we were unable to purchase public transit passes with credit cards - Europe seems to have a Maestro debit chip/pin card of sort that's really different from ours and I needed to stick local currency into those machines. This worked because we had either tour guides helping us (Oslo, Helsinki & Russia) or we had 20 euro bills for a small group daily pass in Berlin for our 5-some. We used credit cards for a few expensive cab rides (I think around $85 in Swedish kroners to get from the Vasa to the ship in a hurry and $50 at the start of the day to get from the ship to the Sheraton near city hall). We also used a credit card ($25? In Danish kroner) from Tivoli Gardens to the ship in Copenhagen. We walked about 20,000 steps a day and had no problems with using credit cards at restaurants.

Yeah, I think it's like the game of telephone and is probably on me... I wasn't expecting the bridge, was searching on google, coupled with the bits I heard and mismatched where we were... I think those actually navigating in the Baltic with that skill set probably knew. I scrapbook so I'm very happy to have the correct info! It really was beautiful.

That looks right .... it was one of the more beautiful moments on board while we were sailing (and unexpected).

It was pretty far removed from the city both times, so I'm not sure -- they made a big deal out of the bridge being the longest in Europe -- and connecting the two countries -- played the theme from "the Love Boat" -- it was bridge, tunnel under island, then bridge again. We had almost no clearance we were under it and just made it -- shockingly tight.

Also, it was supposed to be a beautiful sail into and out of Oslo. We tried so hard to get the view into and out of Oslo to see the fjord. They upsell many things on the ship (one of my big complaints about the cruise) -- one upsell was a breakfast for Oslo for $65 per person for a good view of the sail into Oslo. I, being a family of 5, thought we'd be up on deck at 9 am for the 10 am arrival but we were too late. We were already in Oslo proper. So, if you do it my way, be up on deck by 8 am or so to watch the sail in. For departure, the ship leaves at 11 pm and the sun sets late so the view of the fjrord and famous fort happens a midnight or later. We also had T-Bahn day passes and could take a ferry round trip to see the fjords but we couldn't manage to catch one.. so, i need to take a fjord cruise -- fjords were not in the cards this trip.

We got up at the crack of dawn to watch the sail into Stockholm and it was really worthwhile! Just spectacular. The sail under the Oresund Bridge between Malmo, Sweden and Copenhagen is also lovely (we hit it around sunset -- 10 pm) and actually saw it twice but sunset was amazing.

I was really nervous about this before we left having read all about chip and pin cards in Europe. I did get pins for as many of our cards as possible (all of them now have chips) but we never used them. I did call to check on all of the transaction fees to see which cards should be used for the lowest transaction costs and to report travel to ensure that they wouldn't be declined. We had no trouble -- not even in St. Petersburg. We were in 7 countries (Russia, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark) and not an ounce of trouble. We carried euros and Swedish kroners in advance but really didn't need them.

We are sailing on the Regal Princess in May 2017. We are flying into Frankfurt; arriving the day before departure and will then need to get to the port in Warnamunde (there are 5 of us) and then we need to reverse on the back end with a 2 night stay in Berlin on our return 11 days later. I am trying to figure out our best way of doing this -- e.g. fly German Wings from Frankfurt to Berlin and back; rent a car and drive ourselves (I've been to Germany and spent a summer there in college so it's comfortable); rent in Frankfurt and return at the port and rent again at the port and return in Frankfurt or keep for the duration of the trip and rent it rountrip Frankfurt and park it during the cruise at the port. It appears to cost $500 each way for the 5 of us for the Princess transfers from the TXL in Berlin (and back) or for a private transfer from Berlin to the port -- so the car is looking good. Help please. thanks.