lost in translation

Tipped guide and driver in US dollars. Good condition but didn't iron any.

Paid for the tour with a credit card.

Most things were covered in our tour but I did charge earrings at one store. Had rubles but probably weren't needed except that my (ex)husband wanted beer at lunch which he had to pay for separately and used rubles. I still have some left over.

BTW when I got the statement for the things I paid for with credit card I actually paid less than the US dollar price I had been quoted for the tour and same with the price in US dollars that the store had on the earrings.

I can't stress enough whatever shoes you bring for walking around make sure you have worn them a lot at home so they are comfortable. Lesson learned from my first cruise when I couldn't even wear the shoes I brought to wear in port. Ended up wearing the shoes I brought to wear at the pool!

Going late August. Will probably wear my old hiking boots because they are waterproof. Will take an old pair of sneakers which may not make the trip home. Probably also a pair of flip flops and ballet flats for the ship. Have a water resistant rain jacket I've had for probably twenty years. Has a hood and takes a serious downpour to soak through. It has seen the world. Always wear it on the plane when I travel because planes are cold! Biggest challenge is weather can be almost anything so need a few short sleeve, long sleeve, sweatshirts. Probably only bring one pair of shorts. Jeans will do unless it's really hot. Still figuring it out but your suggestions are all helpful.

We went last May on NCL. We booked in late December. Needless to say paid higher than what they were when we first started thinking about it. I think people who booked a lot earlier paid a lot less. The prices did go WAY down a couple weeks before sailing. No refunds (after final payment due) but a chance to upgrade. We started out with an oceanview and later paid an extra $200 for a balcony. Then prices kept going down so my husband called and talked them into giving us a mini-suite.

We went with SPB Tours and definitely thought it was worth the trip. The 6 hours in Berlin was about as much time as we had in some of the other ports. We generally don't like doing guided tours but realize that we saw a lot more than we would have seen if we had tried to do it on our own. If you are concerned about the bus ride being uncomfortable our ship (Norwegian Star) offered excursions via train. Most of them do.

We were there in early May and went to the Hermitage on Sunday.

Thanks Danish Viking. I would like to clarify the following, if possible.

 

Zoo - from Central Station we take the bus 6A (any specific direction) and get off at the zoo. So when we are done, we take 6A back to Central station?

 

The Blue Planet - take bus 5A (towards Lufthavnen udenrigs) does the bus stop right outside the aquarium? Just in case we'll missed the stop :)

 

For Bus/Train, do we simply show our Copenhagen Cards when we board the bus/train?

 

Canal Tour - I've read some reviews here that there are more than 1 tour operator. How do we find out which one is covered by Copenhagen Card, and where is the best place to get on the boat (I've read there is a stop behind Marriott)?

Both tour operators are covered by the card but the one (Canal tours copenhagen?) it is only free if you get on at Gamal Strand not Nyhavn. I should also note that when we got tickets at Gamal Strand it was about 4:15 and she told us the next one we could do for free was at 5:00 but then let us do the next one anyway. Not sure what was up with that since I wasn't aware of any restrictions.

On the train you just get on and don't have to show the card unless someone comes around and asks to see it.

We also got 48 hour cards which we used for transportation as well as canal tour, Blue Planet, Carlsberg, and Tivoli. Not sure if we came out ahead or not but the convenience of not having to pay for the transportation was worth it.

I don't think we were surprised as much as being disappointed. The majority of the "fun tour" was just this canal tour. Other items advertised were not done. We were very excited to take a canal tour, but I would've thought the experience would have been even slightly different from what they had us do the very next morning. Whether you can't see that or not, maybe someone else out there has booked this with a different expectation as we did and I am merely informing of our opinion of the tour.

I know we would have been disappointed if we had booked the evening tour, mainly because it was rainy the first day. In fact, we weren't all that thrilled with the city after the first day based on our experience getting off the ship and the weather but everything seemed much better the second day when we were able to get off the ship quickly and the sun was shining.

Did you do Helsinki with SPB? One of the guys in our groups in Berlin and St. Petersburg did Helsinki and was disappointed. Not sure why since my husband talked to him.

The price for their multi-city packages were great but we much prefer to do things on our own if possible and sounds like we made the right decision. Stockholm we just went to the Vasa and walked around Gamla Stan and had lunch at a place where my husband could get Swedish beer (the major disappointment for him in St. Petersburg was that we didn't have a choice in where to eat lunch and the places we ate didn't serve any Russian beers).

We generally had a positive experience with SPB. The first day in St. Petersburg was a nightmare but can't blame that on SPB. I know our group had to wait a long time for us because my husband and I didn't get through immigration until after 10:00. This was through no fault of our own. We headed down as soon as the announcement was made and apparently just kept getting behind the wrong people in line. I think a lot of people didn't have either the migration/landing card or their tour tickets. We saw some couples up there for at least 15 minutes. When we finally got up there we got through in about a minute. I felt bad for the others in our group. It was suggested above that they should have just put us on buses as we got there but I think that would have been logistically impossible.

As for the evening fun tour, we thought about doing that but decided against it mainly because we knew we would be doing a canal tour the next day. Can't see how OP was surprised about that.

We are arriving at Copenhagen Freeport Terminal by ship on July 22 at 7am and need a taxi to get to the airport for a midmorning flight. Can someone advise whether taxis will be there or if we need to reserve or call ahead? If we need to reserve ahead any suggestions?

I read somewhere that fare would be 400-500 DKK. Is this about right?

There will be taxis and a long line of people waiting for them. Not sure how long it takes to get to the front of the line as we walked to the bus stop.

Bus 14 stops just outside the pier. You can buy a day ticket from the driver for 8 euros, which covers the bus, tram and ferry. Get off by a church with a green roof and steeple. Don't remember the name of the stop because we got off at the right place by accident. Walk another block and you will come to a tram stop. The tram stop is called Eiran Sairaala. Don't remember the name of the stop for Market Square but you should know it when you see it because you can see the tents set up. The day ticket is also good for the ferry to Suomenlinna. It isn't the first ferry that you see but the second one.

Yep, that sounds logical: with Chase, the cash advance transaction on the statement apparently occurs when using a PIN, not just when using the card. So no use of a PIN=no cash advance on statement.

None of my husband's Capital One charges showed up as cash advances and he used a PIN several times.

This was probably covered above but just in case: I use a certain card for travel due to no charges for international purchases. Just got the new one with a chip, so this will be 1st time using it. Never used for cash advance/ATM, so I called my bank about a PIN. They strongly (STRONGLY) discouraged giving the vendor a PIN. Bank told me it would show up on my statement as a cash advance. They said to tell the vendor to just hit "enter" on the register and sign instead.

This was not our experience using my husband's Capital One card. My husband checked his statement when we got back and none of the charges showed up as cash advances. I don't remember if I ever entered a PIN for my credit card. I don't think I did.

With all these confusing should I even bother to take the bus 26 from kongen nytorv to the port or just take a cab? How far is the walk to the ship?

I don't really think it's confusing it's just that they changed the entrance/exit during our cruise and this whole thing just came up before we left so we didn't have instructions from Danish Viking yet for the new entrance/exit.

There is no bus Shelter at Stubbeløbsgade Busstop, just a pole with a yellow sign on the top.

 

The direction of the bus should read Ålholms plads.

Maybe that's where we were the first time and the bus didn't stop. We figured maybe they only stop if there is a shelter. I was standing there waving a 50 and he just went right by.

Did you try the ATM machines?

The only place we used an ATM was in Tallinn. Didn't have any problems there.

How did this show up on your account and what type of charges did you accrue? Did it show as a cash advance?

They just showed up as regular charges not cash advances.

I was assuming he meant the Freeport Terminal, not Langeline, because the entrance was just moved and Danish Viking told us which bus stop to use. It is indeed suppose to be left after exiting the gates. It sounds like what Lost in Translation found was the next bus stop to the right "Skudehavnsvej".

 

Lost in translation, Could the bus stop have been there but without a kiosk at Stuppelobsgade? I think when I went on Google street view , I saw a pole, but now am not sure.

When we exited the port we crossed that street and walked to the left. It was a while before we found what we thought was a bus stop. However, the next bus that came was in the left lane and just kept going. We saw the bus turn left at the next corner so we kept going and found another bus stop there (a covered one) and caught the bus there. I don't know the name of it. I'm assuming the stop Danish Viking is referring to was to the right since that one we ended up going to seemed really far away. Sorry to make things more confusing. When you go to the ship get off where DV tells you to and you should know how to get back there after the cruise. For us this changed during the cruise.

We just got back from the baltics and didn't have any problems using American credit cards. If they ask for a PIN just use the one you have for cash advances. However, not sure either of us used a credit card in Helsinki.

We were just in Helsinki on Monday. I don't remember any shuttle. We took the 14 bus. We bought the day tickets from the driver. Got off the bus at the right place by accident and caught the tram to Market Square. I know a lot of people took the bus to the bus station and caught trams from there. We took the public ferry to Soumenlinna. We went to the brewery but I think we paid cash. I'm not sure if we charged anything in Helsinki. However, I would point out that we never had any problem using American cards anywhere on the cruise. My husband has a Capital One card with just a strip and he used it almost everywhere. If they asked for a PIN he just entered the one he has for cash advances. We found the tram kind of confusing. Had a little trouble finding the right one to get us to the rock church but did find it.

We just got back and everything went pretty smoothly thanks to advice from Danish Viking. Thank you. It helped that we got our Copenhagen cards in the mail so just had to write the time and date on them and get on the train at the airport. Also helped to be able to use them for transportation before the cruise and to get into sights. The evening before we had some time so did a ride on the bus out to the port to make sure we knew where we were going the next day. Of course when we got back from the cruise they had closed the entrance we had used before so had to leave a different way. I knew they were doing this but we had some trouble finding the bus stop. I guess we had to turn right out of the pier gate but turned left. The instructions posted for pedestrians didn't really help as far as finding the 26 bus stop. We had to walk a long way before finally finding a stop.

Also, luckily we had enough DKK left over to buy our return bus tickets. We had kind of forgotten about that since we had been using the Copenhagen card while we were in town.

Just got back and haven't read all that has been posted in the last two weeks but this was our experience. We docked at Frihamnen. I had been concerned about buying bus tickets, etc. but there is a tourist information booth in the port building that sells single bus tickets, day passes, Stockholm cards, tickets for the HOHO, etc. In spite of what I had read on the HOHO website that they don't run until 10:00 in May they were parked right there at the port. If you don't mind walking a little farther to the bus stop bus 76 is the way to go. We got the city transportation pass I think 115 euros each. Took the bus to the Vasa (a very short walk from the bus stop, the name of which has been mentioned earlier). Walked to the amusement park and took the ferry to Gamla Stan (included in the pass). Spent the rest of the day at Gamla Stan and took bus 76 back.

Also, Vasa wasn't to open until 10:00 in May but we got there at about 9:30 and basically got right in. Maybe they felt sorry for everybody because it was raining.

Obviously by euros I meant SEK. Stockholm is expensive, but not that expensive. I'm still on currency overload.

Just got back and haven't read all that has been posted in the last two weeks but this was our experience. We docked at Frihamnen. I had been concerned about buying bus tickets, etc. but there is a tourist information booth in the port building that sells single bus tickets, day passes, Stockholm cards, tickets for the HOHO, etc. In spite of what I had read on the HOHO website that they don't run until 10:00 in May they were parked right there at the port. If you don't mind walking a little farther to the bus stop bus 76 is the way to go. We got the city transportation pass I think 115 euros each. Took the bus to the Vasa (a very short walk from the bus stop, the name of which has been mentioned earlier). Walked to the amusement park and took the ferry to Gamla Stan (included in the pass). Spent the rest of the day at Gamla Stan and took bus 76 back.

Also, Vasa wasn't to open until 10:00 in May but we got there at about 9:30 and basically got right in. Maybe they felt sorry for everybody because it was raining.

If you by train station mean the central station its the departures at xx:07, xx:27 and xx:47. +/- 2 minutes.

 

Remember that bus 26 uses the bus stop at Vesterbrogade and not the one outside Tivoli or at the bridge over the platform.

Great. Thanks!

I seem to remember you mentioning one time that not all of the 26 buses go to Freeport but I can't find it now. We will be getting on at the train station. What do we need to look for on the bus to make sure we are on the right one? Thanks. We leave tomorrow!