Oceania's Free Shuttles List

[marlolido]

Sailing on Marina May 12th. When in Livorno, want to take train into Florence. Can anyone give us some info on this.

[aohkay]

Sailing on Marina May 12th. When in Livorno, want to take train into Florence. Can anyone give us some info on this.

 

Lots of info here. The "Search" button can be very helpful.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/search/results.cfm?site=boards

[roberts2005]

Any shuttles in the Baltic?

[wp bob]

just off MARINA June 6-

 

Barcelona - shuttle to World trade center opposite Monument to Columbus

Cadiz - town directly across street from dock

Lisbon - shuttle to town to Placa Rossio, Placa Comercio close enough to walk, but there are several docking locations

Oporto - shuttle to town, 30 min to near Inglesia Carmo, sort of near train station

La Coruna - walk to town across street from docks

Bilbao - shuttle to town, 20 - 30 minutes, drop near Guggenheim Museum a couple of blocks

LeVerdun -dock is in the sticks. shuttle to Soulac sur Mer, beach town nearby. No way to Bordeaux except private means or ship tour.

Concarneau - tender to pier. town right there

St Malo - tender to pier. Old Town right there

[rgastin]

I too would like to know about the Baltic. Anyone out there that can answer?

[osandomir]

just off MARINA June 6-

 

Barcelona - shuttle to World trade center opposite Monument to Columbus

Cadiz - town directly across street from dock

Lisbon - shuttle to town to Placa Rossio, Placa Comercio close enough to walk, but there are several docking locations

Oporto - shuttle to town, 30 min to near Inglesia Carmo, sort of near train station

La Coruna - walk to town across street from docks

Bilbao - shuttle to town, 20 - 30 minutes, drop near Guggenheim Museum a couple of blocks

LeVerdun -dock is in the sticks. shuttle to Soulac sur Mer, beach town nearby. No way to Bordeaux except private means or ship tour.

Concarneau - tender to pier. town right there

St Malo - tender to pier. Old Town right there

 

Thank you very much. All these ports on our upcoming Marina cruise.

[roberts2005]

I can only assume that Oceania, like other cruise lines, does not provide this information ahead of time in the hope that you will book one of their shore excursions.

 

On my upcoming Baltic cruise, my plans for Gdansk, Poland are uncertain. As the ship docks a good distance away from Gdansk the trip would involve bus, train and possibly taxi.

[JimandStan]

I can only assume that Oceania, like other cruise lines, does not provide this information ahead of time in the hope that you will book one of their shore excursions.

 

On my upcoming Baltic cruise, my plans for Gdansk, Poland are uncertain. As the ship docks a good distance away from Gdansk the trip would involve bus, train and possibly taxi.

 

Thinking that every decision must be "revenue based" might be a logical conclusion in this day and age, however, it has occurred to me that Oceania could be using psychology on us here...

 

When the Specialty Restaurant System was developed, for example, it was designed to offer a free and easy "dine when, where and with whom you choose" ambiance that was a direct tie in to the "Your World, Your Way" philosophy.

 

Reservations in those restaurants eventually became so popular that booking well in advance quickly became the norm, in fact booking further ahead than others is now a specific "amenity". While this process gets our promised number of reservations "IN", I cannot help but think that it lacks the finesse that was originally intended.

 

Perhaps, Oceania is hoping that the Shuttle system will morph into a casual, informal free and easy option, rather than a pre-scheduled, pre-planned cruise "entitlement"?

[The ships cat]

Marina provided a shuttle bus from Zeebrugge to Blankenberg, with about a 5 min walk to the railway station. Direct trains from Blankenberg to Brugge.

Blankenberg is worth seeing, lovely town.

[wp bob]

We joined with others to take a cab to the station to get there in plenty of time for the 9am train to Florence. Of course the cab driver wanted us to hire him for the day instead. The port shuttle takes too long to catch the early train.

[Oceans&Rivers]

Marina provided a shuttle bus from Zeebrugge to Blankenberg, with about a 5 min walk to the railway station. Direct trains from Blankenberg to Brugge.

Blankenberg is worth seeing, lovely town.

 

Blankenberge is about 8 miles from Damme, another charming seaside town which has transportation to Brugge in the form of a paddle boat which goes up the Damse Vaart (aka Napoleon channel).

 

I did this as a round trip day excursion from Brugge when I spent several nights there, and I don't know if the schedule for one day in port would be timed to allow for it (try Google), but here's the little boat:

 

 

 

If you can fit it into your schedule, I'd do it again. It was lovely and relaxing.

[hoffdahl]

Thank you, wp bob, for the shuttle info. It will be very helpful in planning for our next cruise. We don't have a full day in Lisbon - the ship leaves at 3pm. On a past cruise I had two bad experiences with shuttles on days with earlier departures. People hurrying to get on the shuttles back to the ship were rude, pushing, etc. Did you experience anything like that at Lisbon? Approximately how far was the walk back to the ship from the town square that you mentioned?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I've only docked in Lisbon once, but my understanding is that docking position can vary widely. We were out around Belem, which made it not walkable to Praca Comercio. There were buses and perhaps a tram that went out that way, can't remember for sure. Cabs are always a reliable alternative. We were on a Regent ship, which had regular shuttles to and from Praca Comercio.

[wp bob]

Thank you, wp bob, for the shuttle info. It will be very helpful in planning for our next cruise. We don't have a full day in Lisbon - the ship leaves at 3pm. On a past cruise I had two bad experiences with shuttles on days with earlier departures. People hurrying to get on the shuttles back to the ship were rude, pushing, etc. Did you experience anything like that at Lisbon? Approximately how far was the walk back to the ship from the town square that you mentioned?

 

We were not docked by 25th Bridge but the opposite side ( away from Belem, towards Lisbon). It was near the St Apolonia train station called Jardin Tabacao. (Reception and destination services had NO idea where we was going to be docked - at any of the ports) It was maybe 5 - 10 minutes walk to Placa Commercio - you could see it easily from the dock. the shuttle drop off was a few more blocks from there . No trouble getting on shuttles but we made sure to be at the stop 10 minutes early to be in line.

[dorie10295]

I just got off the phone with O. We are on the June 17th sailing from Lisbon on the Riviera, and they say that we are leaving from the Santa Apolonia Terminal on Av. Infante D. Henrque. Does anyone know where this is and how far from downtown Lisbon. We will be arriving to Lisbon on the 15th.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I just got off the phone with O. We are on the June 17th sailing from Lisbon on the Riviera, and they say that we are leaving from the Santa Apolonia Terminal on Av. Infante D. Henrque. Does anyone know where this is and how far from downtown Lisbon. We will be arriving to Lisbon on the 15th.

 

It should be pretty easy to spot using Google Maps. I poked around, and it looks like it might be a bit east of the downtown, i.e., upriver. But not a lot. Av. Infante D. Henrique runs along the river east of downtown. I see a Santa Apolonia Metro station along there, so I'm thinking it's around there somewhere. If so, not far the Alfama, the old part of the city, which is directly east of the Praca do Comercio/Rossio central district.

[roothy123]

Have not been to Baltic (Baltic Treasures cruise on Oceania) yet, but will be there in August on Marina. From what I know, the town of Ronne, Denmark (on island of Visby) provides a free shuttle from where Marina docks (might be different for O's smaller ships) to the Welcome Center, close to where the ferries come in, plus close to Europcar. It starts at 8:50 and runs every 20 minutes.

 

As to other ports, I don't know - but I'm still looking. Tallinn Old Town is walkable (15-20 mins.), so is Riga (15-20 mins.) and Visby, too. I believe Visby offers a little golf-cart like train, but really, Visby is very walkable for most people (10-15 mins., head towards church spires). I've read that there is a shuttle service ($) to Viru Hotel and some other hotels near the old town, but I haven't researched this yet, and don't know if non-hotel guests are welcome to take it. Tallinn supposedly has the route to the gates of the Old Town marked on the highways near the port, making it easier to get there! In Warnemunde (port for Berlin), train to Berlin (through Rostock) is about a 5-10 min. walk from the port. There are great instructions on in the Ports section by "anni." Warnemunde itself is right there and walkable. In Gdansk, if you dock in Gydnia as Marina does, you need to get yourself to the train station (20-30 min. walk, short, inexpensive cab ride, or public bus - but need zlotys for that!) to take the train to Gdansk Glowny (central) station.

 

In Costa Maya, Mexico, there is a little train that takes you to the tourism village near where the ship docks, or you can just walk it in about 5-10 minutes.

Edited June 12, 2012 by roothy123

[Oceans&Rivers]

Santa Apolonia's Metro station's interior is shown here:

 

 

and you can see it's location on the Metro system here:

 

 

At golisbon it says "The station is a short walk from downtown, but is also well served by buses and taxis that line up outside."

 

http://www.golisbon.com/transport/

[warburg]

I am just waking up this thread since it is such a good one.

 

We had free shuttles in Bangkok to town center and when we were docked near Halong Bay (if I recall correctly) on Nautica.

 

Does anyone know if there are free shuttles in Bermuda from the Dockyards (where Marina docks) to Hamilton?

When we were on the November TA to Miami, we were given free ferry tickets for both days to Hamilton. They were for as many trips as we wanted to take, and the ferries were very comfortable. The ferry's crew looked around for people heading for the vessel and waited a reasonable time for them. The ferries take you to a central point in Hamilton. Nice. By the way, Dockyards was a much better stop than we'd expected.

[osandomir]

Marina provided a shuttle bus from Zeebrugge to Blankenberg, with about a 5 min walk to the railway station. Direct trains from Blankenberg to Brugge.

Blankenberg is worth seeing, lovely town.

I'd like to know how long is the shuttle ride from the port of Zeebrugge to the Blackenberg train station and was it a long line for the shuttle. Thank you.

[The ships cat]

The transfer from Zeebrugge to Blankenburg was approx 15 mins. There was no problem getting a shuttle bus to Blankenburg although we had to wait approx 20 mins for the return shuttle bus to depart, it would appear that we must have just missed one back to the ship. The good thing is that with it being hot, at least we could sit on the bus waiting for it to depart rather than swealtering.

[Tansy Mews]

Have not been to Baltic (Baltic Treasures cruise on Oceania) yet, but will be there in August on Marina. From what I know, the town of Ronne, Denmark (on island of Visby) provides a free shuttle from where Marina docks (might be different for O's smaller ships) to the Welcome Center, close to where the ferries come in, plus close to Europcar.

 

Glitch! Ronne is on the island of Bornholm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rønne

Visby is on Gotland.

Edited June 23, 2012 by ziner_firsttime

[roothy123]

Glitch! Ronne is on the island of Bornholm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rønne

Visby is on Gotland.

 

Oh, you're so right. I'll repeat 5 times: Visby, Gotland, Sweden, Ronne, Bornholm, Denmark!! Thanks for the correction!

[roberts2005]

Great story on Bornholm in the travel section of NY Times 'Frugal Traveler"

[roothy123]

I'll have to see if I can pull it up online and read it. Yes, Bornholm is supposed to be a pretty interesting place for food and drink.

 

The Washington Post just did a story on Danish "Ebelskivers" - food writers must know it's time for trips to Scandinavia!