Cruise Newbie

[angiepangie1]

Hi,

 

Newbies travelling in July on Sky Princess Scandinavia cruise.

 

Our stops are:

Kristiansand, Norway

Copenhagen, Denmark

Skagen, Denmark

Oslo, Norway

 

3 travelling, one being our older teenage son.  What we'd like to know is, is it possible to disembark at these ports on foot or would we 'need' to arrange an excursion?  Are there shuttle buses or could we walk? 

 

Also, daft question but when you don't know you don't know ☺ but when in port, can you come and go at any time if it is possible on foot or is it set times?

 

Trying to work out if we can do without the excursion packages and just see the areas ourselves if possible - every penny saved helps!

 

Thank you in advance

Angie

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, angiepangie1 said:

Hi,

 

Newbies travelling in July on Sky Princess Scandinavia cruise.

 

Our stops are:

Kristiansand, Norway

Copenhagen, Denmark

Skagen, Denmark

Oslo, Norway

 

3 travelling, one being our older teenage son.  What we'd like to know is, is it possible to disembark at these ports on foot or would we 'need' to arrange an excursion?  Are there shuttle buses or could we walk? 

 

Also, daft question but when you don't know you don't know ☺ but when in port, can you come and go at any time if it is possible on foot or is it set times?

 

Trying to work out if we can do without the excursion packages and just see the areas ourselves if possible - every penny saved helps!

 

Thank you in advance

Angie

You do not need to do excursions, but research each port in advance to see what your ootions are. The Ports of Call section here on CC is a good starting point. 

Yes, you can come and go as you please. 

See if there is  a roll call for your cruise and join it, so you can see what other people are doing  

[angiepangie1]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

You do not need to do excursions, but research each port in advance to see what your ootions are. The Ports of Call section here on CC is a good starting point. 

Yes, you can come and go as you please. 

See if there is  a roll call for your cruise and join it, so you can see what other people are doing  

Thank you wowzz, that is really helpful.  Feel completely blinded by it all so that is useful info 👍

[suemeyers]

Hi we once did every port stop on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with out booking any excursions. You can walk around the local area, you can often get a hop on hop off bus tour, or hire a taxi into nearest town. Trust me you do not need to fork out for paid excursions. Yes come and go on the ship as often as you like. Research the local area yourself before you sail. 

[angiepangie1]

11 minutes ago, suemeyers said:

Hi we once did every port stop on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with out booking any excursions. You can walk around the local area, you can often get a hop on hop off bus tour, or hire a taxi into nearest town. Trust me you do not need to fork out for paid excursions. Yes come and go on the ship as often as you like. Research the local area yourself before you sail. 

brill, thank you suemeyers, much appreciated 👍

[wowzz]

30 minutes ago, suemeyers said:

Hi we once did every port stop on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with out booking any excursions. You can walk around the local area, you can often get a hop on hop off bus tour, or hire a taxi into nearest town. Trust me you do not need to fork out for paid excursions. Yes come and go on the ship as often as you like. Research the local area yourself before you sail. 

To be fair,  comparing the Caribbean to a Scandinavian cruise is not really apposite. In many cases, you moor in an industrial dock some distance from the city centre, so cannot walk around the local area, and a shuttle is required. Taxis are also not always readily available.

I agree, research is everything. Good place to start is the "Whats in Port" guides. 

[DCThunder]

I was in Kristiansand, Copenhagen, and Oslo earlier in 2022 and can give you this advice.  

 

Copenhagen:  If not on an excursion, you must take a shuttle bus to/from the main square of the city.  The ship berths in an industrial port that is 5 miles or so from the city.  The shuttle bus was free, but it's about a 30 minute drive to the main square.  Once in the square, Copenhagen is a great city, lots of beer, food, history, etc.  You cannot walk to town from the ship.  Some of the castles that Copenhagen is known for require transportation to reach.  I did a full day excursion to the three main castles (including Elsinore "the Hamlet castle" which is probably 40 miles from downtown.

 

Oslo:  The ship berths in the middle of the city and you can easily walk to shops, markets, restaurants etc.  I did an excursion that went to several of the more prominent sites, but you can do HOHO or other walkable type things on your own.  Be sure to check out the huge ski jump that is prominent in the hills around the city.  It's been the site of several Olympic ski jump championships and hosts an annual competition that's world famous.

 

Kristiansand:  Small town.  Easily walkable area.  The day we were there (in late April) it was cold and windy, but there's many interesting things to see just by walking around.  But you can easily see most of what there is to see in a morning.  It was so cold that after walking around for a couple of hours, I wanted to get back on the ship to warm up.

 

We couldn't dock in Skagen because of adverse wind and sea conditions, but it is reportedly a very small town

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by DCThunder

[BamaVol]

DCThunder has offered good advice on 3 ports.  Get familiar with the others.  You can always hold off booking excursions until onboard, although some may sell out in advance.  We found great differences between Caribbean ports and some European. Rome was a trip - it involved 2 trains and a bus from the port. We did it on our own but I’m not sure I would recommend it. Whereas Nassau or Cannes, for what it’s worth, are a short walk from the pier to the town.  If possible, suggest an independent tour on your roll call and see if you get sufficient interest.  It may cost less and you will see and do more in a van with 8 than a bus with 50. We did that for Florence and had the time of our lives.

[riffatsea]

The ship I not a,prison

You are free to come and go as you please

There are other boards on this sitemformthe portsmyou are visiting

There is also a roll call,section where you can find folks on your Sam cruise who might want to share activities with you

You can alsomuse the forums on Trip Adviser to learn about each city from folks who visit on land

Lots of places to,get info 

[skynight]

Yes you definitely can disembark on your own and visit the local area. You can also book private tours. Suggest you visit the cruise critic roll for your date. There may be others already arranging private tours. This is what I remember regarding these ports.

Kristiansand, Norway - You can walk into town and explore on foot. The town center area is not directly next to the pier, but is within walking distance.

Copenhagen, Denmark - The ship docks north of the Kastellet at the Oceankaj cruise terminal. It is quite a distance from the center of town, the Nyhavn and Tivoli areas. Copenhjagen is a very walkable city. There will be transport at the pier, either taxis or busses. Don't remember if there were "shuttles."

Oslo, Norway - Lots to do and explore. We took a ferry to the Viking Ship museum, but believe this may now be closed. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

@angiepangie1  Welcome to CruiseCritic!

[angiepangie1]

2 hours ago, DCThunder said:

I was in Kristiansand, Copenhagen, and Oslo earlier in 2022 and can give you this advice.  

 

Copenhagen:  If not on an excursion, you must take a shuttle bus to/from the main square of the city.  The ship berths in an industrial port that is 5 miles or so from the city.  The shuttle bus was free, but it's about a 30 minute drive to the main square.  Once in the square, Copenhagen is a great city, lots of beer, food, history, etc.  You cannot walk to town from the ship.  Some of the castles that Copenhagen is known for require transportation to reach.  I did a full day excursion to the three main castles (including Elsinore "the Hamlet castle" which is probably 40 miles from downtown.

 

Oslo:  The ship berths in the middle of the city and you can easily walk to shops, markets, restaurants etc.  I did an excursion that went to several of the more prominent sites, but you can do HOHO or other walkable type things on your own.  Be sure to check out the huge ski jump that is prominent in the hills around the city.  It's been the site of several Olympic ski jump championships and hosts an annual competition that's world famous.

 

Kristiansand:  Small town.  Easily walkable area.  The day we were there (in late April) it was cold and windy, but there's many interesting things to see just by walking around.  But you can easily see most of what there is to see in a morning.  It was so cold that after walking around for a couple of hours, I wanted to get back on the ship to warm up.

 

We couldn't dock in Skagen because of adverse wind and sea conditions, but it is reportedly a very small town

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you DCThunder, lots of useful info there 👍

[angiepangie1]

2 hours ago, BamaVol said:

DCThunder has offered good advice on 3 ports.  Get familiar with the others.  You can always hold off booking excursions until onboard, although some may sell out in advance.  We found great differences between Caribbean ports and some European. Rome was a trip - it involved 2 trains and a bus from the port. We did it on our own but I’m not sure I would recommend it. Whereas Nassau or Cannes, for what it’s worth, are a short walk from the pier to the town.  If possible, suggest an independent tour on your roll call and see if you get sufficient interest.  It may cost less and you will see and do more in a van with 8 than a bus with 50. We did that for Florence and had the time of our lives.

That's a good idea about asking at roll calls - thank you 😊

[angiepangie1]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

Yes you definitely can disembark on your own and visit the local area. You can also book private tours. Suggest you visit the cruise critic roll for your date. There may be others already arranging private tours. This is what I remember regarding these ports.

Kristiansand, Norway - You can walk into town and explore on foot. The town center area is not directly next to the pier, but is within walking distance.

Copenhagen, Denmark - The ship docks north of the Kastellet at the Oceankaj cruise terminal. It is quite a distance from the center of town, the Nyhavn and Tivoli areas. Copenhjagen is a very walkable city. There will be transport at the pier, either taxis or busses. Don't remember if there were "shuttles."

Oslo, Norway - Lots to do and explore. We took a ferry to the Viking Ship museum, but believe this may now be closed. 

Thanks skynight, very helpful advise 👍

[angiepangie1]

15 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

@angiepangie1  Welcome to CruiseCritic!

Thank you for the welcome Rick 😊