Fees for Shuttles… New?

[manmachine]

We have never been charged for a shuttle in the past but on our current cruise we have ports we’ve never been before.

 

Shuttle to Oslo:  free

Shuttle to Copenhagen:  $15.00 per person

Shuttles to Stockholm and Tallinn also had a charge.  Even Skagen.

 

had just never seen this before and it seemed cheap to me.  These were not shore excursion shuttles, just to get to town. 

[emmas gran]

Yes we have paid for shuttles into town on 2 or 3 cruise lines

[Fly and Sail]

What kind of shuttles are you referring to? From a remote dock to the city center?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Last year it was free in Copenhagen, we on a B2B on Royal 

our driver got lost , hit about 3 park cars and almost got us to the drop off area 🤣
I think it depends on the port if it is free or not 

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Ex-Airbalancer

[weacat]

We were just on Apex and there were shuttles for a fee at almost every port.  Copenhagen was $20 a day (we were overnight there).  The others ranged from $10 to $15.

[cublet]

Hello,

 

It used to be that if it was considered safe to walk from the berth to the dock gates then the PORT would NOT provide a shuttle. If it was considered unsafe then a shuttle would be provided usually by the port but sometimes by the ship in lieu of higher berthing charges.

 

Generally there are charges from the ship to the town/city charged by the ship, or by public transport buses that stop at the berth. Some lines, eg P&O, include the cost of shuttle buses from the ship to the town in particular pricing bands.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[WestLakeGirl]

2 hours ago, manmachine said:

We have never been charged for a shuttle in the past but on our current cruise we have ports we’ve never been before.

 

Shuttle to Oslo:  free

Shuttle to Copenhagen:  $15.00 per person

Shuttles to Stockholm and Tallinn also had a charge.  Even Skagen.

 

had just never seen this before and it seemed cheap to me.  These were not shore excursion shuttles, just to get to town. 

You ask if this is new, no it isn’t.  You just haven’t been to these ports before.

[1025cruise]

The shuttles aren't provided by the cruise line. So it's up to the provider to either eat the cost or charge. 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

You ask if this is new, no it isn’t.  You just haven’t been to these ports before.

I disagree.  We were just on the Apex in July and stopped in Copenhagen.  There was no fee for the shuttle from ship to city center and back.  I'm baffled at these other responses as they have been charged a fee.  Must be a very recent change.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Sox Fan Cruiser

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I think you can pay for a private shuttle if you want but there were buses sitting outside the gate with a sign saying "Free Shuttle" and they left every 20 minutes or so.

[cnktodhunter]

4 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I disagree.  We were just on the Apex in July and stopped in Copenhagen.  There was no fee for the shuttle from ship to city center and back.  I'm baffled at these other responses as they have been charged a fee.  Must be a very recent change.

There were fees for shuttles at some of these ports when we were on our Scandinavia cruise in May 2022. They’re provided by private companies so I guess unless the port / city / Celebrity want to pay then they charge passengers. In most cases we used public transport instead which was cheaper. We even got into using eScooters and bikes!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

And I am only sharing my experience with Copenhagen.  In the other ports we were picked up by our tour guide so I don't have experience there.

[cruisestitch]

53 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I disagree.  We were just on the Apex in July and stopped in Copenhagen.  There was no fee for the shuttle from ship to city center and back.  I'm baffled at these other responses as they have been charged a fee.  Must be a very recent change.

Are there not more than one docking areas in Copenhagen? One further away than the other? Could that not be a factor?

[steamboats]

I´ve never had a free shuttle provided by Celebrity. If it was free it was provided by the port/city. Actually I had to pay for a shuttle which was provided for free by the port but RCI charged us (o.k. on that trip there was sort of a passenger riot because of the shuttle rip off).

 

steamboats

[JanThe1st]

There is an ‘Independent Exploration: Bruges on your own’ listed as a Celebrity excursion option. It is priced £50.27 pre-cruise and £59.84 if purchased on-board. There are other external shuttle providers online priced at £22. In my opinion, it doesn’t sound like great value for money from Celebrity.

[barneyboy]

6 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I disagree.  We were just on the Apex in July and stopped in Copenhagen.  There was no fee for the shuttle from ship to city center and back.  I'm baffled at these other responses as they have been charged a fee.  Must be a very recent change.

We had a free shuttle when we were in Copenhagen in July on Silhouette. There was a charge for Stockholm and Skagen but we walked. 

[lostchild]

45 minutes ago, barneyboy said:

We had a free shuttle when we were in Copenhagen in July on Silhouette. There was a charge for Stockholm and Skagen but we walked. 

We also had free shuttle when we were in Copenhagen in July.  In fact, Apex (our cruise) was docked right next to Silhouette.

 

The shuttle to Tallinn was not free.   I don't remember how much though.  

[Baynanno1]

We were charged $12 for a shuttle some years ago - can't remember the ports.

 

Haven't required a shuttle on recent cruises, so can't comment on current practice.

 

Shuttle from ship through a busy working port to the port entry should not be charged.

Usually insisted on due to potential danger if walking - and provided by the port authorities.

[tigervixxxen]

I wish there was an easy way to have all this info handy. Cruise lines don’t advertise ahead of time there will be a basic shuttle and it would be good to know for planning purposes. Content creators make tons of videos about cruising and cruise ships but very little about the ports themselves. Some advertised cities are hours away by bus, some need a short shuttles to get to the city, some just need a tram to get through the shipyard (these are usually free). 
 

I’ll add one, there’s a shuttle to the city of La Rochelle in France. I think it was $20pp for about a 10-15 minute ride. 

[barneyboy]

9 hours ago, lostchild said:

We also had free shuttle when we were in Copenhagen in July.  In fact, Apex (our cruise) was docked right next to Silhouette.

 

The shuttle to Tallinn was not free.   I don't remember how much though.  

Yes I remember now that the Apex was next to us in Copenhagen. We just walked in Tallinn as it wasn’t far. 

[weacat]

We were on the July 19th Apex sailing that had an overnight in Copenhagen.  The shuttle was $20 a day.  We decided to use public transportation.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

39 minutes ago, weacat said:

We were on the July 19th Apex sailing that had an overnight in Copenhagen.  The shuttle was $20 a day.  We decided to use public transportation.

It must have been docked in a different place. There was NOTHING around us other that the Sky Princess (our next cruise) and the Silhouette (Our cruise after that. 😜). No public transportation anywhere. Maybe that’s the trigger. 

[lostchild]

It was free when it was docked at Oceankaj Terminal 2.   It's about 3.8 miles from the New King Square where the drop off is located.  I have it all on my Google Map Location history.  The bus ride takes about 30 minutes, but could be waiting 10 min for the bus to be full.   Even though coming back is also free, we always rode back on Taxi or Viggo app.   Viggo is all EV all the time.  Most of the normal taxi there are EVs as well.   I think one way is about 12 to 15 euro, so $20 per day for the shuttle is still pretty good deal.   I actually saw people walking, pretty sure is to the cruise terminal because there is really nothing there.   I am not sure why they choose walking as there are only 2 ships there, Apex and Silhouette, and both offered free shuttles.   

[Wineaux007]

Brisbane has a new cruise terminal out in the middle of nowhere.  Hope they provide shuttles into town.

[AlbertasRose]

We have recently booked a Celebrity Cruise that will be stopping at ports in Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and Ponta Delgada.  Does anyone have any insights as to if these ports have shuttles into town (Or if we even need a shuttle)?  Thanks in advance!