Excursion Times Outside Port Time?

[AlpineBliss]

Hi All, I have booked the Scandinavian taster, leaving Southampton on May 19. The port time in Oslo is 1pm-10pm. Many of the excursions on offer leave early morning. Am I to assume these are intended for other cruises that get into port earlier? It’s odd that I can add them to the shopping basket, I guess they rely on the customer making the right choice?

[Parrottdizes]

One time I had 2 excursions that looked to leave before the ship docked.........Princess did change the excursion time on both excursions to start after we docked. The new time was reflected on the excursion tickets that were in our cabin. 

If the excursion has both morning and afternoon times, go with the one that corresponds with when the ship is in port........that way you don't have to worry about your excursion being canceled if the other one is over booked. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, AlpineBliss said:

Hi All, I have booked the Scandinavian taster, leaving Southampton on May 19. The port time in Oslo is 1pm-10pm. Many of the excursions on offer leave early morning. Am I to assume these are intended for other cruises that get into port earlier? It’s odd that I can add them to the shopping basket, I guess they rely on the customer making the right choice?

I assume you meant the "Scandinavian Sampler" cruise.  I went to that cruise to try and investigate but it would not let me see any times since I was not booked.  If you are referring to "official" Princess excursions...then it sounds like it's just a typo.  If that is in fact the true port time then you're not going to be offered excursions that leave before the ship even arrives.

 

Oh...and Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

 

Edited January 7 by Rick&Jeannie

[AlpineBliss]

22 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I assume you meant the "Scandinavian Sampler" cruise.  I went to that cruise to try and investigate but it would not let me see any times since I was not booked.  If you are referring to "official" Princess excursions...then it sounds like it's just a typo.  If that is in fact the true port time then you're not going to be offered excursions that leave before the ship even arrives.

 

Oh...and Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

 

Hi, yes I meant Sampler. The times are quoted the same throughout the Princess website and in the app. The ship time in Oslo is 1pm-10pm, with many of the excursions leaving between 8-9am, with no alternative time slots! To be honest I think I’m going to do my own thing there and book the Best Of Skagen tour in Denmark.

[Paula_MacFan]

This doesn't answer your question (sorry I'm stumped on that one too) but we just visited Oslo on our Sept/Oct Island Princess cruise and it was a very easy port to do on our own.  For other ports where we had to travel a long distance to our preferred activity (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam) we used Princess excursions.  But for Oslo I couldn't find a tour that covered everything we wanted to do, so I made our own.  I used Google maps to make an itineray for our day and we had a great time.  So given that I don't know what you had in mind there, I'd suggest you consider exploring on your own.  Oslo has good public transit and tourist transport options, and it's a very walkable port. 

 

Good luck in whatever you decide and have a great cruise! 🙂 

[Rick&Jeannie]

We visited Oslo in 2022 as part of the "Oktoberfest" cruise.  The excursion we went on included a visit to the "Open Air Museum" which was quite interesting.  It is an outdoor historical representation of life throughout various ages in Norway.  Also, visited was the HUGE Olympic ski jump "Holmenkollen".

 

[AlpineBliss]

2 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

This doesn't answer your question (sorry I'm stumped on that one too) but we just visited Oslo on our Sept/Oct Island Princess cruise and it was a very easy port to do on our own.  For other ports where we had to travel a long distance to our preferred activity (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam) we used Princess excursions.  But for Oslo I couldn't find a tour that covered everything we wanted to do, so I made our own.  I used Google maps to make an itineray for our day and we had a great time.  So given that I don't know what you had in mind there, I'd suggest you consider exploring on your own.  Oslo has good public transit and tourist transport options, and it's a very walkable port. 

 

Good luck in whatever you decide and have a great cruise! 🙂 

Thanks for the reply, I need to research Oslo to decide what to do, but very good to know its ease for autonomy.

[AlpineBliss]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We visited Oslo in 2022 as part of the "Oktoberfest" cruise.  The excursion we went on included a visit to the "Open Air Museum" which was quite interesting.  It is an outdoor historical representation of life throughout various ages in Norway.  Also, visited was the HUGE Olympic ski jump "Holmenkollen".

 

Thanks for the reply, those are some great pictures. That excursion is one that is on offer that starts way before our quoted port time. Just looking at that ski jump makes me 🤢🤮

[charliedalrymple]

1 hour ago, AlpineBliss said:

Just looking at that ski jump makes me 🤢🤮

 

You get a great view of the city from atop the ski jump--although there are quite a few stairs to reach it.  I recommend doing it if you are able.  I would also recommend the sculpture park, which is bit out of the centre, if memory serves.  Generally speaking, Oslo is a very walkable city.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yes, the Sculpture Park is rather interesting. We did not have time to climb to the top of the ski jump, but I got some good shots and video from the midpoint looking up the jump.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Video from midpoint of the ski jump: