Stockholm Card

[farm girl]

I ordered a Stockholm card via the internet about 2 weeks ago. Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the card.? We leave next week.

Thank You

[spuds]

I received my card approx 2 weeks after I ordered it.... I would think you should be getting it soon.

[mmmmm]

I received my card in a couple of weeks, too.

[JodiBB]

I think we got ours in 1 to 2 weeks as well....

[m2inor]

I ordered 3 on July 8, a Saturday.

 

Received them in Oregon, yesterday, July 17.

 

Fast service indeed.

[msconstrued]

Can a Stockholm Card be purchased at the port or is ordering online ahead of time advisable? Thanks for any help.

[JodiBB]

You can purchase the card at a TI in port and possibly for a lower price. We liked getting ours in advance, as it gave us time to plan what we wanted to see and do, what trams/busses we needed to get there, etc.

[sumguy1]

I dont think it is any cheaper at the port. The only card I know is Oslo's which is offered 20% cheaper if bought at the Tourists Info office only at the port.

[Henna7999]

After ordering my card on-line, I received my card in just over a week. I'm very glad I ordered the card in advance - it allowed me to plan an extensive itinerary. With the card in advance, you'll discover what you want to visit, where it's located, the hours of operation, how to get there, etc. There are also things that are free with the card, and obtaining it in advance allows you to set an itinerary to include the free items (i.e. free canal ride but only the 10 a.m. sailing with the card). The cards allow free admission to a lot of places and free public transportation.

 

There are maps and public transportation info in the back of the booklet that comes with the card. After much review of the book, I typed up an itinerary to include what we would visit, when we would visit, what bus we had to take to get there, where and what time we had to catch the bus, etc. If I couldn't find the info in the book, I just e-mailed the Stockholm tourist office. They were quick to respond with an answer to my question (and I also made sure I mentioned in my e-mail that I had already purchased the Stockholm card).

 

One note of caution, there is a little risk in pre-purchasing the card - if the ship doesn't dock where you thought it was suppose to dock. That happened to us in Stockholm. Fortunately, by having the card in advance and studying the maps, I was familiar enough with the city's layout that I was able to reverse my itinerary and things worked out fine.

 

So with pre-planning, you can maximize the use of your card. Personally, I felt that if I did not order in advance and familiarize myself with the city, I would not have been able to take advantage of a lot of the things that the card offers.

 

Good luck, be safe and have fun!

[JodiBB]

One note of caution, there is a little risk in pre-purchasing the card - if the ship doesn't dock where you thought it was suppose to dock. That happened to us in Stockholm. Fortunately, by having the card in advance and studying the maps, I was familiar enough with the city's layout that I was able to reverse my itinerary and things worked out fine.

This can be quite a surprise! I actually contacted the cruiseline to ask them exactly where we would be docking ahead of time so we could plan accordingly...this isn't a guarantee, but it did help lessen the chance of any surprises.

[Henna7999]

You are correct - there are no guarantees! I called the cruise line twice before we left - once about 1 week prior to departure. I was told we would dock at Frihamnen in Stockholm. So I had my itinerary all worked out from that port. I even asked at the desk once we were on board so that I could verify the information and would have no surprises.

 

It wasn't until the night prior to arrival in Stockholm that I noticed on the Freestyle Daily newsletter that it listed us docking in Stadsgarten. So I just reversed my itinerary from that direction and things worked out fine.

 

I was actually glad we docked in Stadsgarten. I felt we could walk/take public transportation more easily from this location that Frihamnen - as best as I could tell from the maps.

 

We had a similar experience in Helsinki in terms of switched ports. Again I was told numerous times by NCL that we would dock at Katajanokka in Helsinki. That port is in the heart of the city center and you can easily walk anywhere from that port. But we actually docked at Hernesaari Cruise Berth (Munkkisaari). That was quite a surprise to me when we arrived in Helsinki.

 

Unfortunately, we were not able to maximize the use of our card as well in Helsinki. Since we were docked so far away from city center, that kind of invalidated the savings we would have enjoyed with the Helsinki Card. We now had to pay for the shuttle to/from city center instead of being able to walk, as well as not being able to take the free city tour that we were already scheduled for, and was free with the Helsinki card. Since the free city tour (utilizing the Helsinki Card) was from 2-3:30 p.m. and the last shuttle bus back to the ship departed at 3:30 about 1/2 mile from the end of the city tour, we had to pay for a city tour in the a.m. (there were no free city tours utilizing the Helsinki card in the a.m.) That was disappointing, but such is life. We did utilize the card on the ferry to Suomenlinna Island and enjoyed that very much, but we didn't get our $ worth as much in Helsinki as we did in Stockholm.

 

There are definitely pros and cons to ordering the city cards prior to arrival, but I still have not regrets. I learned a lot about the city prior to arrival and felt I had a pretty good feel for the layout of the cities and what they had to offer prior to arrival.

[farm girl]

We just got back from our cruise. I loved having my Stockholm card in hand. We took the 4.00 each way transportation provided by the ship to the center of town.

From there we walked to the ferry boat area to take the boat to the Vasa Museum. We did not want to wait until 10am for the next boat so we took the #47 bus. Go there first. We were there by 9:30am and were able to see everything. Others went around 10:30am and were turned away because it was full.

After that, we got back on the 47 bus and went to Prins Eugens home to see his garden which is very pretty and relaxing.

Then we got back on the 47 bus and got off after crossing the bridge to go to the Historiska Museum to see the Gold Room. A few tours were in there by then.

Then we got on the next bus going towards town so we could catch the the #62 bus to the boat tour area. The boat tour is ok (free with your card). You see how the locals relax. After that, we got on the #53 or #65 bus which goes near Konserthuset (where the Nobel Prize Ceremony is held). After that we saw a very large shopping street that went all the way back to town without cars so we walked back down and took the shuttle back to the ship.

We used our Stockholm for everything except food. It was great. I did not realize where the boat was docket (near Kaknastornet-the TV tower)until it was too late. We could have taken the #69 bus right off the ship had I known. It would have taken us to the bridge where the Vasa Museum is located.

Have a great time. We needed more time!.

Then we