I live in Copenhagen - can give advice

[bigwally]

Fly.

 

it's pretty cheap between CPH and Amsterdam.

 

For my time and money though, I prefer flying. :D

 

 

But watch out for a trap in the form of lousy intra-Europe baggage allowances, which could easily double or triple the cost of your flight once you add in excess baggage charges!

[cruzqueen]

It seems like flying woudl be best; I thought Copenhagen was across the water. So you are able to ride a train and drive? I had no idea.

 

Which train system is used?

[Danish viking]

The best train to take is the direct Night train from Amsterdam Centraal to Copenhagen Central (København H)

 

But normal trains are also an option but you have to change trains at least 2 times in Germany (Hamburg and somewhere around the Ruhr area)

 

try www.db.de and search Amsterdam and Copenhagen and date and time of departure or arrival.

[CruisinEurope]

It seems like flying woudl be best; I thought Copenhagen was across the water. So you are able to ride a train and drive? I had no idea.

 

Which train system is used?

 

 

They do have bridges here. :p (sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

As DV said - the night train is what I would suggest if you want to do that. SUPER easy!

 

And - as someone above also posted - if you DO choose to fly, be sure to keep an eye on luggage restrictions.

 

We only fly SAS and other Star Alliance members, so luggage has never been a problem for us (even within Europe). But some of the cheap-o discount lines DO charge a lot for baggage.

 

 

We LOVED Amsterdam when we visited! When will you be there? Any chance in time for the tulips?? That's where we're headed this spring!

[cruzqueen]

They do have bridges here. :p (sorry, couldn't resist!) QUOTE]

 

 

Come on now! I thought it was quite a ways across...

 

 

SAS appears to be only $51 RT when we want to go. We are looking at Mid May.

[CruisinEurope]

They do have bridges here. :p (sorry, couldn't resist!) QUOTE]

 

 

Come on now! I thought it was quite a ways across...

 

 

SAS appears to be only $51 RT when we want to go. We are looking at Mid May.

 

 

LOL

 

It's the Baltics. Driving from country to country is like going through New England :D

 

I'd grab that SAS flight - as you can't even take the train for that cheap!

[Danish viking]

If you want to buy cheap train tickets you can from www.dsb.dk buy the Orange Europe tickets.

But buy them in good time.

 

 

Daytrain 1264 dkk for 2 persons or probably cheaper at www.db.de

 

The trip takes 11-12 hours and can look like this and you can take it several times a day

 

Amsterdam Zuid/Rai - Osnabrück - Intercity

Osnabrück - Hamburg - ICE

Hamburg - Copenhagen - ICE

 

Night train 1703 dkk for 2 persons with DSB and 29 or 119 euro with the Deutsche Bahn.

CNL City Night Line

19:01 Amsterdam Centraal

09:59 Copenhagen

 

http://www.citynightline.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/index.shtml

[bigwally]

I'd grab that SAS flight - as you can't even take the train for that cheap!

 

But watch out for luggage!

 

SAS only allows one checked bag of 20kg/44lbs, and charges €11/kg for excess between non-Scandinavian countries in Europe. Which means, if you were to have a second bag weighing another 20kg, your ticket is now going to cost you ~$620 r/t! :eek:

 

See, this is what I was talking about, and I specifically had SAS in mind when I mentioned it.

 

Of course, if you can travel with just one 44lb bag for a 11 or 12 cruise plus, potentially, a couple of days either side...... ;)

[cr1]

Danish viking, thank you so much for your suggestions! I will bring the list of places with me, and hope we'll have a chance to located them before we cruise since we're staying 2 nights prior to our cruise. You've been a great help!!:)

[bigwally]

Cruzqueen, what is your actual itinerary and do you have your transatlantic flights booked already (and with whom)?

[CruisinEurope]

If you want to buy cheap train tickets you can from www.dsb.dk buy the Orange Europe tickets.

But buy them in good time.

 

 

Daytrain 1264 dkk for 2 persons or probably cheaper at www.db.de

 

The trip takes 11-12 hours and can look like this and you can take it several times a day

 

Amsterdam Zuid/Rai - Osnabrück - Intercity

Osnabrück - Hamburg - ICE

Hamburg - Copenhagen - ICE

 

Night train 1703 dkk for 2 persons with DSB and 29 or 119 euro with the Deutsche Bahn.

CNL City Night Line

19:01 Amsterdam Centraal

09:59 Copenhagen

 

http://www.citynightline.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/index.shtml

 

 

Just so you guys know - the current rate of exchange is around 5.5 right now.

 

So take the 1703dkk and divide by 5 and you get $340.60 for 2 ppl.

 

And have to eat up a lot of time traveling.

 

 

Whereas the SAS flight is only $102 for 2 people and only takes an hour or so in the air.

[CruisinEurope]

 

But watch out for luggage!

 

SAS only allows one checked bag of 20kg/44lbs, and charges €11/kg for excess between non-Scandinavian countries in Europe. Which means, if you were to have a second bag weighing another 20kg, your ticket is now going to cost you ~$620 r/t! :eek:

 

See, this is what I was talking about, and I specifically had SAS in mind when I mentioned it.

 

Of course, if you can travel with just one 44lb bag for a 11 or 12 cruise plus, potentially, a couple of days either side...... ;)

 

But you DO still get to have a carry on ... and that can be pretty substantial.

 

We packed recently for a 12 night cruise (just back!) for our family of 4 and WAYYYYY over packed.

 

We were FINE with our luggage weight (even though DH was VERY worried).

 

Get one of those little handy luggage scale things and just get creative when packing. No need to hand over those ridiculous extra luggage fares.

 

That's what ship's laundries are for :D

[bigwally]

We travel heavy...two large checked bags each, plus a substantial carry-on, is the norm for us. Especially for a cruise, where we also take formal wear.

 

I don't want to deal with laundry on vaction. Even if it's only stuffing it into a bag for someone else to deal with.

[CruisinEurope]

We travel heavy...two large checked bags each, plus a substantial carry-on, is the norm for us. Especially for a cruise, where we also take formal wear.

 

I don't want to deal with laundry on vaction. Even if it's only stuffing it into a bag for someone else to deal with.

 

 

LOL :D

 

And just to balance things out I'll throw in that we travel LIGHT. 4 of us only needing 2 decent sized roller bags and a back pack carry on.

 

Not sure how that helps the OP - - but I am more than happy to play along. :D

[bigwally]

I would like to hear about what the OP has planned right now.

 

I was thinking that perhaps we can offer an itinerary that would give the US to Europe baggage allowance for the whole trip (ie: xxx-CPH-AMS, where CPH is a layover for the duration of the cruise on the return); or perhaps suggest upgrading to another cabin class and increasing the baggage allowance that way; or finding a place to store some baggage in CPH instead of toting it all to AMS and back.

 

What we did for our cruise (Rotterdam to Copenhagen) is book BA open jaw, LAX-LHR-AMS on the inbound and then LHR-LAX on the return, and then a one-way ticket from CPH-LHR. The baggage allowance on BA is equally skimpy for the intra-Europe flight EXCEPT that they charge a flat fee of £25 (approximately $37 as of now) for each additonal bag weighing up to 23kg/50lbs. I'm not saying that this would work for the OP, but $37 for an additional checked bag is a bargain by most European airlines standards.

[msmoger]

We are staying overnight in Copenhagen after we disembark from our cruise on the Emerald on 9/23. We plan on staying in a city center hotel overnight. There are 2 of us and our flight is scheduled for 10:00 AM the next morning. I'm figuring we should check-in at the airport by around 8:00. How much time should we allow for a taxi ride at that hour? BTW, 9/24 is a Thursday.

 

Also, approximately how much do you think it might cost?

 

Thanks,

[CruisinEurope]

We are staying overnight in Copenhagen after we disembark from our cruise on the Emerald on 9/23. We plan on staying in a city center hotel overnight. There are 2 of us and our flight is scheduled for 10:00 AM the next morning. I'm figuring we should check-in at the airport by around 8:00. How much time should we allow for a taxi ride at that hour? BTW, 9/24 is a Thursday.

 

Also, approximately how much do you think it might cost?

 

Thanks,

 

 

i'd give yourselves an hour to be safe.

 

if you can, you can search this thread for "taxi, airport" to get all the figures that we've bantered about. I can't remember off hand, but I THINK it's around $40 (ish). Do the search and see what DV and I have said earlier - and take that # though. LOL

[bigwally]

i'd give yourselves an hour to be safe.

 

if you can, you can search this thread for "taxi, airport" to get all the figures that we've bantered about. I can't remember off hand, but I THINK it's around $40 (ish).

 

I booked Codan taxi for our trip between freeport and the Marriott and then the trip from the Marriott to the airport. They have a rate breakdown on their web site, and from that I came up with approximately 110DKK ($19) from freeport to downtown and 220DKK ($39) from downtown to airport (USD equivalents at today's exchange rate).

[msmoger]

i'd give yourselves an hour to be safe.

 

if you can, you can search this thread for "taxi, airport" to get all the figures that we've bantered about. I can't remember off hand, but I THINK it's around $40 (ish). Do the search and see what DV and I have said earlier - and take that # though. LOL

 

I booked Codan taxi for our trip between freeport and the Marriott and then the trip from the Marriott to the airport. They have a rate breakdown on their web site, and from that I came up with approximately 110DKK ($19) from freeport to downtown and 220DKK ($39) from downtown to airport (USD equivalents at today's exchange rate).

 

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to take both pieces of advice.

[spate]

Hi and thanks for all the info,

 

We will be in CPH for 3 days starting 7/23/09. From the posts I've read it appears we can buy the 3 day card and use it to take transportation from the airport to our hotel (The Square) and then at the end to the port to get on our ship. Is this correct and what mode of transportation is recommended doing this using the card...bus, subway or train?

 

thx again!

[Danish viking]

The CPH Card covers all transportation systems in Copenhagen and it is best to take the airport train to the central station and walk to the square.

[fun_seeker]

There are 2 of us and our flight is scheduled for 10:00 AM the next morning. I'm figuring we should check-in at the airport by around 8:00.

If you go to the Copenhagen Airport website http://www.cph.dk/CPH/UK/MAIN/Before+Departure/, you will see the suggested check-in times for each airline. JMY2C

 

[topekacruiser]

We'll be in Copenhagen on the NCL Jewel on Sunday, May 24. Will we have problems with things being closed, or opening later on a Sunday? What's the best plan for a family with 2 teens if we have to plan around some things being closed, or opening after noon?

[msmoger]

If you go to the Copenhagen Airport website http://www.cph.dk/CPH/UK/MAIN/Before+Departure/, you will see the suggested check-in times for each airline. JMY2C

 

 

Thanks, this is very helpful.

[CruisinEurope]

We'll be in Copenhagen on the NCL Jewel on Sunday, May 24. Will we have problems with things being closed, or opening later on a Sunday? What's the best plan for a family with 2 teens if we have to plan around some things being closed, or opening after noon?

 

it will depend on WHAT you want to see. If you could give me some insight - I can help you out better.