Oslo on your own??

[gostars]

:confused: Will be sailing the Baltics in August and none of the ship's excursions sound too interesting. Any suggestions for self touring? Is Oslo easy to get around on your own? Are their any fjord boat tours that leave near the ship dock? Any suggestions for what to see in town?

 

Thank you! :)

[TLCOhio]

:confused: Will be sailing the Baltics in August and none of the ship's excursions sound too interesting. Any suggestions for self touring? Is Oslo easy to get around on your own? Are their any fjord boat tours that leave near the ship dock? Any suggestions for what to see in town?

Thank you! :)

 

We'll be visiting Oslo on July 26. From everything we've been told, things are very easy and handy to do Oslo on your own. You'll dock in a close and beautiful location right next to the Akershus Fortress within an easy distance to many top locations. I believe there is a tourism office right there, too. Oslo is a city of only 500,000, so it is much more manageable than some other larger cities where you dock in the more industrial port sections. What types of things do you seek to see and do in Oslo? Below are some notes I wrote up earlier on Oslo and Norway history/background.

 

On the Oslo Resistance Museum at the Akershus Fortress near where most of the cruise ships dock, I had lunch in May with the former U.S. Ambassador to Norway. He gave me very detailed and extremely positive comments on this Resistance Museum. It is extremely well done in its layout/design, plus being very moving on the human aspects of what those in Norway had to deal with during the difficult Germany occupation.

 

From our U.S. perspective, we miss much of the historic naval positioning of Denmark and Norway to what Hitler was planning and needing for his access out of the Baltics in order to reach the Atlantic, Britain, etc., in their war efforts. Norway was also needed and vital as Hitler sought the easier access to the Swedish iron ore deposits that were so important to his war efforts. Sweden managed to stay "neutral" during the WWII.

 

Sailing into Oslo on our cruise ships, we will see a key part of that Norway history first hand at the most narrowing point of the Oslofijord. Not only is this ship routing totally unique and beautiful, but we will pass right by the site of the Oscarsborg Fortress. This is where the sinking of the German cruiser Blücher happened on the first day of the invasion, April 9, 1940. Both the Oscarsborg guns and the secret, underwater torpedo battery worked flawlessly (German made, in part). It threw back and delayed the German naval forces heading for their efforts to seize Oslo. This provided vital time to save the Norwegian King and government from being taken prisoner, leading to better resistance during WWII. Lots of interesting history there in Oslo and Norway!

 

I also learned from the former Ambassador (who was there 2002-2005) that the King in Norway is not just a mere figurehead. He chairs the Council of State/Cabinet meetings every Friday. Since he was age 18 as the Crown Prince, he was attending these important government meetings. Then when his father died in 1991, he became King and chaired these weekly sessions. This role for their King, as detailed in their Constitution, makes him more than just an old-fashioned royalty showpiece. With Norway's oil wealth, this has made this nation much more important on the world stage with a very high standard of living. King Harald V is the first Norway King born in their land since 1370. At times in history, Norway was a part of Denmark and Sweden, till being restored as an independent Kingdom in 1905. Their current King was educated at Oxford, married a commoner and spent part of World War II living in the United States. He was born in 1933 and is a popular and well-connected figure to the people of Norway. Their son, the current Crown Prince, also married a commoner and attended public schools for his early education.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Essiesmom]

Here is an earlier thread about Oslo...I plan to print out some of it as I will be in Oslo in August also. EM

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=795892

[PLG3]

We found Oslo a very easy city to get around. We were there in September '07 and while the weather was not the best, in and out of showers (but we didn't melt) and some sun (especially when we departed,) we very much enjoyed our visit.

 

Our ship was docked directly opposite the Akershus festning (fortress) so we had a very easy walk into town. Armed with our various maps and Rick Steves' tour book, off we went. Our first stop was City Hall, right on the water front -- a very interesting building (beautiful/interesting tile work.) We got as far as the Royal Palace, Parliament, back down to the waterfront (Grand Hotel), and finally through Akershus Fortress.

 

The cruise through the Oslo Fjord was beautiful and as Terry (TLCOhio) noted, you get a great view of the Oscarsborg Fortress.

 

Here's a link to a few of my "snaps" from our visit to Oslo -

 

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Paul in NoVA

[TLCOhio]

The cruise through the Oslo Fjord was beautiful and as Terry (TLCOhio) noted, you get a great view of the Oscarsborg Fortress. Here's a link to a few of my "snaps" from our visit to Oslo -

 

 

Paul in NoVA

 

THANKS, Paul, for a great grouping of nice pictures! How easy or hard was it doing your picture upload on Flickr? How did their operation and ease of use compare with some of the other picture sites? Terry in Ohio

[gostars]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

Terry in Ohio-we would like to see the usual sites: fortress you mentioned, Viking Museum, Kon Tiki, the sculpture park, and just get a feel of the city itself. And shopping of course! Our ship is docked on Aug 4 from 7 am-4 pm. Does the Oslo Pass cover the ferry to some of the museums?

[kaisatsu]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

Terry in Ohio-we would like to see the usual sites: fortress you mentioned, Viking Museum, Kon Tiki, the sculpture park, and just get a feel of the city itself. And shopping of course! Our ship is docked on Aug 4 from 7 am-4 pm. Does the Oslo Pass cover the ferry to some of the museums?

 

The Oslo Pass absolutely covers the ferry to the Bygdøy peninsula and its museums! It covers all of the local ferries as well as the buses, tram, and subway.

 

It can be a little tricky to get directly from there to the Vigelands Sculpture Park, though. If you don't want to go back into town first, your best bet is to take the bus #30 to Olav Kyrres plass and switch to the bus #20.

 

As the previous posters have all mentioned, it's extremely simple to navigate Oslo on your own, especially if you have a transit pass. The city itself is extremely compact, so you can even get around a lot of it on foot.

 

For general information about things to see and how to get around, I made a Google map of the cruise port information a while ago. You might find it useful: Oslo Cruise Port Guide

 

As for shopping, remember that this is Norway, and everything is extremely expensive! ;) That especially goes for food. The cost of eating out is outrageous, so eat a big breakfast before you leave the ship and consider bringing along some snacks. We just did a cruise of the Norwegian coast on the QE2, and our fellow passengers were all starving when they got back to the ship every day, because they couldn't bring themselves to pay that much for food on shore! (One idea is with the ship docked in such a central location, you might consider stopping back for lunch on board!)

[PLG3]

THANKS, Paul, for a great grouping of nice pictures! How easy or hard was it doing your picture upload on Flickr? How did their operation and ease of use compare with some of the other picture sites? Terry in Ohio

 

Hi Terry -

 

Thank you for the comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures from Oslo taken on our Baltic cruise last fall.

 

With regard to your question on Flickr ease of use, I don't have any experience with the other sites (PBase, SmugMug, etc) so my comments are limited to Flickr. IMO, uploading pictures to Flickr is very easy. They have a downloadable application that allows you to "drag and drop" pictures to be uploaded to the site. You can also identify the specific "set" you want the pictures to go into, set tags for the entire upload and / or picture-by-picture, and enter any comments you want to make.

 

For example for my "collection" of pictures from our Baltic cruise, I did an upload for each of the 14 sets of pictures you see (e.g., "Trip Over", "Transiting Kiel Canal", "Tallinn, Estonia", etc.) This was so I could have pictures go into a specific new set and set the same tags for each of the pictures in a given set. I also decided to limit the number of pictures I wanted to upload, trying to stay under 20 pictures per day. Well, I broke that rule a few times but not so badly that you get bored looking through all the pictures in any given set. I should only hope!

 

Here's the link to my whole (Flickr) "collection" of "sets" of pictures from the Baltic -

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoney_g/collections/72157605242491794/

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

 

Paul in NoVA

[TLCOhio]

For example for my "collection" of pictures from our Baltic cruise, I did an upload for each of the 14 sets of pictures you see (e.g., "Trip Over", "Transiting Kiel Canal", "Tallinn, Estonia", etc.) This was so I could have pictures go into a specific new set and set the same tags for each of the pictures in a given set. I also decided to limit the number of pictures I wanted to upload, trying to stay under 20 pictures per day. Paul in NoVA

 

THANKS, Paul, for the various pictures! We leave from Dover and will see many of your key cities, except your stops in Germany. Especially loved the pictures of Tallinn! That town really seems and looks like the historic and charming Germany Romantic Road town of Rothenburg that we loved so much. We hear and know lots about Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, etc. It seems that Tallinn is a real "sleeper" and surprise. Seeing all of the pictures helps "visualize" and think about the photo angles I will want to capture when visiting there. Enjoyed seeing all of your pictures and getting ready for the fun, excitement and action! Terry in Ohio

[chicago641]

we were in Oslo port last week. Based on the reports here i expected to be able to walk into town or at least Akerhaus. Beware not all ships dock in this port! we were on MSC Lirica which docks about 7 miles away in a commercial dock. The nearest tourist type landmark was the new opera house, which was about 5 miles down the road.

Once we got to the city the subway was really easy to use.

We visited the Sceam and Ackerhouse and the resistance muesuem.

[TLCOhio]

we were in Oslo port last week. Based on the reports here i expected to be able to walk into town or at least Akerhaus. Beware not all ships dock in this port! we were on MSC Lirica which docks about 7 miles away in a commercial dock. The nearest tourist type landmark was the new opera house, which was about 5 miles down the road.

Once we got to the city the subway was really easy to use.

We visited the Sceam and Ackerhouse and the resistance muesuem.

 

Maybe it was the size of your ship for that docking. Your ships holds 2200 passenger, plus a crew of 700. There was only one other ship, the Constellation, in port that day in Oslo. That ship has 2000 passengers and a crew of 1000. Our ship has only 900 passengers and maybe that smaller size can fit better at this prime, closer location near the Fortress. Assume you liked the Resistance Museum and felt it was worth the time, right? Any other special tips or suggestions from your visit to Oslo?

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[kaisatsu]

we were in Oslo port last week. Based on the reports here i expected to be able to walk into town or at least Akerhaus. Beware not all ships dock in this port! we were on MSC Lirica which docks about 7 miles away in a commercial dock. The nearest tourist type landmark was the new opera house, which was about 5 miles down the road.

Once we got to the city the subway was really easy to use.

We visited the Sceam and Ackerhouse and the resistance muesuem.

Akershuskai and Vippetangen are the two main cruise ports that most ships use. When people talk about docking right downtown, these are usually the two quays they mean. (I don't think it has anything to do with the size, because the massive 154K-ton, 3600-passenger Independence of the Seas docked downtown at Akershuskai earlier this year.) You can find out where you're ship is scheduled to dock by checking the Oslo Port Authority schedule:

http://www.ohv.oslo.no/cgi-bin/ohv/imaker?id=1&method=visCruiseanlop&utvidet=1&aarets=1&sprakid=3295

 

According to the schedule, the MSC Lirica was scheduled to dock at Sørengutstikkeren. According to my city map, that's just east of the new opera house, about 800m by road (including the length of the pier). I marked that location on my Google Map of the Oslo ports. Even the most distant cruise pier of Sjursøya is only a few miles south of the opera. Do you think you might have docked somewhere else? I (and probably a lot of future cruisers) would be really interested to know if the Port Authority schedule isn't always correct!

 

Also, I'm curious to know if there was a shuttle into town from the container pier? For the eastern piers, even the closest bus stops seem very far away.

 

-Meg

[TLCOhio]

Akershuskai and Vippetangen are the two main cruise ports that most ships use. When people talk about docking right downtown, these are usually the two quays they mean. (I don't think it has anything to do with the size, because the massive 154K-ton, 3600-passenger Independence of the Seas docked downtown at Akershuskai earlier this year.) You can find out where you're ship is scheduled to dock by checking the Oslo Port Authority schedule:

http://www.ohv.oslo.no/cgi-bin/ohv/imaker?id=1&method=visCruiseanlop&utvidet=1&aarets=1&sprakid=3295

-Meg

 

THANKS for this link! Our July 26 docking on the Crystal Symphony is scheduled at Akershuskal. That's where the Symphony docked in June. I was able to see that docking on the ship's bridgecam, plus the port webcams. As I understand that would be at the prime spot next to the Fortress. The new Eurodam and Rotterdam would be in Oslo on the same day, but each will be at a different docking point per that schedule. Hard to figure out the "why" for what docks where. Glad that we appear to be in the better position. Terry in Ohio

[chicago641]

Im not sure of the name of the place we docked, but it was deffinately not a cruise ship slot. The dock was for commercial use. We walked between a aisle of shipping containers stacked three and four high!

there was not a oslo bus from there but the ship sold a transfer for 5 crown each way to the city center.