Help with Princess Oslo Tour - Fram Museum and Harbor Cruise

Hello! I've just been on the phone with Princess for 30 minutes with no assistance at all and decided to come where I always get good info - Cruise Critic!

We are booking the Fram Museum and Harbor Cruise excursion with Princess cruises and have noticed that the "Tour Overview" and "Detailed Itinerary" for this excursion do not match. On the overview it says that we travel by boat to the museum, tour the museum, and then motor coach back to the port. On the detailed itinerary it says that we motor coach to the museum, tour the museum, and the sail by boat back to the port. Since we would really like to "leave the tour" after the Fram and walk on our own over to the Viking Museum after the Fram, making our own way back to the ship, this is kind of a big deal to us.

Can someone please confirm that we do indeed sail TO the Fram and that the sailing portion of the excursion does not come at the end of the tour? Princess was less than helpful, telling me to "go by the overview... it's correct most of the time." :cool:

Thanks!

Just a suggestion, if you want to leave the tour after the Fram anyway: you could get the Oslo Pass, it includes the ferry to the island where the Fram museum is, it includes the entrance to the Fram Museum and the Viking Ship Museum amongst others (it also includes the entrance to the Folkemuseet (open-air museum), just around the corner of the Viking Ship Museum). It also includes any means of public transportation that can get you back to the ship.

I'm also pretty sure that this will be a lot cheaper than the Princess excursion :cool:.

Just a suggestion, if you want to leave the tour after the Fram anyway: you could get the Oslo Pass, it includes the ferry to the island where the Fram museum is, it includes the entrance to the Fram Museum and the Viking Ship Museum amongst others (it also includes the entrance to the Folkemuseet (open-air museum), just around the corner of the Viking Ship Museum). It also includes any means of public transportation that can get you back to the ship.

I'm also pretty sure that this will be a lot cheaper than the Princess excursion :cool:.

That might not be a bad idea, since we're in Oslo for 13 hours and we'd have a chance to see more of the things available. Do you know if we would catch the ferry right there at the cruise ship port? Thanks so much for the idea! We'd be giving up our guided boat tour around the Oslofjord, but I think we'd make it up with the Folkemuseet and the other museums, not to mention the things we can get to see that are in downtown Oslo. :)

Even if you don't want to buy the OsloPass, it's still easy to do it yourself a la carte.

The ferry pier to the Bygdøy peninsula is right in front of the city hall (5-10 minutes in front of the ship if you're docking at the main cruise pier (2017 berth assignments aren't published yet). You can buy the ticket at the office there at the pier.

The Fram Museum is right next to the second ferry stop (Bygdøynes).

To get to the Viking Ships, it's either a ~10 minute walk, or you can take the bus #30 from outside the Fram Museum to outside the Viking Ships.

From the Viking Ships back to the cruise pier, you can either walk 10 minutes straight down Huk Aveny to the Dronningen pier and catch the ferry back across the harbor, or you can take the bus #30 back to the city hall.

The nice thing about the Oslo Pass is that there are so many museums in that area that if you have the time and inclination, you have the flexibility to see whatever you want. (The open-air Norwegian Folk Museum is right next door to the Viking Ships and is one of my favorites. Especially with its iconic wooden stave church.)

As other's have said, I would research doing this on your own. It's quite easy to do and quite enjoyable.

I suspect the reason for the conflicting info in the description and overview from Princess is due to something that I frequently see on ship excursions. They often mix up the sequence of things in order to spread out the crowd at the sites (i.e. at the museum). So even on the same ship on the same day, 2 groups of the same excursion may go in opposite directions. Some will go to the museum via boat and some will go via bus. This way they all don't arrive at the same time. Furthermore, the bus that drops people off may then be the same bus that returns the people who took the boat over. So I don't think I would trust any specific sequence answer you are given. They have the right to switch the sequence of activities on excursions and frequently do just that.

Just a suggestion, if you want to leave the tour after the Fram anyway: you could get the Oslo Pass, it includes the ferry to the island where the Fram museum is, it includes the entrance to the Fram Museum and the Viking Ship Museum amongst others (it also includes the entrance to the Folkemuseet (open-air museum), just around the corner of the Viking Ship Museum). It also includes any means of public transportation that can get you back to the ship.

I'm also pretty sure that this will be a lot cheaper than the Princess excursion :cool:.

This is definitely the way to go in Oslo. An easy DIY city. You can travel all over with the variety of available transit and the pass covers virtually all of the major attractions. Do not miss the Vigeland sculpture park.

That might not be a bad idea, since we're in Oslo for 13 hours and we'd have a chance to see more of the things available. Do you know if we would catch the ferry right there at the cruise ship port? Thanks so much for the idea! We'd be giving up our guided boat tour around the Oslofjord, but I think we'd make it up with the Folkemuseet and the other museums, not to mention the things we can get to see that are in downtown Oslo. :)

If you don’t want to pass on the harbor cruise, you could also book a tour independently: you could have a look at the Oslo Pass homepage: the tour is not included in the Oslo Pass, but you get a discount with the pass.

And if you spend 13 hours in Oslo (awesome!), don’t miss out on the Holmenkollen ski jump! It's impressive and gives incredible views over the city and the fjord.

It’s a little outside the city and can be reached easily by public transportation as well.

Thank you everyone so much for your help - we have indeed decided to go it on our own in Oslo using the Oslo Pass. We also found that we can order the passes through their app, activate them using the ship's wifi before we leave the ship, and be ready to hit the road immediately. Apparently we can scan our phones at all locations and we won't even need to go pick up the actual passes anywhere! :)

Thanks again!