JollyFish

21 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

…

Geiranger was sunny and beautiful.

…

I watched Silver Dawn at Geiranger on a live stream in YouTube yesterday.   I was a bit surprised that it was tendering there, instead of docking per Geiranger Cruise Port schedule I found online.  
 

Were you expecting tendering there?  Or was it a change of plan, and why?

TIA.

2 hours ago, Mimala said:

I was glad I had an opportunity to ask   I was also confused

… and I was really, really glad that you had read my post and cared to shed some light. 🙏

1 hour ago, Mimala said:

When I was on the Meraviglia, I stopped by future cruises desk to ask about the Hellesylt/Geiringer stop and was told they will arrive Hellesylt at 9 am to drop off people with excursions and then go to Geiringer arriving at 11 am so hope that helps answer any questions.  This was for the sailing August 12 from Kiel

Thanks for the info.

Your info confirms the additional research I did online.  The port of call of Euribia at Hellesylt/Geiranger this year is rather confusing.  Out of the 16 sailings in the region, 10 of them follow the schedule you described and the other 6 will dock at Hellesylt from 9am and 8 pm.  The rule of thumb should be to trust the itinerary published at the MSC website for each sailing, supplemented with the 11am arrival info at Geiranger from you for those sailings that have the port of call marked as Hellesylt/Geiranger. 
 

Thanks again. 

4 hours ago, Preziosa said:

I Will let you know How They Will handle Geiranger.

Thanks.  Looking forward to your information.  

On 5/4/2023 at 1:34 PM, Preziosa said:

I Will try to put some words here during the Cruise.

Hi Preziosa,
 

How do you plan for the excursions at Hellesylt/Geiranger?  Have you signed up for any offered by MSC?

I will be sailing a few weeks later than yours.  I am assuming that Euribia will be docking at Hellesylt 9am-8pm, so I have booked round trip local ferry rides between Hellesylt and Geiranger and a bus tour to 2 view points at Geiranger. 
 

Up to now, the MSC website still says the ship will visit Hellesylt/Geiranger which traditionally means the ship will stop at Hellesylt to let out some tourists who have booked excursions from there and then the ship continue to sail to Geiranger.  All excursions posted at the MSC site seem to be based on this but I don’t think it is true. 
 

Could you drop a note to clarify the above issue once you know the detail before/during your sailing?  TIA. 

On 5/17/2023 at 5:58 PM, Travels with Lisa said:

We will be disembarking in Copenhagen.  Would you recommend a taxi, private shuttle or Uber to our hotel?

 

TIA

Will be embarking and disembarking at Copenhagen in July, from California.

Based on the research I did, there is a Uber-like service Viggo in Copenhagen.  You need to download its app first.   This is the transportation option I would like to use to/from the cruise terminal. 

Good to hear from someone who will be on the maiden voyage.  Some friends and my DW+myself will be on this ship 3 weeks after you do.  Hope all ship operations will be running smoothly for you. 

Do you plan to log some notes here during your sailing?  Up to now, the MSC website still says that the ship will make a port call at Hellesylt/Geiranger, but what I can find everywhere else online says the ship will dock at Hellesylt 9am-8pm. I am betting the latter is correct and have planned excursions accordingly. 

You probably already knew about this - MSC Cruises announced that the naming ceremony for its newest ship, the MSC Euribia, will take place on June 8, 2023, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/02/msc-cruises-to-launch-msc-euribia-in-copenhagen/

One more question:

On the (super) Meraviglia class ships, are there more than one broadway shows in the theater, or is it the same show every evening?

TIA.

Booked on a July 2023 sailing to Norway fjords. First time cruiser on MSC. 

So far the “MSC for Me” app doesn’t know anything about Euribia and won’t allow me to sign in with my booking number.  I’d bet that Euribia is a smart ship and it’s a matter of time before it is supported. 
 

My first question is, once MSC for Me supports this ship, based on past experience on other smart ships, would I be able to pre-book entertainment/shows with it?

May have more questions later.   TIA. 

Thanks to hallasm for your prompt response. One more question if I may. 
 

If I get the DOT Billetter app on my iPhone, may I buy a Copenhagen 24-hour pass good for airport to city and inner city (up to Oceankaj) transportation for multiple persons if we always move together?

TIA. 

P.S.  I embarked/disembarked and spent a few days pre-cruise in Copenhagen several years ago for a Baltic cruise, so I have a good orientation about the city and feel comfortable in using public transportation there. 

Found the cruise terminal on both July 2nd and 9th for MSC Euribia at cmport.com. It will be Oceankaj C333 (Terminal #3). Sorry about the noise.

I guess the free shuttle from the Orientkaj metro station would be the best option to reach Terminal #3 for embarkation. 

What would be the taxi fare from Oceankaj to CPH, ballpark figure, please ?

Haven’t posted anything here for a few years since the pandemic started. Hope I am doing it correctly. 🤞

Four of us will be arriving at CPH on July 1st, 2023.  We plan to stay at ProfilHotel right next to the central station.  We will be boarding MSC Euribia the next day, and returning on July 9th and go to CPH.   A few questions:
 

Which cruise terminal will the embarkation and disembarkation be at?  Is there a web page/link I can check for these as the sailing days get closer?

Will bus #25 be going to oceankaj around the time of the subject sailing?  How about the free shuttle bus?

What is a sensible way to go from CPH to the central station, with a one-day pass to ride the train, or Viggo electrical car for 4 with luggages?

TIA. 

Lynn,

I found a live webcam of Schwerin Castle and saw a big crane next to it. However, that shouldn't stop you from visiting it. The castle and the surrounding lake are beautiful and I guess you will find some angles where no construction is in sight. See https://www.webcamgalore.com/webcam/Germany/Schwerin/4755.html .

Several years ago, with great help from travelanni, I took train between Rostock and Schwerin in a group of 4 persons (great deal for the train tickets). The inside of the castle and palace turned museum is nice but there are many similar ones in Europe. The lake between the train station and the town center, the ground/garden of the castle, the lake around it are great and unique scenery. The cafe at the ground level with tables outside is nice too.

If you do go there and have no mobility problem, then try go in the south south west direction to the end of a long cross-shaped pool and look back at the castle. It should be a Kodak moment.

Hope you get nice weather for the visit.

Very useful information Jollyfish. Thank you.

 

We are the opposite to you in that we are planning to go to Oia later in the day since our ship doesn't leave until 10pm so wanted to get there after the morning crowds have dispersed.

 

Did you happen to notice whether the boat to Oia runs all day - or at least until around lunchtime?

 

Thanks

I don't know how late the boat would run, but I did hear that the bus from Oia to Fira ran 4 times at 11 am, noon, 1 pm and 2 pm.

...

The ship I will be on will tender at Santorini on June 17th at 7 am along with two other cruise ships at the same time, and one more at 9 am. Taking a speedboat to Oia is my plan. I will give an update afterward. I plan to pay the boat fare when I get there instead of making an advanced reservation.

...

[/url]

Sorry about the delay in getting this update posted. Everything below is based on our experience at Santorini on July 17, 2015.

There were 5 cruise ships anchored off Santorini that day, with over 10,000 passenger load. Our ship Celebrity Equinox was one of the early arrivals, and we were on the first tender boat at 7 am and it took about 10 minutes to reach the pier. When the tender docked, it was right in front of a store for "Speedboat to Oia" for 15 euro pp. It is toward the left end of the pier. A couple stores to its right, I saw another sign for similar service at 8 euro, but the guy there told me that due to safety concern with the heavy traffic, their boat was not running (go figure). So I bought the ticket for 15 euro and found out that the first boat wouldn't depart until 8 AM. Around this time, the gondola line was running with little waiting, so there weren't a lot of people for the speedboat.

Around 8:10, the speedboat departed. It wasn't crowded so we sat on the upper deck. Nice scenery and ride.

It took about 20 minutes to get close to the pier below Oia. Then we saw a sail/motor boat there re-fueling and took the pier space. Our boat waited for until that sail boat pulled out and we docked. That's around 8:40. After walking up a short distance, a bus was waiting there taking us up to Oia. At this time, I counted 36 tourists who got on this bus. Before the bus reached its stop to let us off, it passed the main parking lot and I saw about 6 or 7 tour buses already there. We got off the bus and someone from the bus/tour company pointed us in the right direction for touring the town. The problem is, those narrow streets already had a lot of people, I guess from the tour buses and those who took taxi or local bus from Fira while we were waiting for the speedboat.

After touring the town, including a photo stop at the Oia Castle and a break at a coffee/ice cream shop on the edge of the cliff, we went back to where we got off the bus (see photo below) for the first bus to Fira at 11 AM. Natually, the crowd had gotten even bigger.

Overall, no compliant for the "Speedboat to Oia service". However, my main goal of reaching Oia before the crowd was hardly met. I used to think the shore excursion from the ship might stop at a winery before going for Oia. That's why I wanted to take the speedboat. It seemed to me that one of the excursion from Celebrity started at 7 AM and went to Oia as the first stop. With the on board credit we had, taking the excursion from the ship wouldn't have cost us much anyway.

Well, maybe next time.

That is really confusing news as I have been told by several tour companies that the boat service was illegal and has been stopped and there is a court action going on! Now, I am unsure what to do as we were hoping to get this boat service again this year and have been looking at other alternatives but it looks like it is still running, albeit a small schedule at the moment.

My guess is that those "several tour companies" know that once you decide to go with the boat to Oia, it's a business opportunity they lost. ;)

The ship I will be on will tender at Santorini on June 17th at 7 am along with two other cruise ships at the same time, and one more at 9 am. Taking a speedboat to Oia is my plan. I will give an update afterward. I plan to pay the boat fare when I get there instead of making an advanced reservation.

Disclaimer: This is my first visit to Santorini, so the above opinion is the result of my homework and judgement call.

P.S. If you will be touring a place where the holy month of Ramadan is observed, such as Istanbul, between June 18 and July 19, 2015, you may want to read a thread I started recently - Holy month of Ramadan: June 18 - July 16 (up to 19), 2015

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan is a special time. It is followed by the three-day national holiday of Ramadan Bayramı (July 16 - 19).

Consider yourself fortunate if your cruise ship happens to dock at Istanbul during this period. If you want to know why, read on.

I will be travelling to Istanbul in June 2015 so I have been doing some research of the places I will visit. From an earlier post at Cruise Critic, I learned about Rick Steves' Audio Europe free app for smart phones, so I downloaded it along with most of the audio clips for Turkey. It's really a treasure trove of information that anyone planning to travel to Europe should look into.

There is a dialog in the "Istanbul by night" segment that talked about Ramadan in Istanbul. From that, I learned that one should be considered fortunate and privileged to be in Istanbul during that period. So I went online to find out when Ramadan is this year. The date in the title is what I found. It turned out that I am fortunate enough to be there for a whole day. In the spirit of Ramadan, I'd like to share this information with others.

If you want to learn more about the interesting things you will experience during that time, there are two ways to hear the dialog I heard:

1. Download the free Rick Steves' Audio Europe app to your smart phone and then download "Istanbul by night" segment and listen to the part that begins at the 07:00 mark (i.e. 7 minutes into the clip). Hopefully, you will download many other segments and listen to them as well.
   
2. Go to this web page at ricksteves.com Program 215a: Open Phones: ..., Istanbul By Night and listen to the part that begins at the 40:00 mark.
   

If you want to learn about the fasting practice during Ramadan and the etiquette over that period of time, listen to the "Turkey Travel Tips I" segment with Audio Europe beginning at the 9:08 mark for about 3+ minutes. Hopefully, you will listen to the entire segment later. I cannot find an equivalent audio segment online at ricksteves.com.

If you have participated in one of the roll calls for a ship with cruisers that are "fortunate", please feel free to post a pointer to this. This message may be useful to travelers visiting other ports such as Kusadasi/Ephesus as well, but probably not as much as those visiting Istanbul.

There are some older threads at Cruise Critic web site about Ramadan, but AFAIK, nothing yet this year. If you want to look up the older messages, just search for "Ramadan"

Happy cruising.

Hi,

May I ask where you stayed while in Copenhagen and if you would recommend that hotel?

 

Thanks!

 

Harriet

My DW and I stayed at the Ascot Hotel, about 1/3 mile from the Central Station, a short walk if your luggage is easy to roll. It is close to Tivoli, City Hall, Stroget, Bus #26, #11A, etc.

It cost us about US$215 per night - not bad for a central Copenhagen location. We had a room facing inside so it was very quiet. No A/C. With one window pane open, we felt pretty comfortable, but that was in June - YMMV. The room is small, the beds was comfortable. A very good breakfast buffet is included and that made us feel it is a very good deal.

Is the Sand Sculpture Festival going on this year as it has the past two years?

The short answer is "no".

I recently cruised in the Baltic region from June 6 to 15 and spent a total of 4 days in Copenhagen before and after the cruise. Thanks to Danish Viking's helpful messages, I had a good time there and visited many attractions in and around that wonderful city.

Several months earlier, I saw some statements at a web site (http://www.worldguide.eu/) saying that there would be a sand sculpture festival this year again. I was very happy because it would be one more thing to see, and free with the Copenhagen Card I was going to purchase.

When I was in Copenhagen, there was no trace of this event - up and down the canal where it was supposed to be held. When I got home, I checked that web site again and noticed that the page has been updated to say basically not this year, but hopefully in 2015. You can see the full text at http:// http://www.worldguide.eu/wg/index.php?StoryID=178&ArticleID=9267.

Hey!!

Does anyone know if we will be sailing under the Oresund Bridge during our departure??? I think it will be really cool to see from the water and sail under it.:)

I was on Norwegian Star for the June 6th cruise. It sailed northward after leaving the Oceankaj pier. So I believe you won't sail under the Øresund Bridge.

However, you will sail by the Kronborg Castle about 2 hours after leaving C330. Here is a picture of it from the ship, hazy with 29X zoom.

To Danish Viking and all...

 

Thanks so much. Let me give a quick report on the transfers to my Norwegian Star cruise on 06 June. ...

 

So the next day I did the metro to Kogens Nytor, caught the 0919 bus (wanted to get there early and avoid crowded bus) ...

I was on the same bus, but got on earlier at Hovedbanegården (central train station) around 9:07.

Since many have asked in this thread how luggage can be stored on the bus, I decided to take a picture inside the bus when it was fairly well loaded.

Did I catch you in the picture? :D

Got off Norwegian Star on Sunday June 15 around 9 am. From the ship, I saw 2 bus #26 waiting at the bus stop and some cruise ship passengers walked toward and got on them.

My party of 4 ended up taking a taxi from Oceankaj Terminal 1 (C331) to Hotel Kong Arthur for around DKK$170.

I have no idea whether bus 26 would be going in the other direction (city center to UNICEF) on weekend or not.

...

Day 3 looks wonderful and can be done by train all the way.

 

My favourite version is to start in Hillerød and the Frederiksborg Palace and end in Helsingør/Elsinore with Kronborg Castle and/or maritime museum because the trains going back to Copenhagen are more comfy and thats good after a long day. :D

 

Its the same Øresund trains that also runs between the airport an central station.

 

From Copenhagen to Hillerød you just take S-train line E, it terminates in Hillerød so you can´t go wrong.

 

From Hillerød to Helsingør you just take the lokalbanen train.

 

I can make a more detailed route plan if you want to.

...

Thanks a lot for the detailed info.

I have been pondering about how to do the Copenhagen-Frederiskborg Palace-Kronborg Castle loop, clockwise or counter clockwise. Your tip about going back in a more comfortable (Øresund) train made it an easy decision for me.

I think I got plenty helpful information from you already. There is no need for more detailed route plan, but thanks for the offering anyway.

Replaced "metro" with "S-tog". Kept getting mixed up with the different forms of transportation for a place I have never been to.

The ship will depart from Oceankaj C330 on June 6, Friday, so we should be okay with bus #26 to Unicef. The ship will be back to C330 on June 15th, Sunday. Since I have read messages from you before about the lack of bus service from Unicef on weekend, we plan to take a taxi to the Nordhavn station then take S-tog to the hotel near Norreport.

 

I double checked the web site of Glyptoteket (http://www.glyptoteket.dk/) and confirmed that it is free on Sunday (the day we disembark from the ship). We could also try to visit it earlier when our Copenhagen Card was effective as long as we could spare the time.

 

Thanks a lot for the help.