Question: Regal day of embarkment

We are new to cruising, so please be patient with the silly questions...

Check in time is between 1-5 on Aug 6 (Regal Princess). Sail time is set for 6. We arrive in Copenhagen the day before just before noon and would like to see some of the sights that day and possibly on embarkment day.

Is it better to board early or late?

Also, may have made a mistake when selecting room. We are on the marina deck (m326) and it appears there is a bar immediately above us on the lido deck. Has anyone stayed in that area of the ship before? I'm hoping with how port intensive this trip will be means people will be going to bed early! Haha :) If not, won't make that mistake again...live and learn.

As far as your stateroom goes, it is slightly forward of the seaview bar. Probably will be deck chairs over your stateroom. I think you will be ok, but in the future you want to reserve a stateroom with staterooms both above and below you. As far as location you might want a lower deck 9-12, but forward, mid, or aft, is a very personal decision.

If you want to do as much sightseeing as possible, I would make sure to stay near Tivoli area; would get up pretty early on embarkation day and do sightseeing in the morning and get to the port to board around 1-2pm. This gives you a chance to get a bite to eat, and look around the ship before sail away.

Pooh

We will be boarding the Regal on Sept 8 and have the same hours listed to board as you do. We wondered the same thing. We will be in Copenhagen for 3 days, but not sure if we want to board early or later. Also, as our sailing will be part of the trip before-you can book from Saint Petersburg to New York- we don't know how many folks will still be onboard and just a handful of us newbies joining or if there will be a lot of us. Any hints? We have never been on a cruise where almost everyone did not disembark, so this is new to us.

We will be boarding the Regal on Sept 8 and have the same hours listed to board as you do. We wondered the same thing. We will be in Copenhagen for 3 days, but not sure if we want to board early or later. Also, as our sailing will be part of the trip before-you can book from Saint Petersburg to New York- we don't know how many folks will still be onboard and just a handful of us newbies joining or if there will be a lot of us. Any hints? We have never been on a cruise where almost everyone did not disembark, so this is new to us.

We did the Baltic and then the crossing in 2014. Probably half the passengers remained on board after Copenhagen for the Transatlantic. Almost no one books from St. Petersburgh, just a few. Americans and most from Europe have to get individual Russian visas to enter Russia and board there, too complicated. Also flights to St. Petersburgh are not simple. Most passengers board in Copenhagen just like you. Some board in Warnemunde because the wish to tour Berlin pre-cruise. You will not notice any difference when passengers board at various ports vs. cruises when passengers can only board at a single port. The only thing you may notice are special musters announced for those who just boarded.

So lets talk about sight seeing the day of embarkation. The Port is not centrally located and is somewhat out of the way from the main tourist areas in Copenhagen. For those staying at a centrally located local hotel, they would be better off leaving their luggage at the hotel (you can have your luggage securely stored the day you check-out) and doing their sight seeing before heading to the port and ship. Do make sure that you do go to the Port at least a couple of hours before you must be aboard. When we have embarked in Copenhagen it has been relatively easy because a fair number of passengers were already on the ship (doing back-to-back) which does cut down on the numbers that must go through the embarkation procedures. For those heading to the port on their own and carrying luggage, a taxi makes the most sense. Copenhagen taxis do accept major credit cards but its considered proper to tell your drive you are going to be using a credit card...as soon as you enter the taxi. They will sometimes pre-authorize your card at that time...and other times they do not bother.

One caveat is that you need to know which port (there are 3). The actual port should be specified in your cruise documents. It can become frustrating and expensive if you find yourself driving around Copenhagen searching for the proper port. While Oceankaj seems to be the most frequently used port for embarkations, there are always exceptions to the rule :).

Hank

Stay at the hilton at the airport and take a train downtown.If you take a princess transfer to the ship ,you just walk back to the arrivals area for a transfer.

long cruiser

Thanks for the useful info.

I would do as others have suggested, sightsee on embarkation day and then head over to the ship mid afternoon. You will be tired on arrival day, so this will give you added time in this beautiful city. We enjoyed a boat cruise from the Nyasham area. If the Regal is docked where we docked there is absolutely nothing around, so once you are on the ship plan to stay on.

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We are on board now and boarded on the 4th at Oceankaj. We boarded shortly after noon as we had already spent five days in Copenhagen. I would take every opportunity to see the city so store the luggage, see the sites and plan to board by mid-afternoon. Muster drill was at 4:30PM.

Stay at the hilton at the airport and take a train downtown.If you take a princess transfer to the ship ,you just walk back to the arrivals area for a transfer.

long cruiser

While we are no fans of the downtown hotel options there is no way we would recommend that anyone stay out by the airport...unless they were catching an early morning flight. Spending one or more nights in a decent city hotel is much more convenient as a base to explore the city. We really liked being within walking distance to many places...and especially our favorite little restaurant (Brasserie Degas). After a night on the town the last thing we want to do is take a train all the way out to near the airport.

Hank

While we are no fans of the downtown hotel options there is no way we would recommend that anyone stay out by the airport...unless they were catching an early morning flight. Spending one or more nights in a decent city hotel is much more convenient as a base to explore the city. We really liked being within walking distance to many places...and especially our favorite little restaurant (Brasserie Degas). After a night on the town the last thing we want to do is take a train all the way out to near the airport.

 

Hank

We are staying at the radisson blu. Not ideal, but close enough that the metro/train can quickly get us to most parts of the city.

After doing some research, I think the best option for the day we arrive is to take a relaxing boat ride from nyhavn and grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants there.

We are new to cruising, so please be patient with the silly questions...

 

Check in time is between 1-5 on Aug 6 (Regal Princess). Sail time is set for 6. We arrive in Copenhagen the day before just before noon and would like to see some of the sights that day and possibly on embarkment day.

 

Is it better to board early or late?

 

Also, may have made a mistake when selecting room. We are on the marina deck (m326) and it appears there is a bar immediately above us on the lido deck. Has anyone stayed in that area of the ship before? I'm hoping with how port intensive this trip will be means people will be going to bed early! Haha :) If not, won't make that mistake again...live and learn.

We always try to board as early as possible, have lunch, then go back off the ship to do some more sightseeing!

Oceankaj is where regal docks as the other dock is designed for day calls. There are 3 identical buildings there is signage indicate which building regal be at . You will enter the building and drop off your luggage (there May be a line for this and you have to put the bag on the belt yourself . If you need tags the counter is just outside the door after bag drop Your walk to the other end of the building where you will clear security and check in. As there is no overhead gangway you will board from the dock level With the forward cabin is using the forward gangway and aft cabins using the midship gangway signs will indicate which gangway is closer to your cabin. Once on the ship a elevator will be waiting to take you up. If you want to move between decks after boarding I recommend using the aft elevators As most elevators Forward and mid are blocked for embarkation expect only 1 or 2 open on these banks. Unlike other ships in the fleet regal uses crew elevators for luggage handling instead of the aft elevator bank only one elevator in forward bank is blocked in Germany and Russia when passengers embark there. I arrived at about 1230 And found lines to be short except for the baggage drop line. That was the longest line I encountered on the embarkation. Disembarkation and finding a taxi was easyBe aware that princess will send a letter around warning people taxis are hard to find here that was not true as I saw a continuous stream of taxis arriving at the Port they are trying to sell their transfer by using scare tactics

We took the train then bus to port. Very easy. We just asked at a tourist booth they gave us directions. Our hotel was by the train station

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