??? For 2012 Ocean Princess Baltic cruisers

[SoBaycruiser]

We will be cruising the Baltic on the Ocean Princess in June 2013. I am disappointed to see that we will be docking at Vartahamnen pier in Stockhom and Freeport in Copenhagen. Neither of these piers are convenient to downtown or on the HOHO bus route.

 

Did the Ocean use these piers last year? If so did they provide any kind of shuttle into downtown? Was it free or did you have buy tickets? I hear these are easy DYI ports, but if one immediately has to figure out how to use public transport with a non-pin credit card, it sounds difficult.

 

It's such a shame that s small ship like the OP has been relegated to the commercial pier area rather than a cruise terminal with Tourist Information, etc.

[CruisingSwedes]

We live in Stockholm and earlier this year we cruised on RCCL vision of the seas from Vartahammen.

 

The ho ho bus was right outside when we got to the cruise dropping off people and it was right outside when we disembarked to pick up people. Maybe they adjust their schedule based on cruise ships.

 

RCCL provided a shuttle bus to the nearest subway stop which I think was free, but I'm not sure as we didn't use it.

 

If you buy the Stockholm Card you can take local transpo and get in to museums for one price. I've read on boards that you can buy this and have it mailed to you.

 

Have a great trip!

[SoBaycruiser]

We live in Stockholm and earlier this year we cruised on RCCL vision of the seas from Vartahammen.

 

The ho ho bus was right outside when we got to the cruise dropping off people and it was right outside when we disembarked to pick up people. Maybe they adjust their schedule based on cruise ships.

 

 

That is really encouraging to hear! The people on the Northern European board have been very helpful with public transport but it all sounded so intimidating without a credit card with a chip in it to use to buy tickets.

 

I look forward to hearing from others who don't live in the city as well.

[Pia1913]

We were in Copenhagen in July. Freeport pier is not inconvenient at all and the HOHO is right outside. I used regular credit card and paid on the bus.

[SoBaycruiser]

Pia,

 

Thanks. Danish Viking said that often the HOHO will stop at Freeport if there is a ship in port but it isn't on the advertised circuit. So bus 26 was suggested as a backup. That's when I started to freak out and why I wondered if the ship provided a shuttle to town. I was really hoping for Langelinie pier where you can just step off the ship in the center of town. (Supposedly that's often one of the advantages of being on a small ship)

 

Ps...did you have any problems with lines getting back onto the HOHO to get back to the ship?

[caribill]

For Stockholm we did get the Stockholm Card in advance. Using it for public transportation (public bus about 2 blocks from the ship) and admission to all we wanted to see meant we did not need any local currency that day.

 

For Copenhagen, there is a subway station about three blocks from the port entrance.

 

The Royal Caribbean credit card (no annual fee) now has chip and pin technology, so you may want to apply for one. The only downside is that there is a 3% surcharge on foreign transactions. See the lower right on the RCCL home page to apply.

[Pia1913]

No problem getting back to pier and Princess has been using Freeport for many years. Same in 2008 when we were on the Crown.