Where does NCL actually stop for these European ports?

[sbaker]

We have a european NCL cruise booked for this coming June.  I know that with many European cities, there are various places a cruise ship may actually port and that different cruiselines use different places, some of which may be a ways outside of the city.  We're just wondering where we'll actually get off the ship in these cities, and whether we'll be close to the town center or whether we'll need to find transportation to get into the "listed" town.  For NCL cruises, can any of you tell us what to expect for the following stops:

 

Gothenburg, Sweden

Copenhagen, Denmark

Warnemunde, Germany

Hamburg, Germany

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Zeebrugge, Belgium

LeHavre, France

 

Thanks for any NCL specific help, insights, and suggestions you can provide!

 

[JandC_Cruising]

I can answer two of these:

Zeebrugge - You disembark inside a commercial port area. There are local shuttle busses that take you out of this "active" port area to a local area where excursions and other modes of transport can begin.  You can easily get to the trains to Bruges or Brussels from there. 

LeHavre - You disembark the ship in a port area where the ship excursions busses are waiting.  You can also walk just outside the main port gates where taxis and private transport is waiting to pickup clients.  Or, you can walk 1.5 miles to the LeHavre train station. We did that 30min walk and trained to Rouen 

[debenson0723]

This was a few years ago but Gothenburg was a commercial port with NCL busses to take you into town and pick you up. Copenhagen was in town but a ways into the center of town (we disembarked there and I took a cab to my hotel as I stayed a few days but you could use an excursion bus or city bus). Warnemunde we walked off and on the ship.

Best to check the Ports of Call board for more recent information.

[MeHeartCruising]

Amsterdam cruise port is very close (walkable) to the central city area where you likely want to explore.   It is probably a 10-20 minute walk for most people.  However, if you prefer, there are public transit trams that you can hop on (with a ticket) if you don't want to do the walk.  You might also want to hop in a taxi if your destination is far enough away.  The ship will dock beside the Movenpic Hotel if you want to look for it on Google Maps.

 

Note:  Sometimes cruise lines say they are stopping in Amsterdam but actually they dock in the town of Ijmuiden.  This is usually shown as "Amsterdam (Ijmuiden)" or similar in the cruise documentation.  For of like they say "Rome (Civitavecchia)" or "Florence (Livorno)".  If you are truly in Ijmuiden, then this is not walkable to Amsterdam.  You will need to arrange transportation of some sort and from what I have read, public transit is not really an option.

Edited January 15 by MeHeartCruising

[ColdCruise]

Warnemunde - The cruise ships actually docks very close to a train station in Warnemunde. You can take the train to Rostock and other cities very easily and cheaply. You can also pick up rental cars in Warnemunde or Rostock. (Note: Our last port day here was on Prima in Sept 22)
 

There is also a cute little town center with an assortment of restaurants located across the bridge from the train station . See attached photo - the train station (DB = Deutsche Bahn) and walkable town center are circled.

Link to google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xmijQzBeQNgVQTS1A?g_st=ic

Edited January 15 by ColdCruise
Fixed font

[ColdCruise]

Copenhagen - The cruise terminal is in an industrial/commercial area. There was a HOHO bus and a city bus servicing the terminal when we disembarked from Prima in September 2022. 

A link to the port of Copenhagen website with information: https://www.cmport.com/services/cruise-ships-ferries/

 

A Link to google maps showing the location of the terminals:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/9ZcN4WeGTJPwUnzR7?g_st=ic

 

And a map the route and distance to Tivoli Garden, which is next to the main train station:

[KeithJenner]

If you are just visiting Copenhagen as a port of call, rather than embarking/disembarking there then you will probably be at Langelinie, rather than Nordhaven.

 

This is near the Little Mermaid and it is a pleasant walk into the city from there.

[ColdCruise]

Hamburg - There are multiple terminals used by cruise lines in Hamburg. We docked at Steinwerder on a non-NCL cruise, this is on the opposite side of the Elbe River and a bit inconvenient for transport into the old city (Altstadt). There was a city bus from the terminal to the old city, but it was a longish ride. (Note: Prima was scheduled to port here in Sept 2022, but NCL delayed leaving Amsterdam by 8 hours, which resulted in massive rejiggering of the first few ports of call and Hamburg got dropped).

 

Your best bet to determine which of the numerous terminal locations you will dock at is to check the Port of Hamburg website:

https://www.cruisegate-hamburg.de/en/

 - the Hamburg menu has links to pages for each terminal, which includes” public transit options, and a link to listings of what’s in port on a given day as well as the ship’s assigned berth. 
 - NCL appears to be using the Altoona terminal for Star (May 5-6) and Dawn (Jun 21-22),,that is on the left side of the map.

 

Google map of the numerous cruise terminals (the old city area circled):

It appears the terminal closest to the Altstadt (old city) and the famous Elbe Philharmonic is closed for construction (the thumbtack with no label on the edge of my red circle. If Inrecall, Prima WAS supposed to dock there on our skipped stop.

[ColdCruise]

31 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

If you are just visiting Copenhagen as a port of call, rather than embarking/disembarking there then you will probably be at Langelinie, rather than Nordhaven.

 

This is near the Little Mermaid and it is a pleasant walk into the city from there.

Thanks for that info! The Copenhagen Langelinie terminal is SO much more convenient.

A comparison from the port authority’s web site, the 2 terminals circled:

 

I was pretty disappointed with several of NCL’s port decisions or choices (if they had a say, suspect they do as I’ve read costs vary) for Prima’s first paying cruise - most were inconvenient for accessing the named city, especially Stockholm.  Would have thought they’d spring for prime terminal space in downtown areas to show off this beautiful new ship design!
 

For “Stockholm”, we were actually docked in Nynäshamn …2 hours by public transit from Stockholm, basically forcing you to use NCL shoreEx…which was VERY expensive.  That exact port stop was a very late change and originally we were supposed to be in Stockholm proper for an overnight stay, vice 2 hours away for a regular single day. I will say that Nynäshamn was a nice port area and they had lots of literature of things to do in the immediate vicinity.still the terminal was a distance from the town itself, probably more a hike than a walk.

Edited January 15 by ColdCruise