Looking for information on Oslo Norway

[John&Betty1539128129]

Hello,

 

There is a map of Oslo under “Photos” below. We will be there next May 19th on the Constellation. Can anyone tell us where the cruise ship dock is? Any other information would be helpful also.

 

Thanks,

John & Betty

[Globaliser]

 

I've put the map itself up here so that anyone else who's switched signatures off can see it more easily.

 

Most cruise ships dock just to the west of the Akershus Fortress, sort of just above the "e" of Akershus. As you can see, it's really convenient for the city.

[M&T]

Hi! Your ship may dock right below Akershus Castle. Below is some information I posted in another thread if you are wanting ideas about Oslo.

In Oslo, we love the Viking ship museum and Norwegian Folk Museum. We enjoy the old buildings and the Stave Church. To get there, you take a ferry from the pier in front of city hall. The first time we were in Oslo we had a city tour which included Vigeland Sculpture Park and the city hall. Also, we wanted to see Munch's The Scream, so we went to the art museum. We also went to the Kon Tiki and Fram Museums.

 

For our trip in July, we plan to go to Akershus Castle and maybe the Domkirke. We have not been to either of these sites. Since this is our third time in Oslo, we thought it was time to see these.

My husband and I like historical sites, interesting architecture, and beautiful scenery. The summer of 2003 we took the Norwegian Coastal Voyage up the entire coast of Norway. It was fabulous!

 

Photofoot in the Baltic ports thread mentioned catching a city bus tour right off the ship that included Akershus, Vigeland and the Viking ships at half the price of the Princess tours. That sounds pretty good for persons wanting a tour.

[celem]

The Constellation docked right by the castle.

 

Here is my journal entry for Oslo:

 

July 15, 2004, Oslo, Norway

$1 = 6.844 NOK

- Docks at 8:30AM, departs 4PM

- This turned out to be a very rushed port. Trying to fit in the requisite museums and still fulfill Gail's desire to shop at this last port of the cruise, created some anxiety.

- Immediately left the ship and walked to the TI in the shipside tourist stores. She advised that the nearest ATM was a beyond the Public Ferry to Bygdøy, where the ship museums and Folk museum reside. The ATM gave me a 500 Kroner note, so we had to go inside to get it changed into smaller notes.

- Walked back to the Public Ferry to Bygdøy and caught the 9:15AM ferry.

- The Fram museum was somewhat interesting. I expected the ship to be of steel, but it was wood. It was built strong enough and provisioned to be deliberately locked in the artic ice shelf for five years. The purpose was to prove that the ice shelf flows just like water. They were successful, emerging after 3 years.

- The Viking museum at Bygdøy was nowhere near as interesting as the Viking museum at Roskilge, Denmark. The Viking ships at Bygdøy were better preserved, but just as Rick Steves said, the Viking museum at Roskilge, Denmark was far more interesting, especially with the reproduction long ship under authentic construction.

- Went to the Folk museum at Bygdøy. Interesting, especially seeing the ghetto apartments that would be similar to what Gail's Grandfather may have lived in. It was somewhat like Williamsburg with reenactment workers in period dress.

- Caught the #30 bus to the city. Gail passed the time waiting for the bus by talking to one of Oslo's members of the lower ladder rung of society. He had a beer in his hand and lots of conversation to spare - some a bit crude.

- Lunch was traditional Smorebrød open-faced sandwiches and weinerbrød (danish) and a "Kranseke" pastry ring of baked marzipan.

- Walked to the Northeast side of downtown to visit two recommended sweater shops, one by Rick Steves and the other by both Rick Steves and the ship. First, however, we visited the Oslo Domkirke (church).

- Gail purchased a sweater vest at the Oslo Sweater Shop. They were very helpful and the selection was large. While there is a smaller Oslo Sweater Shop at the shipside market, the main store near the Oslo Domkirke had a larger selection and no crowd of shoppers. The stores at the ship were a crushing mob of frenzied last minute shoppers - a madhouse.

- After walking back to the ship, Gail shopped at the shipside market while I explored the Akershus Slott og festninig (fort) next to the ship.

- With the mob thinning out as the sail time neared, we went to a nearby pub for a Norwegian beer. Afterwards, while walking through the ship-side market to reach the ship (with 5 whole minutes to spare) we entered the now empty stores and purchased a reindeer fur and still had time to get the Tax refund before reaching the gang plank a mere two minutes past the boarding deadline. (There were a few others behind us - but we were among the last)

- We went to the 11th deck to watch the sail away. Norway's Fijords are so very beautiful!

- Tonight is Formal Night, so back to the room to shower and dress.

- The food was a bit better on this night - lobster, veal Cordon Blu, baked Alaska, etc. The gala midnight buffet was at 12:15. We just took photos and retired for the night.

[Compass Rose Monica]

I'm sailing with John and Betty, along with several others (we met on a Med cruise May 2003). The unfortunate part of this trip is that we arrive in Oslo at 2pm and depart 8pm. Not enough time to see things, but just a few. If we're lucky and off the ship by 3pm, that would leave us about 4 hours. Talk about being rushed!

 

Any suggestions for a "4 hour tour" would be appreciated. Would the ships tours be better?

 

Monica :)

[eileen & jay]

Celem: Thank you for your commentary on your brief shore visit to Olso. My husband and I will be on the Constellation's July 2, 2005 cruise to Scandinavia & Russia. On our cruise, we dock in Olso at 2PM and depart at 8PM. This is a very short time (5-6 hours, if that) to see and tour the city. So, we really need a plan of exactly what sights we'll visit. Your post will be extremely helpful in formulating that plan. Thanks for posting.

 

Globaliser: Also, thank you for posting a map of the Olso area.

[Globaliser]

Globaliser: Also, thank you for posting a map of the Olso area.

Thank are really due to John&Betty, the OP, whose map it is.

 

I notice that the image has been amended slightly since I last posted to this thread. So that there is no confusion, the place that most cruise ships dock is not where it currently says "Cruise ship dock?" (currently showing on the eastern side of the peninsula where the Akershus Fortress is located) - although, confusingly, some ships do appear to dock over there.

 

The dock is actually on the western side of that peninsula, to the northwest of that label. Below the City Hall, there is a street name that starts "Frog...". Immediately below those letters, there are a number of "fingers" pointing south - these are the ferry jetties for the town ferries. The cruise ship dock used by most ships is on the western side of that bay, just a little further away from the City Hall, near where the shoreline cuts back in.

[John&Betty1539128129]

Hi Globaliser,

 

Thanks for the input. Take a look at the map and see if that is where you meant the ship docks. I wonder if there are 2 places cruise ships dock? I keep reading that it docks “right across the street from the Akershus Fortress.”

 

Take a look at my other maps and let me know if you see anything in the wrong place. If you have “signatures” turned off just click on our name, “View Public Profile” and when it comes up click on “Photos.”

[Globaliser]

Take a look at the map and see if that is where you meant the ship docks. I wonder if there are 2 places cruise ships dock? I keep reading that it docks “right across the street from the Akershus Fortress.”

There are indeed two places where they dock. The more easterly location which you have flagged is one of them; it's where one of the AIDA ships was docked the morning that I returned to Oslo after my Jewel of the Seas cruise.

 

However, we docked at the place where I understand most cruise ships to dock. I think I got my east and west mixed up in my last post - many apologies. If you have a look at the map below, what I meant was roughly where the legend "Akershuskai Sondre" is written. The word "Radhuset" is written where the City Hall is located.

 

 

To relate it better to your map, it's roughly where the letters "Akers..." in the road name "Akershusstranda" are on your map. This is another map from the same mapping service but at a larger scale:-

 

 

I'm afraid I can't help with the other locations, though - sorry!

[John&Betty1539128129]

Hi Globaliser,How's that?

[Globaliser]

Pretty much exactly right, now.

 

On this page, there's a photo I took of the Jewel of the Seas from the Aker Brygge side of the bay (see the lower map of the two that I posted in my last post). You can see the Akershus Castle complex on the hill behind her.

[celem]

On our July, 2004 cruise the Celebrity Constellation docked right next to the Fortress, in fact so close that you could have thrown stones at the Fortress and hit the Fortress wall and I can't throw very far.

[John&Betty1539128129]

Great picture! Thanks for the help. The only one of these ports We've been to is Dover. We're getting the rest of the stuff from the Internet and Auto Route.

[nny92825100]

One of the sites I would not miss is the Vigland (Frogner) Sculpture park. I was very impressed. We got off the ship, walked into town,which was a few blocks and bought tram tickets at the visitor center, which just happens to have an ATM, hopped the tram and got off right in front of the park. To really view the park, I would count on at least an hour and I would try do it in good light.

 

Olso was beautiful and in the spring I had never seen so many lilac bushes. They covered the Oslo Fjiord so don't miss watching that when coming in and leaving. I loved the fort, sitting in side walk cafe's down town, and driving towards the palace and embassy row. Oslo was so beautiful that we hope to go back again. It really was a pleasant surprise just like all the Baltic cities. Personally, I didn't care much for St. Petersburg, however the palaces and Hermitage were wonderful. You just didn't have the freedom to walk around and soak up the culture like you do in the other cities. Tallinn is also a real jewel and save your money you were planning on spending in Russia and buy the same things for a fraction of the price.

[Compass Rose Monica]

...Tallinn is also a real jewel and save your money you were planning on spending in Russia and buy the same things for a fraction of the price.

Good morning!

 

Does your shopping suggestions also include the Russian nesting dolls and amber? What other items?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Monica :p

[nny92825100]

I bought my Amber in Tallin as they had the most beautiful yellow colored type that I liked. The had the more dark gold colored "stones" too. I found the prices to just be better (be sure to bargain and be willing to walk away. They come down right away then) on everything I bought. I had bought some nesting dolls in St. Pete at the RO store and then the ship had better prices on better quality dolls, so bought some more. By time I got to Tallin I had more than I would ever need so did not price them out. I bought a beautiful hand knit childs sweater in Finland for 85 Euroes and an almost identical one in Tallin was equal to $25. The three long hand knit stocking caps came to a little under $20, a nice watercolor (about 12 x 18) was $12. Lunch at Olde Hansa including appetizer, entree, dessert, beer, the menu for a souvineer, and tip for three was under $60. We bought other items like birchwood trivets, Christmas ornaments that were little nesting dolls, tshirts and everything was reasonable. Way cheaper than here. There is an ATM right before you walk in Olde Town. We took out the equivalent of $60 and paid for everything except lunch with that, including a few amber stones.

[Compass Rose Monica]

Thanks for the shopping information! Did you buy amber in the kiosks in the streets or in a store?

 

I'm looking forward to my trip!

 

Monica :)

[Petert]

I have a couple of photos of the Oslo Harbor and the City Hall taken from the eastern side of the harbor , and from the western side of the Akershus castle. The City Hall is the brick buildings with the clock tower. Will try to post the photos if some one is interested, and has a place to post them.

 

Peter

[John&Betty1539128129]

Hi Peter,

 

Why don't you e-mail them to me at johnbetty@jbglenn.com. I'll see if I can post them.

[nny92825100]

I bought the Amber in a store that had all Amber jewlery and free stones. I was just a little leary about the outside markets. Copenhagen has great Amber in a shop right where the Jewell docked. I thought it was expensive, but they sure had a captive audience.

[John&Betty1539128129]

Hi Peter,

Your pictures came out fine. I posted 2 of them under "Photos."

[woodofpine]

The Holmenkollen Hotel is a short walk to the world famous ski jump through a wooded national sports park. It is an ageing blowsy sort of place as you can imagine since the Nazi occupation authorities selected it as an officers quarters in WWII (they "picked" at gun point the nice places) and in 1971 it still had small security German pill boxes at the entrance to the hotel grounds (probably gone now) and a major in-mountain air raid bunker behind the hotel that hotel staff used - probably still do - as their dumpster location point.

 

The Cloudberries (a yellow arctic raspberry) and creme in the restaurant and the "cool" military stuff on the grounds I still remember vividly. Whether it has declined or shown in recent years I don't know. I is NOT downtown but easily accessable to the city and in an nice and touristic area of it own right (the ski jumpt and museum). For WWII buff the Norwegian Resistance Museum is a eye opener (Heroes of Telemark) and such - the Nazis were a brutal bunch and the Norwegians made life tough for them.