BJS

BJS;

 

The airport is perhaps 60 kilometers , at most, away, not 60 miles!

 

In Copenhagen, the R ships normally are docked on the Langenlinen very near The Little Mermaid, whereas the Marina typically docks in a more commercial area for larger ships farther out in Nord Haven. Always tell the taxi driver specifically which dock you want. I think they sometimes get confused between the ships and where each docks. I’ve seen both the Nautica and Marina in town at the same time, or one leaving and the other arriving, at separate docks , on consecutive days.

Thank you for your help.

I did recheck the distance to the airport and it appears to be about 43 km.

I will confirm which dock the ship will be departing from but assume that since it is the Marinia it will possibly be Oceankaj Port in Nordhavn.

I would imagine the Nautica for our return to Copenhagen might dock at either of the ports so should we want to do anything other than finding a taxi to the airport when we disembark I will also try to obtain that information before making any arrangements.

FWIW, we had absolutely no problem getting to the port at Copenhagen.

 

I think we took a shuttle that our hotel offered for a reasonable price, seemed to be around 30 dollars for the two of us.

 

What airport are you talking about in Stockholm, most information I see says about 25-30 miles?

Thank you for your response.

The airport is ARN and I rechecked the distance from Frihamnen dock which I am assuming is where the Marina will dock and it is approximately 27 miles.

The confirmation about getting to the port at Copenhagen is most appreciated. We will also check about a shuttle to the port from our hotel.

Given that you are arriving in CPH, we had a problem with our cab driver going to the cruise port in 2016. We were coming from a hotel stay and were told which port we were at but our driver couldn't find it. So we drove around the port a lot! We did find the ship, it just took a while.

 

Never had that problem in the opposite direction ...

 

It was still cheaper than a ship transfer, assuming we could have had one ... which we could not have had under those circumstances!

 

A pity you aren't spending time in Stockholm ... unless, of course, you have been there before! Dublin is also wonderful.

 

Mura

Yes, agree about Stockholm - we have been there and Dublin before several times.

I am hoping in Copenhagen from the hotel to the pier we will not have your experience. Maybe they will be able to give us a berth number to help the cab driver find it easier when we arrive at the port..unless he wants to keep the meter running longer.

When we disembarked in Stockholm a couple of years ago, there were plenty of cabs available and plenty of cab police and signs giving the price for airport or in town hotel since there had been disputes widely reported on the internet. It was way less expensive than O transportation even when the cab driver tried for a little more.

Thank you for sharing. This was the port I was most concerned about because it is apparently 60 miles from the airport.

Never take an o transfer. It is a huge multiple of even a private car service. Eg 200 for o, 60 for private car. It’s insane

 

 

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Thank you for this advice. We will follow it.

Also worth checking on the roll call for your cruises to see if anyone else wanted to share the cost of a taxi/ mini van.

Thank you for your suggestion.

No roll call for the Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise- I started one.

Roll call for Dublin to Copenhagen has 2 others that will be on the Nautica from previous cruise.

Will keep checking roll calls in future maybe someone else will join up.

I can't remember when we used an "O" transfer. Maybe if we were a long way away and there weren't other options (and can't remember any such). We usually take a cab or order a car service. And we usually are doing a deviation as well where we probably don't have the option of an "O" transfer, although since we haven't tried I could be wrong on that score!

 

If you are coming in on a regular "O" flight (arriving on the day) it COULD be reasonable ... but check what they are charging.

 

If you are taking one of the hotel packages offered by "O" then usually the transfer is included.

 

If we're talking Copenhagen and Stockholm (I admit I didn't notice that until I looked at previous answers again), a cab is your best bet.

 

Mura

Thank you for your answers.

We are doing our own air and hotels.

These are 2 Oceania cruises. The first we will fly in a day early to Copenhagen get a hotel night and then embark the Marina. That cruise disembarks in Stockholm and we will go to the airport and fly to Dublin. In Dublin we will have a hotel night then embark on the Nautica. That cruise disembarks in Copenhagen and we fly home from there.

On occasion with other cruise lines we have returned to the airport from a pre-cruise hotel stay and taken their transfers to the port but looking at O's transfers they seem very expensive.

Does anyone have any experience with the availability of taxi service from the port to the airport in these cities?

We evaluate O transfers based on the particular port. For example, are local taxis readily available at dockside, do they have a “bad reputation”, etc. Sometimes the more expensive option is the best option.

Thank you. I will now have to try and find out if taxis are available in Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Any advice on Oceania transfers?

Are taxi fares much cheaper?

Looking at what Oceania wants in Copenhagen and what I see for taxi fares it looks like the transfer is double the taxi fare and for 2 people that makes it 4 times as expensive.

Thank your for the help "Oceania Newbie"

I guess it might,...... its just that in 50 years neither I have , or my family has, never experienced any..world wide..

Same with us in 58 years.

Never a question about paying 100% for emergency care on a cruise ship or outside of a Kaiser area which is so important when you reach Medicare age and travel outside the USA.

Have a good cruise! Mura

Thank you for all of the information.

It also sounds like the perfect mix for us.

We rarely participate in organized activities, do a great deal of reading and relaxing but do enjoy enrichment lectures and a good movie.

Port days are usually filled off the ship so we are not looking for any day activities on those days.

see this thread on booking on board- just a few threads down from your post:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2577671

Thank you for the link.

I've sailed on the Nautica and the Insignia, and am planning another trip on Nautica for next spring. I've also sailed Holland America and Princess. The announced changes to the loyalty program don't bother me. In general those types of program are a moving target. Mom is currently on her 13th or 14th cruise with Oceania (on the Sirena).

 

The cruise we took last summer on Insignia, I chose because there were a lot of sea days. There are an assortment of activities - we chased "O Points" so showed up for a lot of the games: ping pong, shuffle board, corn hole (though they call it something different). We met up with the same group of cruisers from all age ranges, so it was fun to catch up on what other people had been doing. They also have bingo, lectures, cooking demonstrations, trivia. Evening entertainment is subdued compared to the mass market lines. High Tea is served daily in Horizon - and I have to watch that I don't overdo it there, especially if we are planning to eat early. I also like tucking myself in a corner in Horizon to watch the sea go by while I read, knit and/or enjoy and adult beverage.

 

Medical Care - even if you don't think you will have a need, make sure you get travel insurance. They do have doctors. And they have prices comparable to emergency room visits. My husband got sick on our Insignia cruise and racked up thousands in medical costs. Fortunately, we have solid insurance. I was impressed with the medical staff. I hope I never have to visit them again though.

 

Dining Room - depending on when you want to eat, there may be a short wait. We like to eat at shared tables, but found that our party of four, would get seated at a table for 8, and the result would be ridiculously slow service. When it was just Mom and I, a shared table worked well as we would be at tables for 4 or 6. I did not find Toscana or Polo to be overcrowded and noisy any of the times we've eaten there. I do find that it takes a long time to get through the meal. We also really enjoy the Terrace buffet.

 

Yes, you can book your next tour while onboard. I'm benefiting from that now. Mom just booked our Nautica cruise for next year yesterday. I'm in my office and she is on the Sirena. If you don't have a specific cruise in mind or want to wait until the next set of itineraries are released there is a deposit you can pay (forget the name). Deposits are also less if paid on board than elsewhere.

Thank you so very much. Your answers were just what we had hoped to hear.

Happy cruising and maybe some day we will meet. :)

We are not new to cruising with over 400 days but we are new to Oceania.

Looks like people are not pleased with upcoming Loyalty changes and some feel the food has gone down but coming from "mass market" cruise lines we are looking forward to the change. We will try 1 cruise on O and then decide if we should look at the other cruise lines mentioned here on the O board.

Several questions:

On R class ships

1) With 6 sea days and 12 port days what kind of activities should we expect to see during the day?

2) What type of medical facilities do these ships have? Do they have a doctor on board?

3) What time does the dining room open for dinner and should we expect a wait to be seated in the Grand Dining- room?

We booked a Concierge level Veranda and hope this was a good decision?

Does O have something similar to Princess where booking on board or getting a Future cruise deposit yields a reduced deposit for a cruise and OBC (SBC)?

Am I reading correctly that prices for future cruises are lower when they are booked on board?

Any suggestions are most welcome to help us learn more about O than the little we can find here on CC and certainly more than is available on O's web site.

Thank you for responding.

If nobody tells Princess what is not good about a cruise, Princess will assume all is fine.

 

If something significant is not good or done correctly, then you should tell Princess.

Totally agree!! We did and it is our hope that others will.

We are leaving Saturday on the Ruby for a California Coastal cruise so to hear how the quality of the food has decreased in the dining room (again) is depressing. We felt the same on the Emerald last November but were hopeful the experience would be better on the Ruby (We've sailed the Ruby before and her food was the best). What is it gonna take before Princess gets a clue about all these issues...

Have a great cruise! There are so many choices on the menu and maybe, hopefully, it was just the choices we made and possibly the others we spoke with made the same ones. The Crown Grill was very, very good as was the Pub Lunch. The Horizon Court also has some very good selections.

was there any talk about being able to purchase priority boarding?

We heard none but we also did not arrive at the port until 12:30.

Im sure as an Elite PAX, your opinion matters to Princess.

So, did you submit comment cards to complain and what deficiencies you experienced on Ruby? :mad:

Good luck, and enjoy your next cruise.

BTW, considering your dissatisfaction with your cruise on Ruby, will you continue to cruise with Princess?

I really do not know how to take your comments but I will answer them.

I doubt our opinions matter to Princess and Elite passengers are now the norm. Mentioning Elite was only to say that we have been very loyal to Princess for many years.

Yes, Princess is well aware of where they can improve.

We will enjoy our next cruise as we do them all. Just mentioning that we are saddened by what we are seeing is in no way is saying we did not enjoy our cruise!

We will sail on the Emerald for 12 days in April and also on the Coral for 60 days in September. There are 2 more booked for 2019 and at this time we have not canceled those either.:)

Questionable. Subjective. Pure speculation.

BTW, why would attitude of staff be any different than your previous cruise on Island Princess? FUD.

Why would the attitude be any different? Very good question as we asked ourselves the same thing. The only answers we could come up with are also speculation- this was a short cruise, they were tired or unhappy generally with their working environment,.

\

Thank you for the information. I mis-wrote ;);)

 

I wouldn't wear jeans or capris on formal night. I hope to plan slacks and a nice top for formal night.

 

But any other time dining I would hopefully be able to wear capris with a button down shirt in the MDR.

They would be perfect!

Just off yesterday.

Despite PJ the cruise director saying a couple of times this was the "Party Cruise to Cabo" we did not find any problems with the smoking or the drinking reported previously BUT we did not go up to Skywalkers.

I can say we were very, very disappointed in this cruise as were other Elite passengers. The food in the dining room - the quality and preparation of the beef and chicken especially- was the worst we have seen. The Anytime dining started at 4:30 and by 7:00 there were long lines especially the first night. Dining staff hardly ever had a smile and many had a real "attitude". It was obvious that on the Ruby Princess they were driving many long time cruisers away from Princess and just looking for the "younger" party people where they figure their best chance of selling more liquor is the greatest. It was not like this on the Island Princess in December and Princess should seriously take a look at where this ship is falling down. Back to back passengers said it was the same the previous cruise.:(:mad:

How 'formal' is formal night? I guess I'm most nervous about dress code. I've never cruised Princess before, and am used to capris and casual top during day & dinner in dining room. I'll be with the Joe Kenda/Homicide Hunter group, so maybe we won't be doing the formal night.

Just off yesterday.

Formal night was very casual. In a full dining room I saw- no formal gowns, a few sparkly tops with pants, mainly dresses one would wear to church or slacks and nice T shirts or blouses. Men mostly long sleeve shirts, very few ties, an occasional coat and in a full Princess Theater only 2 tux.

I saw no jeans and no capri pants.

#1: Besides MUTS, any movies shown in the Princess Theater or other venue?

Bags of popcorn, bar snacks, and pretzels still available for MUTS?

 

Thanks,

Just off yesterday.

Wind River

The Shape of Water

.... We were also on the Feb. 17 cruise, which was the 5 day cruise and there was no happy hour on the ship. This cruise was the 5 day cruise and this was the cruise that turned into a bad one. ....

Were the problems just with the smoking and Skywalkers or through out the ship?

I hope your letter to Princess will result in a call to the Captain, Security and all else responsible for what happened...but do not hold your breath and do not expect that you will get an answer.

We have been on a couple of "Spring Break" cruises years ago :mad:and said never, ever again after being awakened with yelling and laughing in the halls at 3 am. In all our 32 Princess cruises those were the only 2 with something like that happening. We try never to book a cruise in March to mid April just for that reason but never would have thought Feb would be a problem. Maybe they were a singles group that were not in College.

We leave tomorrow for the 5 day Cabo and sure hope things will not be like this!

What night was formal night?