gnome12

Ot perhaps faster by train, but you need to get to the train station.

I had no problems.

Is your previous port within the Schengen zone?

And sometimes you swap onto another ship of the same company. You pack up all your stuff, and while you are on an excursion your luggage is moved to the other ship, and you will be bused to the new ship and continue sailing from there. And sometimes, if water levels are low over a fairly long stretch, the ship is uses as a floating (but moored) hotel and you keep coming back to the same place with longer and longer bus rides. This is the least pleasant possibility. I don't know whether Emerald has enough ships in the right locations for a ship swap.

You have posted in the wrong forum. This forum is for technical help on using the forums. You need to post in either (or both) the Princess forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/119-princess-cruises/ for help as to how long it might take to disembark or the Italy port forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/ for information on taking the train.

And on the Canadian Cruisers forum I discovered another new initiative coming to European travel soon. It is called Entry/Exit System (EES) and will occur when leaving Europe. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/key-differences-between-etias-and-ees-2023-06-06_en also with no official start date.

All they hired out in 2019 was a flat cushion.

I did it back in 2015. I enjoyed it, and thought that it was worthwhile. It definitely takes you off the normal path.

Not something I would have brought with me from Canada as I was in Copenhagen and Edinburgh before arriving in London, but interesting.

Even with the cushion it isn't terribly comfortable. If sitting try the back row of seats; I think there you have something to lean against.

Just a note for all of you who keep perpetrating the initial error. The program is EES (Exit Entry System) not ESS. If you google ESS you probably won't find what you are looking for. And yes, I will admit, I had never heard of EES before this thread.

It seems an incredible waste of time to go back to Amsterdam in the middle of the cruise, which is really 2 7-day cruises back to back. That said the ports are pretty good.

Go in the evening.

Yes, I have. Covid has had an effect on some of the providers, which makes a difference. While the OPs cruise isn’t going to Oslo, there are big changes to museums in that city that obviously aren’t covered (and are affecting my own plans).

There have already been some river cruises that didn’t dock right behind the station, but rather out in the suburbs, due to over-crowding.

The last version of Rick Steves was published in 2018. The next one comes out in June 2024. The Magic of Cruising Norway, despite the 2022-2023 in the title was published in November 2021. (The fact that they mention the Russian Arctic tells you that it pre-dates the war in Ukraine.) Only the last one you listed was published recently, in April 2023, and I see that you didn’t find it helpful.

I also saw and enjoyed that televised concert. From me too, rest in peace Tony

I believe that Silversea Dawn will likely be docking at Langelinie when I arrive at the end of June 2024. When I was last in Copenhagen in 2019 I stayed at Hotel Bethel and enjoyed it. It would be walking distance from the dock. However, I am also considering the CitizenM Radhuspladsen which is near central station. Does it make sense to stay in a slightly different location? I will have 3 full days before departure, and want to be convenient to sights and transportation.

Search each of the ports on your list individually. They are all covered. No guidebook will have as recent experience as what you will find here. (I am travelling to Norway in 2024, and have seen the latest of the guidebooks; they are all out of date, even if they ostensibly have been published only recently.)

I thought that was only available at the airports.

I suggest you first confirm where your ship is docking; there are multiple docks for cruise ships in Oslo.

While the ship swap is a decent reaction to a bad situation, it is definitely not ideal. I choose to cruise so that I can unpack once and then just go about my activities. Finding that I have to pack everything up (and making sure that I actually have everything) in the middle of a cruise is not a picnic. Would I do it? Yes, since it beats the alternatives. But it does take away from the pleasure of a cruise.

What day of the week?

Me too. I thought I had a pretty good vocabulary, but that stumped me.

I assume that it also includes transportation from the ship to the course, as well as club and cart rentals and greens fees. Still seems an awful lot of money.