bdayceleb

After doing a ton of research, we also booked the Admiral Copenhagen for a pre-cruise hotel.

I was considering the Admiral Hotel for a 3 night stay in July 2018. I read reviews that mentioned renovation work, so I contacted the hotel. The renovation will continue until late 2019. They said the work is limited to a small area at any point in time and only occurs between 8am and 6pm. Even with those caveats, I decided to look elsewhere. I've stayed in hotels undergoing renovation and it impacted the overall ambiance.

You've probably made your choice by now.

I've been in the lobby of the Parc Trocadero to meet friends, who liked the hotel well enough. Neither is in an ideal location.

The Tripadvisor Paris forum has several threads on the topic - you can use the search box to find them. I don't think either has a distinct advantage over the other.

I would find out what room category you'd get in each hotel and compare the rooms.

You might consider asking AMA if they'll offer the cruise without the post cruise portion and book on your own.

Wow - I'm surprised to hear this. I was on the Atla and we were with the Bragi in a few locks and a few ports just prior to this. I was wondering what happened to them when I didn't see the Bragi at Nuremberg.

The water was definitely high and running quite fast. Our sundeck was closed for the last few days of the cruise.

I'll check with our hotel, too. We are getting off the Anthem in Le Havre, so will be riding the train in. I checked the website for Gare St. Lazare and it doesn't look like there is any place there to get the pass, but I will double check once we get there. I know the other train stations have a tourism office where you can get it. If I were flying I would definitely get it at the airport.

 

Shirley

The museum pass website doesn't show that the pass is available for sale at Gare St. Lazare, just Gare du Nore, Gare de Lyon and Gare de l'Est. The Cluny would be a good place to buy it - it's unlikely to have much of a line.

You can purchase the museum pass at any museum that accepts it. I have purchased it at the Cluny and St Chapelle (shorter lines at both). You don't have to use it then either as you fill in the date you want it to begin.

You can buy the museum pass at most - but not all - of the places that accept it. Here's a link to the website where you can find all of the points of sale.

http://en.parismuseumpass.com/rub-t-points-of-sale-3.htm?cat=3

The Paris Pass is just a collection of other passes, one of which is the Paris Museum Pass. The only fast track museum entry you'll get is with the Paris Museum Pass - the Paris Pass won't offer additional ways to bypass the lines.

The Orsay has a separate line for people with passes and tickets that's much shorter than the regular line.

For the Louvre you'll need to go through security first. The line at the pyramid can get long. There are 3 other points of entry. The carrousel du Louvre is underground and can get crowded as well. Since you will have the museum pass you can use the Passage Richelieu entrance just off rue du Rivoli across from the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre metro. There's also the Porte des Lions entrance.

The museum pass gives you priority access to the Orangerie and there's a separate line at Versailles for people with tickets or passes, although it will be long.

I haven't visited the Pompidou.

Hope that helps!

There's an elevator in the St. Michel-Notre Dame station using Sortie (Exit) 6. I believe the other RER exits have escalators, but you may have one final set of stairs to get to street level. I'm not sure about the St. Michel métro station. I would take the elevator and then walk to the hotel at street level.

Be prepared that elevators or escalators could be out of order though.

Your hotel might have information on their website or you could email them. You could also do a search or post a question on the Tripadvisor Paris forum. You'd likely get a response from someone who could give exact information based on prior experience.

I was on the Emerald Princess last year and the ship docked at the ports you mentioned.

As others have said, the additional embarkation ports are not a big deal. I wouldn't include this in your consideration set.

Aarhus: The shuttle was easy with no wait. It took about 10 minutes. Coming back the only wait was for the bus to fill, which was maybe 10 minutes. There was a Tourist Information office office at the drop off point with free wireless and local vendors with some interesting things. From there it was about a 10-15 minute walk into town. While I would have preferred to dock in town, this wasn't a big deal overall.

Nynashamn: Our ship unexpectedly docked at Nynashamn instead of Stadsgarden due to weather. Since I didn't sail the archipelago I can't comment on that. Your time in port is longer so you'd have just as much time in Stockholm than if you docked in the city. The train station is a bit of a walk from where the tenders dock though.

Warnemunde: Is your ship scheduled to dock in Warnemunde or the commercial port of Rostock? We docked in Rostock and it would have been more pleasant to dock in Warnemunde. We just reversed our plans - started in Rostock and ventured to Warnemunde, but it would have been nice to end our day with a stroll back to the ship rather than take a train back to Rostock, walk to the shuttle and then the shuttle itself.

For me, none of these is individually a show stopper, but the combination of all 3 would make me rethink which cruise to take.

We almost didn't get to St. Petersburg due to rough seas. It's just a reminder that a ship's schedule is always subject to change.

Yes Royalkiosken is the one at Djurgårdsbron.

 

As for Spelslussen it is listed at Sl.se as a kiosk that sells tickets.

 

Places that sells tickets at Slussen:

 

• Pressbyrån, Slussen / Saltsjöbanan
  
• Pressbyrån, Slussens tunnelbanestation, exit towards Södermalmstorg
  
• SL Center, Slussen at Saltsjöbanan
  
• Slussens Tobak, T-bana Slussen/Hökens gata
  
• Spelslussen, Slussplan 1-3
  

However Söder Tobak at Bondegatan 57 is closer:

 

https://maps.google.se/maps?saddr=%C3%96stra+Tegelviksslingan&daddr=Bondegatan+57,+116+34+Stockholm&hl=sv&ie=UTF8&ll=59.314957,18.092905&spn=0.004073,0.016512&sll=59.316216,18.094622&sspn=0.004073,0.016512&geocode=FT4YiQMdnxwUAQ%3BFa0OiQMdwAkUASlZG0iMAnhfRjHUUdwYqLCQ8w&t=h&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&z=17

 

Gamla Stan: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=35870352&postcount=1037

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the time you took to provide such a thorough answer. I'll note the locations on my mapswithme app. This gives me much more confidence about finding a ticket outlet.

I found the list of all the locations on the Sl.se website in Swedish. The English version just says "tickets are sold via our agents". I think it would be helpful to foreign visitors if they listed the locations on the English version as well. I will try to contact them to give them that feedback.

Thanks again.

As I said yesterday at Djurgården there is a kiosk just before Djurgårdsbron on the left side when you come from Wasa, they sell SL-tickets for bus, tram and boat (boat=Sjövägen).

 

At the icebar, walk to either the bus terminal north of the Ice bar or

south to the central station in which there is SL customer Center and a pressbyrån.

 

For Gamla Stan any 7-eleven or Pressbyrån, for locations search this thread for 7-eleven.

Thank you so much for checking and reporting back! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into answering questions.

I have the App mapswithme on my phone, and it shows a kiosk in the exact location you mention called Royalkiosken.

There's another one called Spelslussen in Gamla Stan on Slussplan near Katarinavagen. Would you know if this is the same type of kiosk? It would be very simple to stop there walking from Stadsgarden.

Thanks so much!

I agree transit has it's appeal. But it's quickly getting beyond ridiculous to plan a day. Where do I get tickets? The SL route planning folks said I could buy a ticket for the tram on the tram. I assume they know what they're talking about (but is not consistent with what I've been told here). That gets me to the IceBar. I assume I can buy a metro ticket to Old Town at the metro station. That leaves the bus ride back from Old Town to the ship. Both the #53 and #96 look like good options. Any ideas where to get a bus ticket in Old Town? Or should I buy a full day transit card when I get off the ship? Is that an option? Is there somewhere there I can do that at 8AM in the morning? It's hard enough trying to plan a day on transit in a foreign country without knowing where you can actually buy tickets for their system! It's frustrating.

 

Virtual Rain, I've found Stockholm public transit to be the hardest to figure out among the Baltics ports, so I share your pain. I also read on the SL website that you can buy a tram ticket on the tram, but that contradicts what's been said on this thread. Even if they're available on the tram, I'm not sure if I need coins. If credit cards are ok, there's the uncertainty whether I can use my chip & signature card.

I want to board the Tram near the Vasa museum then transfer to a bus to go to City Hall. Since I'm not sure whether I can buy a ticket at the tram, I'm planning to buy one before I go to Vasa. I went to the Pressbyran website and found a convenient location. From the ship at Stadsgarden I'll walk to the Pressbyran at Slussen metro. Hopefully I'll be able to find it and I can activate the ticket later. From there I'll walk to the Djurgarden ferry where I know I can buy a ticket at the dock.

I hope you're able to figure this out.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you left the hotel to get breakfast. I am surprised it was not included in the Princess hotel/transfer package. It seems booking that way is often more expensive than doing it yourself. For the premium one pays, I'd have thought breakfast would be included. Did you know when you booked that breakfast was not part of the deal?

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your report. It's been so helpful. I'm also not an experienced cruiser, so it's nice to read such a recent report from a newer cruiser.

I was curious about breakfast too. We are going in July and initially were planning to book the Kong Arthur through Princess, but then found I could do it cheaper on my own. The package doesn't mention breakfast. Our travel agent told us it was included, but I was skeptical so I called Princess. The agent wasn't positive but assumed since it wasn't mentioned it wasn't included.

Thanks again!