Oslo pass, the on off bus, money

[farm girl]

Our HAL ship will be in Oslo 7/30 at 7am. I want to go to Viegelandsparen first, as suggested by most of this message board via the #12 bus.

I tried to buy the Oslo pass as suggested over the net but you still have to pick it up at the tourist office in Oslo, so I did not buy it because I was afraid there were multiple offices.

When we get off the ship, is there a tourist office close by that sells the pass? If not, does the red on and off bus go to Viegelandsparen and do you have to have correct Noregian change/money?

 

Did any of you go ahead and buy your currency for all the different ports over the internet? We are doing all the ports on our own except Russia so I am trying to get my ducks in a row.

 

I appreaciate all the help you all have given me. I have learned so much from all or you.

 

Thank You

Sharon and David

[JodiBB]

This must be new as we purchased the Oslo pass online and received our pass via the mail months before the trip! Either way, the TI is real close to the City Hall and the #12 is also within walking distance to the City Hall, so you won't have nay problems. Since we already had our passes, we jumped on the #12 at 7:00am and rode right up to Vigeland.

 

As for the currency, we pre-purchased currency through AAA as we're members and have a platinum MC, which waived the cash advance fee for us. Since we had passes for most of the cities, we purchased about $50 USD worth of currency for each country...worked out great! (could've probably used $75 USD worth for Copenhagen...couldn't stay away from the danish! :D)

[farm girl]

Thank you. My credit card chages 23.9% for cash advance! My husband is now going to get at AAA card for our trip. This is a great help.

 

Sharon

[SF]

If you don't have the Oslo pass and need to pay for the #12 bus does anyone know how much it costs and if you need the exact amnt.? Is the tram mentioned on several threads the same as the bus?

[JodiBB]

Thank you. My credit card chages 23.9% for cash advance! My husband is now going to get at AAA card for our trip. This is a great help.

 

Sharon

Sharon...make sure you get the Platinum AAA MasterCard...it's the only one that AAA will recognize to waive the cash advance fees.

Glad that tip helps! ;)

[CruiserPK]

If you check at your bank, you should be able to change some money at just a small charge. Here in the UK (we are on Expat status) I changed pounds sterling to danish and swedish kroner for our cruise that is departing next Monday. We can change money at the post office at not charge and they will rebuy any you do not use.

Cheers, Pam

[sumguy1]

You can buy the Oslo card with 20% discount at the Tourist Info office at the pier. This discount if only available for cruisers. The office opens when the ship arrives (this is what oslo info cust serv told me by email). I think it worth it, but do the math and see how much you going to spend on museums admissions and attractions.

[JodiBB]

We got our monies worth from our Oslo Pass last summer...this is what we went to:

 

Vigeland Musuem (admission free, but the tram ride up helped)

The Viking Museum

The Kon Tiki Museum

The Tolerance Museum

Akerhaus Fortress

 

+ all the trams and ferries we used made it worth the cost of the pass. Also, you don't have to wait in lines for admission to the attractions you decide to go to.

[ISABELLA]

We visited Oslo during our cruise on Star Princess. We didn't have a long stay, but when we came from the ship about 8:15 AM, there were local touristic buses that offered 1 hr, 2 hr or 3 hours tours. We took 3 hours tour for $20.00 pp ( they take Ameracan $$), visited Vigeland park ( MUST SEE)for 45 -50 min, had about 35 min to visit one of the 4 museums, tour the whole city and have a little time left to walk around. Tour finished in the town center, about 5 min from the ship. We were back by 1pm. Had a perfect day.

HAve fun

[X-ring]

We got our monies worth from our Oslo Pass last summer...this is what we went to:

 

Vigeland Musuem (admission free, but the tram ride up helped)

The Viking Museum

The Kon Tiki Museum

The Tolerance Museum

Akerhaus Fortress

 

+ all the trams and ferries we used made it worth the cost of the pass. Also, you don't have to wait in lines for admission to the attractions you decide to go to.

 

Same here.

 

Off the ship at 7:15. After doing Rick Steves' Hello Oslo walking tour of downtown, I headed back to the ferry for Bygdoy and bought an Oslo pass.

 

I started with tour of the Norsk Folkemuseum then on to the Vikingshiphuset just down the street. Then hopped a #30 bus back to the center and toured the National Gallery. Then down the street to City Hall (venue for Nobel prize awards, plus special Munck room) where I caught the 12:00 tour. Then to the fortress for the Resistance Museum.

Whew! - hectic but all worthwhile.

 

Observation from my notes: in spite of all my walking in Oslo, I never saw an outside ATM or a vending machine where I could pick up a drink.

[Deloresgardella]

We will be in Oslo in Sept. I really like the idea of the dock tour buses. Some times you can get good deals and see a lot more than with a ship tour.

Delores

[cruisintwinsmom]

The tram was 20 krona (spelling?), about $4.00 usd. Don't know if it is the same amount as the bus. The number 12 was a tram. You do need local currency for the tram. you put the coins in the yellow machine and it spits out the ticket which is good for 1 hour. We got local currancy at an ATM machine. you can also exchange money their at the terminal, but I wasn't very sure about their exchange rate.

[AndrewM]

Vigeland park is free and the OnOff bus cost us 175 Kroner each($28US)..we didn't have any money with us but the bus driver accepted my Visa..a year later and I still haven't seen the charge on my bill..My afternoon with photos of Vigeland park is detailed here:

 

http://www.hwired.com/baltic/oslo.html

[A.Emgee]

Learn from my mistake: think carefully when getting money out of the ATM. I took out 500NOK and it dispensed a 500 Kroner bill, which is useless when trying to get a tram ticket (the automatic ticket machine will not take anything larger than a 200). Also, nothing is open early in the morning in Scandinavia! Even McDonald's opens at 10:00am.

 

Oh, and it costs more to buy a ticket from the tram driver than from the automated machine.

[mmmmm]

We just got back from the Star Princess. We bought the Oslo Pass at the tourist information in the terminal building right beside the ship. The we had the freedom to hop on and off the city buses and take the ferry and go in the museums without worrying about having the right change. The Vigeland Park is open at all hours, so it's a good place to start (#12 tram, on the right side of the city hall square as you enter it). Then we took the tram back and caught the ferry (10 minutes ride; departs at 15 past and 45 past the hour). The first stop is for the Viking Museum and the Folk Museum (a fabulous open-air museum), and there is a 10-minute uphill walk to the Viking Museum and an easy level 5-minute walk from there to the Folk Museum, but the second ferry stop is for the KonTiki and other museums, and from there, there is a #30 bus that goes to the Viking Museum and on one more stop to the Folk Museum. It also goes back into town, but I never saw where exactly. It occurred to me that we might have saved time by taking the bus to the museums from Vigeland Park and the ferry back, but I'm not sure. We walked up to the Viking and on to the Folk Museum but took the #30 bus back to the 2nd ferry stop to save time and energy.

[MTemple212]

In Oslo we took the #12 tram to Vigeland park which was about a 10min ride. You can easily do Vigeland park in an hour to 1 1/2 hours time if you just want to take pics and see the statues. We did this first thing as we got into port at 7am and our ship was leaving at 2pm that day. Most of the museums, attractions do not open until 9 or 10ish so we thought that was the best thing to do first as the park is open 24hrs a day. We had no local currency when we got there but there are several atm machines around city hall circle area and got some cash from them. Then we went to the train stop and purchased the ticket to Frogner park(Vigeland) for 20kr. Do not buy your return tickets at the same time like our cruise director said to do as they are only good for 1 hour! There are ticket machines at each stop along the train route. Vigeland park is a beautiful place! After that, we just came back to the downtown area as that is where most things are anyway and easy to walk to.

[sailaway5]

We will be cruising to Oslo in July, 2007 and will be there on a Sunday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Am considering getting the Oslo card and appreciate these past posters comments. Would like to hear from anyone that has toured Oslo and the pros/cons about the card. Would like to see Vigeland, the Viking Ship, Fram, Kon-Tiki and the Open Air Museum. Would still want to be able to wander around the town and maybe do the Rick Steves Walking tour in the afternoon. Would all of this be possible? Any suggestions and must-see's would be appreciated.

[MacThespian]

In Oslo we took the #12 tram to Vigeland park which was about a 10min ride. You can easily do Vigeland park in an hour to 1 1/2 hours time if you just want to take pics and see the statues. We did this first thing as we got into port at 7am and our ship was leaving at 2pm that day. Most of the museums, attractions do not open until 9 or 10ish so we thought that was the best thing to do first as the park is open 24hrs a day. We had no local currency when we got there but there are several atm machines around city hall circle area and got some cash from them. Then we went to the train stop and purchased the ticket to Frogner park(Vigeland) for 20kr. Do not buy your return tickets at the same time like our cruise director said to do as they are only good for 1 hour! There are ticket machines at each stop along the train route. Vigeland park is a beautiful place! After that, we just came back to the downtown area as that is where most things are anyway and easy to walk to.

 

Good points. But just for the record, it's Frogner Park which has the Vigeland sculptures in it (though if you ask directions to Vigeland Park, I'm sure they'll know what you mean).

Generally, I found that the city cards were convenient, but expensive if you were only in town for a few hours (as we will be when we come in on Jewel of the Seas this August). Did you notice if there were any ATM machines at the pier where the ships dock? (Yes, I realize that city hall isn't all that far away, but I was just wondering. I haven't been to Oslo in years.)

 

Thanks.

[wasup254]

Is there a place to store luggage after we get off the ship in Oslo?

 

we are wanting to get off the ship and head out to Vigeland Park and we will then come back and pick up the luggage, instead of getting off the ship and then going to the hotel and then to the Vigeland..

 

We are staying at Clarion Royal Christiana

 

Thanks

Marlene