Scandinavia & other Baltics: a whole new world
Sep 23rd, 2009, 07:34 PM
#41
Hi nannibray
As I mentioned in my Trip Report ,I never converted to any of the local currency, I got by ALL the way with US$ and a Visa Card.
I remember clearly the night before we docked in Oslo, our cruise director gave a a lecture about Oslo.
He said , "You WILL need local currency and few places will take US$ or Euros. Also there will be no taxi available when you disemabrk."
Don't believe this.
Yes there may be no taxi BUT this is because downtown Oslo is only about 5 blocks away when you disembark.
Therefore bring your Visa and US$ ( or euros if you are from a euro country).
<<What did you do with the left over currency.>>
I had none ,but if you wind up with some ,give it away as a tip to your cabin boy on the cruise ship , or locally as a tip to a taxi driver.
About the Archipelago, we were battling headwinds when I arrived into Stockholm...and we docked further away from the usual Pier.
The place that I liked best when we sailed out of port was Oslo... very nice scenery on both sides.
On the Star Princess ,you will have a choice of two different cruises....actually the only different is that one goes to Oslo and the other to a port in Germany.
Take my advice and choose the one that has Oslo as one of its ports!:
As I mentioned in my Trip Report ,I never converted to any of the local currency, I got by ALL the way with US$ and a Visa Card.
I remember clearly the night before we docked in Oslo, our cruise director gave a a lecture about Oslo.
He said , "You WILL need local currency and few places will take US$ or Euros. Also there will be no taxi available when you disemabrk."
Don't believe this.
Yes there may be no taxi BUT this is because downtown Oslo is only about 5 blocks away when you disembark.
Therefore bring your Visa and US$ ( or euros if you are from a euro country).
<<What did you do with the left over currency.>>
I had none ,but if you wind up with some ,give it away as a tip to your cabin boy on the cruise ship , or locally as a tip to a taxi driver.
About the Archipelago, we were battling headwinds when I arrived into Stockholm...and we docked further away from the usual Pier.
The place that I liked best when we sailed out of port was Oslo... very nice scenery on both sides.
On the Star Princess ,you will have a choice of two different cruises....actually the only different is that one goes to Oslo and the other to a port in Germany.
Take my advice and choose the one that has Oslo as one of its ports!:
Sep 23rd, 2009, 10:26 PM
#42
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<i>Did you need to use the ATM in each location, or USA dollars or Euros? What did you do with the "left over" currency in each country? What about taxi fares?</i>
You can probably get by with USD at some tourist shops and museums, but they are not especially widely accepted in Scandinavia. Credit cards, however, are. Most (all??) taxis in Copenhagen accept credit cards. Ditto for Norway and Sweden, IIRC. Virtually all stores and most restaurants also take credit cards. Note that you may have to pay the credit card processing fee in restaurants - this is the case in Denmark, but I can't recall about Norway and Sweden. Any of the major credit cards (MC, Visa, Amex) will do, but you might want to leave the Diners Club card at home.
I would get some small amount of foreign currency and exchange any leftover bills at the airport upon departure.
You can probably get by with USD at some tourist shops and museums, but they are not especially widely accepted in Scandinavia. Credit cards, however, are. Most (all??) taxis in Copenhagen accept credit cards. Ditto for Norway and Sweden, IIRC. Virtually all stores and most restaurants also take credit cards. Note that you may have to pay the credit card processing fee in restaurants - this is the case in Denmark, but I can't recall about Norway and Sweden. Any of the major credit cards (MC, Visa, Amex) will do, but you might want to leave the Diners Club card at home.
I would get some small amount of foreign currency and exchange any leftover bills at the airport upon departure.
Sep 24th, 2009, 02:16 AM
#43
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nannibray, We did as travelgourmet advises--get a bit of local cash from the ATMs--and converted our currency at the end of the trip at the airport or somesuch. But I'm also sure you can do as Percy advises and simply use credit cards. We just liked the ease of having a bit of local currency for small things.
We found the entertainment on the Golden Princess superior to that one the Emerald. Cruisecritic.com will have reviews of recent cruises on the Star Princess. We did one show, one movie under the stars (pretty cold even with the blankets they furnished), one comedian, and the pianist in the Adagio bar a couple of nights--latter wonderful, rest pretty good to just ok.
We found the archipeligo and much of the terrain surrounding the ports in the area to be a lot like scenery on Lake of the Woods in Northern Minnesota and Canada. It's beautiful but stark. I wouldn't skip dinner to see it. You might even have a seat by a window. But there will be some time to see the scenery before and after dinner. As you can tell from my report, my motto is something like "never miss a meal."
We found the entertainment on the Golden Princess superior to that one the Emerald. Cruisecritic.com will have reviews of recent cruises on the Star Princess. We did one show, one movie under the stars (pretty cold even with the blankets they furnished), one comedian, and the pianist in the Adagio bar a couple of nights--latter wonderful, rest pretty good to just ok.
We found the archipeligo and much of the terrain surrounding the ports in the area to be a lot like scenery on Lake of the Woods in Northern Minnesota and Canada. It's beautiful but stark. I wouldn't skip dinner to see it. You might even have a seat by a window. But there will be some time to see the scenery before and after dinner. As you can tell from my report, my motto is something like "never miss a meal."
Sep 24th, 2009, 12:49 PM
#44
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Thanks everyone.
JULIE
- We chose the Star Princess cruise for the Baltic SpecificalLY because it begins and ends in Copenhagen. Also because it is in OSLO on day 9.
At that point, we will disembarkin Oslo and spend the next 6 days in Norway, flying home from Bergen.
2 nights in Oslo, 2 nights on the Fjord, and 2 nights in Bergen.
I have always wanted to go to NORWAY. This way, with Princess I get all the great ports plus Norway and just 1 airfare. Your report has helped a lot!
Nannibray
JULIE
- We chose the Star Princess cruise for the Baltic SpecificalLY because it begins and ends in Copenhagen. Also because it is in OSLO on day 9.
At that point, we will disembarkin Oslo and spend the next 6 days in Norway, flying home from Bergen.
2 nights in Oslo, 2 nights on the Fjord, and 2 nights in Bergen.
I have always wanted to go to NORWAY. This way, with Princess I get all the great ports plus Norway and just 1 airfare. Your report has helped a lot!
Nannibray
Sep 24th, 2009, 01:05 PM
#45
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"What did you do with the left over currency" - if you have Bank of America account, you can deposit the foreign paper bills at that day's conversion rate, I've done that.
Did out of curiosity! I had a paper bill forgotten in my wallet, and took it to the bank. Don't even remember which country, but got back $8 US
Do not recommend it though, as you pay first to convert US to foreign before the trip or while there, then pay again to convert back.
Do not bring coins back to the US, they will be just your souvenirs. Use them for anything, or give away. Coins are not exchanged back to US currency.
Did out of curiosity! I had a paper bill forgotten in my wallet, and took it to the bank. Don't even remember which country, but got back $8 US
Do not recommend it though, as you pay first to convert US to foreign before the trip or while there, then pay again to convert back.
Do not bring coins back to the US, they will be just your souvenirs. Use them for anything, or give away. Coins are not exchanged back to US currency.
Jun 16th, 2010, 04:53 PM
#48
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Thank you very much for taking the time to share your trip, it's been very useful for planning our trip to the Baltic countries, we plan on doing it in July 2010 by land plane and train, we are not very fond of ships.
We will be doing the Norway on a Nutshell train, boat trip. I hope I can make a report to share our experiences.
Thanks again
We will be doing the Norway on a Nutshell train, boat trip. I hope I can make a report to share our experiences.
Thanks again
Jun 18th, 2010, 03:16 PM
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We just got back Thursday from a week in Stockholm. We stayed at the Clarion in Sodermalm (one of the conference hotels that my husband was attending). The weather was dicey. We had only two good days which we used to do boat tour trips around the city.
The Wasa museum was my favorite destination, a well-done exhibit. We also took a Viking tour of Gamla Stan (complete with Viking horned helmets).
I took a trip to the Hallwylska Museet in Ostermalm one day while MP was conferencing, but it reminded me of an Ibsen play, dark and grim.
The conference hosted a dinner at the City Hall -- a lovely building with wonderful mosaics in the Gold Room, the Blue Hall the location of the Nobel Awards dinner.
Our favorite restaurant (we went there twice) was Pelikan in Sodermalm, a pub that features food that would be eaten in a typical Swedish home - we had three kinds of pickled herring, lots of boiled potatoes, dark bread, and fried bacon in cream sauce with onions for our main course. Sounds weird, but was very tasty. There seems not to be much in the way of vegetable material in the Swedish diet -- no fragrant olive oils in this environment -- but lots of salt!
The Wasa museum was my favorite destination, a well-done exhibit. We also took a Viking tour of Gamla Stan (complete with Viking horned helmets).
I took a trip to the Hallwylska Museet in Ostermalm one day while MP was conferencing, but it reminded me of an Ibsen play, dark and grim.
The conference hosted a dinner at the City Hall -- a lovely building with wonderful mosaics in the Gold Room, the Blue Hall the location of the Nobel Awards dinner.
Our favorite restaurant (we went there twice) was Pelikan in Sodermalm, a pub that features food that would be eaten in a typical Swedish home - we had three kinds of pickled herring, lots of boiled potatoes, dark bread, and fried bacon in cream sauce with onions for our main course. Sounds weird, but was very tasty. There seems not to be much in the way of vegetable material in the Swedish diet -- no fragrant olive oils in this environment -- but lots of salt!
