A few more questions about Copenhagen!

[swimfin]

Hello again! THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has been so HELPFUL and responded to my previous thread! A few more questions have popped up:

1. For budgeting .... If you prepay your hotel room, will you still owe a "VAT" or other type of tax when checking out?

2. Getting to the port - I just noticed on a link that an AWESOME poster sent me that the bus (line 26) to the new pier at Nordhavn - Oceankaj (Ocean Quay) does not run on Saturday or Sunday?!? ....

• Bus line 26 has a bus stop in Sundkrogsgade - some 50 m / 70 ft outside the port's entrance. Bus 26 service (to/from the port) is not available on Saturdays and Sundays.

I am a bit confused on the actual port ... will the Magic sail from Ocean Quay on June 4th and will taxi be the best way to get there? (I'm hoping to stay at the Scandic Copenhagen ... not Scandic Palace)

3. Has anyone tried to "recoup" the taxes they paid on goods in Denmark and/or Norway after their trip while coming back to the US? I thought I heard you can claim the tax you pay?

4. The Copenhagen Card! THANK YOU to the AWESOME poster for giving me this tip!! Has anyone bought this and if so, did you pre-order? Normally I would buy it at the airport yet I'm thinking I might pre-order as prices are going up April 1st yet they don't say by how much :-( I can pre-oder and get an email voucher ... just wondering if anyone has done the pre-ordering route before.

Cheers and THANKS again!

 

[Marc D]

1. No, when you prepay, everything is included. I paid two stays through Expedia last year and didn't pay any extra at the desk.
2. I couldn't imagine getting to the terminal any other way than a taxi or a charter bus. It is not very accessible. When we went there, it was raining hard and, even arriving by taxi, we were soaked before getting inside. We saw some poor guests walking there with their luggage, probably a 15-20 min. walk from anywhere.
3. Yes, we have often gotten the VAT back. It is particularly interesting in Norway, where taxes are so high. You have to plan ahead. First, the merchant needs to fill a form and attach a receipt to it at the time of purchase. Look for the VAT refund sign in the window of the store. Not everyone participates. Then, you need to go to the VAT window in the airport with the goods in hand to prove your admissibility. Be mindful that the VAT window might be far from your checkin counter and that you need to put the goods in the bags you want to check in after you visit the window. Allow plenty of time in the airport to do all that. You get the money back on your credit card after a few weeks/months.

 

[jenpink]

We had the Copenhagen card in 2015. We preordered and had it deliverered to our home. It only took a couple weeks to arrive.

 

[apathetic]

We also preordered the Copenhagen card. The advantage to that is you can catch the bus right off the ship and use it. If you don't preorder, you have to pay for the bus to the main terminal where you can buy the Copenhagen card. We used it to get all over the city and into some attractions. It was a great deal and gives you plenty of options for a day in the city.

The bus thing was weird. They have a special bus that runs from the downtown station to the cruise port when ships are in port. We were there on a weekend and they said it would run all day. It didn't, I think it stopped at like 2pm. We waited for it and then read the schedule and realized it wouldn't run again. So we took a train out to the nearest station then caught a bus there. It's been a few years, so I can't remember what station. But the bus ran there every 30 or 60 minutes and took us to the Oceankaj. I did a lot of research on it, particularly on the port. If you look up those ports they give you some decent directions including which bus #s and trains to take. Once you get a feel for it, getting around is really easy. We almost broke down and took a taxi, but glad we didn't. The port is a long way out and the Copenhagen card gets you there for free once you figure the route.

 

[aggiedog]

The bus stop is not close to the ship. It's certainly walkable, but consider it while towing suitcases, family members, etc, especially if the weather is inclement.

For very specific Copenhagen info, go to CruiseCritic: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2327188 This thread is by a local who can answer any of your questions.

 

[Flossbolna]

In 2015 the bus did run on weekends. We took the public bus to the port. I remember that originally when the port opened in 2014, it was the case that there were no busses during the weekend. But they quickly realised that they needed them. Do you have the link? You might also want to look at http://www.rejseplanen.dk/bin/query.exe/en to see which options you have on public transportation.

You should not have to pay anything extra if you prepay your hotel room.

 

[Flossbolna]

Let's see if this works. This should be a link to google maps with a marker at the bus stop: https://goo.gl/maps/N6fRDAD42bF2

As you can see, the Oceankaj has three terminal buildings. Depending on which of the three terminals is being used by your ship the walk from the bus stop will be shorter or longer. When we were there, the Disney Magic was at Terminal 1, which is the one that is directly oposite the bus stop. It was maybe a three minute walk. If you have to get to Terminal 2 or 3, the walk will be longer (by the length of one or two cruise ships). If you are used to traveling by public transport in Europe, even Terminal 3 is absolutely walkable distance.

 

[MaleficentUK]

It looks like the May 28th cruise leaves from Langelinie, not Oceankaj.

 

[Flossbolna]

It looks like the May 28th cruise leaves from Langelinie, not Oceankaj.

Oh! That's a good reminder! Always check which terminal you are really going to be. According the the port of Copenhagen website, it appears that the 5/27 and 5/28 call in Copenhagen is at Langelinie. The 6/4, 6/11 and 6/18 calls are all at Oceankai and there at Terminal 1.

http://www.cmport.com/ships-in-port/cruise-ships/season-current

 

[MUN]

Oh! That's a good reminder! Always check which terminal you are really going to be. According the the port of Copenhagen website, it appears that the 5/27 and 5/28 call in Copenhagen is at Langelinie. The 6/4, 6/11 and 6/18 calls are all at Oceankai and there at Terminal 1.

http://www.cmport.com/ships-in-port/cruise-ships/season-current

Thanks for the information! So, my question is how do I get to and from the main train station to Oceankai Terminal 1 via public transit? I am on the 6/4 sailing.

MUN

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for the information! So, my question is how do I get to and from the main train station to Oceankai Terminal 1 via public transit? I am on the 6/4 sailing.

MUN

You take any S-train that goes into the northern direction, get off at Østerport St., walk to the bus stop for bus 27 (it should be signposted inside the Østerport Station), take bus 27 to Oceankaj.

You can check travel times on this website: http://www.rejseplanen.dk/bin/query.exe/en

If you enter "central station" in the "From:" field, the first option it offers you is "København H". That stands for København Hovedbanegarden, which is Danish for Copenhagen Main Station. If you want to depart from a hotel, you can also enter the hotel's address and it will give instructions from that specific address. For us it turned out to be easier to take a bus that was departing in front of our hotel and change onto the bus 27. The advantage of not taking a train was that we would not have to navigate any stairs at a train station, but always stayed at street level.

Currently the timetable seems to go only to the middle of May. It might be possible that there will be a summer timetable with more busses. I would suggest to make sure to check the timetable about two weeks before departure (and possible the day before as well to make sure that there aren't any sudden diversions due to events or so).

Also, Google Maps' route finder offers a public tranportation option that is pretty good as well. Might be great to see exactly where the bus stops are in relation to your location.

 

[Flossbolna]

Also regarding the Copenhagen Card: I would suggest to see if it is really worth it to buy this. You need to make use of a lot of the museum entrances that come with it in order to get good value out of it. I find that a lot of sightseeing in Copenhagen is actually just enjoying the wonderful city atmosphere and then of course Tivoli, which is not included in the Copenhagen Card (ETA: Correction: Only the rides in Tivoli are not included, the entrance fee is). If you just want the public transportation, then there is a much cheaper option: http://www.citypass.dk/

Also, when you arrive in Copenhagen at the end of the cruise, in 2015 there was a kiosk selling tickets for the bus (I think they were selling 24 hour citypasses as well and I think this is why we went there and did not get a single ticket from the bus driver) just oposite the Terminal 1 building at Oceankaj. It is a small place selling phone cards and such, mainly for the cruise ship crew members. But we were able to get our tickets there without problem.

 

[MUN]

Also regarding the Copenhagen Card: I would suggest to see if it is really worth it to buy this. You need to make use of a lot of the museum entrances that come with it in order to get good value out of it. I find that a lot of sightseeing in Copenhagen is actually just enjoying the wonderful city atmosphere and then of course Tivoli, which is not included in the Copenhagen Card. If you just want the public transportation, then there is a much cheaper option: http://www.citypass.dk/

This is excellent advice concerning the Copenhagen Card. We will be in Copenhagen 3 nights b/4 our cruise and I don't think it makes economic sense for our family of 5 to buy the card. I'm not even sure it makes economic sense for us to buy the city pass transportation card.

However, I have one nit to pick with your post. Entrance to Tivoli is covered by the Copenhagen Card; rides are not.

MUN

 

[Flossbolna]

However, I have one nit to pick with your post. Entrance to Tivoli is covered by the Copenhagen Card; rides are not.

I did a quick check before I posted, it seems that I missed that! Sorry! Will edit my post to avoid people being confused.

However, I agree. I think we got the City Pass for one 24 hour period and did a lot of stuff that required transport during that one day. But a lot of Copenhagen is very walkable and it really depends on your group and what you want to see if it makes sense.

 

[SuperDry]

In addition to taxis, Uber operates in Copenhagen. You just use your normal Uber account and credit card on file and it just works. This assumes that you have roaming data on your cellphone.

 

[Pens Fan]

I completely agree with @Flossblona about the Copenhagen card. We looked into it for our 3 day stay in Copenhagen and for what we planned on doing it was less expensive to just pay for things individually. For some it might be worth it, but don't just assume it will save you money - do the math ahead of time. Now, in Oslo we did buy the Oslo pass and it saved us some money. It all depends on what you want to do.

There's tons of information online, obviously, but I highly recommend Rick Steve's books. There have lots of great information about pricing, transportation, etc.

 

[KalamityJane]

Oh! That's a good reminder! Always check which terminal you are really going to be. According the the port of Copenhagen website, it appears that the 5/27 and 5/28 call in Copenhagen is at Langelinie. The 6/4, 6/11 and 6/18 calls are all at Oceankai and there at Terminal 1.

http://www.cmport.com/ships-in-port/cruise-ships/season-current

That's the EBTA porting on 5/27 and 28 - we are at Langolinie because it's a long stop.

 

[KalamityJane]

Also, for the people getting on the 5/28 cruise, there will be a LOT of ships in port that day, so you may want to consider multiple ways to get to port.

 

[janiebubble]

Also, for the people getting on the 5/28 cruise, there will be a LOT of ships in port that day, so you may want to consider multiple ways to get to port.

We are on that cruise thanks! It will be strange to return to a different quay!

 

[swimfin]

1. No, when you prepay, everything is included. I paid two stays through Expedia last year and didn't pay any extra at the desk.
2. I couldn't imagine getting to the terminal any other way than a taxi or a charter bus. It is not very accessible. When we went there, it was raining hard and, even arriving by taxi, we were soaked before getting inside. We saw some poor guests walking there with their luggage, probably a 15-20 min. walk from anywhere.
3. Yes, we have often gotten the VAT back. It is particularly interesting in Norway, where taxes are so high. You have to plan ahead. First, the merchant needs to fill a form and attach a receipt to it at the time of purchase. Look for the VAT refund sign in the window of the store. Not everyone participates. Then, you need to go to the VAT window in the airport with the goods in hand to prove your admissibility. Be mindful that the VAT window might be far from your checkin counter and that you need to put the goods in the bags you want to check in after you visit the window. Allow plenty of time in the airport to do all that. You get the money back on your credit card after a few weeks/months.

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!! This is exactly what I needed!! So DETAILED!! I TRULY APPRECIATE it!!! Cheers!