Hi everyone just booked a cruise to the Baltics R309 in 32 days time I have never done any of the ports we are to visit, although OH has been to St Petersburg before a long time ago. The ports we are visiting are
Stockholm
Helsinki
St.Petersburg
Tallinn
Warnemunde
Copenhagen
Kristiansand
I would appreciate any help of what might be of interest to do from just DIY locally or a P&O excursion. I am interested more for tours to St Petersburg as I have no idea what is a must do & see there.
Also currency, I have done research but I am sure there are those of you that have done this recently and will point me into the right direction.
For St Petersburg I would suggest looking at doing a private tour. There are all sorts of "horror" stories about these with such things as you will need to get a visa etc. - all of which are untrue.
We did a two day tour a couple of years ago and it was brilliant. we saw far more than we would have done by doing P&O tours - and one of the benefits is that you get "fast tracked" into all the places that you visit.
There are several companies that offer these but beware that some are USA based - go with a Russian one - and don't pay anything in advance. They will deal with the visa issue in just the same way as going on a P&O tour would do.
You can either go on your own or join up with others to make a group of six or eight - and if doing that you will find the cost will be in the region of £200 per person for a full two day tour.
One tip - make sure that the tour is doing the centre of St Petersburg on the second day and going out to St Catherine's Palace on the first day as the traffic between the two can be horrendous.
Stockholm is beautiful. Are you in the city or at Nynashalm? Easy to do diy
Helsinki - shuttle bus is the only one we've ever had to pay for. Also easy to diy
St.Petersburg - David's covered that above - we did ship's tour
Tallinn - exquisite and the highlight of our Baltic cruise. easy to diy - just wander and soak it in!
Warnemunde - never been there
Copenhagen - the (very little ) Mermaid is within easy walking distance of the ship - the other sites are further on in the same direction. Tivoli about 30 -40 mins walk away
Kristiansand - this was our last port on a very busy cruise - we used it to wind down. A nice little town - though not an awful lot to do apart from wander round the shops and the marina
For a few ideas to suit your tastes consider getting copies of Thomas Cook's Travel Guides, just a few £££ each on e-Bay, for ...
Copenhagen
Helsinki
St.Petersburg
Stockholm
Tallinn
Meanwhile ...
Warnemunde
Is a delightful German seaside town with many historical buildings .... however we caught an early train to Rostock, did a walkabout in the old town and then returned by river boat for lunch and a stroll back in Warnemunde.
Kristiansand
A walk around sort of place that would take a maximum of half a day, including time for going back to the ship for lunch, so we opted for an excursion on a steam train though the surrounding countryside. Our guide also took us to his own home, not an official part of the tour, which was a traditional wooden clapper board style house in the oldest part of town. We then walked about on our own. A pretty and homely seafaring resort - just don't book a fortnights holiday there.
Copenhagen
For us a definite highlight. We basically did our own thing all day and there were lots of interesting things to see.
Tallinn
Unbelievable and certainly a walk around sort of place, absolutely gorgeous. Similar to Prague but more flamboyant. If you walk then keep left at Fat Margaret ( Tower ) and walk half way alongside the City Walls, then enter turning left and up to the top. Turn right at McD's and continue until you reach the highest point ... time for some pics of the roof tops ... then walk down through the beautiful Old Town.
Helsinki
A bit spread out but take in the Rock Church, the Cathedral and the Market Square if nothing else.
Stockholm
Is also very easy to walk, consider the Vasa Viking Museum Tour else see the Royal Palace and then walk through the Old Town to their famous Town Hall of Blue Room fame.
St.Petersburg
We were only there for one day and did P&O trips to the Peterhof in the morning and City Highlights in the afternoon ... walkabout type DIY is a non starter.
Not strictly true - but I admit not very practical unless you want to get a full Russian visa (in the region of £100 each), you are willing to wait for a taxi into St Petersburg (the new cruise terminal is a good half an hour's drive out of the city centre) and you have a working knowledge of the Russian language.
Make sure you are out on deck for the Warnemude sailaway, they give a great send off. We had 'Time to Say Goodbye' booming across the water, and as the ship moves off, all the people from the town spill out on to the dockside to wave the ship off.
Not strictly true - but I admit not very practical unless you want to get a full Russian visa (in the region of £100 each), you are willing to wait for a taxi into St Petersburg (the new cruise terminal is a good half an hour's drive out of the city centre) and you have a working knowledge of the Russian language.
Fairy snuff ... we docked at the mega grotty old Port and restrictions seemed to apply.
Stockholm - the shuttle bus usually drops people off and picks them up near the Opera. From there it is a flatish walk along the quayside to the Vasa museum - and it is truly not something to miss. Another thing - I appreciate that you may be busy or asleep when the ship is sailing in to Stockholm, but make sure that you have a chance to enjoy the long and beautiful sail back out to the sea. It is about 50 miles, and really pretty - and the shoreline is very very close in places.
Tallinn - the shuttle bus goes into 'town' (the lower part of the town), and there is a new small complex of nicely built craft shops/stalls just 2 minutes walk from the quayside. It takes only about 10 minutes (if that) to walk into town, and in the lower part of the town there are loads of food and drink opportunities, and also shops selling jumpers which look like Norwegian knitwear, embroidered household items, amber, Babushka dolls - and we found that the knitwear was less expensive than in Norway; and the amber and Babushka dolls were less expensive that in St Petersburg. Go to the tours show on board to get the free maps etc., and then you'll find how to get up through the town to the top - where the views are lovely and worth the walk.
Tallinn - something different. Our daughter arranged a tour at the Viru hotel in the centre of Tallinn. It's not expensive, it's a KGB tour and they show you how the Russians used the hotel to spy on guests. The top floor was used to listin into guests using all kinds of surveillance. You can arrange in advance or walk in on the day and pay. Just go to the hotel reception.
St Petersburg - again something different. PO have a tour where they take you on the underground and a market. Travelling on the underground was great, lets you see how the Russians live day to day.
Most, if not all, of the private tours of St Petersburg will also take you on the underground.
One interesting point about the underground in St Petersburg is that you are not allowed to take photographs.
See my entry on Cruise Specific * forum about not taking photos on the port quay and in the immigration hall and also see the reply from Boris about someone who got caught.
* Moved to Destinations, Europe to assist a ' Search ' at a later date.
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