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Baltic Cruises 2018 - Help planning please!


Bozzie67
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Any suggestions for trips and tours etc. during our Baltic cruise next July.

 

All the advertised official tours seem astronomically expensive as is a Russian Visa! I know certain official tours do not require individual visas but even the local companies charge a mint! We are not really keen on deep, cultural experiences but just want to make the most of Copenhagen, Tallinn, SP, Stockholm & Germany for our 12 year old daughter.

 

All tips and info, including advice about obtaining currencies would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

 

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You do not really need to do tours in any of those ports apart from St Petersburg. Just do your research on what you want to see and get a map and away you go. Try using the search function on this board with each port name for more advice. For St Petersburg, you do not need to get a visa if you do a tour, either with your ship or with a local operator. We used SPB Tours and were very happy. Many people recommend Alla Tours. Check out their websites. They will put you with a few others from your ship for a small group tour.

 

As for obtaining currencies, we do not know where you live. However normally one would just go to the bank and order it.

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Just to add, you say 'Germany'. Perhaps this is Warnemunde? You could do Rostock, which is nearby, by train or boat and Warnemunde itself is also a pleasant seaside town. If you want to go to Berlin, then a tour is best as it is a very long way away.

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Any suggestions for trips and tours etc. during our Baltic cruise next July.

 

All the advertised official tours seem astronomically expensive as is a Russian Visa! I know certain official tours do not require individual visas but even the local companies charge a mint! We are not really keen on deep, cultural experiences but just want to make the most of Copenhagen, Tallinn, SP, Stockholm & Germany for our 12 year old daughter.

 

All tips and info, including advice about obtaining currencies would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

 

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Hi, as regards Germany, if you do not intend to go to Berlin there is my web site suggesting places to go and how to get there from Warnemunde/Rostock. It features easy DIY trips at reasonable cost within two hours travel time (mostly considerably less) of the cruise terminal. The timetables and fares relate to this year but I will be updating the whole site when the 2018 timetables etc for both local and distance transport are published in December.

Happy planning :)

Anni

http://www.travelanni.webs.com

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I agree that the only formal tours you need will be in St. Petersburg. At the other ports just use the big Red Hop on Hop off buses. Each town has several routes the buses take and you can do multiple ones if you wish. Be sure to go to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and Skansen in Stockholm. You can get all the currencies at your bank, but it may take a few days for some of them to be ordered.

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I agree that the only formal tours you need will be in St. Petersburg. At the other ports just use the big Red Hop on Hop off buses. Each town has several routes the buses take and you can do multiple ones if you wish. Be sure to go to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and Skansen in Stockholm. You can get all the currencies at your bank, but it may take a few days for some of them to be ordered.

The hop on hop off buses may be useful in Copenhagen and Stockholm. However, Tallinn is best explored on foot as the tour buses cannot really get round in the quaint old town. Warnemunde and Rostock are also places for pedestrians not buses.

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you have plenty of time to get a copy of Rick Steves Northern European cruise ports, he covers all the ports and how to get the most out of them. check your local library or buy a copy, it's money well spent. in 2015 we did all ports by using this book all but St Petersburg which we used SPB. doing this same trip but shorter in 2018 and taking family along. it's a great cruise, enjoy

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I understand the sticker shock, and also highly recommend Rick Steves' book.

 

I would add that you can find reasonably priced tours which can add an extra dimension to your visit, both by what you can learn about the culture from the tour guide, and the chance to try/see new things. Some of our best port excursions have been food tours, which are frequently not very expensive. We don't necessarily need deep cultural learning either, but we do like some context to what we are seeing or doing. I also learn things that I would have never thought to ask about. TripAdvisor is a great place to search for things to do.

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Bozzie67, we might be able to provide some extra advice if we knew what ship you were going on and/or where it will be docking (i.e. Is it going directly to Stockholm, or docking in Nynashamn? Is your stop in Germany in Warnemunde, or Hamburg?). Regardless, I ditto others' suggestions to buy Rick Steves' Northern European Cruise Ports. You may be amazed at how much you can do on your own. :)

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Take advantage of all the excellent info you will get from Travelanni about touring in northern Germany. We used her info for getting from Kiel to Luebeck and Luebeck was one of the highlights of our entire cruise.

 

Another recommendation for the Rick Steves book. His self-guided walking tours are very good--we did several and saw things that were missed by those taking HO/HO bus tours. (Our table mates often said, "You saw THAT? I wish we had."). He also recommends some free walking tours where you pay by tipping the guide at the end of the tour. The one we did in Stockholm was very good; the one we did in Copenhagen was a highlight of our trip.

 

We chose not to go to Berlin and instead spent our day in Warnemuende and Rostock. In Warnemuende, we rented bicycles in town and rode for miles on a paved trail that parallels the beach. It was a fabulous ride and something any 12-year-old should enjoy.

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We loved our Baltic cruise. Our son was 3, so the information in my cruise review might not be as helpful for you but there is a detailed review of this cruise for families in my signature line. We didn't find out about them prior to our cruise, but Best Guides has special tours for families and they will try to match you with other families on your tour and other forum posters have reported positive experiences with them.

 

The public transportation system was excellent everywhere, so we just took local transportation and toured by ourselves all over the Baltics (except for St. Petersburg).

 

 

Oh, one issue you might want to consider - next season the cruise ships will let people on ship tours off first. With a child, you definitely don't want to be on a ship tour due to the expense and frustration of traveling with a large group while trying to take care of your child. You might want to see if you can start your tour later on Day 1 of St. Petersburg to avoid the chaos, and start earlier on Day 2. Most tours start later on Day 2 of St. Petersburg, so you wouldn't lose any time overall, but it is hard to stand in line with a child for an hour and then spend all day touring St. Petersburg (there are few lines on Day 2 - the holdup is from immigration slowly examining documents on Day 1. Then hey stamp your documents, and just check for the stamp on day 2 which is much quicker.)

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Hi,

I’m in the same position as yourself with looking at tours for a cruise next July. I’ve found Alla-tours in St Petersburg to be the best if you want an all inclusive 2 day package including meals. The owner of the company emailed me back within a day and was extremely helpful in answering all my questions and not pressuring me to sign up immediately. Hope that helps as another option for you.

 

 

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The hop on hop off buses may be useful in Copenhagen and Stockholm. However, Tallinn is best explored on foot as the tour buses cannot really get round in the quaint old town. Warnemunde and Rostock are also places for pedestrians not buses.

 

In Stockholm I would not at all recommend Ho/Ho buses. They are slow and you may have to spend a long time to wait for a bus. Public transport on the other hand is very good, so much better.

 

There are also Ho/Ho boats and they are useful if your ship will be at Stadsgården port. They can take you to the Vasa Museum if you want to go there in the morning before they start their regular tours.

 

As for cash in Stockholm there are very few places where you need it. I live in Stockholm and I don't carry cash at all when I go out, I rely on my plastic cards.

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during our Warnemunde port day, we decided to visit Schwerin which is about 2 hours away from the port.

we first went to Rostock then took another train to Schwerin.

it is a picturesque town with many lovely buildings and a castle too.

we were in Schwerin on a Monday (when the castle was closed) but we really enjoyed wandering around the beautiful castle garden/grounds

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There are also Ho/Ho boats and they are useful if your ship will be at Stadsgården port. They can take you to the Vasa Museum if you want to go there in the morning before they start their regular tours.

 

We took a HOHO boat and it was great. If you are in stadsgarden 167 berth, the boats are a very short walk from the dock. But please double check their schedule closer to your sail date since I've recommended this to people in the past, and other forumites correctly pointed out that the boats were no longer running prior to 10 am. The last time I checked a few months ago, they were running but you should check in 2018 to confirm.

 

It is important to get to Vasa early, because they limit the number of visitors at one time to protect the ship. The museum is much more pleasant when it opens at 8:30 and is empty than it will be a little while later when it get crowded.

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We took a HOHO boat and it was great. If you are in stadsgarden 167 berth, the boats are a very short walk from the dock. But please double check their schedule closer to your sail date since I've recommended this to people in the past, and other forumites correctly pointed out that the boats were no longer running prior to 10 am. The last time I checked a few months ago, they were running but you should check in 2018 to confirm.

 

It is important to get to Vasa early, because they limit the number of visitors at one time to protect the ship. The museum is much more pleasant when it opens at 8:30 and is empty than it will be a little while later when it get crowded.

 

We dock at 7:00 and want to be at the Vasa when they open at 8:30. We’d like to take the HOHO boat, but the schedule I’m seeing on their website is that they don’t start running until 10:00am. Do you know how I could check to see if they start earlier? Otherwise, is the best option to take s taxi?

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We dock at 7:00 and want to be at the Vasa when they open at 8:30. We’d like to take the HOHO boat, but the schedule I’m seeing on their website is that they don’t start running until 10:00am. Do you know how I could check to see if they start earlier? Otherwise, is the best option to take s taxi?

The Vasa is open:

10:00 am to 5:00 pm - September 1st to May 31st

8:30 am to 6:00 pm - June 1st to August 31st

https://www.vasamuseet.se/en/visit

not sure about the HOHO boats but perhaps they also have high season hours?

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I've emailed the two hoho boat companies in the past, and would suggest you do so also when it gets closer to your sail date. Their Email addresses are on their website. A few years ago, one company sold one ride tickets which were perfect since the public transportation is faster than the hoho buses and boat system during the day, but you'll need to decide what works best for you. Those one ride tickets appear to have been discontinued and I haven't seen them back. The hoho boats don't go everywhere in Stockholm, but it is a really pleasant and fast ride directly to vasa.

 

Taxis may be available; my only concern would be that if you dock directly in Stockholm everyone tries to disembark early since the port day is short due to the time it takes to pass through the archipelago. There's also probably public transport, or perhaps you can reserve a taxi or uber ahead of time. I had confirmed the one ride hoho boat ticket and 8:30 start time prior to my sailing, so I didn't research the alternatives but hopefully someone else will be able to explain the alternatives.

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We were on Oceania Marina's Northern Baltic cruise in July 2017. Utilized Dancing Bear in St. Petersburg for all three days. They were FABULOUS. Used Estonian Experience in Tallinn and Riga nd then on our own in Helsinki and Warnemunde. Copenhagen and Stockholm are also good for on your own. Used the HoHo boats in Stockholm for Vasa and ABBA museums.

 

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Another option is the djurgarden ferry. It is only a short walk from the stadsgarden pier to the ferry (we took the ferry and arrived at the Vasa a little before opening time).

Many thanks/-I wondered about the ferry. That sounds like a good option.

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For Stockholm Stadsgårdskajen S167 there are also harbour ferry M/s Emelie.

I don't know what schedule it will use next summer but currently they have a 07.30 departure from S167 berth and it stops in the same place at S167 as the hoho boats but it will stop a bit further away from the Vasa museum then the Ho Ho Boats.

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