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Need help choosing Baltic Excursions


donna r
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Just booked our first Regent cruise! We have never been to the Baltics and need advice. Can any one give suggestions for the Explorer inclusive and "extra" fee excursions on the following ports;

Copenhagan

Gdansk

Klaipeda

Tallinn

St. Petersburg

Helsinki

Stockholm

Thanks so much for your help

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Hi and welcome to the Regent board.

 

It would be easier to make suggestions if we knew what you enjoy doing. Some excursions or more active - others sedate. Some people enjoy museums while others do not. So, an insight into what you personally enjoy doing will give us a direction.

 

Thanks much!

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I can only speak from private tours. We did the Baltics on Royal Caribbean. For me, I'd look for tours that include the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, and something comprehensive in St. Petersburg. A tour of Peterhof Palace, Catherines Palace, The Hermitage, Church of the Spilled Blood were all magnificent.

In Helsinki, the Rock Church is worth a visit.

Of course, these are what I found worthwhile. I know everyone's taste is different.

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We are in Stockholm now having disembarked from the Explorer this morning after a truly wonderful baltic cruise. A few excursions that we particularly enjoyed were the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg (if that's something of interest to you) as well as the evening of Russian Ballet, which was a Regent Choice excursion. Many people enjoyed their included tour of the Hermitage which we did not do. We also did Classic St. Petersburg which was a Regent Choice excursion. It was well done and certainly worth the price, but a VERY long day. My husband loves to cook, and so in Helsinki he participated in the Chef's Market Tour followed by a cooking class. While he did that I walked around on my own and enjoyed the town...it's an easy place to explore on foot. The markets there are terrific! All tours were well run (both included and Regent Choice) with nice, clean air conditioned busses and knowledgeable guides. On our first night in St. Petersburg, La Veranda restaurant served a delicious Russian buffet (very authentic) and an especially nice touch was that they re-opened the buffet at 11:30pm so that those of us who had attended the Russian Ballet and other evening tours could eat a late dinner upon our return to the ship. We enjoyed being on the Explorer so much that it was difficult to actually leave the ship to explore the ports:D

Edited by morneau
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We did the Baltic cruise a couple years ago on the Voyager and enjoyed everything.

 

In St. Petersburg we did a performance by the Red Army (instead of the Ballet) and it was very good and worth the effort.

 

With the 3 days in St Petersburg we were able to go to the Hermitage, Peterhof and Catherine's Palace. I do not remember having a Faberge Museum being an option and that seems like something good. You may have to try different combination of excursions for St. Petersburg to get everything to work with the 3 days.

 

In Lithuania we did an amber museum which involved a very nice drive thru the countryside, the museum, a stop in a small town and dropped off at a hotel near the port where we had a beer and we walked back to the ship.

 

In Tallin we did a marine/navel museum which also involved a nice drive through the countryside, a walk in a cemetery (very different) a short walking tour of the town and the museum.

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Thanks for all the quick responses! We are really looking forward to this cruise. It has been a while since we have been on a large ship... our last 5 cruises have been river cruises. So we are very familiar with the excursions. There just seems to be a lot more information on CC river cruise boards regarding the excursions.

 

We are active, enjoy walking, a mixture of art & history museums, DH is a history buff (retired Navy) so he enjoys the military excursions.

 

Again thanks all. If you think of anything else please let me know, what you have provided so far is great and helps in the decision process.

 

Donna

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I recently posted a link to my blog of that particular cruise - minus Gdansk - with our experiences of the excursions we chose. We too loved that cruise and, even though we'd been to most of the ports before (some we knew very well indeed) we still found it interesting and had so much fun. Start with Copenhagen here and continue to Stockholm via Warnemunde, Klaipeda, Helsinki, St Petersburg and Tallinn, if you're interested. We were blessed with the most gorgeous weather - I really hope you are too!

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If your husband is military, highly recommend the White War museum in Helsinki. My son, a Marine, wanted to go there. I had never heard of it. It is not on any tour as far as I know. We did the ship tour to the fortress island first, which he loved, but then did the museum on our own. It is about the war between Russia and Finland, which the Finns won despite all odds. Lots of cool stuff which any military guy would like . I liked the winter camo suit for the horses, made out of white bedsheets

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Gilly, I really enjoyed your blog, and again everyone thanks for the suggestions.

My biggest struggle is St. Petersburg, we will only be there for 2 days and trying to fit it all in will be impossible...I guess we will have to return!

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Donna r, it wasn't our first time in St Petersburg and we had another private visit scheduled a few months later, so we were rather relaxed when we booked our tours But once there, we couldn't resist trying to do as much as possible and sought advice from the Destinations team about how to "cram it all in". They were really helpful in shuffling things around to maximise our time and fitted in an extra Faberge (!) which was an unlooked for bonus. I recommend you chat with them and see if there's any additional openings once you are on board - I find them to be extraordinarily responsive when asked for advice on such things. The problem with returning there (as we did, independently) is getting all the visa stuff sorted but once again, it was so worthwhile and we had a blast - start here, if you're interested. (I was going to say that's it for Russia, for now, till I remembered we are in Petropavlovsk on Mariner next year <g>)

 

It's a great part of the world, the light is very special and the people delightful. I hope you'll take us along with you when you sail as well....I'm ready for another trip!!

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wishIweretravelling, I disagree - but goes to show how people can have an entirely different experience based on the particular situation that day. We had a great guide, the place more or less to ourselves and found it fascinating. The luck of the draw, I guess.

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wishIweretravelling, I disagree - but goes to show how people can have an entirely different experience based on the particular situation that day. We had a great guide, the place more or less to ourselves and found it fascinating. The luck of the draw, I guess.

 

We enjoyed that one also,the worst was The Hermitage, it was an included tour but was so claustrophobic that it was unbearable and the crowds were pushing and shoving. I left early and enjoyed sitting outside in the fresh air until the tour concluded. We had a nice boat trip after which was much more pleasant. :D

 

Gilly, i meant to say that i looked at your blog the other day and found it lovely. I really love the mix of pictures and chat. Very interesting. Thank you.

 

Pam.

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One of our favorite excursions anywhere was in St Pete: Night with the Czars, or something like that. It was a premium excursion but well worth the extra charge. Visit Katherine's palace in the evening, with very few fellow tourists. Spend as much time in the Amber Room as you like instead of a few seconds, as it is during the day. Special entertainment throughout the evening besides all the normal places to visit in the palace, including a string quartet. Dinner at a Russian restaurant on the way back to the ship. Don't miss it.

 

 

 

 

Just booked our first Regent cruise! We have never been to the Baltics and need advice. Can any one give suggestions for the Explorer inclusive and "extra" fee excursions on the following ports;

Copenhagan

Gdansk

Klaipeda

Tallinn

St. Petersburg

Helsinki

Stockholm

Thanks so much for your help

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Interesting comments re Hermitage and Yusupov. Hermitage does an early opening for cruise passengers, and we were the first ones in. Thus, we were able to go through without crowds, and had an excellent guide, which all made for a great experience. Yusapov was in the afternoon, and was so crowded that you could barely move and could not really see much.

 

Gilly, I'm guessing that you went to Yusupov in the morning, and Pamela1 that you went to Hermitage in the afternoon? If so, that may be the key to going to the great palaces--go first thing in the morning. We also went to Catherine Palace in the morning, and had a great experience there.

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wishiweretravelling you guessed right as far as Yusupov, at least. IMHO, the issue with St Petersburg is that we're all trying to see as much as possible in a short time. The days are as full as the palaces, museums and cathedrals and a packed programme of tours makes for long days and short patience ;). That Baltic itinerary is so port intensive with early starts and very little down time - we found it tiring and we are (comparatively!) young! I think we all came across those crowds in one or other of the locations and yes indeed, a summer afternoon is probably the worst time - for us the Faberge museum was our low spot in terms of testing our patience :eek:

 

 

Whilst I wouldn't have missed our days there with Regent, I can't tell you how much more enjoyable it was to be there independently at a quieter time of the year, with no schedule other than our own and none of the issues you describe, but I realise that's not an option for everyone...

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We did a private tour in 2017. Our guide rearranged the schedule a bit to avoid the crowds as much as possible. We visited Peterhof in the afternoon allowing a full tour of the Palace as well as the Gardens. Since we had decided to van back to St. Petersburg instead of the hydrofoil, we were able to be in the gardens for the daily "shutting down" of the fountains. Very impressive! We also visited Yusupov's palace late in the day and there was nearly no one there. Early entry to the Hermitage also helps tremendously.

To be honest, and I've never done Regent so can't speak from experience, but we were a group of 10 friends traveling and set up a private tour through TJ Travel (many tour companies are very good). I was able to tailor it to our desires. Most tours only do the garden at Peterhov, wanted to tour the interior and the garden. Most tours spend a considerable amount of time at the Hermitage, we reduced our time there for other things. We also were able to add Yusupov's Palace. They were very easy to work with an no extra charge. St. Petersburg is one of those places where there is so much to see. If you have enough to defray the cost, and you can't find a Regent tour that goes everywhere you want, you might want to consider a private company that can tailor a tour to see all the things you want. Just a thought.

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