Baltic Cruise Excursions Advice

[lizhutch424]

Lynncarol, I've written down your itinerary suggestions. We are definitely doing the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

 

GradUT, thanks for the tour suggestions. I also heard about the Stasi Museum and definitely want to check that out because I love Cold War history. We're also thinking about taking the train to Schwerin to see the castle and gardens there. I see now that the Warnemunde train station is right at the cruise port and very easy to look up directions from there online. So glad I realized this- would have felt like a fool getting on a coach bus when the station was right there!!!

 

I am so glad I asked this question- all of you have been so helpful. Thanks again :)

[SClakeliving]

Thanks everyone.

Based on advice I've heard here, we are canceling our tours in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Copenhagen and opting to do thing on our own with the Rick Steves book. I'm going to book a 2 day tour with SPB for St. Petersburg. Also, many have mentioned going on the Roll Call to get an even better deal. I've looked into this and it's not less money to do it this way. You can book directly with SPB for the Cruise Critic discount and get the same prices.

we are going on this cruise in August so I am researching and planning tours like you. We have booked the St Petersburg Grand Tour with Alla tours and they offered our Roll Call an additional discount (on top of the CC discount) if we filled a 16-person van. I'm working on it... but we have a slow Roll Call so far ! lol! Might be worth asking SPB if they would extend an additional discount for your Roll Call.

Right now, we are doing Copenhagen on our own, taking the "Friends of Dave " tour in Warnemunde (

https://www.fod

tours

.com)

, on our own for Tallin, and Helsinki. Using Alla Tours for St Petersburg and Stockholm since we will be docking in Nynashamn which is over an hour away from Stockholm.

I am using Rick Steves book too. I have used his books everywhere and never disappointed!

-Elaine

[pukekolive]

we are going on this cruise in August so I am researching and planning tours like you. We have booked the St Petersburg Grand Tour with Alla tours and they offered our Roll Call an additional discount (on top of the CC discount) if we filled a 16-person van. I'm working on it... but we have a slow Roll Call so far ! lol! Might be worth asking SPB if they would extend an additional discount for your Roll Call.

Right now, we are doing Copenhagen on our own, taking the "Friends of Dave " tour in Warnemunde (

https://www.fod

tours

.com)

, on our own for Tallin, and Helsinki. Using Alla Tours for St Petersburg and Stockholm since we will be docking in Nynashamn which is over an hour away from Stockholm.

I am using Rick Steves book too. I have used his books everywhere and never disappointed!

-Elaine

When do you travel in August and which ship? We are at St Pete on 30 August with Preziosa.

 

Elaine from New Zealand

 

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[SClakeliving]

When do you travel in August and which ship? We are at St Pete on 30 August with Preziosa.

 

Elaine from New Zealand

 

Sent from my SM-A320Y using Tapatalk

hi, Elaine!

We are on NCL Breakaway leaving Copenhagen on Aug 27. Looks like we'll be a day behind you. In St Petersburg on Aug 31-Sept1.

-Elaine from South Carolina

[chubbypiggy]

At the end of August, we will be arriving Berlin 2 days before our cruise. Our cruise port will be Rostock. I heard Rostock is 2-3 hours away from Berlin. To take the stress out of getting to Rostock from Berlin on embarkation day, I am thinking maybe we can just book a hotel near the Rostock port so we can easily get to it on embarkation day. There will be 6 of us.

 

Anyone has any information/suggestion on how I can get to Rostock from Berlin airport? Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m.

 

Any information/suggestion on Rostock hotels that are near the cruise port and/or near sightseeing places?

 

Thank you in advance for any information. :)

[Sauer-kraut]

At the end of August, we will be arriving Berlin 2 days before our cruise. Our cruise port will be Rostock. I heard Rostock is 2-3 hours away from Berlin. To take the stress out of getting to Rostock from Berlin on embarkation day, I am thinking maybe we can just book a hotel near the Rostock port so we can easily get to it on embarkation day. There will be 6 of us.

 

Anyone has any information/suggestion on how I can get to Rostock from Berlin airport? Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m.

 

Any information/suggestion on Rostock hotels that are near the cruise port and/or near sightseeing places?

 

Thank you in advance for any information. :)

 

There is a bus that will leave from TXL terminal E and will take you to either Warnemunde Strand (beach) or Werft (Shipyard).

 

For this trip it looks like less than 16 Euros per person

 

 

[fabnfortysomething]

German railways Bahn have direct trains between Berlin and Rostock and do group fares at a discount

 

For 4 of us it is 130 euros return journey/round trip so 16 euros per person each way

one of our party has walking difficulties but there are enough of us to help with luggage

 

from my research there are several rail stations in Berlin and at least one has easy access and Rostock is also easy

 

we are booked on 10,42 train from Berlin arriving 13,23

 

our ship departs from Warnemunde next day so we have booked Hotel IntrcityHotel Rostock next to train station which includes a free 24 hour transport pass which will take care of train travel to Warnemunde next day

[Aussie17]

We did a Baltic Cruise last June and did a 2 day tour with Alla Tours. I would recommend them as they were very professional and small group. We booked the 2 day tour direct with Alla on the internet and it was very easy to do. The 2 days were very full days but there is a lot to see and we certainly saw everything we wanted and our guide was so helpful and really knew the history. It was a fantastic 2 days and lunch was provided as a boxed lunch on one day and the 2nd day we had a lovely restaurant lunch and afterwards we were taken to a recommended Souvenir outlet which they guaranteed for genuine amber jewellery. I agree with others that the non-cruise tours are better value and no problem with getting back to the ship as their business depends on reliability.

[SClakeliving]

There is a bus that will leave from TXL terminal E and will take you to either Warnemunde Strand (beach) or Werft (Shipyard).

 

we are doing the Flix bus from Berlin to Copenhagen to catch our ship there at end of August. The bus goes Berlin to Rostock then rolls onto the ferry to cross to Copenhagen! It will cost us around 19 euros each.

[GradUT]

Our ship docked at the port area of Rostock and, as I recall, there is nothing out there in the way of hotels. (It's a very industrial area.) You can stay in either the town of Rostock or in Warnemuende, but you are going to have to take a bus or a taxi to get you to the port for embarkation. (The port area is about 8 miles from Rostock and 6 miles from Warnemuende.)

[twruger]

Is Celebrity excursions really cheaper than private? We are on NCL and booked private tour in SPb which is LESS THAN HALF what NCL charges! For all of the other Baltic ports, we will just DIY. Otherwise, those excursions just seem like a really expensive chauffeur added in with a lot of waiting around and more crowds.

[FloridaTourist]

we are going on this cruise in August so I am researching and planning tours like you. We have booked the St Petersburg Grand Tour with Alla tours and they offered our Roll Call an additional discount (on top of the CC discount) if we filled a 16-person van. I'm working on it... but we have a slow Roll Call so far ! lol! Might be worth asking SPB if they would extend an additional discount for your Roll Call.

 

Right now, we are doing Copenhagen on our own, taking the "Friends of Dave " tour in Warnemunde (

https://www.fod

tours

.com)

, on our own for Tallin, and Helsinki. Using Alla Tours for St Petersburg and Stockholm since we will be docking in Nynashamn which is over an hour away from Stockholm.

 

I am using Rick Steves book too. I have used his books everywhere and never disappointed!

 

-Elaine

 

 

 

We did all these ports last year with HA. Copenhagen, Helsinki, Tallin and Stockholm are all very easy to do on your own. All those cities also have excellent free walking tours. We also did a food tour with Stockholm Food Tours which was amazing. We are rather newer cruisers so if i say it was easy it really was. In warnemunde we used the Berlin Expert to pick us up and tour Berlin with 2 other couples. The only issue there is that it is 3 hrs each way on the Autobahn. But was definitely a fun day. In SPB we used TJ Travel and couldn’t have been happier. Some tours add on the Faberge museum. We did that as well. Didn’t do the ballet. After very full days of touring the ballet was just to much.

 

 

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[Giantfan13]

Sorry I am late to this party. To the OP, PLEASE listen to all the posters that have already given you advice. DITCH the ship's tours and either do any, or all the other ports on your own, or book private tours for them. Most of all, NEVER do a ship's tour in St Petersburg--NEVER. You may get to see many things, but it will be on a big bus, you will be a hostage to the slowest person on the bus, or the rudest, who doesn't care when they have to be back, as long as they do their own thing. Whichever private tour operator you use, you will see more, experience St Petersburg from people who care about this city and most of all, any private tour company will cater to YOUR needs as they want you to go home and recommend them. Do you think a ship's tour cares about that?

 

Now, I think you said this is your first cruise, or you are new to cruising? The Baltics are an amazing place. So depending on what YOU want to see and do, that would determine if you should do cities on your own or thru a tour. Ourselves, we are seniors and love to see places but we also love to just wander about on our own, sometimes off the beaten path and find some hidden jewel in certain cities. You won't get that on any tour. If you are interested in facts and figures, history wise, a tour is best as they will fill you with all the info you would want to know about many things. All the ports are very easy to do on your own, but if you want to do that, you have to do some homework. This board, and some of the people here, are just a wealth of knowledge about their cities and will help you anyway possible to see things. Books like Rick Steves are invaluable. He has walking tours in each city, places that are must sees and others that can be skipped. Again, it depends on how you want to see the Baltics.

But, most of all, cancel those ship's tours ASAP, and do your own thing. Sound advice from myself and most here.

 

Cheers

Len

[pukekolive]

we are doing the Flix bus from Berlin to Copenhagen to catch our ship there at end of August. The bus goes Berlin to Rostock then rolls onto the ferry to cross to Copenhagen! It will cost us around 19 euros each.

We are on Preziosa on 26 August from Copenhagen which ship are you on?

 

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[chubbypiggy]

Thank you for the Rostock hotel and Berlin transportation information!!:)

[the2006Junket]

Lynncarol, I've written down your itinerary suggestions. We are definitely doing the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

 

GradUT, thanks for the tour suggestions. I also heard about the Stasi Museum and definitely want to check that out because I love Cold War history. We're also thinking about taking the train to Schwerin to see the castle and gardens there. I see now that the Warnemunde train station is right at the cruise port and very easy to look up directions from there online. So glad I realized this- would have felt like a fool getting on a coach bus when the station was right there!!!

 

I am so glad I asked this question- all of you have been so helpful. Thanks again :)

 

Hi Liz and all, please note that the Stasi Prison Museum in Rostock is closed for the rest of 2018 for refurbishing.

https://www.bstu.bund.de/DE/InDerRegion/Rostock/Veranstaltungen/Gedenkstaette/_inhalt.html

[Chocolate Teapot]

Having done the Baltics twice on a cruise ship, I would recommend an organised tour for St Petersburg, namely to avoid hassle with the visa. I used ship's excursions, but have heard good things about Alla and SPB.

 

All the other destinations are easy on your own, with Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm all having Hop-on Hop-off buses and Warnemunde station being next door to the cruise terminal.

[matamanoa]

Our first European cruise was to the Baltics and it has remained one of our favorites. That cruise was also the first time that we tried private tours as opposed to ship's tours and since then we have always tried to do private, depending on the city we are visiting. Some, like St. Petersburg, warrant taking a tour to get the most sightseeing done in the time you have there. Other ports we did DIY or joined a small group tour through our roll call. This was the most economical way to tour and we were lucky to have wonderful experiences with the smaller group tours. So I would suggest that you visit your ship's roll call and see if there are openings on any of the small group tours. Whatever you choose to do, you will have an amazing time in that area of the world.

 

Barb

[Desdichado62]

I wouldn't use the HoHo buses in Stockholm. They don't go the fastest route and are generally a slow way to get around.

 

In some cases it might advantages to use them but not in general.

[chubbypiggy]

Our ship docked at the port area of Rostock and, as I recall, there is nothing out there in the way of hotels. (It's a very industrial area.) You can stay in either the town of Rostock or in Warnemuende, but you are going to have to take a bus or a taxi to get you to the port for embarkation. (The port area is about 8 miles from Rostock and 6 miles from Warnemuende.)

 

The Rostock port is closer to Warnemunde than Rostock?