Baltics Shopping

[lisalovlee33]

We love to shop for authentic stuff from different places. Would be great if you guys could recommend what I should watch out for at the following Baltic ports on the Star Princess

 

1) nynashamn

2) helsinki

3) St. Petersburg

4) Tallinn - knitted stuff

5) Gdynia - I've read conflicting info on the amber.. some said most are plastic.. is that true?

6) Oslo

 

I'm looking for the following so far:

1) a few russian eggs

2) a ushanka (animal flapping hats)

3) amber

4) anything else that's local stuff that I'm missing??

 

We don't care for designer stuff, or big shopping malls type stuff, but more

local stuff.

 

Thanks all for your comments in advance.

[tclowe]

At Helsinki market area (near the sightseeing boats), they had some very unique wooden toys, truly hand-knitted items (we bought a beautiful pink sweater with matching hat for my 2 year old daughter for $37 USD vs. most of Tallinn's knitted clothing sold on the streets are machine-made), fur-hats and pelts, and other interesting handcrafted stuff. This market area was lively with locals and tourist. They had lots of food stalls (snacks and fruits) and craft items to purchase.

 

In a separate location, we saw the flea market area. Not as big of shopping area as the market place and more junk rather than interesting souvenirs.

 

While on the ship, we looked out our balcony onto the port area and I spied the Hop On-Hop Off sightseeing bus parked right next to our Star Princess ship. Shooed all my family members to hustle off the ship onto the HOHO bus (it was empty when we got on but quickly filled up when others saw us get on). We rode the bus around the city one time then got off at the bus line's first stop (market place). The complete bus ride was around one hour. We shopped a little at the market place and then walked to the Russian Church up the street. The Lutheran Church (looked like a white tiered cake) was up two blocks away from the market place. At the end of the day, we just hopped on the HOHO bus near the forum shopping mall and it took us to the ship terminal within 20 minutes. When taking HOHO buses, you need to allocate sufficient time to get back on the ship. Some passengers were mad that they had to wait over 30 minutes before a HOHO bus stopped to pick them up.

[Guest LetMeGo]

Some passengers were mad that they had to wait over 30 minutes before a HOHO bus stopped to pick them up.

 

...Which would have been easily avoided by reading the brochure. It says the buses only go every 45 minutes. ;)

[3beauvid]

At Helsinki market area (near the sightseeing boats), they had some very unique wooden toys, truly hand-knitted items (we bought a beautiful pink sweater with matching hat for my 2 year old daughter for $37 USD vs. most of Tallinn's knitted clothing sold on the streets are machine-made), fur-hats and pelts, and other interesting handcrafted stuff. This market area was lively with locals and tourist. They had lots of food stalls (snacks and fruits) and craft items to purchase.

 

In a separate location, we saw the flea market area. Not as big of shopping area as the market place and more junk rather than interesting souvenirs.

 

While on the ship, we looked out our balcony onto the port area and I spied the Hop On-Hop Off sightseeing bus parked right next to our Star Princess ship. Shooed all my family members to hustle off the ship onto the HOHO bus (it was empty when we got on but quickly filled up when others saw us get on). We rode the bus around the city one time then got off at the bus line's first stop (market place). The complete bus ride was around one hour. We shopped a little at the market place and then walked to the Russian Church up the street. The Lutheran Church (looked like a white tiered cake) was up two blocks away from the market place. At the end of the day, we just hopped on the HOHO bus near the forum shopping mall and it took us to the ship terminal within 20 minutes. When taking HOHO buses, you need to allocate sufficient time to get back on the ship. Some passengers were mad that they had to wait over 30 minutes before a HOHO bus stopped to pick them up.

 

What time did your hoho leave?

[tclowe]

I think I got on the HOHO bus near the ship around 8:50 am and the bus left the cruise terminal around 9:15 am. The bus was not completely filled when we left but the top deck of the bus was pretty full when it took off. This cruise terminal stop was Stop 7B Hernesaari Cruise Terminal (they have 11 bus stops on their tour) Audio tour in English and four other languages with headphones. We were charged 20 Euro per adult, 15 euro for my 7 year old and free for my 2 year old daughter. I paid by credit card.

 

Going back to the ship, we waited about 20 minutes at Stop 6 Lasipalatsi where the Forum shopping mall was located. While walking to the bus stop, we saw a HOHO bus just pass us so I took my little girl into the shopping mall for a little shopping expedition (We Scored! as usual), then headed to Stop 6. Really cute kids clothing in the Scandanavian countries.

[mycruz]

I bought my amber in Tallin and was very happy with the price and quality. There was a lot for sale in Gdansk, I only saw what was at the outdoor market and didn't have a lot of time to compare so I'm not sure if it was authentic or not.

 

There is a store in Tallin right off of the outdoor market square that has much of what you're looking for. It is on the lower right hand side of the outdoor market, they do take credit cards, where most of the outdoor vendors only took cash.

[lisalovlee33]

Thank you all.. realy appreciate your inputs.

[tclowe]

If your cruise ports in Gdansk between last week in July until mid-August, you are in for a treat in Gdansk. Our port day in Gdansk was August 20th and it was the last day of the St. Dominican Fair. This fair is very large and covers many streets in old town Gdansk. I wished we had more time to go shopping at the fair. There are lots of street vendors and shop owners who pitched tents and had tables outside selling tons of amber jewelry, clothing, toys, handicrafts, candy, and yummy food. There were some streets that were very crowded with locals and tourist.

 

We were glad to hire a private guide and allowed some shopping time at the Fair and to look around on our own vs. some Princess excursion tours, where we heard many of the passengers being disappointed that they couldn't stop to look around at the fair because their tour didn't provide for time for them to do so. I think if the Princess tour didn't provide for free time, those passengers had to be guided back to the buses after seeing St. Mary's Church or the walking tour.