Sunday in Warnemunde;Su & M in St. Pete?

[Pearl64]

My husband and I are looking for a Baltic cruise for the summer of 2010 to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We are looking at three cruises.

 

1. Oceania with stops in Bruges, Amsterdam, Kiel Canal, Warnemunde, Copenhagen, Visby, Riga, Tallin, St. Petersburg (3 days), Helsinki, Stockholm (2 days). One cruise leaves July 12 with Visby on a Sunday and Riga on a Monday and Stockholm on a Sunday and Monday. I think Stockholm would be fine but what about the other two?

 

2. The second cruise is the same itinerary through Oceania with a start date of August 19 but with the Kiel Canal on a Sunday which should not be a problem, and Warnemunde on Monday, and St. Petersburg on a Sunday and a Monday. Will there be things open on Sundays and Mondays? I am just starting my research so I am not totally sure what we will do in each port. The only thing I had thought about in Germany was visiting a concentration camp but have not gotten a map out to see if any are close and available by train or some kind of public transportation. Any guidance here?

 

3.The third cruise we are looking at is through Azamara on August 5. The ports are Warnemunde (2 days), Helsinki, St. Petersburg (3 days), Tallin, Stockholm (2 days) with disembarkation in Copenhagen. We would be in Helsinki on a Monday and Copenhagen on a Monday. I have read in Rick Steve's book that many places are closed on Mondays.

 

We are also going to stay an extra week and do Norway on our own. We are leaning towards the Oceania cruise leaving on Aug. 19 of 2010 but would like some advice from more experienced cruisers. I know all of them are very port intensive but my husband and I usually try to make the most of our time. We did a rigorous three week tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales on our own and did not collapse. The Oceania cruise is more money but it is also two days longer and gets us to ports we probably would never be able to get to.

 

One more question: how long does it take to get to Dover from near Victoria Station and how does one go about doing that? Our TA thought we could do the transfers cheaper than Oceania wanted. We were able to handle luggage on the Tube two years ago. We figure we could do similar. The one cruise leaves Dover and the other leaves from Tilbury which is closer (I think).

 

Thanks everyone for your advice. I am new to cruising (our 2nd cruise coming up next month) and to CC. I have found quite a bit of good advice here.

 

Pearl

[HeinBloed]

Few answers to your many questions:

 

1. Many shops are open on Sunday afternoon in Warnemünde due to seaside-resort previlege - but only smaller retailers. No larger shops or department stores.

 

2. Sachsenhausen is open daily: (towards Berlin in Oranienburg - easy public transport)

 

http://www.stiftung-bg.de/gums/en/besucherservice/service01.htm

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/04/oranienburg-germany-sachenhausen.html

 

3. Neuengamme is open daily as well: (part of Hamburg - easy public transport)

 

http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/index.php?id=950

 

4. Typically museums are closed on Monday in Germany...

 

but in the Summer season they are open (not all or just parts)

 

or like in Berlin one part of the Museums are closed Monday the other Tuesday

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

 

What I forgot:

 

My sister-in-law took the 08.30 hrs from London Victoria Bus Service towards Dover.

 

We wanted to met her at Pencester Road Bus Station.

 

Once we met her she told us that the bus called the cruise terminal ahead so there would not have been a need to get them from the bus station downtown.

 

The stop is not listed on the schedule:

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com

[Wandering Writer]

We just returned from a B2B cruise to Norway and the Baltic on Celebrity's Century. We were in St. Petersburg on Sunday and Monday and worried about it being overcrowded in tourist areas but I think our tour guide did a great job of mapping everything out for the two days and getting us around all the hub-bub that was taking place on Sunday with a Naval appreciation day. We used SPB tours instead of the ship's excursions. THere were only 8 of us in a nice Mercedes mini-bus. I am just posting things on my blog now of our visit to St. Petersburg.

 

In Warnemunde we opted not to go to Berlin (been there, done that before). We hooked up with Friends of Dave, a private tour company there who took us (4 of us) on a tour of Warnemunde and nearby Schwerin. Again, there is more info on my blog.

 

As you mentioned, we found all our information on the Cruise Critic boards and those who accompanied us on our tours were CC members. Added to the fun!

 

Norway was gorgeous. Of course we were told we were very lucky with the weather. Enjoy!