baldtomato

I’m currently on the Voyager of the Seas and was just in Helsinki 2 days ago. We didn’t dock till 12 noon and although the ship only had to sail 50miles to the next stop, they decided to roll up the gangway at 7:30pm. I think you COULD do HoHo or DIY - the HoHo stop is literally at the ship: (pic 1 and 2), but we had such a fabulous time with a private guide Paolo, I wouldn’t be a good CCer if I don’t put in an honest rec here (3). We hit all the “good stops” (Sibelius, Rock church, esplanade and markets, senate square) plus a few authentic “local” hangouts that I can’t give a spoiler here - he’s full of info (and I have already read Rick Steves start to finish). The library is my kids’ (9,13) favourite. He also saved us valuable time (at his own cost - he makes less as he “downgraded” our booking) to tip us off that there had just been a bad fire in the Center of Porvoo last week - he sent me a WhatsApp days before port , with photo and news links. All thru our day there were numerous DIYers who came up to us (him) to ask for directions and recommendations that he gladly helped. if you don’t think you would be Helsinki again anytime soon then make the most out of your half day - you’ve travelled all this way, we are glad we did. We did DIY with almost all other ports but are super happy with Paolo - tell him baldtomato and her kids sent you! Edit - idk why the first pic is upside down, but that’s the HoHo stop, you get the idea!

What a great topic! Thanks to OP for starting it. We will be on a 2022-Aug sailing so very-slightly different ports, have a 13 year old boy (an evolved bookworm - always hungry for any trivia, a competitive water sports athlete), and a 10 year old girl (more fit than she'd like to admit, she hates walking and hiking but she figure-skates... so she actually has strong legs ... loves visually-interesting places - photo spots). Both love history and culture, even art / art history. Both are musicians (but other than Sibelius i don't think there's any big "music" things on this itinerary?). I haven't really designed our port days surrounding "their" interests... but also don't want them to get too bored. I'm a bit worried that all the cobblestone walking on our very busy 9-ports-in-11-days itinerary will be too much for DD (well, too much of "what? more walkiiiiiing??? why are we stillllll walkiiiiing" from DD). We haven't booked too many paid tours as the cost really add up when multiplied by 4 ... and there are soooo many ports on this itinerary (DS, who turned 13 two months ago, will from hereon forever be counted as an ADULT by cruiselines.... !!). Our itinerary: - Copenhagen (plane lands late night prior to embarkation, so, no pre-cruise tour) - Aarhus, Denmark (i've done basic research, planning to DIY-walk) Hoping for your collective input TIA! - Gdansk, Poland (i've booked a placeholder official ShoreEx walking tour that will leave us time to explore and return to ship on our own in the end ... didn't really want to make DD walk the mile to catch the shuttle and the train into town etc esp so early in our trip... the cost of the shuttle isn't that much cheaper than the ShoreEx). - Klaipeda, Lithuania - debating the Amber museum + Klaipeda old town ShoreEx, vs private tour, vs DIY ferry to Curonian split and then time in town. @alwayscruisetime i might contact the tour operator you mentioned and price out to see if it's worth saving energy and research time. - Helsinki - booked a private guy who would take us to Porvoo then Helsinki - not sure if we really need to spend time in Porvoo or should we just skip Porvoo and do Helsinki HoHo bus ? Cutting Porvoo will cut at least 250 euros of cost .... but then who knows when will we ever get to be in the Helsinki area again... and regret missing Porvoo? Is Porvoo not to be missed? Rick Steves thinks it's skippable if it's one-day-in-port, - Tallinn - definitely DIY. Probably take your suggestions above and taxi to the top + walk downhill. Wanted to do the KGB museum but I missed the boat in planning and it's already all sold out for the day we're there - Riga - booked two "Free" walking tours back to back (10 am, 12 noon), hope our shuttle make it in time to 10 am, and that 4.5 to 5h of walking isn't too deadly for DD. - Stockholm - Vasa + ice bar (for me!) + Gamla Stan walking tour. in that order, or, Gamla Stan walking tour + Ice bar + Vasa. Wondering which order to go. Depends on whether we manage to not get trampled when trying to get off the ship first thing.... - Visby - booked an official ShoreEx **look from the bus** tour for 1.5h, figured we'll at least get to have a visual on all the sights and let DD and DS decide if they want to "walk it" in the afternoon. I'm **sure** DD would love that alley that has roses. I suppose a bike tour would be nice, but i don't think DD is tall enough to go onto an adult sized bicycle .... unless they have junior sizes for rental?? - back to Copenhagen, where we'll stay for 4 nights. LOTS of time there so i can plan casually and "on the fly" (**ahem** procrastinate some more **ahem**), so, i'm not thinking about that now!!

@Coco-T hope you had a good trip! I am on CC researching the first post-pandemic cruise we're taking, and ran into my own old post - that brought back SUPER nice memories! That Wind Star sailing, unbeknownst to us, would be the last trip we'd have for a long time - it was from the WindStar's daily news printouts where we first heard about this "atypical pneumonia" breaking out somewhere in China, a month before it circulated to North America. Who would have thunk! anyways, i can't believe i wrote that long review either 😄 but I'm glad I did it! If we ever have the luck to be able to go back to Costa Rica or Panama, I won't forget which guides we had met!

Thank you @hallasm!! Odense and Den Fynske it is then! Hopefully there's uber... How much approx. for taxi/uber groin from Andersen's house, to the Den Fynske village?

Thank you for the suggestions! I had been swamped with work so we are super late to get organized - I'm only about half done researching port options and have yet to look at the (currently 15 page) roll call for our sailing... For the one last full day in Copenhagen, I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to go to Odense (that's where Andersen's house is?) and hit Funen village also, or go to Aero.... I believe I came across these either watching Rick Steves or on someone else's post. Don't know if these are realistically too far for a day trip? My daughter is probably too short to fit onto rental bicycles, unless they have smaller size for children / tweens. We are trying not to have to move accommodation once we disembark (the hassle of packing-unpacking for FOUR people all on one person's shoulders!, and, having to covid-clean the hotel room / touch surfaces too much hassle for a one night stay), so, the "further afield" will have to start early in the morning and we return to the same hotel room in Copenhagen at night. Leaving on a fairly early flight the next morning,.

re: Copenhagen We are on the Aug 10 sailing of Voyager (so, right when most of you disembark!), starting and ending in Copenhagen. We are staying behind after disembarkation and have a few nights. I found this Free Walking tour non-profit: https://freetourcommunity.com/tours/copenhagen/ We will be disembarking on a Sunday, and will be leaving Copenhagen Thursday morning. Our current plans are: - Sunday - 12 noon Classical Copenhagen tour (90min, only offered on Sundays) - Monday 10:30 am Grand Tour of Copenhagen (2.5 to 3h), then, 3 pm tour of Christianhavn - Tuesday - full day at Tivoli (i have a 10 year old and a 13 year old~) - Wednesday .... maybe go further afield, suggestions? Has anyone else taken these "free" (volunteer / non profit) walking tours? if so, how much are we expected to tip? (i assume cash...?) TIA!

thank you thank you! This is amazing! I was just wondering if we should book a tour vs booking RC excursions but couldn't stomach the thought of letting RC rip us off more. We are sailing in 25 days so the thought of having to research all private tour options in every single one of the 9 ports is really unappealing! so this is really, really helpful, thank you! I just booked both the 10 am tour and the noon tour, so 1h45min + 2h30min back to back. I hope my 10 year old daughter would be able to handle that amount of walking? (plus possible ship-to-main gate hike... and possibly standing in line for a long time to get onto the shuttle leaving the ship).