Riga Port Info - Specific to Royal Caribbean

We will be sailing with a group of friends this summer on the 7-Day Baltic Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas. Some of our group became concerned about transportation in Riga, based on some posts last summer from Royal Caribbean’s passengers indicating that the ship does not dock near Old Town, but instead docks quite some distance away:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/ports/riga-cruises/

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2233908&highlight=riga

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruises-to-riga-latvia.html

The RCI website is beautiful but unhelpful, and it doesn’t give much in the way of specific information about Riga. Most websites (including CruiseCritic) and travel books indicate that cruise ships dock within walking distance of Old Town.

Our travel agent spent 45 minutes on the phone with RCI customer service trying to answer the question of exactly where our ship would dock. At the end of that time, he was told that we would be within walking distance of Old Town. When he asked if she was sure, she replied, “That’s what I’ve been told.”

Another member of our group called customer service directly and was given a more circumspect answer along the lines of, “Sometimes the ship docks close in and other times not.” He was unable to get a direct answer about where Serenade of the Seas would be docking for our cruise.

Then we discovered the following website operated by the Port of Riga, showing where ships will be docking this summer:

http://www.rop.lv/en/ferries-and-cruise/cruising/cruise-vessel-schedule.html

It shows that all the cruise lines EXCEPT for RCI’s Serenade of the Seas will dock at “RPT” (Riga Passenger Terminal), which is very close to Old Town. Serenade of the Seas will dock at “KS” which stands for Krievu Sala, a lumber port 12km away from Old Town.

The following website helped explain the reason:

http://www.cruiseeurope.com/news/riga-hosts-cruise-europe

It lists the limitations of the Riga Passenger Terminal as length: 290m, and draft: 8m. The KS terminal has no draft restrictions. According to the information online, Serenade of the Seas has a length of 293m and a draft of 8.5m.

So, just a heads-up to our fellow cruisers on RCI: be prepared to take a (previously unexpected) extra shuttle ride in Riga.

what ever port it is, you'll enjoy Riga. It is tied with Barcelona as my favorite city in the world. enjoy

Thank you so much for the information that I've been looking for.

I agreed that RC service line was not helpful at all even we have only about two months from our departure date.

The “KS” Krievu Sala dock is not a convenient one for our visit. I hope RC provides us complimentary shuttles but more than likely it would not happen. Anybody knows how much for the ride to Old Town per person? Is taxi available from this dock?

Thank you.

This is great information to have! I had no idea until I ran across this post today. Thank you very much for the info.

Does anyone know where in Old Town Riga the ship's shuttle drops you? Sounds like we will have no choice but to take it (as we want to walk around town on our own, not as part of a tour group). It would be very helpful to know where we will begin & end our time in Old Town.

I have sent an email inquiry to the RCCL Shore Excursion folks regarding shuttle cost/location, etc. I will post their response if/when I receive one.

We're looking at an August 2017 sailing on the Vision - wonder about whether they'll use the closer port then!

I received a prompt reply from the Shorex Desk regarding my inquiry about Riga shuttle price & drop-off/pick-up location. Unfortunately, their response was not at all helpful:

"Thank you for contacting our Shore Excursion Team,

Unfortunately, as these shuttle services are outside of our program, we would advise that you speak to our onboard team so that they may provide you with the most accurate information regarding this service. Please be advised that shuttle services may not be offered in all ports of call and that cost may vary depending on the port. Shuttle rates can not be advised prior to sailing. However, we are confident our onboard team will assist in ensuring that you acquire the proper transportation so that you may visit Riga.

Should you have any other inquiries regarding our tours, please let us know, we would be happy to assist."

Based on cruise reviews from last summer, I understand that last year's cost for the RCCL Riga shuttle was $14, though I'm not clear whether this was each way or round-trip.

If you've taken the RCCL Riga shuttle and can answer my questions about cost & location, I would greatly appreciate it!

Many thanks.

I finally received a reply from someone who had cruised this ship with Riga as one destination, most important, the Riga dock was the KS Terminal.

Here is her reply...

We took the RC Shuttle to Riga and I believe the cost was either € 12 Euro or € 14 Euro per person for the return trip.

The shuttle will drop you off at a central location which is just off the Akmens Tilts bridge just between Kalku iela and Greinieku iela streets.

The RC Shuttle bus will do continuous trips back and forth from the port to this point during the day.

This is also the starting point for the Riga City Bus Tours. (Cost for the Riga City Sightseeing is approx. € 15.00 - but the city is a very easy walk.) See the attached link for a map showing the starting point which is beside No. 5 and 21 on their map. http://www.redbuses.com/wp-content/u...seeing-map.jpg.

I hope this is of some help.

....

So, looks like the shuttle ticket is for a round-trip from KS Terminal to Riga City.

NVYN, thank you so much for posting! This is exactly the info I was hoping to find. Great to know the exact drop-off/pick-up location. Will certainly make it easier to plan our day in Riga.

Hope you have a nice trip.

Great info, NVYN. Thanks!

Another thanks!

(Although we still haven't decided on which sailing, hope to be getting closer! [emoji85])

Thank you so much for the information that I've been looking for.

 

I agreed that RC service line was not helpful at all even we have only about two months from our departure date.

 

The “KS” Krievu Sala dock is not a convenient one for our visit. I hope RC provides us complimentary shuttles but more than likely it would not happen. Anybody knows how much for the ride to Old Town per person? Is taxi available from this dock?

 

Thank you.

Hello, we are taking Serenade of the Seas next month (July 2016), we couldn't find any information about where the ship docks in Riga. I searched cruise critic and found this thread written in April 2016.

Since you already cruised in April 2016 with RC, would you please kindly confirm that RC in fact docks in RS port 15km out of town and shuttle cost to old town is 12euro one way and 14 euro round trip?

Thanks so much in advance!

Joanne

I got this information from someone who took the same cruise with Royal Caribbean last year. The KS Dock is far from the Old Town and located at an industrial area where taxi could not get there. Looks like the only option for cruise passengers is RC shuttle tickets which cost around 12 Euro (or maybe 14 Euros) for a round-trip between this dock to Old Town (near the Rifflemen Monument/Occupational Museum).

I am going next month, and would like to know this info too. It is disappointing that Royal doesn't provide a shuttle, or even info in advance, but I think they are more interested in selling their own tours.

There is a HOHO bus, but it doesn't run very frequently, so not much good for us, as our ship does not dock until 11, and according to the site, the HOHO bus is only every 30 minutes until 2, then once an hour, with the last one at 4. We might try walking, and maybe Uber back to the shuttle stop if we get too far away.....

Sharon

Anyone have current (2017) information?

This is kind of off-topic, plus the info is a bit old (2012), but here's my two cents' worth on Riga:

If you like Art Nouveau buildings, there are at least two amazing ones in Riga, plus an Art Nouveau museum. See my pictures here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123/baltic_cruise_&page=all (Riga is about halfway through the gallery; no signup needed to view the pictures.) The area with these buildings was relatively easy to find from where we docked, but I don't think you're docking there, so you might have to go to more effort to get there.

The HOHO bus was a SO-SO bus in my opinion. It covers a good amount of ground, but to me, most of the things people are interested in are more or less close together, so not much need to spend money on the bus. I think the bus DID go close to the art nouveau buildings mentioned above, but if you use the bus and want to see them, I'd get good directions from the bus driver.

In Riga, we found few places that accepted any cash other than Latvian lats - in other words, no euros and no dollars, unless possibly you find a street vendor who will do that. We had two bankers come on our ship to exchange money, but I have no idea if they do that for all ships. I would just take a couple credit cards and if you need to spend money (lunch?) I imagine you'll at least find that some restaurants, the HOHO, etc. take credit cards.

We really liked Riga.

thank you for the superb information on the riga port trip. i too have been trying to find some information, but with no success. everyone has been very informative. thanks again

I got this information from someone who took the same cruise with Royal Caribbean last year. The KS Dock is far from the Old Town and located at an industrial area where taxi could not get there. Looks like the only option for cruise passengers is RC shuttle tickets which cost around 12 Euro (or maybe 14 Euros) for a round-trip between this dock to Old Town (near the Rifflemen Monument/Occupational Museum).

Riflemen monument is right near the HoHo bus, should you want to take it. We did, but as I said, we found it so-so.

I'm on the Serenade now, and we were in Riga yesterday. Yes, we docked at an industrial port 30 minutes drive out of Riga. The shuttle was 14 Euro. There truly is nothing at all at the port. No taxis either.

Our group of 10 arranged with Red Fox tours to come pick us up at the port gates, and do a driving/walking tour of Riga. 480 Euro for the group, including the transfer. It was outstanding!!

Thanks for all of your expertise about Riga transportation. We are sailing on the Serenade on July 30th and we have booked a walking tour of Riga that starts at 11:00 by the rifleman monument. The Serenade docks for 10:00 and just assumed that the ship would dock closer to Riga. No taxis.... yikes. I guess we should cancel our tour.

Any other suggestions of tour companies that will pick us up at the ship? Red Fox sounds good so will look into them. We wanted to stay in town for lunch and explore so maybe just do it on our own???

Appreciate any help and suggestions

Thanks

Our experience with Red Fox was outstanding. We had a group of 10. They sent a nice mini van with both a driver and guide to the port gates, took us on the "Grand Tour Around Riga", and added in a noontime organ recital and super fun beer tasting at our request. The guide was Krista.

Total cost was 480 Euro for our group of 10. The organ recital was 10 Euro each and the beer tasting was 10 Euro each (14 different beers tasted!). Highly recommend.

Wow, beer tasting sounds great!! Thanks again for your quick response and we will be looking into Red Fox.

Darlene and Rick

Name of beer tasting place was "Aussie Pub". It's not on their usual route--just something that Krista found--so you might need to specify. Great fun!

Thanks for the information about where Serenade of the Seas docks - didn't realise we would need to get a shuttle so that was helpful. We are on the cruise leaving 30 July.

I'm on the Serenade now, and we were in Riga yesterday. Yes, we docked at an industrial port 30 minutes drive out of Riga. The shuttle was 14 Euro. There truly is nothing at all at the port. No taxis either.

Our group of 10 arranged with Red Fox tours to come pick us up at the port gates, and do a driving/walking tour of Riga. 480 Euro for the group, including the transfer. It was outstanding!!

Thank you for this information. How far was the ship from the port gate?

Hi,

We have just finished Serenade of the Seas, 7 day cruise.

Yes in Riga, we were docked at an industrial port, half an hour from the city.

But the cruise arranged for free shuttle, for everyone who wanted to go.

So it was really easy. They dropped us near the centre of the town and picked us up from there