What we did in Baltic ports

Hi all,

firstly would like to thank all who contribute on this board as the advice we garnered both directly and reading others threads contributed to us having a great time. A special thanks to those who run the important threads on Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki etc.

We did a 3 week cruise from Amsterdam with HAL. Note we are full time independent travellers in our early 40's so we don't normally cruise and we prefer DIY to tours and we love to walk.

Amsterdam - spent 3 nights pre cruise here. Recommend a canal ride; Rijks museum is a must; if visiting on a weekend visit the markets in Jordaan; Anne Frank house very good if you have read the diary but you must organise in advance; highly recommend eating at Moeders; have a drink at Brouwerij t'IL (it brews own beers and has a windmill!). Watch for bicycles when crossing streets. Port is very close to town so easy to walk or one stop on tram.

Copenhagen - we docked at Langaline and walked everywhere. Heavy rain early unfortunately but soldiered on past little mermaid and Amelienborg and then headed thru the lovely parks to Rosenborg castle - this was a highlight and I highly recommend visiting as very eccentric and great crown jewels. Walked to round tower which gives good views (watch for pickpockets at top). Did Stroget - just a shopping st IMO. Town hall worth entering. Didn't go in Tivoli. Glyptotekt was free as was Tues but still didn't like it that much but then I don't appreciate Roman/Egyptian artefacts. Walked through Christianborg to Nyhaven (smaller than I expected) and back to ship - lot of walking!

Rostock - free shuttle to the centre then walked 1km to train station and took train to Schwerin. As didn't want a long day we ran to the palace (20 mins) and did quick tour (less than 1 hr) and ran back. Spent afternoon in Rostock doing Stasi museum (ok - a lot of reading necessary; we have visited many other similar museums across Europe). Visit the main church as it has an amazing Astrological clock (worth finding someone to explain it). We visited Berlin pre cruise and didn't cover everything in 3 days - an amazing city.

Tallinn - poured raining all day and it was a public holiday so most things closed. We soldiered on in our wet weather gear and could tell in normal conditions it would be a great place. Easy to walk but some hills and lots of cobblestones.

St Petersburg - the absolute highlight of the cruise. We did the 2 day SPB highlights tour with a group of 16. We saw so much it was amazing. Loved Hermitage, Catherines (huge crowds), Peterhof (same crowds). It sounded like our tour was much better than the ship equivalent and was cheaper and smaller group. The canal boat ride was amazing.

Helsinki - Docked at henesaari and took the bus into town and then walked about a km to the main port/market place - nice walk. Managed to visit Suomelina fortress island on public ferry - this was a really interesting place - important to walk to far end of island to see main fortifactions, probably an hour walking in total. Rained heavily after this - checked out rock church (nice not great) and then rode the tram 2 in total loop for about an hour as too much rain. Helsinki nice but after StP it is hard to impress.

Stockholm - a delay in previous port meant we sailed thru here in the morning and it was spectacular and lasts for a couple of hours. Docked at s167 walked to end of pier and took the Emelie ferry (you need to move the signal on the dock so that it stops) to the Vasa museum. Most seemed to be choosing HOHO but we only wanted one way. Vasa was amazing and that is coming from people who don;t like a lot of museums. Walked along the waterfront back to town - recommend. Wandered thru city and then into old town thru the palace (just ok). After a bit of old town wandered over to Judicial Island (attached to old town) and it has amazing views of the Townhall. Wandered all over old town and then walked back to the ship by taking the hill road so had great views over Stockholm all the way. Beautiful city.

Kiel - we walked about 1-2km to the train station and took train to Lubek. Amazing medieval town - spent several hours walking all over it - basically follow the cobblestone roads for the best buildings and get off the main street and see the back corners. Recommend buying a map from info for 1euro. Kiel itself didn't look very interesting.

Gothenberg - docked about half an hour out of town (next to Volvo museum) got a free shuttle into town. Walked to Haga district which is cute and up to the viewpoint (not really necessary). Wandered over to main st and looked at Poseidon statute - there is a funny rude angle - see if you can find it. Wandered through the main gardens which are beautiful. Overall a nice town but nothing too special.

Flam Norway - Amazing port. We did not tender so straight off ship. Booked the train months in advance. If we knew the weather would have been good would have walked or cycled back. Train - queue early to get a window seat and choose a mid car so can get off quickly at waterfall. Hired an electric car and drove up to the main viewpoint - amazing views, scary crazy drive ... an absolute blast and highly recommend it.

Stavanger - did a cruise of Lyjsefjord with Rodne. Did not need to book in advance - nice trip. Walked all over town - check out the colourful street and the area of old wooden white houses.

Kristiansand - not sure why they visit here. Small uninteresting town. There is a large park with many nice lakes at far end of town worth visiting.

Oslo - we docked next to Akerhaus fortress. Walked around the fortress and then to Opera house. From here walked down Kar Johan gate to the palace via the parliament. Kept walking to Vigeland park - this is a must visit - lovely park and the sculptures are amazing. Walked back to palace and saw a military parade rehearsal with marching band - phenomenal!

Walked to the town hall which is a must visit - huge murals inside and wooden motifs outside. Wandered around the new port area and back to ship.

We primarily took food off the ship with us and with all the walking we almost used no cash at all, just using our credit card for attractions and souvenirs. Helsinki was euro so we used cash there for public transport.

Again thanks for all the advice everyone, a great part of the world and one that is ideal for visiting via cruise ships. Happy to help any others and hope all those visiting enjoy it as much as we did.

James

How widely is English spoken in these towns? Thanks

James, do you knowif you can pay by credit card on the Emelie ferry or do you need Swedish kroner, thank you.:)

How widely is English spoken in these towns? Thanks

We had no problems communicating anywhere, the only times that we noticed there was no English was sometimes in the German ports (such as a the train stations) but it was still easy to communicate.

James, do you knowif you can pay by credit card on the Emelie ferry or do you need Swedish kroner, thank you.:)

Hi,

yes we did ... and we had no issues with the fact we don't have a pin on our credit card.

At vasa it meant we could not use the machines but had to go to the cashier desk (longer queue).

I would recommend having your passport with you if your credit card doesn't have a pin.

Liked the Emelie ferry, it actually was going the other way but they just told us to jump on and take it to the end of line and then back again which was nice as saw more of Stockholm

How widely is English spoken in these towns? Thanks

Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, (and Netherlands if you or your cruise stops there) have the highest level of English profiency in the world for non English natives according to Ef.

Estonia and Germany are also very high up on the list.

http://www.ef.se/epi/

Sweden, Denmar, Norway, Finlan, (and Netherlands if you or your cruise stops there) have the highest level of English profiency in the world for non English natives according to Ef.

 

 

 

Estonia and Germany are also very high up on the list.

 

 

 

http://www.ef.se/epi/

As an Aussie I always joke that people from Scandinavia and holland speak English better than we do!

I was surprised how many Germans didn't and how little it is used in tourist areas compared to other parts of Europe but it was still rarely an issue.

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

We also found that the , what used to be East Germany, ports of Warnemunde and Rostock, many of the 'older' crowd spoke little or no English. We wanted to buy something in a small store and the gentleman had to call his son out to translate. Being such a popular cruise port and destination, I really wondered why there was so little need to speak English.

I would imagine if you went out on your own in St Petersburg (with your own visa) you would also encounter a small knowledge of English by most of the people. Everywhere else, as was said, they probably speak English better than many of us.

Cheers

Len

in eastern germany (GDR) they learned russian and not english in school. Later with the union to germany they changed it to english like at western germany before. younger people should speak english ( maybe better or not :D ) but older mostly not. My parents growd up in western germany and don´t speak english either, don´t know at which year it started to teach it everyone in school.

Many Europeans speak excellent English, not really a problem at all on a Baltic cruise. Why should native English speakers expect them to speak English. We should be trying to speak their languages.

Great review James. We're on Celebrity Eclipse on 14 August. Did you bring currency with you specifically for Sweden, Denmark & St Petersburg. I was thinking of bringing £50 worth of local currency to Sweden & Denmark & £100 to St Petersburg plus dollars & euros.

Thanks

Mary

Great review James. We're on Celebrity Eclipse on 14 August. Did you bring currency with you specifically for Sweden, Denmark & St Petersburg. I was thinking of bringing £50 worth of local currency to Sweden & Denmark & £100 to St Petersburg plus dollars & euros.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Mary

Hi Mary,

Hope you have a great trip. We didn't use any currency at all in those 3 ports. We used credit cards for everything. In st Petersburg we were on a tour so most things covered, our guide did offer to help with currency if needed

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Last summer when we took our Baltic cruise, we got Danish kroner from an ATM. (We were there several days before and after our cruise, so we needed some "walking around" money.). For the short time we were in Stockholm, we did fine just using credit cards. In St. Petersburg, all of our meals were included in our tour and the little souvenir buying we did was in euros--which we had plenty of from our time in Germany, Estonia and Finland.

I see no reason to bring any local currency at all. (I assume it's just as costly and time-consuming for you to do as it is for most of us in the US.)

GradUT

It's very easy to get European currencies in UK, particularly Euros. Unfortunately, the pound has dropped considerably against the rates.

Thanks for your time to give us your detailed review.

We did almost the same as you in Helsinki -- great day! :)

Thank you for all the replies. As previously said no problem getting the European currencies or any other currency in the UK. M&S hold quite a lot of currencies though when I checked the Rouble would have to be ordered, only takes a couple of days. Their rates were similar to the banks rates. Luckily, the Euro isn't a problem for me as I'm originally from Dublin & I have the dollars already bought.

I would imagine if you went out on your own in St Petersburg (with your own visa) you would also encounter a small knowledge of English by most of the people.

Len

You would be surprised. Many people (shop owners, food service folks, bartenders) speak pretty good English in Russia these days, especially in the tourist areas of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Izmailovsky market, however, is another story, but they spoke pretty good Commerce there.

As an Aussie I always joke that people from Scandinavia and holland speak English better than we do!

I was surprised how many Germans didn't and how little it is used in tourist areas compared to other parts of Europe but it was still rarely an issue.

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

You are right on. After a recent trip to Sweden and Norway I told friends that the Scandinavians spoke better English than we did. I suspect it is because they learn the proper usages in school and we just pick up street usage no matter what English speaking country we hail from.

These countries are beautiful and if someone is concerned about language as an issue do not be. Most of the locals we met spoke 3 or 4 languages as they usually were fluent in either French or German as well as English and their native tongue. I only wish I could do as well.

Thank you for posting

July 2016 on Mein Schiff 4

Arrival at Hamburg airport, stayed overnight in excellent Radisson Blue at airport, took Kielius bus from airport to Kiel main train station the next morning. Long lines there for free shuttle busses to ship.

Kiel: completely destroyed in WW2, rebuilt in boring 50s and 60s styles (currency: Euro)

Gdansk: Booked with Klaudia "Tours with Locals", excellent tour in English for the four of us. (paid Klaudia in Euro)

Klaipeda: Booked ship's tour in German to go to the Curonian Spit, our adult kids took ship's tour to ride Segways, had no language problems despite the tour being in German. Good area for bike riding as well. (Currency: Euro)

St. Petersburg: Booked 2 day English language tour with TJ, highly recommend! (paid TJ with credit card)

Tallin: Took ship shuttle bus to old town, walked on our own. Easy to do especially when you get in early before the crowds arrive. Ships dock close to town. (Currency: Euro)

Stockholm: Our ship docked on downtown pier next to hop on hop off boats, took the first boat to Vasa museum, then to Gamla Stan (old town) on our own. Bought tickets for the palace. (used credit card)

Disembarkation in Kiel. Picked up rental car, drove to Berlin via Luebeck. (used Euro and credit cards)

Advice for people who rent cars in Germany: Get one with a back view camera. Most parking lots and garages are extremely narrow!