Booked our 1st Baltic cruise and would love the benefit of your collective wisdom

We booked our first Baltic cruise and would love the benefit of your collective wisdom. So please do contribute to this string so we'll have a chance at the best vacation in Scandinavia and St. Petersburg.

 

We like good food, interesting historical sites and natural scenery, so this looks to be a trip that could "have it all..."

 

Ports we are visiting

Copenhagen (actually arriving 2 days prior to the ship sailing)

Aarhus

Tallin

St. Petersburg

Helsinki

Stockholm

Oslo

Berlin

 

Which ports are easily doable on our own? I hear a lot about Hop on Hop Off buses. Which ports would you recommend joining a non-ship excursion contemplating SPB – tours. What are your must see, do and eats at each port. What would you differently after having been on the cruise? Did you exchange your money prior to the cruise, Euros, Danish Kronas and Sweedish Kronas . I hear the ship exchange service is a bit pricey How much did you actually use the local currency as apposed to using a credit card?. We arrive back in Copenhagen 5 am and our flight is at 10 am. Would you chance hailing a cab, call ahead reserve a cab or take the ship bus service to the airport or is there another option I have not mentioned?

Thank you all ahead of time for your expertise, sharing, time and assistance.

 

Thank you,

JHINSLC

Posted following on another thread but sharing as might be of interest to you:

Going on Baltic Cruise Sept 4, 2016 that includes Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, Berlin, Copenhagen, Alborg, Stavanger, Flam and Bergen. Would like to hear reviews on excursions that you have taken in these cities or things that you have done on your own. Very excited for this trip. I appreciate your help with this.

Just back from Baltic trip on Celebrity Eclipse (Sailed June 14th 2015).

On tour front:

Copenhagen: HoHo bus. We were there overnight but the same ticket covered up to 24 hours.

Stockholm: Also used HoHo however it was a very wet day and to make things worse it was their mid summer festival and city largely closed down except for very wet tourists!

Talinn: Short walk from port terminal to old town. Don't bother with shuttle unless a bit infirm. A daily FREE tour starts from outside the main tourist office. Enquire there re time. Think it was 11:00 AM. Excellent guide. Duration 1 hour 45 mins and you just tip guide at end. We gave 5 euro each. Great value.

St Petersburg: Tons of tour companies and all do more or less the same trip. Think we counted over 60 white 16 seater mini busses returning one of the days to the cruise terminal and it looks as if both the drivers and guides are self employed and simply hired by the tour companies. Thus you can get same bus and/or guide working for different companies on different days.

We used Tickets & Tours as our company after much research before we got there. Also had corresponded with them. They weren't even listed on the Tripadvisor list of tour companies!

We were delighted with them. Small group pf 10 on Day 1 & 8 on Day 2 and we saw all the sights etc. To make matters even better they were 50% cheaper than most of the other companies I looked up $199 each for the 2 days compared with $299 with the others.

From talking to others afterwards we did the same or better than everyone else at a cost of $460 incl. gratuities for the 2 of us.

Warenmunde: 10 minute walk to the town. Pretty but won't occupy you for a day as its a seaside resort and no sights of consequence.

In the afternoon we went into Rostock. Train station is near the cruise terminal and trains every 15 minutes, or so. Tickets are €2 each way so just €8 for us both to take the return trip. Ticket brings to the main station called Rostock Hbf

and you then change to either the Number 5 or 6 tram than both go to the centre about 3 or 4 stops away from the station. Your ticket includes both train & tram journey

IMPORTANT: You need to activate your ticket before you board or risk being fined. The machines that stamps your ticket are on the platform in the station and on the tram for return. So activate just as you start your trip

This obviously is terribly subjective. But if I had to do it over again, here goes:

1. SPB. The probability is high that you will see the city with a small group led by a tour guide, probably employed by one of the better known SPB tour companies. In hindsight, my preference would have been to limit the number of major sights we saw--the Hermitage, Peterhof, Spilled Blood and St. Isaac's (skip Peter and Paul)--and to spend as much time as possible on foot seeing the city. However, touring in SPB is so structured that what I suggest may not be a viable option. Also, a lengthy sit-down lunch at a major restaurant for me was a waste of time.

2. Helsinki. There is on a pedestrian mall a café that Rick Steves talks about in his books and was featured in his Helsinki TV segment--and it is worth visiting.

3. Berlin. If you have never been there, go. Even given the travel time to and from Berlin, go. Hire one of the better guides like Jeremy Minsberg who will arrange ground transportation to and from the ship, focus on Berlin's historical core, and spend as much time on foot as possible. If you have free time before or after the cruise, opt for several days in Berlin and spend the cruise day closer to the ship. But if this is your only chance to see Berlin, go.

4. Copenhagen. Tivoli Gardens.

5. Stockholm. A fabulous city. See the Stockholm City Hall.

We were in SPB June 2, and did a one day tour with TJ. There were 8 of us. We were able to influence our tour schedule enough that we did much like you said, fewer stops, longer exploring Nevsky and such, and adding a stop at a Cat Museum for my dd. Our lunch was a quick stop at Tepemok, the Russian version of McD's so we could try blinis and other everyday food. We also had time for a nice coffee and ice cream afternoon break.

Our guide stayed with us until 8:00 when she got us checked into the restaurant we'd chosen. The driver stayed and brought us back to the ship. All in all, it was about 9:00am to 10:00pm.

We paid $300/person.

It is quite possible to deviate from the standard tourist plan, at least some. We went the the company that was willing to offer options and be flexible with our tour.