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I understand why North Americans like Tallin, but when we did a Baltic cruise it was our least favourite port. There were far on many tourists and too expensive.

 

There are loads of cities in Europe that are just as nice, but not nearly as commercialised.

 

 

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this was our opinion also. We were glad we got to see it and it was beautiful but very touristy

we did "go out like a local" in 2017 it included vodka, drinking in a local bar, and a night time river cruise. The night time river cruise was a highlight, the lighted bridges are beautiful

I think since last year more of the tour companies have more options that they can customize. We'd have liked a little more time on our own but we really enjoyed the evening.

We had signed up with SPB and for the very reasons stated above we didn’t do the hydrofoil. We did have time to go down to the subway (most of them do this) and we did an evening river cruise to see all the gorgeous lighted bridges. I highly recommend it. If you can get free time on the Netzky Prospect. (Forgive my spelling) that is a cool place to people watch

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one other thing that we didn't do but wished we had was an electric bike tour in Talinn. Some people that were on a Celebrity cruise did this and they said it was one of their best excursions. They went to the beach and weren't in town much but they said it made their trip

How did you set this up? This sounds so much fun!

It was one of the most fun things we did. I found them on trip advisor https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g190479-d8627955-Reviews-Oslo_Fjord_Boat_Fishing-Oslo_Eastern_Norway.html

the only bummer was that we couldn't keep the fish but it was a good time

I can't remember which 2 day trip with SPB we did. We did not do Faberge and we thought we were getting the hydro foil but we didn't get to do that. On day 2 there was a daytime river cruise which was kind of a yawn after the night time river cruise. Everything was very organized and excellent. I think most of the tour groups do a good job over there. Someone on our ship was really late getting off the ship so SPB sent their group ahead and drove that couple by car to meet up with the group so the rest didn't have to miss anything.

They all have the expedited tickets to get into the places faster and you get free wifi in their minivans. We noticed that this cruise had pretty experienced travelers so our small group of 12 didn't keep people waiting.

We only did an organized trip in St Petersberg. Some people who used SPB in Berlin were not impressed with the tour guide they had there

Our night time Russian guide was very fun and personable. He sat with us for about 20 minutes when we were having some apricot beer before the night river cruise. After being in Estonia the day before we asked him what he thought of the history of the 2 countries. Definitely got to hear both sides of the story.

last year SPB had a go out like a local night time tour. Our day tour guide dropped us at a restaurant where we eventually met up with about 15 other people from other ships who had signed up for the night tour. We went to a local market place, pub, and did a night time river cruise which was a highlight. The lighted bridges were beautiful.

We drank way too much vodka and had a blast but there were people on the trip who didn't drink but wanted to do the river cruise. I think this year they have more options. TJ Travel might as well.

We were exhausted on day 2 but it's St. Petersberg! I highly recommend checking with the tour guides and finding a night time one if you don't want to get your own visa.

There was a Harley Davidson show in a park that one of my group would have loved to get a t shirt if we had been on our own. good luck!

then they bus you from the train station in Berlin to a meeting point

We had to get special permission to grab a cap at the train station because we were late for a bike tour

We did this because we wanted to be sure if we were late that the ship would wait. There was a huge delay due to Princess, we were late, and the ship did wait.

they serve box lunches on the train and I think they sold cocktails on the way back to the ship

We used atm machines on shore. I wish I’d had a few rubles at lunch but it was no big deal. Walking around Stockholm there were carts selling things and I didn’t check to see if they took the card. Every where else we had no problem. I thought no the ship gave whatever country you were in but can’t remember for sure

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Just a heads up if you schedule a car. We disembarked at Nyashaum. Due to rough water they portaged everyone off in the small boats. It took hours. Line up early!!

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When I contacted SPB last year I couldn't use Chrome. Firefox worked though. It was weird. Did you try a different browser

we did the trip to Berlin because we may never get there again. We took the train and it was long and hot. I don't know if I'd want to do that with kids. We had lined up a Fat City Bike Tour in Berlin which was great. No time to go inside anywhere, just go, get the history, view and onward.

People who scheduled tours so they had a minivan pick them up had air conditioning, wifi, and a shorter trip. But to me their tours sounded boring because there wasn't time to go inside.

So, I'd convince them to stay if you can. Otherwise with your size group I'd hire a car/van for the a/c and quicker trip

We did the Vigeland sculpture park then had a local guy pick us up to go fishing back in the fjords. It was so cool and so fun I highly recommend it

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We met some people who did an electric bike tour in Tallinn. They said it was the most fun

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someone on our trip used TJ tours for a small group because her parents' health is an issue. They had a great time

we did private and really liked the smaller group. Plus the minivans had wifi. :) We were on Princess but we did a bike tour in Berlin with some people from a different cruise line and they had a blast doing an electric bike tour in Talinn. We did Talinn on our own (we'd watched the movie) and the whole place was beautiful but "touristy". The bike tour sounded interesting. They were out in the country and got to swim in the ocean. If that is one of your celebrity tours, I'd keep it!

You should enjoy it! We did a night tour with SPB and hadn't realized how beautiful St Petersburg is at night with all of the lighted bridges. Totally worth it. have fun!

we did it and it took way over 3 hours. You get to the train station and then they bus you to a meeting point. We had booked a Fat Tire Bike tour for 11:00 and we were late. Luckily the Princess guy on the train let 7 of us grab a cab at the train station and Fat Tire made it work.

I would plan on at least 3 1/2 hours though and let the other tour company know you are with a cruise

People who used other tour companies made it in a mini van in something like 2 hours but last year, none of them had an on your own feature once you got to Berlin.

Good Luck!

Our Fat Tire Bike tour was a highlight of the trip for us.

we did a Baltic cruise this summer and flew in the day of the cruise. We scheduled a Princess transfer to take us from the airport just in case.

When we got to Copenhagen (where we were boarding) the customs guy at the airport said, hey more cruisers! There were tons of us and we all made it

Our Verizon rep suggested we sign both phones up for the plan so in case of an emergency it was $10. Not huge roaming

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we did a Fat Tire bike tour in Berlin. It was one of the highlights of our trip. We had lunch at a Bistro in the Park and they worked with us when our train was late getting in to town. I'd highly recommend them it was informative and fun.

When we went last year with SPB it was "drink like a local" Night time river cruise and LOTs of vodka. People from different cruise ships were dropped at a restaurant for dinner and then picked up by SPB. We met some hilarious people and enjoyed the company and the beautiful evening cruise

The night time cruise was beautiful, the vodka was excellent and it was definitely worth it! We spent about an hour and a half at a local bar also.

It was so much fun and we wished we had more free time to explore. The restaurant wasn't near anything probably by design. If you have an option to do something at night with more free time, I'd jump on it.

We are doing this same cruise on the Regal next summer, departing July 26. Did you need jackets, or just sweaters? Was it warm enough to enjoy the pool on sea days? How was the night time entertainment and shows? Did you go into Berlin, or stay near Warnemunde? We are debating. How was the transportation when you got back to Copenhagen? I have read several posts that taxis are hard to come by. I appreciate you taking time to share your experience.

we did this cruise on July 26 this year! In Helsinki it rained a lot and we needed rain coats, in Oslo we went fishing and needed sweatshirts on the boat. St Petersburg we did an evening river cruise and needed sweatshirts but in Berlin it was 80 degrees fahrenheit, hot! Plan on layers!

I saw mostly kids in the pool. We laid in the sun for awhile on one sea day.

None of us had ever been to Berlin so it was totally worth it to us.

Have fun! It was a blast

We did our Baltic Tour in July. We were on Princess and used their train to get to Berlin because we wanted a guarantee if we were late getting back. If possible, I'd avoid that. It was a long hot train ride. Once we got to Berlin we had booked a Fat Tire Bike tour and it was one of the highlights of our trip! We didn't go into any of the buildings but we biked to all of them. Our tour guide was fantastic. We had lunch in a beer garden in the Tiergarten where we had biked through. The fat tire tour was supposed to start at 11 and 9 of us were 20 minutes late for it. They worked with us and were wonderful. If I had to do it again, I'd figure out transportation on my own to go in and do the bike tour. Great way to see things on a Sunday.

On the Regal in July, room service told me they couldn't leave the corkscrew with me. I didn't think to ask the steward. So I'd bring my own next time. I now have a souvenir corkscrew from Oslo

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