lizasantaana

I like to buy a small Christmas Ornament to remind me of each place we visit. Do they make any mini nesting dolls that I could use as an Ornament ? Any other suggestions for Baltic ports?

-Elaine

Yes, I saw them from the vendors outside SPB port. If you don't have time to shop in prior ports, definitely get them here.

Are there Faberge egg type ring boxes in St. Petersburg? I'd like to use one to propose to my girlfriend next spring.

Yes. I ended up buying mine from one of the vendors at the port terminal. They have a really good selection; various sizes, designs and prices.

Thanks for the info, this is what I was afraid of in Helsinki. We might just buy the HoHo bus ticket from the cruise line to make life easier although in theory we can pay cash to tram driver for 9 € ticket

The train ticket vending machine in Warnemunde also required a pin for credit card. That wasn't the case for any of the other ports where there is a person taking your payment. We used HOHO in Helsinki and purchased it from cruise line. It was very convenient.

After dinner service at the buffet, it turns into snack service. Not sure what food they serve because I have not gone there during snack service. There are several bars on the ship where you can get soda; some are open later than others. Your dailies will give you open hours for each bar. If you buy the beverage package, they give you a reusable cup that you can use to get soda refills at bars.

If you're from a cold weather climate, lots of warm weather items like beanies, sweater and gloves. Reproduction faberge eggs. Also Christmas ornaments.

You can email me at jj227CC at gmail dot com and I will send you the dailies.

I would like to receive them as well, if it's no trouble. Will email you.

I read somewhere that Google maps does not work offline if you need walking directions. Maps.me was recommended by most for offline.

Our cruise is in 3 weeks and I also debated whether to do Berlin or stay in Warnemunde. After reading about the long drive with very little time to actually get off the bus and see the inside of the sights, I decided it's not worth it. Instead, we decided that we'll be back and do a more thorough trip of Berlin and other parts of Germany.

Since your family likes to stay "together," why don't you propose the Friends of Dave Tour as an alternative?

https://www.fodtours.com/

Tons of great reviews on CC and Trip Advisor and it's also an all-day tour. I think it's a better alternative than Berlin.

Thank you for the review. A few questions:

- Is there a formal night on this cruise?

- Do the taxis in Copenhagen use meters?

- Are ATMs easy to find in all ports?

I have just returned from a Baltics Cruise and I booked with SPB tours. I chose them as they were the first to respond and guarantee me a place on their two day Deluxe tour. I booked the cruise only 5 days out, so I accepted the first offer. They were very professional and we had an excellent tour guide with earphones for when we were off the bus. She spoke very clear English and gave us so much information. Embarkation through immigration was very staggered as the ship decided we had to do it in groups after the ship’s tours were done. As SPB Tours had around 20 different group tours going out that day they sent us an email saying they would just fill the buses as we got off, and to also disembark with the people you wanted to travel with. This meant we didn’t have to wait for one person from the ship who was late to embark. That suited me as I get priority when disembarking so it meant I was in the first group to leave. I had 13 in my group. Alla only had two groups going on our sailing, so many of them had to wait for their whole group to disembark. Everyone I spoke to with SPB tours were very impressed with how their tour went. We visited everything on the itinerary and also had two sit down lunches. I thought the whole organization and the clockwork precision to get us to all the different venues and in on time was excellent. The only downside was we had a family of three that we constantly had to wait for. Took selfies on the metro instead of keeping to the right, thus blocking early morning commuters. The father also rudely accused the bus driver of stealing his wallet, while the daughter told us all to check our bags as he’d probably stolen ours, which none of us did as at this stage we’d all realised these people were obnoxious. The wife then admitted she had his wallet. No apology given to the bus driver, but this was not the SPB’s fault. These people could be in any given group.

Note- Viator used TJ Tours.

 

Thanks for this review. I really appreciate it. Our sailing is in 30 days and I'm also booked with SPB Tours. I thought about switching tour operators when I heard about the rumors which turned out to be fake news. They've been very responsive and reassuring in my emails to me. I've also been reading more recent reviews on Trip Advisor. It gives me peace of mind to keep my reservation with them. Thank you again.

If you search through these boards you will discover that most of us suggest that there is no need to obtain rubles at all. Not even for street purchases or incidentals. Many threads already exist.

What about tipping the guide and driver? Don't you need rubles for that?

We're going to St. Petersburg but will only be in port for one day and have small children (4 & 7).

 

Our first instinct was to do a half day tour booked through the cruise line simply because it was the easiest thing to book. However, we're worried about the need to manage a group tour with our small children -- we'll do our own thing in all other ports. So, I started looking at private tours. However, it seems that all the private tours are set up to be long days or multiple days. Is it possible to book something private for our family for just half a day? Or, should I just go back to our first instinct and book through the cruise line? (The pricing I'm getting suggests that we will pay nearly 5 times as much to do a private tour which is the opposite of what I was reading before I started looking.)

Check out Best Guides. They're the only tour operator I found who will do a custom tour with small children in mind.