Tour guide - Paulo De Freitas

[timandjulie]

Fellow CCs,

Has anyone toured with Paulo De Freitas? I've done a search of the postings and couldn't find anything. He is a tour operator in Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Petersberg and Stockholm. I am considering a tour with him in Helsinki and he was recommended to me by Ahti Arak.

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with Paulo - either good or bad?

 

Thanks!

Julie

[Burpin04]

We have an upcoming excursion with Paulo in Helsinki. He had a tour group already (6 pax) and subsequently started a second group for us (8 pax). This first group then was added to and he combined both groups to one van (with approval from the first group)(15 pax). I found him very well to communicate with via email, a great price and he also rang me in Australia to make sure everything was straightened out and we all knew what was happening. It could of been a very confusing situation but he has so far seemed extremely helpful. Hope this helps in some way, without the knowledge of actually going on our shore excursion yet. But with the communication i have had so far i would have no qualms in recommending his service. Karen

If you post your email address, i can send you what tour he provided for us in Helsinki.

[Giantfan13]

Fellow CCs,

Has anyone toured with Paulo De Freitas? I've done a search of the postings and couldn't find anything. He is a tour operator in Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Petersberg and Stockholm. I am considering a tour with him in Helsinki and he was recommended to me by Ahti Arak.

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with Paulo - either good or bad?

 

Thanks!

Julie

 

Julie

 

Unless you are extremely new to this board, I'm sure you have read many times that all these cities are very easy to do on your own. Personally, I have never heard of anyone who has used this particular guide, but if that is your choice, good luck. If you change your mind as want to do any of these ports on your own, we can supply all the needed info. We have several posters who live in these cities and would supply all the details for you to maneuver about in these ports and see whatever you wanted to see.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[OllieinNY]

We have a day set up with Paolo in May. Any further information on him would be appreciated.

[In Retirement]

Paulo has arranged our "day" at Helsinki/Porvoo (June 8, 2011) and I will be open to emails about our experience once we return home (22 June). So far, I must say that he is turning out to be 50% more expensive than a custom tour designed from Warnemuende (Schwerin/Wismar/Rostock) that last 9 1/2 hours by Sieben Segel Tours of Rostock -- and he has made a deal about taking 15-30 minutes in the morning by reducing the tour time -- not a good sign, I worry? How much higher are expenses in Finland in comparison to Germany?

 

We leave for Europe 26 May. If anyone has an experience before this, would appreciate hearing. If you want my advice and can wait until 22 June to hear back from me, feel free to send me a note.

DJ:)

balticports@yahoo.com

[Burpin04]

Paulo has arranged our "day" at Helsinki/Porvoo (June 8, 2011) and I will be open to emails about our experience once we return home (22 June). So far, I must say that he is turning out to be 50% more expensive than a custom tour designed from Warnemuende (Schwerin/Wismar/Rostock) that last 9 1/2 hours by Sieben Segel Tours of Rostock -- and he has made a deal about taking 15-30 minutes in the morning by reducing the tour time -- not a good sign, I worry? How much higher are expenses in Finland in comparison to Germany?

 

We leave for Europe 26 May. If anyone has an experience before this, would appreciate hearing. If you want my advice and can wait until 22 June to hear back from me, feel free to send me a note.

DJ:)

balticports@yahoo.com

 

Hi DJ, We too have booked with Paulo and it came in at 50% less than our Berlin tour. We have a 6 hour tour for E46 each for i think 15 or 16 of us. Also as the Rock church re-opens on our tour day and will be extremely busy in the city, he reversed our tour to start by visiting Porvoo first and hopefully have less crowds later in the day. Seems very obliging to me so far. Hope your tour works out well. Karen

[In Retirement]

Looks like we will be touring Finland one week after you. We'll be spending a long day at the Louvre when you are with Paulo. We have the same times and prices for our group. I really don't think you can compare costs between Berlin and Helsinki. The Berlin tour will be twice as long, will include admission fees, and then there is the logistics issues of what your experience will be during the 6 hours of transport to/from Berlin. We decided to see what was within 1-1 1/2 hours of Warnemuende rather than either accept someone's idea of what we should see in Berlin, or probably just be frustrated by time limitations in Berlin? I have read that some cruise ships also offer a one-day tour of Paris (when considerable time is spent just going to/from port to city). I guess the real answer to Berlin (yes/no) is to find cruisers who have visited this northern Germany port twice, and visited both Berlin and local towns?

Enjoy your cruise to the max!

DJ:)

[Burpin04]

Hi DJ

 

I will try and put a message on the board after our tour with Paulo so you can see what we think, hopefully i can find a wi-fi hotspot in Finland and can paste it while there. Hope you too have a wonderful cruise and relaxing holiday also. Karen:cool:

[waterfiend]

My husband and I are touring Helsinking on June 18 coming in on the Emerald Princess and I too was wondering if anyone has had experience using Paolo. Would appreciate any information that you might have. Thanks.

 

Waterfiend :)

[Al_Frescoe]

Fellow CCs,

Has anyone toured with Paulo De Freitas? I've done a search of the postings and couldn't find anything. He is a tour operator in Helsinki, Tallinn, St. Petersberg and Stockholm. I am considering a tour with him in Helsinki and he was recommended to me by Ahti Arak.

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with Paulo - either good or bad?

 

Thanks!

Julie

 

I've never heard of him but I raise an eyebrow by the number of cities he is doing. Is he just a guide broker or does he do the tours himself? St. Petersberg I know requires special attention/permissions etc. So now I am curious.

 

Good luck,

 

Al

[timandjulie]

All,

Thought I'd better chime in and let you know about our experience with Paulo, since it's popped back up on the boards. We toured with him in Helsinki last June and were very happy with the tour. I'm not new to the boards or to cruise travel...we specifically went with a private tour because we wanted to visit Porvoo, which had been recommended to me by my SIL.

 

Paulo personally guided the tour and was able to take us to many locations, including the Sibelius Park and the Sibelius Monument, Rock Church, the Orthodox Church (and a few other churches), Senate Square, the Open Market and the shopping district nearby. In addition we visited Porvoo, which was really beautiful.

 

Paulo was a knowledgeable tourguide and gave an interesting perspective of the country and its people (he now lives in Finland, but is originally from Portugal). His English was excellent - we had no problems understanding him. He was very prompt in picking us up at the port and returned us there in ample time to board on time. Overall, an excellent tour of Helsinki.

 

Hope this is helpful! Enjoy Helsinki...it is a beautiful place!

Julie

[csaeroach]

We are in Helsinki next week and booked a private tour with Paulo De Freitas. He has been mentioned on these boards and I can let you know how we enjoyed the tour when we get back home June 7th if you would like. We are touring Helsinki and Porvoo.

 

I also asked him about touring in Stockholm, and he does not run tours in Stockholm.

 

thanks,

Shelley

[waterfiend]

Thanks to Tim and Julie for your feedback re Paolo. I will try and book him if he is still available.

[oceanbabe]

Julie: Can u give me the email address of Paolo. I cant seem to find it online. Can u tell me about how much he charged you for your tour. If anyone else has used him can i have your ports where booked him and tour info/price. Thanks alot, elaine

[Burpin04]

Have just finished a tour with Paulo in Finland. Great price for a great relaxed tour. After the hecticness of st Petersburg this tour was so relaxed and a welcome relief. He left us to walk by ourselves and adjusted the tour as we went to work in with the huge amount if tourists. Thank you Paulo.

[Burpin04]

Have just finished a tour with Paulo in Finland. Great price for a great relaxed tour. After the hecticness of st Petersburg this tour was so relaxed and a welcome relief. He left us to walk by ourselves and adjusted the tour as we went to work in with the huge amount if tourists. Thank you Paulo.

 

Also Helsinki is quite a new city and not lots to see. We went out to porvoo and really enjoyed the walk around the town.Mitsubishi a nice little town and not hectic like the city. Ps have change for bathrooms in all the cities. Toilets for free are few and far between. Helsinki being the worst price of euro 1 each.