Baltic shore excursions for those with limited mobility

[danskerlady]

Any suggestions/comments/recommendations for tour guides in the Baltic area. My husband has some mobility issues -- can do some stairs, walk 1-2 blocks, but may need wheelchair in museums or places to sit and rest. Need to go at our slower pace.

[fabnfortysomething]

we did a Baltic cruise last year just before DH hip replacement so he was in similar situation to yours

 

St Petersberg we did a private tour-because we wanted a shorter tour to cater to his needs we didnt attract more tourmates as they wanted to do more museums and longer walks

However as we were there in the middle of a heatwave and air conditioning doesnt exist in the museums we had a good deal for the 3 of us

we did see a lot

day 1 we had a city tour,subway ride[which he managed ok]and the trip to Peterhof gardens.He tried to do too much that day as the gardens are very spread out-ask for a wheelchair

 

day 2 we spent 2 hours in the Hermitage and borrowed a wheelchair-good decision!

we had a private canal boat ride-there are about 20 steps to get down to the water

finally we had inside visits to Church of spilled blood and St Isaacs-well worth seeing

 

we also arranged a private tour for Berlin and made up a group of 14

however we found this group a bit too big as the guide kept forgetting about my husbands mobility issues and incorporated too much walking-he struggled to keep up and suffered for it the next day!

 

Tallinn is great if you can walk into town but it has the largest pier area I've seen and he was shattered by the time he got to the HOHO bus site

In fact we thought we would be OK with HOHO buses in most ports but in hindsight wish we'd looked harder for private guides with cars

 

Lyn

[Calkid]

Any suggestions/comments/recommendations for tour guides in the Baltic area. My husband has some mobility issues -- can do some stairs, walk 1-2 blocks, but may need wheelchair in museums or places to sit and rest. Need to go at our slower pace.

 

I would suggest a wheelchair or a mobility scooter. We are bringing our own scooters. Most scooters can break down if needed. You can also rent scooters in Europe (Amsterdam, London). I found the price to be too high to rent compared to buying.

 

Good luck.

[sashas_mom]

I rented a scooter from care vacations.com and it saved me. We did private tours in st Petersburg with other members of our roll call and was able to use the scooter in all the palaces and hermitage. I loved this cruise and I know you will too.

[dnbnor]

your cruise ship will proably lay on shuttle buses for the cities ( Tallin, Stockholm,Helsinki, Copenhagen ) dropping you off in the centre, so if your husband can manage the shuttle, and with the aid of a good guide book you can do a tour at your own pace. These cities have a 'cafe culture' so there are plenty of places to rest for a while. You could also consider taking a wheelchair for when the going gets tough. Also, once in these cities, there are Hop On Hop Off buses which will take you around the sites, and you can get off and on as you please. At Copenhagen, the HO HO was parked at the cruise terminal waiting for passengers. More expensive would be taking a private tour, you can call the shots and if you make a post on your ship's roll call, you may be able to get a few other people with similar needs to join you and keep the cost down. For St Petersberg we did a 2 days private tour(3 of us ) with SPB Travel. Another post here describes what they did in ST Petersburg. The Hermitage has wheelchairs and lifts. Wheelchairs are also available for getting around the vast grounds of Peterhof.

As cruising is popular with the older population, in my experience there is usually a ship's tour that has limited stops , with most of the sightseeing done from the coach.

My husband has similar mobility problems , but with a bit of pre planning , he had a good cruise.

[eurodam]

I rented a scooter from care vacations.com and it saved me. We did private tours in st Petersburg with other members of our roll call and was able to use the scooter in all the palaces and hermitage. I loved this cruise and I know you will too.

 

We will follow up on Care vacations for the power wheelchair, but how was getting from the ship into the various Baltic towns? Someone said some of the footpaths have steps at some of the ports? Our travel agency has NO CLUE and HAL has not been helpful beyond their overpriced private van with a lift in two ports out of 16 stops!! We were figuring we will huff it for most part or catch wheelchair accessible public buses.. Any advice? Thanks.

[Treatmesweet]

We will follow up on Care vacations for the power wheelchair, but how was getting from the ship into the various Baltic towns? Someone said some of the footpaths have steps at some of the ports? Our travel agency has NO CLUE and HAL has not been helpful beyond their overpriced private van with a lift in two ports out of 16 stops!! We were figuring we will huff it for most part or catch wheelchair accessible public buses.. Any advice? Thanks.

 

If they can walk a little you should be ok. If you use a regular wheelchair make sure it has the larger wheels due to all of the coblestones.

I used private tour guides when we were there and found some shipmates to share the expense. If you want more information on who I used let me know. I found we did not spend as much as we would have with the ship tours had a good experience and enjoyed ourselves. I traveled with my mom who was 86 at the time and we used a manual chair from princess. The transport chair we had has small wheels and it was almost impossible to push over the cobblestones.

[kitty9]

I booked a private tour with Denrus in St Petersburg. I had a car and English speaking guide. They were able to get me into entrances that were accessible, such as the Hermitage.

[kitty9]

We will follow up on Care vacations for the power wheelchair, but how was getting from the ship into the various Baltic towns? Someone said some of the footpaths have steps at some of the ports? Our travel agency has NO CLUE and HAL has not been helpful beyond their overpriced private van with a lift in two ports out of 16 stops!! We were figuring we will huff it for most part or catch wheelchair accessible public buses.. Any advice? Thanks.

 

 

Don't order a power wheelchair as they are far too bulky and heavy. Plus, if you don't have an accessible cabin, a power wheelchair will not fit through a regular cabin door. What you should look for is a mobility scooter. But be aware, you cannot park the scooter in the hallway---it must be in your cabin. So, if you have a small cabin, you may have a problem keeping a scooter in the cabin overnight.

[Treatmesweet]

We also had a private tour with Denrus. They were the only company who replied and told me my original tour idea would not work due to steps and other accessability issues. They were great and I would recommend them.

[Leo41]

We did a Baltic cruise last summer, and I had a scooter for the ship, but I can walk about a city block and manage a few steps.

 

We booked a private tour for St. Petersburg because we had 2 days there, but for every other port, we used the Hop On, Hop Off buses, and we felt they were great. We saw the sights and were able to stop where we wished.

 

In Copenhagen, we visited the Tivoli, and it was suprisingly easy to walk (took a taxi back to the ship because we were exhausted).

[katisdale]

We did the first Baltic run of the Emerald Princess this May (2011). I traveled with my collapsible travelscoot scooter which only weighs 35 lbs. That said, you will not find many accessible areas in any of these cities. The best ones are the Scandinavian countries as you can use the bike lanes easily. None of the buses neither excursion nor hop-on/hop-off had lifts. Therefore if you have a large scooter or wheelchair you won't be able to use these vehicles. I was fine with the travelscoot and noticed several people who managed with a manual wheelchair. I would also recommend that you either do independent tours or hire a taxi for your tours as the Princess excursion desk offers "less walking" tours which are limited and you still have to climb up the steps into a large bus. We had an excellent tour in St. Petersburg with SPB. Our worst tour was in Aarhus with Princess.