Rci shuttles

[Essexlass2]

How can I tell at which ports on a Baltic cruise a shuttle will be provided by RCI and if there will be any charge?

[little britain]

What are your ports? Yes RCI charge for their shuttles but in most places it is possible to avoid this by planning in advance.

[Essexlass2]

What are your ports? Yes RCI charge for their shuttles but in most places it is possible to avoid this by planning in advance.

 

Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Visby.

 

Thanks! :)

[Essexlass2]

Bump! Can anyone please help?

[willing292]

A trick I use when looking for this type of info, is to look at other roll calls and ports of call forums. A phone call to RCI is useless, because their telephone call centre employees have no idea of this information.

[little britain]

The Ports of Call board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192 will give you most of the answers but:

Copenhagen - there are 2 terminals - if you are at the one by The Little Mermaid then it is an easy stroll along the water, past the palace until you reach Nyhavn. Of you can buy tickets for the HOHO boats that will take you to Nyhavn too.

Tallinn - lovely 10 min stroll to the city walls -they usually have local tourist guides to direct you and give you a map.

StP - you must either do a ships shore ex or book one with others on your roll call with a local agent. No walking around by yourself allowed.

Helsinki - we caught a local bus into town and bought an all day ticket which covered the trams too.

Stockholm - a healthy walk to Gamla Stan. Or you can catch the local ferry across the harbour.

Visby - sorry never been!

What ever you do yourself will be far cheaper, and more rewarding than simply catching the shuttle.

Edited January 17, 2014 by little britain

[TravelerThom]

The Ports of Call board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192 will give you most of the answers but:

Copenhagen - there are 2 terminals - if you are at the one by The Little Mermaid then it is an easy stroll along the water, past the palace until you reach Nyhavn. Of you can buy tickets for the HOHO boats that will take you to Nyhavn too.

Tallinn - lovely 10 min stroll to the city walls -they usually have local tourist guides to direct you and give you a map.

StP - you must either do a ships shore ex or book one with others on your roll call with a local agent. No walking around by yourself allowed.

Helsinki - we caught a local bus into town and bought an all day ticket which covered the trams too.

Stockholm - a healthy walk to Gamla Stan. Or you can catch the local ferry across the harbour...

In addition to Copenhagen, some of the other ports also have more than one terminal.

StP - I think all RCI ships dock at the outlying cruise terminal, but Azamara and some other small ships dock downtown on the Neva near the Tuchkov Bridge. If you have a personal visa (which entails a fair amount of effort and money) you may walk around, but if you've never been to StP stick to tours with blanket visas (in addition to ship tours, there a number of local companies who get good reviews.)

Stockholm has a second terminal which is a moderate walk from a metro station.

Helsinki I guess has two docks - I've docked a short walk from the center of town. I took a leisurely pace to all the downtown attractions covered by the standard ship tour of the city AND stopped at the National Library to use their internet, and it took me less time than the ship tour that had to herd 40 people off and on the bus at each stop.

Tallinn only has one terminal I'm pretty sure, but the town is a real unknown gem!

 

I will second little britian comment that "What ever you do yourself will be far cheaper, and more rewarding than simply catching the shuttle"but then I'm a DIY guy.

[Essexlass2]

Thanks for all the comments and advice folks! :)

 

We are also DIY cruisers whenever possible, but DH is now suffering with painful knees if he walks too far, hence my question about the shuttles. Also, we were hoping to avoid having to buy too much local currency if we can use our credit cards instead.