Baltic cruise Shore Excursions

[larkim]

Hi.We have booked a Baltic cruise in July & have booked a 2 day St Petersburg tour with Alla tours.We don't really want to book any on board excursions through Cunard so would like advice on any other tours to do in Talinn,Stockholm or Copenhagen when we dock & if there is a free shuttle bus into these places or if they are easy to walk to.Any advice would be useful to us.We are relatively new cruisers having done only 3 before & trying to learn the best & most reasonable ways to see places.Thanks.

[cunardaddict]

Copenhagen Royal Palace is only a few minutes walking from the dock.

[grayjay]

Tallinn is easily walkable on your own. In Stockholm and Copenhagen consider a boat trip or use a HopOnHopOff Bus. We quite like the HoHo-busses for a first time in a city - we have a leisurely tour round and decide when and where to get off to visit a sight that interests us.

[Ray66]

There was a free shuttle bus in Tallinn which we took but later in the day we managed to walk back to the ship from the area of the Fat Margaret Tower. There is a large craft market next to the pier which you may want to browse before you get on the bus.

 

In Copenhagen we docked at Langelinie pier and there was no shuttle bus. It was about a ten minute walk to the Little Mermaid. We then walked along the riverside to Nyhavn and back passing two wonderful water fountains on the way.

[larkim]

Thanks guys for your comments.Very helpful.

[alanrow]

We did the Baltic last September and did St Petersburg with a local company which was very good . It required getting off the ship quite early and the port

info. provided on board a day or two before , inferred that priority for leaving would be given to Cunard tours . In practice , this was not the case as we were able to disembark without hindrance .

There were shuttle buses at Stockholm and Tallin . At the former , we took the hop on hop off boat round the harbour to do the Vasa Museum , the old town and palace etc . Tallin is easily walkable and very interesting .

For Stockholm , you could walk both ways to the city centre via the mermaid , waterfront ,palace etc . There was plenty of info. available at the dock and we took a local bus into the centre and walked our way back to the ship .

[ToadOfToadHall]

For Stockholm , you could walk both ways to the city centre via the mermaid , waterfront ,palace etc .

 

That's a hell of a long way - the Little Mermaid is in Copenhagen !

[ToadOfToadHall]

We did the Baltic last September

 

So were we. Was it the one that started on the 30th of August ? Half of Stockholm was shut because President Obama was there.

[Gilpet]

You've made a great choice with Alla Tours, we did the two-day St. Petersburg excursion with them two years ago and it was superb (my favourite parts were the Fountain Park at Peterhoff and Yusupov's Palace).

 

We were with RCI so I can't guarantee you'll be docked in exactly the same places but in Talinn it was an easy walk to the walled city and it was beautiful to walk around there. Copenhagen, as somebody else has said, only about ten minutes walk to the Little Mermaid - but it is very little so be careful you don't miss it lol. Stockholm, we took the HoHo bus into the city centre and walked around near the palace - the HoHo bus wasn't really up to the standard that we're used to in Lisbon, Barcelona etc. Have you looked at Alla's website because I know they do tours in several of the Baltic ports.

 

You'll have a wonderful time, it was one of my favourite cruises and one that I'd like to do again.

 

Gill

[Mr&MrsHendricks]

Morning folks,

 

We did the QE Baltic in May 2011, and I've posted on this topic before, so I've cut, pasted and slightly adjusted my earlier missive....

 

May I resubmit these observations for your consideration..?!

 

St Petersburg.

On the advice from some chap we met on a previous cruise, (in the QV aft deck hot tub...great place for top tips) we ditched the thought of a Cunard tour and looked at the independent operators.

On his recommendation we booked with Alla Tours.

From our experience I would recommend them, but we have also heard very good reports of other independent tour operators in SPB. Do your homework and you'll find an itinerary to suit. And save yourself a packet!!!

The advantages of an independent operator are smaller groups on a minibus, at about 2/3rds the price of a Cunard tour, against larger groups on a coach at a stack load money more.

However Cunard will do their utmost to con you into one of their tours (or in our experience they did) by peddling misinformation and basically blatant lies about having to have a visa or use a ships tour.

Yes, if you want to see the place by yourselves, you need a visa. But there's nothing to stop you using an independent tour firm, and don't be bullied into waiting for all the ship's tours to depart before you get off.

St Petersburg is a magnificent place, and no matter who you go with you'll have a great time. Don't forget the camera of course, but don't make the mistake of feeling as though you have to photo everything. If you do you'll spend all day looking down a view finder and not appreciate properly the fine sights that surround you!!

A ride on the Metro is a must if you can sort it; our Alla guide was more than happy to do this!

Also, get out on deck for the sail through the flood defences on departure. Very impressive. Plus you pass an island with a small former naval base on the starboard side. They're probably about 2 1/2 hrs after departure. We only just made second sitting. But it's worth seeing.

 

Stockholm. Great place. Again, don't bother with ship's trips.

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/To-...ckholm-Top-10/

Just have a read of this and decide what you want to see!

Also, the museum and sculpture park at Millesgarden is worth a look and a doddle to get to. Get the T-Bana to Ropsten then jump the little tram or the bus to Baggeby. http://www.millesgarden.se/?languageID=5

 

Copenhagan. Wonderful Wonderful!

Yet again folks, forget any silly ideas about doing ship's trips! There's a HOHO bus that runs from the quayside. When we were there on QE some passengers were very VERY annoyed that they'd done a Cunard bus trip to town when the HOHO was massively cheaper! If you fancy a nice easy stroll along the waterfront, then don't even bother with the bus. The walk into town, past the Little Mermaid (actually not that impressive) will take 30mins a very leisurely pace. The Kastellet and Amalienborg are worth walking through, and the Nyhavn is pleasant to stroll through- but it does get busy. This is where you can catch a boat tour, which I recommend you seriously consider. The Tivoli Gardens are walkable to. They're putting in a subway system at the mo, so what you may find is that a number of the large squares are all dug up and surrounded by hoarding, but that doesn;t detract that much from a great city!!

 

Tallin. Lovely lovely place. Quite easy to walk to the old town from the quay. Some nice little streets and fine buildings, and a good view from the top of the hill! We did though encounter the world's worst busker who managed to draw quite a crowd!! A super place though!!

 

Kristiansand and Warnemunde we've not been to, but both are very nice I hear! (our trip called at Olso and Travemunde instead)

 

You'll have a great time! Mind you all enjoy yourselves!

 

Regards,

 

Mr H.

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[alanrow]

You spotted my deliberate mistake ! It should have been Copenhagen in my

previous post .

We used SPB Tours in St Petersburg and found them to be very good . They do

need 10 days or so to arrange the immigration details . No visa required as such if you use an accredited company .