NCL Star what to spend $200 excursion credit on

[mydreamvacation]

My husband and I booked under a special promo with NCL which gave us each $200 in shore excursion money. I almost never use cruise line excursions but my husband is not going to let me "waste" $400. For St P we have booked a two day tour with a private company. We are spending two days in Berlin post cruise so I don't want to go there. I would like to visit the icebar in Sweden but don't know that I want to do it with a bus load of people. I am kind of lost on what to book. Any advice appreciated.

[Got2Cruise]

My husband and I booked under a special promo with NCL which gave us each $200 in shore excursion money. I almost never use cruise line excursions but my husband is not going to let me "waste" $400. For St P we have booked a two day tour with a private company. We are spending two days in Berlin post cruise so I don't want to go there. I would like to visit the icebar in Sweden but don't know that I want to do it with a bus load of people. I am kind of lost on what to book. Any advice appreciated.

 

 

No matter if you book with a bus or go on your own you will have a bar full of people. The Ice Bar gives timed reservations. All the tour buses book up the prime times. Folks we met on our cruise tried to get in and they had to wait for a slot but we walked right in. We did the Old Town, Vasa Museum, Ice Bar tour through NCL. Covered everything we wanted to do, brought you where you needed to be. Walked right in to Vasa and Ice Bar.

[mydreamvacation]

No matter if you book with a bus or go on your own you will have a bar full of people. The Ice Bar gives timed reservations. All the tour buses book up the prime times. Folks we met on our cruise tried to get in and they had to wait for a slot but we walked right in. We did the Old Town, Vasa Museum, Ice Bar tour through NCL. Covered everything we wanted to do, brought you where you needed to be. Walked right in to Vasa and Ice Bar.

Great I was leaning towards that. I still will have $51 each to spend.

[Got2Cruise]

Great I was leaning towards that. I still will have $51 each to spend.

 

 

One day they sell Russian souvenirs at good prices. Could you use it for that?

[mydreamvacation]

One day they sell Russian souvenirs at good prices. Could you use it for that?

Nope it has to go to excursion only. I may just let it go.

[Got2Cruise]

Nope it has to go to excursion only. I may just let it go.

 

 

How about Finland? We went to the Fort.

[Giantfan13]

Even though you have booked a private tour in St Petersburg, many ships have night time excursions, to a folk show, the ballet or whatever. You could try that. It would make for a very long day but many people do night things also.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[kitkat343]

I'd say that Helsinki was our least favorite port (it was a nice city, but the others were spectacular) plus the public transportation from where the Star docked last year to the main part of town wasn't great so you might want to take a cab or HOHO bus anyway. So I'd agree with that possibility.

 

In Stockholm, there are a lot of different attractions to visit, and you might be fine on a ship tour if you find one that aligns to your interests. But it is a gorgeous city, and might be harder to appreciate on a large tour bus, especially since you can DIY fairly easily. The other downside is that Vasa is lovely when it is empty, and you can easily get there before the tour buses by taking a one way ride on a Stromma HOHO boat (this cost 50 SEK last August) directly to Vasa prior to 10:30 am, and arrive at Vasa when it is completely empty. However, the entrances to museums can add up in Stockholm, so financially a tour here might make sense (or you can purchase a Stockholm card which will also include public transportation)

 

Otherwise, would you want to do a tour in Copenhagen before or after you embark or disembark? NCL will transport you to the airport and watch your luggage so that might be another option. If they will let you apply the excursion credit to the shuttle directly to the airport that would be amazing, but I don't know that they will let you do that unless you do a full excursion of the city plus the transportation to the airport. It might be worth asking though. Good luck.

[parmen123]

I'd say that Helsinki was our least favorite port (it was a nice city, but the others were spectacular) plus the public transportation from where the Star docked last year to the main part of town wasn't great so you might want to take a cab or HOHO bus anyway. So I'd agree with that possibility.

 

 

 

In Stockholm, there are a lot of different attractions to visit, and you might be fine on a ship tour if you find one that aligns to your interests. But it is a gorgeous city, and might be harder to appreciate on a large tour bus, especially since you can DIY fairly easily. The other downside is that Vasa is lovely when it is empty, and you can easily get there before the tour buses by taking a one way ride on a Stromma HOHO boat (this cost 50 SEK last August) directly to Vasa prior to 10:30 am, and arrive at Vasa when it is completely empty. However, the entrances to museums can add up in Stockholm, so financially a tour here might make sense (or you can purchase a Stockholm card which will also include public transportation)

 

 

 

Otherwise, would you want to do a tour in Copenhagen before or after you embark or disembark? NCL will transport you to the airport and watch your luggage so that might be another option. If they will let you apply the excursion credit to the shuttle directly to the airport that would be amazing, but I don't know that they will let you do that unless you do a full excursion of the city plus the transportation to the airport. It might be worth asking though. Good luck.

 

 

Thank you for the information, I am also obtaining feedback on the excursions. Our

family is on the Star on June 26.

[mydreamvacation]

I'd say that Helsinki was our least favorite port (it was a nice city, but the others were spectacular) plus the public transportation from where the Star docked last year to the main part of town wasn't great so you might want to take a cab or HOHO bus anyway. So I'd agree with that possibility.

 

In Stockholm, there are a lot of different attractions to visit, and you might be fine on a ship tour if you find one that aligns to your interests. But it is a gorgeous city, and might be harder to appreciate on a large tour bus, especially since you can DIY fairly easily. The other downside is that Vasa is lovely when it is empty, and you can easily get there before the tour buses by taking a one way ride on a Stromma HOHO boat (this cost 50 SEK last August) directly to Vasa prior to 10:30 am, and arrive at Vasa when it is completely empty. However, the entrances to museums can add up in Stockholm, so financially a tour here might make sense (or you can purchase a Stockholm card which will also include public transportation)

 

Otherwise, would you want to do a tour in Copenhagen before or after you embark or disembark? NCL will transport you to the airport and watch your luggage so that might be another option. If they will let you apply the excursion credit to the shuttle directly to the airport that would be amazing, but I don't know that they will let you do that unless you do a full excursion of the city plus the transportation to the airport. It might be worth asking though. Good luck.

We need to get to the airport when our cruise gets in for a flight to Berlin so unfortunately there's no time for a Copenhagen excursion. I'm considering double dipping in Copenhagen using it for the old town ice bar and Vasa excursion and then for hop on hop off passes for us to explore on your own I'm not sure if I can fit it all in. Somebody suggested we book the Russian folklore evening program and I already have done that with our private tour people. They match the cruise line price add rather give my money to a small company and not be on a bus with a whole bunch of people

[mydreamvacation]

Nope it's a one shot deal. I just found out they won't let me prebook with the excursion credit that it has to be done onboard so I am just going to go about planning my own stuff the way I normally do. If when I get on board something is open that strikes my fancy I will take it but I honestly hate big groups and busses. The only place I wanted tours was stp and I booked private two days and one evening already. Thanks for everyone's input though