June 04, 2016 - Baltic Heritage Cruise Quick Look Report

[ccrain]

Ports of Call - Overview, Suggestions and Tips

 

I’m going to try something different here. What’s known in my industry as a Quick Look Report. Since a lot of people are going on Baltic cruises this year, and on the Emerald itself, I thought I would quickly go over my thoughts on the cruise and provide some tips and answer specific questions if you have any. So here goes.

 

Unlike previous cruises with lots of sea days or cruises just for fun, this was a destination cruise for us. So I’ve not provided a lot of details on what is happening on the ship. That’s because we haven’t sampled much of the night life. Just a few shows here and there, a few entertainers here and there, some dancing, but not much really. Which is what we expected. Up early to tour, down early to catch up on sleep.

 

And since this is a destination cruise, I want to concentrate on the ports and suggestions for people coming on this cruise later on in the season.

 

The only Princess tour we took was to Bruges. It was the simple walking tour followed by lots of time on your own. The most interesting part of Bruges is very compact and easily walkable, but mobility impaired people will find the cobblestone streets a challenge for wheels, canes and walkers. The walking tour was great to get an introduction to the town and to map out where things were. Rick Steves’ book is very accurate, but seeing is believing and understanding. When we are in Bruges in a few weeks, we will simply take the DIY shuttle into Bruges. The lot they drop you off in is about ½ mile from the downtown area and no more than 1-2 miles from the furthest point of interest.

 

You can see the ship from downtown Copenhagen. There was a shuttle bus – not sure the cost – but its walkable from the ship along the wharfs and docks to the downtown area and the palace area. Copenhagen is also a great DIY place as everything is pretty much in a compact area around downtown. One of the best tips our guide gave us was the steeples. If you familiarize yourself with the steeples, you can navigate Copenhagen easily. I would add one corollary to that. From the top deck of the ship you can easily spot and photograph all the steeples. Do that before you leave the ship so that you can gameplan your route. When we return in a few weeks, we will DIY it from the ship, walking along the docks and try to get to the palace in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony.

 

Stockholm is a mixed bag. Even if the ship docks in the downtown Stockholm, you will have to rely on public transport or taxis to get around to the various museums. And they are worth seeing. It’s just not economical to walk unless you stay in the palace area. There are a lot of things to see in the palace area, but after Copenhagen and Bruges, the architecture sort of blends together after a while. The museums are where it’s at. Now if the ship docks in Nynasham, you have to get transport into town. Some caught the train, some booked independent tours, some booked with Princess. The bus or train trip into Stockholm from Nynasham is not a waste of time. The countryside is beautiful and well worth seeing. Not only that but the ship will stay later when docked in Nynasham, and dock earlier.

 

Tallinn is easily doable DIY. The upper and lower towns are just not that big and it’s an easy walk from and to the port – about 2 miles to the furthest point. Like Copenhagen, Bruges and Stockholm, the architecture is pretty much the same, although the fortress walls are still present in Tallinn. The big difference is the Russian Orthodox church. Free entry and a good start to the differences between the other types of churches and Russian orthodox. Princess was running a shuttle bus to the downtown area from the dockside, which is a lot closer to the ship than the port gates.

 

St Petersburg is one you have to arrange a tour for. Don’t bother with the Russian Visa. A tour company will set up an itinerary and a schedule that will maximize what you see over your limited time. The big things to see are just too far apart to do it any other way and the guides get you past the long ques easily and efficiently. Even if you were to come back to St Petersburg on a Land Cruise, unless you plan to spend several days, I would still recommend a guided tour. Bring rubles. Except for credit cards, that will get you the best exchange rate. For me, the highlight was the Peterhof Palace gardens and statuary. For others it was the Hermitage, for others Catherine’s palace. I did enjoy the various churches as well.

 

The shuttle to the downtown area in Helsinki gets you everything but the rock church – which is well worth seeing. The downtown esplanade, the market, senate square, the docks and wharfs, are all within easy walking distance of the shuttle stop. Once again though, it’s not a walk for mobility impaired persons. The sidewalks are very uneven, the center path of the esplanade is gravel and the area has steep grades. One important note about ATMs – there are none in the Esplanade area. In fact, according to Google, there are only three in the 1 mile around the Esplanade. We ran completely out of Euros in Helsinki. Helsinki also has a public WiFi in the Esplanade area, but none of us could connect at any decent speeds.

 

Princess ran a shuttle from the port to Gdansk. The drop off was less than ¼ mile from the main gate into the reconstruction zone, but as that reconstruction expands outwards it will be closer. Easily walkable, lots to see and do. Visiting the outlying sites, like the Oliwa Cathedral and the Solidarity Monument, will require public transport or a taxi. The interesting part of Gdansk is that when it is complete, you will be able to see all types of architectures that you would see in Bruges, Copenhagen and Stockholm. One stop sightseeing!

 

I guess the real key is where would I return to if I had a choice. It would be a tossup between Helsinki and Gdansk. Gdansk for old world charm in its reconstruction, its friendly people and cheap prices, Helsinki if I wanted to do some more active and different things like ballooning, or fishing or hiking in the woods, or boating.

 

In most ports there were lots of opportunities for Hop On Hop Off busses, lots of taxis and independent tours right off the dock. People were negotiating right and left. I personally am still not that adventurous – maybe next cruise.

 

Now let’s talk about Alla and the tours we took. First rate. Great service. Really, really good planning and execution to maximize our time in port. I would have liked a bit more free time for lunches and shopping – go figure, me asking for more shopping time – but the time we spent in Tallinn in the Beer House, and in the downtown mall was great. Based on value for the money – 5 stars all the way. Very highly recommended.

 

And finally, the cruise critic roll call. Even if you just lurk, lurk on the various roll calls, both your specific cruise and the ones prior and after. Some roll calls will be very active, like ours, and provide a host of tips and suggestions, as well as planning tools, like spreadsheets and links, to other reviews and things to do while in port. Go to the meet and greet and get to know the people who will be touring with you. It saved my rear end in Gdansk. John and Wendy, from AUS, and another couple, and I, read the meeting place as at the port gate. The Alla bus actually met the one remaining couple at the ship. Had I not known John and Wendy, I might have missed the tour completely as John went back into the security area, found the bus, and brought them out to us. A lot of us on this roll call booked Alla together and Gary’s tour spreadsheet, plus Karen’s M&G spreadsheet, gave us information to contact one another in case of changes. Plus it was handy to tour with people you know, to keep an eye on each other and each other’s belongings in crowds.

 

A more detailed travel log is at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50261846#post50261846

 

Any questions, just yell. I’ll try to answer them…

[IECalCruiser]

Thanks for the quick look report. I was also following your "live" thread. We had followed your threads to Hawaii in 2009 and South America in 2010 because we were doing those cruises within the next month or so. This time we finally managed to get there first because we were on the Emerald three years ago departing from Copenhagen. We only did one formal tour with SPb rather than Alla in St. Petersburg. The private tours are the only way to go there because you can't find a combination of Princess tours that go to all of the same destinations and you pay almost twice as much. The three other ports we shared were Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm. We much more enjoyed the discoveries with DIY and had all the time we needed for shopping and eating. Others on the Roll Call had signed up with SPb at most of the other ports and did enjoy the tours.

[Grego]

I like the "quick report" style. It gives us the facts without the hyperbole. Even though we will be on the Regal Princess, the are similar ports that we welcome your input.

 

Thanks for doing this.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Grego