Of these four ports on Baltic cruise - which to book tours?

[croozen]

Out of the following ports, which would you recommend arranging a tour for (we are looking at SBP Tours) versus just wandering around in.a self directed manner.

 

When we have booked tours in the past in places like Kotor and Florence we felt like we got alot more out of the stop than just the DYI wandering. 

 

Out of the following four stops we likely have a budget to book formal tours at 2 or 3. 

 

Thoughts??

 

Helsinki

Stockholm

Hamburg (Kiel)

Warnemunde (we are not doing Berlin so would tour just Rostock and Warnermunde)

[ontheweb]

31 minutes ago, croozen said:

Out of the following ports, which would you recommend arranging a tour for (we are looking at SBP Tours) versus just wandering around in.a self directed manner.

 

When we have booked tours in the past in places like Kotor and Florence we felt like we got alot more out of the stop than just the DYI wandering. 

 

Out of the following four stops we likely have a budget to book formal tours at 2 or 3. 

 

Thoughts??

 

Helsinki

Stockholm

Hamburg (Kiel)

Warnemunde (we are not doing Berlin so would tour just Rostock and Warnermunde)

In Stockholm our only problem was there were too many things we wanted to do. Definitely did not need a tour of any kind.

 

OTOH, in Helsinki we did not find much to do. Maybe a tour would have helped.

 

I cannot comment on the German ports as we did not have them on our Baltic cruise.

 

Also have not used SBP tours, but the year before they started, their owner Viktoria was our Alla guide in St. Petersburg. She was excellent, and I am sure her company is also excellent both because we have experience with her and have read wonderful reviews.

[janetcbl]

Market square in Helsinki is a must. There is a fine Art Museum, History Museum and the ‘Rock Church” (Temppeliaukion) and Sibelius Monument are worth a visit. There is some great architecture in the city as well. Stockholm highlights: Gamla Stan, the Vasa Museum, the Town Hall (Nobel prize dinner held here, incredible mosaic wall). Rostock is also an interesting city. Much to see in all these cities, depending on your interests.

 

 

 

[kitkat343]

It's really totally up to you, since it is quite possible to DIY those ports.  There are a lot of great choices in Stockholm, so you just need to decide what is most important to you there.  We visited a lot of places in Stockholm, starting with Vasa (you want to go there right when it opens if possible to avoid crowds).  The HOHO boats used to travel directly from the cruise ship pier to vasa until 10 am and after 10 they resume a normal loop around the city when other attractions open (you'd need to check if this is still their schedule).  We also visited the open air lemur exhibit at Skansen, Historiska (the history museum), and then the Royal Armory and walked around Galma Stan.  We bled a little time in Stockhom trying to figure out the public transportation stops/ schedule so having a tour guide there might help you maximize your time in port but overall we were very happy with our DIY tour.

 

We had a 3 year old with us who loves trains, so he liked the Molli steam train in Warnemunde.  Otherwise, it's a lovely scenic village to walk around.  The Schwerin Castle was closed  on Mondays, which was why we were unable to visit it on our last cruise.  

 

In Helsinki, please note you can visit most tourist destinations off the 2 tram, which you can pick up in Market Square and will take you to  Temppeliaukion .   The 2 Tram is also just a very enjoyable, scenic ride through the city.   Really close to Market Square is Uspenski Cathedral, a very nice cathedral you should see the outside of at least if you are already in Market Square (it's not worth a separate trip, but if you are already going to Market Square to visit the stalls it's worth a brief walk over.)

 

 

 

 

[edinburgher]

Warnemunde/Rostock is a really easy DIY day as ships dock within a couple of minutes walk of the train station.  I think we bought a day ticket in the train station which covered our transport needs to and from Rostock and we also used a tram from Rostock train station to reach the historic centre and again to return to the train station.

 

We had a really easy and enjoyable day exploring both.

 

Do read past threads for ideas by using the search tool under your username.  This may be a good starting point:

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2920861-what-to-do-in-warnemunde-berlin/#comment-64940580

 

And there is no need" to wander aimlessly" if you do some pre-trip homework.  Look at Tripadvisor for both and local Tourist Information sites, also anything else which comes up when you search eg "Warnemunde (or Rostock) Tourist info" or similar.  By doing that you will know which sights are of most interest to you, can take info with you and know where you are going and what you are looking at.

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by edinburgher

[Hezu]

12 hours ago, croozen said:

Hamburg (Kiel)

It is certainly worth noting that Hamburg is quite far away from Kiel and traveling between these two will take over an hour in each direction.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

It's really totally up to you, since it is quite possible to DIY those ports.  There are a lot of great choices in Stockholm, so you just need to decide what is most important to you there.  We visited a lot of places in Stockholm, starting with Vasa (you want to go there right when it opens if possible to avoid crowds).  The HOHO boats used to travel directly from the cruise ship pier to vasa until 10 am and after 10 they resume a normal loop around the city when other attractions open (you'd need to check if this is still their schedule).  We also visited the open air lemur exhibit at Skansen, Historiska (the history museum), and then the Royal Armory and walked around Galma Stan.  We bled a little time in Stockhom trying to figure out the public transportation stops/ schedule so having a tour guide there might help you maximize your time in port but overall we were very happy with our DIY tour.

 

We had a 3 year old with us who loves trains, so he liked the Molli steam train in Warnemunde.  Otherwise, it's a lovely scenic village to walk around.  The Schwerin Castle was closed  on Mondays, which was why we were unable to visit it on our last cruise.  

 

In Helsinki, please note you can visit most tourist destinations off the 2 tram, which you can pick up in Market Square and will take you to  Temppeliaukion .   The 2 Tram is also just a very enjoyable, scenic ride through the city.   Really close to Market Square is Uspenski Cathedral, a very nice cathedral you should see the outside of at least if you are already in Market Square (it's not worth a separate trip, but if you are already going to Market Square to visit the stalls it's worth a brief walk over.)

 

 

 

 

I don't know how you accomplished so much in Stockholm. We also hit the Vasa as it was opening. And it was fabulous. We also then went to Skansen. I thought we were spending too much time there, and eventually we moved on. We next went to a major art museum. DW as an art teacher can spend lots of time on each work of art, but with our time constraints had to move on quickly. And we never even got to the floor with fashion, another of her passions.

[Ulsteinvik]

In Kiel you could also go to Lubeck, similar distance like Kiel-Hamburg and Lubeck is more compact.

[ljandgb]

In Helsinki our family split up.  A few of us did the ship's "go see and feed reindeer" while the rest did a speed boat tour of the islands.  We usually do DIY tours, but these were both a lot of fun.

[kitkat343]

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I don't know how you accomplished so much in Stockholm. We also hit the Vasa as it was opening. And it was fabulous. We also then went to Skansen. I thought we were spending too much time there, and eventually we moved on. We next went to a major art museum. DW as an art teacher can spend lots of time on each work of art, but with our time constraints had to move on quickly. And we never even got to the floor with fashion, another of her passions.

Ah, I need to explain - we travelled with our 3 year old, so we carefully planned a trip primarily for him.  He loved Vasa, and we spent an hour and a half there and were able to see everything.  The rest of the tour was just planned for my son.  At Skansen, we only saw the open air lemur exhibit, and saw the animals in the next building.  At Historiska they had a children's Viking exhibit in which kids could dress up as a Viking, bake bread, shoot an arrow and play Viking games (not sure if they still do this exhibit over the summer - you'd need to check their website where it used to be listed).  We only visited that exhibit and then moved onto the Royal Armory.  The Royal Armory was the only fail of the day, as my son didn't really like the historical artifacts there so we left quickly and started to wander around Galma Stan, which was a big hit.  We absolutely didn't have an normal tour day in which we got to see a lot of the traditional highlights, but the lemurs were really special and Vasa was amazing and even just being on the HOHO boat was lovely to see Stockholm from the water so everyone was really happy.  But we primarily took public transportation around Stockholm (back then the HOHO boats sold one ride tickets, sadly no longer available) so we only had a  HOHO boat ride from the cruise port directly to Vasa and another boat ride from Galma Stan back to the cruise port and the rest was traversing Stockholm by tram, bus and subway (and I'm terrible with logistics so this consisted of going to the visitor information desk at each attraction and asking them how to get to the next one).  We bled a little bit of time finding the transportation, and a tour guide would have helped us figure that out more easily.  I don't think it was necessary, but if the OP really wants a tour guide and is planning on visiting a lot they can consider that (or they can buy an all day HOHO pass which I think is now included in the current itineration of the Stockholm card.  Back when I travelled the 24 hour public transportation pass was included.  The Stockholm card is very expensive, but if you are visiting a lot of expensive museums its worth it.  We got our money's worth out of that pass)

Edited May 9, 2023 by kitkat343

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

Ah, I need to explain - we travelled with our 3 year old, so we carefully planned a trip primarily for him.  He loved Vasa, and we spent an hour and a half there and were able to see everything.  The rest of the tour was just planned for my son.  At Skansen, we only saw the open air lemur exhibit, and saw the animals in the next building.  At Historiska they had a children's Viking exhibit in which kids could dress up as a Viking, bake bread, shoot an arrow and play Viking games (not sure if they still do this exhibit over the summer - you'd need to check their website where it used to be listed).  We only visited that exhibit and then moved onto the Royal Armory.  The Royal Armory was the only fail of the day, as my son didn't really like the historical artifacts there so we left quickly and started to wander around Galma Stan, which was a big hit.  We absolutely didn't have an normal tour day in which we got to see a lot of the traditional highlights, but the lemurs were really special and Vasa was amazing and even just being on the HOHO boat was lovely to see Stockholm from the water so everyone was really happy.  But we primarily took public transportation around Stockholm (back then the HOHO boats sold one ride tickets, sadly no longer available) so we only had a  HOHO boat ride from the cruise port directly to Vasa and another boat ride from Galma Stan back to the cruise port and the rest was traversing Stockholm by tram, bus and subway (and I'm terrible with logistics so this consisted of going to the visitor information desk at each attraction and asking them how to get to the next one).  We bled a little bit of time finding the transportation, and a tour guide would have helped us figure that out more easily.  I don't think it was necessary, but if the OP really wants a tour guide and is planning on visiting a lot they can consider that (or they can buy an all day HOHO pass which I think is now included in the current itineration of the Stockholm card.  Back when I travelled the 24 hour public transportation pass was included.  The Stockholm card is very expensive, but if you are visiting a lot of expensive museums its worth it.  We got our money's worth out of that pass)

Back when we were able to visit the Vasa, as a then ""60 year old kid", it was truly amazing and delightful. It is hard to imagine how awe inspiring it would be to 3 year old. I am sure it is something he will never forget.

[bearette]

Stockholm:Haha my kids were impressed for five minutes then wanted to go to Grundenlund. Vasa is awesome though, we were there for about 4 hours as my husband loved it. The kids and I were done at 3 hours and that was because they enjoyed the cannon ball demonstration and got to help load it. Very interesting and free tours in various languages of you stay long enough. Not for the OP, but anyone else with kids the Viking museum near Vasa was geared toward kids and had Vikings giving talks and interacting with the kids. They helped teach them Viking chees, of course we bought one, and it has a ride, which as a parent was almost inappropriate, but I think my kids missed that part-it went over their heads.

 

Honestly, all these ports are easy DIY.  Get a guide book, I like to get them from the library, and then find your top 3 in each place -then do that in your order of most.interested to least and include things nearby when you can.

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, bearette said:

Stockholm:Haha my kids were impressed for five minutes then wanted to go to Grundenlund. Vasa is awesome though, we were there for about 4 hours as my husband loved it. The kids and I were done at 3 hours and that was because they enjoyed the cannon ball demonstration and got to help load it. Very interesting and free tours in various languages of you stay long enough. Not for the OP, but anyone else with kids the Viking museum near Vasa was geared toward kids and had Vikings giving talks and interacting with the kids. They helped teach them Viking chees, of course we bought one, and it has a ride, which as a parent was almost inappropriate, but I think my kids missed that part-it went over their heads.

 

Honestly, all these ports are easy DIY.  Get a guide book, I like to get them from the library, and then find your top 3 in each place -then do that in your order of most.interested to least and include things nearby when you can.

I agree that getting a good guidebook makes it easy to do it yourself. In addition to the public library, you can get used ones pretty cheap on sites like Amazon. In that way you can have the book with you and even mark it up. Prices will be out of date, but otherwise the book being old should not make a difference.

[kitkat343]

On 5/9/2023 at 5:00 PM, ontheweb said:

Back when we were able to visit the Vasa, as a then ""60 year old kid", it was truly amazing and delightful. It is hard to imagine how awe inspiring it would be to 3 year old. I am sure it is something he will never forget.

He absolutely loved it!  It was a little stressful since both sets of grandparents were strongly opposed to our taking this cruise with a 3 year old since it also included St. Petersburg, but my son really loved both Stockholm and St. Petersburg and now given everything that has happened I am so glad we were able to take this cruise when we did.  

[ontheweb]

10 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

He absolutely loved it!  It was a little stressful since both sets of grandparents were strongly opposed to our taking this cruise with a 3 year old since it also included St. Petersburg, but my son really loved both Stockholm and St. Petersburg and now given everything that has happened I am so glad we were able to take this cruise when we did.  

Yes, we also feel blessed that we saw St. Petersburg as no one is seeing it now, and who knows when or if ever it will become available again.

 

I feel sorry for the guide people there who have lost their livelihood. They are not the one waging a war of aggression. In fact, the first protests in Russia against the war were in St. Petersburg.

 

We also feel lucky having been on a land trip to Peru including Machu Piccu the year before Covid hit.

Edited May 11, 2023 by ontheweb
added last paragraph