Advice for Shore Excursions Marina July16, 2024, London to Copenhagen

[Gizmoiv]

Good day all,  We will be embarking on our first Northern European Cruise next year and are at a loss for the Shore Excursions.   All seem about the same according to the PDF provided today by Oceania.  Sooo, any advice is welcomed for what to do or see in the following ports on our cruise…I realize its a lot but should give good subject for many of you to comment.  

Gothenburg, Sweden

Kiel, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Ronne, Denmark

Visby, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Klaipeda, Lithuania

Gdansk, Poland

I hope anyone out there can give us ideas.

Feel free to “yell” at me if I’m out of line

Thank you very much in advance..

 

Rich and Becky

[AMHuntFerry]

5 minutes ago, Gizmoiv said:

Good day all,  We will be embarking on our first Northern European Cruise next year and are at a loss for the Shore Excursions.   All seem about the same according to the PDF provided today by Oceania.  Sooo, any advice is welcomed for what to do or see in the following ports on our cruise…I realize its a lot but should give good subject for many of you to comment.  

Gothenburg, Sweden

Kiel, Germany

Berlin, Germany

Ronne, Denmark

Visby, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

Klaipeda, Lithuania

Gdansk, Poland

I hope anyone out there can give us ideas.

Feel free to “yell” at me if I’m out of line

Thank you very much in advance..

 

Rich and Becky

Hi Gismoiv, I see that you are new to CC and may not be aware of some of the features. You can join your roll call for this cruise where you can talk to other passengers:

You can also find port specific advice for Europe:
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

 

[halfapair]

In Gdańsk you can use the free Oceania shuttle to get into town, and from there you can walk to the train station and take the train to the Old Town area. You can walk around, have breakfast and /or lunch, see the beautiful architecture at your own pace, listen to the buskers, and shop for amber jewelry.

 

Then take the train back, and walk to the shuttle. It’s a free shore excursion!

[Mura]

I always recommend against visiting a destination that is a long trip from the port -- so that means trying to visit Berlin from Poland.  Or Paris from Le Havre. You get the idea.

 

I don't have your itinerary so I can't make more specific suggestions.

 

NOW, if you think you are dying to see Paris or Prague (or someother possible destination on a tour) and you don't think you'll ever have the opportunity to visit ... then yes, do so.  Even 2 hours in the city is better than none!

 

Back in 2002 I consulted with a Bayeux Tourist Bureau about the advisability of a day tour from Le Havre and was strongly advised NOT to do so.  I do think that the roads were worse then, but even so it would have been a long trip.  So we skipped the possibility of a tour to the Beaches at that time.  A few months later we did a trip on our own from Paris up to Rouen (3 days there), then on to the Beaches (another 3 days) and so on.  We spent about two weeks ... it was one of our best trips ever.

 

But driving through Paris to get out of town wasn't so much fun!

 

In 2012 we did a Viking river boat trip which offered two tours from Rouen to the Beaches.  We opted for the "Canadian" tour because we want to return to the Bayeux Tapestry.  The benefit was that we also saw the Canadian sites that we had NOT seen on our previous trip.  And we were only 5 people since everyone else on the riverboat opted for the U.S. tour ...

 

Mura

Mura

[alcpa1]

Welcome,

We haven't been to all of the ports on your itinerary but we are taking a similar sailing next year and I have already started my research so I will join others with recommendations.

The following are the places we have been:

Berlin - I don't know where you are docking but it's about 3 hours by train from Rostock/Warnemunda. It's about the same by shore excursion bus. You can actually pack in some of the major sites but mostly drive bys. That's not the worst thing. I'd imagine you will go to the wall, the Brandenburg Gate, a memorial and/or a museum or two. 

Halfapair is spot on for Gdansk.

Stockholm - The Vasa Museum should be high on your list. Wandering the old streets in Gamla Stan passing the palace and perhaps seeing the changing of the guard is another option. Stockholm has some fabulous museums and gardens. Plan part of your visit driving around the most compact part of the city. There are ferry and boat tours of the small islands surrounding the center of the city too.

Copenhagen - We have been five times and during our last visit we finally got to check off our must do list. Take a canal cruise. You will see everything from a differrent perspective. If you are there late go to Tivoli Gardens. When walking avoid wandering into bike lanes. The wonderful Danes are particularly fierce when it comes to their bike lanes. There are also parts of the city where you should be aware of your surroundings and guard your valuables. 

London - You can never have enough time in London.There's just so much to see. Churchill's War Room is worth a visit. We always go to the theatre in London. We've seen everything from Shakespear to Phantom to Hamilton. You can venture to Windsor, or Greenwich easily. Guide books aka Google will give you a gazillion options.

For a first timer plan on 4 or 5 days in London and 3 or 4 in Copenhagen before and after your cruise.

Now use the Destinations/Ports of Call boards for the Baltic and England to help with your research. 

Join the Roll Call for your sailing. You will meet others sailing on your ship and you can plan together.

Come back and ask all of the questions you might have after using Cruise Critic and other forums.

[PelicanLvr]

BERLIN:  Download the free Rick Steves Berlin walking tour from his app.  It will give you a great overview in the limited time you will have there.

[EJL2023]

I’d just echo some of the comments above: London, we also enjoyed The Churchill Museum, Stockholm, the Vasa Museum was definitely a highlight. Copenhagen, the canal boat ride was excellent. Klaipeda: the cruise terminal was close to Old Town.  We just strolled around there and walked down to a park that was nice with a lot of sculptures throughout. Probably spent a few hours there and back to the ship. This would be a nice slow paced day to just kind of take it easy in my opinion as we usually need a day like that but still able to get off the ship.  Berlin would be tough as just so much to see and I’d think time would be fairly limited. 

[halfapair]

Although your itinerary says "Berlin, Germany," your ship will dock in Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany which is a 2.5-3 hour drive to Berlin EACH WAY. I would consider doing something closer to the port. There is actually a lively port scene with shops and restaurants nearby. There are docked boats selling fresh seafood dishes (like food trucks, but boats).

Or consider a tour to Lubeck (about a 90 minute drive) with a private tour company.

[See_More]

1 hour ago, halfapair said:

Although your itinerary says "Berlin, Germany," your ship will dock in Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany which is a 2.5-3 hour drive to Berlin EACH WAY. I would consider doing something closer to the port. There is actually a lively port scene with shops and restaurants nearby. There are docked boats selling fresh seafood dishes (like food trucks, but boats).

Or consider a tour to Lubeck (about a 90 minute drive) with a private tour company.

I would suggest taking the train to Rostock. Less than 30 min. ride and train runs every 20 minutes.  The ticket station is right in Warnemunde. Need euros and see if you can buy the return ticket at the same time.  There is not very much to see in Warnemunde other than a cute lighthouse and some great spaetzle and beer.  Rostock is a beautiful town with amazing churches you can climb up in to see great views. Wonderful shopping street. Enjoy.

[cbb]

 we often diy walking tours and use gpsmycity.com to plan our walks.   On the upper right find "all cities" and then click on the appropriate continent.

 

You will be rewarded by an alphabetical list of countries with the cities offered.  When you click on the city you want you will often see more than one walking tour.  One might be an Introductory tour, another may be architectural gems, etc.   Also read the articles since the author sometimes writes about bars, cafes, restaurants, and cool little shops.

 

You will find with each tour an accompanying map that you can download but since I worry that the phone will not function, we also print out the map!  Each map location then has further info.  I print it all!

 

Here is an example using Gothenburg.....

https://www.gpsmycity.com/tours/gothenburg-introduction-walking-tour-3991.html

 

Good luck!  (there are many others I use as well, but this is a good start)  Have fun!

[Gizmoiv]

Thank you so much..This is a fantastic reference We will use it for sure