excursions in Russia

[Zimmy]

We are going on the 7/27 Dover to Stockholm cruise, and we are wondering if anyone has taken the Neva cruise excursion offered by Oceania. We have already arranged for a tour through Esperance, but we still have one night open and are thinking of going on this excursion. We would be so appreciative of hearing about anyone elses experience. Also, we plan on doing the ports on our own except for Russia and Germany where we have arranged for guides, but if there was an Oceania excursion in another port that was just fabulous, please tell us about it.

[tcad1]

We took the Neva "White Nights" cruise shore excursion in mid June and enjoyed it. It starts around 8 pm and takes you up and down the Neva River. Your cruise is towards the end of White Nights, so the brightness will be different than our cruise. There are performers on each boat who sing and dance between the commentary that is offered by your guide. The company gives you a shot of vodka and a glass of "champagne" plus bite size fish goodies. If you haven't been up and down the Neva at dusk, the experience is worth it; they bring you back to the ship around 11:15 pm. Also, the bridges are drawn up around 1:30 am; that is a cool experience to watch; especially if you are docked at the English Embankment. The ships then go through. During White Nights this is one of the sights to watch. People come out and line the banks to see it.
We had visas and did the Hermitage Museum by ourselves since we had been there several years ago; we also climbed to the dome of the St. Isaac's Cathedral (you need 100 rubles per person to do this).

We took several shore excursions which we enjoyed; however, we sailed from Stockholm and ended in Dover. Tallin is an unexpected pleasure to tour; the Estonian sweaters (made out of Norwegian wool) are an excellent bargain both at the flea markets and regular shops. The Ballet shore excursion in Russia is worth taking (see post on a previous listing on this board); we enjoyed our Berlin excursion although there is a long ride on the bus both ways. Bruges is a great place to visit, and of course Amsterdam is Amsterdam! We went on our own there and saw the Anne Frank House, the Rijkmuseum for the Rembrandt paintings, the Van Gogh museum, and the Rembrandt house. You could really walk the whole of Amsterdam, but public transportation is efficient and good. The "Coffee Houses" are very prevelant especially in the Red Light district, but no one bothers you.

Enjoy your cruise and the cuisine on the ship; if you haven't been on board before, the two specialty restaurants are worth a visit. Book these as soon as you get on board; they fill up quickly. We made our reservations on the sea days from Helsinki to Gdansk and the Kiel Canal.