Baltic cruise in August questions...

[Misha]

I've researched posts several years back on this board looking for information about the excursions for the Voyager on the Baltic cruise and have come up with more worries than I have information. I read about tender problems in Visby and Tallin if an excursion is not booked. And it sounds as though few people use the Voyager excursions in St. Petersburg because they are considered pricey. Are they? If anyone could provide me with some information concerning the excursions, I would be extremely thankful. In addition, we will be staying 3 extra days in Copenhagen and a day in Stockholm and I'm confused trying to find hotels. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions as to the area we should stay? We have tacked this onto a trip to the UK, so I haven't used Regent's travel advisors. Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Travelcat2]

We were on the Baltic cruise last August -- this is such an awesome cruise!!! Will try to respond to some of your concerns.

 

We did two nights in Copenhagen -- booked through Regent and really enjoyed the hotel/area. We stayed at the SAS Radisson. This is walking distance to most places -- shopping, restaurants, etc. Prices in Copenhagen are extremely high (yes -- even higher than London, in most cases). There is a small market next door -- we picked up some munchies and drinks for the room. Breakfast is also included. Apparently the lower flowers have breakfast downstairs -- upper floors go to a great restaurant with views of Tivoli Gardens, etc. (Regent puts their customers in upper floors although the lower ones would have been fine). The SAS Radisson is a bit different than we were used to (check out reviews, etc. online).

 

We did not do excursions in Visby (rough seas -- need to go on tender, etc.). A tender was not needed in Tallin -- an incredible port. There are shuttle buses that take you into town (and back). This medievil town is amazing. You can enjoy just walking around the shops and restaurants or, as we did, take a tour with explanations of how these very proud people have built up their city since 1992 (the end of the Solviet Union domination).

 

You're right -- a lot of people from cruise ships use private tour companies. For us, the reason was "crowds". We saw at least 20-30 tour buses at the Hermitage -- the lines were endless. Tour guides are permitted to take their guests to the front of the line -- this made quite an amazing difference. Due to time limitations we did Catherine's Palace instead of the Hermitage as well as a city tour and a bit of a splurge -- a vodka and caviar tasting. Catherine's Palace is an hour out of the city so we were able to see the countryside.

 

Don't want to break CruiseCritic rules about recommending tour companies, but, since you inquired, I believe I can respond to the question. Most people use Red October, Denrus or Anna Tours (we used them). All three companies have websites. If you find other people to join your tour, the prices are significantly less than those booked on the ship. Private tours are a bit more money. You cannot do anything on your own unless you obtain a special Visa -- a bit expensive and takes time to obtain. Try looking at Cruise Critic "ports" -- there are write-ups on these companies.

 

The cruise was wonderful -- tours a bit pricey but worth every penny. Have a great time!

[linda_22003]

We also did the Baltic cruise last August. As far as excursions being "pricey", we thought of it more in terms of - how many times in our lives are we going to hear opera at the Yusupov Palace? :) We did not want to bother with individual visas, so ship excursions in St. Petersburg were the choice. Our tour in Talinn was gratis, from our travel agent, through the "Virtuoso" program.

 

We wandered around Visby on our own, and it was lovely. We did not have issues with the tender; the crossing was not particularly choppy (but we're not overly sensitive to that, either). It certainly didn't take long, and the view was terrific all the way in.

 

We also spent some time in Copenhagen and Stockholm, before and after. We were supposed to stay at the Copenhagen Strand, but they were full when we got there and they put us at a brand new property of theirs, the Copenhagen Island. This was right on the water, next to the Fisktorvet shopping mall. It's a bit of a hike to the center of town, but a pleasant walk. It's practically next door to the Marriott, which is where you can pick up the shuttle boat that tours the city on the water.

 

In Stockholm we stayed at the Radisson SAS, and I was less than impressed. We specified a room with a water view, and were on the top floor in what seemed to be maids' quarters. :) I wouldn't really recommend it, although we were right in the center of the city.

[sho]

Went on the Baltic cruise last July, had fantastic time as Scandanavia was in the middle of a heat wave, and it was 35C in Stockholm and St Petersburg!

 

Stayed in Sheraton Stockholm which is located in a convenient spot, within walking distance to the Nobel Prize hall, palace area, central shopping streets. Stayed in a suite with waterview. Food very expensive in Stockholm, cost about $100 per person for dinner.

 

Booked most excursions through Regent's. To do our own sightseeing in St Petersburg, visa would be required -- we thought it was too much trouble to apply for a Russian visa, hence used the cruise excursions.

 

Through Regent's, we reserved a private guide with driver for 2 half-days in St Petersburg (cost $1000 each half day for a minivan, we had a group of 7 people) -- city tour for one half day, then Peterhof summer palace for the other half day. It was expensive but we had privacy and were well taken care of by the guides. In fact the city tour itinerary was specified by me and there was a lot of flexibility, as somebody in the group wanted to see a particular church and we made an extra stop to do this.

 

The opera evening at Yusupov palace is a must, this place is well known for the murder of Rasputin. A beautifully decorated building -- perfect setting for the lovely music and dance performance.

 

We had to use tender boat at Visby, and the sea was rather rough for the transfer (I actually felt sick and terrified). We spent an hour walking leisurely in this small town, not much to see though.:)

[Misha]

Thank you. Your comments are very much appreciated. I'm finally starting to make some sense of all of this. The research gets overwhelming at times.... but I can't wait to actually see it all!!!

[linda_22003]

There may not have been "much to see" in July in Visby (although it is a lovely town), but when we were there in August it was the last day of the Medieval Festival, and Visby looked as though it had gone back in time, with people in costume cooking and doing blacksmithing and various crafts as though Gotland had gotten stuck in time. :)

[Misha]

Yes! I was excited to see that we will be there the first day of their festival! I'm really looking forward to it.

[linda_22003]

Definitely go, then. I had never heard of it, but a colleague of mine who is really into Medieval history was VERY jealous of my being there for it. And the old cathedral on the hill is beautiful. Don't worry about the tender trip, and have a great time!

[SPKR]

We traveled Voyager from June 12-23. Stayed at a Hilton in London pre cruise and at the Hilton connected to the airport in Copenhagen at the end of the cruise. There is a train station attached to the airport (bottom floor) and we asked at the desk about going to see the Rosenborg Castle and they told us to ride the train and which stop to exit. We had a blast doing this on our own. Obviously, we could have gone to Tivoli Gardens or wherever via train, but the ship did an overnight in Copenhagen and provided a shuttle that dropped us off at Tivoli, so we did that on Friday night, June 22, and then on the 23rd after exiting the ship, took a cab ride to the airport and then, as mentioned, took the train. The ship docked right by some shops and the Little Mermaid statue.

Most important news for you is that in St Petersburg, ship is docked by an absolutely fabulous shop where we found great souvenirs at very reasonable prices. We took ship tours on our first day Peterhof (Peter the Great's castle) and then came back to the ship and then took a Russian shopping excursion. Although I enjoyed the shopping very much, if I had known the shop on the pier was so nice, I would not have needed to shop. It was nice feeling I was free to walk the streets of Russia for a few hours. When that excursion returned we could have gone to the Opera or ballet, but we chose to stay in. Next day in Russia, again via ship excursion, we saw Catherine's Palace and the Hermitage. We had an incredible guide, and really saw a lot of art work at the Hermitage although we only were there about 2 hours. I had contemplated having a guide with one of the 3 companies recommended by this board, but I am a worry wart about traffic and getting back to the ship on time with a private company vs. with a Regent tour. All the ship's tour buses which did Catherine's Palace and The Hermitage were late returning to the ship because of traffic, and, of course, the ship waited for us. I understand more tours go during July and August than in June, so we really had no lines at the palaces or in the Hermitage which would have justified needing to be on a private instead of a ship tour. Albeit it was June, traffic was awful, and though there were no lines getting into the Hermitage and winter palace, the Hermitage was very very crowded.

[MarciAnn]

We did this cruise 2 years ago and used a private guide in Russia as we did not want to deal with getting our own visas and couldn't bear the thought of big tour buses for the ship's excursions. In addition, you can see a lot more with a private guide when you are not waiting for a big group of people to get on and off a bus. In addition, we were able to plan our own itinerary with the private guide in advance so we were ble to see what we wanted to see (and I highly recommend the Chinese Palace which is not otherwise on any excursion itinerary.) We did take the ship's excursion to Moscow and we enjoyed that very much but it is a lot of travel in one day. If you don't think you will get back to that part of the world any time soon I would recomend it. How can you go all the way to Russia and not visit Moscow?? (We arrived back to the ship very late that night and to our surprise a band was serenading us as we boarded and a special dinner was arranged for the group that nite--very nice touch.)

 

The one place we did do the ship's excursion was Tallin and it was fine and I would recommend it. Half day covered it all and we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the ship as it is a very port intensive itinerary.

 

Stockholm is a fabulous city and we loved it. It is a shame you can not spend a few more days there. We stayed at the Grand and I highly recommend it. We had a wonderful room and the location was great.

[hotmike98]

Suggest you go to the ports of call section and click Europe, then Northern Europe & the Baltics. Lots of info there. The problem with Regents tours in St. Petersburg is that you have to cut and paste together several tours, which makes it really expensive to see the "must do" venues, and you are in the big tour buses with lots of lines. Proper name for the smaller private tour co. in St. Petersburg is Alla, not Anna. website is: http://www.allatour.com. We used her services last year and loved it. You can check my review in the ship review for the Voyager

[bogie113]

Hi Misha

 

When we did the Baltic, actually not on Regent but on Oceana, we stayed at the Sheraton in Stockholm. It was a good hotel in a great location.

 

In St. Petersburg there are two really good private guide companies. RED OCTOBER and DENRUS. As I recall, you only need to get your own visa if you plan to go out and about on your own. I could be remembering wrong, but I seem to recall that these two companies had "blanket visas" which covered you when you were with them.

 

We were a group of 4 couples and I think it cost us something in the area of $900 per person for three full days with guide, driver and admission fees. I also do not believe that we had to wait in line to get into the various venues, however once inside some of them we did have to deal with the crowds.

 

Also, if you decide to take in a ballet, I would suggest you push doing the Marinsky rather than the Hermitage. We did and from what we understand it was a far better experience.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Marsha