1st time baltic sailing..help and hints

[mandy girl]

First time cruising in the Baltic, only cruised in the Carribean. What shall I pack for June saling and any other useful hints would be appreciated. we are both early 50's. eg. early seating or late seating? Thanks in advance

[realproperty]

for the days, long pants, short sleeves, sweaters, light jackets, layers. We had great weather but it was never shorts weather but bring them anyway in case you get a hot spell. We had mostly low 70's, very comfortable for touring and bring good walking shoes beacuse you will be on your feet a lot. We did use bathing suits on days at sea and of course you need the usual evening wear on the ship. This is not the caribbean so leave the hawaiian shirts at home. This is Europe and it is also midnight sun so expect daylight til midnight and sunrise at 3 am. Late dinner for sure since these are city itineraries and full days in town, none of the caribbean beach days and just casually getting off the ship and strolling around useless towns. Stockholm will surprise you by how regal it is, St Pete--well there is so much to see and you have probably only 2 days, ditto for Copenhagen and everywhere else you go. Shopping: if you are serious-Stockholm for crystal, Talinn for amber, Helsinki for herring, (that is a joke but if you like herring, that is the place for it. St. Pete-nothing but junk unless you think stacking dolls and fake communist hats are good stuff, Copenhagen china porcelain. I hope that helps. That is a great trip, seas are calm, each day is different. Lots of interesting things to see and history to learn since they never taught us Scandinavian history (after the Vikings) in high school.

[Texed]

First time cruising in the Balticfor June saling

 

Which cruise? :)

[hylasgirl]

First time cruising in the Baltic, only cruised in the Carribean. What shall I pack for June saling and any other useful hints would be appreciated. we are both early 50's. eg. early seating or late seating? Thanks in advance

 

 

One thing you should do if you haven't, is find your Roll Call. They will have so much information and helpful advice for you.

 

We cruised the Baltics last year in July and can tell you we used all types of clothing. Nothing was REALLY cold. We used our rain jackets on occasion... but mostly it was long pants and a t-shirt for me. I am seldom cold, so a tshirt was fine for me. My husband wore a long sleeve tshirt almost everywhere. I would NEVER pick late seating for any European cruise. The port times get you back so late, that everyone we know in early seating is always rushing for dinner. To me, that is no fun. I don't want to have to hurry back each night to get ready for dinner. Just my opinion of course, but I prefer late seating and so do our friends we sail with... all in their 50s and 60s.

 

But... do... find your Roll Call. They will be so much help to you.

 

Enjoy!!!:)

[Texed]

One thing you should do if you haven't, is find your Roll Call. But... do... find your Roll Call. They will be so much help to you. Enjoy!!!:)

 

I was hoping they were on ours. :)

[TRacanoUK]

The one cool thing about the time of year that you're going is that it won't ever really get dark! Especially when you get as far north as Helsinki. We were sitting in the lounges until after midnight and would just watch the sun move along the horizon.

 

One tip, is to not underestimate the cool weather/unpredictability of the weather. One day it will be hot (shorts and tshirts) and the next day cool (jeans and sweater)...in the same port! That happened to us in St. Petersburg.

 

Go to your roll call and try and drum up a group to do a private tour in St. P...we used Alla and she was AWESOME! We joked that our guide must have been ex-kgb because everyone at the museums seemed scared of her and always moved aside when we came through!

 

We didn't find there to be a whole lot to do in Helsinki but there is a PUB TRAM that takes you in a loop around the city and for 8 Euro each you get a beer and ride. It was awesome! I found it on tripadvisor.

 

Hope this helps!

[spearmint]

Go to the Ports of Call boards for great information from previous travellers. That's where we heard of DenRus, Alla Tours, Red October. You probably do not want to do St. Petersburg on your own. We chose DenRus and it was just great. Others who have used the other tour companies have been positive about them as well. From the write-ups that we read over time, DenRus became our choice.

 

For the other cities, we used ship's tours. Be sure to check out the Vigelund Statue park in Oslo. And the Vasa ship museum in Stockholm. Really interesting.

Bill