Someone on our may trip is doing the St.P trips for a group and it is looking good you can DIY but Visa issues, not a problem if with an official guide.

Copenhagen : water taxi all day from the pier is good value for a first trip.
Tallin : shuttle to old town and walk around there is a market right out the back near the station..
Stockholm : Vassa is good and takes most of a day, hop on/off bus available
Helsinki: last time we went we did a self walk tour from the tourist centre 3.5-4hours very interesting.

For St. Petersburg,or anywhere in Russia, you need a visa costing £60 before you can leave the ship. This does not apply to tour groups so it is cheaper and safer to do the official trips. Do not miss the Hermitage.It is wonderful, but you need your guide to show you the important bits and jump the queues.
In Stockholm we just wandered the Old town and watched the Changing of the Guard at the Palace, which you could have a tour around.There was also a city centre bus tour, which I think was £16. There was also a city bus tour for Copenhagen but again we just wandered. Saw the Little Mermaid,(she really is little) and the statue of Hans Christian Anderson. Walked to Nyehaven harbour(spelling?) and sat outside with a hot chocolate.
We were in Talinn on a Sunday so a lot of shops etc were closed. We wandered up to the Cathedral through the Old town.Very beautiful. On our cruise we had shuttle buses to all the town centres so that the Tourist information office was always our first stop.
Can't help with the other ports as we didn't visit them.

We did this cruise in June last year and "did our own thing" in Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn, only taking the organised tours in St Petersburg. The DIY ones were very easy - lots of ferry boats - and walking - and the descriptive leaflets supplied by RCI were very informative and helpful.
Have a wonderful time - we did!!

Does anyone know if they will accept euros in Denmark, Sweden and Russia? It would make it easier than getting Krone and roubles as well as Euros
Shirley

You can use euros in Russia or US dollars. They will also take UK notes but not pound coins for some reason. We did change pounds into roubles on the ship but changed them straight back again for exactly the same rate. Two people came on board to do the money exchange.

Thanks Maureen I think we will just take euros and Sterling
Shirley

Recently returned from Baltic cruise visiting Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn and Klaipeda (Lithuania).

We booked tours for both our days in St Petersburg. We visited Hermitage, the Cathedrals, Peterhof & Pushkin palaces and all were superb. It is possible to self explore but you require a personal visa. The other problem is that no taxis or non-ship tour buses are allowed into the port area and it is about a mile to the port entrance, which is in a most run down area of the city. I did not see any taxis at the entrance, and not aware of anyone who self-explored. It is, I believe, possible to book a private tour, and they do have access to the pier area. We are self exploration fans and returning again would still book (different) organised tours.

Copenhagen is simple to self explore, and some of the sights (including little mermaid) are on the way into town anyway. When you get to the main canal at the centre there are canal cruises which last about an hour, we did that and it was good. Unless you are wanting to go beyond Copenhagen it is not worth doing a tour.

Stockholm is about a 20-25 minute flat walk from the port, and some people used the shuttle bus into the centre. We walked, although this part is not particularly pretty. The town itself is beautiful and the buildings and architecture very pleasing. You can see the changing of the guard and self-tour the Royal Palace, and the rest of Stockholm. Also canal cruises or open-top bus tours are available.

Close to where you dock (50 yards for us) in Helsinki there is a stop for the hop on/off open-top bus tour. We used this service at 24 euros each and it was excellent and gets you back to ship. Just watch though as the last one back leaves from the main cathedral area at 4.00pm.

Tallinn also has a hop on/off open-top bus tour from port area which we used at 13 euros each. It is not worth it as the main area for exploring is very compact, and beautiful. It is handy though if you do not like, or find difficulty in, climbing hills. You can go to the cathedral area which is the highest point, and then go down from there.

Klaipeda is a port that is in the process of being built up for cruiseships, although it is some way from "getting there". This was by far the least attractive port and many complained there was "nothing to see". My advice would be to pick up the local maps they hand you and follow the clearly marked recommended tourist route/walk. We did that and it is quite a nice little place. Stop around the Meridian ship restaurant, have a drink and watch the world go by. You need to work at making the most of Klaipeda, we did and enjoyed it.

All in all the Baltic area is absolutely superb and, apart from St Petersburg would certainly recommend self exploring.

Many thanks for the info hamrag.
luci

Thanks Luci. I also submitted a review of the Celebrity Century a few days ago, which is not yet showing. The sunshine "posted during past 3 days" icon has been showing against Century for a number of days now, but no new posts!!

I have noticed that this happens often in the Cruise Review section, but no new reviews are there.

** Edit - PM sent to save going off topic. luci **

How easy is it to get to Bruges from Zeebrugge?

Just got back from a P&O Baltic cruise.

We did our own thing in all the ports except St Petersburg.

There we took the advice from the Cruise Critic website and went with a local firm called TJ travel.

We had a 2 day 'relaxed' tour (we were with my wife's parents who are neary 80 so not as active as us). The company met us off the boat with a guide, driver and Mercedes people carrier. Then we did all the sights including a morning city tour which included the river front, cruiser Aurora etc., the hydrofoil ride out to the Peterhoff, then the car to Pushkin and the Catharine palace. The next day we did the Metro, Farmers' market, the place where Rasputin was murdered (now a children's playground)! St Isaac's cathedral, St Nicholas' church, Nevdsky prospect, Church on the spilled blood, lunch at a Russian pie shop followed by the Hermitage.

The guide and driver both spoke very good English. Admission to the attractions was included in the price plus we never queued, the guide just took us to the front of all the big groups and we walked straight in. The cost of visas was also included in the price. The guide had excellent knowledge and even though the Hermitage was very crowded she took us on her own route through so if we came to a room that was rammed she had an alternative and then we did the crowded room later when the people had thinned out.

We had regular 'comfort' breaks which included a couple of souvenir shops where there was no obligation to buy but they had complimentary tea, coffee and vodka (try that at 9.30 in the morning)! and the toilets were clean and free as well. The company asked if we wanted anything specific and we wanted to buy our kids Russian ice hockey shirts so they found us a shop where we could get them.

The cost for the two days was $300 each with a 5% discount for cash, this included any charges for admin to get into Russia etc. This was about 50% of the cost of anything similar that we could have done with P&O plus with them we would have been on a coach and at the mercy of their schedules. We could alter ours as we went along.

We didn't pay anything up front and only paid on the 2nd day when we popped into the company's office (where there was more free coffee, tea and vodka)!

We decided to pay in dollars as this was easier and I can get them at a very good rate by changing my friends $$ into ££s when they come over to visit. They will take euros as well, we didn't ask about £££s.

TJ travel can be contacted by email on info@st-petersburg-tours.ru and you need to speak with Tatiana.

On another note P&O could not change money into Roubles on the boat, they said the Russians didn't allow it. However most places will take Euros or dollars and in places that didn't our guide paid with her money and we gave her dollars in exchange.

Many thanks for the review, excellent information. When we visited St Petersburg it was still part of the Soviet Union and was certainly an experience. We actually stayed there for a few days rather than visit from a cruise. The Hermitage has to be seen. We also visited Peter the Great's summer palace at Petrovorets which was wonderful.

If you have time, it would really be appreciated if you could post what you did at the other ports.

What did you do for currency at each port, did you get it in advance or just used the ATM's in each place?

luci

No problem.

1st port of call was Oslo for half a day. The ship docked right next to the town and we just stepped off and into it. We had a wander round, looked at the Palace, watched the guard change and then took in the sights. Quite busy down by the harbour with a lot of new development going on. Change about £30 into local Krona on the ship but didn't spend anything as there was very little costing less than £30! Very pretty place.

Then onto Copenhagen. Changed a bit of cash on the ship. This was the most disappointing place of the trip. I come from Birmingham and the town reminded me of home, dirty, dishevelled and crowded. Took the hop on hop off bus round the town. Bought the tickets on the boat. (£16.50 each). Because it was raining we decided to stay on the bus and do the entire circuit first. By the time we got back to the boat it had stopped and so we went round again as far as the big tourist info place by the Tivioli garden. From there we walked to the Carlsberg Brewery (The buses were not running)about 2 Km. This place was really interesting if a little difficult to find the entrance (their own maps on the side of the road were incorrect). Spent a good couple of hours in there and the entrance cost included 2 pints of beer. They make some very nice beer there, pity that the only one we seem to get in the UK is so bland and uninteresting!

Then we decided to walk back to the ship. It took 2 and a half hours but we passed some interesting places including the prison!. On the way back we took in the big fountains, port and also the little mermaid. This statue is so close to the harbour wall that the Japanese tourists were climbing all over it! We waited until I managed to get a photo without anyone else in it then went back to the ship.

Third port of call was Stockholm. Again we just took the free shuttle bus into the City centre, wandered round the palace, churches etc. Again we changed some money on the boat but apart from getting some heel plasters (the walk in Copenhagen had given me a blister) didn't spend anything because again everything was just so eye wateringly expensive.

Helsinki was next on the agenda. They use Euros and we had changed some of these in the UK before leaving. Again the shuttle took us into the centre of town and we had a pleasant morning wandering round the various cathedrals and palaces. In one store we found some Ice hockey equipment (we have a son that plays) but the prices were about double what we would pay in the UK for the same stuff! How can people afford to live in these countries?

We had 2 days at St Petersburg and I have already reviewed this.

Then Tallin. We had been told by someone off another boat that anything we saw in Russia was available in Estonia at a cheaper price. Estonia also uses Euros and we were glad we exchanged them in the UK as the rates they were offering in the Town were awful. They were offering 98 cents for a £! Tallin was probably our favourite town after St Petersburg. Again the free shuttle dropped us on the edge of the old town and we wanderered around. Very quaint but also very crowded with four ships in port at the same time. Bought some Amber earings as a gift for our daughter in law as they were marginally cheaper than anywhere else and about half the price of the ship! Also had a pleasant beer (or two) in a cafe on the Town square. The knitwear was a good price in the markets and we bought our grand daughter a knitted winter suit.

After a sea day we ended up in Warnemunde (Germany). Euros again and this time we were pleasnatly surprised. This is a small seaside town used a lot by Germans and so they were not ripping off the visitors. We spent quite a bit of money here buying gifts for our grand daughter among other purchases. The fishing tackle was particularly good value and I stocked up with equipment. We decided not to go into Rostok as we had seen enough cities for a while and stayed in the little resort. The ship was close enough so that we could pop back on board for lunch then go back out again to see more.

Last port was Gothenburg. We still had some Krona left over from Stockholm but again there was very little there to tempt us to part with them. A thimble for my wife's collection and a couple of coffees were all we bought and we only had the coffee because the toilets in the cafe were free! Even the loos in McDonalds needed coins!

The ship was the Arcadia (P&O) and was fantastic. The food was first class, the entertainment was on the whole pretty good with some really excellent performers and performances with the only disappointment being the comedian they had on board. I think most of his material was originally written in latin! Prices in the bars were reasonable (about the same as UK pub prices). The staff were incredible and there was a huge range of activities and entertainments for the sea days. We even played cricket as we crossed the North Sea!

Brilliant! Many thanks Hi De Hi

luci

Baltic cruise May 2012 on Thomson Spirit
Aarhus, Denmark- a cold, damp, windy day- felt sorry for the youngsters in the band playing on the dockside for our arrival! We used the ship map and the maps/guides given to us by the tourist information reps as we got off the ship to walk to the open air museum Den Gamle By. It was quite easy to find and in a sheltered spot. Cost 28 euros for 2 adults. We did have some krone, but didn't want to spend them all straight away. Enjoyed this museum, there were houses and shops from 1600 to 1920s, with people inside wearing appropriate costume acting as the characters who would have lived there. They spoke excellent English and gave some insight into life at the time.
After the museum we walked round the town visiting the canal-side street, the main pedestrianised shopping street, and the older latin quarter.

Stockholm, Sweden Thomson provided a free shuttle bus to the riverbank outside the opera. You could get HOHO buses or boats from here. It was right by the bridge over to the old town. We walked over past the parliament buildings, saw the palace and guards, the church where coronations etc take place, and just explored at leisure.

Helsinki, Finland Another free shuttle bus to the main harbour area. And the sun was shining! The harbour market was really interesting- all sorts of furs and typically Finnish goods. Beautiful buildings and churches, lovely wide boulevards (full of VERY expensive shops). Used our Thomson map to walk to the Rock Church- about a mile from the harbour, very unique building with lovely atmosphere inside. TBC

continued...

St Petersburg we did half day ship tours here.
Panorama tour- a whistle stop coach tour with photo stops of 5 to 20 minutes in about six places. Also a shopping/ toilet stop about half an hour. Was ok as an overview but would have liked to get a bit closer to some sites and spend a bit more time. Guess we'll just have to go back!
River cruise- an evening tour along the river. Still light till after 11 pm so got some good photos here. Very leisurely!
St Catherine's palace- wow! gold everywhere, and the amber room was stunning. Headsets meant we could hear without crowding round the guide. Had a little free time here. The cafe only took roubles so was empty as most people didn't have them.
Traffic in St P was awful, and all the morning tours were quite late getting back.

Talinn, Estonia an easy walk into the old town. Just enjoyed wandering round, browsing in the shops, and admiring the rooftop views from the top of the hill.

Kalundborg, Denmark we took the Copenhagen-on-your-own tour from here. It was about 1 and a half hours drive. Loved Copenhagen, but people who stayed in Kalundborg had a lovely day with free museums/ attractions/ church concert etc provided by very welcoming local community.

Thanks Kate I enjoyed reading your report