Baltic Cruise cities

[Gordon]

I'm going to the Baltic on a Quenne Elizabeth Cunard cruise in AUgust.

This is outside the normal raneg of my travels so , for once, I'm asking the questions!

Does anyone have experinece of this in terms of shore excursions.

 

[Midlandman]

Firstly, I presume you'll be stopping overnight in St. Petersburg? In my experience (admittedly only one cruise) this is the only place where you HAVE to take a shore excursion. Even then, we didn't take the overpriced ship's ones, we went with a company called Den-Rus (you can find them on the internet) and, as they claim, we did see, on our two days, more than we would have done on one of the more expensive ship's tours. The only thing you have to watch out for is that some cruise lines try and tell you that you'll have to wait until the 'official' tours have gone before you disembark. This is NOT true, you can get through imigration any time, they aren't bothered about which tour you are on. The guy who runs Den-Rus met us on the quayside to check if this was going on with our cruise (it wasn't). (Our Den-Rus trip even included a Metro ride, but not, sadly, a trip on one of the wonderfully dilapidated trams that rattle around the place).
As for the other cities, it depends what you want to see, and where the ship berths. Ley me know where else you are going and I'll try to mark your card.

 

[moonrakerz]

Which ports of call ?
Can't find your cruise on the Cunard web site.
I did a Baltic cruise last year - superb !!!

 

[Greenback]

Firstly, I presume you'll be stopping overnight in St. Petersburg? In my experience (admittedly only one cruise) this is the only place where you HAVE to take a shore excursion. Even then, we didn't take the overpriced ship's ones, we went with a company called Den-Rus (you can find them on the internet) and, as they claim, we did see, on our two days, more than we would have done on one of the more expensive ship's tours. The only thing you have to watch out for is that some cruise lines try and tell you that you'll have to wait until the 'official' tours have gone before you disembark. This is NOT true, you can get through imigration any time, they aren't bothered about which tour you are on. The guy who runs Den-Rus met us on the quayside to check if this was going on with our cruise (it wasn't). (Our Den-Rus trip even included a Metro ride, but not, sadly, a trip on one of the wonderfully dilapidated trams that rattle around the place).
As for the other cities, it depends what you want to see, and where the ship berths. Ley me know where else you are going and I'll try to mark your card.

You don't HAVE to take an official (ship's or otherwise) in St Petersburg, although it is recommended as it is a lot easier than trying to get around on your own. Independent travellers need a visa, but this is not required if you take a cruise line tour. If you go with an independent company, they will sort the visa out for you.

Secondly, be aware that although you can get through immigration at any time, the cruise company may try to prevent those not on their own tours from leaving the ship. Naturally, they want to ensure that those taking their own excusrions are not delaying the prompt departure of the tour coaches, so they will often announce that disembarkation is available ontl for so and so tour at this time. How strictly this is enforced I don't know, as we have neve rbeen ina rush to get off the ship!

 

[Midlandman]

You don't HAVE to take an official (ship's or otherwise) in St Petersburg, although it is recommended as it is a lot easier than trying to get around on your own. Independent travellers need a visa, but this is not required if you take a cruise line tour. If you go with an independent company, they will sort the visa out for you.

Secondly, be aware that although you can get through immigration at any time, the cruise company may try to prevent those not on their own tours from leaving the ship. Naturally, they want to ensure that those taking their own excusrions are not delaying the prompt departure of the tour coaches, so they will often announce that disembarkation is available ontl for so and so tour at this time. How strictly this is enforced I don't know, as we have neve rbeen ina rush to get off the ship!

My point was, if you aren't familiar with the city, an organised tour is probably the only way you'll get anything like full value from the visit, I wasn't implying that it was compulsory. I'm not exactly an inexperienced foreign traveller, but, not knowing Cyrillic script, I wouldn't have found it particularly easy even getting from the cruise ship terminal to the city centre. Also, I seem to recall that an independent tourist visa for 2 days wasn't exactly cheap (although this was a couple of years ago so that may have changed).

 

[Greenback]

Sorry midlandman, but I thought you were saying that by use of the HAVE! Some people do think that it's not allowed to explore independently (that is often implied by the cruise lines themselves but I think they are trying to scare people into booking their own excursions!).

I wouldn't do it myself, but if someone can read the alphabet, or even better, speak a bit of the language, they should manage OK.

The tourist visa certainly isn't cheap, it was £80 last year!

 

[Gordon]

The Cruise is Queen Elizabeth setting sail from Southampton on August 14.

Kristiansand, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Zeebrugge (for Brugge - or if I get my way a trip on the coastal tramway!)

I hope to spend at least a few minutes at the main railway stations (just to get a couple of record shots of the tour really as much as anything else).

As my family heritage is trams (my Dad is a founder of the Crich national Tramway museum) I want to get a few shots of trams in each port where they operate (most of them on this cruise!).

As such I would hate to go to St Petersburg trams without getting a number of tram shots (in part to compare with my uncle's 1970s Leningrad tram pictures) .

 

[moonrakerz]

Oslo: Not very exciting ! The best bit is the passage through the fjord to get there. Do your own thing.

Copenhagen: Very nice. Compact, we walked into town from the ship and did our own thing. Boat trips are good.

Stockholm: I think the QE is too big to get into Stockholm itself, so you may be forced to use a tour to get there. The Vasa is the best sight in town. Our ship was in town, so we walked to the Vasa.

Helsinki: Quite pleasant. Did our own thing here. Excellent market - could spend all day there.

St P: Amazing ! Fantastic ! We did the ships tours (well, some of them). No problems with visas etc that way. Doing your own thing is difficult and can be even more expensive. New cruise terminal is someway out.
Went to Peterhof and Catherine Palace on all day tours. NOT cheap but were very much worth the money. Excellent English speaking guides, good lunches included. OH went to the ballet on the night we stayed, said was good value.
Intend to go back again.

Tallinn: An absolutely delightful place ! A short walk gets you into town. The "new" town is very modern, could be Bristol or Birmingham city centre. The Old Town is wonderful: all turrets, spires, etc. As a scenic entity Tallinn takes some beating - anywhere !

The only problem that you may have is sheers numbers from your ship. We have been with Cunard in the past and found most of their tours to be good - but when 30 or more coaches are needed to get everyone to the destination it does create a bit of a log jam !
We did the Baltic trip on a much smaller ship which does tend to minimise this type of problem. Absolutely NO pressure to take ship's tours. As soon as the gangways were down people were allowed to leave the ship as they wished.

It's a great trip - enjoy !

 

[Midlandman]

Kristiansand - sorry, we were supposed to go last year but got diverted so I've no idea.

Oslo- I see from the port schedule that you will be berthed a little further out from the City Hall than we were. We were only there for an afternoon so we only had time to do one thing. Major sights are Kon-Tiki and the Viking Ship Museum reached by ferry from various points. We went to the Vigeland Sculpture park, by tram 12 (westbound) from City Hall to Vigelandspark stop. (It's a mad sculpture park, you see the 'angry kid' statue on postcards all round the city). There is a tourist info office by the city hall and you may be able to get a multi-ride tram ticket there (they also open an office at the cruise terminal but it gets very busy very quickly) We worked out that our 15 minute tramride was costing us £3 each! Be warned, I don't think there is a Norwegian word for 'cheap'. Tram 12 eastbound from City Hall will take you to the Central Station, but do note that the Nobel Prize exhibition Centre used to be Oslo West station until the 1980s.

Copenhagen - if you berth at Langenlinie Pier, everything is walkable. You are 10 minutes from the little mermaid statue, and we just kept on going via the Royal Palace and the main pedestrianised shopping street, until we got to Tivoli Gardens, which are near to the Central station. No trams I'm afraid. If you're at the new Freeport terminal, you may need to consider a shuttle bus, as it is further out.

Helsinki - We berthed near Wartsila shipyard, a 20 minute walk (there are buses) from the main harbour and market place (which is brilliant, I agree. Strawberries about the size of cricket balls). At the tourist office on the edge of the market place, you can get a one-day public transport ticket valid on everything, including the ferries to the fortress island of Suomenlinna. Trams 3T and 3B combine to form a circular (well, figure 8 actually) route which passes the station, the Rock Church and the Sibelius memorial among other places. A day card allows you to hop on or off as you please. (NB the Rock Church isn't a heavy metal place of worship, it is literally hacked out of the living rock. We were lucky and got there 15 minutes before a wedding party arrived. Because of the wedding several organised tour groups were unable to go in).

St Petersburg - as I said before, I can't fault DenRus for a tour company (no, I don't work for them). Comparing notes on the ship afterwards, we would have had to go on several of the (more expensive) ship's tours to see what we saw on their 'Complete St Petersburg' Value Excursion (2 day). There were plenty of chances to photograph the trams, we just couldn't ride on them, but we did get a ride on the Metro between two of the more ornate stations.

Tallinn - agree with moonrakerz, everything is walkable from the cruise quay and the old town is the place to be. The station is down below in the new town and contains a weird and wonderful array of ex-Soviet rolling stock. (Or it did, anyway. Things nmay have changed but I doubt it - railways don't seem to be seen as very important there). There are trams but I've not been on one, they only serve the new town. You do cross the line though, on the way from the ship to the old town.

Zeebrugge - went on the coast tram for the first time last October. A full day ticket cost about 5 euros. The most scenic stretch is south of Ostend where the line runs right on the sea front with the old German Atlantic Wall fortifications (read big guns) on the landward side. For the rest, I was surprised how little you can see the sea from the tram - either there are dunes cutting off the view or you are on a main street a block or two inland. It's still well worth 5 euros of anybody's money, if trams are your thing.

Writing this is bringing it all back. I'd go again tomorrow given the chance! Enjoy!

 

[Gordon]

I’m going on the gen supplied byCunard here, although ‘Port of xxxx’ is not terribly helpful. Hope to clarify true location prior to arrival at port and compare with map/guidebooks which I intend to take:

https://ask.cunard.com/resources/carnivaluk/on-shore/port_distances

Hope this is accurate…


Thanks for the hints guys – although the usual chicken and egg situation applies as is usual with Forums I have not yet told you some facts – so apologies where you have wasted time giving info I already knew.

Norway: I know (and love) Norway. Toured by car in 2008. Aware of prices but we don’t let that bother us – I’d rather be opening £3 on an Oslo tram ticket than the same money on a cr**py chain coffee shop coffee or sandwich in Central London where I work. Have thus arrived in Oslo before on the ferry from Copenhagen so know the geography. Also from previous careers I am aware of the transport network. Aim to use trams and foot to get around, and quite fancy taking the T bahn to Holmenkollen for some country air. Kristiansand doesn’t seem to have much special so we’ll just enjoy being in ‘ordinary’ Norway.

Copenhagen
I know Copenhagen as have family friends there (my mum’s best friend at school married a gentleman from Copenhagen!). I went there in 1967 and 74 (as a boy) and in the 80s when I was researching a Thomas Cook guidebook. More importantly in 2008 with was with my wife when we met up with the family friends at the Little Mermaid before boarding the ferry to Oslo. Didn’t have tome to do much of the city so will do that this time.

Helsinki
Intend to walk/tram it. Cunard implies shuttle bus from ship

Stockholm
Intend to walk / public transport it. Hope to see the heritage tram route 7. Cunard implies shuttle bus from ship

Tallin: hope to walk/tram it

St Petersburg
Den rus sounds a good option to combine ‘famous’ sites but also allow some tram photography

Zeebrugge
as stated before will do Bruges/coast tramway or even laze on the beach depending on mood of me and or my wife' willingness to tram ride!