Celebrity Scandinavian/Baltic Cruise in May 2010 - Excursions and costs

from http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/area.cfm?area=14

please note the editors note at the end of this:

"Getting Around
Assuming you have your visa, a cab from the main pier to the city center is about $20 each way, but negotiate upfront and be aware it's easy to get ripped off here. And use caution as there are such things here as black market cabs: We recommend you stick with official, registered vehicles.

Since your return driver may not speak English it's a good idea to have the ship's berth location in Russian writing (ship personnel at the pier should be able to help you with that). The major in-town attractions, such as the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and St. Isaac's Cathedral (all highlights), are within a brisk walk of one another. Taxis typically line up outside the big attractions; again, negotiate the price before getting into the car. Otherwise, head for one of the five-star hotels (Grand Hotel Europe, Nevsky Palace Hotel, SAS Radisson) on Nevsky Prospect, the city's main boulevard, and hail one there.

Renting a car and driver: You can try and negotiate with the on-pier taxi drivers; one offered us a private tour of wherever we wanted to go for about $30 an hour. You can also arrange a tour through the City Tourist Information Center, #41 Nevsky Prospekt, email:info@ctic.spb.ru, which quoted us an hourly rate of $10 - $12, but the on-pier option is undeniably more convenient. Cruise lines' shore excursion offices may also offer car-and-driver rentals. The City Tourist Information Center will also arrange a private two-hour city walking tour ($25 per person).

Editor's note: This is one of the few Baltic ports of call where we actually really recommend that passengers take ship-organized shore excursions. Keep in mind you can only go off on your own if you have obtained a visa before your trip. Ships offer a variety of tours, each covering a handful of the major highlights."

me again -
I was considering booking this cruise - I searched for shore excursions on earlier cruises, and also looked at Royal Caribbean's St. Petersburg tours. Looking for all day excursion that included the Hermitage - tours for both cruise lines were $850 for the day...I think I may book another cruise for next year since that was the main reason I wanted to book this cruise. That's too much for me for a day excursion

I did a 14 night Baltic cruise this past July/August on the Celebrity Constellation.

We did not go on any ship excursions, as they are really expensive and I prefer to plan my own.

I booked a 2 day private tour with Alla Tours in St. Petersburg for 4 people, based on another poster's glowing recommendations (thanks Percy!). I can attest that Percy's recommendation was spot on and we had a wonderful 2 days in St. Petersburg. Percy has posted a trip report on his Baltic cruise and it's an excellent source of information.

All of the other ports we did on our own and using public transportation except for Copenhagen (we have family there). Some cities were easier to navigate than others, but there were no real problems.

We did not do a trip to Berlin from Warnemunde, as I felt the travel time was too long. We took the train to Rostock and spent the remaining time in Warnemunde. It was a very relaxing day and we had a good time.

You should look up your cruise roll call on cruisecritic.com. There will be people looking to share excursions and you may be able to make arrangements that way if you do not want to do private tours.

Thanks for being so kind about my Trip Report chepar!

I am glad you had a great time in St.Petersburg with Alla.

I have to agree with you I would not do the Berlin Trip from Warnemunde...............doing what you did was best.

What I used last year in St. Petersburg, was shorex.ru, who provided prices, better than DenRus and Alla, and had pleasant time. As for Warnemunde, we took the cruise-line shuttle-bus to the city, and than took the train to Lubeck - it really was awesome

I just posted this on another inquiry. But I would like to share this with you also. We totally enjoyed our Celebrity cruise (anniversary) in 2006 with roughly the same itinerary (did not do Berlin). Please see my cruise report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/cruises/scandinavia-st-petersburg-tallinn-amsterdam.cfm#last-comment
Congratulations. This will be a fantastic trip for you. I encourage you to consider visiting all ports on your own except St Petersburg and maybe Berlin (long drive). It is oh so easy to do. Get some good guide books (Michelin, Fodors), do some homework, you will do fine.
In St Petersburg, please consider using private guides such as Alla, Red October, or Denrus, all very favorably reviewed here and other places. It is surprisingly easy to put together a group, or join a group being formed by others. Go to Cruise Critic dot com, register and check the roll call for your ship and sailing date.
For Berlin, some friends of ours arranged a Mercedes private guide for the day for 4 persons. Saw all they could, had a great time, and rode in style and comfort at much less than the ship's tour.
You should have a great time, and save a lot of money doing most of the ports on your own. Also, you will see what YOU want to see.
Been away from the boards for a while, will check back and see if you have any questions. Good luck, and Congratulations.

We were also just on a Baltic cruise in July. We rented a car in Warnemunde and drove to Peenemunde and back through Stralsund. It was easy to do and we were really glad we did something different than Berlin as Berlin is too far. The Hertz office in Rostock will send a rep to the pier area if you let them know you want you pick up your car there.
If you would like to look at my blog - http://miner-heretodaytheretomorrow.blogspot.com/2009/07/peenemunde-stralsund-warnemunde-and.html here you go. You're also welcome to e-mail me with questions - just click on my user i.d. and it will give you my e-mail address.

Private tours are really the way to go for St. Petersburg.

We found Tallin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm very easy to tour on our own. Get some guidebooks from the library, read the destinations section of this website, post specific questions.

In St. Petersburg, we were extremely staisfied with the two days we spent using Red October--well worth the money.

If you go to the Celebrity website and click on "my reservation," you should eventually get to a tab called "Shore and Land Excursions." Use the dropdown window to select the city and it will bring up all the excursions with prices.

We did this trip in September as follows:

1. Amsterdam: Took the Celebrity excursion to see the windmill museum. We wanted to see the countryside and this was the best way to do it, especially because the day was very short in Amsterdam.
2. Warnemunde: Bought train tickets to Rostock, took a self-guided walking tour that I put together from the internet.
3. Stockholm: We bought the Stockholm Card which gave free transportation and entry to several museums. Took the bus to the Vasa Museum and the open-air historical museum nearby, then a ferry downtown to Gamla Stan, the old city, where again we took our own walking tour, using the Card to get into several places. I ordered the cards online. We probably didn't get full value out of them, but they made it a lot easier to get around.
4. Helsinki: Our own walking tour.
5. St. Pete: took the Celebrity Hermitage tour the first day and a palace tour the second. If you go with Celebrity, you don't have to get a visa. If you use a private tour leader, you must each have a visa.
6. Tellin: our own walking tour.
7. Copenhagen: ditto. The first day we did a lot of walking and the second day to museums.

Hope this helps.

happytourist, you are right about Stockholm Card, and you can use Tallinn card as well. As for St. Petersburg, EVERY LOCAL TOUR-OPERATOR provides non-visa tours for cruisers, not only excursions, organized by Celebrity. We used shorex.ru, who provided us blanket visa - e-tickect, which we have shown on passport control, although Alla and DenRus also assured us that we DID NOT need Russian visa, booking with them.

Happytourist: You do NOT need a visa if you use the licenced tour groups, like Alla, Red October, Denrus, etc. These groups pick you up at the boat, deliver you back to the boat under a special group visa that they arrange.
You do need a visa if you intend to see St Pete on your own, or with a private, non-licenced guide.
I can't tell you how many times Celebrity, as well as other cruise lines, tell their passengers they need a visa if they don't take the ship's tour. That's to get you to take their tours. It's patently false. I remember talking to a Celbrity rep by phone before the cruise and she was adamant that a visa was needed if I took Alla.
She was absolutely wrong. And I'm glad I stuck to my plan and used Alla.

Margeux93: Do your homework, decide what you and the new hubby want to see, then go for it. As to doing the ports on your own, you can see it is readily do-able. St Pete requires a guide, so decide ship or private. "You make the call."
Congratulations.