jadyn_parker

I am planning a Scandinavia & St. Petersburg cruise with my elderly parents. After doing some research, there are option of departing from Copenhagen or Warnemunde (Berlin). Which city would you suggest to depart from? I am planning to either arrive or stay behind a couple of days to explore the disembark city.

Princess have a 11 day cruise and NCL have a 9 day cruise but does not stop at Olso and one less sea day. Which cruise line would you recommend? Is norway a must see?

Dukey1

You do not say what your origination point is but in terms of actually reaching the embarkation port I would opt for Copenhagen over Warnemunde. These "Warnemunde(Berlin)" originations can be a bit misleading since Warnemunde is a minimum of 140 miles by the fastest road route from Berlin. It is possible to reach it by rail however.

jadyn_parker

Thank you for ur reply. I will be flying out from New York. I was wondering whether to stay a couple of days in Berlin or Copenhagen before the cruise. I know Warnemunde is like 3 hours from the port but that will be fine if Berlin is fun to explore.

thursdaysd

A couple of days is a good amount of time for Copenhagen but far too short for Berlin.

I would not say that Oslo is a must see, but the western coastline of Norway is lovely - I did a Hurtigruten cruise up the coast last year, and would recommend at least doing the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip from Oslo to Bergen.

Maybe cruisecritic.com can help you chose between the cruise lines.

jacketwatch

I agree that Berlin would be nice to explore before your cruise what with all its history.

Hurtigruten cruises are not like a normal mass market cruise. They are nice but don't have the frills and I think there isn't entertainment or a casino if that matters and food selection is comparatively limited though they are great for scenic viewing.

What are the ships you are considering and which cruise does not stop in Oslo?

thursdaysd

Hurtigruten doesn't go to St. Petersburg, I was not suggesting it as an alternative. (No, the boats don't have frills or a casino, which is why I was on one - you couldn't pay me to take a mass market cruise. Did have unlimited smoked salmon, though.) I was indicating how come I had an opinion about Norway.

jacketwatch

Understood. Just wanted to be sure the OP had the right idea about the difference between the two.

For me though Hurtigruten has its merits I would not take one of their ships. We like the mass market ships just fine. Different strokes as the saying goes.

Larry. .

thursdaysd

Very true, Larry. Maybe when I'm more decrepit I'll think more kindly of cruises, although more likely river cruises. Hurtigruten was certainly more comfortable than the Navimag cargo vessel in Chile a couple of years back, but generally cruises aren't cost effective for solos. (My sister did the Hurtigruten with me, but that was unusual.)

Percy

I agree withy those that say leave from Copenhagen.

I came 4 days earlier to Copenhagen ( before the cruise) and stayed at the Marriott with the river view.

I made sure I saw everything I wanted in Copenhagen and then some.

For one day I had a private guide for the full day and she was so good that she actually made my Baltic Cruise !

Besides out of the way places in Copenhagen she toured us outside of Copenhagen to:
Fredensborg Castle...home to the Royal Family

Fredriksborg Castle in Hillerod

Kronborg Castle in Helsinger, from here you are at the closest point across the water to Sweden... you can see the traffic in Sweden !

then we drove back to Copenhagen along what is called the Copenhagen Riviera , stopping off at Karen Blixen's Museum and home.

Karen Blixen is buried here in the back yard under a huge Oak Tree.

The surprise was that on our way back we stopped off at the tour guides home for a "real" Danish meal.!!

My personal opinion is that I would not go via Warnemunde and then to Berlin..

you have no time to really see anything in Berlin in the amount of time you would have.

These were my ports of call:

Copenhagen
Stockholm
Helsinki
St. Petersburg
Tallinn
Gdansk
Olso

O chose Oslo over trying to see Berlin because I knew my chances to see Berlin in the future were much higher than my going to Oslo.

jacketwatch

Thursaysd you took a cargo cruise? Wow! How was that? How long was it too?

Yes for singles cruising can be expensive though NCL on some ships has singles only cabins and lounges but that isn't much over all industry wide

thursdaysd

Larry, see: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...ored-on-boats/

Not quite the kind of cargo boat you're thinking of, I suspect.

Looks like they've added a second ship, see; http://www.navimag.com/site/en/

So far, all the single cabins I've seen are either interior, or porthole. Not what I want. There are a lot of single women traveling, and I suspect there will be even more (seniors) in the future, but the cruise biz really seems uninterested in us.

jadyn_parker

I am looking at Norwegian cruise line which is a 9 days round-trip Baltic Cruise from Copenhagen, they skip Olso and has one less sea day.

Princess is the other cruise line that I am looking. They have round trip Baltic cruise from Copenhagen and/or Warnemunde, Berlin.

How much was your private tour in Copehagen. How big was your group and which/where did you book. Just want to have a rough idea for my budgeting.

Thanks

Percy

My group consisted of four people.

We paid about 75 euros each and I gave a tip of 50 euros because she was that good plus the meal I had at her home was worth 50 euros anywhere in Copenhagen.!!

I booked from my home city.. she operates HAT Tours out of Copenhagen.

Dukey1

"Maybe when I'm more decrepit..." What a rude and obviously UNINFORMED remark to make on a thread by someone who has decided to take a cruise!

In terms of Copenhagen vs. Berlin I would opt for Berlin since there is, IMO, much more to see and do there.

thursdaysd

@Dukey1 - what a rude and uninformed response. I have no wish to share my trips with thousands of strangers. I prefer to travel on land and spend more than a few rushed hours in my destinations. I have no interest in casinos or cabarets. Others obviously feel differently.

jadyn_parker

Percy, thanks for your info. In addition, I saw on your detailed trip report on Baltic. It was great.

In term of the seam being rough and weather, which is the best time to go. I prefer to avoid the summer crowd. Is May or September bad in term of rain, windy, and rough sea? If I have to hoose btw September or May, which is better?

thanks in advance

jacketwatch

Well I would choose May as the big attraction of any Baltic cruise is St. Petersburg and it could be pretty cold then. However yes it should be less crowded then.

I don't think there is a rainy season per se nor one when the seas are rough.

For the Baltic what is so cool is white nights. We went there for probably the 10 longest days of the yr. June 11-21 and it was amazing. As for crowds it really wasnt bumper to bumper people. Really it was a non issue.

jacketwatch

Dukey remember you are talking to a lady.

thursdaysd

Everyone deserves politeness, regardless of sex or gender.

jacketwatch

This is true. The mods here let stuff like this go all the time.