At the time of my first posting, I had no fixed itinerary, but now it is as follows: Copenhagen, Warnemunde, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Amsterdam. I am interested in knowing which ports would be easiest to tour on our own.

Have you posted on cruisecritcs.com. There is lots of good info there on ports as well as private tour companies.

There has been alot posted here about the Baltic. Just do a search to get alot of info. The only port you can't do on your own is St. Petes. You need a valid Russian VISA B4 you can get off the ship. However booking a tour w/ either the ship or an outside tour co. will suffice for the VISA.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35060844

Here read my trip reeport and if you have any question ...we can all try to help you.

Percy

Amsterdam is very easy to do, since ships docks close to city-center.
Walking distance about 20 minutes.
Also tramnr. 25 starts at the terminal and goes into town.
Make a canalboatride of 1 hr., leaving from various places - also from opposite Centraal Station. Make a visit to Ann Frank house (and read the book first). You can make reservations online. Walk through the Jordaan district along nice old housese and small canals.
If you like Museums: Rijksmuseum for Rembrandt and other great painters or almost next door visit Van Goghmuseum.
Walk over Flowermarket, sit on one of the many outside terraces and watch people.

Except St. Petersburg they are all easy to do on your own. We did just that last summer and it was great.

You cannot do St. Pete on your own unless you obtain a VISA prior to leaving the states. The rest are a piece of cake.

I like Ida101 idea of the canal boat ride and seeing the Ann Frank House..then walking about in the Jordan area.

Also just having a drink along the canal and people watchin is a nice break.

I would skip on the Rembrant Museum and or VanGough because when you get to the Winter Place in St.Petersburg ..you will see a lot of Rembrant and Van Gough.

Catherine the Great purchased a LOT of Rembrants from Amsterdam dduring her reign!

Any port is easy to do on your own.

It all depends on what you want to see and how much you want to see!!

I am surprised you are not going to Stockholm on this cruise.

Percy

Thank you to everyone who responded to my posting. My graddaughter is interested in art so I will probably take her especially to the Rembrandt museum. I visited Amsterdam quite a while ago and camped in the city. I really want her to see the Night Watch. I've also been to Copenhagn on the same trip, but not by sea, so I was not sure how the paths would run from ship to shore touring at any of the ports. I would like to do as much as possible on our own, but I don't want to waste any time by being in a fog of what transportation to use. I am hoping that walking will be our primary means of getting around. I had already planned on taking the shore excursion offered by Carnival for St. Petersburg. The other port is (Warnemunde). It seems if we want to go into Berlin, we need to use the rail system. At any rate, it will all be an adventure, and thanks again. I'm open to any more info.

Hello!
I've been on this cruise 3 times,

The 1st link will take you to our home page, where you will find our photo albums.

The 2nd link will take you to information on each port and tips to help with your planning for this itinerary...

Feel free to look around the rest of website! There's all sorts of stuff hidden behind the luggage, globe, camera and journal!

Have a wonderful cruise!

Bon Voyage!

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