Nothern European Cities
 

My wife and I are taking the Disney Magic cruise from Dover, England to the following ports: Oslo, Norway, Copenhagen, Denmark, Warnemunde, Germany, St. Petersburg, Russia, Tallinn, Estonia, and Stockholm, Sweden.
We have never been to these ports before, and never visited Europe on a ship. Any advice or suggestions that you can give on TOURS or key points is welcomed. Of course, there are lots of tours offered on the ship, but not sure that these are the "best deals" and "best tours". Thanks in advance for the help!

When are you going ?

We found Oslo, Copenhagen, Tallin, and Stockholm very easy to tour on our own. Get some guidebooks out of the library, read the destinations section of this website, and select the things that interest you.

In St. Petersburg, we were extremely happy using Red October to tour. They were less expensive that the ship's shore excursions and tailored their "standard" two day itinerary to our interests.

We are going at then end of June, Percy.

Gee RalphRT ...

going at the end of June does not give you much time to research all the ports of call that you have on your cruise.

For St.Petersburg you are going to have to have either a private tour guide or you have to use the ship's tour because ..on your own you need a Visa.

I used Alla Tours and I will give you her e-mail address , and I hope you can connect with her.


Alla Ushakova

[email protected]

For Copenhagen:

You can walk into town from the port but you will have to take a taxi back ,because at the end of the day you will be tired.

For Stockholm:

I think if you see the Vasa Museum and then spent the rest of your time on Gamla Stan ( Old Town ) you will be okay ,since this is your first trip to the Scandanavian Countries.

Look I wrote a Trip Report on the Baltic Cruise and I will give you ther link to it ...to can skim over it and see if there is anything there that is of interest to you...

then you can ask questions and many of us here will help you.

http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...acketwatch.cfm

I agree w/ Percy. All but SPB can easily be done on your own. In Stockholm we did just what he said to do and its pretty easy. Go to the VASA 1st and just behind it is a water ferry to Gamla Stan. If you have time go to the ice bar there. There is a hop on, hop off bus right on the dock in Oslo BTW. June is a great time to go as you can experience white nights. Larry :-)

Oslo, Norway: You can walk into the City Center. Explore the city on your own.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Take a taxi to Tivoli and walk back from there. Explore the city on your own.

Warnemunde, Germany: They offer a tour to Berlin. The way just to get to Berlin is 2 1/2 each direction, so you get just a glimpse of the city. An alternative is renting a car for the day and driving to Schwerin (beautiful palace) and along the coast.

St. Petersburg, Russia: Book a guided tour privately. There are several operators offering excellent private VIP tours. Use the roll call at www.cruisecritic.com. You might find others to share such a tour. We had been very satisfied with Anastasia. www.anastasiaworld.com

Tallinn, Estonia: It is tiny. Take the ship's shuttle bus into Old Town and explore it on your own.

Stockholm, Sweden: Leave the ship as early as possible and take a taxi to the Vasa Museum in order to arrive there before the masses come. After visiting the Vasa Museum, take the boat to the Old Town and explore it on foot.

You need a guidebook for each port.

If you need more specific directions for each port and some key places to see at each port ..then just ask :)

Personally ( my opinion ) I would not go to Berlin and spend 5-6 hours driving/riding there and back

Why !? because Berlin is too lovley of a place to just glimpse throught it.! Save it for another time when you might do a tour to that part of Europe .

RalphRT...it would helpful if we knew how much time you have in each port.!

Other have given you good advice.

jacketwatch...How about those Blackhawks :)

We're doing that same itinerary on Celebrity in July.

Based on my research, the only place where you realistically need a guide is St. Petersburg. But, if you're not used to independent travel or not interested in that, I might suggest the best option is to go onto the Disney Cruise website and print out their excursion brochure.

On Celebrity, they have it broken out by location. I might with St. Petersburg you look at what you'd like to see then compare Disney offered excursions to one of the numerous companies mentioned in other threads. Specifically Red October and DenRus.

Honestly, what you really need to do is figure out what Disney offers in terms of excursions for those specific dates, then spend a bit of time looking at each city and figuring out what it is you really want to do.

We came to the conclusion that with each city, except for St. Petersburg, we could see what we wanted on our own. I printed out the excursion guide and went through by dates and time we had.

agree with the previous posters re doing it on your own. Don't miss the Vasa

Agree with Echnaton -We did the rental car in Warnemunde - it was a snap. The car rental was at the port and we had a lovely day exploring the countryside and Schwerin ( agree it was a lovely spot)

Listen to Percy. He won't steer you wrong. If you don't believ me, ask Larry. So Percy, where is the free drink for me and Larry for the endorsement?

All kidding aside, Percy is a seasoned traveller and poster here and his comments have alwatys been spot on. The only thing I can add is you may want to consider buying the most recent Fodors Europe port of call guide, or borrow it from your local library if they have a copy. I bought a copy years ago and I still find myself flipping through before we choose a destination.

Gee Thanks for the kind word Eschew !! Okay , the drinks are on me. :)

Shhh ! don't disturb Larry he is watching the Blackhawks tonight !!

It is just that RalphRT has never been to the Scandanavian Countries before , nor to Europe on a Cruise ship ....so I figure he might need extra help.

I know it can be tough getting off a cruise ship and then trying to see the place on your own with little homework done.

But since he is going in another month ..he has limited time to review each port in detail.

Maybe RalphRT can tell us what he would like to see in each port... and the amount of time he has in each port..

then we can all help him maxmimize his time in each port.

Or maybe we can just tell him what to see in each port !

Hmmm let us know RalphRT !

OMG Percy I am so stoked about the Hawks! The last Cup they won was 1961 though they have been to the finals a few times since then. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Wouldn't you love the see a Hawks-Habs final? I'll bet he networks and the NHL would luv an orig. 6 final too. We'll see but I hope they are peaking at the right time. Cheers, Larry :-)

Yes it was 1961 ...the days of Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.. I think Glen Hall was in goal.

They won 3-0 over Montreal on Chicago ice and then went into Montreal and beat them 3-0.

Good Luck tonight :)

I'll need it as I'm working 16 hrs. The Hawks play tomorrow BTW and the Habs are up 1-0 now. I do remember Bobby and Stan too. Remember the d-man Elmer (moose) Vasko? His son manages the grocery store we go too. His godfather is Pierre Pilote, the other d-man from that era. Small world :-)

Yes I remember those guys. Okay I did not know the Hawks were not playing tonight !!

RalphRT.. we have not forgoten about you.

If you do not have time to review the ports we can all tell you where to go!!

( Poor Ralph, he must be thinking, "Yeah you guys would like to tell me where to go " !!:) )

Well Percy just maybe we'll make a hockey fan out of him. :D