I know this may be a bit much to ask, but we will be on the Noordam "Gems of the Baltic" Sailing on July 29. We would really like to know the location of the actual dock relative to the city center for each port(we know St. Petersburg is "away"-no further info necessary...But it would help to know where the ship will be in Estonia, Kalmar,Arhus, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Copenhagen. Any help you can provide will be sincerely appreciated. Thank you.

HI Jeana,<BR><BR>Have your travel agent research for you. Have him earn his commission. It is not a difficult job.<BR><BR>Paul

Or, you could post a question on a cruise forum like this one and get the information that way. Are we losing site of the basic purpose of this site? To exchange the information we collectively have!<BR><BR>Travel agents aren't the only source of cruise information and you certainly shouldn't use one just for that purpose. Judge them on their ability to get you the best price for the cruise you want - then determine any other uses you have.

You could also e-mail customer relations at the cruise line; it worked for me with Windstar, and Holland America is part of the same company.

Jeana...I hope you enjoy your cruise.<BR>I can tell you that in Copenhagen you disembark into what is essentially Grand Central Station. You can pick up tourist info, buy the Copenhagen Card, etc... Walk out the doors and the city is *right there*. Check out www.woco.dk<BR><BR>Are you visiting Tallinn, Estonia? If so, you will disembark in the city center. However, you will probably want to visit Old Town, which is away from the city center. Transportation is VERY cheap, and you should have no problems.<BR>Check out www.tourism.tallinn.ee<BR><BR>As for St. Petersburg, you may want to consider only going on the organized shore excursions. Otherwise, you will need to get a Russian visa. Safety is an issue to consider in St. Petersburg...I would stick with a group!<BR><BR>Best wishes!

Tallinn-looked like all the ships docked about 15 minutes away from the old town on foot. Our cruise line had shuttle buses but we beat them on foot.<BR><BR>Helsinki-at least two places that ships dock. One is right in the harbor where the market is, the other a good 20-30 minute walk. The cruise line provided shuttles for us here too.<BR><BR>Copenhagen-we boarded near the Little Mermaid statue as did most of the other ships. I don't think it was close enough to walk to the center of town (Stroget, Tivoli, etc) but since we left from there, we took the bus.<BR><BR>Stockholm-at least two sites here, one was within walking distance of the old town, the other was quite a way out. <BR><BR>I'm not sure how docking assignments are made but in at least one port, our cruise line printed wrong information even in the daily news (St. Petersburg). Whether a boat docks further in or not probably depends on the number of ships in port that day and a variety of other factors that I can only guess at.<BR><BR>In addition to talking to your cruise line and/or TA, you might take a look at one of the guides that is specific to cruises for more info. The cruise line will likely help with transport if you are docked further out.<BR><BR>I assume that you are not tackling St. Petersburg on your own. You might look into a private guide instead of the shore excursions. We got to see a lot more than any of the excursions allowed for, had a private guide at not much more cost than the ship excursions, had plenty of time to shop, had lunch with a Russian family and didn't have to wait for other passengers. There are at least two companies that do not require visas-Red October and Denrus (used to be West-East). Plenty of good feedback about both over on the Cruisecritic boards. We booked with only about 2 weeks to go before the cruise so you should still have time if you are interested.

In Copenhagen and Stockholm there is a hop-on hop-off double decker bus tour service (that is not a ship's shore excursion) that has stops right by the ship for around less than $20us. They will take you on a tour of the city, stop at all the major sites and you can hop on or off all day.