Our family is cruising this summer to above locations. Any feedback on shore excursions or tours especially in St.Petersburg would be greatly appreciated. We will be in St. Petersburg for 2 days and are interested in Peterhof and Pushkin palaces.

You should have a wonderful trip--we did it two years ago. Peterhof is wonderful, as is the Hermitage. Don't miss the opportunity, if offered, to have tea with a Russian family--one of the highlights of our trip. Another great site is the Church of the Shed Blood (I think I have the name right)--it has unbelievable mosaics inside. Don't be discouraged by the crowds there--it is well worth the hassle.

Not sure which other stops you're making--We enjoyed puttering around on our own in Tallin and Helsinki. In the latter we used their bus system. The Rock Church was great, and because we were on our own, we could wait until the 'groups' passed on out and we could be there in the quiet and really appreciate it. We also took a boat tour in Helsinki that we enjoyed. We had hoped to do a tour there that included (senior moment--can't remember the composer's name) a recital of his music, but we were there on a Sunday and it wasn't offered. Strolling around the Esplanade was fun, especially since it was a Sunday and lots of families were out enjoying a beautiful day.

Old town Stockholm was fun (again we went on our own), enjoyed the armoury museum.

We had another stop in Sweden, in Kalmar, that we did on our own as well and liked.

We did a pre-cruise few days in Oslo (with a side-trip out to the fjords); their Holocaust museum was very moving.

We took a train into Berlin from our stop on the coast of Germany...then went on our own. We had not been to Berlin since the wall came down and could not believe the changes. We went to the preserved section of the wall (used their Metro and walked a few blocks)and the accompanying museum, again were moved by the experience.

Had fun in Copenhagen--took the tour out to Helsingnor, etc. that was good.

We did some research ahead of time, and the ship (we were on the Noordam) gave us good info as well.

I may have given more than you asked for, but it was an outstanding trip.

I just posted a reply on a question above about "Baltic Cruises." I will give the same info. The tours from the ship are good. We hired a private guide for St. Petersburg, go Visas and were able to see more in the two days than most. We saw amoung other things, Peterhof Place, Catherines Palace, Hermitace, The subway (which was amazing) Church of the Spiled Blood. If you want additional information on private guide etc. e-mail me at [email protected]

We are going on the same type cruise. We leave Copenhagen on July 28 and go to Gdansk,Poland; Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg,Russia; Helsinki,Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Oslo, Norway. We are on the Grand Princess and have never cruised before. We are planning on taking the Grand Tour of St. Petersburg, Russia with the cruise lines as it is two days long and you don't need a visa (they get a group one) and going to a Ballet the first night. What about recommendations for the other sites? Any information on the ship itself? Any tips at all? Thanks a lot.

Our family is going via Royal Caribbean in August. It is our first cruise. From all the research I've done, it looks like private tours are the way to go. We are renting a van which has a driver and guide included in the fee. Good luck!