Can anyone reccommend shore excursions for the baltic cruise stopping in helsinki, st petersburg and tallin?

1. For Helsinki, you can take the ship shuttle which drops you off at the Swedish Opera House.

From here you can walk down Mannerheimintie Street ...the main street in Helsinki to see may of the tourist sites.

Or/and you can walk down the tree lined Esplande to the Market Square, where from here you can see quite a few lovely places like:

Uspenski Cathedral
City Hall
Royal Palace
Havis Amada Statue
and of course the Senate Square , with the most photographed Church in Finland.

The problem is you also want to see the "Rock" Church.

It is walkable from your drop off at the Opera House...BUT

like all place that one decides to do on their own , you HAVE to know where the places are.

For St. Petersburg: Get Alla Tours ,she will handle your visa requirements also

Tallinn:

You can do this on your own BUT again you have to know where the places are.

From your cruise ship you are either going to enter into the Old Town via Viru Street or the Fat Margaret Archway, onto Pikk Street.

When are you going?
How many in your group.?

Is there any specific place(s) you want to see in Helsinki and Tallinn?

I would also post this on the Cruise Forum because almost all Baltic cruises stop at these three places

Percy, Thanks so much for the great advice; I really appreciate it. We are going on the cruise August 4 so I dont' know if we have enough time to get situated with Alla Tours. I was just thinking I'd have to do one through the cruise line, that's why I was wondering if anyone could suggest one of the ones Royal carribbean specifically offers.
There are 8 people going.

Well at this late date ...AUGUST 4 .. you might as well do the ship excursion, because I do not think you have enough time to book Alla.


But try anyway

Alla Tour..... just google it and then e-mail her as soon as possible.

http://www.alla-tour.com/tours/ntours

I thibnk you will get much better info over on Cruise Critic - have you checked in with your roll call?

There are 200 tour operators in St Petersburg giving shore excursions, Alla is just one of the many newer companies. About 100 new companies started in the last year, she got her license 4 years ago. There are plenty of choices, most just copy a few older well established companies so there is little difference in itineraries but there are minor differences in services and resources. Most are started by guides who worked for one of the older companies and decided to get in on the action. The the first year they usually operate under the table, promoting before they have licenses or offices or insurance, by posting fake reviews and glowing reports. I have seen this routine each season for years. Once they get some business they have the money for the next year to get licensed or registered. It is a little risky depending on a new start up because they don't have any resources to handle the unexpected. When something goes wrong one season they change their name and start over again. I know of a couple which has changed names 3 times in 3 years.
But even the least substantial company is often better than the ship sold tours because the ship tours are crowded, large, impersonal and expensive. The only reason most people still book with the ship sold tours is because of the cruise lines tell their passengers false information about how only the cruise ship sold tours are visa free(actually the ship is the only entity which can't provide visa free entry or to conduct tours. As a result, they contact with local tour companies to sponsor their passengers free visa free entry and conduct the tours). They also claim, falsely, that only their tours are safe from being left behind if late in returning before departure. If not booking with the ship, they say you must get a Russian visa. Again false. The only people on the ship who must have a visa is the crew.
Without making these claims, no one would book ship sold tours.