Best Baltic Excursions?
- Thread starter EllinK
- Start date
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
London.
Too much too see too much too do, the best capital of the world, historic sites, world class theatre, great restaurants, care on tourist traps. Good things to do are river cruises, the Tower, the London eye, shopping in Oxford street, Regent street ( Hamleys toys) and Knightsbridge, (Harrods) but the large Malls are at Westfield Shepherd's Bush or Stratford. Stratford is east London where the Olympics were in 2012, you can still see a lot but some of its changed, the stingray swimming pool is now a Pringle. Around Stratford and the docklands is the DLR the Docklands light railway, great for a cheap day these automated trains go to Greenwich and the Cutty sark through docklands, -young kids will like the front seats as if their driving the train, the DLR Also runs from Bank Stn, and you can connect to the Emirates airline cable car from the O2 dome ( millennium dome ) to the Excel exhibition centre. Windsor, Hampton court, Cambridge are all an hour out of town but well worth a visit.
Try a pub, try a meal just off the Main Streets there cheaper. If your in Holborn my favourite is My old Dutch for lunch or dinner these are thin Dutch pancakes not USA bigger breakfast ones, Also for cheap food, at lunch on the go, go to Sainsbury's, Tesco's and Marks and Spenser have meal deals, around £3 for a sandwich, drink and snack of chocolate or fruit.
Transport is good if staying a few days get an Oyster card which works on the tube, the national rail, the DLR, buses ( not HOHO) some river buses, and Emirates. It's touch in touch out a lots automated, you can use contact less cards now and it will C&P costs to the maximum daily fare, care our crush hours are in fact 6.30 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 7 pm but trains can be full at all times.
We have free papers metro am and Evening standard evenings. Lists of shows are in the ES.
ZFL the Zoo for London is at the North end of Regent's Park, the tube station of Regent's Park is an option but Camden Town is better for the entrance. Camden also has good street markets. Madam Tussaud's is at Baker street , pre book a time slot it's very busy, the London planetarium is next door, the area is famous for Sherlock Holmes.
Westminster is great to view and a walk to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace, Piccadilly Circus is great, and the Hard Rock cafe is at Hyde Park Corner near the palace above Green Park.
St Paul's is famous walk up Fleet Street past the courts of justice, to St Paul's for a good view then from St Paul's go to the river and cross the Millennium bridge to the Tate and the Globe Shakespeare's theatre great views of London there inc the Globe, Shard, Gurkin, Cheese-Grater, and the bridges.
Avoid tourist currency exchange in the tourist streets try post office, the main banks, Thomas Cook. For mobile Sims use Lycra mobile there everywhere normally outside shops.
Avoid London Bridge railway station under the Shard as its having issues on its refurbishment, and on escalators stand on the right walk/ run on the left, if you stand on the left the London commuters will not be nice. We have serious construction work for crossrail at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham court Road, Farringdon, and Liverpool Street. Outside Victoria station there is work as well but trains not effected.
For the brave we have a bike hire scheme nicknamed Boris bikes after our mayor there cheap and great to get around but take care as at busy junctions we have had fatalities.
Currency the pound, ( or the quid) .
Dover.
Overlooked as a place to tour as people use it just for a nights sleep, pre or post cruise but it's a quaint town, my mums side came from it, the castle is impressive great views, a small tight hight street with market dome days and shops to stock up on booze. Canterbury is close famous for pilgrims and the cathedral. Kent is beautiful the garden of England famous for hops and fruit. The beach at Dover is a bit stoney, but nice and you can watch the ferries go in and out or hike the White cliffs. The cruise pier is along a dangerous narrow and busy road, used by trucks you can walk it but to be honest taxi is best.
Seas
Whilst the Baltic was calm, albeit muddy in places, the North Sea can be very active so bear that in mind. It can be cool and open there.
Port Tours.
Copenhagen.
Last time we did the fairytale canal cruise and a city walk, it was good it started with a walk from the ship to the canal boat via the mermaid who was in Japan at the time. The canal tour was nice a funny guy narrating, the ship was wide and reasonable to view until you got to the city where high walls prevent some viewing. The city walk was good everything close, we walked all the way back to the ship with the guide. A stop for juice and a pastry, was ok, rushed and with a small shop the kids wanted coke etc I am sure that's why it's there, queues for the restroom.
The port us close to the city and HOHO stops outside the small barrier, there are good shops there.
This year day 1 we are doing the Castles of New Zealand and Day 2 a three hour walk, lunch, and then drive to two castles.
Currency Danish kroner.
Stockholm.
Last time we did the city walk and Stigtuna, now the city part was good, great viewing loverly places but Stigtuna IMHO is not worth the motorway drive to it, it's a tourist trap a tourist street a small church, yes nice yes OK, not worth 40 min drive each way. The food was served in a nice restaurant to say four coaches a bit school canteen food ok, and good restrooms. Slightly rushed. I say avoid this tour stay in Stockholm, visit Old town, Vasa, Royal palace, town hall and Abba museum if you can. Or go DIY. Looks like we are docking near the city centre a different dock to 2010 and closer to the old town. There are boats to Vasa.
We have a private tour of all of those.
Helsinki.
There was a shuttle to the town, Rock church is the main place to see, Porvoo a short drive, we have a tour with a local guide.
St Petersburg
A great city and my views are strong as we had an absolutely fantastic two days with Anastasia in 2010 and booked a varied and edited tour for this year, it's more flexible and cheaper than DCL and no coming back to the ship between tours day and evening. Hermitage, saviour of split blood, Catherine's palace with Amber room, and Peterhoff are musts, the Faberge museum and private river cruises are great, we went on the subway last time and we visited a private church that had a wedding. Peterhoff park and fountains is amazing, We had a good cheap lunch there, we paid for our guides dinner there. Whatever trip you do ensure at least one way is by hydrofoil it's great for the fun, great for kids and saves a lot of time in traffic. The port has a duty free shop you can access without getting through immigration. If your on a private tour do take a copy of your passport for border control and if tipping in $ or € make sure is new unspoilt larger notes, no rips, as they can't change them easily. If staying out later and on Main dinner ask the restaurant manager to swap you to late dinner that night. Cabanas in the Med had a carvery most nights I hope they do the same on our cruise.
Tallinn.
We dock very close to the market and start of the old city, a walk of ten minutes or a short taxi. Care bits of it is a maze around the old walls, the market there and at the port is very good and good port free wifi and in the city as well. We did a DCL tour last time, best of tallinn, part coach part walking we visited a park and the Eurovision tallinn music festival site nice with good views inc the ship. Limited time may make things rushed. We have booked a private part car part walking tour this time. The food here is fantastic there was a DCL shuttle here. Spend your last Euros here and keep some for the city market and port market.
Too much too see too much too do, the best capital of the world, historic sites, world class theatre, great restaurants, care on tourist traps. Good things to do are river cruises, the Tower, the London eye, shopping in Oxford street, Regent street ( Hamleys toys) and Knightsbridge, (Harrods) but the large Malls are at Westfield Shepherd's Bush or Stratford. Stratford is east London where the Olympics were in 2012, you can still see a lot but some of its changed, the stingray swimming pool is now a Pringle. Around Stratford and the docklands is the DLR the Docklands light railway, great for a cheap day these automated trains go to Greenwich and the Cutty sark through docklands, -young kids will like the front seats as if their driving the train, the DLR Also runs from Bank Stn, and you can connect to the Emirates airline cable car from the O2 dome ( millennium dome ) to the Excel exhibition centre. Windsor, Hampton court, Cambridge are all an hour out of town but well worth a visit.
Try a pub, try a meal just off the Main Streets there cheaper. If your in Holborn my favourite is My old Dutch for lunch or dinner these are thin Dutch pancakes not USA bigger breakfast ones, Also for cheap food, at lunch on the go, go to Sainsbury's, Tesco's and Marks and Spenser have meal deals, around £3 for a sandwich, drink and snack of chocolate or fruit.
Transport is good if staying a few days get an Oyster card which works on the tube, the national rail, the DLR, buses ( not HOHO) some river buses, and Emirates. It's touch in touch out a lots automated, you can use contact less cards now and it will C&P costs to the maximum daily fare, care our crush hours are in fact 6.30 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 7 pm but trains can be full at all times.
We have free papers metro am and Evening standard evenings. Lists of shows are in the ES.
ZFL the Zoo for London is at the North end of Regent's Park, the tube station of Regent's Park is an option but Camden Town is better for the entrance. Camden also has good street markets. Madam Tussaud's is at Baker street , pre book a time slot it's very busy, the London planetarium is next door, the area is famous for Sherlock Holmes.
Westminster is great to view and a walk to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace, Piccadilly Circus is great, and the Hard Rock cafe is at Hyde Park Corner near the palace above Green Park.
St Paul's is famous walk up Fleet Street past the courts of justice, to St Paul's for a good view then from St Paul's go to the river and cross the Millennium bridge to the Tate and the Globe Shakespeare's theatre great views of London there inc the Globe, Shard, Gurkin, Cheese-Grater, and the bridges.
Avoid tourist currency exchange in the tourist streets try post office, the main banks, Thomas Cook. For mobile Sims use Lycra mobile there everywhere normally outside shops.
Avoid London Bridge railway station under the Shard as its having issues on its refurbishment, and on escalators stand on the right walk/ run on the left, if you stand on the left the London commuters will not be nice. We have serious construction work for crossrail at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham court Road, Farringdon, and Liverpool Street. Outside Victoria station there is work as well but trains not effected.
For the brave we have a bike hire scheme nicknamed Boris bikes after our mayor there cheap and great to get around but take care as at busy junctions we have had fatalities.
Currency the pound, ( or the quid) .
Dover.
Overlooked as a place to tour as people use it just for a nights sleep, pre or post cruise but it's a quaint town, my mums side came from it, the castle is impressive great views, a small tight hight street with market dome days and shops to stock up on booze. Canterbury is close famous for pilgrims and the cathedral. Kent is beautiful the garden of England famous for hops and fruit. The beach at Dover is a bit stoney, but nice and you can watch the ferries go in and out or hike the White cliffs. The cruise pier is along a dangerous narrow and busy road, used by trucks you can walk it but to be honest taxi is best.
Seas
Whilst the Baltic was calm, albeit muddy in places, the North Sea can be very active so bear that in mind. It can be cool and open there.
Port Tours.
Copenhagen.
Last time we did the fairytale canal cruise and a city walk, it was good it started with a walk from the ship to the canal boat via the mermaid who was in Japan at the time. The canal tour was nice a funny guy narrating, the ship was wide and reasonable to view until you got to the city where high walls prevent some viewing. The city walk was good everything close, we walked all the way back to the ship with the guide. A stop for juice and a pastry, was ok, rushed and with a small shop the kids wanted coke etc I am sure that's why it's there, queues for the restroom.
The port us close to the city and HOHO stops outside the small barrier, there are good shops there.
This year day 1 we are doing the Castles of New Zealand and Day 2 a three hour walk, lunch, and then drive to two castles.
Currency Danish kroner.
Stockholm.
Last time we did the city walk and Stigtuna, now the city part was good, great viewing loverly places but Stigtuna IMHO is not worth the motorway drive to it, it's a tourist trap a tourist street a small church, yes nice yes OK, not worth 40 min drive each way. The food was served in a nice restaurant to say four coaches a bit school canteen food ok, and good restrooms. Slightly rushed. I say avoid this tour stay in Stockholm, visit Old town, Vasa, Royal palace, town hall and Abba museum if you can. Or go DIY. Looks like we are docking near the city centre a different dock to 2010 and closer to the old town. There are boats to Vasa.
We have a private tour of all of those.
Helsinki.
There was a shuttle to the town, Rock church is the main place to see, Porvoo a short drive, we have a tour with a local guide.
St Petersburg
A great city and my views are strong as we had an absolutely fantastic two days with Anastasia in 2010 and booked a varied and edited tour for this year, it's more flexible and cheaper than DCL and no coming back to the ship between tours day and evening. Hermitage, saviour of split blood, Catherine's palace with Amber room, and Peterhoff are musts, the Faberge museum and private river cruises are great, we went on the subway last time and we visited a private church that had a wedding. Peterhoff park and fountains is amazing, We had a good cheap lunch there, we paid for our guides dinner there. Whatever trip you do ensure at least one way is by hydrofoil it's great for the fun, great for kids and saves a lot of time in traffic. The port has a duty free shop you can access without getting through immigration. If your on a private tour do take a copy of your passport for border control and if tipping in $ or € make sure is new unspoilt larger notes, no rips, as they can't change them easily. If staying out later and on Main dinner ask the restaurant manager to swap you to late dinner that night. Cabanas in the Med had a carvery most nights I hope they do the same on our cruise.
Tallinn.
We dock very close to the market and start of the old city, a walk of ten minutes or a short taxi. Care bits of it is a maze around the old walls, the market there and at the port is very good and good port free wifi and in the city as well. We did a DCL tour last time, best of tallinn, part coach part walking we visited a park and the Eurovision tallinn music festival site nice with good views inc the ship. Limited time may make things rushed. We have booked a private part car part walking tour this time. The food here is fantastic there was a DCL shuttle here. Spend your last Euros here and keep some for the city market and port market.
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
http://sales.doverport.co.uk/. Port of Dover.
http://www.stockholmourway.com/tours/day-tours-&-museums/. Stockholm tours.
http://www.abbathemuseum.com/en/ abba museum.
http://www.paulostours.com/ Helsinki tours, ( note booked on 7/22 cruise)
http://anastasia.travel/. St Petersburg.
http://estonianexperience.com/ Tallinn
BTW lots of information and people to join up with and match private tours on the Cruise Meets groups,
Update from DCL to me at this time of posting;-
We do not receive the onboard schedule in advance to know which shows will be playing each evening or what activities will be hosted each day. These will be determined onboard in your Personal Navigator. However, we do know the three different dining rotations that will be offered for the sailing and we can a specific request to your reservation for you. The three rotations are as follows:
A - Animator's Palate, L - Lumiere's, C - Cariocas
Rotation #1: LACLACLACLAC
Rotation #2: ACLACLACLACL
Rotation #3: CLACLACLACLA
Formal night for the sailing will be on Thursday July 23rd and Semi-Formal night will be on Saturday August 1st. There will not be a pirate night onboard this sailing. The second and fourth time you are at Animator's Palate is when we host our two interactive shows in the dining room no matter which rotation you are on.
Our cruise has Frozen on Tallinn day and night Aug 1st.
Last edited:
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
Above, Magic in Dover, With France in the distance, Peterhoff in ( just outside) St Petersburg, and the last one the Magic in Copenhagen so close to the HOHO, this is for cruises calling at Copenhagen, not starting and ending in Copenhagen.
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
DCL, Copenhagen, DIY, and Trivoli are popular, Trivoli with teens in particular, - there is a Hard Rock Cafe at its entrance. The North Zealand Castles are popular. The typical Danish village tours are IMHO a tourist set up and not worth it. Warnemunde, we on my cruise do not call but Berlin by train was popular, the train, maybe two trains were full, we did in 2010 the train and private tour, it was good but a very long day. Stockholm, you can walk it, I know the 7/22 cruise is docking at Stadsgården S167 stockholm in the city centre , we docked further out in 2010. Walking tours are good, local boats can take you to the islands, Vasa etc. In St Petes the DCL tour to the Catherines palace ball was very popular but expensive, as some people are worried re the immigration requirements the trips in St Petes are full, but you can do private tours and there better. Tallinn a lot of people went DIY, it's close.
Suecot2000
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2001
Wow! Thank you so much! Lots of great information posted
CaliforniaGirl09
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
Fabulous! Thanks for posting. As a frequent London visitor I heartily agree with your assessment. My very favorite city!
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
Thank you.
Also to add in London our museums are great, often free, and easy to get to. Holborn for British, and South Kensington, for Science, and Natural history.
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
They are good and prompt to reply, the 50% OFFER recently was making a cheap booking unbeatable.
Alohagirl73
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2012
Thanks Disney Fantasy for your insights as always. I appreciate it. Just need to save it and hope to use it next summer on a Disney Baltic cruise!!!!
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
I hope you get what you want, seems the ship is in the area.
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
Tivoli is good but give the open air museum a miss. The fairytale canal cruise is good.
ColoradoDisneyFreaks
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2010
One thing to note if you're planning on doing the HOHO bus in Copenhagen. The bus only comes every 30 minutes, so if your activity takes just a bit longer than that, you end up missing the next one, and wasting a lot of time waiting for the bus.
Unless there's an excursion that really interests you, then you may be better off booking tours outside of DCL for the ports, you end up saving a LOT of money. When we did the Baltic on RCCL, we used Alla tours for St. Petersburg, loved them, and booked with them for Talinn and Helsinki as well. We ended up seeing more of the cities than our tablemates on the cruise who did ship tours (the cruise lines share a lot of these tour contractors) and spent a lot less money.
Unless there's an excursion that really interests you, then you may be better off booking tours outside of DCL for the ports, you end up saving a LOT of money. When we did the Baltic on RCCL, we used Alla tours for St. Petersburg, loved them, and booked with them for Talinn and Helsinki as well. We ended up seeing more of the cities than our tablemates on the cruise who did ship tours (the cruise lines share a lot of these tour contractors) and spent a lot less money.
we got the Copenhagen Card which covered Tivoli, Rosenburg castle , and all buses.
Stockholm: take the HO-HO that picks up right at the pier (get SEK for the Ho-Ho (Swedish $$) before you leave the US--they are not on the euro). Take the Ho-HO to downtown and walk around. You can go into the Palace, etc. but the BEST place was the Livrustkammaren. Founded in 1633, it is also Sweden's oldest museum. Set in the palace vaults, this armory isn't just about weapons but displays some of the world's most magnificent state coaches and coronation robes, even the costume worn by Gustav III at a fatal masked ball. (The king was assassinated at the 1792 ball, and the incident inspired Verdi to write his opera The Masked Ball.) They have a free kit that you can borrow for the kids--it is a box with a fake mouse and y ou find clues throughout the museum. My kids (9, 13) spent 2 hours doing this--super fun. They also have a good dress up place, as well. We got the combo Ho-HO ticket and also took a boat tour. We did not have time to see the Vikng ship (on the HO-HO bus/boat line).
Tallin--easy to walk from pier to town and they have costumed persons selling nuts, sodas, etc.--very festive. Plus, you can do archery outside the fort with Red Riding Hood type costumed workers. Large square in center of town to get food, etc. Tallin looks like a storybook village from a fairy tale.
In St P--we did a 10 hour private tour with 2 other families in a minibus--around town for photo stops, then to Peterhof and then hydrofoil to Hermitage, then Spilled Blood Cathedral and shopping. Exhausting (we skipped shopping, but other went), but fantastic. Elaine
Stockholm: take the HO-HO that picks up right at the pier (get SEK for the Ho-Ho (Swedish $$) before you leave the US--they are not on the euro). Take the Ho-HO to downtown and walk around. You can go into the Palace, etc. but the BEST place was the Livrustkammaren. Founded in 1633, it is also Sweden's oldest museum. Set in the palace vaults, this armory isn't just about weapons but displays some of the world's most magnificent state coaches and coronation robes, even the costume worn by Gustav III at a fatal masked ball. (The king was assassinated at the 1792 ball, and the incident inspired Verdi to write his opera The Masked Ball.) They have a free kit that you can borrow for the kids--it is a box with a fake mouse and y ou find clues throughout the museum. My kids (9, 13) spent 2 hours doing this--super fun. They also have a good dress up place, as well. We got the combo Ho-HO ticket and also took a boat tour. We did not have time to see the Vikng ship (on the HO-HO bus/boat line).
Tallin--easy to walk from pier to town and they have costumed persons selling nuts, sodas, etc.--very festive. Plus, you can do archery outside the fort with Red Riding Hood type costumed workers. Large square in center of town to get food, etc. Tallin looks like a storybook village from a fairy tale.
In St P--we did a 10 hour private tour with 2 other families in a minibus--around town for photo stops, then to Peterhof and then hydrofoil to Hermitage, then Spilled Blood Cathedral and shopping. Exhausting (we skipped shopping, but other went), but fantastic. Elaine
Last edited:
EllinK
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
Thanks, Andrew. Did you go to the open air museum? I'd love to hear from people who have done the excursion (or gone on their own).
DISNEY FANTASY
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
I haven't personally gone I did the others but on my cruise and my friends were not pleased with the open air muesum.
EllinK
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
Good to know. Thank you!
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