I am doing a cruise and i dont know where to do trips etc. ...?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

You are in luck, we did that Baltic cruise a couple years ago on a Celebrity ship.

First, In Helsinki we took a tour of the city from the ship but frankly there was not much to see. Yes we saw the old Olympic stadium and a park with sculptures, and a church that was carved out of stone. But there was not much else to see on a tour there. The cruise line provided a shuttle bus from the port to downtown and we got off the tour bus and browsed the open air market for a short while before returning to the ship. So, there not much to just get off the ship and see. If you do a tour do the lowest priced city tour.

In St Petersburg, Russia passengers could not get off the ship unless they were booked on a tour. The pier that we docked at was in a working shipyard with cargo ships. It was a long ways from the city center and there were no taxi's nearby. BUT, we did two tours there. The first I highly recommend if its available. It was a Russian folklife show featuring singing and dancing in very beautiful and colorful costumes. The second tour that we took the second day that we were there was a walking city tour. It was nice. We had an English speaking guide who walked with us and explained the buildings and statues. WE did not enter any building but it was a nice tour.

In Tallin, Eastonia we again took a city tour of the old city. It was nice but you can really walk from the pier to the town and even to the old city and get the same views.

The Berlin stop is actually at the port city of Warnemunde. You can walk off of the ship into Warnemude but you will spend big bucks for a tour to Berlin from there. We did first a tour of Rostock which is about half an hour drive away. It included a stop at a German brewery/pub and a sample of the beer and a pretzel; then a walk around the downtown Rostock. After that tour we walked around Warnemunde, which is a really nice town, and found an internet cafe (beats spending big bucks on ship).

In Copenhagen there were two places where the ships dock and we ended up at the one furtherest from the city; too far to walk. If the ship docks close enough you can get off and walk through a part of the city. But we did a city tour again and it was nice. Our tour included a stop where we could see the palace up close, but not enter it. There are millions of bicycles around the city, seems like everyone is riding one. People ride them to the train/subway station and park them to go to work.

Our cruise went to Stockholm, Sweden instead of Amsterdam Holland and I have never been to that one.

So, Tallin and Warnemunde you can for sure go on your own, you can likely go on your own in Helsinki and Copenhagen, and definitely not in Russia.

Most of these cities have historical significance and the things to see are the buildings and statues, the architecture, and churches. But, its not like going to Rome or Egypt where there are world wonders to see. So my advice is take the cheapest city tour in those where you can't go on your own, but for sure do the Russian folklife show.

Ed S

tours are always good the first time in a port...

Join the hottest cruise group on yahoo..
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Lew

Tallinn, a city that once consisted of two feuding medieval towns separated by a significant wall. You can do a self-guided walk. From where the ship docks, it takes about 15 minutes of walking toward the tall tapering spire to reach the squat Fat Margaret Tower entrance. Steep, narrow cobble stone streets connect the upper town on the hill called Toompea with the lower town. Toompea was the seat of government ruling Estonia and lower town was a trading center filled with German, Danish, and Swedish merchants who hired Estonians to do their menial labor.

St Petersburgh. We took a 2 day tour with Denrus Tours, Picked up at dockside with others who didn't want to pay the cruise ship prices. You get everything described in the web site with a guide who speaks good / perfect english. Very good tour and well worth the money.
http://www.denrus.ru/

Helsinki: perfectly easy to walk around and explore on your own. You can buy a tram pass and see the whole city by tram.

The trip to Berlin was too much for us.
We stayed around Warnemunde. Caught train to Rostock, then train to Bad Obberdan then got Molli Train to Kuhlungsborn West: visited the Molli Museum. Returned to Warnemunde and walked to beach and Harbour. Visited Lutherian Church.

Copenhagen: Walked into town centre along Sea Front to Old town. At night walked through town to Tivoli Gardens, back along old harbour, had drink at harbour bar, then back along sea front to ship

We didn't do Amsterdam on this cruise but have been there before. Easy place to walk, take tram around, or canal boat. Not sure where ship docks, could be quite a distance from the actual town.
Have a look at http://www.cruisecritic.com for reviews of the Baltic Capital Cruise. You will get loads of good un-biased information from this site.

eric the great

Man All those places are great. If your cruise ship lets you book excursions on line before your trip, then by all means, do so. Your shore excursion tickets will be waiting for you when you get to your cabin. It is the safest way and most comfortable way to see the sights, plus you don't have to worry about the language. For doing your own thing, I found Copenhagen and Amsterdam pretty easy to get around. I didn't have any trouble finding folks who spoke English there. Have a great trip.

Isabel D

Take tours in every city, unless you speak their language. Otherwise it would be tough to get around, even the alphabet is different in Russia, Estonia if you're planning to read maps or street signs. Cruise lines offer city tours at every stop. Also you can look for tour agencies online and book ahead with them to be picked up at the port.

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