Baltic Cruise - Rotterdam 6/22

we2cruise · May 22, 2006

We are booked on the Rotterdam next month and we're looking for anyone who either has booked port tours privately and has additional space - or could pass along information re: booking our own. Don't think we really have time to research such tours (we just booked the cruise :grin: !!) to book on our own, but would prefer those arrangements rather than HAL arranged excursions!! Noticed that no one had posted this cruise on the Cruise Calendar or in the Meeting Hall, so expect I may come up empty, but we're counting down!!

we2cruise

JoeyandDavid · May 22, 2006

I wish I could help you but we havent visited that part of the world...........yet....sorry........ :wink:

JohnG · May 22, 2006

The disadvantage of booking private tours instead of the HAL excursions is that you will require a Russian visa to visit St Petersburg and you don't need one if you use the HAL excursions. A Russian visa is a bit of a hassle, as you have to have an agent in Russia issue a letter of invitation before the Russian consulate will even begin the visa process.

jbond · May 22, 2006

I agree with the above regarding St Petersburg. You can do private tours with Red October and they will take care of the visa for that tour. We overnighted in SP and left the ship three times. Each time we had to go through Russian passport control. Each of the three tours were ships tours and it made it a little easier. If you do overnight, go checkout the ballet, it was a great experience.

We were on RCI's Brilliance and did all ship's tours. I don't know which ports you will be visiting, but I have a photo album/review posted at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Brilliance of the Seas 1, 2 & 3

JoeyandDavid · May 22, 2006

You can do private tours with Red October and they will take care of the visa for that tour. We overnighted in SP and left the ship three times. Each time we had to go through Russian passport control. Each of the three tours were ships tours and it made it a little easier. If you do overnight, go checkout the ballet, it was a great experience.
We were on RCI's Brilliance and did all ship's tours. I don't know which ports you will be visiting, but I have a photo album/review posted at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Brilliance of the Seas 1, 2 & 3

WOW i would have never imagined...... Great information thanks John G..

JBond thank you too... Two excellent posts

we2cruise · May 22, 2006

Thanks to both JohnG and Jbond for the advice re: St. Petersburg! We appreciate your quick responses!

We had planned to stick with the HAL excursions for the two days in Russia, but thought we might be able to do better (smaller groups/lower costs) in the Scandinavian ports of Helsinki, Stockholm, Arhus and Oslo. We will also visit Talinn and Warnemunde, but will use HAL in Estonia and have arranged for a rental car in Germany.

jbond · May 22, 2006

Tallinn is an awesome port. It was so enjoyable, one of my favourites. We took the ship's walking tour. It saved us so much time and we had a delightful tour guide that had a great sense of humour. We learned so much about the town and about Estonia. They accepted US$ in Tallin as well as credit cards and prices were very reasonable. Buy some flowers at the flower market to take back to the ship.

In Stockholm, a visit to the Vasa Museum is a must do. Because we wanted to see so much, we took a ship's tour and visited the Vasa Museum, the Royal Palace and the medieval town of Sigtuna. A busy day, but well worth the effort and money. They accepted US$ with some restrictions.

In Oslo you must visit the Viking Ship Museum. It's incredible. The dock area is very attractive and pleasant to explore. There is the A kershus Fortress that you can walk around. They will take US$, but we found credit cards more acceptable.

Helsinki is a delightful, spotlessly clean city. It's hard to walk around, spread out. Again we took a tour because we wanted to see everything in one day. We went out to Porvoo, a quaint medieval town, about 30 minutes outside the city. It was a great trip. No trouble using US$ or credit cards. Don't miss the Temppeliaukio Church, the "Rock Church". It's carved out of solid rock and is most amazing.

Hope this has been helpful. It's a great area to cruise .

timecop · May 23, 2006

JohnG and jbond - Thanks for the information, I will print and put in my folder for my upcoming cruise

we2cruise · June 6, 2006

WOW. I've sure learned a lot in just a couple of weeks! Mainly, that I should have started all of this a long time ago! However, I did find that you only need a Russian Visa if your stay is longer than 72 hours. No one on a cruise will be in port longer than that (unless you miss the ship departure). We will only be in port two days, so any private tour group can arrange for the same short term Visa that you get through the ship.

I have seen very positive reports regarding Red October, DenRus, Alla and Baltic Tours! Prices vary widely, but each of them offer smaller groups, with English speaking guides and at very attractive savings over the ship's tours (featuring high prices, large groups and crowded buses).

Timecop...hope this additional info is helpful in your planning! And thanks to all others for their input. Departure from O'Hare in two weeks!!!