Baltic cruise in August - Baltic & Northern Europe "Ports" Review by kingfish45

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Home > Member Reviews > kingfish45's Port Reviews of Copenhagen, Warnemunde, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm

kingfish45's Port Reviews of Copenhagen, Warnemunde, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm
Norwegian Sun cruise in August 2012

Member Name:	kingfish45
Cruise Date:	August 2012
Embarkation:	Copenhagen
Destination:	Baltic & Northern Europe
Member Review:	kingfish45's Norwegian Sun Review

	Copenhagen Port Rating: Copenhagen has too much to see for a drive through. I would go a day or two early if possible. Things to do. Tivoli,Canal tour (great), Nyhaven, and the Little Mermaid. People are friendly and helpful. We caught the canal tour right at the Marriott and got to see the city that way. For the post cruise excursions-If you have not seen Copenhagen, this may be your only chance--but I think it is best to go early.
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	Warnemunde Port Rating: Ship docks right in town. No need to take an excursion here. We walked to the train station and caught the train to Rostock for 4.6 Euro, round trip. This included transportation from Rostock to the city square. We visited the city square and St. Mary's church. Not much else to do in that city so we went back. Warnemunde was a different story. Wonderful small town on the water. We had lunch there and walked around. Beautiful village and multiple places to eat lunch. We had lunch for about 9 Euro each. I thought it a better German experience just to go there. We did not go to Berlin but those that did seemed to like it although it was a long day for them Something extra-At the end of the day on the ship they had a local group come on board and had a German Folk lore show with German Food.
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	Tallinn Port Rating: No need to take an excursion here. Easy walk to the town square. However, there is a walk on-walk off bus waiting at the dock.Great people. Making their own way after breaking from Russia. It rained so be prepared. Went to town square and looked. Ate in the old town hall at a place called the IIIDrakon. Sort of a dungeon type place.Strange and curious experience. They serve Elk stew from an old kettle along with a very nice fried pie of some kind. Cost 9 Euro total for both of us. When it started to rain, we caught the hop on hop off bus for a drive that circled the old town. It also went other places but we did not go. ($16 each) Bought some amber there.
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	St. Petersburg Catherine Palace Rating: More exotic than Hermitage. Another must see. Do not be confused. Catherine's palace,Pushkin, and Summer palace are the same place.Note-they charge you $4 to take photos. Your guide collects it. However, no one seems to be enforcing it. I just took all that I wanted to and no one said a thing. Tip-the best way to get inside pictures of both Catherine's and Hermitage to to google it when you get home.--Much better and the crowds are not in them. Hermitage Museum Rating: Words cannot describe it. A world class exhibition of artists that you know. One of the things you must do while there. Negative--Very crowded and not enough time.You have to pay to take pictures but no one seems to be enforcing it. In fact,the guards in each room were almost sleeping. Shopping-all of the excursions take you to the same place.I have an idea that the excursion company owns it. They always wanted to know what ship you came from. But it seemed a good place to but things from Russia that were of good quality. They take credit cards,Russian money as well as Euros-but best to use credit cards. This excursion included lunch with wine if you wanted it--Local and pretty good. Neva River Cruise Rating: Loved it. It rained on us but so what. They do have inside seats for that. Got to see the city from the Neva. Also included an inside tour of the Church on spilled blood. This building was my favorite in St. Petersburg. I would recommend it the river cruise. Took our picture in front of the Church on spilled blood. City Tour Rating: You have to take some kind of excursion just to get off ship. Immigration was no hassle. No wait unless a lot of people were going through. Went there after a long day of Hermitage and Catherine's. Full orchestra,choir, and both men and women dancers. Excellent presentation. I have no idea what they were singing. But first class. Tip-They also have a Russian folkloric show on board the second day. Not as excellent as the night show but a good sample anyway. Some of the same performers but a much smaller show. The ship packed us a box meal since we did not have time between excursions.
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	Helsinki Port Rating: To little time to do justice. The port has hop on hop off if you want but a little too far to walk in. We took an excursion to Parvoo and the horse farm. Parvoo not worth the trip. You only get to spend about 30 minutes there and the shops do not open until 10. It only has a couple of streets. The horse farm was a delight. Local family in there home setting. Had cake and coffee. Really enjoyed that. This also included a drive around Helsinki but just not enough time to really experience it. You can do Helsinki on your own if you want to. Just be back.
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	Stockholm Port Rating: 8 hours not enough. Hop on off buses at port. We took the tour to Sigtuna and the Vassa. Sigtuna probably not worth it considering the short time.Interesting but only a couple of streets. Great tour guide. The Vassa Museum--A must. I was blown away. You could probably do this on your on if you wanted to. Really wished that I had a couple of days there. The sail away from Stockholm is beautiful.
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