Northern Europe cruise port of calls info. - can I go to those places without joining the tours?

Question

I plan to take the 10 days cruise to: Stockholm, Helsinki, Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk (Gdynia), Oslo. Can I go to these places on a self guided tours without joining the tours from the cruise line as they are so expensive. How far are these ports to those places, can I walk, take public transit, or taxi? Any tips?

Answer 1

It seems that you are wanting information about the cruise to the Baltic countries.  We did that cruise in May 2006 and went to the cities that you mentioned and some others.  The short answer is YES you can do some of the port cities on your own.  The one port that you absolutely cannot do on your own is St Petersburg, Russia.  Only passengers with tours booked are allowed off the ship.  And, the ship we were on, Celebrity's Constellation, docked in an industrial shipyard and thus we were in a working port rather than a cruise port like Dover, England.

Here is what we experienced not in any particular order:  In Tallin the pier is walking distance from the town, about 5 blocks.  You can tour the "old city" on your own also.

The Poland port, Gdynia, is also a rather industrial area but you can get off and go to the city of Gdynia, BUT you will need a tour or taxi to get to Gdansk.  And the Gdansk part or the tour we took was much better than the port city. I would estimate the distance between the two was about 10 miles, not far, but not walking distance, a short bus ride.

In Oslo the ship docks right in town and you can walk to see the city.  

In Stockholm the ship docked about 3  miles from the downtown.  We took a tour there to the Vasser Museum, which was great, and then got off the tour bus in town and walked back to the ship.

In Helsinki the pier is near the city, not walking distance as I remember but close by.  A taxi would take you.

Our cruise also went to Copenhagen and in that city you can get off and walk into town, but its a long walk.  Also, there were two piers for cruise ships and we just happened to get the one furtherest from the town (other ships were there) so if you dock at that one, its  a really long walk.

Our ship also stopped in Warnemunde, Germany and you can get off there and walk into town.  But the cruise line did tours to Rostock, which is a bus ride away, about half an hour ride.

Tours that I recommend; the Vasser Museum in Stockholm, the Viking Ship Museum in Norway, the folk show in Russia and also the walking tour of the downtown areas.

Our cruise, as you can tell, was longer, 14 days and we enjoyed it.

Answer 2

You CAN find ways to see the sites independantly. It takes some research, thought and listening to people who 've already done it. A sight i like is

cruisecritic.com

cruiseclues.com

cruisereviews.com

have a wonderful cruise.

Answer 3

Ive done ships (working) for 10 years. Baltic and Norway are my favorite destinations.

Stockholm - do it yourself, no tours.

Helsinki - do it yourself

St. Petersburg - TOURS for sure.

Tallin - do it yourself

Oslo - do it yourself.

Ok, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki... you can get a cab or walk, not far at all and quite safe obviously. Oslo is very close by.

Usually the cruise lines have a shuttle service in Helsinki and Stockholm, cause its a 30 min walk.

Tallin, when you get off the ship you can go eithe left of right, right is shopping centers, shops etc. Left is the old town, and its lovely, specially Sundays, there´s a festival that goes on in July... lots of cafes, really lovely.

St Pertersburg, even if you have a visa and can visit by yourself don´t.

They overcharge, you cant exchange money, nobody speaks English... go with the tours, they take you to the museum, the palaces etc.

If you have overnight there, on the first evening there is usually a tour of the canals with some boat, its very nice and your get vodka included.

You didnt mention Kopenhagen, its my favorite city of them all... very nice (a little $$$).

There´s a place in Sweden called VISBY (or Wisby) very nice indeed, but few lines stop there.

Never been to Gdansk.

Wannermunde in Germany is nice too.

Enjoy.