Northern Europe Cruises

Also found a 12 day that goes Amsterdam to Stockholm to Helsinki to St. Petersburg to Tallinn to Copenhagen to Amsterdam. $1300 for an inside cabin....

thank you and you are right about the two names, i think. am checking out photos now.

My parents did a similar cruise a few years back and they still talk about how fabulous it was.

The weather is very pleasant in June for that area of Europe. Averages run from a nightly lows in the high 40s, and daily highs in the mid 60s. This is also the time of year known as "White Nights" because although the sun does briefly dip below the horizon, the sky never completely darkens.

oh wow, didn't think of that with the sun. do you know where they went? i've never thought of going to russia but it sounds awesome.

also wonder about how easy it is to eat with special diets on a cruise? we're both vegan and that always is interesting when someone else is cooking for you...

ok the second one is called the celebrity century

Not sure what you are asking. We did that run the first week of June a couple of years. The days were quite warm if not actually hot. But the days at sea and the evening was sweater weather - a bit chilly. All the ports were fun but didn't Gdansk. Enjoyed Tallinn the most.

oh sorry, just wondering if anyone had the experience and if the cruise was worth it or is it better to just backpack and see germany and holland? such a huge world and don't know where to go. money and time (2 weeks) isn't really an issue.

We enjoy the cruises and for that part of the country the cruise can be very economical. Those countries are very expensive. We did all the ports except St. Petersburg on our own. The Russian visa issues almost dictates that you use the ship's excursion program.

Hi! We are going on the Celebrity Century in June on that cruise. We expect the weather to be similar to Scotland at that time of year.

In fact you do not need to go on a ship's tour in St. Petersburg. You do have to be on an organized tour, but you can do this privately with a local tour company, but you need to arrange it in advance. It looks to us to be a cheaper and more satisfying way of doing it.

Go to Cruise Critic and browse the boards for the cruise line you fancy. If you have a paricular cuise in mind, go to the roll call section and see who else has signed up for it and their comments. Go to the ports of call and see what people say bout the places you will stop at.

Cruises we have been on usually have at least one entree that is vegetarian at dinner and other meals can be selected according to your diet and taste.

I am taking the Celebrity Century cruise June 14-26. From my experience on the Celebrity Millenium (Oz/NZ) in January, you would have no problems with the food, though they really dish up the animal proteins. There was a vegetarian main course every evening in the main dining room and seemed to be veggie options for the other courses as well. There were usually a lot of vegetarian options at the lunch buffet. The dinnertime buffet was less varied, but also had vegetarian options. Breakfast will probably be your biggest challenge - some fruit, hardly any veggies. If you eat meals in the main dining room (breakfast, lunch) you can also ask for pretty much anything. They will get you plates of grilled vegetables, fruit plates, etc.

Frank, What did you do in Tallinn? The ship docks at 7 am and sails at 2 pm. Not much time, what do you recommend?

What about money? Can I use euros in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and/or Tallinn? Or do I need to change money for each port?

Chani,

That's the exact one we're taking (if it works out). Any chance you can give me any info. you might have about the ship, the trip, etc. Where did you find the best price? Thank you so much.

Lee,

Getting back to your question of where the ship took my parents: I don't remember exactly what order, but I'm pretty sure they left from Hamburg and visited Copenhagen, Gothenberg, Aero, Gdansk, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallin, Riga, Klaipeda, an extra overnight excursion to Vilnius, and some port in Norway, I don't know which.

The weather should be great during that time. Cool for American standards but around 70 during the day. I would have long pants with me and a light sweater and light jacket just in case.

You will love the nightless nights! It is really special there that time of the year. The views of the archipelago between Sweden and Finland are spectacular.

There is a great outdoor market in Helsinki to explore at the harbor. A visit to Stockman's department store is a must. Don't forget to go to their bakery. It is out of this world!

I am sure that you will have a blast!

I took this itinerary a few years ago with Princess. It was much cheaper than going to the same places by land. We had a balcony which I highly recommend because you are "at sea" a lot.

The amount of time in each port is very limited, so be sure to plan ahead. You can't be impromptu on this trip and feel like you saw anything. The bike tour in Tallin was one of trip's highlights, as was the trip to the church organ recital in Poland.

I am also vegan. It was HARD! I received a menu the day before, but hardly anything was truly vegan. Even the vegetarian food was awkward, and once it was actually inedible. How anyone could do what they did to perfectly innocent eggplant is beyond me. Since I am not vegan due to moral issues, but health ones, I ate the grilled salmon a lot. It was the only way I could get protein on the ship. No beans! ;)

I also spent an inordinate amount of time on shore eating. I was hungry most of the trip. There is a fantastic veg restaurant in Gamla Stan (Stockholm) that is in Rick's book. All of their dishes have a vegan and a vegetarian form. They serve the food on platters piled several inches high. I did everything but lick the platter at the end. LOL

But if you are vegan and travel a lot, you are used to being hungry some days. I kept reminding myself that a couple of weeks is not long enough to starve to death or become malnourished. I needed to lose a couple of pounds anyway, so it worked for me. ;)

That worries me a lot Jo. I am used to traveling vegan, been to Asia and all over the place, but I've never been hungry. When I get hungry, I get super grumpy! My wife hates it when I do! So, did you call ahead and try to plan or talk to the cruise line? How did that work? Thank you very much for the info.

Hey, Lee and Chani: That is the cruise we are booked on, as is anothoer couple who are on this board. My wife, son and his fiance will be with us. We and the other couple are looking at a private tour in St. Pete's. Anyone else interested? PM me if you are.

that's me :) thanks!

Hi Iain,

I am going to see St. Petersburg sans tour: mainly the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.

Chani

Right, Chani. You said you did not need a visa. That makes things easier for you! Wish we had the same flexibility. We considered going it alone till we saw the cost of visas for 4 of us!

No, Passport, I didn't miss it. I just didn't remember it the way you were describing it. The way you were describing upper and lower I thought that it was two separated areas especially when you spoke of taxis dropping you in the upper. We walked in via the Fat Margaret Tower so our perception was one big area set on a hillside. In the 04 Steves guidebook we used there is no discussion of upper and lower Tallinn. On two of his maps there a note of lower in the area near the port but thought that was obvious. The day we were there the plats in front of the Parliament/Castle had been turned into a huge, sand volleyball tournament area. And we were having mountain bike races through the side streets.

Don't be too jealous. There are some hidden costs to being entitled to an Israeli passport :-)

Just don't ask about our tax rates!

Chani, we were in Tallinn about four years ago off the Royal Caribbean. I don't remember the upper and lower town as described by passport. We were docked at the ferry port so we just walked a couple of blocks through into the old city. Probably depends on where the ship docks.

There were the usual old churches and buildings to see. What made it great for us was a local summer festival. A lot of stalls with what appeared to be true local hand crafted items with many unusual items. Second, there was little difference between euro and dollars. Took both readily. No concern for the exchange rate since you bargained for the item in the currency you had. There was a big music event in the town square with an enormous amount of continuous activity. And we were there till fairly late in the day till 6/7 pm. It made for one of our most enjoyable port calls.

for all of those who have taken cruises through this area, how pretty is the scenery? i'm big on scenery when i travel. do you see any of the fjords in norway? are there mountains? how is the water? are the towns scenic? thanks!

The scenery is good when it is available. When you are at sea all you see is water. The best scenery was the 50 mile run to Oslo. It is truly at the head of fjord and it is narrow so the scenery on both sides is great. The rest of the cities are typical seaports sitting on a point of land/coast so at best it may be a sheltered bay. The towns are newer than what you would find in central Europe and the building are not as grand -- but still interesting. It is not very mountainous -- big hills but heavily forested and very green. The water is very clear and blue but very cold.

As I stated earlier, we did the trip about four years ago and eagerly do the same trip again -- which we probably will in the near future.