Overnight stop in St Petersburg Russia

In addition to any responses you get here, be sure to go to Cruise Critic: 1. To get more information about your ports (here's a link to their page on St. Petersburg). 2. To look at their forums, so you can read about other people's experiences, and post your own questions (here's a link to their Northern Europe Ports board). 3. To sign up for your Roll Call, so you can meet others on your sailing. This is not just social; you can join others on a private tour, which (particularly for St. Petersburg) is both cheaper and better than the ones offered by the ship. In St. Pete, I liked the Hermitage, but really loved the Russia Museum. The Yusupov Palace was wonderful, as was the Sheremetov Palace (now a museum of musical instruments). I also loved my canal cruise, and the Church on the Spilt Blood. I didn't get to any of the palaces outside of town.

We did a 2 day tour in St. Petersburg with Alla tours. You can find them online by Googling "Alla tours St. Petersburg". You can chose the number of people in your tour (the more, the cheaper). We choose ten people in a 12 person van with a guide and driver - that seemed like a good way to move quickly without paying a lot for a private tour. Alla will match you with others from your ship or you can put together your own group (check out cruisecritic.com - sign up for a roll call for your specific cruise). At Catherines palace, groups of six or fewer get in without waiting in line (which may be worth considering) - our group actually cut the line by blending in with a larger tourist group that was at the front (sneaky but effective). The cost for our two-day tour (late July 2010) was $260 (paid in US dollars) we added a $40 tip - so $300 each. I thought it was a great value considering a visa alone was about half-that (which you won't need if you're with a tour) and this includes transport, admissions, and a guide. cont...

We chose a tour that was fast-paced (no lunch break) intentionally. We packed sandwiches from the ship (even though the ship says you can't carry food) and ate in the van. The first day everyone complained about no lunch, then copied our example for day two. There are a couple other well regarded tour companies, Red October was another we considered. Our ship worked overtime to sell their tours vs. local tours, they regularly announced that we wouldn't be able to go onshore without a visa unless we took their tour - absolutely not true. Follow the instructions from your tour company exactly and you will have no problem. Not only did we get off the ship, but while the other groups were forming up in a large room upstairs, we went straight to the gangway and were among the first off the ship. Unfortunately we waited because some people followed the cruise ships direction and went to the assembly room onboard rather than just getting off the boat. cont...

For other stops, you can look at cruise critic to see what people recommend. I think people on the site rely too heavily on cruise sponsored tours, but their tours will give you an idea what you might enjoy - then plan to get there on your own. We did all other stops on our own. In Tallinn, it's a pretty good walking day. If you're ready to walk, skip any tour because the port is walking distance from the old town (and that's all you really have time for). It's a great medieval center, among the best I've visited. Pay attention to where your boat will dock. Stockholm has some spots available walking distance from downtown. When those fill up, it gets more inconvenient and expensive to get downtown and back to the boat in your limited time. We loved the Vasa and enjoyed walking around downtown Stockholm - with more time we would have liked to explore the parks (Djurgarden) more. We also spent a few hours at Skansen. Utterly skippable IMO but others love it. I was most disappointed that the (costumed) staff seemed clueless about basics, like where is an ATM?, to history, like were traditional farmhouses oriented a specific way to take advantage of the sun or block the wind? I expected a Williamsburg VA but it wasn't close.

Generally we never had an issue with local currency, except in Helsinki. We couldn't find an ATM near where we docked and walked a long way to the center before we found an ATM for local currency (Euros in Helsinki's case, the only place that used euros on our trip, we started in Copenhagen and didn't include Germany). If your boat is parking a long way away, you may want to use the (very expensive) currency exchange on board so you have money for a bus or taxi. The TI near the waterfront in Helsinki is outstanding - nice, helpful - tell them your plans and they will map it out for you and tell you the most cost-effective option. In fact the Finns were noticably the nicest locals we met in our trip, everyone else was fine except the Russians - who are pretty sour. Again this is based on where the boat docks, many of the ferries (Silja, Viking) dock a short walk from the center. In Helsinki, Suomilina Island was enjoyable as was the area around the waterfront. We trammed to see the Rock Church but it was another skipable sight - not really worth the effort and time unless you like contemporary architecture.

You don't say where you are stopping. We started in Copenhagen and added three days on either end there to explore Copenhagen and the Zealand area. Our stops were at Stockholm, Helsinki, 2 days in St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, Oslo, and back to Copenhagen. If you visit Oslo, we enjoyed Frogner Park and the Viking Ship Museum - plus a walk around town. I wanted to visit Akershus, but the group I was with wasn't interested. If you visit, Gdansk, a cheap train ride to Malbork castle is worthwhile. We ended up splitting a taxi for the day (100 euro for the day, even though local currencly is Zloty) between two couples so we could see the Castle as well as the old center. We probably couldn't have done both using the train. In Gdansk, you have to plan for transportation even to see the old center. Train tickets are amazingly cheap but a few block walk from the ship. Taxi drivers swarm the area, bypass the first group of drivers (they pay a premium to get close to the ship) and head for the gate, where there are another swarm of drivers - supposedly a little cheaper than the first group. The driver was great, (he said he knew English but it was limited), he parked conveniently, pointed us in the right direction and waited for us with the car. We didn't stop in Germany because we've visited many times and the dock isn't even close to Berlin. Warnemunde is a couple hours by train each way, which doesn't leave much time to "see" Berlin. If I were stopping there, I'd skip Berlin and visit something closer (Lubeck or just Rostock).

Absolutely register with cruisecritic and meet some fellow guests at a meet and greet, makes the cruise more enjoyable. We took a 15 night Scandinavia Holland America cruise in May and used Alla Tours for 5 destinations with excellent results. They handle everything except you printing your tickets in advance. We tipped every guide generously because they were excellent guides; we had Svetlana in St Petersburg both days. We too did the 2 day fastpaced tour, the first day is really busy but the second day has the hydrofoil and more strolling. Sailing past the islands to Stockholm is one of the most beautiful sights. Every destination was different. In Stockholm don't miss the Palace; in COpenhagen a harbor tour has a different perspective. I enjoyed seeing Tivoli, though some people don't like traveling just to see an amusement park.Check your library for guidebooks; some ports had tourist info available. We took a hop on hop off bus one day for transportation because it stopped next to the ship. Have a great time!

Thanks for the information. Have already checked out the cruise critic...Andrea