Baltic cruise

Diane, you will get more information at cruisecritic.com in the "ports" section.

I've taken the Silja overnight cruises from Stockholm to Helsinki and Tallinn. The port we left from in Stockholm was not that close to the main tourist attractions, but we were able to get there by public transportation without too much trouble. The port in Helsinki was just a short stroll from the center of the city. The port in Tallinn was about a 10 minute walk from the old town. I don't know if there are multiple ports in these cities, so you will want to find out exactly where your cruise will dock.

Diane,
I am also scheduled to take a Baltic Cruise in May 2013. The Cruise Critic site has message boards for each cruise line and each specific cruise. I found that the people on this website are very helpful. Since there will be limited time in each port, I had decided to schedule excursions in order to see the most things in port--also left time to explore by myself. Bon Voyage!

Diane, you might want to try RS Scandinavia tour book (if you haven't already) for things to do on your own in each port. Specific instructions on how to get from the ship into town you can easily get from the cruise ship without taking their excursions. It's usually just walking or taking a taxi, which you might be able to share with others from the ship, or a short bus ride. Do use cruisecritic.com to maybe hook up with others who want to do it on their own rather than use the ship's excursions.

The docks in Tallinn are virtually right across the street from the edge of the Old Town. In the other cities ships often dock a mile or more from the center of town. On my Royal Caribbean cruise the cruise line had buses shuttling independent travelers to and from a central square- I imagine all the major lines do that. In Copenhagen and Helsinki my friend and I took the buses into town but walked back (maybe a 20-30 minute walk both times). It was kind of interesting walking towards the huge ship looming in the distance, picking our route along the way.

It depends on the port, and also on the line. Some lines park further from the center to save money. Cruisecritic.com has really good port by port information on where the different ships dock (though I believe your ship can still lose it's spot if it's running late). Copenhagen, the ships are located more than a walk from the north end of town. We stayed around Nyhaven and took the metro from Kongens Nytorv to Norreport, then took a train north to the closest station. From there, you can see where to go - but it's still a pretty good hike to your ship (depending on where it's parked). Going into town, you can walk to the train (again can be a good hike depending on which berth your ship is in) and take it straight to the main station downtown in a few minutes. I recall a line painted on the ground that represented a walking path out of the port area in the direction of the train station. Stockholm, check cruisecritic.com. Some ships dock right in town and others are a fairly good trip. We were on Princess and it stopped in town but many require a taxi or other arrangement to get downtown and back to the ship. Helsinki, same thing. The Silja and Viking ferries park right next to the center as do some of the cruise ships. Ours parked a couple miles or more from the center and most people took a taxi from there. There is a bus option but we should have asked our ship for more information on local public transport. We ended up walking to the center (two or three miles) and then the very pleasant TI showed us the ropes to getting around. Tallinn, ours parked easy walking distance into the center. If walking isn't your thing, take a taxi up to the legislative building or Russian Orthodox church and walk downhill back to the ship.