Scandinavian Cruise Help on Ports not covered in Rick's book ..Kotka Finland, Klaipeda Lithuania

Klaipeda is the one I can speak for- see the red marker on this Google map- https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search/klaipeda+cruise+port/@55.7075013,21.1161114,15z?entry=ttu

That one certainly is very walkable into the city, and a nice walk it is up the river. You should be met with a local folkloric performance quayside (or I was). It may not be hugely obvious on the map but the local ferries to the Curonian spit leave from the other side of the river from the cruise dock - they are met on the other side by local buses.

That said Klaipeda is one of the very few ports where I have done a ship's excursion, and I do not regret it. It was partly because of coping with the Cyrillic and partly because of learning of the interesting and quite complex history of the city. It was a port where I would not have managed to do the same and learn so much on my own. That was the morning for me, I then had the afternoon free for my own exploring.
If I was to go again I would either go straight over to the Curonian spit, or maybe look at doing a train trip (you don't have time for the latter).
I also strongly recommend being on deck from maybe 8am for the sail in.

Thank you so much for your great suggestions.

This is our first cruise and I wasn't even aware of the idea of watching the arrival in a port. I've added it to my daily notes for the trip.

Thank you so much!

Mike

There's no need to fear the Cyrillic alphabet in Kotka or Klaipeda. Finnish and Lithuanian are written in the western alphabet (more or less). That doesn't mean the languages are comprehensible to most foreign tourists. Fortunately, English is being widely taught in Finnish and Lithuanian schools, so your odds of encountering youngish people with good English skills are quite high. Swedish and Norwegian tourists, among others, will join you in using English in Finland and Lithuania.

Thank you for the great comment. I misunderstood the comment on Cyrillic by isn31c, thinking it was a part of the port! Now I have Googled it and won't be "floored" by it.

forewarned is forearmed

Thanks!
Mike

I sent an email to the webmaster to add a section on cruising for transportation. If Rick sells books on the topic, there should be a specific forum.

What sites did your cruise excursion cover?

We decided to do the Best of Scandinavia Tour Tuesday May 21, and I added on a NCL cruise that goes to the following
DAY
1
Stockholm, Sweden
Wednesday, Jun 05
Depart 4:00 PM

DAY
2
Visby, Sweden
Thursday, Jun 06
Arrive 7:00 AM

DAY
3
Kotka (Hamina), Finland
Friday, Jun 07
Arrive 12:30 PM

DAY
4
Tallinn, Estonia
Saturday, Jun 08
Arrive 9:00 AM

DAY
5
Helsinki, Finland
Sunday, Jun 09
Arrive 7:00 AM

DAY
6
Riga, Latvia
Monday, Jun 10
Arrive 9:00 AM
DAY

7
Klaipeda, Lithuania
Tuesday, Jun 11
Arrive 10:00 AM

DAY
8
Gdynia, Poland
Wednesday, Jun 12
Arrive 7:00 AM

DAY9
Berlin (Warnemünde), Germany
Thursday, Jun 13
Arrive 7:00 AM

DAY
10
Hamburg (Kiel), Germany
Friday, Jun 14
Arrive 6:00 AM

DAY
11
Copenhagen, Denmark
Saturday, Jun 15
Arrive 7:00 AM

DAY
12
Oslo, Norway
Sunday, Jun 16
Arrive 7:00 AM
Our first big cruise, 2100 people on board. We have done a number of river cruises that we enjoyed and I thought this might be a great way to see that part of Europe. Unpack once!

Thanks for all the help I get from the forum!
Mike

Visby, Tallinn, Warnemunde and Kiel you can certainly do your own thing and avoid the ship's tours, unless your heart is set on the very long day coach trip to Berlin from Warnemunde. Oslo and Copenhagen (the latter depending on your berth) I would also argue quite strongly that you can do your own exploring.

Kotka, Riga and Helsinki are the only ones I haven't been to. Having looked Kotka up it is supposed to be 700 metres from the town centre, according to What's in Port (my cruise 'Bible'). And I believe there are either trams or buses from the various possible berths at Helsinki.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. On Whats in port right now, looks like a great site!

Finding lots of video on Youtube for our ship and how to cruise.

mike

I love that you are combining both a tour and a cruise. The variety of experiences should be great.

Sometimes there are multiple ports in different sections of a city, but there will virtually always be public transportation available to the center of town.

I took a tram from near the Helsinki train station to the Viking ferry port earlier this year. The distance would be walkable without luggage (I had taken the walk earlier to see some of the Art Nouveau architecture in the area), but it would be time-consuming, and most folks would probably opt for a tram or bus to the center of town. I don't know whether Tallink Silja uses the same port in Helsinki.

The Viking port in Tallinn was a pretty decent distance from the heart of the medieval city, but again it's walkable if you aren't dragging luggage with you. I don't know whether Tallink Silja uses the same port in Tallinn. There's considerable uphill walking in the Tallinn medieval district, so some folks would want to opt for transit to get closer to the historic center. Walking in the old part of town is more interesting that the walk from the port, and time is limited on a cruise stop.

The ferry port where I arrived in Visby was a considerable walk from the historic area, but again it was doable. I don't know whether there is public transportation; there definitely are taxis (probably rather expensive).

I arrived in Riga by bus and don't know what the ferry situation is. Riga has a large area of tourist interest, with the heart of the Art Nouveau district separate from the medieval center. It will take every minute of the cruise stop to begin to see the best of Riga.

We’ve been to Klaipeda three times for about a month each time. It's a fairly small city that is walkable, but lacks many great sites. Not much that will 'wow' a person. In the city, Theater Square is a place where vendors are set up to sell amber, and maybe other arts/crafts. Sculpture Park is interesting. A trip on the Curonian Spit might be your best bet. The Hill of Witches will give you a glimpse of Lithuanian folk tales. There is the Thomas Mann house also. If you go South far enough on the spit you can see Russia! Have a great trip!

For clarity at Visby the cruise ships don't use the ferry port. Since 2019 they have used a new pier a bit beyond the ferry port (prior to that they used a berth slightly closer to the Old Town than the ferry port). I was on the 2nd ship to use the new cruise pier.
You can either walk along the sea front past the ferry port or a shuttle bus is run, turning right up the hill from the new pier, and going through the new town to the Bus Station- that is directly outside the top gateway to the new town. So the thing to do is to take the shuttle bus in bound, then wind your way down hill through the old town towards the sea, Many of the hotels and cafes, and the TIC are towards the bottom. Then walk back on the level along the promenade past the ferry port to the ship. From memory it took me about 20 minutes from the bottom gate closest to the harbour back to the ship.
There is also a small information centre at the landward end of the cruise pier where the shuttle buses pick up.

At Tallinn Silja and Viking use different terminals. There are at least five ferry terminals in Tallinn- one for each present or former company who serve the city- the cruise ships use Terminal C, which is no longer required for ferries.

I do know that at Helsinki Viking and Silja use entirely different berths to each other.

None of the two town you mentioned are in Scandinavia. And to be honest, none of them are a place I'd recommend to include if you where doing a trip on your own, unless you had some special interests. Kotka has a Maritime centre with a couple of museums, including the Finnish maritime museum, https://www.merikeskusvellamo.fi/en/ The town also has a beautiful church and a couple of nice older buildings. But that's about it. It's very much an industrial town. I don't know where the ship will dock, but it will probably not be far from the town. It is not a big place.

You did get some good advice on Klaipeda. The town has a nice older part of the town that can be worth some time. If you want to go somewhere else I'd suggest Palanga. It's been a popular beach town to visit since at least the 19th century, and has a nice beach if you want to go swimming. And the amber museum is also worth a stop in my opinion. There are pretty frequent buses from Klaipeda that take you to Palanga in 20-30 minutes for a few euro. And there is no reason to worry about cyrillic in Lithuania, they have used the Latin alphabet for centuries.

Swedish and Norwegian tourists, among others, will join you in using
English in Finland and Lithuania.

At least in some places, Swedish and Norwegian tourists will also use a lot of Swedish/Scandinavian in Finland.

I don't know whether Tallink Silja uses the same port in Helsinki.

Silja uses Olympiaterminalen on the mainland while the Viking ships docks on the Skatudden side. But those are for Viking and Silja only if I'm not mistaken. Cruise ships usually dock a bit further out. Ärtholmen is quite common, which is a 45 min walk from the central parts (or a short tram ride).

The ferry port where I arrived in Visby was a considerable walk from
the historic area, but again it was doable. I don't know whether there
is public transportation; there definitely are taxis (probably rather
expensive).

I guess we have different definitions of what considerable means. I'd say it's a pretty easy walk, about 1.5 km. There are buses to and from the port, but their schedule is set to match the ferries from the mainland, so probably of little use to cruise passengers. But maybe the cruise company has hired some buses.

prior to that they used a berth slightly closer to the Old Town than
the ferry port

Smaller ships sometimes used a berth close to the old crane. But if it was occupied they used tenders. Larger ships always used tenders, which could take some time.

(I remember one busy summer morning when I was watching the traffic in the port on my way home. A large cruise ship was in the process of transporting their passengers, a few tenders arrived before they had to stop and wait for a ferry, then a couple more tenders until a Coast guard ship departed, then a few more until the ferry I was on left for the mainland. It must have taken ages to get all passengers to the shore.)

Thanks to all for comments and suggestions.

Additional question on cash tipping...on the final night of cruise, Rick talks about possibly giving cash tips to favorite waiters and stewards....would Euros be the best currency to give? I know that there is some required/automatic tipping already.

thanks
Mike

When Rick started talking about cruising in his book which was written years ago, the mandatory gratuities were quite a bit less than they are now. You need to know that you are under no obligation to tip any additional amount. If you choose to, fine, but it is not required. A typical couple already is paying around $32 a day in gratuities, not counting some additional that may be on drinks. Euros would make sense for your trip, but I would also check to see what the currency of the ship is. Often the onboard currency of a US line will remain in dollars even when in Europe.

Thank you so much! I saw that there is the mandatory tipping that is "spread around", but my wife and I like to see the smiles from the people we hand a tip to.
And a few extra euros or dollars given out won't make a big difference to us, but could help that staff member out.

I will have US dollars and lots of euros for this trip-

Love the forum for all the great comments and suggestions!

Except in Norway, which is so cash-averse that it's hard to find an ATM in Oslo, you'll have ready access to ATMs dispensing the local currency. There's no need to carry around a lot of cash.

Tips: To insure prompt service...

So a little up front money pays off!

Thanks for the help.
Mike

We took a Baltic cruise on the NCL Dawn last year (plus time in Stockholm and Copenhagen on each end) and it was one of our favorite trips. The Baltic Sea is one of those places that really lends itself to cruising. We are not usually fans of the ship sponsored excursions but we did use one in Klaipeda and felt it was the best use of our time there. The one we did was the Witch's Hill that takes you by ferry over to the Curonian Split. It also included a stop at a pretty village on the water and a stop at the beach to see the impressive sand dunes. We also took a ship's excursion from the port in Gdynia to Gdansk and were very happy with it. We were supposed to dock in Kotka but were diverted to Hamina. Nothing much there but the townspeople did put on some costumed performances that made for a nice experience.

We stayed in Warnemunde for the day rather than go into Berlin as we felt it was too far. We really enjoyed Warnemunde, which was an easy DIY day walking off the ship and right into town. Riga, Tallinn and Visby are all easy DIY and just walk off the ship ports. You don't need any transportation to reach these towns from the ship. When we were in Hamburg on a separate trip we went to Minature Wunderland and would recommend it highly. You will need transport to get into town in Helsinki but it is an easy DIY port. Same for Copenhagen. Have a wonderful trip.

BTW, the sail out from Stockholm is beautiful and takes about an hour and a half to reach the Baltic Sea from the city. The sail into Oslo is also lovely. Don't be put off by the approach to Riga. It is very industrial looking at first but the city is much prettier.

Thank you LetsJustGo for the comments. We are looking forward to the trip and will take your suggestion on the sail out and the sail ins! We have never done a ocean cruise, so I need all the help I can get. And the forum is great for suggestions.

Be safe all!
Mike