Is it common for local tour guides to pick up at cruise ships? How far is the old city of Bruges from the area where the ships anchor? What about Berlin, Visby, Sweden,Riga, Latvia, Tallinn, EStonia, Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm? Abelle
Don't know the answers to these particular ports, but suggest that you go to the cruisecritic website and check the forums there. They have a lot of good info re: cruises.
Have you tried TripAdvisor? This site is 99% land folks.
I can help with 3 of your ports of call:
Talinn, Estonia -the ship docks within easy walking distance of the old town. There will also be vendors of local crafts and food that set up almost on the dock. Helsinki - it is about 3 miles to the city center; our cruise ship offered bus transportation (not an excursion); some people walked. Stockholm - depends on which international pier your ship docks at. If it is the one close to old town and city center, a water taxi stops about 300 yards down the dock from the cruise ship.
Anabelle,i like cruising too, but Charlie is correct, this is not a good cruising board ,, the information a cruiser needs is different then a land visitor. Strongly suggest you check out the cruisecritics.com forums, they are great.. you can find specific forums for each cruise line , each type of cruise, each port even. Way better answers normally.