Baltic Excursions

Thanks to everyone on their comments about the Crown Princess. I can't
wait to do my Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will be with
us. We'll be doing Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn,
Gdansk and St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore excursions?

Thanks!

~Rick

www.greenlight-travel.com

(Green*Light*Travel) wrote:

Thanks to everyone on their comments about
the Crown Princess. I can't wait to do my
Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will
be with us. We'll be doing Copenhagen,
Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn, Gdansk and
St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore
excursions?

Thanks!We did the same ports last mont on the Star Princess. The only
real complaint was that the 10 days seemed to go by so fast.

Some suggestions.

St. Petersburg----use one of the private tour companies. We used Alla
and were very happy with the service. DenRus and Red October also seem
to get very good reviews.

Stockholm---the Vasa museum is a must see.

Talinn---definitely go on your own. We used Rick Steves' Scandanavia to
do their walking tour. In fact I would recommend that book as a good
start for research in the Scandinavian ports.

Helsinki---the Temppeliauko Church was impressive. It is a church carved
out of rock with a roof that is a 13 mile long coil of copper.

Oslo---I would recommend the sculpture park, Frogner Park.

I hope this is helpful to you. I'm sure you will find more with your own
research. Our cruise director, John Lawrence, gave a talk each day
before a port about the attractions. I believe Princess sells a dvd of
his very informative lectures.

we're doing the same itinerary next summer. it's a very full day port
intensive itinerary.
having cruised with our son since he was 2 I would be a bit concerned about
full days with a 3 yr old. especially in st petersburg. i would try to do
a private tour and not make it as packed as most will. usually it's a 8am
to 5pm day both days!! in and out of museums, churches etc.
the other ports you can do on your own on tailor to how your child is
reacting
sheree
"Green Light Travel" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks to everyone on their comments about the Crown Princess. I can't
wait to do my Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will be with
us. We'll be doing Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn,
Gdansk and St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore excursions?

Thanks!

~Rick

www.greenlight-travel.com

(Jeff Gersten) of WebTV Subscriber wrote:

(Green*Light*Travel) wrote:

Thanks to everyone on their comments about
the Crown Princess. I can't wait to do my
Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will
be with us. We'll be doing Copenhagen,
Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn, Gdansk and
St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore
excursions?
I got back a couple of weeks ago from a Baltic cruise with Fred Olsen which
did some of those ports.

St. Petersburg----use one of the private tour companies. We used Alla
and were very happy with the service. DenRus and Red October also seem
to get very good reviews.
Seconded. We used Denrus and were very pleased, got to do at least twice as
much as people on ships excursions. St Petersburg is very much museums,
palaces and churches. One exception is a canal boat trip, about an hour.
Unfortunately it was cold and raining when we did ours, but if you have
better weather it would be worthwhile.

Helsinki---the Temppeliauko Church was impressive. It is a church carved
out of rock with a roof that is a 13 mile long coil of copper.
It is impressive, but not so sure it's for a three year old. The Sibelius
monument probably would interest a child, and it's set in a park where he
can run around. Don't miss coffee and cinnamon rolls at the Regatta cafe on
the shore on the far side of the road from the Sibelius monument.
If you decide to go out to the island of Suomenlina then make sure you set
off early in the day; the sailings around lunch time were jam packed full on
a Saturday.
Day public transport tickets are 6 Euros for adults from the tourist
information office.

Oslo---I would recommend the sculpture park, Frogner Park.
I also enjoyed the sculpture park, but the outdoor museum of culture with
lots of old buildings was even better. Some of the buildings have the
interiors set up too, your child would probably like the old sweet shop.
For kids the best attraction is probably the Viking boat museum, which is
pretty much adjacent to the culture museum.
Buy a public transport day ticket in the 7-11 store, no need to pay
excursion fees as everything is in easy reach. And the ATMs are in the same
stores (weird setup, couldn't find ATMs at the banks!).

Gdansk
Are you docking at Gdynia? If so then it's about 20 miles to Gdansk. Our
ship had a shuttle bus from the dock into Gdynia town. Get some currency
from an ATM, buy some sweets in the covered market to get some change, then
go to the station and put an extortionate 4 zlotys (bit less than a pound)
into the machine to buy your train ticket into Gdansk. The machines have
English, you just need to spot 'billetje' or something like that to find
them.
We wandered around the rebuilt town centre looking at replicas of the old
buildings, including a very interesting '15th century' crane. There are
boat trips up the river which goes to the place where the first shots were
fired in the second world war, and past where Solidarity began.
Unfortunately commentary was only in Polish, I'd been hoping it would be in
German too.
--
Those who are mentally and emotionally healthy are those who have learned
when to say yes, when to say no and when to say whoopee. W.S. Krabill
Steph Peters delete invalid from lid
Tatting, lace & stitching page http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm

On Sep 25, 6:40 pm, Steph Peters
wrote:
(Jeff Gersten) of WebTV Subscriber wrote:

(Green Light Travel) wrote:

Thanks to everyone on their comments about
the Crown Princess. I can't wait to do my
Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will
be with us. We'll be doing Copenhagen,
Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn, Gdansk and
St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore
excursions?

I got back a couple of weeks ago from a Baltic cruise with Fred Olsen which
did some of those ports.

St. Petersburg----use one of the private tour companies. We used Alla
and were very happy with the service. DenRus and Red October also seem
to get very good reviews.

Seconded. We used Denrus and were very pleased, got to do at least twice as
much as people on ships excursions. St Petersburg is very much museums,
palaces and churches. One exception is a canal boat trip, about an hour.
Unfortunately it was cold and raining when we did ours, but if you have
better weather it would be worthwhile.

Helsinki---the Temppeliauko Church was impressive. It is a church carved
out of rock with a roof that is a 13 mile long coil of copper.

It is impressive, but not so sure it's for a three year old. The Sibelius
monument probably would interest a child, and it's set in a park where he
can run around. Don't miss coffee and cinnamon rolls at the Regatta cafe on
the shore on the far side of the road from the Sibelius monument.
If you decide to go out to the island of Suomenlina then make sure you set
off early in the day; the sailings around lunch time were jam packed full on
a Saturday.
Day public transport tickets are 6 Euros for adults from the tourist
information office.

Oslo---I would recommend the sculpture park, Frogner Park.

I also enjoyed the sculpture park, but the outdoor museum of culture with
lots of old buildings was even better. Some of the buildings have the
interiors set up too, your child would probably like the old sweet shop.
For kids the best attraction is probably the Viking boat museum, which is
pretty much adjacent to the culture museum.
Buy a public transport day ticket in the 7-11 store, no need to pay
excursion fees as everything is in easy reach. And the ATMs are in the same
stores (weird setup, couldn't find ATMs at the banks!).

Gdansk
Are you docking at Gdynia? If so then it's about 20 miles to Gdansk. Our
ship had a shuttle bus from the dock into Gdynia town. Get some currency
from an ATM, buy some sweets in the covered market to get some change, then
go to the station and put an extortionate 4 zlotys (bit less than a pound)
into the machine to buy your train ticket into Gdansk. The machines have
Awesome suggestions, guys! I appreciate it!


English, you just need to spot 'billetje' or something like that to find
them.
We wandered around the rebuilt town centre looking at replicas of the old
buildings, including a very interesting '15th century' crane. There are
boat trips up the river which goes to the place where the first shots were
fired in the second world war, and past where Solidarity began.
Unfortunately commentary was only in Polish, I'd been hoping it would be in
German too.
--
Those who are mentally and emotionally healthy are those who have learned
when to say yes, when to say no and when to say whoopee. W.S. Krabill
Steph Peters delete invalid from
Tatting, lace & stitching page http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm

Stockholm has an amusement park that might be fun. Hard Rock Cafe for
t-shirts.

In Copenhagen, walk to see the Little Mermaid, then wander down to Nyhavn,
and then walk to Tivoli Garden. Grab a taxi back it it's too much walking.
Tivoli Garden has a Hard Rock.

Tallin was just a fun walking around place. Old timey city.

Oslo has a beautiful port area and you can wander the streets and find some
nice stores. Get a nice Norwegian sweater. Also has a Hard Rock.

St. Petersburg... unless you do either Red October or Denrus, just stick
with the ship excursions.

Helsinki... didn't care for Helsinki. Found it kind of boring.

--Tom

"Green Light Travel" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks to everyone on their comments about the Crown Princess. I can't
wait to do my Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will be with
us. We'll be doing Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn,
Gdansk and St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore excursions?

Thanks!

~Rick

www.greenlight-travel.com

On Sep 24, 9:38?pm, Green Light Travel wrote:
Thanks to everyone on their comments about the Crown Princess. I can't
wait to do my Baltic cruise. My wife and three-year-old will be with
us. We'll be doing Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Talinn,
Gdansk and St. Petersburg.

Ok guys...what are your suggestions for shore excursions?

Thanks!

~Rick

www.greenlight-travel.com

Helsinki has a wonderful zoo on Korkesaari Island, just a short ferry
ride from the harbor. Your little three-year-old may enjoy both the
zoo and the ferry!

~Anka

(Tom*K) wrote:

St. Petersburg... unless you do either Red
October or Denrus, just stick with the ship
excursions.

I would add Alla as a third possibility. We used her services and were
very happy with them

Helsinki... didn't care for Helsinki. Found it
kind of boring..

I agree, but, as another poster mentioned, there is supposed to be avery
good zoo. This might be the highlight for a three year old.

Actually, I would think that all the cities might entail too much time
and walking for a three year old. Some attractions that might hold a
child's attention are the Vasa Museum in Stockholm and the Viking Museum
in Oslo.