Copenhagen Pre-cruise hotel and Cruise excursion rec.

I just booked a 10-day Scandinavia/Russia cruise in June on Holland America.
I would appreciate hearing any hotel recommendations for a pre-cruise stay
and also excursions to take during the cruise itself. Thank you.

Hi, mac1,

We did that cruise last July on the ms Rotterdam. I am kicking myself, as I
just checked my travel folder for that trip & see I never finished my cruise
review + port reports. However, please feel free to email me privately, and
I will be happy to furnish the half-baked version + answer any questions you
may have.

We did all of the ports independently--not hard in that part of the world if
you like that sort of thing. The one tour we booked was with a third-party
operator for St. Petersburg--we chose Denrus, others are highly regarded, as
well. I heartily recommend an independent operator in that setting if you
are the type of traveler who prefers that sort of arrangement.

We stayed over in Copenhagen post-cruise and got the Marriott for $95USD on
Priceline. There is a lot of discussion about that hotel coming up
frequently on the Baltics forum at www.cruisecritic.com (a great place for
all kinds of info & tips). The property worked out nicely for us.

I realize you didn't mention which port you will enjoy pre-cruise, so I
could be off-base in talking about Copenhagen. We embarked in Rotterdam, but
had done our pre-cruise in Amsterdam & The Hague, so can't recommend a hotel
there. Of course, tripadvisor.com is awesome when it comes to sorting out
hotel choices.

I hope one of our regulars shows up to point you to his report of that same
cruise last summer 2005 -- Buddy, are you listening? If not, I'll come back
later and find it in the archives. He did a beautiful website of that trip
with photos and text. Great read, very informative.

Best regards, happy trip research & planning,

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
Hi, mac1,

We did that cruise last July on the ms Rotterdam. I am kicking myself, as
I just checked my travel folder for that trip & see I never finished my
cruise review + port reports. However, please feel free to email me
privately, and I will be happy to furnish the half-baked version + answer
any questions you may have.

We did all of the ports independently--not hard in that part of the world
if you like that sort of thing. The one tour we booked was with a
third-party operator for St. Petersburg--we chose Denrus, others are
highly regarded, as well. I heartily recommend an independent operator in
that setting if you are the type of traveler who prefers that sort of
arrangement.

We stayed over in Copenhagen post-cruise and got the Marriott for $95USD
on Priceline. There is a lot of discussion about that hotel coming up
frequently on the Baltics forum at www.cruisecritic.com (a great place for
all kinds of info & tips). The property worked out nicely for us.

I realize you didn't mention which port you will enjoy pre-cruise, so I
could be off-base in talking about Copenhagen. We embarked in Rotterdam,
but had done our pre-cruise in Amsterdam & The Hague, so can't recommend a
hotel there. Of course, tripadvisor.com is awesome when it comes to
sorting out hotel choices.

I hope one of our regulars shows up to point you to his report of that
same cruise last summer 2005 -- Buddy, are you listening? If not, I'll
come back later and find it in the archives. He did a beautiful website of
that trip with photos and text. Great read, very informative.

Best regards, happy trip research & planning,

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX


Pre-cruise, we'll be staying in Copenhagen. Thanks for your tip regarding
Denrus.