Baltic & St Petersburg

[wakelover]

I would be most interested to hear from folk who have been on these cruises....

Just wondered what Berlin, Tallin etc were like.

Also what was the weather like when you went please?

Many thanks

Wakie xxxx

[chyanmor]

I would be most interested to hear from folk who have been on these cruises....

Just wondered what Berlin, Tallin etc were like.

Also what was the weather like when you went please?

Many thanks

Wakie xxxx

I too would also be interested my wife is desserting me to go a Stockholm - Talin - St Petersburg cruise in July..and I will be home alone tearssm

[Jim]

Been to Oslo Stockholm Copenhagan Gothenberg Wisby Helsinki St Petersburg Tallin any questions I will do my best to answer.happysm

[wakelover]

Hello Jimbo

I just wondered what the ports were like... I dont really know what to expect.

Also the weather...???? happysm

Tallin and St. Petersburg out of your list please bighug

[Baltic Fleet]

In Stockholm the Vasa Museum is a definate must see including the City Hall, the Gamla Stan. In Helsinki Finland Sibelius's famous memorial and the Lutheran cathedral, the Olympic stadium, the Temppeliaukio church that's built underground including the central railway station. the Old Town in Talinn up on top of the hill with the parliament building, St Olav's church and the Alexander Nevsky cathedral amongst other things. In St Petersburg there's the church of the Saviour on Blood, the Peter and Paul fortress, the Peterhof, Catherine Palace, Winter Palace, the Alexander Palace and Pavlosk, the Palace Square, not forgetting the Aurora battleship and during the evenings you can see both the ballet or the folklore festival the latter which is superb as is the Russian champagne during the interval.

In Copenhagen there's the Little Mermaid, the Opera House, Tivoli, Carlsberg Brewery, Gefion Fountain, the Stock Exchange building, Nyhavn, Rosenborg Castle, the Marble Church, Amalienborg Palace.

So I hope this helps???

[Jim]

Hi Wakie
We were there in July two weeks of super weather hotter than the Caribbean we were told.
Tallin is a nice city there is a new cruise terminal and its an easy walk into the city there is a large shopping mall just outside the docks where ferries from Helsinki do good business with Finns on booze trips.A lot of Estonians speak a bit of English because they were able to pick up tv signals from Finland and watched stuff like Monty Python etc.Tallins architecture still shows its Soviet roots with the more modern buildings but there are a lot of the old wooden constructed houses still in evidence.
St petersburg
So much been written too much to see and do in two days which most cruise ships are in port.Its a mixture of poverty and opulence where we were docked it was pretty much like a slum area we were docked alongside Arcadia. the amount of restoration in the centre is impressive but you do have to be careful there are a lot of people trying to sell you things on the streets.I am not sure if the way they handle cruise passengers is still the same today as it was in 2005 we had to have our passports photocopied onboard and given to the authorities there were two army officers onboard who stamped your passport and gave you a visa which you had to hand in on your return onboard so it took a fair bit of organising all the passengers off and on.However saying that well worth the visit we did'nt see everything we wanted to and will go back again at some point.I know a few others here on the site have also been Im sure they can add their comments.Some pics on my album Thomson Celebration
Any specific question will do my best to answer. happysm

[P1TKL]

We did the Baltic last summer. You have just had 2 great answers to your questions above from Jim and BF..dont think there`s much more I can add. The weather was very mixed...a bit like an English summer...it was never very hot though...thats something I really missed being a sun worshipper !

Loads of bureacracy in St Petersburg still...forms to fill in for visas and copies of passports needed. The officers at passport control were positively scary !!!!

[sueB]

Not been, but on my list! sailsm

[sparkieplug24]

Wakie Tallinn was one of my favourite ports and must admit I preffered it to St Petersburg if Im honest. Its a very pretty place lots of hills but very walkable and some superb views over the city. Dont forget when you walk up to see the russian church (cant remember its name) to walk past here to see the traditional estonian building which I cant remember what it was but the Russian church was put in front of it to remind the people of Tallinn and Estonia as a whole that the Russians where a mighty force. Beautiful place want to go back infact I am desperate to go back happysm

Im going to be honest here with you St Peterburg is in places a truely magnificent and beautiful place. However to get to many of these places you have to travel through the residential areas and the poverty we witness particularly on heading out towards peterhof was terrible the clothes they had on washinglines etc I have thrown out better floor clothes lets just say.

Where else would you be stopping/docking if you went

Stockholm is great tell her to visit the old town and then the town hall which is walkable to from the old town I did it got lost but did it anyway. I never did the tour of the town hall but went up the tower which was magnificent but if doing this take the lift as far as it goes and then walk the rest some idiot (me) decided we would just walk the whole way when we did it mum was so impressed with me I can tell you giggle

[wakelover]

Thanks everyone bighug

Lots of info there to digest.... just wondering whether to do this, a Norway/Artic cruise or the Greek Isles confusedsmiconfusedsmiconfusedsmi

Decisions, decisions confusedsmi

[sueB]

Thanks everyone bighug

Lots of info there to digest.... just wondering whether to do this, a Norway/Artic cruise or the Greek Isles confusedsmiconfusedsmiconfusedsmi

Decisions, decisions confusedsmi

Both sound good sailsm

I take it this is for a replacement for your September cruise? munchessm

I personally can't wait to sample east coast USA and Canada in August.

Perhaps I'll do Norway/Arctic or Greek islands in 2011 as 2010 is pretty much accounted for! giggle So much to choose from surprisesmi

[Old Neptune]

This a bit of a late reply but it still may be of some use. We cruised the Baltic in May of this year. The weather was surprisingly good, quite warm, and only rained once for part of the day.
The immigration process at St Petersburg is much improved with the opening of the new cruise port. It is huge, buy only part finished and could only accommodate two ships when we were there. The processing of passports seems potentially very good, but as we were only the second ship to call the staff were still finding their feet. The process was much improved on the second day.
There are a few pics of the new port and terminal buildings on my Picasa site, along with several of each port visited. Tallin is delightful, and the remaining pics, all captioned, should give a good idea of the other ports. Follow this link
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PadraigSleibhin/AuroraR903TheBaltic4th18thMay2009#

[wakelover]

Great Piccies Old Neptune.. thanks for sharing. I must admit the weather was a main concern so nice to know you had sunshine. It looks an interesting place to visit overall... thanks again for the info.