Baltic Ports on your own

[CaliforniaCastaway]

We are on the upcoming 7/10 Baltic cruise. Other than St. Petersberg (booked with Anastasia) and Berlin (DCL port adventure), we've decided to do Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn on our own to save a little money.

Does anyone know the specific locations where the Magic will be docking? I am hoping we will be close to the main attractions at each of these ports.

I've seen posts about a DCL shuttle into the center of town. Will they have shuttles for the 7/10 cruise?

Does anyone have suggestions for an itinerary in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn? We are two adults and two teenagers. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to plan all of this on my own.

 

[aggiedog]

You're leaving in 4 days? That's cutting it close! Get on Tripadvisor and cruisecritic.com and read, read, read. Consider having Rick Steves Baltic Cruise book overnighted to you. He has walking tours with directions and explanations for all the ports.

We did the 7 day cruise leaving May 30. We stayed in Copenhagen for 3 days prior. I'm not sure how long you have there, and I have no idea where the shuttle takes you. You could easily just poke up and down the walking zone (Stroget) which is full of stores, restaurants, and public squares. It is anchored on one end by the city hall plaza and the other by a large department store that is kitty corner and up half a block from Nyhaven, the tourist area you see on post cards. Tivoli is fun, and has one ride that I'm pretty sure wouldn't even be legal in the US. If you're into thrills go on the airplanes that are spinning around on the really long arms. There is a free walking tour that starts in the city hall plaza at 11:00 and ends up towards Nyhaven. We really enjoyed that too.

We arranged a wonderful private walking/food tour in Tallinn. You could easily walk Tallinn on your own, but it is a warren, so might be easy to get lost without at least a written guide or map.

Stockholm had free shuttles that dropped you off just a block or two away from the main sights. It would be very easy to do on your own. Gamla Stan (the old city) and the island with all the museums are very close. The Vasa museum was really interesting. There are also canal tours you can take from near the drop off point.

We did a DCL excursion in Helsinki that took us out of town, so I can't comment on the shuttle or sights there.

DCL did not pre-advertise the shuttles for our cruise either. I think it would be safe to assume there will be shuttles for yours.

 

[CaliforniaCastaway]

Thank you! Yep, got the Rick Steves book, which has a ton of information. Stockholm looks very easy on your own, and I already booked the Ice Bar. Tallinn seems easy too.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Stockholm: another vote for the Vasa museum. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g189852-d208277-Reviews-Vasa_Museum-Stockholm.html

Copenhagen has a great public bus system.

 

[adamki]

In Copenhagen the pier where I usually see cruise ships is to the north of the city center, not far from the Little Mermaid statue. Some things to do:

• The Rosenborg Castle in Kongens Have houses a Royal Museum and the Crown Jewels
• You have to go to Nyhavn to take some photos, you could do a canal tour from there.
• If you are into military history, visit the Royal Danish Arsenal Museum
• You could go to Tivoli if you like amusement parks, personally, I'd pass on it.

 

[Four Swampers]

Just did DCL Baltic with two teens.

Copenhagen. Walk the pedestrian street filled with shops; buy Copenhagen tshirt at Disney store, the only Disney store in Scandinavia. Walk to Little Mermaid statue, which faces land. Walk to Nyhaven, get a coffee from a cafe and sit at one of their outdoor tables. Also at Nyhaven, take a canal boat ride.

Tallinn. Very easy walk to Old Town. Walk around and enjoy the sights. Churches and stunning medieval architecture. All the buildings are now restaurants and souvenir shops. Beautiful nonetheless. Consider lunch at Olde Hansa restaurant. Despit being medieval themed with costumed servers, the food was great, as was the beer. Order the "Strong beer with herbs." That's the name. "Strong beer with herbs." Our Palo server is from Tallinn, and she recommended we eat there.

Stockholm. Take shuttle into town, which deposits you by Gamla Stan, or Old Quarter. From there, walk a half mile or so to the Vasa museum. Spend one or two hours there. Then walk a quarter mile to the ferry that takes you to Gamla Stan. Walk around Gamla Stan just like you walked around Tallinn's Old Town. Look into a tour of the palace. Consider booking before you go. Also, you might tour palace first, then the Vasa, then ferry back to Gamla Stan, then walk Gamla Stan, then shuttle back to ship. Sounds confusing, but it will make sense when you get there.

I can't help with Helsinki, as we took DCL trip to Porvoo. Consider visiting the outdoor food/farmer's market. Do an internet search for the Andrew Zimmern show where he visited Finland / Helsinki.

 

[CaliforniaCastaway]

Just did DCL Baltic with two teens.

Copenhagen. Walk the pedestrian street filled with shops; buy Copenhagen tshirt at Disney store, the only Disney store in Scandinavia. Walk to Little Mermaid statue, which faces land. Walk to Nyhaven, get a coffee from a cafe and sit at one of their outdoor tables. Also at Nyhaven, take a canal boat ride.

Tallinn. Very easy walk to Old Town. Walk around and enjoy the sights. Churches and stunning medieval architecture. All the buildings are now restaurants and souvenir shops. Beautiful nonetheless. Consider lunch at Olde Hansa restaurant. Despit being medieval themed with costumed servers, the food was great, as was the beer. Order the "Strong beer with herbs." That's the name. "Strong beer with herbs." Our Palo server is from Tallinn, and she recommended we eat there.

Stockholm. Take shuttle into town, which deposits you by Gamla Stan, or Old Quarter. From there, walk a half mile or so to the Vasa museum. Spend one or two hours there. Then walk a quarter mile to the ferry that takes you to Gamla Stan. Walk around Gamla Stan just like you walked around Tallinn's Old Town. Look into a tour of the palace. Consider booking before you go. Also, you might tour palace first, then the Vasa, then ferry back to Gamla Stan, then walk Gamla Stan, then shuttle back to ship. Sounds confusing, but it will make sense when you get there.

I can't help with Helsinki, as we took DCL trip to Porvoo. Consider visiting the outdoor food/farmer's market. Do an internet search for the Andrew Zimmern show where he visited Finland / Helsinki.

Thanks for the tips! Love the idea of Copenhagen t-shirts from the Disney Store. We got them at the Disney store in Venice in 2013. Canal boat ride sounds great too. I'm also thinking about the Abba museum in Stockholm. My teens would probably prefer that over Skansen. Lunch in Tallinn sounds great.

 

[Four Swampers]

ABBA museum is between Vasa museum and the ferry. After Vasa, walk to ABBA museum. Then walk another ten yards, turn right on Allmanna Grand and get the ferry to Gamla Stan. Between Vasa and ABBA is the Spirits Museum (alcohol, not ghosts). Next to the ferry is Stockholm's version of Tivoli

Speaking of: I would suggest going into Tivoli in Copenhagen and walking aroun. Entrance, without any rides, is only around $15. Fun to see the park that inspired Walt Disney. You will never look at Disney World's Crystal Palace the same after walking through Tivoli.

 

[CaliforniaCastaway]

ABBA museum is between Vasa museum and the ferry. After Vasa, walk to ABBA museum. Then walk another ten yards, turn right on Allmanna Grand and get the ferry to Gamla Stan. Between Vasa and ABBA is the Spirits Museum (alcohol, not ghosts). Next to the ferry is Stockholm's version of Tivoli

Speaking of: I would suggest going into Tivoli in Copenhagen and walking aroun. Entrance, without any rides, is only around $15. Fun to see the park that inspired Walt Disney. You will never look at Disney World's Crystal Palace the same after walking through Tivoli.

I can't thank you enough for these tips. Did you need cash Krona for the ferry? I was only planning on taking Euros.

 

[abayaflowers]

We used this site to find out what recommendations are for DIY transportation at all the ports; then, I cross-referenced it with TripAdvisor. http://cruiseportwiki.com. I am a big fan of TripAdvisor and have always helped us in the past.

I, also, used this site to research where the ship should be docked. Then, verified it with each official port website.

Then, to determine how busy the port will be and what days we will be when, I checked on http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/Disney_Cruise_Line/Disney_Magic/July_2015/

 

[Four Swampers]

Credit card worked for ferry, and pretty much everywhere. AAA has all the currencies. We got euros, Danish kroner, and Swedish kroner., and rubles. After each country, we used leftover currency to pay our onboard charges. DCL gave us a good exchange on the kroner when we paid our bill. Their euro rate was lousy, so we just kept the euros.

 

[CaliforniaCastaway]

We used this site to find out what recommendations are for DIY transportation at all the ports; then, I cross-referenced it with TripAdvisor. http://cruiseportwiki.com. I am a big fan of TripAdvisor and have always helped us in the past.

I, also, used this site to research where the ship should be docked. Then, verified it with each official port website.

Then, to determine how busy the port will be and what days we will be when, I checked on http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/Disney_Cruise_Line/Disney_Magic/July_2015/

Great information! This will help so much in planning our day and coordinating transportation in advance.

 

[paddles]

Does Disney have currency exchange onboard? I'd like to get a few Danish Krone and Russian Roubles if needed.

 

[aggiedog]

Yes, you can get local currency. I believe there is a limit on how much you can get, but most everywhere takes credit cards so we just used the local currency for incidentals.

 

[TACK]

I did foreign exchange using my key to the world card and charged it to my cabin at guest relations and was able to change it back at the same rate (save the receipt). I ended up not using the cash (used my credit card) but it was nice to have just in case. We mostly used credit cards. In Russia, I took no money out, used my credit card and paid for our tours and tips with US cash (crisp bills).

When we arrived in Copenhagen we mostly walked everywhere and went to the Tivoli - so much fun. For Tallin, Disney provided a bus to the town, which we took. For St. Petersburg we booked through SPB Tours (great experience with them), for Helsinki we took the bus provided that dropped us central. For Stockholm, we took the Hop on Hop off, because we wanted a general tour of everything around Stockholm (here's a tip - sit to the right as you can't see the stop numbers on the left and they don't really announce them). We ended up getting off and going to the Skansen Museum for most of the day and after just walked over to the ABBA museum. We got the HOHO bus back to the ship. It's a great experience. Enjoy your holiday!

 

[paddles]

We ended up getting off and going to the Skansen Museum for most of the day and after just walked over to the ABBA museum.

What did you think of Skansen? We're spending 2 1/2 pre-days in Stockholm before the cruise and planning to go to Skansen one afternoon. It looks really fun (and educational) for the kids.

I'd like to pay with credit cards as much as possible. When we're on the cruise, we'll be doing an ABD add-on, so I don't think we'll need a lot of cash but not sure whether we'll see ATMs to withdraw money if we need it. So, I'll wait to change a little money on the boat if needed. thanks!

 

[TACK]

What did you think of Skansen? We're spending 2 1/2 pre-days in Stockholm before the cruise and planning to go to Skansen one afternoon. It looks really fun (and educational) for the kids.

I'd like to pay with credit cards as much as possible. When we're on the cruise, we'll be doing an ABD add-on, so I don't think we'll need a lot of cash but not sure whether we'll see ATMs to withdraw money if we need it. So, I'll wait to change a little money on the boat if needed. thanks!

We really enjoyed Skansen. It's a farm, museum, zoo. Lots of walking around but I found it peaceful and relaxing. We paid extra to go visit the lemurs that you can see with them being loose and walking around you. Although for the price, I wouldn't do it again. My daughter always wanted to be up close to a lemur so that is why we did it. If I'm not mistaken, you are also within walking distance to the Vasa museum and ABBA museum which we just went inside to take a look at.

After this trip, I'm not sure about ATM's. I did okay on one in Copenhagen but not so good in Iceland. Sometimes the ATM's have an English option but the one Iceland did not and I ended up taking out Cdn $400 instead of Cdn $40. Converting in my head does not work. Thankfully in Iceland they have an actual Bank inside the airport so I was able to get my Canadian $ back before I left Iceland (instead of having a pocketful of Icelandic kronas). Lesson learned. Enjoy your trip!

 

[michellekcm]

What did you think of Skansen? We're spending 2 1/2 pre-days in Stockholm before the cruise and planning to go to Skansen one afternoon. It looks really fun (and educational) for the kids.

We did Skansen as part of our Port Adventure, and loved it. We could easily have spent all day there.

We also did Junibacken - the Astrid Lingren inspired children's storybook museum, where kids can play in Pippi Longstocking's house. If you have a spare hour or so that was fun too, depending on how old your children are.

 

[tink too]

We're also planning to do Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen on our own, so these tips are really appreciated.

 

[SharonT]

I did foreign exchange using my key to the world card and charged it to my cabin at guest relations and was able to change it back at the same rate (save the receipt). I ended up not using the cash (used my credit card) but it was nice to have just in case. We mostly used credit cards. In Russia, I took no money out, used my credit card and paid for our tours and tips with US cash (crisp bills).

When we arrived in Copenhagen we mostly walked everywhere and went to the Tivoli - so much fun. For Tallin, Disney provided a bus to the town, which we took. For St. Petersburg we booked through SPB Tours (great experience with them), for Helsinki we took the bus provided that dropped us central. For Stockholm, we took the Hop on Hop off, because we wanted a general tour of everything around Stockholm (here's a tip - sit to the right as you can't see the stop numbers on the left and they don't really announce them). We ended up getting off and going to the Skansen Museum for most of the day and after just walked over to the ABBA museum. We got the HOHO bus back to the ship. It's a great experience. Enjoy your holiday!

Do you find that it makes a difference to tip in US currency? Is that something that is really appreciated?