Hezu

There is also Cruise Air forum that is decicated for flight related questions. And regardless, it would be much easier to help on flight related questions if you mention what are your start point and destination (and on what airline(s) if already booked). The choice of forum would hint that you going to somewhere in Northern Europe.

I think you could easily tailor a suitable tour that does not take that much time, say for example pick þingvellir from the Golden Circle itinerary and then head south to Sellfoss waterfalls and then return to Reykjavik. If Google Maps' route planning is correct that route is roughly 2h30 drive. Spend few hours on those sights and I think that might be something suitable.

Of course, if that surgery has affected also mobility, that may cause some challenges in visiting some of these sights of Icelandic nature.

Although I have no experience with any of the tour companies that offers tours in Iceland, but I would be surprised if there wouldn't be option to ask for a custom half day tour tailored for your needs.

12 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

In Helsinki it used to be the 2/3 tram that went all over the touristy locations.  I think it still runs but might be renamed. Depending on where you dock, you might want to take a cab to Market Square (stop off at the lovely stalls there in the open air market) and pick up the tram, which can take you to the rock church.   Market Square is also where you can catch the ferries to suomenlinna,  a lovely island park.

Tram lines 2 and 3 still exist and in central Helsinki still uses the traditional routes that go past many sights. However, nowadays these are no longer running 8-shaped loop, but in the northern parts of the route splits so that 2 goes to Pasila and 3 to Meilahti. And on Olympiaterminal stop the routes meet and trams on line 2 change into line 3 and trams on line 3 change into 2.

Calling Suomenlinna a park is bit of misnomer, since it is a sea fortress. And a city district with library, school, grocery store and homes. Due to the latter fact, it is a good idea to watch where you are going, the residents are not that fond of tourists trying to enter their backyards. However, there is no public transport (nor taxis) on these islands, so prepare for walking, often on cobble stone roads. Also the distance between the ferry pier and the southmost parts of the islands is reasonably long, so keep that in mind when planning your schedule, especially as the ferry schedule is not super frequent, even in the peak times I think there is no more than 4 departures/direction per hour. And if you take trams (or busses, metro and local trains) on the mainland, the same public transport tickets are valid also on the Suomenlinna ferry, the single tickets for AB zone that covers most of Helsinki (and good deal of the neighbouring cities) are valid for 80 minutes and allow unlimited changes.

As someone who is more familiar with the region I can give few comments on those tour offerings:

- Valkmusa: despite the description above, I would not say it that place is teeming with wildlife, at least not the larger animals, insects you can see for sure and some birds. Eg. couple years ago there was a pair of ospreys nesting in Valkmusa. And worth a note: the trail is for most parts duckboards since the bog is rather wet.

- Kotka & Hamina Highlights and Imperial lodge & Hamina seem to be two different basic sighseeing tours, the second one might concentrate more on the historical sights.

- Relaxing river Kumijoki (I couldn't resist to rewrite the spelling mistake, since in Finnish Kumijoki would mean rubber river!): that might be quite ok offering, although the description is bit vague on what sort of vessel is used and the exact route.

- Extreme rafting: this probably takes place further upriver where there is still few free flowing rapids (most of these on river Kymi have been turned into locations of water power plants that has been powering the pulp and paper industry), obviously white water sports is not for everyone's taste.

- Rib archipelago adventude: the archipelago around Kotka is nice, but assuming this uses one of those fast rib boats I do question if the fast speed spoils the viewing.

Couple event listings for Helsinki:

- My Helsinki

- Meteli.net (in Finnish, but I guess it might be possible to get some idea what is available and you could try online machine translators, albeit these may not cope with Finnish that well)

Also perhaps look at the centralized ticket sales services:

- Tiketti

- Ticket Master

9 hours ago, Jamietravelstheworld said:

We will be overnighting in Helsinki in July (instead of St. Petersburg). Looking for suggestions of evening activities or restaurants. Not finding much through online searches. Concert halls have no performances.

High culture venues are probably indeed closed in July as it happens to be the holiday month for most Finns, but I think there will be some popular music gigs, many in smaller venues like clubs and restaurants. It might be possible not all of these have been announced yet. And one (popular) culture option is of course cinemas. In Finland most foreign films will be shown subtitled in Finnish and Swedish rather than dubbed, so assuming you understand the original language of the movie, then it should be viable to watch also in a Finnish cinema. Couple cinema venues worth a mention are Orion and Maxim, since these have somewhat old style auditoriums with balconies. There is also outdoor cinema Kesäkino Engel, but it is not open every day and it might only start in August since nights start to get darker only then, even at the end of July sunset time in Helsinki is around 10 pm.

I'm not really a restaurant dinner eater, so I'm afraid I cannot give specific hints about restaurants, although there is quite a few of them in central Helsinki. One interesting dinner option that does pop in my mind, is the evening cruises into archipelago around Helsinki. Most of such cruises depart from the Market Square.

And one truely Finnish summer evening activity that pops into my mind is having a sauna and dip into sea or lake for a swim. In central Helsinki the easiest locations for such experience are probably Löyly (in Hernesaari, not that far from the port areas used by most cruise ships) and Allas Sea Pool (next to the Market Square, although just now the venue closed for renovations since earlier this year Viking Line cruise ferry did hit the pier next door to Allas Sea Pool causing some damage also to the latter). Of course, there exists quite a number of alternative sauna locations in Helsinki (and surroundings).

Not sure about North Sea, but on Baltic Sea May has been one of the calmer months, Finnish Meteorological Institute's statistics tell that on Finnish waters during time period of 2006-2021 there has been on average 0.6 stormy days in May and on many years there hasn't been any. And the definition of stormy day here is that at least one of the weather stations report winds stronger than 21 m/s.

Most cruise ships will indeed use the quays at Hernesaari and the immediate neighbourhood there is rather boring. For time being it is somewhat industrial area, albeit there are plans to redevelop the area with new housing and extend the tram lines to cover the whole length of the peninsula. Probably the closest point of interest to the quays is Löyly sauna and restaurant complex (it is the building shown next to the number 1 in the map that is found if you follow the link listed in the earlier answer). Worth a note that it seems that on most days Löyly opens rather late: restaurant side at 11 o'clock, sauna side opening times are more varied, but on weekdays the opening times are in afternoon.

The nearest market place is at Hietalahti (again on that map, Hietalahti market hall is the building NNE from the Hernesaari) and I guess it is sufficiently close that you could walk there if you want to, but it is less tourist oriented place compared to the main market square, which is further away and thus most people probably want to take some sort of transportation rather than walk there. I would guess most cruise lines have arranged some sort of shuttle busses for their customers to get closer to that part of city and then there is always the option to use the Helsinki region's quite extensive public transport to travel around the city. See HSL website for further information on the public transportation (busses, trams, metro and local trains + Suomenlinna ferry).

On 3/5/2022 at 2:43 AM, shetravels said:

Sky Princessis eliminating Helsinki and St. Petersburg (May 14) and adding an overnight in Copenhagen and Warnemunde for Berlin.

I'm bit surprised that they dropped Helsinki. Sure, Finland has border with Russia and there is political tensions, but so far nothing indicates that the war would spread this direction. Of course, if the original itinary was something like Helsinki-St.Petersburg-Tallinn or the other way around, skipping St.Petersburg and going directly from Helsinki to Tallinn (or vice versa) might not fall in the usual cruise schedule of arriving in the morning and leaving in the evening since the journey across the Gulf of Finland takes just couple hours.

And regarding potential alternative ports in the Baltic, I think city of Turku in Southwestern Finland could be a decent option and I'm somewhat surprised that only few cruise ships stop there. Worth a mention that quite a few ships have started their journeys on the seas from Turku as one of the leading shipyards specilizing especially in cruise ships is located in Turku.

6 hours ago, tring said:

There are normally ferries which travel between Helsinki, SPB and Tallin, so may just be some of those that had been taking place last summer (seas freeze in winter), though I do not know - it is only speculation on my part.  If so, they may not have taken tourists, which would make sense as the covid numbers have been extremely high in Russia as I think there is a lot of resistance to the vaccines.

The ferries between Helsinki and St.Petersburg have not been operating in the last couple years (due to pandemic and the related entry restrictions), but the ferries between Helsinki and Tallinn have been running almost normally (again, at times due to the entry restrictions there has been some reductions) and that includes winter time. Yes, there can be ice, but that rarely extends to the entire Finnish Gulf and even then ice breakers can assist ships to get thru the ice. And most ships operating regularly in the Baltic Sea has been built so that they can sail thru thin ice.

And perhaps worth a mention: the rail traffic between Helsinki and St.Petersburg restarted last December, however so far the Finnish entry restrictions have meant that only few Russians have been able to enter Finland and thus the trains have been quite empty. Russia has been slightly more accomodating for Finns entering Russia, although quite limited number of Finns have been interested in going to Russia lately, not least because the news have mentioned that the handling of the pandemic in Russia has been somewhat less efficient.

But if the pandemic eases and tensions between Russia and Ukraine (and other countries) don't take turn into a larger armed conflict, I guess there is chance that the traffic (including cruises) to/from Russia gets busier later this year.

I can't give any hints specific to these locations on Norwegian coast, but here is few tips on northern lights photography in general:

There isn't really any specific aurora observation sites, you can do that almost anywhere, you just need reasonably clear view to the northern sky. It also helps if there is not much light pollution, so somewhere outside cities is often better choice of location. Also further north the chances of this phenomenon occuring is more frequent. And of course, if there is thick cloud cover, there is no hope seeing any auroras regardless how good or bad space weather is just then.

For photographing auroras, you want long exposures and thus the tripod is a must. And on a moving ship tripods sadly keep the camera stable only in relation with the deck rather than the horizon.

And since photographing northern lights is activity taking place after sun has set and in October the weather will start get colder (albeit on the coast the warm sea may moderate temperatures a bit), be sure that you have enough warm clothing as getting cold can ruin any photography session.

And it depends on your interests whether it is worthwhile to bring the long telephoto, October could be still decent time to see some birds for example.

I don't know about US Sony rebates, but also worth a mention that at least in Europe there has been some offers where you get cashback offers for future lens purchases once you register your new Sony camera.

But the main reason for my reply is to mention that the A-mount adapter route has pitfalls, since there are three different types of Sony adapters:

- LA-EA3 (and old LA-EA1 for APS-C bodies) offers autofocus only with lenses with built-in AF motors (for Sony lenses the designations this means SSM and SAM)

- LA-EA4 (and old LA-EA2) can autofocus with any lens, but the caveat is that the adapter has SLT mirror and AF sensor similar to what eg. Sony A55 had, thus there is just 15 AF points and on full frame sensors these are on centre of the frame, which is much inferior compared to the native camera sensor based AF solutions that offer coverage for almost whole frame

- LA-EA5 is the latest and greatest adapter that autofocuses with any A mount AF lens and allows screw-drive AF to work without extra mirror and AF sensor, however the full AF capacity works only on select newer camera bodies (A6600, A7R IV, A1, A7 IV), on other cameras it works like LA-EA3.

Thus if you are planning on getting A7 III, be prepared that you may not get the best performance on your adapted A mount lenses.

14 hours ago, clojacks said:

Again, as explained above...the EU Digital COVID certificate, HAS TO BE WITH EU approved vaccine and issued by the EU, not a digital or smart app from the US, or Canada, or Singapore, but ONLY FROM the EU (as I understand it at 10:00 CDT today...subject to correction or change)

True, but most European countries follow the similar if not 100% same vaccine regulations as EU and thus the Covid certificates with QR codes issued outside EU can work in the same manner and the apps used to read the certificate QR can accept also non-EU certificates. Of course, EU can dictate which certificates it accepts and I don't know if eg. Canadian or Singaporean certificate codes are included in accepted ones, but at least European non-EU countries Switzerland, Norway and now (after November 1st) even UK can produce COVID certificates that are approved for use in EU. Presumably this goes also the other way around and EU certificates are among those what get accepted in these non-EU countries.

7 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

In Helskinki, prior to covid, tram 2 gives you a wonderful inexpensive tour of the city, and stops close to Temppeliaukion rock church.  The locals don't know it as rock church in English so try to either write the name down or learn how to pronounce the correct name if you are asking for directions from people on the tram (they were able to read the name on the sheet I printed out of tourist information so we were fine).  It's great to wander through market square and look at the stalls, and the Helsinki cathedral and Upsenski cathedrals were both nearby.  Market square is also where you can catch a ferry to explore the lovely parks in Suomenlinna. 

Regarding the tram line 2: note that if you are traveling on that line towards Olympia Terminal, althought that is the final stop for that line, it is not a true terminus and the tram continues to the same direction, although with a different line number (3). The same happens also to the opposite direction, so if you jump on line 3 tram towards Olympia Terminal (for example at Helsinki main railway station), it will magically change the line number to 2 there and continue towards Töölö (where you find the "Rock Church"). And for Temppeliaukio church ("Rock church") the closest tram stop is called "Hanken" (after Hanken School of Economics, which has its premises near by). The route planner on HSL site will provide good information about various tram/bus/ferry/train routes around the Finnish capital region. There you can find also information about tickets etc.

And Suomenlinna is certainly worth a visit, but if you decide to head there be sure to allow enough time for the visit, especially as the ferry runs in summer months something like 3-4 times per hour and the ferry journey takes 15 minutes. And on the islands that form the sea fortress Suomenlinna there is then no public transport, you have to walk around.

Good luck for this task, although I'm bit worried that your lenses might not be the best possible options for low light situations (unless you use flash).

And if you're happy with your current camera, I see no need to hastily change into a new system just because there won't be new equipment for A mount. Actually now might be a good time to grab some (second-hand) bangains since prices for A mount gear are going down due to low demand. Pity that the event is so soon, otherwise I would have suggested to look for a F2.8 zoom.

15 hours ago, rwf1 said:

Are any Baltic countries accepting cruise ships? At least cruises to the Mediterranean, for example, have been sailing for awhile, and they have had time to figure out the process.

Recent HS.fi news article (in Finnish) mentions that 11 000 tourists on cruise ships visited Helsinki this year. The cruise season did start this year only in August (after intra-Schengen area entry controls ended) and in years before this pandemic the number of cruise visitors was over 600 000. The article does not mention, what sort of routes these cruises had, I would presume it was just EU countries.

21 hours ago, milolii said:

Moscow now on a lockdown.  No mention of Saint Petersburg.  
 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/28/europe/russia-covid-moscow-restrictions-in-effect-intl/index.html

Finnish media reports that the same measures will start next week in St. Petersburg.

Of course, it remains to be seen how the situation in Russia develops and nobody can yet say what will be the status in next spring.

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Further, just what kind of "more flights" are you hoping for?  Know how many non-stop flights there are from the USA to Budapest?  None.  It's not a market that warrants non-stop service.  And it's unlikely to get new service.

Actually, LOT has scheduled flights between JFK and BUD, albeit a) for time being the schedule is only for November to March and the flights are not daily, only three times in a week, b) it is still unknown if these actually materialize if the pandemic means additional entry restrictions and/or there isn't demand, c) this may not be that useful for somebody starting the journey from PHX since there is no non-stop PHX-JFK flights, thus you either have to change planes somewhere or use ground transport between New York area airports.

Source: https://info.flightmapper.net/route/YY_JFK_BUD

50 minutes should be sufficient for the transit and if for some reason your flight from US is late, HEL-CPH is one of the more frequent routes on Finnair schedule, so most likely you will be rebooked on a later flight the same day if the original connection fails.

And technically on the latitudes where Stockholm lies, there won't be midnight sun since for that phenomenon you must be north of the Arctic circle. But  despite that the summer nights in these latitudes still offer barely any darkness between dusk and dawn.

Also, if you are interested in spending some of those four days touring outside Reykjavik, it might be a good idea to look for accomodation also elsewhere, that way you could head further away from Reykjavik without spending significant part of the day on road.

The Golden Circle is in the surroundings of Reykjavík so it makes no sense to take this tour from any of the other ports of your cruise.

And since Akureyri is in the northern Iceland and Ísafjörður in the northwest, I think you should head towards south/east on those extra days after the cruise.

On 5/30/2021 at 10:52 PM, TheOldBear said:

I think in your position, I would look into renting a Sony RX10 mark 4 'bridge' camera [dpreview link]. It is weather sealed, has a huge zoom range [equivalent of 24-600], effective image stabilization, and a decent sized and resolution sensor.  You won't need to worry about having the wrong lens mounted - or about getting splashed on a Zodiac ride.

Note that regardless how weather proof the camera is, there is one part of the camera that may still need some extra protection in wet conditions: the front lens element. Water drops on the front lens can ruin images, so at least be prepared to wipe the lens dry if you want to shoot during boat rides.

But Sony RX10 IV is definately the bridge camera to get if you want versatile camera with good image quality and fast and accurate autofocusing. And I think AF is the feature that makes this model superior to its peers, although of course no camera is perfect: RX10 IV is expensive and sometimes I find its controls bit limited. And some competitors do offer longer telephoto that might be useful at times.

And one note about the zoom lenses for ILCs: if the lens offers wide focal length range that results that there has to be some compromises to archive this: at least the apertures offered (especially in telephoto end) are on the slow side that may make the lens less practical in low light conditions. And the optical design with long zoom range may produce worse image quality compared to zooms with less ambitious focal length range or prime lenses.

11 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Not familiar with hiking in your other ports of call but Helsinki has some nice trails. Some info can be found here:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/finland/articles/the-best-hiking-trails-in-and-around-helsinki/

Although, from that list visitors on a cruise probably should scrap Liesjärvi National Park outright since by car it takes something like one and half hours to get there (and then another 1½h back). Porkkala is also about hour away from Helsinki, so it might be tad too far (unless you plan going to Porkkala pilot station to ask for a boat ride back to the cruise ship once it has left Helsinki). Also getting to the national parks closest to Helsinki, Nuuksio and Sipoonkorpi require something like 45 minute drive and with public transport it will take even longer, so arranging taxi or similar private transportion may be advisable when you have limited time to spend. Viikki/Vanhankaupunginlahti could be quite good option for a quick look on nature: for example start from Herttoniemi metro station and then walk around the bay to say Arabianranta to hop on a tram back to city centre. Central Park is also decent option: the picture shown next to the Central Park text in that webpage is actually from Kaivopuisto (a park in southern parts of city centre) and actually Helsinki Central Park is more like a proper woods with large trail network. And getting there should be fairly trivial: you could start for example just behind Helsinki Olympic Stadion.

And obviously when you stay in Helsinki for just a day (and departure is already in the afternoon or early evening), you can't cover the whole Reitti 2000 (the word Reitti means Route in Finland).

And one possible location for a quick hike not mentioned in that linked article could be also Mustavuori area in Vuosaari, next to the area is Vuosaaren huippu (Top of Vuosaari also occasionally going by nickname "Himalaya"), a decently sized artificial hill that has been recently been re-developed into more park-like and to better cover the fact that the site was originally a landfill.

6 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Several options for 9 to 11 days cruises from Copenhagen including Princess. Alternatives are Southampton (London) or Amsterdam which will add at least two more sea days.

On a 11 days cruise from Copenhagen in addition to St Petersburg you’ll be able to visit Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin and Oslo. Will normally include 3 sea days.

You might also want to check Azamara - they normally have options where start and end are different ports like start in Copenhagen and ending in either Stockholm or Southampton.  Which  will allow for some pre- and post-cruis days in different cities.

I haven't really studied various Baltic cruise route options, but isn't Warnemünde in North Germany more popular port choice in Baltic cruises than Oslo, which isn't even on the shores of the Baltic Sea?