cmph

They don't care who you are making dining reservations for. It's just like booking a restaurant reservation on land - whoever books it will be the only name on the res. You could ditch your family and take 3 strangers if you wanted! (j/k) My husband and I booked excursions and add-ons on our own while we were both logged in online. I'm the planner, so it was basically me saying "ok, now go to xxx and click yyy" on repeat. However, you can also just have your PCC (if you have one) book everything for you, for both reservations. When I pre-paid the service charge, I did that over the phone for both our reservations. That's probably (I will guess) easier for the PCC to manage if the cruise reservations are linked.

Thanks! A hotel/museum site! Unfortunately searches for Monday tickets bump to Tuesday, so I guess the KBG Museum really will be closed on Mondays even in summer.

Thank you to all who responded, as it verifies I haven't missed any vital info buried in a laundry list of FAQs. We'll keep the potential hiccup of getting off the ship in mind. Has anyone ever had an issue with the opposite - minor teens getting back ON board in a port without their parents? It's not the end of the world if we have to walk them back, but it's obviously easier to avoid the hassle.

Yes, exactly. 🙂 The whole way NCL words this is a little odd, IMO. If "under 17" counts as a minor, rather than "under 18" or "17 and under", then that means a 17yo is considered an adult. However, that "under 17" part was stressed to me by the rep, when I asked for clarification of what the guardian age requirement is. I thought it was a valid question, seeing as you cannot book a 14yo into a room without someone 21 and up. I guess what qualifies as an "adult" varies according to the reason for asking lol.

Thanks! I am positive I looked at the correct site for Kiek in de Kok, b/c it was in my browser history, but I either I looked too early in the year and they hadn't updated with summer hours, or I'm just blind lol. However, you are right that for the KGB prison cell museum, I was on a 3rd party ticket-purchasing site. Unfortunately, that's b/c the only links I can find for the museum seem to be broken. Does anyone have a link other than http://www.vabamu.ee/kgb-prison-cells or https://www.vabamu.ee/kulastajale/kgb? Even their facebook page (which only lists current hours) links to the 2nd broken link above.

For those of you with experience leaving your teens onboard while you are in port - is there a form to establish a non-parent adult guardian/supervisor for the minor teen? And if yes - is it only something you can do once onboard? I would love to see an actual online form, but I guess that doesn't exist. The customer service rep gave me a non-answer - "You can refer to the crew members once onboard to determine if any forms need to be filled out." I think it's odd if there are forms that vary ship-to-ship, but maybe they do? For context, we're talking about a 14yo and 18yo. The FAQ (https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/can-my-childteen-under-17-years-old-stay-onboard-unattended-without-supervision-while-i-go-ashor) defines a minor as under 17, so the 18yo would qualify as an adult who is capable of providing adult supervision. We are doing all of our excursions as a family, but I'm thinking ahead to scenarios in which the kids are tired and want to go back to the stateroom while we parents walk around in port-adjacent areas for a little longer. We are fine-tuning our port plans and do not want to break any rules, so I'll craft the final plans accordingly. TIA to anyone who has experience to share!

Wow, that's fascinating! We're American, but my husband's ancestry is actually Swedish on his dad's side. Guess that makes quite a lot of sense, then. Thank you for sharing!

It actually ends up being free for the 1st person in the room, with the perks NCL added when we booked. We have 2 rooms with 1 adult and 1 teen assigned to each, so 2 free people. One of the rare cruise excursion bargains! 😆

Looks like it's a little over 20min walk, or a super-short taxi ride. The Kiel port site shows the Dawn at Cruise Terminal Ostseekai for both your date and mine https://www.portofkiel.com/files/pok/Downloads/Kreuzfahrerlisten/Kreuzfahrtliste.pdf Google maps shows convenient bus and ferry options, as well, but I'm not sure they would save any time. They would, however, save on whining from teenagers! I'm not sure they're cost-effective for 4 of us though, vs. sharing a single cab, though.

This is all I can see on my summary page when I'm logged in: The blue text links just go to generic pages, not something specific to your cruise/itinerary. Also, you can't get pricing or even the correct hotel name on the NCL site. The hotel they had listed for my departure city was not the one my PCC gave me quotes for. Definitely could not have booked it myself. If I were you, I'd also see how much the hotel costs if you book on your own. NCL's quote was a decent amount more than booking myself, for the exact same hotel.

The map I've been referring to has arrows on the route line. They aren't super-obvious, but they are there. They run mostly clockwise, if you ignore the bit where it goes back and forth into Market Square.

Sorry about the link! It looks like I added some gibberish at the end somehow. This should work (if it matters to anyone else reading this): https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus-tours.com/fileupload/Map Helsinki.png We will be there in late June. I'll try to remember to come back here and report when we return in July. :)

I am still in disbelief that they would allow people to book a room for 4 that doesn't have 4 beds. what the heck??!! It's a good thing you have younger kids! And also - no wonder the ships seem overcrowded!!

That's an awesome sounding itinerary! We are doing a Baltic this summer with some of the same ports, nothing in Norway though. I'm heavily in research mode currently, so I'm adding some comments in red. Hope they help a bit. 10. Gdynia (Gdansk-Danzig) This port isn't very close to Gdansk, so I'm not sure you should bank on a last-minute tour. It's one of the ports we pre-booked an excursion for, after reading on CC that taxis were pricey. We have an early departure so we're more comfortable with a cruise line excursion. 11. Klaipeda Can't help on this one re: the last-minute tours; my teens are excited to go to the Soviet nuclear missile site, so it's another we pre-booked. 12. Riga If you are up to OYO, that's what I planned. The ship docks very close to tourist sites, so this is a great port for OYO. I planned out a self-guided walking tour, and we'll tack this canal boat tour on to give our feet a break mid-day. https://rigabycanal.lv/en/#musu-kugi  13. Stockholm We embark here, so we're doing a pre-stay and planning on walking/ferries OYO. FYI - they are (almost entirely) cashless in Sweden, so don't bother to get cash. The only mentions I have seen about cash are that it's not accepted. Consequently, we are only getting euros for our cash needs and aren't worrying about getting krona. 15. Warnemunde We are going to Schwerin. German folks have told me this was a great choice. We were not willing to put the time into travel to/from Berlin. 16. Kiel NCL (our line) offered very little for Kiel. Even the overpriced bus trips to Hamburg and Lubeck were purely for transportation, totally OYO once you arrive. And when I say overpriced - I mean overpriced! Like $79pp just for a bus ride to/from. So I would be kind of surprised if the Kiel port had many tours available on-site, and if they have car/shuttle transport to other cities, it might be pricey. We are relying on the train to Lubeck, so we aren't pre-booking anything.

I have been wondering that same thing! I keep seeing the same red buses on the 3rd party sites, though, so I think it's just one company getting resold in multiple venues? I ended up assuming that it's the same company (or at least same route) for my tour planning, b/c I booked via our cruise line and doubt they'll give me a useful answer. We had $100 in excursion credits for the 4 of us, so it was definitely the cheapest option. FYI this is the one I've been referring to - hopefully not way off base. https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus-tours.com/fileupload/Map Helsinki.png&nbsp. If you find out otherwise, please post back!

Ugh yes, this Tallinn day is making me nuts. I've been trying to earmark some indoor options for the days we're OYO, after realizing just how much outdoor touring time I planned (which is optimistic but not practical I'm sure). KGB prison cells - closed. Kiek de Kok - closed. The only good gluten-free restaurant option in old town - closed. I'm not even going to investigate further. If it rains, it's going to be a stressful touring day for us! My 17yo would happily duck into little stores to shop, but her brother will, um, not. 🤣

@bearette Never mind - just saw that it's closed on Mondays anyway. Everything is closed on Mondays in Tallinn! Bad day to be in port, sigh.

Did you happen to do the bastion passage tour? It looks great for my crew, from a content perspective, except that we are tall people. My 14yo is 6'5" right now and will probably add an inch by our trip. I have tried googling suitability for tall people, but tall being the first 4 letters of Tallinn is really wrecking my searches! If he has to hunch over the whole time (or whack his head on stone), not the best idea. I saw this thread and thought possibly you might know the max comfortable height to do this tour? TIA

We'll be on NCL for this, our first NCL... feels like a bit of an adventure in terms of food, both on and off ship! DCL doesn't go to all these ports. It's actually my kids' first non-DCL cruise (chosen by them, b/c of the ports). But my son is 14 and will definitely be able to get by with packaged snacks, moreso than a little kid, and we have no problem stopping in grocery stores for things on the fly. It would be a nice bonus to get some good meals in port during OYO time, but we aren't banking on it.

I have submitted special needs forms for them, but I was hoping we could find local spots. If we can't, we'll just time our touring around meals and bring sealed snacks.

Thanks, that's our usual source too! That was my starting point for this effort, so it was the basis for about 95% of the list above. I haven't had great luck finding additional sources though, and I was hoping others might have had some luck on their own in recent years.

I have been researching gluten-free options in our ports and was wondering if anyone had any additional suggestions to add to my list below. We'd love to be able to enjoy local dining/snacks. Both my husband and son have celiac disease, so my list is limited to places I have found that seem to have good safety reviews (from a gf perspective) or are dedicated gf. Also, 1) they are either generally in walking distance to the tourist sites we're visiting - nothing out in suburbs areas or the like, and 2) I don't include much of the vegan/raw food/salads-only/health-focused types of places (my son is annoyed enough with the celiac diagnosis and isn't ready for further limitations!). Helsinki: - Zetor https://www.raflaamo.fi/fi/ravintola/helsinki/zetor/menu/1031/ruokalista - Happy Waffle https://www.happywaffle.fi/en/menu/ - WaffDaddy, https://www.waffdaddy.fi/#menu Kotka: no great options. Visby: - Holy Kebab https://holykebab.se/gotland/ - Sankt Hans http://www.sthansvisby.se/ Tallinn: - best option is closed on Mondays unfortunately, which is our port day (https://kivipaber.ee/). - Kohvik Vaffel https://www.vaffel.ee/ Gdansk: only looked at snack options, limited time in port for us - Lody Soprano ice cream - Kawiarnia Retro https://www.facebook.com/RetroGdansk Riga: - Better Bread https://www.betterbread.lv/ Warnemunde port: - Zum Feinspitz in Schwerin (have a tour booked in Schwerin) https://www.zum-feinspitz.de/speisekarte - Warnemunde itself – really can’t find anything gf, would love any dinner ideas! Lubeck (port is Kiel, but we're going to Lubeck - happy for suggestions in either location though): - Kleines Nudelhaus https://www.facebook.com/kleinesnudelhaus/ Stockholm (longer list - embarking here, so we have a couple days pre-stay): -Under Kastanjen https://underkastanjen.se/ - Bishops Arms https://www.bishopsarms.com/vara-pubar/stockholm/gamla-stan/ - Eggs Inc. https://eggsinc.se/our-menu/ - A la Crepe https://www.crepes.nu/ - Meatballs for the People http://meatball.se/sve-menyer/ - Vrak – Museum of Wrecks cafe - there are multiple other gf bakeries I've come upon, such as Happy Atelier, but not really convenient to tourist sites on our list or where we're staying (Gamla Stan). Klaipeda – not well-researched, as we have a long excursion booked and won't have time for anything else. This place sounds great though https://www.namaibegliuteno.lt/.

NCL must use the same port facilities in SD as Disney, I assume? If so, there were drink vending machines next to the bathrooms, accessible from the boarding waiting area (after security and check-in), a few weeks ago. I don't recall food vending machines, though. The bathroom area was pretty much in the middle of the building and the only one I saw - so if you see that, you'll find the vending machines.

Our cruise this summer departs from Stockholm, so we are doing a couple days pre-stay there. We're staying in the Old Town area, and everything there is very easy walking distance (assuming you have no mobility issues). They have a ferry system, which we plan to use to go between Old Town and the area with the Vasa museum. The ABBA museum is next to Vasa; not sure if that is of interest to you, though. Our teen daughter is very keen to go LOL! My husband was told by a Swedish colleague that we will have the museums to ourselves if the weather is nice, b/c no locals will be indoors in summer if the weather is good. I have not bought tickets in advance, as we'll do this closer to the date or day-of, but the Vasa site seems to translate for me. Maybe you are on a mobile version that doesn't? I'm on Chrome on a laptop and have it set to auto-translate Swedish to English, but it looks like I'm on an English version of the site (https://www.vasamuseet.se/en). The two options are Vasa Museum Entrance Ticket (170 SEK) or Vasa Museum and Vrak Museum Combo Entry Ticket (290 SEK). Don't worry about cash, by the way. Sweden seems to be cashless (or nearly-cashless), so I have no plans to hit an ATM at all.

What type of market is the open air market near the harbor? Is it a flea market with local goods? or a food market? or a combo? I tried to google that after reading your comment, but it looks like there are a lot of markets in Helsinki. We have plans to do the HOHO off already, and I think my 17yo would appreciate a shopping diversion from the rest of the things we plan to see. She would love to go to a good flea market!