Baltic Cruise with children

My husband and I are taking our two boys, aged 11 and 9, on the Norweigan Breakaway on a Baltic Cruise in July. Just wondering if anyone has any child friendly activities or tours that they recommend. Thanks

My husband and I are taking our two boys, aged 11 and 9, on the Norweigan Breakaway on a Baltic Cruise in July. Just wondering if anyone has any child friendly activities or tours that they recommend. Thanks

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

You might want to read through some of the posts in general, on the NCL sub-forum:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

And then also see if there is yet a "Roll Call" for your specific cruise:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=783

Sometimes there are groups of passengers who arrange private tours, and if so, perhaps you'll find others with children, etc.

Or just general suggestions, of course.

NCL apparently has some good children's activities/clubs, so be sure to look into that as well.

GC

We took our 3 year old on this cruise, and he had a wonderful time! Your kids are the perfect ages. There's a lot of information for families in the review in my signature line. The most important thing I'd say if you can afford it is to get a private tour for just your family in st. Petersburg, so you can control the itinerary and stop whenever your kids get overwhelmed and take a break and get them some food, and then they might be able to keep going. My 3 year old loved St. Petersburg, and was able to visit all the major museums there because we tailored the tour to his needs.You might also want to consider a children's tour in st. petersburg with best guides (I can't personally recommend them since I didn't know about them prior to sailing, but families have reported on these boards as being very happy with them) Also, you might want to try to take it easy in Tallinn, since that's a lot of walking and the day before st. petersburg. You don't want the kids too tired to see St. Petersburg. Tallinn is great, but hire a cab to take you to the top of Toompea Hill and walk down. You'll still see everything but it'll be a little easier. There's a tourist train around, which is a little silly but has a great view or the pedicabs can help you see everything without walking everywhere.

Are you sailing out of Copenhagen? In Copenhagen, it's definitely worth arriving a couple of days early so that the kids can get over the jetlag. We went with an 11-year-old and an almost-8-year-old, and they really enjoyed the city. We got a Copenhagen card so that we could visit museums and palaces for only as long as we liked without worrying about getting our money's worth from each, and then we caught the buses and walked everywhere. My favourite place was the Danish National Museum with a great early history exhibit -- lots of Viking artifacts in amazing condition from being tossed in bogs for centuries. My husband's favourite activity was the canal boat ride. The kids generally liked all of it, especially ending the days wandering under the lights at Tivoli gardens.

In Rostock, Berlin is a *long* way for kids to travel, so we stayed fairly local. We did go as far as Schwerin, although if we had to do it again, I think we would have spent more time just hanging around the seaside/beach town of Warnemunde.

In Helsinki, my kids quite enjoyed running around the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, though I think it's best visited with a guide who could give you some background on the history and culture of Finland. (We were with a guide ourselves.) I know other families who enjoyed a visit to the Reindeer Park (about 30 minutes from Helsinki).

We didn't *need* a private tour in St. Petersburg. I'm not saying that my kids wouldn't have enjoyed a private tour, but I didn't want to spring for the expense and the pace of the standard SPB small-group tour was fine for them and the sites interesting enough (and there were a couple of other families with kids in our group). They particularly enjoyed the subway ride and the Peterhof fountains. Also the random cats we'd run across (say, hanging out by the Romanov tombs in the Peter and Paul Fortress).

Tallinn is cute for a walk around (wander the walls and poke your nose in marzipan shops and the old pharmacy, etc.), but my kids' favourite site there was the Seaplane Harbour maritime museum with ships you could climb on/around (including a Soviet-era submarine) and a few simulations/games.

There's a lot to see in Stockholm, but given that it's at the end of the trip, you'll have to work out whether or not your kids will actually appreciate yet another palace/old town/etc. The charms of Gamla Stan were pretty much lost on mine by that point in the trip. They did enjoy the Vasa Museum and there's a lot to see nearby on Djurgården island.

In all, it was one of their favourite holidays ever. They loved the ports, the ship amenities (buffet, kids clubs, entertainment, etc.), and they'd easily rank it above Disneyworld.

BTW, do bring swimsuits for the pools. Even though the adults weren't game to jump in the pools in 70F degree weather, many of the kids (including mine) had no problem with it.

We did the Baltic with DCL when ds was 10, and dds were 13-16. They loved it. Yes the bathing suit recommendation for your boys. That was pretty much all who was in the pool, young boys, but they loved it. I have a great picture of the life guard in full "Deadliest Catch" gear at the pool edge next to ds in his swim trunks happily splashing about.

As a family, we try to do tours that will include something for everyone, so ds knows there will be a certain amount of "boring" to him museum time.

Things that he liked specifically - Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, the walking food tour thru old town we took in Tallinn, the speed boat ride in Helsinki, the Vasa in Stockholm. I'm not sure there was anything he loved about SPB, though he was ok with our trip to the Cat Museum we included for dd (it's a rescue home for cats - you pay and go pet them - highlight of youngest dd's trip.) We didn't do the subway, which he might have liked. We did do the hydrofoil, but we were so tired most of us slept on the trip over to Peterhof.

This is a port intensive cruise. Your family will have a great time. Tallinn, Copenhagen, and Stockholm are now some of my favorite cities.

For Stockholm,

Vasa museum

Djurgården Viking museum

Historic museum

Skeppsholmen 's Bergrummet Tidö collection toy museum.

We are doing the Baltic Cruise on the Zuiderdam on July 21 with our two boys, who will be 12 and 14. We've done hard core Disney visits, NY and Boston but I'm thinking we will probably hit a wall near the end. We are doing a quick 24 hours in Paris before flying to Copenhagen the day before the cruise. Then another day in Copenhagen at the end of the cruise. Holland was doing a 3rd and 4th person free in the room so the price was very reasonable but we have never shared a room. Thank goodness it is a port intensive cruise as the room is concerned! We had looked at doing a 7 day River Cruise on Uniworld but the price was double what we are paying for a balcony for this 10 day cruise. I will say we are throwing down some $$ for some excursions. I have lined up a private tour for Berlin then we will do a 2 day SPB tour. I think the rest of the days we will poke around the towns. The pre and post days in Copenhagen are expensive enough!

For Stockholm,

Vasa museum

Djurgården Viking museum

Historic museum

Skeppsholmen 's Bergrummet Tidö collection toy museum.

links:

https://www.vasamuseet.se/en

http://www.vikingaliv.se/en/

http://historiska.se/home/

http://www.bergrummet.com/en_US/

Check Best Guides child-friendly tours in St. Petersburg. They have good reviews.

Have you tried them? I am traveling with 11 and 17 year old granddaughters.

I would try to get a tour that includes this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Maket_Rossiya

I would try to get a tour that includes this:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Maket_Rossiya

Great recommendation - the Grand Market is a wonderful, interactive museum for kids. I visited in 2016 and I enjoyed it. Lots of local kids and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves.

I know that you can have the Grand Market included on a private tour but I don't see any local companies that include this on their group tour itineraries.

We did a two day private tour for the six of us from TJ that we enjoyed in June 2017. I spent many hours deciding what we wanted to see and what to skip because of not enough time. Skipped Catherine Palace and did Artillery Museum instead and hydrofoil both ways from Peterhof was the two main differences plus the mini trains.

They also have child friendly tour.

https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/child-friendly-excursion

sightcrr

We did the Molle train in Rostock. It is well worth doing. We did it on our own. I would recommend taking the ships shuttle to/from Rostock, and make sure you have euros for the Molle.

I noticed on Best Guides that they have a private tour in SPB for families with preteens or teens. My husband noticed that it included allowing the kids to roam free in the Grand Market. I can only imagine telling my 12 year old son, yes, we will see you in an hour - good luck!

I noticed on Best Guides that they have a private tour in SPB for families with preteens or teens. My husband noticed that it included allowing the kids to roam free in the Grand Market. I can only imagine telling my 12 year old son, yes, we will see you in an hour - good luck!

This is not as scary as it appears. The room where the huge display is located is all contained in one very large hall - there is also an adjoining restaurant, gift shop, toilets, etc. It would, IMHO, be difficult to lose one's teens/preteens in the GM (but I wouldn't feel comfortable allowing young children to roam freely without adult supervision).

It is a scale model of parts of Russia. http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/grand-maket-russia/

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It is Grand Maket not market. Train display of Russia.

https://grandmaket.ru/en

We also have two boys (10 and 12) going on the Breakaway in July (22nd/23rd departure). Does anyone know how Grand Maket compares to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg? We are already planning to take our boys there pre-cruise, so wonder if its worth burning precious SPB time on an attraction so similar. My wife and I did Madurodam in The Hague without our kids last year and loved it.

We had one in our group really into minis. Hamburg is the largest train set up in the world. Russia is 2nd. We went to both and did the behind the scenes in Hamburg. I think that we all liked both of them. One favorite part of the one in Russia was the humor. At the cross section of the sub there was a sign that said "secret don't look". Lots of Russia sites in mini with buttons that do stuff like Hamburg. Our guide hadn't been there and he enjoyed. Do a youtube search and watch the videos of each and then decide if it is overkill or not.

sightcrr

Our son loved the Railway Museum (full-size real locomotives). I understand it has been improved and moved to an indoor facility now. We went there on a private tour with SPB Tours.

Best Guides Tours in SPB were amazing. Irina was amazing with our kids (aged 5 and 6). They also loved the Grand Maket - kept them amused for well over an hour. Highly, highly recommended - best tour we've ever done with our kids

Janique, which dates will you be on? We’re going the 22nd with a 10 and 13 yo, so I’m interested to read this thread

Hello,

Did you do the Cat “Museum” as part of a tour or did you go on your own? My kids would love that!

We did the Baltic with DCL when ds was 10, and dds were 13-16. They loved it. Yes the bathing suit recommendation for your boys. That was pretty much all who was in the pool, young boys, but they loved it. I have a great picture of the life guard in full "Deadliest Catch" gear at the pool edge next to ds in his swim trunks happily splashing about.

 

As a family, we try to do tours that will include something for everyone, so ds knows there will be a certain amount of "boring" to him museum time.

 

Things that he liked specifically - Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, the walking food tour thru old town we took in Tallinn, the speed boat ride in Helsinki, the Vasa in Stockholm. I'm not sure there was anything he loved about SPB, though he was ok with our trip to the Cat Museum we included for dd (it's a rescue home for cats - you pay and go pet them - highlight of youngest dd's trip.) We didn't do the subway, which he might have liked. We did do the hydrofoil, but we were so tired most of us slept on the trip over to Peterhof.

 

This is a port intensive cruise. Your family will have a great time. Tallinn, Copenhagen, and Stockholm are now some of my favorite cities.

We did a private tour with TJ Travel. It was a quick stop, and really just a way to get a cat fix after traveling for almost 2 weeks. Not saying we didn't enjoy it though.

Janique, which dates will you be on? We’re going the 22nd with a 10 and 13 yo, so I’m interested to read this thread

We will be on the Breakaway, but leaving the next day on the 23rd from Warnemunde. We'll have 10 and 12 yo boys with us. I'm sure our kids will bump into each other in the ship's kids club!