Tours v on own? Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Gdansk, Oslo

[bayjoens]

Yes, I know that most of you have done these on your own and found them just as wonderful. However, we are traveling and moving around in a family group of 18 pax, ranging in ages 16-70+. My concern is how much public transportation is involved in these places and how time-consuming it will be to herd this many people to get tickets of varying costs and on and off the public transportation.

 

Also if we are interested in a bit of art and architectural history for the kids, they are highly unlikely to read or attend seminars ahead of time or on the ship or even listen to us when we read from a guidebook. If anyone has had a guide who was especially entertaining and not dry, I would love to hear about it. We are thinking of booking Ahti for Tallinn for a short walking tour so that we can wander about on our own for half the time. However, in Gdansk, where I think we have to travel to and from the port into Gdansk, would it be time- and cost-efficient to just have a private tour who can get us to and from and provide a tour in between anyway. How about in Helsinki or Stockholm?

 

Thanks for all the photos and tips. You guys are the most generous and knowledgeable.

[TMLAalum]

Does your group want to do everything together all the time? What are the must-sees for them- I suspect the list will vary from person to person.

 

If your desire is to be together when sightseeing in your ports-of-call, then the ship excursions would probably work best for 18 people.

 

We are a group of 8 friends booked together and we look forward to sharing our various adventures at the end of each day. Sometimes we will have spent our port times en masse, and, on other days, doing different things, e.g a bike tour vs. a horse-drawn carriage tour.

 

Best wishes to you and your group. From your post, you must be the "planner". Just take a deep breath and keep in mind the old adage that you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time!

[dfwguy62]

This is an interesting question. As a solo traveler, I almost always do my own thing. I have been to 4 of the ports you mention and easily walked and/or used public transportation. Other than Tallinn, I used public transport at least once in the other stops. BUT, I don't think I would want to be coordinating this type of sightseeing with a group of 18. If you're all traveling together and really want to stay together at all times you could run some risk in trying to get on a bus and it being partially full and only room for 11 of you, for example. But you don't really know that until you try to get on. Then if 7 can't get on, are all 11 going to get back off? The bus drivers won't like that very much and there would be quite a bit of confusion on everyone's part. I'd opt for some form of organized tour. Or break yourself up into individual and self-managed groups of 4 or 5 maybe. Make sure each group has a responsible person who would know how to handle things if the groups got separated.

[Lair Bear]

I fully agree with what TLMAlum said. With a group of 18 relatives with that spread in ages, there are times that you want to be together (like during sea days and dinners) and times when you might want to break up into groups of similar likes in activities. I cannot imagine some teens being on the same tours with people who are in their seventies and 'really enjoy it'.

 

There are some ports where you might want to organize a total group 'tour' and Poland is one I can think of. Oslo and Tallinn, however, as other examples, can offer you some independent excursions for the young and a H0-HO bus for others.

You really have to ask yourself how everyone feels about this and put some minny groups together (just in case).

 

Good luck, and after all this work, be sure to reserve some time to yourselves!!!