Getting from ship to town & back (Baltic ports)

[SJ27]

Hi all, maybe I am just bad at searching but I couldn't find this anywhere. A friend who cruised (Mediterranean) last year on Celebrity said there were shuttles to take people from the boat into the towns they were docked (and then they could do their own thing). I understood from what she said that these were provided by the ship. We are cruising Princess in June (Baltic cruise), and I can't find any info on this at all? If there are not shuttles, is it usually easy to find taxis if the main part of town isn't an easy walk from the port?

 

We are much more interested in doing our own thing, e.g. sightseeing using the hop on-hop off topless buses as our 'guide' with the flexibility to get on and off when it suits us. (I was once in a museum in Austria and saw a tour group literally rush in, take a few photos of some paintings and then rush out again, and I have had a horror of guided city tours ever since!!) Just need to figure out how to get one of their bus stops! I presume getting taxis back to the ports usually won't be an issue?

 

Thanks in advance!

[kitty9]

In Stockholm, you should be docking not far from the center of town and you can walk. Same for Oslo and Helsinki.

 

In St Petersburg, it's an industrial port and you absolutely must have pre arranged tours. They are incredibly strict with security and don't allow taxis to just come in and wait for fares. Plus, it's not a city you should do on your own as it's very spread out and can be dangerous. And, if you step even one foot off the ship, you'll need an individual visa, which are expensive. If you take a ship's tour, or if you take a tour with a government approved agency, they handle the visas for you. Denrus and Red October are two of the best individual tour companies.

 

For other ports, if they are allowed to run shuttles (not every government allows shuttles), they do charge for it, anywhere from $10 to $20.

[SJ27]

Thanks! And yes aware that we need a tour one way or the other in SP whether ship or private, but hoping to avoid it elsewhere.

Do you happen to have info for Tallinn?

[radsailor]

We walked from our ship into Tallin with no problem. It is very doable.