Baltic cruise on 7/13

[slamming50]

any feedback on clothing and daily excurions, specifically st petersburg would be appreciated.

[cruisePAC]

I'd be happy to help. We were on a cruise at the end of May that included 2 days in St. Petersburg.

Could you please clarify your question a little? Are you asking about clothing suggestions while on excursions in St. Petersburg? What type of excursions will you be doing?

[Keith1010]

I would check the weather a few days before you go to fine tune what you will bring with you.

 

Keith

[John Bull]

Since you're asking just a month ahead of your cruise, you're not one of those "inveterate planners" ;)

No worries, you'll be able to wing-it at every port - except one.

 

St Petersburg needs a degree of planning/pre-booking.

You will not be allowed to go ashore in St Pete's unless either you have an expensive pre-purchased visa (and you may already be too late to organise one), or you book a tour with the ship or with one of the local tour operators. All of those tours are visa-free.

Difficult to advise which sights to see - ships' offerings are a confusing mix of day and half-day excursions, OK if you know where you want to go but needs a lot of research if you don't.

Most ships are in St Pete's for two days, and local operators offer comprehensive tours spread over both days - most offer a choice of a fairly hectic Grand Tour which includes all significant sights, or a Comfort Tour (or similar name), with two or three of the lesser sights excluded. Those tours are in vans with a max of 16 passengers, against the coaches of ship-sponsored tours with up to 50 passengers. The van tours are much more personal, much more flexible, and don't have the wasted time which is inevitable with large vehicles & large groups. They also tend to be cheaper. In order to be visa-free you do need to pre-book (and you need to do so quite urgently) but you pay no money up-front. You pay on the second day in St Pete's. A fair number of operators, all with excellent reputations & with many very satisfied CC members. Check out other St Petersburg threads on this forum, & google Alla Tours, TJ Tours, SPB Tours, Best Guides, Red October, Anastasia Tours.

You need to do so without delay.

 

If one of your ports is Warnemunde & you want to visit Berlin, again you need to fix up a tour because it's a long drive. Either that or DIY by train, but DIY needs careful research on transport to & in Berlin and the sights at the top of your list cos in your short time in Berlin you'll only see a fraction of what the city has to offer.

 

All the other cities are easy to DIY using local buses & trams, ho-ho buses & boats, ferries, or Shanks's. But again, you should do a little research on the web & by browsing this forum.

 

Ships' tours take away the need to plan, but IMHO they're over-priced & are unavoidably rather like a cattle-drive.

 

You've chosen the warmest month to cruise the Baltic, but the weather is very variable. You should have no need for winter coats, but take sweaters & a light rainproof jacket. Might be chilly on deck in the evenings, but the sun goes down late into the evening.

 

JB :)

[drarill]

any feedback on clothing and daily excurions, specifically st petersburg would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to cruise critics!! Try to find the roll call for your sailing on the roll call section, you might be able to join someone with an already organized tour in St. Petersburg.

About the weather; search for the website Cruiseoutlook http://www.cruiseoutlook.com This website provides charts with a 10 day forecast for your port of calls.

I'll also suggest taking the time to learn to navigate this wonderful website. In the Port of Calls sections, go to Europe and then the Baltic. On the cruise line section, find your cruise line. And finally on the roll call section, first go to your cruise line, then to your ship and find your sail date. Hope this information helps.:):)

[Giantfan13]

Hi Slamming and welcome to our portion of cruise Critic.

 

Since your cruise is just a few weeks away, you really need to start doing some work. We simply cannot tell you want to do and where to go, you have to know what you want and what you would like to do. There are many threads on this forum, most right on this front page, about many of the ports you will be visiting. These are answered by people who live in these cities, so if you have specific questions, they will help you out. Read each one thoroughly and you will get the big picture of each port and you will see what you would like to see and do.

 

Same for us, your post is so generalized, we know nothing of what you are looking for.

 

As was said, if you are looking to do a private tour in St Petersburg, you really need to get moving. Most tours are fully booked, but maybe, thru your roll call, you can hook on with some other group.

Again, we simply cannot tell you who to sue and what to do.

 

The Baltics are a tremendous place to visit, so much to see and so little time to do it in. But you have to do the research or, at least, read up on it.

 

We are always here to help. As specific questions and you will always get a ton of answers.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[slamming50]

Thank you for replying, I was able to find the tour operators and rsvp'd for St Petersburg. You guys are wonderful, I had many replies. The clothing question I had was for cruise etiquette and not the weather. Most of the cruises we've done are very casual, carribean and Mexico.