Shopping for souvenirs on the Baltic Sea Cruise

[CPTfromNJ]

What are some items to shop for as a remembrance of the Baltic Cruise?Any recommendations as to where to shop?

[puppycanducruise]

Amber jewelry, I think I bought it in Tallin.

Also, Russian nesting dolls from St. Petersburg.

Hubby and I bought fur hats at the market in Helsinki - reminds me of the cruise every winter.

 

Great cruise.

[ljandgb]

Cedar, linen, wool items in Tallin. There's a nice line of vendors on the pier with good prices and selection. Not the place I typically like to shop, but this time was very good. It seemed everyone took credit cards, FYI. One of the vendors had felted wool hats in the shapes of animals. Very whimsical. I got a goat hat and my kids die of embarrassment every time I wear it.

 

Licorice in Copenhagen. The Danes (and Scandinavia in general) have a thing for licorice.

 

I found a shop in Gamla Stan (Stockholm) that had nice clogs - wooden sole, leather upper, lignonberries painted on them. I get compliments every time I wear them.

 

Nesting dolls in SPB - the good ones have a story or sequence of pictures painted on the dolls' belly. I also bought beautiful painted lacquer boxes that made nice gifts for the family, on a prior trip to Russia.

[lizasantaana]

If you're from a cold weather climate, lots of warm weather items like beanies, sweater and gloves. Reproduction faberge eggs. Also Christmas ornaments.

[Giantfan13]

Depending on several things, are they for you, for gifts etc. For gifts, you can buy the nesting dolls sets for a relatively cheap price in St Petersburg. Of course, there are more expensive ones also if you want a set for yourself.

Music boxes are also a good buy in St Petersburg. If you get a chance to shop from some of the street vendors, you can get a pretty good deal from them, opposed to buying in the gift shops. The gift shops you can charge and have some recourse if something is wrong, the vendors you have to pay cash. We bought a music box from them for $25 (yes they took US dollars) that was selling on the ship for $100 and in the gift shops for $60.

As some one mentioned there are booths in Tallinn not far from the pier where you can get a good buy on certain things. People say Tallinn is the best place to buy Amber, but I would go to a store for that. Tallinn also ahs 'the sweater wall' where there is a line of booths with ladies selling all sorts of wooly things. Good stuff, and not that unreasonable prices.

Ourselves, we really didn't buy that much. You get to a certain point that we really don't need major souvenirs from every place. My DW found a great linen towel calendar in Stockholm that she loved.

Helsinki, go to Market Square, again, there are many booths where they sell things from Finland. We bought this wooden trivet made out of some wood that is only native to this area.

 

Cheers

Len

 

[John Bull]

Cheap nesting dolls tend to stick after a while.

 

I bought a couple of very attractive Faberge eggs.

Good value - but they may not have been genuine ;)

 

JB :)

[Second seating]

This shop had my favorite of all the Amber I saw on our trip, even a stretch bracelet for my great niece for 4.50 Euro.

 

Second seating

Klaipeda, Lithuania Authentic, in Old town.

[Quasar1011]

Cheap nesting dolls tend to stick after a while.

 

I bought a couple of very attractive Faberge eggs.

Good value - but they may not have been genuine ;)

 

JB :)

 

Are there Faberge egg type ring boxes in St. Petersburg? I'd like to use one to propose to my girlfriend next spring.

[lizasantaana]

Are there Faberge egg type ring boxes in St. Petersburg? I'd like to use one to propose to my girlfriend next spring.

 

Yes. I ended up buying mine from one of the vendors at the port terminal. They have a really good selection; various sizes, designs and prices.

[KittyloverCA]

Nesting dolls... we bought in Tallin as they had good selections, also in SPB of course. Knitted goods in Tallin, Amber everywhere, jeweled eggs everywhere (both amber and eggs were more than I wanted to spend.)

[Ashland]

We got a great Russian military hat (envelope flat style) covered with lapel type pins and patches. Once home we had it put in a shadow box frame and it hangs in our grandsons bedroom.

[SClakeliving]

I like to buy a small Christmas Ornament to remind me of each place we visit. Do they make any mini nesting dolls that I could use as an Ornament ? Any other suggestions for Baltic ports?

-Elaine

[KittyloverCA]

I like to buy a small Christmas Ornament to remind me of each place we visit. Do they make any mini nesting dolls that I could use as an Ornament ? Any other suggestions for Baltic ports?

-Elaine

 

Yes they do! Eggs too

[lizasantaana]

I like to buy a small Christmas Ornament to remind me of each place we visit. Do they make any mini nesting dolls that I could use as an Ornament ? Any other suggestions for Baltic ports?

-Elaine

 

Yes, I saw them from the vendors outside SPB port. If you don't have time to shop in prior ports, definitely get them here.

[twruger]

Buy what you like! There are a few things we tend to look for everywhere on each trip and build a "collection", which are tea towels, Christmas ornaments, and Starbucks mugs. We have found that by mapping and going out of our way to find Starbucks stores, we tend to see other sights that we would not have seen otherwise. But that's just our thing. Find YOUR thing! :)

 

Best souvenirs are found in street markets, which we found in Tallinn and Helsinki. I brought back a neat looking bottle of vodka from St Petersburg. In Helsinki Market Square, I found some cool T-shirts and matching fridge magnets with picture of Baltic Sea and the major cities saying "I've Crossed the Baltic Sea". Buy what will mean something to you for a long time, not just some trinket that will lose sentiment over time or stuff just because it is there. You will get sick and tried of seeing matroyshka dolls, as they are everywhere and every shop has hundreds of them. My wife looked for Christmas tree ornaments, so we have a few of those and each Christmas we'll get those nice reminders of our great trip to the Baltics.

[oksteveou]

On 7/28/2018 at 7:29 AM, ljandgb said:

Cedar, linen, wool items in Tallin. There's a nice line of vendors on the pier with good prices and selection. Not the place I typically like to shop, but this time was very good. It seemed everyone took credit cards, FYI. One of the vendors had felted wool hats in the shapes of animals. Very whimsical. I got a goat hat and my kids die of embarrassment every time I wear it.

 

Licorice in Copenhagen. The Danes (and Scandinavia in general) have a thing for licorice.

 

I found a shop in Gamla Stan (Stockholm) that had nice clogs - wooden sole, leather upper, lignonberries painted on them. I get compliments every time I wear them.

 

Nesting dolls in SPB - the good ones have a story or sequence of pictures painted on the dolls' belly. I also bought beautiful painted lacquer boxes that made nice gifts for the family, on a prior trip to Russia.

Thanks for the top regarding licorice in Copenhagen!  I love licorice and wasn't aware of the Danes' affinity for it.  I'll definitely be on the look-out for some.

[GlennaRoseGoes]

1 hour ago, oksteveou said:

Thanks for the top regarding licorice in Copenhagen!  I love licorice and wasn't aware of the Danes' affinity for it.  I'll definitely be on the look-out for some.

Me too!! I usually stock up in Amsterdam due to the Dutch proclivity for licorice.......had no idea about the Danes!!

[angie7911922]

It just really depends on what you like and are looking for. I don't always like to buy random things, because I put them in a drawer and forget about them after a while. I usually go for coffee mugs and things like that - stuff I use every day, and then I can remember my trip while using them.

 

 

[northernrose]

I like shopping for food souvenirs like chocolate bars, cookies etc.

[Eartha Kitten]

Not sure if you're stopping at Klaipeda but we lucked out shopping there for gifts to bring back home for friends including amber earrings and felted silk scarves. 

[Radbooks]

I like to buy souvenir pins that I then stick into a bulletin board in my room. They are small and inexpensive and I've found some cute ones over the years. 🙂

[Desdichado62]

Try Finnish salt licorice if you are into licorice.

[oksteveou]

I am a bit of a foodie.  Besides the licorice (which I love and will definitely load up on--and no one else in my family likes it--so it is all mine!!), any other US customs-friendly food items (e.g., jams, cured meats, candies, etc.) in the Baltic countries that are particularly good and are harder to find or more expensive in the US?  Thanks.

[dogs4fun]

Tallinn - marzipan makes great souvenirs. Amazing assortment of intricate, edible figurines.

[twruger]

59 minutes ago, oksteveou said:

I am a bit of a foodie.  Besides the licorice (which I love and will definitely load up on--and no one else in my family likes it--so it is all mine!!), any other US customs-friendly food items (e.g., jams, cured meats, candies, etc.) in the Baltic countries that are particularly good and are harder to find or more expensive in the US?  Thanks.

 

Surstrõmming!