Any information about Scenic Scandinavia

[Tas353]

We are doing this cruise in June……Copenhagen to Sweden. Several stops have options to do a biking excursion. I’m looking for information from anyone that has done one. 
Two of them are:

 

Mariehamm, Alan’s Islands - Alan’s islands by bike

 

 Visby, Sweden - Biking around Visby

 

Also, Berlin looks like a long day but interesting. Any recommendations?
 

Any information for this cruise would be appreciated!

 

 

[Azulann]

This cruise is unique. It is only  June 12-22 from Stockholm to Copenhagen And the return of June 22 from Copenhagen to Stockholm.

I started a thread for  our  Jupiter :June 12-22. roll call. It is pretty slow.  

This itinerary came about  because   Russia is not visited  any more by Viking and other cruise lines. so they had to modify  their cruises. 

 I saw the biking options for these two cruises. If you like biking  it looks like fun . 

.You  can find your Jupiter roll  call. at top of the page of Viking forum. 

 My sister is going on the  included Berlin  excursion. I am not.  This excursion include the train ride etc. It is indeed a llong day. these two crises do not have a sea day, very port intensive

I will either  stay on the ship or do the Rostock excursion , which is also include.

 I suggest  you find your roll call  which I think has very little activity , it is on page two or there of the Jupiter roll  call. Also check out our  June12-22  roll call.

Both cruises are basically sold out after they gave lots of incentives.

We of course booked this way back in summer of 2022.

I am so excited to do this itinerary! I just read  Stockholm  guide book.

We are arriving two days ahead of our cruise an doing the post extension by Viking in Copenhagen.  

 

[Azulann]

Here is your roll call for your cruise. 

 

 

[May B]

Azulann, you rock!

[SailorPaulH]

3 hours ago, Tas353 said:

We are doing this cruise in June……Copenhagen to Sweden. Several stops have options to do a biking excursion. I’m looking for information from anyone that has done one. 
Two of them are:

 

Mariehamm, Alan’s Islands - Alan’s islands by bike

 

 Visby, Sweden - Biking around Visby

 

Also, Berlin looks like a long day but interesting. Any recommendations?
 

Any information for this cruise would be appreciated!

 

 

In the thread of our Viking Homelands cruise, posts 10, 26, 27 have our accounts of cycling in Aland, and our day in Berlin.

[Tas353]

7 hours ago, SailorPaulH said:

In the thread of our Viking Homelands cruise, posts 10, 26, 27 have our accounts of cycling in Aland, and our day in Berlin.

Thank you! Your posts were very helpful. I’m wondering how strenuous the bike ride was? 

[Ranger Mom]

I did this cruise June 2022 and loved it. While I didn't do the biking tours, I did do the Berlin excursion that included a trip to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and I am so glad I did. It was a long day, but as always, Viking took care of us. We boarded the train right next to the ship, snacks were delivered on the way to/from Berlin and we got to see some of the countryside. Copenhagen and Stockholm are beautiful cities (the picture was taken from my balcony in Stockholm and what I thought was a smudge, turned out to be a hot air balloon). I enjoyed Visby and our guide was fantastic. Gdansk was lovely as well. We did miss one port, but I'd have to look to see which one it was. Have a wonderful trip!

[Tas353]

2 hours ago, Ranger Mom said:

I did this cruise June 2022 and loved it. While I didn't do the biking tours, I did do the Berlin excursion that included a trip to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and I am so glad I did. It was a long day, but as always, Viking took care of us. We boarded the train right next to the ship, snacks were delivered on the way to/from Berlin and we got to see some of the countryside. Copenhagen and Stockholm are beautiful cities (the picture was taken from my balcony in Stockholm and what I thought was a smudge, turned out to be a hot air balloon). I enjoyed Visby and our guide was fantastic. Gdansk was lovely as well. We did miss one port, but I'd have to look to see which one it was. Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you! Berlin sounds like a long day but full of historical sites. 

[SailorPaulH]

6 hours ago, Tas353 said:

Thank you! Your posts were very helpful. I’m wondering how strenuous the bike ride was? 

The Aland bike excursion was listed as "Moderate". If you are in decent shape - you should have no issues, everyone in our group were enthusiastic or recreational cyclists. There were no inclines to speak of - mostly flat roads (or trails in a park), many stops for info and sight-seeing, and snacks. We did about 12 miles in 3.5 hours. The bikes were not too comfortable.

[DGHOC]

Thanks so much for starting this thread, I'd been planning to do so this week. We're on the reverse journey in June along with Azulann (Patti).

 

This trip has been cancelled for us many times due to Covid, changed from Russia and the Baltic too and then changed again in a ship repositioning, thus I haven't yet scrutinised the latest itinerary and made a plan.

 

I'm sitting on the fence with Berlin, it would be such a flying visit. I was wondering whether to take the excursion to Lubeck instead. It's supposed to be a truly beautiful well preserved city, childhood home of Thomas Mann and the city of his Buddenbrooks novel. Has anyone taken this excursion? How long was the coach journey each way?

 

Are there any excursions that any of you wouldn't recommend and are there any particular ports that you'd recommend just doing a DIY wander in? We've tagged on pre and post extensions in Stockholm and Copenhagen so we'll be in both cities for a good amount of time.

 

I really do need to sit down and give this some thought but would be grateful for any advice from previous experiences. Many thanks to you all!

 

Deb

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisewiscrrq]

We ( 4 early 70’s from Wisconsin and Atlanta GA) are on the reverse cruise June 20, 2023. Have been on fence over Berlin but after reading you review we are going to do it. Probably never be to Berlin again. One of best trip reports I have read.  Thanks very much.  Question about optional shore excursions?  We are in a DV and worried about availability.  On your cruise did you hear of any “steerage” passengers complaining about not getting the optional excursions they wanted. 

[sugarside]

DGHOC

We felt we did not want to do the Berlin trip out of Warnemunde as Berlin is worth more than a flying visit and being UK based would  make an easy short break stay.

So ,we did the included Rostock included tour in the morning,caught a local ferry back to Viking Sky for lunch and then in the afternoon did the optional Bad Doberman and Molli railway trip which ended on the shores of the Baltic and a break for drinks and cake in an high end hotel before coach ride back to Warnemunde.

We were in a DV cabin and had no problem getting the trips we wanted.

[DGHOC]

Thanks so much for your response Sugarside. We've neither of us ever visited Berlin and certainly my thoughts are, like yours, that a long weekend would better suit us. 

 

We haven't had much luck with the V included excursions in the past but I'll check out the incl Rostock one and also your train trip one, if it's still offered. I really quite fancy the Lubeck excursion if they still offer it this year and would be grateful for some feedback on that if anyone has done it. The optional excursions can be a bit hit and miss too.

 

Your photos are fab, thanks again for taking the time to reply!

[Azulann]

Are the ports in Poland and Germany  industrial ports ?

Does Viking run any shuttle to and from any  ports for Scenic Scandinavia cruise ports?

Sugarside .thanks for your information about doing two excursions while in the German port of call!!!

I have decided not to go into Berlin for this port of call. So I will try to do  do two excursions that day.

Viking Jupiter is in port till 11:30 pm so plenty of time to do other things for the long day in June.

Do any of the ports have a terminal where there are shops or tourist information booths  with good street maps?

Do buses for the excursions pull up close to ship or are long walks involved to get to the terminal building and waiting buses? 

All you cruisers which  did this lovely itinerary are the experts for us in June 2023, for the only two sailings for Scenic Scandinavia.   Any input will help me make decision about what excursions to do  at each port, or just a DIY  day to explore on one's own pace. 

Cheer!

 

Patti

 

 

[sugarside]

Warnemunde docking is great for just getting off and wandering the town and beach area if not going to be on tours all day.

Having problems thinking of a poor docking site.

This was the old viking homelands cruise though and Helsinki,Tallin and St Petersburg were unattractive port areas.Not an issue for you.