1st Timer - Holland America - Amsterdam

[cruise_blade]

My wife and I are taking our first cruise this summer. We leave from Copenhagen 02 Jul 06 and return to Copenhagen 12 Jul 06. We will visit:

 

Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Visby, Warnemunde (Berlin), and Arhus.

 

I have been looking though the message boards, and have not seen any mention of this cruise/itinerary. I was wondering if anyone has any insight into this ship/itinerary. Also, I was wondering about independant excursions. I have seen mention of DenRus and Red Octber for St P, and one mention of a Berlin company (is it worth going all the to Berlin, or is North Germany worth seeing?). I was wondering (1) about other excursion companies in other ports and (2) if they are worth it. Shouold we try to see any of Copenhagen when we get back to port?

 

Sorry to ask so many questions at once, but like I said this is our first cruise, and we want to be sure we get the most out of all the ports as we can. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!!

 

Thanks!!

[cckt]

we are on this same cruise. there are a few others booked on the roll call board for holland america amsterdam july 02.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=279780

 

my husband and i are looking to be part of a red october or denrus group tour and just emailed the others from the roll call, awaiting an email response. if they are full, the four of us certainly could form our own 4 people group with denrus?

 

the reviews below may help answer some of your questions.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=11148

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/expedia/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=6488

 

about warnemunde:

 

We would like to take the train to Rostock, costs 8 euros for two return fare and takes you from Warnemunde to Rostock in about 20 mins. Both stations are the end of the line.

in Rostock there is the old New Market, the City Hall, and St Mary’s Church – Rostock’s landmark – at the Goat Market; inside the church, there is a unique astronomical clock, also view remnants of the old city walls – the Kröpeliner Gate and the Stone Gate – towers from medieval times.

 

There is a farmers' market with "German products and goods common to the area such as cakes, wines, all kinds of local food and refreshments, as well as souvenirs. Since Rostock is located on the Baltic it is widely renowned for its seafood. In the market we will learn how fresh fish is smoked in ovens. Naturally we will not want to leave without a hearty sample of this delicacy. Since ‘fish have to swim’, as the saying in the area goes, we will help them along with some schnapps."

 

Rostock centre is about a 10 min walk from the main station and walking along the main tram tracks gets you to the center. "Keep the tracks on your right and go down the road that is at two o'clock coming out of the station exit."

[cruise_blade]

I don't quite know how the excursions work, but if the excursion is right and the price is right, we would be interested in learning more. Please keep us in mind.

 

Any other suggestions would be great!

[dakrewser]

Take CCKT's advice and join the Roll Call - if it's at all active you'll board already "knowing " quite a few other people on the cruise. Check also the Holand-America boards for threads about the Amsterdam.

 

We'll be on the Prinsendam and 'cross your path' on the 8th or 9th as we head to Amsterdam, our final port. Unfortunately, only one other couple has joined our Roll Call (although the cruise is sold out!) :(

 

There's tons of information here on almost all of the ports you'll visit, many with links to web sites with further information. Invest a couple of hours in going through the threads here that mention your ports - it'll be time well spent!

[cckt]

my husband and i took our first cruise in the year 2000 on royal caribbean voyager of seas. since then we have been on rotterdam 3 times, westerdam once, radiance of seas and infinity and millennium each once. we cruised to the mediterranean/europe--classic and western routes, caribbean, new england and canada, brazil and argentina and hawaii. cruising and the anticipation of it always bring a sense of exhilaration.

 

we have great memories of being on hal rotterdam, great stateroom size, even the inside cabins. on hal, we feel like we own the ship and lounges, because they tend to seem less crowded, more sedate but elegant. i recall enjoying the 50s sock hop and officers black and white ball. elegant tea was always highly anticipated, the indonesian/filipino crew show were fun, (11pm or so). there's a bit of fun on "dutch" night on hal as well, you'll see when you go to the dining room.

 

1st timer, what made you choose holland america/amsterdam/baltic itinerary? what are your plans so far for the ports, tentative ones even?

[cruise_blade]

My wife and I went to Switzerland and Rome last year. We wanted to do Europe again, and a cruise seemed like a good way to see a lot. It was Greece or the Baltics, and we choose Baltics. (Maybe Greece next year)

 

We plan on an excursion(s) in St P. Tallinn, Visby, and Aarhus sound like "do it youself" ports. We have not decided on going to Berlin or staying in the north of Germany. The other ports we have not researched one way or the other. So, basically we have not decided anything!! :)

[stipmom]

Did the Scandanavian countries in 2004. Used Red october in St. petersburg Tallin, Helsinki and Stockholm are very easy to do on your own.

[dbh62ark]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, and you'll find this site to be a great source of information. My husband and I have not cruised on that ship, but we have cruised Holland in Europe several times and love Holland. You have also picked a great itinerary in my opinion. By the way, my husband and I had a wonderful trip to Switzerland in 2003. :)

 

If you know how to do a search on the boards, you can search for some villages in Germany that you can visit as an alternative to the trek into Berlin. We have visited Lubeck and Wismar in addition to Warnemunde and Rostock during port stops in that area. I understand that Schwerin is also a good option. We chose not to go there last year because the castle was covered in scaffolding, so hopefully the scaffolding is down this year. And there is a steam train in Bad Doberan that rides down to the beach.

 

I hope you have a great cruise.

 

Donna

[makovitza]

We're going to be sailing that itinerary on the Amsterdam leaving Copenhagen on June 12th. We booked Denrus' "Complete St Petersburg" value tour because it was an easy and cost-effective option, with a guaranteed departure no matter how few people book. We still haven't decided what to do about Germany, though. We've been to Berlin in the past, so we'll probably save a bit of money (and avoid 6 hours on the train!!) by staying in Northern Germany. Not sure what we're going to do. Maybe one of the local shore excursions. Alternatively I've heard people say they enjoyed hiring a car for the day and touring to places like Wismar and Schwerin on their own...

[dbh62ark]

Alternatively I've heard people say they enjoyed hiring a car for the day and touring to places like Wismar and Schwerin on their own...

If anyone is looking for a less expensive independent travel alternative, we used the trains to go to Lubeck and Wismar. We also stopped in Bad Doberan but didn't get to ride the Molli, and Bad Doberan is a stop between Wismar and Rostock. The German rail site is http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVORN:eTVWXNNNVGDVw9NNNPxM/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml. We didn't understand in advance that with the tourist train tickets, up to 5 passengers can ride on one ticket, so that's a plus too (we had 6 in our group and didn't need 3 tickets). You can also use the train to go to Schwerin. The trains in that route were very nice, and the only negative was that we were riding in early September, and it was hot (no air on the trains and windows didn't open).

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

[SYD-YYZ]

Did you book the rail tickets online? It doesn't seem to allow booking for >5 adults despite the website saying there is a 70% discount for 6 people travelling together.