Just back from Baltics cruise on Grand Princess

[adgtravel]

We had a great time on this cruise, only rained about 10 minutes 2 different times, temps in the high 50s, 60's and low 70's! Wow, we were very lucky with weather, since previous cruises had a lot of rain!!!! Very nice weather in St Petersburg, I even wore shorts to the Hermitage! An amazing place, but way too crowded!!! The Grand is a very nice ship, but I would agree with previous posters, there are a few problems! The pursers desk is not very helpful, (gives out wrong info some times), the coffee is not very good, and because of its size (or some other reasons?) we docked far away from ports, which cost us more money and time to get into town! We took many ship tours, which were nice, but I thought were overpriced for what you recieved!!! We took a taxi from ship to airport, left around 8:30am, very short line for taxi, and arrived airport around 9:10am. Funny how airline says arrive 2 1/2 hours early now, but when you try to check in, they said we were too early, they could not check us in til 2 hours ahead of time! Great shopping for amber in Gdansk, nice crystal in Tallin, and of course stacking dolls, etc in St Petersburg (but shopping time in St Pete was very limited on ship tours!) I never exchanged any money while on this trip, (I did take a few Euro I had left over from another trip and used it in Helsinki), most places either took US$ or Visa! Still suffering from jetlag, will post more later! Any questions?

[mek]

Glad to know the weather was good for you. Also, I follow the ship around with the cruise cam and saw that you made it into Germany, which unfortunately, we did not. It was a wonderful experience, and I plan to go to Russia again.

[cheza]

hi, just a quick question for you. We are on the constellation in August on a baltic cruise and i was just wondering if you paid in usd at all the ports. Did they accept them in gift shops and cafes/bars. Did you buy anything in St Petes, we are with Red October, but have heard that their gift shop is very expensive.

 

As we live in england it would be easy to just get usd for all ports, as i am not sure if euros will be accepted in all the ports.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

 

Chez

[bburns]

This is great. I've been waiting for someone who had gone on the Grand. We are going later this summer.

 

- You mentioned wearing shorts in St Petersburg. What were people wearing elsewhere? I'm assuming from your comment that that port was the only one warm enough for shorts?

 

- I think we are in Gdansk on a Sunday. Were you? Just curious if the shops will be closed??

 

- Which ship excursions did you take?

 

- Did you do any shopping in Tallinn? Is it cheaper than St Petersburg?

 

- Did you fly into Copenhagen a day early? If so, just curious how that worked out & if you were able to do any touring. We are flying in a day early and I'm just wondering what to do that next day? Do they take you to the ship in the morning or can you go out and about & then go to the ship later in afternoon?

 

- I'm assuming its too cool to be out by the un-covered pools on the ship. True? So the covered pool area is really crowded?

 

- Anything special for entertainment?

 

- What advice do you have?

[adgtravel]

Cheza, we used US$ or Visa everywhere except we did have a few Euros for Helsinki. I wanted to buy a few postcards at City Hall in Stockholm, but they would not take US$ or Euro coins and I did not want to break a 20Euro bill for .73 cents, so I did not buy them! Also a gift shop, I think in Copenhagen, required a certain dollar amount spent before they would take visa( it was a small amount of money). We bought 2 hot dogs from a stand by canel in CPH with US$, and I noticed they did charge us a little extra, he said he did not have change for US$. We bought somethings from grocery store in Poland, they took visa. We did not eat in cafes or bars, only when included in tours.

 

bburns, it was warm enough to wear shorts some times, other people did. I mostly wore capris with sandles, since we left early for the day, and it was hard to tell how day would turn out. We usually needed a sweater in the morning. The phone in room had a weather button to call, but what a joke!!!! The first 4 days it always said 57 degrees, which might have been right on 1 day! We were in Tallin on Sunday, many stores were open! There were 7 cruise ships in that day, city was very crowded! I bought some nice crystal at a good price IMHO, but the Amber I bought was more expensive then in Gdansk! We took Best of Stockholm tour, Peterhof tour, Hermitage tour, (both half days) full day Catherines Palace and city tour, Gdansk city tour, (we were in port 2 hours less then they originally posted, not sure why, so we could not take Sopot tour), and tour to Berlin 20th Century. In-laws just arrived, will write more later!

[flaforfun02]

Just wanted to mention we also just got back from the Baltic on GP - still jet lagged up at 3am since it is 9 in Denmark - anyway we used local currency - the ship had an atm like machine which would change your home currency to local for $1.50USD for up to 6 bills inserted - worked great.

 

Also want to mention you may see some postings from Ahti regarding Tallin - if you do DEFFINITELY hire him as a personal guide - he was a local history teacher and can give tons of insight - he was also a REAL bargain compared to the ship and made Tallinn my personal favorite port. Sure everyone says you can walk around by yourself but then you don't really know what you are looking at. Made Tallinn my favorite port - it was just me, my husband & kids and was so much better than being herded in a large group. We also did ALL other ports with the exception of Russia on our own - there we used Red October.

 

CJ

hi, just a quick question for you. We are on the constellation in August on a baltic cruise and i was just wondering if you paid in usd at all the ports. Did they accept them in gift shops and cafes/bars. Did you buy anything in St Petes, we are with Red October, but have heard that their gift shop is very expensive.

 

As we live in england it would be easy to just get usd for all ports, as i am not sure if euros will be accepted in all the ports.

 

Any help appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

 

Chez

[Hulagirl]

We are on the Grand Princess right now in Helsinki. The sun finally came out today after saling into the city in total fog. They have had to blast the ships horn many times so far on this cruise due to fog. It has been very cool if not cold, but luckily the sun came out today and yesterday in Stockholm. The first day out of Copenhagen, July 9, was very cold and rainy which ment that everyone was inside on the ship. that did make the ship feel so much fuller than what we have ever experienced before. At least with the sun people are outside a bit.

 

We have found the service to be very good, but we haven't had to deal with the pursers desk yet.

 

The mixture of people is interesting. Many from Spain which is interesting in itself. Some very rude passengers. Just not used to this. What surprised us so much was all the people wearing jeans in the dining room last night. Basically a first for us on Princess. The British are so properly attired, and then the jeans (which were not worn by americans for the most part). It is a wonderful cruise so far.

 

Wish we would have just done the on and off bus here in Helsinki. I think it would have been a much better tour than what we did.

 

Off to tea right now. Will check in later on. But the ship is holding up well, just needs a little work in October.

 

Hulagirl

[bburns]

All this info is fantastic. Thanks.

 

The weather seems like it could be almost anything. Are you allowed to bring backpacks (with your coats/sweaters) into the museums etc?

 

Did you fly into Copenhagen a day early? If so, just curious how that worked out & if you were able to do any touring. We are flying in a day early and I'm just wondering what to do that next day? Do they take you to the ship in the morning or can you go out and about & then go to the ship later in afternoon?

 

- I'm assuming its too cool to be out by the un-covered pools on the ship. True? So the covered pool area is really crowded?

[Jane110]

BBBurns,

 

We made a mistake in Copenhagen, so I'll tell you about it so you can avoid the same one.

We arrived in Copenhagen a couple of days before our 6/18 Baltic cruise on the Grand Princess. On the 18th, it was our intention to check out of our hotel, go to the ship, check in and then go back in to Copenhagen to visit more places.

The cab ride to the ship was $30.00. We check in, got settled in our cabin, worked out some problems (like filthy glasses in the bathroom and jelly from the previous occupant all over the credenza). We walked outside and asked where the shuttle bus was and we were told that there is no shuttle bus in Copenhagen, even though the Grand is docked in the boonies......that's *your* problem, not theirs. So, to go back into the city, we would have to spend another $30. each way, making it a $90. day for taxi's alone.

 

Had we known this, we would have left out luggage in the hotel lobby, spent the day in Copenhagen and then gone to the ship at about 5:00 PM.

 

So enjoy your day in Copenhagen and don't rush to get aboard early.

 

Jane

[vtrav]

We are leaving for Grand Princess on Friday for the Baltic Cruise. Hoping the weather won't be too bad, because as of right now, it says rain, rain, rain, everywhere.

 

Hulagirl - any info on weather you could give would be great. My suitcase is only so big and I'm not sure what to bring! Sweaters??? We were going to eat Personal choice mostly, except on Formal nights, so I thought I'd wear jeans to dinner. If we go to the dining room I'd planned to dress nicely. It's surprising to hear that everyone is wearing jeans in the dining room. That kind of takes away from the fun.

[adgtravel]

bburns, I never saw the pools crowded, but there were some people in hot tubs everytime we went on deck. I think there are at least 6-8 hot tubs, and at least 3 pools, 1 of them enclosed. I talked to one woman who went swimming every morning in the outside pool, she said it was very nice! I thought it would be too cold, she said no. I never saw too many kids on ship, and average age seemed to be 50 and up. This was very different cruise on deck then the Carribean! Many empty chairs!!!!!

 

There are no clocks in the staterooms! Telephone has a time button you can push.

 

I wanted to cash a personal check the last day, but purser said minimum was 250US$, which I was surprised! I thought it used to be 200$ maximum!

 

We had a problem with taxis not understanding Freeport where ship is docked! They would go to Langilie (sp), then drive around alot and it cost us extra! Does someone know how they spell Freeport in their language? GP docks at a very inconvient location in CPH, almost impossible to walk into town. Taxis do take credit cards, very expensive thou. If you are docked in CPH your last full day of cruise, Princess offers a shuttle for 4$ each way, but it took us at least 45min. from getting off ship, wait in line for bus, drive to town, alot of traffic, then dropped at city center (last shuttle back to ship is 7pm), which was a long walk to canal cruise that we wanted to do.

[CruisinChris]

The Grand docks in the Oostport. Eastport. This area of the port is further east than Langelinie (Friport) or Nyhavn (New Port). We had no problem by telling the driver the name of the ship to go to. They usually know by ship which pier to go to. The Grand is "famous" as the biggest ship in and out of the port this year. We talked to some policemen while we there in August and they referred to the Grand as the "really big one". They had gone over special to watch her come in.

 

Oh, and in regard to shuttles, Princess only offers a shuttle in Copenhagen on the itinerary which ends with the overnight in Copenhagen (this one also calls in Warnemunde). The alternating itinerary with Oslo does not get shuttles, since it's a turnaround day.

[summer2004]

Hi,

 

I think Freeport is Frihavnen. Hope it helps!

[Host Anne]

Hula ~ Have a wonderful cruise.

 

That goes for the rest of you sailing soon as well. We will be doing this itinerary next summer so I'm beginning my "research" :-)

 

Please come back and tell us all about your experiences. I'm particularly interested in any private tour guides you might hire in the different ports. We enjoy smaller, personal tours with a guide who is native to the location.

 

Safe travels to all. ENJOY

 

~Host Anne

Celebrity Message Board Host

[Jane110]

To all,

 

When Princess delivers their onboard newspaper everynight (if you can find it between all the sale circulars), they tell you exactly which port the ship will be docked in the following day.

 

Bring it with you to show the taxi drivers so there's no question that you're driving to the right pier.

[Hulagirl]

We just returned last night from our Baltic cruise on the Grand Princess. It was a fantastic trip, but very tiring.

 

The one thing to mention first is every port we were in the tour guide told us this is the coldest summer they can ever remember. We took shorts with us, but never wore them, so glad I packed extra long pants. We basically had rain almost every day, but luckily it would be when we would get into port and then start again when we left. Did get caught in a horrible rain/hail/thunder storm as we were leaving Peterhof in St. Petersberg. The tours that got there after us didn't do so well. Thank goodness it is a way out of the city because by the time we got back the rain was letting up, but what streak lightening we saw. So do prepare for all sorts of weather.

 

We flew into Copenhagen 6 days early and stayed at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel. There was my husband, daughter and myself. Was worried about the accomodations before we got there because of having 3 in a room and their new firecodes not allowing that. But I had written a week before we left and it had all been worked out. Through Radisson in Europe and this very nice lady, she upgraded us to a family room there for no extra charge. It was a very nice room and the location was fantastic. We did a lot there and took the train out into the country 3 different days. Saw as much as we could. Bought the Copenhagen card for 3 days, but don't think it would have been worth the money had we not taken the train and used it there. Just made it easy showing it when we got on the buses and the train though. Their train system is so good and easy to use. Wish we had something like that here in Seattle.

 

We had taken Danish money with us so we would have local currency with us there. That worked out well. We bought ours at AAA and had no fee for getting the money. Used that as well as our credit card and it was easy to deal with.

 

Boarded the ship around noon. Decided to give it a little time since I had read previously of the long lines at the pier. Well, nothing. We walked in and right up to the Platinum check in and we were on the ship so quickly. There were basically no lines at that time. Room was ready and clean when we got there and we settled in once again on the Grand. Had read of people having some bad experiences on the ship with personnel, but I guess we were lucky. Couldn't have asked for nicer people at the pursers desk and all over the ship. Never came across any ship worker who wasn't helpful and nice. The food on the ship was very good. Of course that is all in personal taste, but we found nothing to complain about. A buffet is a buffet no matter where you go unless it is top end, and the food was fine. Hot when it should be which matters to me greatly. We did eat at the Painted Desert the first day out for lunch. Wanted to go one more time before they change it to the Sterling Steakhouse. Was still good and we enjoyed our meal.

 

The money situation in these countries is interesting. I had read that they wouldn't take Euro's for the most part, but found that not to be quite true. In Helsinki of course they take them and also in Tallin we would have been better off with Euros. Stopped in a few smaller shops and only their money, euros were accepted. Went into McDonalds at the bottom of the old town area just to get something to drink and they would only accept Estonian money, which I had none. But most of the stops would accept euros with no problem, even though that isn't their currency. I would say Tallin was the main stop that didn't want US money the most. Russia, we had no problem with them converting the ruble to US. Didn't make a difference were you were shopping (ex: hermitage to the flea market type vendors),they were all happy there to take our dollars.

 

The ports were all very interesting. In Gdansk 2 people had problems on our tour. We took the Sampler Tour that gave us time on our own there. WE enjoyed the free time to do some looking around and getting a bite to eat. I would really like to go back there and spend more time. But the pickpockets were out. One person had their camera cut off their shoulder. Must have just had the camera over one shoulder and not paying that close attention to it, because a person came up behind and cut the strap. Another had their purse stolen out of their shopping bag. We had a good hold on our things and didn't have any trouble. The main street there gets very crowded, so just be aware of what goes on.

 

Wish they would have made the cruise one extra day just to give us a day at sea after St. Petersberg. We did the Grand 2 day tour and it was grand. Can't tell you how much you will walk and see. My legs were killing me every night, so I can't imagine how some of the elderly people felt. The tour worked out well and we saw a lot. Maybe a private tour would be the way to go, but for the 3 of us that would have been so terribly expensive. They do say on the ship's patter, that with the private tours you can't get off until 8:30, but I really don't know how they could have stopped those getting off if they are in the mix of everyone else. The lines can be long each day going through the small immigtation type place that is there at the pier. We were lucky it was raining on us since there is no cover at all. There were 25 buses for the Grand tour and many, many more for the other tours, so this is a very busy stop since you can't go anywhere without a visa. Just be prepared to do a tremendous amount of walking. Our guide would always say, "We need to walk quickly, but with dignity!"

 

When you get your tour tickets on the ship there will be no time for meeting in the Princess Theater. Each night in the patter it gives the times for when you need to meet. We did find that if we actually waited until the time, you were at the end. So do show up a little earlier than what it states.

 

Our ship was full, and with many first time cruisers. There were 28 elite passengers, and 125 platinum members. I want to say they said at the captains party there was around 900 gold members and all the rest were first time cruisers. The ship had over 2,800 aboard, so that made for a lot of first timers.

 

We didn't do any private tours, so I can't give any information there. For the most part, the tours by Princess worked out well and we got to see what we wanted. I do like having time on our own, but this was fine.

 

I do want to say something about the last day and disembarkation. We had Aqua 2 which was to be called at 7:30 AM. Now our flight from Copenhagen to Seattle didn't leave until 4:00 PM, so that was later in the day. Had we not been in Copenhagen 6 days previous, we would have done something in the morning, but we didn't.

 

Well, Aqua 1 and 2 were called at 7:00 AM, not 7:30. They were getting people off early. We were taken to the airport to the Hilton to this hospitality room. There is nothing there, only coffe and tea, so if you didn't get a chance to eat anything, don't plan on it there. We were told that they have tried to get Princess to at least supply muffins or something for the passengers, but they haven't done anything yet. You can eat the breakfast buffet set up in the Hilton, but it is $20 per person. The room that you wait in is large and got very hot. We were the first group to be escorted across the street to get our luggage. It is all outside for this part. Even though there is a covered walkway to the airport from the hotel, you don't use this when getting you luggage. You then retrieve your luggage and head into the airport to check in. We flew SAS and that was in Terminal 3. Was easy once we knew what was going on. When you get your boarding pass, most likely you won't have a gate number. There is large reader board in the check in area, but don't wait for that to give you the gate number. Also, even if your boarding pass has a gate number, most likely that will be wrong also. I asked one of the workers there about the gate and he told me to just wait and see what the board said. Thank goodness I asked this lady about 5 minutes later. She said that no, you don't wait there. Need to go up the escalator, go through the security area and the board up there will tell you the gate number then. It may take some time, but go up and through the security check in then. This is a "silent" airport we were told. Not many announcements made. After we ate lunch and went through the few different check points along the way we made it to our gate. Did find they don't really call rows for boarding either. They did call out for people who needed help boarding, but that was basically it. No first class, etc. Everyone just sort of bunched together and headed to the door and boarded. They take your boarding pass before you even enter the waiting area, so you don't give them anything at the door. Not like what we do here in our airports.

 

I'm still pretty tired, so hopefully I've given some information. If there are any questions, please ask away. The internet was spotty in many areas during the cruise. Terminals would work, then the next person would try and log on and nothing. So trying to respond during the trip didn't work well. Sorry to the couple of people who asked questions and are probably on the ship now.

 

Hulagirl

[BJS]

Hulagirl thanks for the information. Glad it was a great cruise.

 

Have a couple of questions:

 

Pre-cruise Copenhagen:What did you do for the 6 days? Would you recommend 6 days or was that too long or short? How did you get from airport to hotel, to ship and back to airport and costs? Would you stay at the SAS Royal again or would you choose the location of the Phoenix? Approximately how much did your meals cost for the time in Copenhagen? From the Royal how many blocks, or walking time, is it to the Tourist Information office where the walking tours and to where hop on and off buses leave from?

 

Princess shore excursions: Other than the Grand 2 day in St. Petersburg and the Sample Tour in Gdnask what other tours did you take? If you knew about all of the ones you took before you went would you have selected the same ones? If not what alternative would you have selected? (We are not interested in private tours or to do our own thing type excursions only the ship's.)

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[CruisePlease416]

Hulagirl,

Thanks for the great review!! We will be in Copenhagen for two days before and two days after the cruise. Please let me know what you would put on the "do not miss" list. Also, did you find any restaurants in Copenhagen that you particularly liked?

Thank you

Bobbie

Glad you had such a good time. We leave in less than a week.

[Hulagirl]

BJS and Bobbie: Let me try to answer your questions. If I don't, please let me know and I will do my best.

 

First the Royal SAS is located right across the street from the tourist information office. Our room looked out at Tivoli and the train station. They were both right across the street also. I'm not really sure where the Phoenix is located, so I can't help you with that. We went to tjhe TI center once and didn't find them terribly helpful. If you didn't know exactly what you wanted to do, they didn't offer any suggestions. Was glad I then asked the concierge (my mind isn't working on spelling yet, so that is mispelled, so bear with me) and he was the most help of all. Yes, I would stay at this hotel again. It is very modern Danish, which isn't exactly my type of decorating, but the hotel was very nice and comfortable. Our family room had 2 bathrooms in it which was great. One was a full bathroom and the other had the toilet and another sink.

 

We took the train to Helsingor and went to the Kronberg Castle. I would say that was a not to be missed one. Loved that area and would go again. Castle was fascinating. They call it Hamlet's Castle because the movie was filmed there. The shopping street up a block in town was so much fun to walk down. If you remember to take your passport with you (I just had the copies with us and not the real thing) you can take the ferry across to Sweden from there. It is just a short ride and wish we had done that.

 

Another day we took the train to Hillerod and went to the Fredisberg Castle. This is also a fascinating place. When you get there, take a bus to the castle since it is a bit of a distance. You will walk enough once you get there. The grounds behind the castle are beautiful.

 

The last train trip was to Roskilde to the 1000 year old church where all the kings and queens of Denmark are buried. What a place. Walked down the hill to the viking museum, but wouldn't really recommend that. Was $28 for the 3 of us to get into and I can't really say it was worth it at all.

 

In Copenhagen the first morning we hooked up with the walking tour in front of the TI office. She gave us a good walk of the old city. Saw several places that we ended up going back to. There was the Round Tour that includes Trinity Church we went to on the tour but didn't go inside. Went back and climbed to the top of the tour. You get a spectacular view. Would have stayed longer but it started to rain on us.

 

Do a harbor tour from Nyhavn. There is the DFSF group for 50 Kroner each or just down about 50 feet is the cheaper one for 25 Kroner which is basically the same tour. Either one is worth is.

 

Of course there are the palaces and the Little Mermaid. I would really recommend doing the Hop On Hop Off bus there. It really would have been nice to have done. Can't begin to tell you how much we walked. Those buses were just down by town hall which was a couple of blocks from our hotel. They were located right in front of the Palace Hotel across from town hall. The shopping street starts right by there also.

 

Food was very expensive in Copenhagen. We had breakfast included in our hotel and I'm thankful for that. We never seemed to have dinner for less than around $60. We didn't really find any great restaurants, even though I know there are many. Ate one dinner in Tivoli which was very expensive. It was an italian restaurant and over priced. Food was all right, but not worth the cost. That was just one expensive place and of everything we did in Copenhagen, I would say Tivoli wasn't on the top of my list. We did eat twice at a place on the shopping street called Momma Rosa's. It is right near Illum's department store. It had outside seating and the food was really quite good. They had both Italian and Mexican (odd I know) and the food and service were good. Prices weren't terrible and you knew what you were getting.

 

Transportation from airport: We had arranged through the hotel to have a limo service pick us up. I knew that we would have a bit of luggage and after the long flight I just wanted to make life easy. Worked well. There are a lot of taxi's though and I don't think transportation would be a problem. I just didn't want to have to think when we got there and this was nice. We also had them take us to the ship, but the hotel could have called a taxi and that would have worked fine also. We did the Princess transfer from the ship to the airport. But knowing what I do now, that turned out to be more expensive then the limo service would have been, but we wouldn't have know when to have them pick us up.

 

BJS: You sound like us on the tours. We also just did ship tours and no private ones. In Oslo I wish we would have done the tour with the Vigeland Sculpture Park. I truly knew nothing about it, but everyone who went came back so in awe of it. We did a walking tour which was nice, but from what I have heard, don't miss the tour that goes there. Helsinki: We did the harbor tour. I wanted to see it from the water. Ugh, it would have been beautiful but it was so cold and foggy that morning. The sun did come out a little near the end, but I wish we had done something different. On a sunny day this would have been wonderful and it was beautiful, but terribly cold. In Estonia we did the Old Town Walking Tour. That was interesting. You do walk on some old cobble stone streets, so it isn't the easiest, but was interesting. I don't remember what else was offered, but when booking this looked good to us. Stockholm: Don't miss the Vasa Museum. That ship is something else. no wonder it sank. I had read this was a not to miss spot and I do agree. Stockholm is quite a distance from where the ship stops. It is a tender port, so be aware of this.

 

I do want to say something about the Red October shop in St. Petersberg. Watch the prices there. It was more expensive for the same things they were selling at the open air market across from the Church of the Spilled Blood. They all have basically the same thing. I was glad we had gone to the talk on the ship they gave about shopping in the ports for Russian good and for the amber. She gives you some good information about what to look for. The ship actually had some really good prices on many of the same things.

 

Also, I can't begin to tell you how shocked we were about all the jeans we saw in the dining room on the ship at night. This was a total surprise for us on Princess. Now we saw jeans on people where we had short port days, so it wasn't like they had rushed back to the ship for dinner. The mix of people was interesting.

 

Hopefully this helps. If I left anything out, do let me know. Yes, I would definitely go into Copenhagen for several days. Be sure and get out of the city though and see these other places. They were fascinating. Such a beautiful place. Don't forget to bring an umbrella. You will most liekly need one this summer.

 

I still can't believe the trip is over after planning for so long. It is a beautiful area.

 

Hulagirl

[KathyMG]

My husband and I just got back from the Baltic on the Grand (actually returned last Saturday). It was a great trip, but tiring, a port each day. Some pointers for those of you doing the same trip.

 

We flew into Copenhagen a day early, which I would recommend. If your flights are late, baggage delayed, or you just want to recover from a long flight. We loved Copenhagen. What a charming city.

 

We found ATMs everywhere we went and got local currency. You end up spending more when you pay in dollars. The same thing happened when we wanted to buy something and hadn't had an opportunity to hit an ATM yet, but had some euros. The euro price was much higher than it should have been based on the equivalent amount in local currency. So just watch that. Charge whereever you can, because the exchange rate the banks use is pretty good.

 

As many have pointed out, the Grand being such a large ship docks far away from city center. That was true in Copehagen and St. Petersburg, and for Stockholm, it's Nynashamn, which is 1 hr. outside of Stockholm. In Warnemunde, Germany they offered a shuttle, but it only ran from 9:30AM - 7PM. The shuttle in Copenhagen only runs to 7PM. I figure the bus personnel starts getting paid overtime after 7PM. So, we tried to get off the ship as early as we could, and if we wanted to stay beyond 7PM, we just took a cab back. That way you get the most out of your day.

 

For the 1st time on Princess I felt a real push to take their shore excursions and their transportation. (We've cruised Princess many times and didn't feel that pressure). They were not particularly accommodating to the independent traveler (which we are). There were several announcements about how crowded it would be at the end of the cruise for those waiting for a cab to take them to the Copenhagen airport. So, they really pushed people to sign up for their transfers, which were $40 per person! So, the last day in Copenhagen we took the shuttle into town. Went to Tivoli. Grabbed a cab on the way back, and had him meet us the next morning at the ship for the drive to the airport. Worked like a dream and cost $30.

 

In Sweden Princess wanted $69 per person to transport you to Stockholm! We got off the ship in Nynashamn, walked 10-15 min. to the train station, and got on a train to Stockholm for $12.50 per person. The ticket allowed you to use all the transportation in Stockholm. We took the bus to the Vasa Museum, ferry to Gamla Stan, and train back. All for $12.50pp. WORD OF WARNING. ON MANY OF THE RETURN TRAINS TO NYNASHAMN THEY REMOVE THE LAST FEW CARS, AND ONLY THE 1ST ONE TO 2, MAYBE 3 CARS CONTINUE ON TO NYNASHMN. SO WHEN YOU BOARD SIT IN THE 1ST CAR. THEY DO ANNOUNCE THIS, BUT YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION. OUR SHIP WAS LATE LEAVING NYNASHAMN, AND WE WONDERED IF IT WAS ALL THE POOR PEOPLE WHO WERE ON THE TAIL END OF THE TRAIN.

 

St. Petersburg was fascinating. You dock a good 5 miles from city center, and the end of the dock area is a good 1 1/2 -2 miles from the ship. We know because we walked it one night! We did have visas, but also took several tours with Red October. Our guide was great! She got us in everywhere with no wait. We walked up to the door of the Hermitage about 5 min. before it opened and were whisked inside. We must have been in there for 30 minutes before we even saw anyone else. Definitely do the Hermitage 1st thing, it opens at 10:30AM. Not only does it get crowded, it gets hot. Red October was definitely the way to go. We had a small group, 6 of us, and it was perfect. Once you start touring with really large groups, it's hard to hear, and you can't move through as fast, therefore you see less.

 

We took a hydrofoil to Peterhof, which is the way to go. The traffic coming in and going out of St. Petersburg can be horrendous. I know the ship's tours are by bus, but if you are traveling independently take the hydrofoil.

 

The Grand is a nice ship, (needs a little work) but if I had to do it all over again, I'd go on a smaller ship. Not because it was crowded; we found it spacious enough to handle 2600 people. But many of the ports are set up to accept smaller ships, which would have been so much easier in all these places. You spend entirely too much time getting in to the city center and back.

 

The weather did hold out for us. Some cold days, some warmer (70), some rain, some sun. Do take warm clothes and layer. Even though the temp. didn't get below 60 most of the time, it's a humid climate, so the cool air feels colder, especially if the wind kicks up. We just layered and carried an umbrella. The rain never lasted very long. Several people have mentioned shorts. The only people I saw in shorts were tourists. Keep in mind that it is considered inappropriate to enter churches and cathedrals with shorts on in many of these places. I think a safer choice is light-weight cotton slacks. We certainly did see tons of blue jeans, though.

 

These were beautiful countries. I think the real pleasant surprises were Tallinn, Estonia, and Warnemunde, Germany. Tallinn is a charming, squeaky clean, medieval city. Warnemunde's a small harbor town, with a Cape Cod feel to it. We did a bicycle tour in Warnemunde. This was a Princess tour. Great fun and scenic. You bicycle through a forest by the beach. It was wonderful.

 

I'm sure I didn't cover everything. If you have any questions, let me know. It was a great trip. You should all thoroughly enjoy it.

 

Kathy

[summer2004]

Thank you Hulagirl and KathyMG for all the great info!!

 

Do you have any tips on getting off the Grand in St. Petersburg to meet the Red October guide? Should we just make our way down to the gangway? What level is it on and is it located towards the aft or stern of the ship? Any info would be of great help.

 

Thanks again.

[BJS]

Hulagirl thank you so much for all your very helpful information.

[CruisePlease416]

Thank you for all the great information. Helsingor is definitely on our list now.

Bobbie

[Hulagirl]

Bobbie and BJS: I'm so glad this was helpful. I know you will love Denmark and your cruise. Glad I could be of help.

 

Summer2004: They use the gangway's on Deck 4. You disembark right onto the pier. They use both the midship and the forward gangway, so not just one. Now the patter says that anyone booking their own tours can leave at 8:30, but I don't know why you just couldn't go down there and get off. The people at the gangway that put your cruise card in the machine don't stop you. There are so many tours leaving that it gets so busy there shouldn't be a problem at all. What takes the longest was going through the customs office at the pier for Russia. There were only 2 agents at first and the line was long. They finally got the hint they needed to open up the other 2 lines and then it went fast. When you get back from your tour you will need to go back through and give them back the little card they give you to keep with your passport. Goodness don't lose it because they say they will fine you $50 for it. Don't know for sure if they will, but I wouldn't trust them not to. Hope you have a great time on your tour. St. Petersberg has a lot of beautiful things to see.

 

Glad to be of some help.

 

Hulagirl

[juliejoe]

THANK YOU KATHYMG AND HULAGIRL for posting your experiences!

 

Hulagirl - We'll only have 3 days in Copenhagen pre-cruise. If we can only go to Hillerod OR Helsingor - which do you recommend?

 

Julie