What are the best shore excursions in Northern Europe

[dbh62ark]

Personally, I don't think it takes anything away from the Amber Room in Catherine's Palace that it was rebuilt. In fact, it's quite impressive that it was reconstructed. In my opinion, there are many sites that are worthwhile in Europe that were rebuilt using original materials.

 

Happy travels,

Donna

[West Coast Cruizers]

Hi, we are going on July 15 to Baltic with 4 and 6 yrs. old kids. I have reserved pretty much all ports tour with princess except Russia. Since you have done it before, is it do-able to do most of the ports on our own with Ho-HO rather than with princess tour? I'm just a little worried about my two children not lasting most of the tour and we end up paying so much. Please advise.

 

Hrace

 

Having cruised the Baltics twice, I think the best shore excursions are the private tours (not ship's tours) in St. Petersburg that you can arrange with others on your roll call board. You will see twice as much on a private tour in St. Petersburg than you will on ship's tours.

 

Other than St. Petersburg, the Baltics are really easy to do on your own. English is widely spoken, and mass transportation is great. Also, most of the ports are close to the sites, so it's not like in the Med where the ships dock many miles from Florence in Livorno, in Civitavecchia for Rome, etc. If you buy a book such as Frommers Baltics (under $20 on amazon.com), you'll see suggested itineraries for Stockholm or Helsinki in a day that you can use a start to map out an itinerary for the day to see the sites that are most important to you.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna