Rotterdam Baltic Cruise Copenhagen-Rotterdam 7/6/09-7/16/09 Part 2: review of ports

[chcats]

Part 1 of this review is on the Holland America board and this review will summarize the ports that we visited. I first want to thank everyone on the cruise critic forum for all of the great information that was provided which greatly helped in the cruise planning. A special thanks to Lair Bear for the great walking tour he posted for Tallinn, Heinblood for all of the information about the towns near Warnemunde which helped us decide what we wanted to do in that port, and Dave of Friends of Dave tours who provided a great tour of Warnemunde and Schwerin.

 

Copenhagen: We arrived in Copenhagen 3 days before the cruise started and stayed at the Marriott which we got on Priceline for 125.00/night + tax. The hotel is just a short walking distance from the center of town and we could see Tivoli from our hotel room. The first day we did the canal tour and then hung out in Nyhaven. This is an area on the canals where there are many bars and restaurants. In Denmark, you are allowed to take drinks outside, so we just bought beer in a grocery store and sat outside and drank it. This was much cheaper than buying beer from the vendors. The jazz festival was going on the weekend we were there, and the Danes have some pretty good jazz musicians. We visited many of the usual sites such as Christianborg and Rosenborg palaces, walked the Stroget (main pedestrian walkway), the Glyptotek museum which has a great variety of art, the National Museum which gives a great deal of information on Danish history and went to Tivoli one night. We also climbed up the spiral steeple of the Church of Our Savior for a great view of Copenhagen. One restaurant that we liked was called Aptotek which served typical Danish food and was located near the Round Tower just off the Stroget. We took a cab from the Marriott to the ship at the Freeport terminal and the cost was $25.00.

 

Tallinn Estonia: This was one of our favorite ports and is a medieval town surrounded by walls with a great deal of history. We toured the city by doing a combination of Lair Bear’s walking tour and a walking tour in Rick Steve’s guidebook on Scandinavia. If you want to buy souvenirs, this is a good place to do it since prices are generally cheaper here than in the other ports. The sweater mall is a good place to shop which has great prices for woolen items that are hand made. We ate lunch and sampled a local beer at the Old Hansa medieval restaurant which also had local entertainment. If you eat outside, be sure to check out the inside of the restaurant.

 

St Petersburg Russia: This was our favorite port and the motivating force for taking this cruise. We took The Complete St Petersburg 2 day tour with DenRus and I would highly recommend this tour. I heard from several of my fellow cruise passengers that they were all quite happy with their private tours. I think any of the major private tour companies are better than taking the ship tours since they are generally cheaper (if more than 2 people), have less people, and visit more places. Our tour had 16 people and we rode in a small minibus which was a nice size tour. Our tour guide, Olga, was a very experienced guide and not only spoke English well, but got us in and out of the sights very efficiently. Our driver, Igor, was extremely skillful, and managed to get us right up to the front gate at Catherine’s Palace in the pouring rain, where all of the other tour buses had to park farther away. Included in the tour was a general tour of the city where they stopped at the major sights for photography, Catherine’s Palace, Peterhoff, a subway ride, Peter and Paul fortress, canal boat tour, Church of the Spilled Blood, and the Hermitage. Lunch was included and was at two Russian restaurants where we had typical Russian fare and it was excellent. They also provided some time for shopping. On this tour they had head seats for everyone so we could always hear our guide even in crowded rooms. The only thing that I regret is I would have liked to have had more time in the Hermitage to better experience all of the great art. However, I understood before hand that there would be time constraints

 

Helsinki: We did this port on our own and visited the Market Square, Lutheran Church, and Openski Cathedral which are all within walking distance. We then took the ferry out to Suomenlinna fortress where we did a guided 1hr walking tour. We also took the 3T tram to the Rock church, and we were only able to stay there for a short time since they were going to have a wedding. It is a very unusual church made out of rocks and is worth seeing. The 3T tram makes a figure 8 around the city and we rode it for the full ride to see more of the city.

 

Stockholm: This was a port which we would have liked to have an additional day. The best mode of transportation for us to see the sights and old town was the Hop on Hop off boat that came right up to where our ship docked (Staadsgarden). We first went to the Vassa museum and this is a must see in Stockholm. It displays a highly ornamented wooden ship which sunk after only 20 minutes into its maiden voyage and the museum gives a detailed history of the ship. We next went over to Gamla Stan (old town) and visited the Royal Palace and Royal Armory which has one of the best displays of armor in the world. We didn’t go into the area where there was the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace since it was very crowded and the ceremony lasted for 40 min, but we did see the guards march in and out of the palace grounds. Otherwise, we did Rick Steve’s walking tour of old town. Of all the ports, this is the one that is worth being out on decks for the sail in and sail away to view the many islands of the Swedish archipelago.

 

Warnemunde: We opted not to go to Berlin and instead took the Friends of Dave tours for Warnemunde and Schwerin which had 10 people on the tour. The tour guide, Dave, is originally from the US and has lived in Germany for ten years. He is not only very well informed about the area but was really a lot of fun and interacted very well with everyone especially with the two young children on the tour. This walking tour covered several places in Warnemunde and Schwerin. The highlight of the tour was the Schwerin castle which is almost as impressive as some of the palaces in St. Petersburg. The tour included all train tickets, a pastry stop in Warnemunde, and lunch in Schwerin at a very good restaurant where we had typical German food and of course German beer. We got a great feel for the places we were visiting. Not only did we learn about the past history but were also given information about the lifestyles of the people that live there. I highly recommend this tour. Dave also has tours to other cities in northern Germany and these can be seen at his website http://sites.google.com/site/friendsofdavetours/Home.

 

Arhus: This was our least favorite port and would have preferred an extra day in Stockholm and skip this port. This was the only ship tour that we took which went to the town Silkeborg. Here there was a museum displaying the Tollund Man that was discovered in a bog in 1950. Carbon dating estimated that his death occurred in 350BC and he was extremely well preserved. The tour also included a trip to Sky Mountain where we had a great view of a number of lakes in the region.

 

Oslo: We opted to get off the ship early in Oslo so we could visit the Norwegian fjords. We spent one day in Oslo and then took the Norway in Nutshell tour into the fjords where we stayed for 3 days before coming back to Oslo for another day. One major comment about Norway is that it is EXPENSIVE. We stayed in the Comfort Hotel Boersparken which was a nice hotel, centrally located, very close to the train station, and very reasonably priced for Oslo. The rooms were fairly small with no real place to hang clothes, but it was clean and breakfast was included. It is a good place to stay for a couple of nights. The first day we walked around the main part of the city and visited City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. It is worth a visit just to see all of the phenomenal murals on the walls depicting Norwegian history. We ate lunch in the cafeteria which had very reasonably priced food. We then took the #12 tram out to Vigeland sculpture park that displays the sculptures of Gustav Vigeland. The park is open 24/7 and is free. There is also a museum which we didn’t go into. The second day we bought the 24h Oslo pass which covered many museums and most public transportation in the Oslo area. We took the #91 ferry over to Bygdoy peninsula where several of the museums are located. Here we visited four museums. The first was the Fram museum that displayed the ship, Fram, and described its polar expeditions. We then visited the Kon Tilki museum which is right next door and shows the raft like boats involved in the expeditions of Thor Heyerdahls and others from South America to Polynesia, and then we visited the Viking museum which has a great display of old Viking ships. Our last stop was the Norwegian folk museum which is an outdoor museum that displays many of the old type houses and buildings throughout Norwegian history. If you visit here, be sure not to miss the Stave church. Also if you are limited for time, I would visit here and possibly forego some of the other museums.

 

Finally, I would suggest purchasing the DVD “Baltic Treasures” by John Lawrence and the Rick Steve’s guidebook on Scandinavia. Both of these references greatly aided in my research for this trip.

I will be happy to answer any questions I can about these ports.

CHCATS

[burny]

Part 1 of this review is on the Holland America board and this review will summarize the ports that we visited.

Stockholm: This was a port which we would have liked to have an additional day. The best mode of transportation for us to see the sights and old town was the Hop on Hop off boat that came right up to where our ship docked (Staadsgarden).

 

 

 

Hi,chcats,wonder if the ship was not docking in frihammenport in Stockholm?

Burny

[chcats]

Burney,

For our cruise, the ship docked at Staadsgarden, although I have heard that the Rotterdam sometimes docks at Frihammen. If this is the case, the hop on hop off boat can't be used from the port. I think there is a local bus that goes from this port to the Vassa museum and old town.