Baltic Cruise

What the hell kind of Baltic cruise fails to make port of call at Riga? Sheesh. Tallin's ok, but without Riga, I wouldn't go.

Hi Merry,

Looked at the itineraries of lots of different cruise lines and not noticed Riga featuring in any of them.

Maybe Riga warrants a trip of its own.

tarah :
sorry to hear that you don't go into oslo .
we took a baltic cruise aboard 'norwegien dream' a few years ago .
the ship sailed from dover across the north-sea and through the kiel-canal , stopped in talliin , st. peter (two nights) , helsinki , stockholm , copenhagen (overnight - tivoli is a must see , even though a bit commercialized) , oslo and back to london .

take a trip through the ...THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM... now ; you won't regret it !
also the "summerpalace" in st. peter is wonderful .
just walking around talliin , helsinki , stockholm and copenhagen is a great experience .
will you be taking several cruises through the baltic ?
hbg

if the above link does not connect , paste this into the address to link to the heritage museum : http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html

or simply google for it

tarah :
try to visit "tivoli gardens" at night .
it'll likely be very crowded with locals and visitors from around the world - but it was a great experience for us ; completely disorganized and everyone having a good time !
hbg

Thanks for that information Hamburger. Something's gone wrong and I've not been notified of any reply which is why I didn't respond earlier to you.

The ship stays at Copenhagen till midnight so, yes, we'll be able to spend the evening at Tivoli Gardens.

You say everyone was disorganized - guess I'll fit in well!

Tarah, I agree with hbg about the Hermitage, but do it with a docent or tour, because there is just too much to cover; they have over 40 million artworks. If you love impresionists paintings, go to the left side to the very end. I think they are rooms in the 40s. There is one painting not to miss, and a docent or tour guide will take you there.

Don't miss walking on Nevskiy Prospekt, the main shopping/tourist street. It's only about three miles long, but filled with shops, restaurants, other attractions and hotels. If you like Tchaikovsky, his tomb is located on the east end where there is a cathedral and small graveyard. They charge a small fee to get in, but they'll give you a map of all the famous people's tombs. Ask for one in English. Tchaikovsky's tomb is to the right as you enter the graveyard.

Mariinsky Theater is another venue I love in St Peterseburg. On my first visit, I attended a ballet, and on my second, an opera.

tarah :
yes , definetely go with a group - the smaller the better .
i don't know if "private" tours are possible .
we found one of the advantages of being in a group was that we were allowed to enter the hermitage before the door openened for general admission - our tour leader shook hands with the "keeperof the door" and some money was left in the hand of "the keeper" !

i looked at your personal website and found it quite interseting !
btw we cruised with norwegian cruise lines (norwegian dream) and found the service very good .
can you tell us what cruiseline/ship you'll be cruising with ?
btw in tallin we found it also worthwhile to join a tourgroup since it took in a visit to a historical site/park - including folkdancing (to which yours truly was invited :wink: ).
hbg

Whenever I get the opportunity to see a folk/cultural show, I always go. They usually include dinner, and some with unlmited drinks including beer and/or wine.

On one of my first trips to Mexico (city) I saw three, count em, three, similar cultural shows. Pah.

I'd so much rather walk in one district or another by myself or with a friend, and not always tourist defined areas. In later trips, various boyfriends of friends took us to clubs, much better (no rope tricks).

Well, we're all different. If I were on your Baltic cruise, Tarah, I'd be looking for the edges with my camera (as well as the fine tourist area). A friend of mine's family owned a city block, as I understand it, in Talinn, before they became dps...
she and her daughter have taken a cruise and gotten a minute tour and didn't even get a quick look at the old block..... it would be such a big fight for that old block, and life is short. So, bittersweet for them.

osso :
the park/historical site we visited in tallinn - after having roamed around the old upper city on our own for a couple of hours - , wasn't a kind of disney world .
it was more like sturbriddge village in new england . farmers and craftsmen had preserved some of the old heritage here .
at the time of our visit , a large group of hungarian "folkartists" - for want of a better word - were also at the site . their visit was part of the effort of re-connecting the members of the hungarian-estonian-finnish language family (finno-ugric ?).
i don't think we would have been able to find the site on our own - never mind that we didn't even know about it .
we find that when we only have a half-day or day ashore , a guided tour serves us well , particularly keeping in mind the language difficulties .
when we have stayed in port for two days , we have usually managed to do some exploring on our own .
when we visited st. petersburg in 2003 , a visa was required if you wanted to go ashore on your own - some passengers had their own visa and had arranged for taxi pick-up - which cost them a fair bit of money .
being on a cruise , the time in port is usually rather limited and if you miss the ship , you are on your own :wink: !

i remember being in casablanca in the fall of '98 . we were just ready to step on our bus to be taken back to the ship after coming back from rabat and stopping for an hour at some kind of a souk .
it was already quite dark when an elderly german women kept shouting in german that she was looking for her tour group and her ship . she didn't even speak any english and was was getting quite hysterical .
the best i was able to do , was to take her into a store and ask the storekeeper to contact "someone" - the police ? - who might be able to help her . since our bus was leaving , there was nothing i could do for her - hope she didn't wind up in a local harem .
hbg

Copenhagen: The Tivoli is a must, and perhaps the Mermaid.
Stockholn: City Hall where they present the Nobel prize.
Helsinki: The Rock Church.

Hi there Tarah! That sounds a great trip and I hope you regale us with a thread on A2K about your experiences. In what capacity will you be there?

Hi Clary

Not replied before as I've been to visit my daughter and family in Florida.

I'm going on the cruise as an enrichment speaker. I'm a performance poet and also lecture on poetry and run workshops. It's terrific as I only work one hour each sea day and relax and sightsee the rest of the time (oh yes, I eat too!).

tarah :
you let the cat out of the bag !
all kinds of people will want to apply a job as 'on-board entertainer' .
i understand that is not always as glamorous as it sounds - particularly if you are flown out to some far-away port to join a cruise a progress .
we have met some wonderful people who worked as entertainers/lectures/musicians on the ships - they all had great stories to tell - particularly off-stage .
enjoy your cruises !
hbg

On my last cruise to the Caribbean this month, I met the family from Australia that provided some of the entertainment on board. They were seated at the next table in the cafe, and we just started talking. Two brothers, one of the wives, and two children make up the show. The ttwo brothers sing (with operatic voices), the wife plays the piano, and both children play the tuba. The young boy, about 12 years old, has won awards in Australia, and has played with the national symphony.

On a transAtlantic cruise, I met the professional singer from London. A guy from Vancouver and I spent some time together, because our wives do not enjoy cruising. Roger and I usually went up to the Horizon lounge for a drink before dinner one evening, and Lindsay Hamilton walked by, so I invited her to join us for a drink. She's been in show by Lloyd Weber including Les Miz. We have kept in touch since the cruise.

On a Med cruise, my roommate and I met the fellow that took care of the computer room on board. He actually started talking to me, because of the clicking of my camera by the lens cover. He has the same camera, so he told me he knew right away what make of camera I had. We invited him and his wife to dinner several times to share our wines with them.

Those are the only three so far, but expect to meet more of them during our 24-day cruise in March, and a 28-day cruise in November.