Picking up where I left off on the previous post, we were in the middle of a 2-week cruise of the Baltic Sea to begin our 3 month Travel Hack Extravaganza of Europe. Read on for the second half of our Travel Hack Recap: Europe, Part 2 – Baltic Sea Cruise below!
Full disclosure: I’m not sure how many parts this trip will be split into. Ninety days of continuous travel was a huge undertaking on our part and documenting the details has been daunting enough for me to have procrastinated nearly 6 months to start doing so. But I’ll do my best to share the highlights and travel hacks along the way!
Travel Hack Recaps of Europe so far:
Europe, Part 1 – Baltic Sea Cruise
Where We Went
To continue where we left off…
Day 8 – Tallinn, Estonia
Having done minimal research on the city beforehand, we reached port in Tallinn and walked into the Old Town. This area has a distinctly medieval feel, preserving the long history of the Estonian capital. Our first stop was the Great Guild Hall, essentially the National Museum of Estonia. For only about $8 each we spent about an hour learning about the history of the country, its people, and the interesting building that houses the museum. Totally worth it to learn a bit about the history and culture of the area.
Our self-guided walking tour continued on to some of the other sights of the old town, including the Town Hall Square, Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Toompea Castle, Tall Hermann Tower, and great views of the city from a scenic overlook. We returned to the Old Town Square for lunch at Il Drakon, a medieval-style restaurant (if you can call it that) located in an old dungeon on the square. They serve traditional Estonian treats from before the time of industrialization, like meat pies filled with elk or wild rabbit. They did have two beer options on tap: “Dark” or “Light.” The mini-meal was surprisingly delicious and we continued on to find more recognizable drinks from yet another outdoor patio before heading back to the ship.
Total spending for the day was about $16 for the Great Guild Hall and $33 for food and drinks. Tallinn was a very interesting city that we enjoyed more than we expected. The UNESCO-preserved Old Town was quaint and clean. Another plus was that it was walkable from the ship, taking about 20 minutes to and from the city gate at Fat Margaret Tower.
Day 9 – Helsinki, Finland
Located just across the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn, Helsinki would provide a much more metropolitan vibe of the Baltic region. We were excited to experience the world-famous Finnish saunas!
Being a larger city, the cruise port was significantly further from the center of the city than we were used to – about a 45 minute walk. We walked from the ship to the nearest bus station and hopped on, riding as close as we could get to the Market Square. Once there, we headed straight to the Allas Sea Pools, a public spot with pools and saunas right on the water. After spending some time sweating it out in the sauna, we cooled off by jumping into the Baltic Sea! (And then promptly ran back in to the sauna to warm up, then repeat). For about $18 each, this was an invigorating way to start our day in Helsinki.
Allas had a cafe on site, but we opted for the cheaper market stalls nearby. We each a couple interesting local dishes to try for $5-6 each and then continued north to explore more of the city. Highlights included the gorgeous Helsinki Cathedral and the Central Train Station. It was a nice day out, so we opted for the scenic walk all the way back to the cruise ship. Exhausting, but another solid day in Europe with total spending of about $65.
Day 10 – Day at Sea
When we booked our cruise, the itinerary included an overnight stay in St. Petersburg, Russia. For obvious geopolitical reasons, that stop was cancelled and replaced with Nynashamn, Sweden (outside of Stockholm) and Kiel, Germany. Day 10 of our trip was supposed to deliver us to Nynashamn, but poor weather conditions that morning prevented the ship from docking.
Day 11 – Day at Sea
Regularly scheduled day at sea.
Day 12 – Kiel, Germany
Kiel was similar to Warnemünde (see Part 1) but a little larger and a little more industrial. We walked right from the cruise pier to the center of town, circling the main cathedral, town hall, and a beautiful pond. We also crossed off a small bucket list item by shopping at Aldi in Germany. With its importance as a major shipping port in Germany’s history, the Maritime Museum was an interesting (and free) way to spend an hour. Lots of cool exhibits detailing the evolution of the German maritime industry. After sipping a couple beers at the attached cafe, we meandered back onto the ship. Total spent: $20.
Day 13 – Gothenburg, Sweden
As Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden, we again found ourselves docked quite a distance from the city center so we booked a coach bus transfer through the cruise line for $20 each. After about a 20 minute drive, we hopped off in the main town square and set off on foot to explore the Skansen Kronan fortress. Located high on a hill in the historic Haga neighborhood, it was quite a trek to get there. We took in the panoramic views of the city before heading back down to a local cafe with a line out the door (that’s how you know it’s good).
At Cafe Husaren, we ended up with coffees and a cinnamon roll (hagabullen) that was bigger than my head. The Swedes really take their fika seriously. Filled to the brim, we waddled back to the town center and caught the shuttle back to port. Money spent in Gothenburg besides the coach bus included $19 for the fika experience and another $4 for some sea salt black licorice, a local delicacy (don’t waste your time – it’s terrible).
Day 14 – Day at Sea
The ship retraced its wake back around Denmark and along the northern coast of France before arriving in Dover early the following morning.
Day 15 – Dover, England and back to London
Upon arriving in Dover, we disembarked the ship and took a cab to a local hotel where we had arranged to stash our luggage while we explored a bit (cost ~$30 for 4 hours). After hiking up the hill we took a couple hours to wander around Dover Castle ($25 each). The concepts of monarchies, castles, and medieval living are so foreign but yet so fascinating to me, and this was the first castle I had ever toured. I really enjoyed picturing myself standing in the same rooms that the medieval kings and queens dined or slept in.
After the castle, we crossed another mini bucket list item off by eating fish and chips at a local pub. Having avoided another rail strike, we retrieved our luggage and walked to Dover Priory train station for our voyage back to London. Food was certainly pricier here than previous stops on the cruise, totaling $36 for the day. The 2-hour train ride to Victoria Station in London was comfortable and we took the famous Tube across town to our accommodations for our stay in London, the Hyatt Place London City East.
How Much We Spent (and Saved)
Let’s take a look at the Travel Hack Recap spending breakdown for the Baltic Sea Cruise. I should note that during our entire 3 months in Europe, the US dollar was extremely strong. The exchange rate with the Euro was at or near 1:1 for much of our trip, so everything was at a bit of a discount compared to historical exchange rates.
| Category | Budget | Actual | Notes |
| Flights | $11.00 | $11.20 | $5.60 per ticket per person (MSP-EWR-LHR) + 60,000 United Explorer miles (some transferred from Chase UR) |
| Accommodations | $1,140.00 | $1,115.96 | Casino status matching deal to obtain balcony room upgrade; Free night cert at London Heathrow Marriott Hotel |
| Food/Drink | $470.00 | $268.96 | Ate breakfast & dinner on ship, only snacks/drinks in port |
| Entertainment & Misc | $170.00 | $264.25 | Includes $24 travel insurance for entire trip, $30 Dover luggage stash, $75 gambling on the ship |
| Transportation | $70.00 | $86.55 | Dover-London train, Gothenburg shuttle; London-Dover coach transfer paid using onboard credits |
| TOTAL | $1,861.00 | $1,746.92 |
Solid start to the trip, $114 under budget through the first 2 weeks. Two more tricks we used when paying for the cruise were buying discounted Carnival gift cards on Raise.com, and paying incremental amounts prior to sailing using our Chase credit cards that were running statement credit deals. Those two methods saved us $135 out of pocket.
Total savings from travel hacking:
- Total cost of flights (MSP-EWR-LHR) was $1,089.30 per person at the time for a total of $2,178.60
- 1 night at London Heathrow Marriott Hotel would have been $204.15 and included free breakfast
- Sticker price for our level cabin on the cruise was $3,743.76 for a savings of $2,627.80
Even excluding the savings of taking public transit instead of Uber/Taxi/Rental car, we saved over $5,000 by travel hacking this leg of our trip to Europe, including the Baltic Sea Cruise.
Conclusion
Though cruising isn’t my favorite, I have to admit it is a pretty efficient mode of transportation for travelers. We were able to visit several cities that weren’t necessarily on our “must-see” list to begin with for a really reasonable price. And that includes most of our meals and a comfy bed to sleep in. As an added bonus, I didn’t get seasick!
I’m partial to the German ports we visited because of my history learning the language, but Mrs. FIby35 and I concluded that Copenhagen was our favorite port city on this cruise. It was a very clean, efficiently run city with interesting sites and cuisine. The public transit was also pretty easy to figure out and prepared us well for the rest of our trip.
Overall, the cruise was an amazing start to our European journey! It really fed my desire to experience the fantastic local fare and see many of the wondrous castles, palaces, and cathedrals of Europe – a perfect setup for our next stop: London!
