Kathie

We are seriously considering booking a Seabourn cruise to the Baltic and St. Petersburg plus the Fjords. It is a total of 21 days, and combines two cruises: one to the Baltic cities plus St. Petersburg, the other a cruise of the Fjords. Has anyone here done either one of these cruises? Even if you did this part of the world on a different cruise line, I'd be interested in hearing about your experience.

Thanks

jacketwatch

We did the Baltic in 2007 and it was one of the best cruises we've ever taken. It was during the peak of summer, June 11-21 so literally the 10 longest days of the yr. and it really did not get dark, just dusky for a few hrs. around 0200.

The highlight was SPB where we spent two full days though some lines go three days. The sights are amazing there. The splendor of the palaces is something I can't forget.

Our other stops were Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Gdansk and Oslo. We did a R/T from Copenhagen.

All the stops were memorable except for Helsinki which we had to cut short due to inclement weather which of course is no reflection on it.

So yes, it was wonderful. If you have any specifics please ask but I would say go in a heartbeat!!

Kathie

Thanks, Larry. The cruise we are considering has three full days in SPB.

Did you have a balcony? Was it useable in the cool weather?

jacketwatch

What month will this be in? It has to be no later than the end of summer I think.

We had a balcony and yes it was fine. We pulled into Stockholm early one morning, say 0500 and yes it was a bit cool but Sue was fine on the balcony wearing a hoodie, my hoodie. -. I will never forget the view pulling into Stockholm as we passed thru its archipelago. There are tons of small islands before you get into the main port(s) and the views were something like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=stoc...HXCyAisQsAQIOg

As for the rest of the trip we had no weather issues preventing us from using the balcony except for that rainy and blustery day in Helsinki. In fact I was in short sleeves in Oslo.

I thought you may have three days in SPB which of course is very nice because your time to see the sights will be less compressed. Maybe you'll have the time to see a show like say a ballet of a folkloric performance. In two days we saw a lot but it was packed, from like 0700-1700 every day.

I don't know what the weather will be like for the fjords portion, perhaps a bit cooler maybe.

Wow! This sounds like a great idea!!

Kathie

We are looking at June - no final decision yet, but it sounds like a great cruise.

I've checked average temps in all of the ports, and they all average a high of 66F in June.

Thanks for your input. We are excited about this cruise, but unclear whether we can make it work.

jacketwatch

I hope U can. June is ideal and as I recall those temps are about what we had. I'll cross my fingers. .

TAW

we did a Baltic Princess cruise in 2011. We had a balcony (first time we've ever had one) and now I will always prefer one. It spoiled me!
We went in May and had some rain & cold temps in SPB. The rest of the stops just required jackets. Wonderful cruise. I def urge you to go...
FWIW we booked our own tour guide for SPB instead of using the cruise bus tour. We had a small group of 10 persons and had input on the itinerary. Wonderful!
Whatever you decide - have a wonderful time!

jacketwatch

So true. SPB has some excellent local guides and if you use one of them then no worries about getting a Russian visa. This will suffice. I wanted to use a local guide too but our travel mates were leery of this idea so we had a ships tour instead. The guide we had was very good really but we were on a bus with like 30 people. At least we got a stop at a local place to sample some free vodka. .

Kathie

Thanks for the encouragement. After long thought, we've decided to tentatively plan this for May/June 2018. We had planned to do another Pandaw cruise in Burma in November, 2017, so I think we will stick to our plan.

jacketwatch

Thats great. I do hope you enjoy this!!

Bon Voyage.

Larry. .

Gwendolynn

Friends did the Seabourn cruise to St, Petersburg etc, and thoroughly enjoyed it. They did not do the Norway segment.
Their trip was in August.

In June 2001 my husband and I did a Baltic cruise that included St. P and Moscow. The ship had only 100 passengers...it was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately that cruise line is no longer in business.

SharonG

I did the Silverseas Baltic Cruise and just loved it. Started in Stockholm and then went to Estonia, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and finally Copenhagen. Loved it. It was in May and it got a bit cool and rainy some days.

Elainee

Also considering this cruise. But...21 days! Still trying to find trip with fjords, but maybe less of them to still include St. P with less days and no Moscow (could fly there). Definately would go SilverSea or Seabourn.