I would like to take a cruise to the Baltics 12-14 days. Departing from Great Britain. Can anyone recommend a cruise ship and best ports of call. Is St Petersburg worth a visit?

Is SPB worth a visit? Have you seen the latest geico commercials? Does a former marine drill instructor make a lousy psycho therapist? Most cruises to the baltic have two day stops in SPB and even with that its two long days of touring to get a glimpse of all that is to see there. SPB is the highlight of that particular cruise. So yes, definitely!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFgiU...eature=related

Why do you want to depart from Great Britain?

Is there something you want to specically see here.(Like Dover ).

You got that Drill Sargeant down pat jacketwatch

In 2009 we did a 14 day cruise on the Celebrity Constellation from Harwich, also returning to Harwich.

Ports of call were Amsterdam, Warnemunde, Helsinki, Stockholm, Tallinn, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. It was an excellent cruise - my favorite to date.

I booked my flights on miles, so it was easier to grab seats going into LHR. We booked a car service from the airport to Harwich and stayed overnight before boarding the cruise the next day.

I can see you have tagged certain cruise lines for this conversation. You might also consider Oceania. The Regatta does a fabulous cruise that begins in Dover and finishes in Stockholm. It stops in Brugge and Amsterdam, cutting through the Kiel Canal, before sweeping around the Baltic. It spends two nights (3 days) in St Petersburg ... BTW, St Pete is a must-see. Oceania's ships are smaller - we docked on the Neva River a quarter mile from the Hermitage.

We did the Oceania Baltic cruise from Stockholm and ending in Dover, as mobilemc said St. Petersburg is a must see and the Oceania cruise was wonderful. It docks so close that we could walk from the ship to most cities or take a quick taxi...great trip.

cruises.about.com/od/princesscruisereviews/a/cruisereview318_3.htm

Did the Star Princess some years ago St. Petersburg

was the highlight of my journey.

You can go to sites such as www.cruisecritic.com and find ALL THE BALTIC CRUISES for any particular timeframe. There are a LOT of cruise lines doing the pretty much "standard" with slight variations cruise of the Baltic which often includes Copenhagen, Warnemunde or Rostock, Tallin, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, etc.

Soem ships leave from Tilbury and other ports in the UK but I'd suspect the majority of ships leave from a Baltic port since many of the cruises are a week long or so.

Yes, IMO, St. Petersburg was the highlight of our Baltic cruise a couple years ago

. Hello Percy. Its Canadian cold today. Well maybe. . I boiled some H2O and tossed it up in the air and it vaporized right away. Tomorrow its Bears-Packers. Thats all anyone can talk of these days.
Applejean: Is SPB worth it? Get down and give me 20. NOW!! Hoo rah!

Hi jacketwatch:

It is warm here right now , making the streets mucky!

Lots of snow !!

Yes St. Petersburgh is the highlite of the Baltic Cruise.

You have to choose your ports wisely though.

We did the Baltic on Celebrity out of Amsterdam last July for 12 nights. If you click on my name you will see my trip report.

St. Petersburg is fantastic. But,you will need to use the cruise excursions or a private guide. We opted for DenRus and thought they were great.

If you are a comfortable traveler, alll of the standard itinerary cities that are visited by the cruise lines can very easily be seen on your own. Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn are easy to see with a good map and a shuttle bus to the central part of town.

St. Petersburg will require a tour as the visa requirements are onerous otherwise. Private tour will provide the best combination of your interest an personal attention. But, it is expensive. If you're ok with ship provided bus exursions you can piece together a nice overview of St Petersburg.

Meant to add, don't rule out leaving from Amsterdam. The cruise port is in the city, making getting to it very easy. Amsterdam is worth a visit in it's own right.

Also, there are few airports in the world that top Schiphol.