My family and I went on the June 5 sailing out of Dover. The 14 day cruise was wonderful. The ship is beautifully decorated and designed so that you don't know there are about 2000 passengers. The gym is very good-and quite superior to other ship gyms I've experienced. The food was very good-not excellent except in the Ocean Liners Restaurant-especially the "Spa" offerings--located by the Thassol...(sp?)pool. A little known fact is that you can order via room service anything that's on the dinner menu. Also, try the dining room for lunch when you get a chance--it's a nice change from the buffet routine and, again, super service as is all the food service. We had a wonderful waiter-George from Romania who catered to every request; "Z" from Croatia who was the wine steward and a font of information; Korey from Turkey (tall guy)who was the drink waiter with a great sense of humor and certainly knew the meaning of service. The ship also has a very useful computer learning center with classes and where you can download your daily digital pictures. This is very handy because you can label them before you forget them! At the end of the cruise you then download them to a disk--the staff is very helpful in this whole procedure. There is also another computer room where you can purchase internet time. You can board the ship around noon in Dover--we did so and breezed through the process. We had spent the night before in Dover--at a B&B called Beulah House that I would not recommend because of the street/train noise and very low water pressure (but wonderful hosts). Next time I would stay by the dock, probably at the Churchill which a passenger told us was quite nice. Anyway, on to the ports: Unfortunately it rained in many of the ports, so, for example, we didn't spend much time in Oslo or Helsinki. In Helsinki we took a public bus up to Porvoo-it was quaint, but I think that with the limited time we had, we should've explored Helsinki more. Finland is a very clean country. Stockholm was a favorite--beautiful city, very well laid out and the parks by the Vassa were spectacular--as was that museum (just don't plan on taking pictures inside--it's very dark). St. Petersburg was wonderful to visit--and two days worked out fine. The well-known buildings are spectacular-but the Hermitage was packed with tour groups. We were very disappointed in the Gold Room and would advise all to skip it--it's truly not worth paying for and waiting to see. Our guide warned us--but we had heard so much about it...anyway, we saw as much gold in the Carlsbad Museum in Copenhagen (by Tivoli). One sad note about St. P is the Russian people-very dour. We were also surprised that not many spoke English as v. the Chinese who are learning it at a rapid pace. The moral is: you must have a guide unless you speak/read Russian and have a visa. We hired Red October as the guide for the eight of us--and it was well worth it. We had our own private minivan, driver and guide-Taitiana. We signed up for two full days and felt as though we saw all we wanted to see. We saw the large, ship tour groups being hearded around, but loved the fact we wrote our own itinerary and could do as we wanted. One caveat-the lunches through Red October were very expensive for what we got--averaged $18-20/pp and were quite mediocre, esp. the restaurant called St. Petersburg (I complained to Laura-the manager-and she said she'd take it off the schedule-we'll see...)Getting back to the ports--except for Rostock (took the brewery tour--forget it-not worth the $) and Gdansk, Poland where we just took the ship's tour bus into the town, we explored on our own and were fine. The ship tours just didn't seem worth the money and we felt we saw a lot with our own explorations. In Germany, we just went to Rostock and skipped Berlin. Some passengers that did Berlin complained it was very rushed and wouldn't do it again. It's a long day in port in Germany since Rostock just takes a few hours. The seaside town of Wardemunde is very nice--walk into the town and don't merely stay by the water-but is doable in a couple of hours too. Gdansk was ok-lots of graffiti all over which mares whatever beauty is there. Copenhagen was pleasant-a must-see is the Carlsbad Museum--explore it all and walk up to the upper floors. It has lots of modern art and is wonderfully displayed. Tivoli was a bit of a disappointment-it's pretty much just a small amusement park, but did have what looked to be some upscale restaurants. Try to go at night when the lights are on. Getting back to the ship, we stayed on the conceirge level-floor 9-and enjoyed the veranda and little extras. The floor above, though, was the buffet, spa, gym, etc. so it got noisy on occasion. I am told that next year the 8th floor will have some conceirge rooms--so that would be the floor to book. Anyway, you would love this ship. Write if you have any questions.

How much was it to download your digital photos and have them placed on a disk?

Did you dine in the speciality dining room? How was it?

Any idea of the price per night at the Churchill?

How much was Red October? Can I get more information on your tours/sights in S.P?

Thanks!

Monica

Monica-The specialty restaurant was wonderful-a beautifully served , almost 3 hour meal. The Ocean Liners is a very lovely restaurant that I'm sure you would love. Its kitchen is also separate from the main one. I will look up the info re Red October and post it. The only cost to download pictures/burn a CD was, I believe, $15 dollars. What you do is download the photos each day or at the end of the trip and then put them on a CD-it's very easy. I don't know the cost of the Churchill. It'll probably be online. I will send the RO info soon.

Thanks for the great report Pennez! We're leaving for London Monday and departing Dover next Thursday.

Our itinerary is quite similar. We debated as well about the Hermitage and decided to skip it. I'm really looking forward to riding the canal boat to the Cathedral of Spilled Blood. Peterhoff as well. Did you see these? We did not obtain visas, so we're doing St. Petersburg through the ship.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your adventure!

They (whoever they are) say that the weather improves considerably by August, I guess we'll find out, but I'm prepared for whatever.

Thanks again for the report!8-)

Dear Rosemary1-Yes, we saw the sights you mentioned-Church of the Spilled Blood was incredible and not to be missed. All of the famous building in St. Petersburg are breathtaking and their beauty is in contrast to other drab buildings. You will have a great trip on this ship. Bon voyage!

Thanks so much Pennez! I can hardly contain myself! I appreciate your input. Have a great day!
Rosemary

Bumping this to the top for Pennez. I'd still like to get your information on RO (Pricing).

Thanks!!

Monica

For information site for Red October see:
http://www.redoctober.spb.ru/RedOct800x600/AboutUs.htm

Information for cruiseship passengers (not river cruise) see:
http://www.russianguidenetwork.com/new_page_58.htm

I( have not used either of their services.

Rosemary -

Can you please tell us what the weather was like in the Baltic last August? We are going this August.

Can you also please tell us about downloading your digital photos? We are trying to decide if it is worth it to bring a laptop.

Here's Monica's trip report to the Baltic. She went this past May, and the report has lots of good information. It's a great read!!!

http://www.luvtotravel.homestead.com/BalticJrnl.html