Scandinavian and Baltic Adventure - our trip report
Jul 9th, 2015, 04:23 PM
#21
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Anxious for your opinion:
I can take a similar cruise, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallin, St. Pete (was there for 10 days 3 yrs ago) and back to Copenhagen. Grandson will graduate from 5th grade right in the middle of the cruise dates. I love the cruise idea so I don't have to do much in way of logistics but hate to miss one grands graduation and the older ones birthday in May.
I am traveling by myself and could go in July but $1300 more for air and cruise and crowds OR I could spend as much time as I want in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo. Helsinki and Tallin are possibilities.
But from your trip report sounds as if there would be enough to see in Helsinki and Tallin. Would only have to add on Oslo.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
I can take a similar cruise, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallin, St. Pete (was there for 10 days 3 yrs ago) and back to Copenhagen. Grandson will graduate from 5th grade right in the middle of the cruise dates. I love the cruise idea so I don't have to do much in way of logistics but hate to miss one grands graduation and the older ones birthday in May.
I am traveling by myself and could go in July but $1300 more for air and cruise and crowds OR I could spend as much time as I want in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo. Helsinki and Tallin are possibilities.
But from your trip report sounds as if there would be enough to see in Helsinki and Tallin. Would only have to add on Oslo.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Jul 9th, 2015, 07:25 PM
#22
Gee PhillyFan great that you went down Martin Trotzig Grand,spme people cannot find this street.
jan47ete:
I would not miss Helsinki and Oslo while you are down there.
jan47ete:
I would not miss Helsinki and Oslo while you are down there.
Jul 10th, 2015, 04:00 AM
#23
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Hi jan47ete - We didn't get to see Oslo on this trip. I think our next cruise (in about 3-4 years) will be to the Norwegian fjords. We liked Helsinki, but did like Copenhagen, Tallinn, Stockholm and St. Petersburg better.
I think I was most surprised at Copenhagen. I have always heard good things about it, and we ended up really, really liking it.
Here's some info about our ship:
Our Cruise Ship: Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas
This was our 3rd cruise. The Serenade has been reburished and is an attractive ship. The decor is nice, it has an open feel - including glass elevators that look out toward the sea. I chose it b/c of it’s very port-intensive itinerary that featured only one sea day – and because it spent 3 days in St. Petersburg.
The Pros of this ship:
As big cruises go, this is one of the smaller of the larger ships (if that makes sense!) and I never felt like it was packed with people (except on leaving/getting back on. See: cons). Many of the areas were very attractive. We had a balcony, but I also liked sitting in the bar area in the back of the ship on Deck 6, and in the Solarium. The ship had 2 pools – an outdoor and indoor – the Solarium. It was too cold for anyone but the hardiest souls to swim outside and I really enjoyed hanging out in the Solarium with my book. It was warm (!), they had a drink dispensing station nearby and comfy lounge chairs. The décor was beautiful and I never had trouble finding a seat.
Centrum area – this was where they had singers/musicians and was an attractive area. We saw two shows here that featured Cirque di Solieil (sp?) type acrobatics, as they could suspend swings from the very tall ceiling. The shows were great, but extremely short. (One was about 7 minutes!)
Food/Dining Room – I have read many reviews about this ship and some people complain about the food. I thought it was very good – and I think I’m fairly discriminating – I live near a city that has fabulous restaurants. The buffet was mostly OK, some good stuff and some stuff that looked totally unappealing (the pizza) – but that my kids loved. It was sometimes challenging to find a seat in the buffet, and my husband and I greatly preferred the main dining room. For dinner, we enjoyed our 3 course meals with our boys each evening. The service was superb. When we ate breakfast or lunch there, we were seated more randomly, and we ended up really enjoying meeting and talking with whomever we were seated with.
Our rooms: we had a balcony room that was very nice. Our boys had an interior cabin down the hallway from us. (we added my older son onto our itinerary several months after we initially booked, and we were not able to get a cabin across the hall from us). Their room seemed larger than the interior cabins they had on past ships. The boys’ cabin steward was a wonderful woman who volunteered to bring my son food for lunch while he was resting and under the weather in his cabin.
Fitness center – was adequate. But you aren’t going to get a state of the art gym on a ship, IMO.
Next, the CONS...
I think I was most surprised at Copenhagen. I have always heard good things about it, and we ended up really, really liking it.
Here's some info about our ship:
Our Cruise Ship: Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas
This was our 3rd cruise. The Serenade has been reburished and is an attractive ship. The decor is nice, it has an open feel - including glass elevators that look out toward the sea. I chose it b/c of it’s very port-intensive itinerary that featured only one sea day – and because it spent 3 days in St. Petersburg.
The Pros of this ship:
As big cruises go, this is one of the smaller of the larger ships (if that makes sense!) and I never felt like it was packed with people (except on leaving/getting back on. See: cons). Many of the areas were very attractive. We had a balcony, but I also liked sitting in the bar area in the back of the ship on Deck 6, and in the Solarium. The ship had 2 pools – an outdoor and indoor – the Solarium. It was too cold for anyone but the hardiest souls to swim outside and I really enjoyed hanging out in the Solarium with my book. It was warm (!), they had a drink dispensing station nearby and comfy lounge chairs. The décor was beautiful and I never had trouble finding a seat.
Centrum area – this was where they had singers/musicians and was an attractive area. We saw two shows here that featured Cirque di Solieil (sp?) type acrobatics, as they could suspend swings from the very tall ceiling. The shows were great, but extremely short. (One was about 7 minutes!)
Food/Dining Room – I have read many reviews about this ship and some people complain about the food. I thought it was very good – and I think I’m fairly discriminating – I live near a city that has fabulous restaurants. The buffet was mostly OK, some good stuff and some stuff that looked totally unappealing (the pizza) – but that my kids loved. It was sometimes challenging to find a seat in the buffet, and my husband and I greatly preferred the main dining room. For dinner, we enjoyed our 3 course meals with our boys each evening. The service was superb. When we ate breakfast or lunch there, we were seated more randomly, and we ended up really enjoying meeting and talking with whomever we were seated with.
Our rooms: we had a balcony room that was very nice. Our boys had an interior cabin down the hallway from us. (we added my older son onto our itinerary several months after we initially booked, and we were not able to get a cabin across the hall from us). Their room seemed larger than the interior cabins they had on past ships. The boys’ cabin steward was a wonderful woman who volunteered to bring my son food for lunch while he was resting and under the weather in his cabin.
Fitness center – was adequate. But you aren’t going to get a state of the art gym on a ship, IMO.
Next, the CONS...
Jul 12th, 2015, 05:02 PM
#24
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The cons:
The ship’s excursions. I complained about the Berlin excursion we did upthread. Book your own excursions! They are cheaper and you will save a lot of time. Plus, you won’t be herded around with a lot of people.
Getting on and off the ship: This wasn’t always a problem – at some ports we were able to get on and off the ship with no wait.
What I believe is the biggest issue is that RC now makes every passenger go through security when they re-board the ship (we never did this on our prior cruises). Having to put your belongings through a security screening caused some big jam ups – especially when the cruise ship’s excursions arrived back to the ship with all their people. (It seemed all of Berlin’s excursions arrived back to the ship at the same time and it took almost an hour to get back on board the ship on that day). We only tendered once (this was our first experience doing this) – at Visby. We did wait about 30 mins. to get on the tender (this was after securing tickets) but had no issues returning.
It seemed that there could be a better way to streamline the re-boarding process. Toward the end of the cruise, two different entrances to re-board the ship were set up and that seemed to help speed things up.
I also understand that RC wants to sell their own excursions, but it was very annoying that there is no way to get info about the ports from anyone on board. They acted like they didn’t know anything. The evening before we arrived in St. Petersburg, the cruise director would not even answer how long lines might be to go through passport control so guests with independent tours could plan accordingly.
(Answer: the first time going though passport control in Russia can talk a long time!! Allow AT LEAST 30-45 mins. to get off the ship and wait in line at passport control. We waited in a long line just to get off the ship (it snaked up two floors!) and then in another line in passport control. The lines on the subsequent days did not take as long).
Related to this, the “port talk” was really only an advertisement for shore excursions.
The entertainment in the theatre was good but not great. ( I think Norwegian overall offers better shows that RC does, from our limited experience.) There were no informational talks about our ports and many of the activities had high fees to participate (bingo was expensive!) They had several quiz games and the prize was…a key chain. That’s so cheap and lame. They could give something cheap to them (like a free drink or a free hours worth of WiFi) that’s at least seems a bit more substantial.
We didn’t pay the ridiculous fees for WiFi. We heard many complaints that the WiFi was extremely slow and people kept getting kicked off it. We easily found cafes in the ports with free WiFi and most port terminals at each city offered free WiFi as well. Helsinki had free city-wide WiFi!
No complaints about the food or service.
The ship’s excursions. I complained about the Berlin excursion we did upthread. Book your own excursions! They are cheaper and you will save a lot of time. Plus, you won’t be herded around with a lot of people.
Getting on and off the ship: This wasn’t always a problem – at some ports we were able to get on and off the ship with no wait.
What I believe is the biggest issue is that RC now makes every passenger go through security when they re-board the ship (we never did this on our prior cruises). Having to put your belongings through a security screening caused some big jam ups – especially when the cruise ship’s excursions arrived back to the ship with all their people. (It seemed all of Berlin’s excursions arrived back to the ship at the same time and it took almost an hour to get back on board the ship on that day). We only tendered once (this was our first experience doing this) – at Visby. We did wait about 30 mins. to get on the tender (this was after securing tickets) but had no issues returning.
It seemed that there could be a better way to streamline the re-boarding process. Toward the end of the cruise, two different entrances to re-board the ship were set up and that seemed to help speed things up.
I also understand that RC wants to sell their own excursions, but it was very annoying that there is no way to get info about the ports from anyone on board. They acted like they didn’t know anything. The evening before we arrived in St. Petersburg, the cruise director would not even answer how long lines might be to go through passport control so guests with independent tours could plan accordingly.
(Answer: the first time going though passport control in Russia can talk a long time!! Allow AT LEAST 30-45 mins. to get off the ship and wait in line at passport control. We waited in a long line just to get off the ship (it snaked up two floors!) and then in another line in passport control. The lines on the subsequent days did not take as long).
Related to this, the “port talk” was really only an advertisement for shore excursions.
The entertainment in the theatre was good but not great. ( I think Norwegian overall offers better shows that RC does, from our limited experience.) There were no informational talks about our ports and many of the activities had high fees to participate (bingo was expensive!) They had several quiz games and the prize was…a key chain. That’s so cheap and lame. They could give something cheap to them (like a free drink or a free hours worth of WiFi) that’s at least seems a bit more substantial.
We didn’t pay the ridiculous fees for WiFi. We heard many complaints that the WiFi was extremely slow and people kept getting kicked off it. We easily found cafes in the ports with free WiFi and most port terminals at each city offered free WiFi as well. Helsinki had free city-wide WiFi!
No complaints about the food or service.
Jul 12th, 2015, 08:05 PM
#25
Wow that's a long wait getting off the ship in St. Petersburg PhillyFan.
Thanks for all the work involved in posting this report.
Thanks for all the work involved in posting this report.
Jul 12th, 2015, 09:19 PM
#26
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Enjoyed your trip report. Let me add a few things for others that might be considering a Baltic Cruise.
We cruised last year on Celebrity leaving from Amsterdam.
Our cruise only stayed in St. Petersburg for two full days. In looking at your itinerary in St. Petersburg, the only thing we didn't do was go to the Fabrerge museum. I would assume you spent longer at some of the sites, but as I recall, I didn't feel rushed at any of our stops. We asked our guide to if we could stop at the Synagogue which she said we could.
We used Alla tours which were great. I think all the tour companies get great reviews. I would agree that one should skip the ship's excursions and use private tours. We toured Berlin with Alla also.
The ship, in trying to encourage you to use their tours, was emphatic that in St. Petersburg their tours would disembark first and consequently have more time in the city. My research indicated that the ship could not do that. So we stationed ourselves in the stairwell outside of the ship's tour meeting location and as soon as they started exiting we headed to shore, and we had the honor (for whatever it was worth) to be the first ones to go through Visa control. Of course we had to wait for other more timid souls!
The overnight in Stockholm sounds nice as Stockholm is such a big city it was hard to get a sense of it in one short day.
I would second Philly traveler in saying this was a great cruise!
We cruised last year on Celebrity leaving from Amsterdam.
Our cruise only stayed in St. Petersburg for two full days. In looking at your itinerary in St. Petersburg, the only thing we didn't do was go to the Fabrerge museum. I would assume you spent longer at some of the sites, but as I recall, I didn't feel rushed at any of our stops. We asked our guide to if we could stop at the Synagogue which she said we could.
We used Alla tours which were great. I think all the tour companies get great reviews. I would agree that one should skip the ship's excursions and use private tours. We toured Berlin with Alla also.
The ship, in trying to encourage you to use their tours, was emphatic that in St. Petersburg their tours would disembark first and consequently have more time in the city. My research indicated that the ship could not do that. So we stationed ourselves in the stairwell outside of the ship's tour meeting location and as soon as they started exiting we headed to shore, and we had the honor (for whatever it was worth) to be the first ones to go through Visa control. Of course we had to wait for other more timid souls!
The overnight in Stockholm sounds nice as Stockholm is such a big city it was hard to get a sense of it in one short day.
I would second Philly traveler in saying this was a great cruise!
Jul 13th, 2015, 06:18 PM
#28
ttt
Jul 14th, 2015, 05:13 AM
#29
I like it that you visited some different & interesting places in the world. Your commentary made the sites come alive.
I also like your honest take on the larger cruise ships. We've only cruised on small ships and having seen the lines to the large ships in different ports we always thought that would be an issue. Something to consider for sure. That said, some of the new large ship seem to offer a lot of amenities, dining, & entertainment opportunities.
I also like your honest take on the larger cruise ships. We've only cruised on small ships and having seen the lines to the large ships in different ports we always thought that would be an issue. Something to consider for sure. That said, some of the new large ship seem to offer a lot of amenities, dining, & entertainment opportunities.
Jul 15th, 2015, 05:17 PM
#30
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Thanks, TPAYT - there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to a larger ship. Our kids wouldn't have come if we chose a small ship - they'd have been too bored.
And it was nice to have different places to go hang out on the ship.
Lastly, we only had hotel accommodations in Copenhagen and we stayed at Hotel Hebron. Thanks, DebitNM for the recommendation. We liked the hotel. It was next to a Gentleman's Club.
(The hotel was very close to the train station, which was a bonus b/c we were lugging 4 suitcases. Despite the neighboring strip club, lol, the street didn't at all feel seedy or unsafe).
And it was nice to have different places to go hang out on the ship.
Lastly, we only had hotel accommodations in Copenhagen and we stayed at Hotel Hebron. Thanks, DebitNM for the recommendation. We liked the hotel. It was next to a Gentleman's Club.
(The hotel was very close to the train station, which was a bonus b/c we were lugging 4 suitcases. Despite the neighboring strip club, lol, the street didn't at all feel seedy or unsafe).
Jul 15th, 2015, 05:39 PM
#31
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Great trip report! So many changes to St. P since I was there 15 years ago - traffic was nonexistent then and the only crowded place I went was the Peter & Paul cathedral (lots and lots of Russian tourists there). If you ever go again, I'd highly recommend the Russian Museum which has absolutely fabulous Russian art (including some amazing icons) and is in the Mikhailovsky Palace (yet another fabulous St. P. palace!). So glad that you did a canal tour; it's such a beautiful way to see the historic part of the city.
Percy: "A lady popped out from behind a heavy red colored curtain and said, "Please don't touch anything"!!" Our tour leader always referred to those museum ladies as "the nyet ladies" and advised us to do whatever they told us to do - that Hitler hadn't moved them, so neither would we. ;-)
Percy: "A lady popped out from behind a heavy red colored curtain and said, "Please don't touch anything"!!" Our tour leader always referred to those museum ladies as "the nyet ladies" and advised us to do whatever they told us to do - that Hitler hadn't moved them, so neither would we. ;-)
