Baltic cruise......highly recommended!

Just returned from a two week cruise around the Baltic, sailing from Copenhagen, visiting Oslo, Wernemunde, Talin, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm. If you like cruises I'd recommend it, interesting destinations and the weather's OK at this time of year. Only drawback is the high prices in Scandinavian countries.......surprising how your appetite for beer diminishes when it's costing around £8/pint!

We travelled with Princess Cruises (Regal Princess, a big ship!), typical American cruise ship with copious quantities of good food and lots of our American cousins for company. Serious risk of over-eating, very difficult to avoid.......at least the ship had a decent gym which we used frequently in an attempt to mitigate the excess!

Apart from the expensive drinks my only complaint was the high cost of wifi access on board, I'd expect it for free thesedays. At $40/hr we gave it a miss; apart from a couple of brief internet sessions on land we survived without internet accesss.......it is possible!

For anyone who's never tried a cruise my advice is to give it a try.

Paul

Satellite internet is never going to be cheap.

We have booked on the Celebrity Silhouette for our Baltic Cruise in May next year. Cannot wait for St Petersburg,booked the two day sightseeing and Faberage museum visit.

I have paid for the all inclusive Premium drinks packages, which when we did the Caribbean cruise last year on its sister ship, included single malt Whisky 25 year old.

We are used to high drinks prices as our last two holidays were Australia and Hong Kong.

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Originally Posted by Kingstepper

Satellite internet is never going to be cheap.

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Most passengers do not realise that the wifi is via sattelite it is also an unnecessary expense these days as so many ports of call have wifi hot spots. Have done a number if Baltic cruises over the years and IMO St Petersburg is the standout port of call.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh re having to pay for Wifi, but $40/hr seemed far too high to me.

St . Petersburg is definitely the most interesting stop, but not the most enjoyable for me. Far too busy for my liking; the risk of pickpockets etc made me quite wary too, we were warned to be very careful!

Paul

We've done that cruise and I too would highly recommend it.

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh re having to pay for Wifi, but $40/hr seemed far too high to me.

St . Petersburg is definitely the most interesting stop, but not the most enjoyable for me. Far too busy for my liking; the risk of pickpockets etc made me quite wary too, we were warned to be very careful!

Paul

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In my rather limited experience pickpockets are vastly outnumbered by the incredibly fit looking ladies (and Chinese tourists)..
We were out and about almost every night until wee hours for a few days last year and never felt uncomfortable or threatened, could get really expensive though..

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Originally Posted by VDG

In my rather limited experience pickpockets are vastly outnumbered by the incredibly fit looking ladies (and Chinese tourists)..
We were out and about almost every night until wee hours for a few days last year and never felt uncomfortable or threatened, could get really expensive though..

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We were out and about in the afternoon, lots of tourists, didn`t see any shifty-looking pickpocket tyypes (maybe I didn`t look carefully!), a fair few fit women. I can imagine it gets more 'interesting' at night time!

Paul

Cruises are hit and miss, in my experience. Was on Ventura a few weeks ago that was absolutely a sunseeker's booze cruise to Spain and Portugal. It was Butlins at sea and we didn't enjoy it. Cheesy rubbish.

Going to Amsterdam next week on Azura...the destinations can change the vibe of the ship, I think. Many people didn't move from the onboard sunbeds to go and see Lisbon and Porto...go figure.

The fjords cruise we went on was fabulous.

We are looking at river cruises on the Danube. Everything is included as far as I can see, meals, drinks, excursions etc and also free wifi.

We have done too many ocean cruises and a river one should make a pleasant change.

We are off on a Baltic cruise a week tuesday. We are going with Regent Seven Seas on their new ship, only 700 passengers. Everything is included and that includes free wi fi as well.

But they are not a cheap cruise line, I couldn't cruise on a ship with 1000s of passengers. But you get what you pay for :)

Sounds like a good destination, never been to any of those places.

I expect it gets a tad chilly later on in the year.

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

We were out and about in the afternoon, lots of tourists, didn`t see any shifty-looking pickpocket tyypes (maybe I didn`t look carefully!), a fair few fit women. I can imagine it gets more 'interesting' at night time!

Paul

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We did this trip on a cruise with Oceania last August, and didn't have any poor experiences in Saint Petersburg, in fact the city was one one of many highlights. However, a different member of our group was assaulted, and robbed, after getting off a late night train at Moskovsky Station.

IMO, the best stop on the trip was to the gardens at the Grand Palace of Peterhof.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4051/...df10f678_k.jpg

Definately recommend this cruise we did it in july with norweigan - with the unlimited beverage option so no need to worry about the price of beer...

particulary enjoyed the slow cruise out of Stockholm and all those little islands with nice holiday homes on them....

put on about 5kg of weight though but it was worth it

[QUOTE=Xantiagib;4465592

put on about 5kg of weight though but it was worth it[/QUOTE]

I am going to lose 5kg before we go

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Originally Posted by hilly10

I am going to lose 5kg before we go

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now why didn't i think of doing that ? though had lost it in a few weeks until my bicycle got stolen.....

Trying to lose a few lbs is definitely a good idea before going on a cruise, the copious quantities of tasty food have the inevitable effect even if you exercise restraint at mealtimes!

We both managed to get a few gym sessions on the ship, but at best it was damage limitation.

Paul

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Originally Posted by Mick P

We are looking at river cruises on the Danube. Everything is included as far as I can see, meals, drinks, excursions etc and also free wifi.

We have done too many ocean cruises and a river one should make a pleasant change.

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We're doing one on the Rhine next year with Riviera Travel for a change, they get some good reviews.
Ian

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Originally Posted by walkerwek1958

Trying to lose a few lbs is definitely a good idea before going on a cruise, the copious quantities of tasty food have the inevitable effect even if you exercise restraint at mealtimes!

We both managed to get a few gym sessions on the ship, but at best it was damage limitation.

Paul

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aye indeed I hit the cruise planning daily gym sessions - instead in 9 days I managed two-30 minute sessions on the static bikes

Yeah... the food is generally fantastic and continuous throughout the day.

Breakfast followed by tenses, then elevenses, then pre-lunch snacks, then full lunch buffet then after-lunch snacks, early tea, full tea, pre-dinner snacks, full dinner, then to round it (and you) off, supper.

Oh, and then often end of night pre-bedtime snacks.

And when I say "snacks", I mean a large meal under normal circumstances.

I'd love to do a world cruise someday, but god knows what that would do to the waistline.

It's very difficult on Celebrity the food is fantastic, but what do you do when you go to the Wine bar to taste your wine that you want with your dinner. Last year I did one hour on the bikes in the gym every morning, did the stairs as much as I could, and last of all skipped the puddings, unless it was Creame Caramel. I only put on 3kg in 16 days

Mate of mine set off yesterday on the Azura for a weeks cruise around the Norwegian Fjords, it is the third time he has done it and he (+his SWMBO) seem to really enjoy it. Thinking of giving it a go although I have a few reservations about the concept.