Baltic Heritage on Crown Princess 3 June, 2017

Really enjoyed your review PurpleTraveller and amazing photos. Thanks!

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Thank you so much for this review and all of your beautiful pictures. The Baltic is now on my bucket list.

 

 

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Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed the review and I hope you get to see the Baltics one day. It is a beautiful corner of the world.

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Really enjoyed your review PurpleTraveller and amazing photos. Thanks!

 

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Thank you. It has been great to reminisce about our cruise and I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I've also been enjoying your review and photos.

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Your photos are absolutely gorgeous, I think you should consider a career as a professional photographer. We are sailing the Regal in September and will visit most of the same ports. Just lovely pics, thank you.

Your photos are absolutely gorgeous, I think you should consider a career as a professional photographer. We are sailing the Regal in September and will visit most of the same ports. Just lovely pics, thank you.

Thank you so much, you're very kind. I'm really pleased that you liked them. Hope you have a wonderful cruise in September - the ports are great and the Regal is lovely.

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Wow, someone on my roll call for the Baltic June 2018 posted a link to your review. Your photos are fabulous and I am now even more excited to see the sights in person.. Your review brought everything to light.

Thank you!

Wow, someone on my roll call for the Baltic June 2018 posted a link to your review. Your photos are fabulous and I am now even more excited to see the sights in person.. Your review brought everything to light.

Thank you!

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise!

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Conclusion

 

I want to start this round up with a disclaimer that this is my opinion only and I am sure that others on this cruise would have other opinions.

 

The Crown Princess is a wonderful ship and I love her design. I was a little concerned before our cruise after reading a number of negative comments but I was pleasantly surprised at her condition. She was not shabby or in bad shape and I saw maintenance being done on a number of occasions. The service I received during the cruise was good with only a couple of minor exceptions. The food was good but not great with the exception of the meals I had at Crown Grill and Sabatini's where the food and service were great. The shows I saw in the Princess Theatre were all very enjoyable. Our cabin was in a very convenient location, was very quiet and the bed was comfortable. The obstructed oceanview was not very obstructed and I would book this cabin again (in fact I have for our next cruise).

 

I don't know what it was - maybe the age demographic which was slightly older than we are used to (but age is just a number anyway!) or the mix of nationalities, but this was the friendliest group of passengers I have ever had the pleasure of sailing with. It didn't matter where we were on the ship but we met many lovely, interesting and friendly people.

 

The Baltic itinerary is wonderful and we saw many interesting, beautiful and amazing places. St Petersburg was a standout with our TJ Travel tour fantastic and Tallinn was also a favourite. Most of the ports are very easy to DIY and I didn't have any delays or problems with immigration particularly in St Petersburg.

 

I loved this cruise and I would not hesitate to sail on Crown Princess or this itinerary again.

 

It is now time to wrap up this review. I hope this review has been of some help to those of you who are going to the Baltics and maybe inspired some of you to consider a cruise to the Baltics. Thank you all for following along and thank you for your lovely comments and kind words. They are truly appreciated. Where is our next adventure? We will be sailing on Emerald Princess from Buenos Aires to Santiago followed by ten days in Peru to visit Machu Picchu in February 2018. I will do a review of that cruise when I return. Until then "Bon Voyage".

 

 

 

 

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Great review - thank you so much - we will be doing this itinerary on the Sapphire next year and this will help us greatly!

Great review - thank you so much - we will be doing this itinerary on the Sapphire next year and this will help us greatly!

Thank you. I'm pleased the review has been of some help. Have a great cruise next year!

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We are doing the Baltics next June. Doing tour in SPB and doing Tallinn on our own. How difficult is it to get into Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki on your own?

Is it worth doing Princess Cruises tours that have a portion with time on your own?

Any advice would be appreciated

We are doing the Baltics next June. Doing tour in SPB and doing Tallinn on our own. How difficult is it to get into Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki on your own?

We used Hop on hop off (HoHo) in Stockholm and ships transfers in Copenhagen and Tallinn, but Tallinn is easily walkable if you don’t have mobility issues.

My difficulty for July1/2 nd in St Petersburg is finding something we didn’t do in summer 2015. We used SPB Tours then, but they want to charge $500 p.p for a private tour, so the ship’s tour is definitely cheaper.

We are doing the Baltics next June. Doing tour in SPB and doing Tallinn on our own. How difficult is it to get into Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki on your own?

Is it worth doing Princess Cruises tours that have a portion with time on your own?

Any advice would be appreciated

From the Langelanie dock in Copenhagen it is an easy 10 minute walk to the Little Mermaid, another 15 minutes to Amalienborg and then another 10 minutes to Nyhavn. We walked as far as Tivoli via Christianshavn and Christiansborg with lots of stops for photos in about 2 to 2 and a half hours. Copenhagen is easy to walk around as it is fairly flat. You can get boat cruises from Nyhavn which is only a 35 minute or so walk from the Langelanie dock. There is also the Hop On Hop Off bus but I don't know the cost.

In Stockholm we docked at Stadsgarden S167 and it was an easy 25 minute walk following the blue line painted on the footpath to Gamla Stan, the old part of the city. Stockholm is also fairly easy to walk around. There are Hop On Hop Off buses and boats in Stockholm if you want to travel further afield than Gamla Stan. I believe you can get the Hop On Hop Off boat to the Vasa Museum but we did not use it so I don't know how much it costs. There were booths at the dock for those wanting to use the Hop On Hop Off transport and also tourist information and maps.

In Helsinki we paid 10 euros each for a return ticket to get the shuttle to the city centre which was a 20 minute drive away. There are also Hop On Hop Off buses but I don't know the cost.

It really depends on your interests and what you want to see, whether a Princess tour is worth it to you. We don't particularly like large bus tours and would rather spend a day walking around a city by ourselves but know that is not for everyone. If there is somewhere further away from the ship that you really want to see it may be worth it to you to go on a Princess excursion and you would also probably see different things on a tour than you would on foot.

My advice is that if you are fairly fit and like walking then Copenhagen and Stockholm are very easy to get to by walking and Helsinki is a short shuttle bus ride away. You can easily DIY but if you want to see something that you can't easily get to on foot then do a Princess excursion.

Hope I've been of some help. Please feel free to ask more questions. Hope you have a wonderful cruise next year!

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If your ship docks where Crown Princess did then Copenhagen and Stockholm are both within walking distance provided that you don't have any mobility issues.

 

From the Langelanie dock in Copenhagen it is an easy 10 minute walk to the Little Mermaid, another 15 minutes to Amalienborg and then another 10 minutes to Nyhavn. We walked as far as Tivoli via Christianshavn and Christiansborg with lots of stops for photos in about 2 to 2 and a half hours. Copenhagen is easy to walk around as it is fairly flat. You can get boat cruises from Nyhavn which is only a 35 minute or so walk from the Langelanie dock. There is also the Hop On Hop Off bus but I don't know the cost.

 

In Stockholm we docked at Stadsgarden S167 and it was an easy 25 minute walk following the blue line painted on the footpath to Gamla Stan, the old part of the city. Stockholm is also fairly easy to walk around. There are Hop On Hop Off buses and boats in Stockholm if you want to travel further afield than Gamla Stan. I believe you can get the Hop On Hop Off boat to the Vasa Museum but we did not use it so I don't know how much it costs. There were booths at the dock for those wanting to use the Hop On Hop Off transport and also tourist information and maps.

 

In Helsinki we paid 10 euros each for a return ticket to get the shuttle to the city centre which was a 20 minute drive away. There are also Hop On Hop Off buses but I don't know the cost.

 

It really depends on your interests and what you want to see, whether a Princess tour is worth it to you. We don't particularly like large bus tours and would rather spend a day walking around a city by ourselves but know that is not for everyone. If there is somewhere further away from the ship that you really want to see it may be worth it to you to go on a Princess excursion and you would also probably see different things on a tour than you would on foot.

 

My advice is that if you are fairly fit and like walking then Copenhagen and Stockholm are very easy to get to by walking and Helsinki is a short shuttle bus ride away. You can easily DIY but if you want to see something that you can't easily get to on foot then do a Princess excursion.

 

Hope I've been of some help. Please feel free to ask more questions. Hope you have a wonderful cruise next year!

 

 

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Thanks for that. When do you find out where the ship will dock for each port?

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Thanks for that. When do you find out where the ship will dock for each port?

 

 

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http://www.portsofstockholm.com (change from "in port" to "expected" and then your date)

http://www.cmport.com

http://www.portofhelsinki.fi

Another good website for general port information for each city is -

http://www.whatsinport.com

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Many thanks for a fabulous review. We are doing the Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess leaving Copenhagen on June 1st, so I was particularly interested in your weather as I was concerned that it would be cold and rainy the entire cruise. You obviously had gorgeous weather particularly in St. Petersburg, so hoping we will be equally fortunate. Your review has given me hope that we might be lucky and have some warm, sunny days. I also loved your beautiful pictures, which really made your review come alive, and you provided so many helpful details about where you docked, things to see and transportation. Like you, we prefer walking and touring on our own and are planning that for all the ports except St. Petersburg and Warnemunde, where we are planning to take the Princess "Berlin on your own" excursion for the same reason that you chose to do that in Gdansk. Can't wait for our cruise next year and thanks again for the very helpful review.

Also, loved seeing your pictures from Northern Ireland. We've traveled there on a land trip as well as from the port of Belfast on the Princess British Isles cruise, so your pictures brought back fond memories of both those trips. Looks like your weather luck continued into Ireland, where we were also blessed to have good weather. Sunny days make for wonderful sightseeing.

Thanks again, and I'll look forward to reading your SA review in February--another trip on my bucket list.

What a wonderful review with wonderful pictures, loved reading everything you wrote. Can't wait to visit myself next summer. My questions for you are...... was it cold most of the time in June and what type of foreign currency did you bring and how much did you need? We will be sailing on the Regal Princess next June.

Thanks for these hints about the ports. Now that I know the ones that are walkable am now looking at pintrest and the net for walking maps and guides to get the most of our walkarounds.

Many thanks for a fabulous review. We are doing the Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess leaving Copenhagen on June 1st, so I was particularly interested in your weather as I was concerned that it would be cold and rainy the entire cruise. You obviously had gorgeous weather particularly in St. Petersburg, so hoping we will be equally fortunate. Your review has given me hope that we might be lucky and have some warm, sunny days. I also loved your beautiful pictures, which really made your review come alive, and you provided so many helpful details about where you docked, things to see and transportation. Like you, we prefer walking and touring on our own and are planning that for all the ports except St. Petersburg and Warnemunde, where we are planning to take the Princess "Berlin on your own" excursion for the same reason that you chose to do that in Gdansk. Can't wait for our cruise next year and thanks again for the very helpful review.

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What a wonderful review with wonderful pictures, loved reading everything you wrote. Can't wait to visit myself next summer. My questions for you are...... was it cold most of the time in June and what type of foreign currency did you bring and how much did you need? We will be sailing on the Regal Princess next June.

We were pleasantly surprised that the weather was so good. Coming from Australia where we had the hottest summer on record in Sydney, we found it was cool in the mornings and late afternoons but mild to warm in the middle of the day. The maximum temperatures ranged from about 15C/59F to 22C/74F. Each day we wore short sleeve tops with a fleecy jacket that in Copenhagen, Tallinn, St Petersburg and Gdansk we took off in the middle of the day as it was warm enough. We were very lucky to get two warm and sunny days in St Petersburg and were amazed to be sightseeing in short sleeves in June! In Stockholm we added a rain jacket as it was cool and windy and in Helsinki it was cool and raining so wore a long sleeve shirt with a fleecy jacket and rain jacket. I took gloves and hats but didn't ever wear them. We wore long pants as it didn't get warm enough (for us) for shorts. Layers are the key and prepare for the worst and hope for the best.[emoji3] I hope you get weather as good as ours.

We prefer to eat on the run (or walk in our case) or in a park and take snacks with us (chips/crisps, muesli bars and chocolate) and also got the Princess Bottled Water Package (12 bottles of water delivered to your cabin) so that we had bottled water to take with us each day so didn't need cash for sit down meals. We also don't buy many souvenirs. We didn't get any local currency for Copenhagen, St Petersburg or Gdansk as I knew we wouldn't need any. In St Petersburg we used our credit card to pay for our tour, souvenirs in the shop at TJ Travel and at a restaurant for lunch. In Gdansk many of the souvenir shops in the centre accepted Euros using a fair exchange rate and I also used my credit card in another shop. For Stockholm I took 150 Swedish Krona and used it all buying souvenirs and snacks. In Bruges, Tallinn and Helsinki I had Euros. I used about 40 Euros in Bruges mostly buying chocolate (delicious!), souvenirs and ice-cream, about 20 Euros in Tallinn buying a magnet and pastries and 6 Euros in Helsinki buying a magnet. As you can see we don't spend a lot! Your needs will probably differ greatly from ours but you can use your credit card in many places although you may need local currency if you are using public transport, to buy souvenirs at market stalls and snacks in little shops.

Have a wonderful time and hope you have a great cruise next year!

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Thanks for these hints about the ports. Now that I know the ones that are walkable am now looking at pintrest and the net for walking maps and guides to get the most of our walkarounds.

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Enjoyed reading your review and seeing the pictures; brought back many good memories of my Baltic Heritage cruise on the Crown in 2013. It was one of the best vacations I've ever had. I was blessed to return to Bruges in 2016 since it's one of my favorite cities. Got to see the vial of Holy Blood during both visits. In 2010 and 2016 I got to cruise around the British Isles; your Ireland and Northern Ireland pictures triggered those good memories too. Thanks!! :D

What a wonderful review with wonderful pictures, loved reading everything you wrote. Can't wait to visit myself next summer. My questions for you are...... was it cold most of the time in June and what type of foreign currency did you bring and how much did you need? We will be sailing on the Regal Princess next June.

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Enjoyed reading your review and seeing the pictures; brought back many good memories of my Baltic Heritage cruise on the Crown in 2013. It was one of the best vacations I've ever had. I was blessed to return to Bruges in 2016 since it's one of my favorite cities. Got to see the vial of Holy Blood during both visits. In 2010 and 2016 I got to cruise around the British Isles; your Ireland and Northern Ireland pictures triggered those good memories too. Thanks!! :D

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Hi Purple Traveller

I have a bit of an odd request. My wife and I will be travelling on the Baltic Heritage Itinerary on the Sapphire Princess on the 8th of September 2018. We were wondering what nights the formal nights were on? And, thank you for the wonderful revue and pictures.

Ron & Kathy L

Bobcaygeon ON, Canada