KatielouAustralia

I just got off Radiance of the Sas and noted a similar trend. I am wondering if the "casual" feel of the ship contributes to the lack of recognition of the formal nights? Personally, I still like to dress up a little

It was really great to meet F2F with some of the CC members with whom I had been conversing for months. Here is a photo of myself meeting fellow CC member Shotgun69 at our meet and mingle.

RCI also put on morning tea and lucky door prizes for all CC members. Anyone else have photos to share?

For a one night stay, it is fine. Yes the bathroom layout is a bit quirky but it wins for convenience with flights

Have you considered looking into the new Viking ship that will be sailing from Sydney?

This comes down to an appreciation of the culture you are visiting. Yes, I am an Aussie and not used to tipping regularly at home but have no hesitation when traveling to countries where tipping is the norm.

With the reduction in penalty rates in Australia especially in the hospitality industry tipping is likely to become more of an accepted practice.

Regardless, when in Australia if I get really great service I always tip

Thanks for this info as I will be cruising there in October

Hobart for sure. Small city with plenty of easily accessible things to do on a day in port. Melbourne is just another big city much like you see in any country

I have just returned from a cruise and used TJ TRAVEL in St Petersburg. They gave a CC discount and we did not have to makeup our own group - we joined some other people so had 8 people in our group. Was wonderful and I believe they also do Berlin and Stockholm (wish I had known earlier as I would have used them)

Enjoy your trip

Just returned from a Baltic cruise and had no issues in Stockholm or St Petersburg. Found I felt very safe traveling around. Enjoy your trip

TJ Travel picked us up at 8.30am on the first day and we returned to the ship approximately 6.30pm. On the second day we were picked up at 7.30am and returned at 5pm. Two very full days but totally worth it

We may have been fortunate in early May but disembarkation took about 20 minutes the first day and about 5 minutes the second day. We had a tour booked with TJ Travel and they were waiting for us when we came through customs.

Really enjoyed the 2 day tour with TJ Travel and would highly recommend this company

We did a 2 day tour of St Petersburg with TJ Travel with lunch included. We were able to pay for small purchases with Euro and USD at all the places we stopped. Large purchases went on the credit card. I did not think it was a good idea to get Rubles as they are difficult to exchange once you leave Russia.

Was in St Petersburg at the beginning of this month and had no issues on our 2 day tour with TJ Travel. They looked after us very well and we had a very comprehensive and enjoyable tour

No cigarettes or lighters. Cold and Flu meds available but you will pay exorbitant prices onboard. As Eaches said, buy when you are in port if needed.

Just returned from cruising on Viking Sea. We were able to access WiFi on all our devices. There were occasional outages but that is to be expected on the ocean!!

I agree with point 5 about the World Cafe. We did not find the cooking station till we were half way through our cruise!!

Viking use local time and put a reminder note on your bed of an evening when you need to change your clock.

Just returned from cruising on Viking Sea. The included white wines changed with each port - some French, Spanish, Chilean - on the whole enjoyable. My sister drank red wine and these were a bit "hit and miss" - a couple were undrinkable.

There was plenty to drink at mealtimes and for us the SS package would not have been worth it as we are not big drinkers.

Just returned from cruising with Viking who are still using the Freyja products. Whilst the soap and body wash were ok I found the shampoo and conditioner to be if an inferior quality. On previous cruises i have had Molton Brown products which I prefer.

Kate