parmen123

Glad to hear that! My husband has been to Berlin before but the kids and I haven't.

 

What rental car agency did you use? Was it easy to pick up/drop off the car? Any issues with parking etc in Berlin?

 

Any tips or advice?

 

Sorry for the inquisition but I would love to hear your experience if you have the time to post. [emoji1]

Please don't hesitate to email me parmen321@gmail.com. I was very nervous and concern about driving in Germany without knowing the language. I ok with adventures but had my wife and two kids and our niece and did not want anything to happen. So I tried to get as much info as possible. So I understand.

We are looking at this exact same option. How did it work out for you?

We rented via Sixt rental. I asked for a automatic transmission and requested it have a gps. At time of pick up I asked them if they would set the gps to English and if they would enter my destination address. I should have asked them to enter the return address so I could just select upon return. The drive was very nice and smooth just stick to the right , vehicles pass fast on left. I hit 160 kilometers (100miles ph). And felt smooth. The Fat Tire Bike Tour was great. You need to experience for yourself! We parked at nearby underground parking across from a hotel. I forgot the name. Ask Fat Tire , on the return trip we filled up at a gas station about 20 miles before the port.

We are looking at this exact same option. How did it work out for you?

Great. I would highly recommend it

Thanks for the updates we are on the Star June 26th.......enjoy your cruise

Good info

Thanks for all details

This was music to my ears. I too am planning to rent a car and drive to Berlin. I also reserved at Fat Tire Bicycle tours of city of Berlin. Fat Tire has excellent reviews and I am hoping it will be more efficient than walking and better and different experience. We arrive on June 27th a Saturday, so I am hoping traffic won't be bad...........

Travel Anni,

Our family will be arriving June 27th a Saturday...I rented a car and reserved Fat Tire Bicycle tour. Give me peace of mind, please.. Would the drive be manageable since its a Saturday to and from (Warnemunde to Berlin)

Thanks for the Fat Tire idea

I'd say that Helsinki was our least favorite port (it was a nice city, but the others were spectacular) plus the public transportation from where the Star docked last year to the main part of town wasn't great so you might want to take a cab or HOHO bus anyway. So I'd agree with that possibility.

 

 

 

In Stockholm, there are a lot of different attractions to visit, and you might be fine on a ship tour if you find one that aligns to your interests. But it is a gorgeous city, and might be harder to appreciate on a large tour bus, especially since you can DIY fairly easily. The other downside is that Vasa is lovely when it is empty, and you can easily get there before the tour buses by taking a one way ride on a Stromma HOHO boat (this cost 50 SEK last August) directly to Vasa prior to 10:30 am, and arrive at Vasa when it is completely empty. However, the entrances to museums can add up in Stockholm, so financially a tour here might make sense (or you can purchase a Stockholm card which will also include public transportation)

 

 

 

Otherwise, would you want to do a tour in Copenhagen before or after you embark or disembark? NCL will transport you to the airport and watch your luggage so that might be another option. If they will let you apply the excursion credit to the shuttle directly to the airport that would be amazing, but I don't know that they will let you do that unless you do a full excursion of the city plus the transportation to the airport. It might be worth asking though. Good luck.

Thank you for the information, I am also obtaining feedback on the excursions. Our

family is on the Star on June 26.

We used Timofey of Tailored Tours when we traveled to St. Petersburg when we took a Baltic Cruise this past summer.

 

 

 

We can’t stop thinking and talking about the incredible 3 days we spent with Timofey in St. Petersburg. We were a group of 6 and Timofey provided us with a wonderful introduction to the history, art and culture of St. Petersburg. He shared his knowledge with passion and enthusiasm, and was patient with all our questions.

 

 

 

We appreciated how flexible he was with our itinerary and kept adding very moving and unforgettable sites, like the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad and the personal cathedral of Nicholas II near Catherine’s Palace. When we arrived, he suggested changing the itinerary so that we could visit The Hermitage while it rained and were able to visit Peterhof with its wonderful parks and fountains when it was sunny.

 

 

 

We loved all the interesting explanations, stories and anecdotes he shared with us, and we wish we could have spent more time with him exploring St. Petersburg.

 

 

 

Timofey had efficiently arranged our visas, and always responded promptly to our emails with helpful and thoughtful suggestions and comments. We would love to return to St. Petersburg one day, but before we book our trip, we shall check with Timofey to make sure that he will be available.

Thanks and do you have a contact email for him?

Good info, thanks to all

Hello everyone!

 

 

 

We’re just off the Star from her first cruise following dry dock, the 5 day cruise to Cabo. I'm going to try to finish this review over the next day or two, because I figure if I don't write it down now, I'll forget a lot of stuff, and end up not writing much of anything! ;)

 

 

 

Now to be fair to those CC members who love photos, I will first say that I don’t have any to share. I’m sorry! So if you only read the reviews to see photos, mine may disappoint. I’m just not much of a photographer. My husband took a few random photos, but nothing specific that you all might be interested in. I do, however, have a detailed take on our cruise in general, the food and beverage service, the dry dock, and a few other items!

 

 

 

Travel to Los Angeles

 

 

 

We left Phoenix early the day before the cruise, had an uneventful drive to LA (my husband slept most of the way, ha!) and checked into the Crowne Plaza, which I bid for on Priceline a few months before the cruise. It’s a nice hotel in a great location, just across the street from the maritime museum and near the cruise port. The staff were all quite friendly, too. I asked for a view of the harbor, but the rooms that have the best view (on the East end of the building) are the mini suites and executive suites, so we paid an extra $30 for one of those rooms. It may seem silly, but it was totally worth it to us! We love the water, and we don‘t get to see the ocean often, so it was great having that beautiful view. The corner executive suites are huge, and we could see both the entrance to the harbor, and the World Cruise Center.

 

 

 

We had dinner at the San Pedro Fish Market. It’s not the cleanest or quietest place, but DH got tons of seafood and it was grilled to perfection, along with potatoes and veggies. I’m not a seafood lover, but I munched on some shrimp and the veggies, which were delicious! And, the table next to the water didn’t hurt. (You’ll notice a theme of tables next to the water throughout our trip. I really do love the ocean. Someday, I may move to be next to it! But for now, cruising will have to suffice. ;)

 

 

 

We watched sunset from the waterfront, and then wandered all along that area towards the WCC, and finally returned to the hotel. I tried to go to sleep early, but I was too excited! I kept waking up and opening the curtains to see if the Star was in port yet. Finally, at about 4 AM I could see the Star as she was just nearing the harbor entrance. So, the kid in me couldn’t help it – I woke up my husband and we got dressed and walked down to the pier to watch the Star back into the harbor! It was actually pretty cool to see. We did bring binoculars, which we used quite a bit during the cruise. The Star reached her berth at exactly 5:00 AM – I thought that was pretty impressive, considering that was her scheduled arrival time!

 

 

 

Back at the hotel, we packed, loaded the car, had breakfast, and drove to the port. Yes, we were ridiculously early, but I didn’t care. I was too excited to sleep anyway, and I didn’t want to just sit in our hotel room!

 

 

 

Note: For a short 5 day cruise, it was actually a better deal for us to bid on Priceline and pay the parking fees at the WCC. They have gone up, however, and it's now $16 per day instead of $12. But I did like the convenience of having our car at the port. For a longer cruise, I'd probably choose the park and sail package at the Crowne Plaza or Doubletree.

 

 

 

EMBARKATION

 

 

 

Upon arrival at the WCC, we unloaded our bags and then hung out in front of the check-in building, and I chatted with some of the workers who were getting off the ship. They were extremely glad to be getting off and going home for some leave. They were also clearly sick of the ship, and exhausted from the dry dock. Every single one of the workers said it simply wasn’t enough time to get everything done, and they needed at least another week, if not a full month, to do things properly. A couple of the contractors actually seemed rather disgusted with NCL for trying to cram in so much, in such a short amount of time. That was disappointing to hear, but not surprising. If the ship isn’t cruising, she isn’t making money – but I still think it would be better to do things right, even if it means losing one more week of income. But I’m not the CEO, so…

 

 

 

They let us into the building around 9:45 AM, and we went through security and then sat down to wait for check-in to begin. Now, on CC I have read a few awful stories about suites check-in at San Pedro, but I was very pleasantly surprised. There was a friendly gentleman who approached us and asked our suite number, and told us where to go once check-in began. They were very clear about timing for everything, which I appreciated. I knew we were early and would have to wait, so no big deal. There were lots of other people who were early as well, and the staff made sure to communicate with all of us. The staff in general at the port were all outstanding, from what I could see – very friendly, smiling, and eager to assist. Now, maybe it was because it was early and the hoardes had not yet arrived, lol, but I appreciated their positive attitudes!

 

 

 

Check-in began at about 10:30AM, maybe a little later. It was very smooth, and then we were directed to the suites waiting area. They eventually brought in some coffee and snacks – just simple things like brie on baguettes and loaf cake, but it was nice to have something to drink and munch on!

 

 

 

Also, since it was St. Patrick's Day, a lot of people were dressed in green, and had on fun hats or shirts, beads, etc. I loved it, made things quite festive!

 

 

 

There was a delay for boarding, something about not yet having cleared customs. I wondered if it had to do with the sheer number of staff getting off and new staff coming on, but I could be wrong about that. Regardless, they kept telling us, “Ok, we’re going to board now”, so we would get up and get in line, and then they said no, sit down, there’s a delay…etc., etc. Even on the gangway, they stopped everyone again. Not a big deal for us, we were just excited to board, but it did seem to irk some people. I think it was close to 12:15 or 12:30 PM when they finally let passengers onboard. So, not late, but certainly not too early, either.

 

 

 

We were escorted to our suite by our butler, Cipriano, who was AWESOME!! We loved Cipriano, he was always smiling and incredibly friendly and prompt. He showed us to our room, and then showed us to Cagney’s for lunch. We ended up not staying at Cagney’s because it was a zoo by then, so we went back to our room to unpack first instead.

Thanks

We were on the Royal last year for her stop in SPB. One of the tours we did thru Princess was Hermitage and time on your own. We had around 3.5 hours on our own roaming around SPB. We visited several churches, canals, found free wifi, did some geocaching, lunch at a restaurant of our choice, visited with locals before meeting up for transport back to the ship. Would definitely do this tour again. I think the cost was around $90 each.

Would like the name or how to contact them

Welcome to Cruise Critic . We applaud your independent approach in this undertaking . We have visited St. Petersburg 4 times and the vast majority of our time is unguided . The biggest issue is not language ( many people speak English ) or transportation (buses run from the port to the Metro , which covers the city ) . The biggest impediment is ignoring the negative advice that you will receive . If you choose to go independent , listen to people who will support your decision and who have been there and done it! But you will have to do your homework , before going . We have done a lot of it for you , so click on the link in red posted below to get started . It will show you lots of pictures to see and help you decide where to go and what to see .

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1775172

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another link to the St. Petersburg card which provides transportation and admission to many museums and Peterhof .

 

 

 

http://petersburgcard.com/eng/

 

 

 

If you have any questions , don't be afraid to ask us on our thread . Enjoy St. Petersburg .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to decide, thanks for your input

Really appreciate all your information Danish Viking. After careful studying scheduled reservations at Hotel Copenhagen Crown. My challenge was family of 5. Two adults and 3 teenagers(15,16,17). Had to get two rooms. What do you think of Crown Hotel? Planning on One whole day for Tivoli Gardens, what do you suugest for the other day? Thanks again. Pete in Texas.

Very easy to tour Copenhagen on your own. There are HOHO bus tours as well as canal tours.

 

When I was in Copenhagen in September, I stayed at the Hotel Bethel in Nyhavn. Very reasonable, great location literally right where the HOHO bus stops, the canal tours leave and lots of cafes and restaurants within a 2-5 minute walk.

 

 

:) Pam

Thanks for the hotel bethel recommendation

Looking forward to getting to know the star from this thread. Doing the Baltics June 2015 [emoji2]

Thanks for all feed back, now starting to think about visiting closer towns and castle

Did you port at Warnumunde and visit Berlin?

What is the most efficient way to get to Berlin from Warnemunde? Plane, train, private tour ?

Our family will also be sailing the Baltics in June, I was not aware the Star scheduled for dry dock in the spring. Looking forward this itinerary!!

Thanks for the question