hun

We used Rome In Limo last fall in Rome and Sorrento and they were great! We had a shared private group (8) which was arranged by someone in our Roll Call.

Enjoyed your report - thank you! We're going on the Getaway Baltic next year. We haven't picked our shore excursion company yet (and would use same one for additional ports beyond SPB) but I was curious as to whether you think Stockholm could be done as DYI? we'd like to go to Vasa for sure.

Ohhhh interesting! We have the 9/28/17 sailing booked (best timing for us) and were disappointed because it was supposed to go to Nynashamn instead of Stockholm - so I just checked the itinerary and cruise timetable for Oct 5 and now it's supposed to be in Stockholm after all! Based on what I've read about difficulty in some ships sailing into Stockholm, though, I'm not going to count on it when the time comes....

We'll be moving to Vero Beach and we wondered as well - hoping for lots of last minute cruises!

We loved our Royal Caribbean Med cruise last fall! (On Vision)

Started in Barcelona, Villefranche (for Nice/Monte Carlo) Livorno (for Florence), Rome, Salerno (for Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii), overnight in Venice and Kotor. We were so happy we had opted for the more expensive option, when we were looking, that included the Venice overnight!

I used to live in Italy, but my husband had never been and we just loved that itinerary [emoji5]

We're going to the Baltics in September 2017 and are investigating flying over on Icelandair so we can do the stopover and do the Golden Circle/Blue Lagoon

Or - another option to check - take a train to Milan and fly from there Milan flights seem to have better air fares than some of the other cities (especially Venice)

Really enjoying your review - thank you! We're going on the Getaway to Baltic next year and am so looking forward to it! Reading up on the various SPB companies and haven't yet decided which to go with.

One question I wonder from reading other folks' comments about their SPB tours - did you have to wait long for the others on your van to arrive?

(I wasn't sure if it'd be necessary to try to coordinate meeting inside and leaving together....)

Thanks- interesting thread!

We've never been on NCL (out first NCL planned for fall 2017 Baltic) but we were on the Vision last fall for a Med cruise and loved the ship, the staff and Captain Marek!

Well that's interesting - thanks for the tip! [emoji484]

Thanks for all the great info!

We sailed Vision last fall and loved the ship, captain and entire staff!

Thank you for the info - also following for our first TA planning advice!

we've just started exploring TAs so also appreciate the posts!

That hasn't been our experience for our (only two) cruises booked with ncl recently. Our PCC isn't helpful at all and I also like having control of the reservation, so like to book directly. Both times I've booked, I've just called the 800 number, the reps have been really helpful, we've booked the cruises, and I've never had to talk to PCC rep on any follow up calls. Good luck!

Looking forward to reading your review as well! [emoji106]🏼

(We don't go on our Baltic until 2017 but have started planning!)

We also has a great experience with RCCL Choice Air last fall - saved hundreds of dollars on each ticket to Europe, and were able to choose our flights and our seats!

Our next cruise is with NCL and we wondered about their air program as well. But we've been encouraged - by our PCC as well as two separate NCL phone reps - NOT to use the NCL air program due to higher pricing than what we could get on our own. Since our cruise isn't until fall 2017, I haven't been able to comparison price, but we're planning to just get the air on our own.

(We don't have first hand experience with NCL air, so this response may not be helpful, but wanted to share what we've been told)

Well I did it. Adjacent to SW is rental car compound. Just walked over in back, no exiting. The leather sofas by Avis desk are gone , replaced by steel mesh 3 seater benches. I was only one up there. Rental desks manned 24 hours. Quiet with no annoncements, slept soso. Glad I did it cause my shuttle came downstairs 20 minutes early.

Thanks for the update - Glad it worked out! [emoji42]

Have you checked MSC?

We just returned from our 25 day Transatlantic & Baltic cruise. We used Alla Tours for 3 ports. The two days in St. Petersburg were great with them. We had a van that seated 14. We used whisper sets. We did everything on the itinerary although not in the order sent out prior to the trip. Because we used them for 3 port excursion we got a discounted price. Check out their website. It was easy to communicate with them.

Good to hear! We're still researching for our 2017 cruise -What other Baltic ports did you use them for?

TIA

It seems that Vision sailings after mid-August 2017 are "sold out" or NA....

Thanks! Have enjoyed this post as well as yours on Tallin!

Great question! We're not going on our Baltic cruise until 2017 but have wondered about the train vs. bus as well!

We've bought the plastic cruise luggage tags on Amazon and placed the paper tags inside.