Baltic Sea Cruise July 2019

Hi!

I am having a hard time choosing between NCL Getaway (Haven) or the Oceania Marina for a Baltic Sea Cruise. I prefer the Oceania itinerary, but I will be traveling with my husband (41) Myself (35) and 2 children (8 and 10). Kids club or activities is not of importance to us. The itineraries seem very port intensive, and our kids usually stay with us anyway. I'm just curious about the cost difference...is it worth it?

We are seasoned cruisers and do prefer smaller ships, and both kids are well traveled....but the price difference is just crazy between the 2. Has anyone with children been on an Oceania cruise or NCL cruise that can give me some insight? We have only sailed RCCL and DCL, so both lines are new to me. Thanks!

Are you comparing cruise only fares or the fare that includes air & O Life perks?

What cabin cat on Oceania are you comparing prices with?

is the itinerary the same or different ports same length of cruise?

For Oceania it would be the air and 1 O Life perks included. I am looking at a Cab B3 Veranda, as they are the cheapest available. And I need 2 of those. Also, a 12 day cruise.

Oceania has 3 more ports than the NCL cruise. Which are Riga, Gdansk, and Visby. Outside of that, port times seem pretty comparable.

NCL cruise is 9 days.

I think I am worried about the ports with the larger ship. Is there an advantage to the smaller boats? Will we miss out on a port because of the ship size? Things like that concern me with NCL.

I am not sure what you get with the Haven so you would need to compare what you get with each line

then decide

3 extra days = $$

Haven does give you certain perks on NCL. We haven't been on Getaway (which I believe is one of the larger newer ships) but when we were on NCL's GEM some years ago -- in a suite but not the Haven -- we had breakfast and lunch in the Grill restaurant, the services of a concierge, and some other benefits.

But on Oceania you don't really need those perks since specialty restaurants, for one, don't incur an extra charge.

I don't think you would miss a scheduled port due to the ship being a large one, but it's possible you might have to tender where a smaller ship can dock.

If you're not worried about the lack of childrens' activities for your young ones, than Oceania should work well for you. (You can tell my bias here ...)

One comment about the one NCL ship we DO know: Gem was a 2300 passenger ship but it always seemed to take a VERY long time to leave the ship on port days. We've never had that problem on Marina. If I'm correct about Getaway being around 4,000 passengers, this might be a problem.

If it matters to you, entertainment should be better on NCL.

Mura

Thank you! Very helpful! We are going for the ports, so ease of getting in and out is important:).

As everyone knows I love Oceania and have traveled on her over 30 times..but I just was on the Bliss and I was on the Getaway last year in the Haven and that is for me..I just love the special treatment and all the wonderful shows, great restaurants fabulous nooks and crannies..I have fallen in love with the Haven..and would take NCL over any ship..except Oceania

Jancruz1

As everyone knows I love Oceania and have traveled on her over 30 times..but I just was on the Bliss and I was on the Getaway last year in the Haven and that is for me..I just love the special treatment and all the wonderful shows, great restaurants fabulous nooks and crannies..I have fallen in love with the Haven..and would take NCL over any ship..except Oceania

Jancruz1

Wow. That is indeed high praise from you. Great feedback.

As everyone knows I love Oceania and have traveled on her over 30 times..but I just was on the Bliss and I was on the Getaway last year in the Haven and that is for me..I just love the special treatment and all the wonderful shows, great restaurants fabulous nooks and crannies..I have fallen in love with the Haven..and would take NCL over any ship..except Oceania

Jancruz1

Agree 100% Getaway a great family ship -- especially in a haven suite. The special attention is a plus, the shows and entertainment is something not found on O and the food is not bad and perfect for families.

We booked a Baltic cruise on Oceania Nautica after weighing lots of options. For two ports, Stockholm and St. Petersberg, we learned that smaller ships can dock close to the center of town, "where the action is," and the really big ships dock farther away with sometimes more complicated or time consuming logistics to transfer from the ship to the areas most visitors want to explore. I think Marina is larger than Nautica, so they may not have the same flexibility everywhere, but it's something to check as you do your comparisons.

Marina/Riviera have 1250 passengers. Nautica and the other "R" ships only have 684.

NCL ships, being so much larger, can’t always get into Stockholm. Often they dock an hour away. Whether or not Nautica can dock close to the centre of SPB probably depends on what other ships are there.

NCL and Marina are at the new port which is 30 minutes from the city centre. Immigration at SPB is slow the first day so the smaller the better. For us, Marina was ideal.