The Journey's seven-day Baltics -- port or starboard cabin?

[MizLizzie]

My family is looking at the Journey's July 21, 2011 sailing from Stockholm to Helsinki, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg. This looks to be a fabulous cruise and I've found a wealth of helpful info here, so thanks to you regulars in advance.

 

I did have one question I couldn't quite answer. Does anyone have an opinion whether we should book port vs starboard? Not so concerned about Tallinn or Helskini as those are shorter stops. But in Stockholm and especially in St. P's, we would like the best view.

 

It seems that in St. Petersburg, this ship has docked in various locations in the past, so that adds to my confusion. We'll try to book a small suite -- probably a Club Continent suite, if that matters.

 

Any and all advice is welcome. We've sailed the Med before, but this will be our first trip to the Baltics, and our first trip with Azamara.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[alidor]

Did this sailing on Regent last year - by the way, considering Regent includes shore excursions in their sailings, you might want to look at them. Shore excursions in Russia are very expensive.

 

In St. Petersburg, I understand the ships never know where they will dock until the last minute and there are many ports in a VERY LARGE industrial port area. Frankly, it doesn't matter where you will be docked as the only scenery is the port. There is a dock in town, which is wonderful but when we were there, Silverseas was in there and a private yacht. Highly unlikely you would get to dock there.

[tgg]

Did this sailing on Regent last year - by the way, considering Regent includes shore excursions in their sailings, you might want to look at them. Shore excursions in Russia are very expensive.

 

MizLizzie,

 

Shore excursions in Russia don't have to be expensive if you get together with people on your roll call and plan to see the sights with a small group independently. CruiseCritic has a wealth of information about very reputable tour companies that many of us have used. You will not only have the advantage of touring with 8 to 10 people, but you will also get to customize your itinerary. Our cost was about half what the ship was charging. I would give you a recommendation, but we visited St. Petersburg at least 10 years ago.

[maryann ns]

Be sure to check out the Roll Call for this cruise. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1311464

[alcpa1]

We did this cruise this past summer.

It really doesn't matter which side you choose. There is no way to determine now which way or in which docking facility you will end up in.

We departed from Copenhagen. The terminal was north of the main shipping ports with ferries, additional cruise ships and ferries. The view did not matter.Our port cabin faced the terminal.

In Warnemunde we faced the port. The "terminal" was little more than a tented area for security. The train to Rostock and Berlin was a quick 10 minute walk from the ship.

In Helsinki we faced the city. We had a wonderful docking area right in the middle of town.

We were less than five minutes from the busses and trams.

In St. Petersburg we did dock at Lt. Schmidt pier facing apartments. The Neva is very narrowat this point so you will see more from the starboard side. If you dock at the new terminal, which we were scheduled at, you will be amongst other cruise ships in an industrial area.

In Talinn we faced the pier and in Stockholm we also faced the pier. In both ports you are a shuttle ride from the center of the cities. Azamara provided the shuttles for its guests.

The best views will actually be from an aft cabin no matter the port.

It is a wonderful cruise!

While at first glance the St. Petersburg excursion(s) seem to be expensive they are worth every penny. We put together a group from our Cruise Critic Roll Call relying on the Ports of Call recommendations. We used SPB tours and they tailored our itinerary to suit the needs and desires of our eight travelers. I had been in St. Petersburg before and we saw more in the three days we had from the cruise than I saw in six days on a land trip.

Do join the Roll Call. It will help you refine your cruise plans. Post here too and those of us who have taken this itinerary will be glad to assist you as well.

I wish we were joining you. This is one itinerary we'd do again in a hearbeat.

[MizLizzie]

Thank you, alcpa1. Very useful information. It sounds as if you had a lovely time. We are really hoping we can make this one work.

 

Liz

[alcpa1]

Liz,

It was better than lovely!