12 Day Russia and Scandinavia from London (Dover), England

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

looking seriously at this cruise. any advise or tips from past cruisers?

[spencercoop]

The only time Carnival has done this type of cruise before was on the Splendor which was 4-5 years ago. So not that many people have done this cruise before. If you are looking for info on ports, it may be beneficial to post on the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, etc. boards.

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

The only time Carnival has done this type of cruise before was on the Splendor which was 4-5 years ago. So not that many people have done this cruise before. If you are looking for info on ports, it may be beneficial to post on the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, etc. boards.

 

i checked on the same trip w/ "the other line" and i guess the main thing i need to know about is leaving the ship in russia. they tell me you need a day visa to leave the ship when not on a shore excursion in st petersburg. its something seperate from your passport and i dont really understand it. i dont want to have to be on a shore excursion just to leave the ship and i dont want to overnight in russia and not be able to leave the ship just to knock around a little.

 

ps...thanks for the response

[spencercoop]

i checked on the same trip w/ "the other line" and i guess the main thing i need to know about is leaving the ship in russia. they tell me you need a day visa to leave the ship when not on a shore excursion in st petersburg. its something seperate from your passport and i dont really understand it. i dont want to have to be on a shore excursion just to leave the ship and i dont want to overnight in russia and not be able to leave the ship just to knock around a little.

 

ps...thanks for the response

 

A visa is different from a passport. This link looks like it has some info.

 

http://www.visatorussia.com/

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

A visa is different from a passport. This link looks like it has some info.

 

http://www.visatorussia.com/

 

 

yes, that's what i'm finding out. thanks for the link. country boy like me has some catching up to do it seems. i've never been to europe so i need all the help i can get.

[MATHA531]

I did the Scandanavian/Russian cruise on Holland America a couple of years ago.l It was awesome as far as the ports are concerned (I haven't checked the ports being offered on the Carnival cruise but I would assume they are pretty much the same).

 

The unfortunate thing is that as far as welcoming tourists is concerned, Russia still thinks in many respects it is the Soviet Union and the Cold War is still on. The red tape involved in gettng a visa is well pure red tape. It can be done. However, the good news is St. Petersberg is such an awesome city filled with so much history that one simply does have to see its sites. And it is very crowded in the summer making it hard to see the sites without the help of the tourist organizations. The good news is that you need not be stuck if that's the right word on a ship's shore excursion with 34 others shipmmates crammed into a coach. Many organizations have their own tour excursions. In many cases they will tailor a shore excursion for a group as small as 8. When I went, I was travelling single. I contacted one of the tour operators and they put me in a small group for the two days we were there and it was really great.

 

But even so, the formalities leaving the ship and returning can be long and arduous but they take care of the visas and the paper work for you. Frankly, it is an experience not to be missed.

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

I did the Scandanavian/Russian cruise on Holland America a couple of years ago.l It was awesome as far as the ports are concerned (I haven't checked the ports being offered on the Carnival cruise but I would assume they are pretty much the same).

 

The unfortunate thing is that as far as welcoming tourists is concerned, Russia still thinks in many respects it is the Soviet Union and the Cold War is still on. The red tape involved in gettng a visa is well pure red tape. It can be done. However, the good news is St. Petersberg is such an awesome city filled with so much history that one simply does have to see its sites. And it is very crowded in the summer making it hard to see the sites without the help of the tourist organizations. The good news is that you need not be stuck if that's the right word on a ship's shore excursion with 34 others shipmmates crammed into a coach. Many organizations have their own tour excursions. In many cases they will tailor a shore excursion for a group as small as 8. When I went, I was travelling single. I contacted one of the tour operators and they put me in a small group for the two days we were there and it was really great.

 

But even so, the formalities leaving the ship and returning can be long and arduous but they take care of the visas and the paper work for you. Frankly, it is an experience not to be missed.

 

now we're getting somewhere :D. i've kinda burned out on the caribbean and i cruise more for the ports. this looks like a great trip and i hope i can get it together.

[Mulege]

If you do not take either a ship excursion or a private tour you will not be allowed to go ashore unless you have gotten a tourist visa. They are about $250 and must be gotten prior to your cruise through a visa agency.

 

That said take a private tour with a few friends or shipmates. You can organize on a roll call. They are cheaper, personalized, and no big busses with 40 people holding you up. Go to the ports section in Cruise Critic for more details.

 

St. Petersburg will be a highlight of your trip, Hermitage, Catherine's palace, and Peterhof to name a few places to visit. Russia welcomes all tourists and the experience is "unique" to say the least.

 

Since Carnival does not normally do this itinerary, I suggest looking at other lines also that do it regularly, ie. Princess, Celebrity, and RCL. They have more experience and might avoid problems more easily.

[lucille&mike]

Carnival returns this year with the Legend. DW & I are travelling on the July 15th itinerary that visits Amsterdam as opposed to Brugges Belgium. Chose this one due to having been to Brugges (also a great place) Looking forward to it.

As far as Russia and the visa, trips booked privately with tour companies provide visas for the tours as does the ship, whichever line it is. If wishing to get one on your own and exploring (we are adventurous, but not going that route) you can appy for one and the cost is somewhere around 150-175 pp. Our two day guided tour doesn't run much more than that.

We were on the Legend just last year. Not a bad ship at all. Lots of room. Not one of the mega ships, but they are more for Caribbean cruises. Like the lesser sized ones personally anyway.

Hope you join us.

[Sundiego]

Thanks for starting this thread, OP! St. Petersburg has been on our cruise bucket list and I've been looking to book something as well. Fellow cruisers have told me that Baltic cruises are best done from Copenhagen and not Dover. The North Sea can be rough sailing and you eliminate that piece of the trip if you leave from Copenhagen. I've been told this by more than one person so I'm assuming the info is somewhat credible.

 

~Denise

[cruise52]

I posted this on another thread but felt it relevant to this thread as well. I don't have an answer why Carnival's Baltic sailings are significantly lower in price compared to NCL, Royal, HAL, but, in my opinion, they are a steal. The ports visited and time in port on Carnival is as good or better. I was initially booked on NCL Star. However, when Carnival announced their Baltic sailings and I compared the two, Carnival was actually cheaper for a 12 day compared to NCL's 9 day. Additionally, Carnival will visit 6 ports with two extra sea days compared to NCL's 5 port and two sea days. I immediately made the switch and booked the Legend in August. This is a very port intensive cruise so four sea days spread over the trip was another positive for me. While Carnival's price/rate is very reasonable for the Baltics, the balcony rate has gone up over $200 per person since I booked. I think the Carnival sailings are selling pretty well because they are priced several hundred to almost a thousand, per person, below the competition. (a short time ago I thought they were not selling very well, but it appears bookings have really picked up over the last

month.)

 

I have not heard or read sailing out of Dover or other England ports to be worse than Copenhagen in terms of rough seas. It may be, I just have not seen this discussed in terms of port origination. I have heard that flying in and out of Copenhagen is somewhat more expensive than London. I don't know this to be true, but there are more flights in/out London than Copenhagen and this may render it cheaper. Both RCCL & Carnival originate from England. RCCL from Harwich and Carnival Dover. Some lines originate in Amsterdam. There are a lot of choices.

[Jemery]

DW and I got sucked in by a really good price from Carnival on a port intensive Mediterranean cruise and got burned badly for our efforts. We would never recommend that anyone cruise Carnival outside the Caribbean, especailly in an area that they don't know inside out.

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

just a bump to stay on the front page. thanks for the help and Merry Christmas. hoping the new year is full of blue skys and calm seas

[cruise52]

DW and I got sucked in by a really good price from Carnival on a port intensive Mediterranean cruise and got burned badly for our efforts. We would never recommend that anyone cruise Carnival outside the Caribbean, especailly in an area that they don't know inside out.

 

So that I can consider the advise you offer, can you be more specific? I have read some good reviews of Carnival sailings in the Med, but I am interrested in what you experienced as well.

 

Thanks

[Sundiego]

DW and I got sucked in by a really good price from Carnival on a port intensive Mediterranean cruise and got burned badly for our efforts. We would never recommend that anyone cruise Carnival outside the Caribbean, especailly in an area that they don't know inside out.

 

Really? We did the Magic r/t Barcelona and had a wonderful cruise. I am not a Carnival cheerleader by any stretch, but we really enjoyed our Carnival Med cruise.

 

~Denise

[p_mori7]

Really? We did the Magic r/t Barcelona and had a wonderful cruise. I am not a Carnival cheerleader by any stretch, but we really enjoyed our Carnival Med cruise.

 

~Denise

 

^^^ This for us as well...on the Breeze. No complaints ! :)

[cruise52]

I am not a Carnival Cheerleader either and certainly want to consider all information and advise offered. I think I did read of a Carnival ship/sailing (Breeze maybe), not sure, that missed or skipped a number of ports in the Med. This would be a problem. However, I also read that Royal had a sailing last year in the Baltics that was unable to dock at St. Petersburgh. This would be awful. I think they were only scheduled for a one day stop, so they missed this port entirely.

[lucille&mike]

Do not want to change the topic from what the OP posted, but wanted to throw in my two cents on the Med comments.

Two years ago DW and I sailed the Med on NCL (NOT a fan) for two reasons, the price and the ports. We wanted an overnight in Egypt. Well, to make a long story short, the Med is full of ports with political issues. We could not dock in Greece due to the ongoing riots there. Went to Crete instead. We also were one of the last cruise ships to dock in Alexandria. We had an column of armored personell carriers outside of our hotel in the morning. The point is, with the ongoing issues in many Mediterranian ports, this happens. It's not a Carnival issue, but a safety one. No company is going to want the issue of a 'hiijacked ship or tour' on their record.

[Sauer-kraut]

OP

Please, please visit the Northern Europe & Baltics thread on Cruise Critic!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

There are so many helpful regulars over there, and yes, you can even get train/bus information if you want to DIY at some ports.

 

You will get a lot of information on the Russian visa (on your own) as well as great recommendations for tour operators for St. Petersburg and all other ports on that cruise. You will find that it is a wonderful sailing, the scenery is fantastic in Scandinavia and that you will be exhausted with all the ports. A good rule of thumb is to find a cruise that does 2 days in Russia, as there is so much to see and you can do evening sightseeing/dinner on land.

 

Also, Tallinn is a wonderful old town that is very nice and walkable from the ship.

 

This is a fantastic part of the world to visit....I hope you decide to give it a try.

[ChosenOne]

We sailed Carnival Splendor out of Dover for Baltic cruise. Definitely invest in a private tour in St Petersburg. They can customize it to what you want to see, take care of the visa issue, etc. We were 6 people and we had a great driver in a very nice Mercedes mini van and a college aged guide who knew how to get us into the Hermitage BEFORE the big tour buses got there. We told her exactly what we wanted to see at the Hermitage & she took us right to them. We even picked a place for lunch by doing research here on the Cruise Critic boards & they took us there on day 2.

One hint though, in St Petersburg if you were not taking a ship sponsored tour they made you get into a seperate customs line (you have to show your passport to Russian officials) and there were several other lines open ...if there are no ship's tours in those open lines you can go through them, it's a lot faster then waiting in the other line.

Have fun! Our trip was very memorable and we had no issues with Carnival in any port.

[wack001]

looking seriously at this cruise. any advise or tips from past cruisers?

 

This is an excellent cruise, do not worry about any visa issues, I wrote a very detailed review of my Baltic cruise on RCL and have quite a bit of information on the ports almost all on your own no need for the expensive ship excursions. Do a little research on CC reviews, information is available.

cruisinbob

http://www.cruisinbob.com.

[Jemery]

So that I can consider the advise you offer, can you be more specific? I have read some good reviews of Carnival sailings in the Med, but I am interrested in what you experienced as well.

 

Thanks

 

Sure; our problem was with the corporate paralysis we experienced on the October 25 Carnival Breeze cruise out of Barcelona. Bad weather was forecast during the the time of our cruise, and as a result we canceled Monte Carlo and the overnight in Venice. One of our fellow cruisers asked Jamie, our cruise director about why they hadn't looked at the forecast and adjusted the itinerary, and unbelieveably she said they didn't have access to weather reports (I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it). After canceling Venice, she said we should be happy we weren't in New York getting hit by Sandy, but we should use those extra days at sea to go to the on board casino or to the spa. No changes to on board entertainment to entertain the passengers while we were bobbing around in the Adriatic, no adjusting of the schedule (we could have easily called at Marseilles on the way back) other than the rearranged schedule announced after they initially canceled Rome and Naples. When we cruised on Holland America (another line under the Carnival umbrella) and they canceled ports, they said at the same time, and here is what we're going to do to make up for it. None of that from Carnival. That's why I'll trust them in the Caribbean, where we don't have to go too far to get there and frankly my expectations from any line aren't too high, but I won't trust them again when I have to fly half way round the world to get to them. When things go perfectly, they're fine, but if anything goes wrong, they act more like a shoestring startup than an industry leader.

[Mulege]

Carnival can't be blamed for the weather. As far as going to other ports, it's not that easy. The ship can't just show up. Berths are reserved months and years in advance. The contract you agreed to when you booked covers missing ports.

[NavarreCruiser]

If you do not take either a ship excursion or a private tour you will not be allowed to go ashore unless you have gotten a tourist visa. They are about $250 and must be gotten prior to your cruise through a visa agency.

 

That said take a private tour with a few friends or shipmates. You can organize on a roll call. They are cheaper, personalized, and no big busses with 40 people holding you up. Go to the ports section in Cruise Critic for more details.

 

St. Petersburg will be a highlight of your trip, Hermitage, Catherine's palace, and Peterhof to name a few places to visit. Russia welcomes all tourists and the experience is "unique" to say the least.

 

Since Carnival does not normally do this itinerary, I suggest looking at other lines also that do it regularly, ie. Princess, Celebrity, and RCL. They have more experience and might avoid problems more easily.

 

We did a cruise like this in May on RCI. It is true you need a visa, but all tours will provide them. St Petersburg is great. There is nothing at the port to see. It's pretty far from the city. So I'd say book a tour and enjoy. It was one of our best cruises.

[cruise52]

Sure; our problem was with the corporate paralysis we experienced on the October 25 Carnival Breeze cruise out of Barcelona. Bad weather was forecast during the the time of our cruise, and as a result we canceled Monte Carlo and the overnight in Venice. One of our fellow cruisers asked Jamie, our cruise director about why they hadn't looked at the forecast and adjusted the itinerary, and unbelieveably she said they didn't have access to weather reports (I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it). After canceling Venice, she said we should be happy we weren't in New York getting hit by Sandy, but we should use those extra days at sea to go to the on board casino or to the spa. No changes to on board entertainment to entertain the passengers while we were bobbing around in the Adriatic, no adjusting of the schedule (we could have easily called at Marseilles on the way back) other than the rearranged schedule announced after they initially canceled Rome and Naples. When we cruised on Holland America (another line under the Carnival umbrella) and they canceled ports, they said at the same time, and here is what we're going to do to make up for it. None of that from Carnival. That's why I'll trust them in the Caribbean, where we don't have to go too far to get there and frankly my expectations from any line aren't too high, but I won't trust them again when I have to fly half way round the world to get to them. When things go perfectly, they're fine, but if anything goes wrong, they act more like a shoestring startup than an industry leader.

 

Jemery, thanks for clarifying. I read about your cruise. While the Cruiseline can't be responsible for the weather, how they respond is their responsibility. I agree, if I had paid the high airfares to travel to Europe & missed half of the main ports, I would have been p.o.'d. Given the high cost of cruising the Baltics, I do worry about missing St. Petersburg, the main port of interest. just because the Cruiseline discloses that they have the right to skip/or change ports doesn't make it any less disappointing to a passenger who scrimped and saved and looked forward to the entire journey. I am sorry your trip turned out the way it did and I will give this some further consideration. I wish you better luck in your future sails.