Our Baltic Cruise on Star Princess - June 24th

[smudge's mom]

Don't know where to start - don't remember enjoying a cruise this much.

 

The ports were wonderful - the weather was wonderful.

 

The ship is beautiful - the cabins A228/216 - were large with good storage - however, not as centrally located as we usually get.

 

The general staff, service in dining room, room steward, especially the casino staff - all seemed happy to be there - helpful and friendly.

 

Right now, I don't have time to go into details - but DH wanted me to mention one thing:

 

Sign up for the Ship's 2 day tour in St. Petersburg. It was wonderful.

 

The other tours were very good, also. Every bus was filled to only 75/80% capacity - making the bus comfortable and the groups smaller. Never saw that before.

 

Oslo - I would do on my own - However, we enjoyed all the other ship sponsored tours.

 

And no - having gratuities appear automatically on your statement does not have a negative effect on service or attitude. I appreciated not doing the "envelope thing." I know others love it - however, I feel uncomfortable doing it and am glad some cruise lines are doing auto tipping.

 

We loved Anytime dining. However, there is a flaw in their system. They allow you to reserve a table for the entire week - thus, negating the whole concept of Anytime dining. I think Princess has to rethink this concept. There were 3 dining rooms on Star - they could've made one a reserved room, one a walk-in room, and one a formal seating. You can't be "everything to everyone" - it just doesn't work.

 

And it seemed most people dressed for formal night - however, you could get in the dining room wearing only a dress shirt - without a tie or sportcoat.

 

And yes, you can get on at 11:00. They kick everyone off prior to 10:00 - with a real push to get you off before 9:00. Embarcation and disembarcation went very smoothly.

 

Princess is a class act. :D :D

[spongerob]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[SaylorGirl]

I'm glad you had a good time and enjoyed all the ports. We will be on that sailing in September and can't wait.

[smudge's mom]

You will love your cruise. Any questions while all this is fresh in my mind?

[pungo3]

Smudge's Mom, I sail on the Star Princess next week, 7/14. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering. Did you do a ship's excursion in Stockholm or on your own? I'm still undecided on this since many people have said catching the train is no problem. I'm a little worried about getting back before the last tender leaves Nynashamn and being left behind. Also, what was the weather like? Was it hot, warm, cool, wet? I'm currently packing only one pair of shorts since my research leads me to believe slacks will be needed most of the time. I'd really appreciate your comment on the weather. Thanks in advance.

[seedaz]

My mother and father in law are thinking of this cruise as a last minute special. Did you book your airfare through Princess? or privately on your own? How far is it from the airport to the pier in Copenhagen, time wise? Did you find transportation easily? ie: shuttle, taxi? Did you do a prestay hotel in Copenhagen? if so, where, and how was the hotel? Lots of questions..just trying to figure out if we should take the Princess air or not. Glad you had such a lovely time. Thanks for your help!

[sunprincess]

Smudge's Mom, Thanks so much for the info. I will be on the Star 8/13 visiting some friends. Cannot wait. Have been debating on what tours to do in St. Petersburg, I probably will end up with the Princess one, so glad to hear it was wonderful :)

[NVCLVR]

Hi: I was on the 6/4 sailing on the Star. re: your question about Stockholm..its on 14 islands and the breeze can be cool...so you probably don't need shorts. We took the train..in to do it on our own...its about a 15 minute walk up to the train station from the tender docking area. It's cheap and you get to see sooo much of the countryside. Be forwarned, the central train station has nothing in English!. Just about everybody speaks English,though. Gamla Stan is a walk, short bus ride or T-Ban (subway) ride. I highly recommend the Under the Bridges canal tour..about 2 hrs..leaves from infront of the Grand Hotel..very comprehensive tour. no worry about making it back to the train station in time. Just be sure to get on one of the first 2 cars (you'll be warned on the ship..watch the informative "what to see" on your TV the nite before). Stockholm is a very walkable city. Also, you can catch a short ferry from Gamla Stan to the Vasa Museum (a must!). You'll have a great time...be adventurous! (and if you miss the ship, you can always take the night ferry to Helsinki!).

re: the other writer asking about booking Princess air...you can probably do better, cost-wise, booking it yourself. We took Icelandair (played "sardines"!) for 1/2 the price. Airport to ship is about 1/2hr taxi ride. go early a day or so and see Copenhagen! Recommend Ascot Hotel...very comfortable, included breakfast..close to everything..a boutique hotel..but make your reservations thru www.visitdenmark.dk ..all hotels booked thru a foreign (not U.S.) web site are quite a bit less (go figure). We saved over $100/nite (!yes!) booking that way, instead of thru our TA (who suggested Ascot)!

Have a super time...this was one of the best itineraries I have every travelled!:) :) :)

[pungo3]

Thanks NVCLVR! I appreciate your response. It sounds like one pair of shorts for the entire trip will be more than adequate. Slacks are packed instead.;) Thank you for the info on the train as well. I guess there will be plenty of other passengers doing the exact same thing so I'll just follow the crowd. I leave in 6 days and really need to firm up my plans.

[smudge's mom]

Weather? It was hot in Copenhagen and some of the ports were warm too. However, I was comfortable in a pair of light weight slax. We had no measurable rain - it was warmer than "normal" - but we carried our rain gear on all our excursions. We bused it on all tours and just left the rain gear in the bus all day. I think our hauling all that junk guaranteed wonderful weather for all. LOL

 

The buses were warm. I usually freeze on tours, but most of the buses, although a/c'd, were not cool enough to notice. I suggest layers - tank top with shirt over - sweater if you're prone to cold.

 

We entered all the churches wearing pants - so I don't know if they enforce the dress code of "no shorts."

 

We are not "risk" takers, so we enjoy the security of ship's sponsored tours. That being said, I would do Oslo on my own - most main areas are so close to the port that you could walk back if the transportation broke down.

 

We always book our own air because we want to control our destiny. LOL For this trip, we had a direct flight from O'Hare on United to London. Spent 5 days there. Then we took Scandinavian Air (United's partner) from London to Copenhagen. We had a direct flight from Copenhagen to O'Hare.

 

Originally, the cost we were looking at with this three part trip, was $1200 per person, but our son managed to get tickets through his company which saved us considerably, but for the convenience of non-stop, we were willing to pay the $1200.

 

All our flights were on time - packed - cramped - but amazingly easy to bear (with the right attitude, of course.) The planes had individual screens for movie watching, which helped pass the time.

 

In Copenhagen, we stayed at City Hotel - a Best Western. It was kind of a dump, but clean. The shower was actually smaller than on the cruise ship. But they had free breakfast, free internet access and the people were nice. It was just that it was worn looking and since Copenhagen was unusually warm, the lack of a/c freaked us at first, until we realized if you opened your windows, the night air cooled the room to a decent comfort level.

 

Any more questions?

[smudge's mom]

Oops, never answered your original question.

 

We took the Royal Stockholm tour. Unfortunately, all the tours have blurred in my mind, but my overall impression of all our tours (except Oslo) was one of complete satisfaction.

 

Princess runs a class act - the buses were only 75/80% full - they were on time - the tour guides were knowledgeable and friendly. We are fans of ship's tours for more than the security. We are fans because when we do things on our own, we don't seem to learn anything about the port. For some cruises, that works well - like the Caribbean. But for Europe, having knowledgeable tour guides was more important than saving money.

 

We never take the ship's transfers, preferring to use cabs because - again - we like to control our own destiny. The one time we took ship's transfers, we didn't appreciate sitting in the bus while we waited for the stragglers to come aboard after the cruise. And before the cruise? We like to arrive in our port town a few days early, so we can be all rested up and ready to go on embarcation day. And again - we don't want to wait for the buses to fill up before we go to the port.

 

As far as the Star - a few days before disembarking, they provide a form for you to order last minute ship's transfers. There were four of us, so the cost would've been $160. The cab we took (yes, we fit four people and 11 pieces of luggage in one station wagon) cost us considerably less than that. My memory fails me, but I think it was well under $100 - maybe $60? I think the fare was so high because they charge extra for extra pax and for extra luggage and because in Copenhagen, Star docks at the other port - the commercial port - and it's farther away from the airport than the regular cruise port. Add to that, the port is quite a distance from the airport.

[cruiseonly]

Hi:

 

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

 

Did you take Princess transfers to the airport. Did they take you to the airport directly, and to your terminal.

 

There are 3 terminals at Copenhagen. What was the airport like.

 

Thanks.

[pungo3]

Smudge's Mom, thank you so much for the information! I was planning on taking a taxi from the ship to the airport (there are 3 of us) and your comment has solidified that thought. Thanks again for the wonderful information. I leave in 6 days and am extremely excited.

[smudge's mom]

The airport was nice enough. We stayed at Burger King for a while - only $9 (US) for a meal deal. LOL After that, we moved on to the Hilton - which is connected to the airport and used by Princess for a staging and waiting area. They had rooms for the people who had Princess transfers - however, they weren't much more comfortable than anything else just a huge conference room with card tables. The seating area of the Hilton, near the restaurant was filled with pax. They didn't seem to mind that they were there for hours. We ate at the restaurant and killed a couple of hours there, then went back to the airport.

 

Be forewarned. I don't know about all the airlines, but Scandinavian has a another check-in. You get to the airport - wait to check in for your flight. Then you wait to go through security. Then you wait at the gate to check in again - before you can sit down in the gate area. Lines were long at times. SAS checks your passport against your boarding pass before you are allowed to sit in the gate area.

 

They have bathrooms in all the gate areas and the area is as comfortable as any airport, but I don't think there was food after you went through to the gate waiting area, so bring something in with you. However, you won't want to go back out - because you will have to again wait in the gate area check-in line. You won't be able to skip ahead just because you were once in the gate area.

 

You will get off the ship really early. They start unloading at 6:30? I think. They push you off as fast as they can - wanting everyone off the ship by 9:45. The ship was virtually empty before 9:00. This is one time I wouldn't worry about an early flight. There is no hold-ups in the morning - guess all the immigration/whatever is handled earlier or off the ship or?

 

Princess warns you there will be long waits for cabs, but we didn't find that to be true. Don't know if they were trying to scare you into buying ship's transfers. Don't know if we experienced no wait because we got off after 9:00. The luggage area is typical of all ships - organized by color. Luggage was easy to find - there are porters - there are lines of cabs and multi-passenger vans.

 

BTW - Embarcation was wonderful. You can start getting on at 11:00. When you get there, they give you a card with a number - that is your waiting area. You get seated by group and they call you up to the clerks by number. The terminal is comfortable, organized, a/c'd.

 

Like I said, Princess is a class act. That was the best, most organized, comfortable, and efficient embarcation I've ever seen.

[SaylorGirl]

Does anyone know what is the latest time we can check in to the ship in Copenhagen? It seems like everyone else is trying to get on early and I will be looking more between 7:00 and before the ship leaves at 9:00!

[smudge's mom]

I would check with Princess about when you have to check in. I was once in a line getting back on a ship at one of our ports (another cruise line), and the people in front of us told us they were yelled at because they didn't check in a few hours earlier than departure on embarcation day. In ports, you have until half off before the ship leaves, however, I doubt they want you to check in on the first day only half hour early.

 

If you plan on getting to Copenhagen early enough to tour on your own, the tour bus system is located at the main square. You merely go to one of the three buses of the tour bus sytem and purchase your pass from the driver. You can purchase a ticket that lets you on any of the three lines - getting off and on at stops. Or you can purchase a ticket for only one of the lines - you will still be able to get off and on at will.

 

There is no information - no signs - no kiosks. It was confusing - because we weren't sure which of the tourist areas was the actual main square. Get that info from your hotel people - all lines start and end at the square. You can get off of any bus - take in the sites of the location - get on the next bus. They don't run on schedule - they do it casually. The buses are open air with enclosed seating below. They provide commentary via headphones.