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Live reports from our Baltic cruise on Oceania Marina

artbcpa

By artbcpa,
in Oceania Cruises

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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

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Thank you! Any ideas about the time that Verandahs usually board? We need to arrange our transportation from our FT. Lauderdale hotel to Miami. ;) If the time is late afternoon, then we may pay extra to use the hotels facilities until time to leave for Miami.

If you get there about 1 pm you should be good

it may take about 1 hr from FLL to POM depending on traffic

 

Miami people are sticky about letting people even into the building before time so if too early you may be standing outside ;)

Make sure you have the page from your documents to say you are on the cruise another thing the folks in Miami require

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Iamthesea

Iamthesea

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If you get there about 1 pm you should be good

it may take about 1 hr from FLL to POM depending on traffic

 

Miami people are sticky about letting people even into the building before time so if too early you may be standing outside ;)

Make sure you have the page from your documents to say you are on the cruise another thing the folks in Miami require

 

;) We have been to the POM many times, but to other cruiselines piers and have usually arrived around 10:00 We have had to stand outside very briefly, and then are let into the building for check-in. Then if we are too early, we are shown a waiting area. If we are not allowed onto the ship until 1:00 or so, we may hold back and arrive around noon. Thank you!

Edited by Iamthesea
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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

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;) We have been to the POM many times, but to other cruiselines piers and have usually arrived around 10:00 We have had to stand outside very briefly, and then are let into the building for check-in. Then if we are too early, we are shown a waiting area. If we are not allowed onto the ship until 1:00 or so, we may hold back and arrive around noon. Thank you!

At Terminal J they will not even let you in the building to sit & wait if you arrive before noon sometime they will let people in at 11 am for the Suites

We have been there on turnaround day & it is tricky to get back in early even for B2B passengers... we usually just go to Bayside till after lunch

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silkman

silkman

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We are now in our last full day of the cruise. Tomorrow we disembark in Stockholm. I had a long discussion with Ellie last night about our impressions of Oceania and it was so interesting that even with us there was a difference in our perception; so hopefully it will be helpful if I relate both of our opinions and you can see how even one couple can have different views.

 

First of all both of us were very impressed with the attitude and effort made by the staff of Oceania. When things go wrong (and they do) the staff was attentive and did their best to make it right with a very caring attitude. This is not always true. We have been on cruises where the company personnel stuck by the company line and were very defensive and we have also encountered situations where nobody with any authority could be found to speak with. So kudos to Oceania in this day and age where customer service has really taken a tumble.

 

Having said that, Ellie was disappointed at the number of things that did go wrong or were not up to the standards of a cruise line with a reputation like Oceania's. As I said in the beginning of my thread, I try to come into a new situation without preconceived perceptions. So I was not as disappointed in things like the stains on the carpet, the broken room safe, appointments messed up by the spa, meat that was undercooked or items served not as ordered.

 

We were both extremely pleased by the quality of the production shows. Ellie felt that the balance of the of the entertainers were not of the caliber we have become used to seeing on our previous cruises. We were surprised at how many passengers we spoke with who had not attended any of the shows. Some were dismissive in that entertainment is not their thing (totally understandable), but others just didn't get around to it and were sorry they had not made the effort to attend when they heard the reviews from us and many others. Similarly, we happened to walk by the quartet one day and were so sorry we had not made more effort to hear them. They were wonderful. On such a short cruise with so much to do, it is so difficult to know about everything that is going on.

 

While we loved the attitude and friendliness of the staff, the number of service people who did not have command of the English language was also surprising. That is something we expect when we are ashore, but not on our ship. We have not run into this before on any other cruise line.

 

Embarkation went extremely smoothly. In fact it went smoothly in nearly every port; so if anyone has experienced the problems of hour long waits to embark and disembark, Oceania has conquered this issue. The only backup was in St. Petersburg and that was beyond their control.

 

We have previously discussed our opinions about the food. On this both Ellie and I agree. The quality and consistency of the food does not match the high rating of a 5 1/2 star ship.

 

With regard to the excursions, Ellie and I each took only one of the ships excursions; so I don't think we are qualified to give any kind of overall judgement on them. We did speak to many of the passengers about their experiences. Their reaction seemed to be consistent with what we have found on other cruise lines. The quality and consistency just does not match the high prices.

 

I have to reiterate my surprise and happiness over the payouts at the casino. Just about everyone we spoke with had had some success. Whether you win or lose, you would like to at least get something back to keep up the excitement and fun. We actually ended up making money on both the slots and roulette. Many ships have outside concession that run their casinos. On Oceania, the casinos are run in-house.

 

We both loved the itinerary and every single port we went to. So my overall opinion is very positive, while I would rate Ellie's as more guarded.

 

Hopefully this thread will be of some assistance to someone who is considering going on a Baltic cruise and our assessment of our experience on Oceania will provide some guidance of what to expect. As you can see, though, even within our single family we had a difference of opinion.

 

Art,

 

We will be taking a cruise next year which ends in Stockholm. We will be staying in Stockholm 2-3 days post-cruise. I was wondering if you are staying in Stockholm and, if so, what you did . Thanks,

 

Richard

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Pet

Pet

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I was on this cruise with Art (and as I recall had a brief chat with him in the Owner's suite we were invited to visit).

 

I can agree whole heartedly with many of his comments and views on Marina, but not all. Food is a very subjective issue and personally I found everything as about perfect as you can expect.

 

The airline failed to delivery one of our bags (along with about 18 others when we arrived at Copenhagen) and the ships representatives immediately took charge of the matter. The 2nd bag didn't show up to we reached Tallinn, but in that time the ship provided us with complementary laundry and a wash/shaving kit. We even reached a letter supporting any claim we wished to make against the airline for the inconvenience and expense incurred.

 

Our penthouse suite was maintained in a spot less condition. If I had a complaint it was that the balcony door was very hard to open which was quickly fixed by a man with WD40 and also that the tap in the bath tub was in a difficult position to reach without getting into the tub to run the water.

 

Personally, I found the cruise director to be a bit too regimental for my taste, especially when organising the team quiz sessions and one of the guest relations staff tended to look down his nose at you as if helping you out was a great drain of his valuable time.

 

So although this was our first cruise with Oceania we will be sailing again with them in the new year.:)

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artbcpa "Live from...." Rare

artbcpa

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Personally, I found the cruise director to be a bit too regimental for my taste,

Ellie and I would both agree with you. I might add that we felt her assistant had exactly the right combination of efficiency, friendliness and empathy to be a head cruise director and hope that she is given that opportunity. We believe she will shine in the position.

 

Richard asked,

 

We will be taking a cruise next year which ends in Stockholm. We will be staying in Stockholm 2-3 days post-cruise. I was wondering if you are staying in Stockholm and, if so, what you did . Thanks,

We are staying at the Hilton Stockholm Slussen for two nights. The hotel is beautiful and the location is wonderful. We took the Free Stockholm Walking Tour today and it was very helpful, though the walking was fairly rigorous and mostly over cobblestones. Tomorrow we will be doing a private tour with a guide and driver and will give you some feed back at that time.

 

The Hilton's wi-fi is super fast so I have been adding photos to all of my cruise related albums on Flickr without having to reduce their pixels. For anyone interested this is the link to my album page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30213465@N05/albums

Edited by artbcpa
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artbcpa "Live from...." Rare

artbcpa

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Art, thank you for sharing your pictures. Beautiful scenery, and it appears that you had amazing weather.

 

We have had nothing, but beautiful California weather - warm and dry. Today was 77 in Stockholm and tomorrow will be 79 in Amsterdam - simply amazing.

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artbcpa "Live from...." Rare

artbcpa

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Stockholm is an amazing city. We took a private tour today with Stockholm Guiding. Our guide, Thomas Andersson, definitely knew his stuff. He picked us up on time from our hotel took us to all the places we wanted to see, was flexible with adding things we wanted, bypassed the lines at the Vasa Museum, and even helped us buy tickets for the canal cruise after his tour was over. Private tours are not cheap, but you absolutely get what you pay for, when you know the right people to hire.

 

Ellie particularly liked the architecture of the City Hall where the Nobel prize winners celebrate after they are given out earlier in the day.

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orchestrapal

orchestrapal

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Thanks for the memories of three Baltic cruises.

Looking forward to a Thirty two day one coming up in 2016 on Oceania again.

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Macirish

Macirish

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What a fabulous first day in St. Petersburg - exhausting but fabulous! There is just so much to see, to learn, to experience. Our tour guide and driver were just unbelievable - how the driver got into the tiniest spaces and was always there for us and how our guide bypassed all the lines so that we never had a wait. Apparently there are three stages to the hierarchy - those who are not in a group; those who are in a group; and those who have private tour guides. We just zipped by all the group tours and there were even special entrances and elevators with no one else there.

 

As far as the places we visited (Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral, Church of Spilled Blood, Hermitage Museum, Nevsky Prospect, Jewish Synagogue, plus the harbor and other places I don't remember their names) my head was spinning with the opulence and the number of famous paintings, the history of the Czars, their intrigue, creativeness and deaths. We have SO many pictures! Even though I transferred all of them to my iPad, posting them online will be a whole different project.

 

We were exhausted by the end of the day, but I am sure tomorrow we will be refreshed for more.

 

For the second night in a row, we were so pleased with our tablemates for dinner. While I know some people prefer to eat alone or only with friends, we learn so much from the people we sit with. Tonight we sat with a couple from Ottawa, Canada and another who live in Houston but emigrated from the Netherlands. We all shared our day in town, plus stories from our past.

 

By the way we ate tonight at Red Ginger and the quality of the food matched the outstanding presentation and service.

 

Overall we are half way through our cruise and are very pleased with our itinerary, ship and and fellow passengers. I would highly recommend taking a Baltic cruise for those who have not yet done so.

 

What tour company did you use for your Baltic Cruise ?

Six of us are planning on Oceania's cruise next year.

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arima22

arima22

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What tour company did you use for your Baltic Cruise ?

Six of us are planning on Oceania's cruise next year.

 

Recommend that you take a look at the "Roll Calls" for various Baltic Cruises- here is just one of them: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2138132

All cover a full range of tour companies that are available, and most are ranked very equal on Trip Advisor. I'll not be surprised if you get at least 10 recommendations for St. Petersburg tour companies from your question.

 

You don't say what dates you're planning for next year, but there may already be a Roll Call started for your cruise. Check under "find your roll call."

 

Yes, I'll be the first. We used "SPB Tours" - which has branches in almost all the Baltic cruise ports, with discounts if you book multiple ports with them.

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Macirish

Macirish

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Recommend that you take a look at the "Roll Calls" for various Baltic Cruises- here is just one of them: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2138132

All cover a full range of tour companies that are available, and most are ranked very equal on Trip Advisor. I'll not be surprised if you get at least 10 recommendations for St. Petersburg tour companies from your question.

 

You don't say what dates you're planning for next year, but there may already be a Roll Call started for your cruise. Check under "find your roll call."

 

Yes, I'll be the first. We used "SPB Tours" - which has branches in almost all the Baltic cruise ports, with discounts if you book multiple ports with them.

 

Thank you for the info !

 

We will cruise Aug 26- Sep 3, 2016

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artbcpa "Live from...." Rare

artbcpa

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What tour company did you use for your Baltic Cruise ?

Six of us are planning on Oceania's cruise next year.

 

We used Insider Tour and they were wonderful. As other posters have mentioned, there are a variety of excellent tour companies in St. Petersburg.

 

As a further follow-up regarding the cruise director, we are currently on a Viking river cruise which we did back-to-back with our Oceania cruise. We have the most fabulous positive cruise director on board. Even though the ship is not nearly as elaborate as Oceania, the cabins are smaller, the menu selection is not near as extensive, having an outstanding cruise director can make all the difference in the world. We are actually enjoying our river cruise even more than our Baltic Ocean cruise.

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Paulchili

Paulchili

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We used Insider Tour and they were wonderful. As other posters have mentioned, there are a variety of excellent tour companies in St. Petersburg.

 

As a further follow-up regarding the cruise director, we are currently on a Viking river cruise which we did back-to-back with our Oceania cruise. We have the most fabulous positive cruise director on board. Even though the ship is not nearly as elaborate as Oceania, the cabins are smaller, the menu selection is not near as extensive, having an outstanding cruise director can make all the difference in the world. We are actually enjoying our river cruise even more than our Baltic Ocean cruise.

 

Glad you are enjoying your river cruise.

Which boat and who is the CD (we did a couple of river cruises this June).

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Cruzin Terri

Cruzin Terri

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Thank you for the info !

 

We will cruise Aug 26- Sep 3, 2016

 

There is a roll call for Aug 15 to Sep 3. Started that includes your segment. Please join it. I would certainly be interested in joining a group for touring in St Petersburg.

Terri

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Mura

Mura

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I don't think I've heard of an all-suite riverboat (which may or may not be correct) but I know there are lines out there that do have SOME.

 

Even our first Viking cruise in Oct '03 on NEPTUNE (which I would gather is out of the fleet now with all the new riverboats arriving) had a couple of big suites. Most cabins, even in the "A" category were on the small side when compared to ocean ship cabins, but these two were quite large.

 

No, we didn't stay in one of them! I recently was looking at AMA and they seem to have a number of large suites as well.

 

I'm sure they are out there, even if they aren't "all-suite" riverboats.

 

Mura

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