Eclipse Baltic cruise 2015

[Emmandjay]

Help please from anyone who did this cruise this year.

Were there any ports, apart from St Petersburg, where the ship docked too far away to walk into town?

If you did the ship excursions in St Petersburg, were they good value for money? Did you see as much as the private group tours?

In general, if you sailed in May, what was the weather like?

 

Thanks for any info.

[az_tchr]

You will find more information if you look at the ports where X docks. We were in St. Petersburg in May of 2013 and the weather was everything from hot to cold and pouring rain. Private excursions are usually better deals, but in Russia if you go off on your own you used to need a $300+ visa. Do not know currently. You can also look at the roll calls for upcoming cruises with ports the same.

[Ehg]

We were on Eclipse mid June this year. The docks do vary I believe but ours were:

Copenhagen - not walkable, weather was cold and a little rainy.

Stockholm - we walked (in the pouring rain) but it was a long way, would probably have been more wise to get the bus....or take an umbrella!!

St Petersburg - beautiful weather, we did a Celebrity tour of the Hermitage (with gold room) on the first day, which was good, then we had a private tour on the second day, which was amazing as we were able to do exactly as we wished. You can't go off alone here (unless you get a visa) so distance is irrelevant.

Tallinn - rain and sun easily walkable to the very pretty town.

Warnemünde - warm and windy, very easy walk to town.

Hope this helps.

[rjrpar]

Don't do ship tours. The private tours use small vans, less waiting and you see more, plus you save money. In Warnemunde we did a tour into Berlin which was great for us; our first time there

[Emmandjay]

Thanks everyone. Ehg you were very helpful. I guess we should plan for any type of weather!

We're looking at private tours with Alla or TJ for St Petersburg.

[TeaBag]

We sailed May 30. Except for Copenhagen, we had perfect weather. Copenhagen became the black eye of the cruise because we all thought we were docking by the little mermaid. Instead we docked at Oceankaj which is way out in the boonies. Very very inconvenient and costly for the shuttles.

 

We went with a private company in St P and they were very good. We also did the ballet (Swan Lake) through them. If you go to the ports section you will get lots of info on the various private companies. You should check your roll call for this sailing. i'm sure there will be lots of good info on there.

 

When you arrive in Stockholm, I hope you dock at Stadsgården as we did. It is right by the hop on hop off boats. You follow the red line when you get off the ship and it will take you to the boats. Take the first boat which sails counterclockwise around the harbor going to the Vasa Museum first. This is a must. We were among the first to enter the museum and we enjoyed seeing everything. By the time we left, 1.5 hours later, there was no room to move. The HOHO boats sail clockwise around the harbor the rest of the day. Also, we were given great advice to get up at 4:30AM to see the scenery sailing through the archipeligo. We had breakfast on the balcony as we watched this amazing scenery. It is not the same on the way out, just different lighting etc. Enjoy your cruise.

[susie Q]

Hi! We took a two day tour with Alla in St. P, they did a great job. We had a fairly small group and a Mercedes bus for transport. We hit all of the highlights and our guide was a sweet girl who aimed to please. She even took me to a Starbucks to try and find a mug for my collection. It was out of the way, but she was willing to give it a try. I wouldn't hesitate to book with them. You can't wander around and have to be with a group anyway, so this is a win-win!

Have a great time. We went in July on this same cruise and the weather was perfect! No rain, not too hot, and lots of fun pool days!

[Ehg]

Ooh, teabag's review reminded my of something. We booked Tuscan Grille on the Stockholm evening and it was wonderful to sit by the windows and watch all the beautiful scenery as we sailed away. Magical. We'll definitely do this cruise again - just hope we'll be luckier with the weather next time. Xx