7 night Serenade Baltics July 3 to July 10th Review

[cruzgryphon]

Thanks for all the inofrmations. I am ready this and getting prepared to leave in 4 days to start the cruise.

 

Just a question: how much type did you give the luggage handlers at the pier? In the US and Puerto Rico, we usually give $1/bag. How much is the norm here in Stockholm?

 

The set-up in Stockholm is different than in the US and Puerto Rico. You actually give your bags to a cruise staff person (like the people when you check-in) and they give it to a handler. So nobody was giving a tip.

[cruzgryphon]

Dear Cruzgryphon;

 

You mentioned a "Coffee Card" in your previous post. What is that?

Is it in the beverage package? Or something you get directly at the Cafe-Latetudes?

 

Something you get directly at Café Latetudes - it's separate from the beverage package.

[cruzgryphon]

First impression of St. Petersburg - rain. According to our tour guide - in St. Petersburg you plan on rain and be happy when you don't get any rain. So make sure you bring a waterproof jacket and have some way of protecting your camera (I just kept mine under my jacket when outside).

 

I've already provided feedback on getting off the ship in St. Petersburg, so I won't get into it here unless there are more questions.

 

I booked the St. Petersburg Highlights Tour through SPB tours. If you're going to St. Petersburg definitely do it through a private tour company (see the Northern European ports board for suggestions). Our group was only 14 people and it made things so much easier to get around the sites and listen to our tour guide and ask questions and some flexibility to make different stops and tweak the itinerary.

 

We started with a short stop at St. Isaac's Cathedral for pictures of the outside. Then we headed to the Hermitage. Being a private tour group, we got entrance about 0.5 to 1 hour earlier than the others (can't remember if Ship's tours got early entrance or not - I don't think so, since it was relatively uncrowded when we started). I thought the Hermitage would be more like a museum with lots of paintings and art works. In fact it is 5 interconnected palaces - so you see the great rooms etc. of the palaces in addition to some works of art. Very different to what I was expecting. Oh be prepared to walk a lot (apparently we walked about 2 km in the Hermitage alone) so make sure you have really, really comfortable walking shoes.

 

From the Hermitage we went to a restaurant to have lunch (Perogies restaurant). Then we got to use the Metro (subway). Just incredible - we only went 1 stop, but the murals at the stations were incredible. Also the Metro itself is built about 300 ft. below the surface so you had a really really long escalator run down. If you get a chance definitely try an see it. From there it was onto Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood. Definitely one of the highlights from both inside and outside (despite the rain). But be careful as this was the one stop where our guide went out of her way to warn us about pickpockets. From there it was onto the Peter and Paul Cathedral - also nice but less so than Church on Spilled Blood. But still worth the trip. Then it was back to the ship - we got back around 5pm.

 

There are a couple of souvenir shops at the pier that accept Euros, USD, credit cards and Rubles.

 

One note about dining. We spent 2 days in St. Petersburg and on the evening of our first night, it was open seating in the dining room. This means that you show up anytime between 6pm and 9:30pm and they will seat you at a table for dinner - no set dining times or tables that night. I decided to do Chops that night (to me it was totally worth the surcharge - if you like steaks that is).

[cruzgryphon]

First off - more rain. In fact the storm was so bad that 3 passenger ships couldn't make port and had to stay offshore in the Baltic Sea (we got this information from our tour guide - was really glad to hear it because it meant the tour companies were right on top of the situation).

 

We started with a stop at a souvenir shop. I'm glad we did because the prices and choices were a lot better than that at the port. I got a Faberge egg and Matryoshka doll.

 

Then we made the trip to the St. Petersburg district where the Peterhof Castle was located (I forget, but I think it was about 45 minute drive to the Castle). Warning - ship's tour or private tour, if your itinerary calls for a visit to the garden and fountains, this will happen irrespective of the weather. We had a pretty steady rain and were still outside. Our tour provided a rain poncho, but don't rely on this - it's basically a garbage bag with arms. Luckily the rain let up a bit, but it was still raining a little bit. We got there early so we could see the turning on of the fountains - which was pretty nice despite the weather. Pretty nice there though. We didn't go inside the palace - we were told it was nothing like Catherine's palace that we were visiting next.

 

Made a stop for lunch then off to Catherine's Palace. The Palace was incredible to look at from the outside because it's so big (probably one of if not the biggest I've ever visited - and I've visited a lot in Europe). But it was also very nice. We had a good tour of the inside. It was very interesting and worth the visit.

 

After that it was back to the ship - it took a little over an hour, but we got back to the ship with plenty of time about 4:30pm.

 

Overall, despite the weather, I really enjoyed the stop in St. Petersburg - if you've never been, definitely put it on your list of places to see.

[cruzgryphon]

Weather wasn't as bad as St. Petersburg, but still drizzly/ rainy. Did the ship's panoramic tour. In hindsight I should have done either a private tour or they have these free tours that are lead by university students (a couple of friends of mine did this and really liked it). Talinn was nice, but you suffer a little bit of burnout after St. Petersburg. Go to the church on the top of the hill in the Old Town - it's quite nice. I think it's Toompea Castle. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to really walk around as I understand there are great views from there. What struck me was how much Parkland there was. Also there is this great concert area that was really interesting. A lot of people said Talinn was one of their favourite stops on the cruise.

[cruzgryphon]

Riga - we got relief from the weather - nice sunny skies, no rain, really wonderful. Due to the size of the ship we had to dock in the Industrial Port - which is about 15 to 20 km outside of Riga. They had shuttle buses for something like 7 Euros one way (I think it was 12 Euros if you bought a return ticket). I think they had a family package as well. Also if you took a Royal Caribbean excursion and decided to stay in town after your tour, your shuttle ride back was free as long as you showed your tour sticker (and if they charge you, go to guest services, show your tour sticker and get your money refunded).

 

Again I did the panoramic excursion through the ship. Riga was pretty good - lots of interesting places to see. Lots of parkland - very quiet and surreal. Some very interesting buildings including one in the main square across from City Hall that had a clock on it showing time of day, day, month, sun/moon cycle etc.. If I were to go back, I would probably visit Riga again and explore more.

[cruzgryphon]

Day 10 was a sea day with lots of activities and the usual packing.

 

Day 11 was disembarkation - went fine, we were on time and there were plenty of taxis at the pier when we disembarked (since I was travelling solo, I took ship's transfer to the airport - more cost effective that way). One thing that Serenade was offering, was the ability to stay on board the ship until 3pm for a fee of $39 USD. If you signed up for this you could also get the ship to help with your transfer to the airport (likely they would get a taxi for you, but I'm not sure as I didn't use this service).

 

Overall the Serenade was good - very friendly staff who were looking to help. The Diamond lounge concierge was really, really good - always offering to help out with things - bookings etc.. Really one of the best I've encountered since turning Diamond.

 

A note about the pools - because of the Baltic weather, they opened up the Solarium to kids accompanied by an adult from something like 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm each day.

 

Smoke from the Casino - others have reported smelling smoke from the Casino in the Centrum. I encountered this on deck 6 Centrum area - some days it was barely noticeable, other times it wasn't necessarily strong, but was noticeable.

[cruzgryphon]

My review of the cruise is pretty much complete. If anyone has questions post them and I'll do my best to answer.

[stefanny28]

Something you get directly at Café Latetudes - it's separate from the beverage package.

 

Dear Cruzgryphon;

 

Cold you give me more informaton about the "Cafe" card?

How much is it? How do we buy it? And what are the coffees included?

We are big coffee drinkers ( not much wine) so we are very interested finding out that there is such a card.

 

Thanks

[stefanny28]

Love you review. Short but very informative.

I better go get some rain gear ( or at least some of those rain ponchos).

Never thought about the possibility of rain up until now.

[cruzgryphon]

Dear Cruzgryphon;

 

Cold you give me more informaton about the "Cafe" card?

How much is it? How do we buy it? And what are the coffees included?

We are big coffee drinkers ( not much wine) so we are very interested finding out that there is such a card.

 

Thanks

 

For the coffee card - the cost depends on which one you choose. There are 3 to choose from. One covers 6 drinks under $4US (7th one is free). One covers 6 drinks under $5US and one I think covers drinks under $6US. I bought the one that allows you drinks under $5US from Café Lattetudes because the venti sized mochas that I like were all under $5.

You buy it right at Café Lattetudes (it gets charged to your Sea Pass) and it lets you get things like mochas, espressos, specialty teas, cappuccinos - think of Starbucks type drinks. One thing to note, you can't use it to order say an espresso from the main dining room - you can only make your purchases at Café Lattetudes itself.

[stefanny28]

For the coffee card - the cost depends on which one you choose. There are 3 to choose from. One covers 6 drinks under $4US (7th one is free). One covers 6 drinks under $5US and one I think covers drinks under $6US. I bought the one that allows you drinks under $5US from Café Lattetudes because the venti sized mochas that I like were all under $5.

You buy it right at Café Lattetudes (it gets charged to your Sea Pass) and it lets you get things like mochas, espressos, specialty teas, cappuccinos - think of Starbucks type drinks. One thing to note, you can't use it to order say an espresso from the main dining room - you can only make your purchases at Café Lattetudes itself.

 

How much did your card cost? The one for drinks under $5?

Does it mean it will cost 6 x $5 = $30 then you get your 7th drink free?

[cruzgryphon]

How much did your card cost? The one for drinks under $5?

Does it mean it will cost 6 x $5 = $30 then you get your 7th drink free?

 

I'm pretty sure it cost $30 and then you get the 7th drink free. Also you don't have to pay the gratuity each time you purchase a drink - helps the savings even more.

[stefanny28]

Thanks.

That's great to know.