Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Review of Baltic Cruise on the Regal June 13-24/2017

Travlin grrl

By Travlin grrl,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

BabySarge

BabySarge

Posted
Posted
Hey BabySarge, this was a Princess Excursion. It was fairly easy and mostly flat. The only uphill part was going up to the palace and we all just got off and walked it up. They do have different gears on the bike. I never bike at home and don't have a bike but like to do it in the ports to cover a lot of ground. So yes I think you could do it. You also make a few stops and if some people get stopped at a stop light we all stop to wait. So not strenuous at all.

 

The only fast part was getting your bike. When we got to the shop we decided to use the restroom up the stairs down the hall. When we came back it was find your own helmet and bike and the first 12 went with the first guide and we went with the second guide. There wasn't anyone to really help you.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you - feel confident from your answers we could do this. Appreciate very much you responding. AWT aka BabySarge

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sawtooth

sawtooth

Posted
Posted

So, are these Baltic ports as expensive as I've been hearing?

Love to lunch in ports, but read that fish and chips and 2 beers could be $70.

Spending 3 nights in Copenhagen pre cruise...tips?

I know it's vacation but want to spend wisely

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisingObsessed

CruisingObsessed

Posted
Posted
So, are these Baltic ports as expensive as I've been hearing?

Love to lunch in ports, but read that fish and chips and 2 beers could be $70.

Spending 3 nights in Copenhagen pre cruise...tips?

I know it's vacation but want to spend wisely

 

Doing this next month do take with grain of salt, but tips from my research for Copenhagen (we are spending 3 days there also): Buy beers from vendors and drink on the street, it's cheaper. Look for Smorebrod shops, which are local open faced sandwiches. Take and picnic in a nice local park, which cuts cost dramatically and they will wrap them for you. Avoid breakfast in the hotel and look for the local pastry chain, (long name starting with "L"), one in train station--buy that, make coffee in your room, voila save $30 for 2 people. Buy a Copenhagen card, which covers public transport and do your museum tours that day as they are included.

 

Also, eat like a King at lunch and pauper at dinner, will save $$.

 

 

All over the Baltic, we expect restaurants to be costly. So we will picnic or eat on the ship; and treat ourselves in Berlin. Germany isn't that expensive (we've been there before), and it's too far to return to the ship for lunch.

 

Have fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Fabulous review, thanks so much! Really enjoying it.

 

We are going on this trip in August and are Elite so we can use the priority line as well. I've been wondering what time to show up to the pier. You said the lines moved well, what time did you go?

I think board time was around 12:00 pm and on and we probably got there around 1:00pm. And sailaway was 5:30 pm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
So, are these Baltic ports as expensive as I've been hearing?

Love to lunch in ports, but read that fish and chips and 2 beers could be $70.

Spending 3 nights in Copenhagen pre cruise...tips?

I know it's vacation but want to spend wisely

 

Yes they are. I think Norway is supposed to be the most expensive but I didn't eat lunch there. I heard passengers coming back saying it was expensive to eat.

In Copenhagen I charged it (The menu was in Kroners) so had to look at my statement on line to see how much in U.S. dollars I spent. The first night for 4 people where you order a few things and we each had a drink was $250.00. The next night was $300.00 for 4 people and we each had a drink. I think my friend had an expensive meat dish and that's what made it even higher. But I figured I didn't pay for a hotel so this was my way of making up of for it haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Doing this next month do take with grain of salt, but tips from my research for Copenhagen (we are spending 3 days there also): Buy beers from vendors and drink on the street, it's cheaper. Look for Smorebrod shops, which are local open faced sandwiches. Take and picnic in a nice local park, which cuts cost dramatically and they will wrap them for you. Avoid breakfast in the hotel and look for the local pastry chain, (long name starting with "L"), one in train station--buy that, make coffee in your room, voila save $30 for 2 people. Buy a Copenhagen card, which covers public transport and do your museum tours that day as they are included.

 

Also, eat like a King at lunch and pauper at dinner, will save $$.

 

 

 

 

All over the Baltic, we expect restaurants to be costly. So we will picnic or eat on the ship; and treat ourselves in Berlin. Germany isn't that expensive (we've been there before), and it's too far to return to the ship for lunch.

 

Have fun!

Yes the first day my friends brought the chips, bread, snacks etc for picnic style when we ate at the riverfront park....very casual. That didn't cost me anything lol. But the dinners cost me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Rostock Day 2.

Yep you heard that right. The Captain monitored the winds all night and let us know the night before what was happening. So with high winds, 2 ships behind us and a narrow passage way we stayed overnight in port. If the wind stopped in the a.m. we would leave at I think 5:00 am and would head to Estonia. But since it still didn't look good we stayed in Rostock till 3:30pm. and would have a sea day the following day straight to St. Petersburg. He apologized profusely about missing Estonia, but better to be safe than scared listless. (sorry) All I can think of is how many things could go wrong so I don't mind if that's what we miss.

They would have shuttles into Rostock (which is about 20 minutes I think) and the captain warned there would be few. Since we didn't really get to wander around Rostock we decide to try the shuttle. When we walked to the end of the pier the shuttle has just filled to the max but another showed up right after. Yay....no waiting. They let us off right in town and we were determined to find some souvenir shopping but just couldn't find any. The main street of shopping was more clothing and familiar shops. TJ Maxx was TK Maxx. There was a Subway and etc. I think we walked around for a couple hours and never found any. Very kid friendly with lots of kids stores like the old "zany brainy" stores. It was a Sunday so lots of family's were out and after not being successful in shopping we heading back to the ship. Walked to a waiting shuttle and back to the ship for Formal Night. We had a buzzer as usual for Formal night and called in right when the Champagne waterfall started. We didn't do formal pictures because we've done it a few times and my husband complains about it even though I like it. lol.

NEXT DAY IS SEA DAY TOO.

So no Estonia making our way to St. Petersburg. I didn't have any excursions for Talin. I was just going to walk around the old town so if I really want to see it I will have to book it again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted

St. Petersburg Russia Day 1

Yay we are finally in St. Petersburg after an extra sea day and missing Talinn Estonia. Luckily we have been getting great weather and it's another mild sunny warm day. I met my "Cruise Critic" group in the a.m. in the Symphony dining room and waited for them to call our number. Thank you Mary for all your hard work and putting it together and all our members on her google doc. We were warned that it would be a long wait. We were told that they would look at us, then our passport, then back at us then at our passport. Expect long waits. However it wasn't so bad. There were a few buildings with inspection agents and it took around 15-20 minutes and we were on our way to our tour bus by TJ Travels. Our minibus holds about 15 people but there are 12 of us. Our guide is Victoria who is a wealth of information. First we stop at a statue landmark where we are the very first ones so no crowds and then to a beautiful baby blue church named St. Nicholas;Then on the the Metro to see their subway and I can only tell you I was pleasantly suprised how clean and nice it was. Marble walls and absolutely no grafitti. We didn't actually get on the subway but when down the incredibly long escalator to see all the mosaic art down there.

Since it is Monday the Hermitage Museum is closed to the public but open to tour groups so guess who gets to go in? It was amazing and most times we could take photos of the rooms with no one else in there. It is overwhelming how beautiful and big it is. The art and paintings rival the Louvres. Our tour guide has given us earbuds to listen to her as she navigates the rooms and people telling us more stories than you can imagine. Next is lunch time at a restaurant called "Sorbet". We let them know we are vegetarians ahead of time but eat fish so there are no suprises. The lunch is included in the tour and we have salad, mushroom soup, deep fried fish w/mashed potatoes and some Russian desert that was really good but I don't know the name of it. After that we head to "Catherine Palace" and get the quick entry through the back again bypassing all lines. We have to put on brown booties over our shoes to protects the floors. This is a large blue palace with gold domes sitting on 1400 acres of gardens and parklands. The only place we are not allowed to take pictures is the "Amber Room"After walking through the parklands we get back to our bus.

Next stop is Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood. I've been waiting for this as this is the church with the multi colored domes that is a true landmark of Russia. It is built on the site where Alexander II was assassinated with incredible mosaics and ceramic tiles inside going all the way up incredibly high ceilings.

 

We think we might be done for the day but we go to Peter and Paul Fortress which is a gold exterior and interior church where Peter the Great if buried. Everywhere you look are photo ops galore. When we are done some people continue to the Folklore show, some people go to the ballet but we head back to the ship for dinner and a Folklore show that Princess brings on the ship. It was an incredible show that got a standing ovation it was so good. From what I hear from other passengers who went to the folklore show in town they were pretty similar. I am so exhausted and can't believe we are going out tomorrow for another day. Disclaimer : I saw so much and it was hard to keep track of everything I was seeing so I may call out the wrong names on some things. Sorry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

Posted
  • Author
Posted

St. Petersburg, Russia Day 2

The weather forecast is rain today but when we wake up it is sunny sky so we are hopeful. We decide to take our umbrellas to be on the cautious side and glad we did. It was cloudy all day and drizzly rain. This was our first day of rain so I can't complain. We drive to a photo op of a statue of Catherine the Great before we arrive at our canal ride for a different view of the city. We then board our hyrofoil for a 30-40 minute ride to Peterhof Palace known as the "Russian Versailles". Our guide takes us through lush green gardens with amazing fountains throughout. It's starating to rain so up go our umbrellas. It's about 11:00 a.m. and there are allready long lines into the castle and umbrellas for miles. Our tour does not include going into the castle but seeing how many people are there I could see how that could take 1/2 or whole day.

Into the van and back to the city for lunch at an urban upscale restaurant for a better lunch than we had the day before. Fish again, salad, pumpkin squash soup and a fruit desert. The bathroom is unisex so you share the wash sinks. But the music is loud so you can't hear anything else and when you look up at the ceiling you see wine glasses upside down on the ceiling as an art fixture. Wish I would of taken my camera/phone in to the bathroom lol.

Moving on to Yusupov Palace there is a charge of €3.00 for taking pictures. Me and my husband are the only takers on this one, but this could be my once in a lifetime chance of being there and I don't want to miss anything. This is where Rasputin is murdered after 3 tries. So they have used these wax looking figures for the re-enactment. But beyond that the most impressive part for me was the secret theatre room he created for his daughter who played music and this was a place for her to preform. It was just like what you see in the movies. I think it would of killed me if I was going through that and couldn't take pictures. Sure I didn't take pictures in every room, only things that I think are worth it but the pictures that you take are worth €3.00.

 

Just when you think you are done we visit one last church. St. Isaac's Cathedral which has a gold dome that is said to be the largest dome in the world. When it is raining and not sunny you won't get those glowing gold dome photos. But when you go inside your mouth will drop open at all the impressive ceillings, mosiacs and murals. By the time we leave it is raining pretty hard and the clouds are a dark grey. We now head over to their office which is set up in a gift shop. They share services so you go to the 2 little desks in the back to pay and when you are done and waiting you can buy souvenirs and drink free vodka samples. Back to the ship and say goodbye to our wonderful driver Anthony (who got us a up front parking space every time ) and Victoria (who knew everything about every piece of history and palace and got us to move quickly to the next place to squeeze it all in. It was a busy 2 days but the most incredible, surprisingly unexpected wonderful port with beautiful architecture, clean streets and friendly people. Everyone's takeaway was the same and I would love to go back another time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...