What ships for a Baltic cruise.

[Trishaphil]

Hi all. I had my first experience in May as a solo cruiser in Fjords on MSC Fantasia in yc. It was wonderful. Now I would like to do a Baltic in April, May of next year. Again solo .. Will I try the msc Preziosa Or royal Caribbean . What do people think of the other like the Princess , celebrity cruises. Bearing in mind, I enjoyed the casual to wearing a dress for captain night but it was more relaxed. I like the idea of the the ships having a yc.

[paul929207]

We love Princess and will be sailing her to the Baltics in July 2018.

[John Bull]

Rather than which ship, can I suggest you concentrate on which itinerary.

 

Some itineraries visit St Petersburg for just a single day, most for two full days (with the evening as an option), some for three days.

St Petersburg is the jewel in any Baltic cruise, it definitely deserves two days as a minimum.

 

For Stockholm, most ships cruise through the archipelago of islands and port in the city at Stadsgarten (the best berth) or at Frihamnen (which is OK).

But some leviathons aren't allowed to cruise the narrow approach through those islands because they're too big or too unmanouvreable so they moor on the coast at Nyneshamn where passengers are tendered ashore, followed by about a one-hour journey to Stockholm. So they have the nuisance of tendering and the cost in time and money of getting from port to Stockholm, and most important of all they miss one of the best sail-ins in the world.

 

Check times in port.

If you want to make the long haul from Warnemunde to Berlin you'll want a ship that sails away late into the evening.

 

Every port is worth a full day, though Tallinn is very manageable as a lazy half-day.

 

Decide too which turnaround port you want, and give yourself a day or two there pre-cruise.

Amsterdam and Copenhagen are particularly worthwhile.

For cruising from "London" :rolleyes:, bear in mind that mass-market lines don't sail from London, and the ports of Dover and Southampton are about a 90 to 120 minute journey from either London or its airports. You also have an extra couple of days sailing, though they usually include Zeebrugge (for Bruges) in Belgium.

 

Broadly I find Princess a little more sedate than RCI, and Celebrity a little more up-market. All very acceptable. But mebbe that's just my own experience.

MSC are a bit of an acquired taste. Usually great value and beautiful, immaculate and stylish ships, and we enjoyed Magnifica, but just maybe not ideal for a first or second cruise - at least not without solid research. If sailing from continental Europe rather than the UK, I suspect that a large proportion of MSC passengers on this itinerary will be southern Europeans, which might limit the number of folk you can chat with and the number of ship's excursions dedicated to the English language.

IIRC, RCI have solos events and put them together on big shared tables. Can be the liveliest tables in the MDR, and they tend to go off together mob-handed to shows or bars, and even ashore together. I actually get quite jealous ;)

I don't know if the other cruise lines do the same.

 

Ship is quite important, but IMHO the itinerary is far more important.

 

JB :)

[easyboy]

We had the Baltic cruise on Regal Princess. We like having more choices of public venues to relax, including dining options, after a hectic day in port, where it is extensive on this cruise.

 

 

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[Keith1010]

I would also have a TA help you with this.

 

They can start by providing lots of choices in terms of itinerary and the ships that sail those routes.

 

Keith

[space_bar]

You don't tender at Nyneshamn anymore. The port has a floating retractable platform that goes from shore to the ship. It's pretty cool to watch it in action (there's a YouTube video). You just exit the ship like normal and walk to shore.

 

The port is 1 hour south of Stockholm so you need to take the train or a ship excursion in order to get to the city. You will want to have your excursion for this port planned before you get on the ship. So many people waited until a day or two before this port stop and all of the ship's excursions were sold out--including the tours that were just a bus ride to Stockholm.

 

We had a 10 hour port day so it worked out for us. We wish we had been at a closer port to Stockholm, but the Norwegian Getaway is just too big of a ship.

 

 

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Edited August 30, 2017 by space_bar

[Trishaphil]

HI ALL, thank you very much for your replies,i do love to visit for the culture and history and would like a two day perhaps in St Pettersburg. Are the celebrity , princess good for solo cruisers. This will be my second time out.

[easyboy]

HI ALL, thank you very much for your replies,i do love to visit for the culture and history and would like a two day perhaps in St Pettersburg. Are the celebrity , princess good for solo cruisers. This will be my second time out.

Princess has an unhosted meet for Single cruisers.

[visibilityunlimited]

As noted earlier, the smaller ships have an advantage of sometimes docking closer to the city than the mega-ships. I find this a plus, particularly if the ship is in port more than 1 day.

 

A couple thoughts on St. Petersburg, we were there when 6 of the 8 cruise ship berths were used and going through immigration was, well, a nightmare on an epic scale. I don't know much what one could do about this as most who visit don't have a Visa and need to join their tour as soon as possible (Imagine every person on multiple ships more-or-less going ashore at the same time). We were in St. Petersburg for three days, and immigration was a "breeze" the second and third day. Speaking of Visas, if you've not already do so, familiarize yourself with the Visa situation for Russia. Unless you really want an "over-the-top" immersion in Palaces and gold leaf, a 2 day tour in St. Petersburg is probably ample--we did the 3-day and it bordered on too much of a good thing.

 

My wife and I really enjoyed Tallinn, and if it was an indication of other Baltic State ports, I'd suggest you consider a cruise that would include Riga, Klaipeda or Liepaja. We also enjoyed Helsinki.

 

One other mundane, but important, item; Sweden, Norway and Denmark have different currencies. On our visit, un-manned kiosks for Metro tickets, etc. would not accept US credit cards--even those with so-called "chip and pin".

 

The Baltic region is fantastic, we've visited twice. Our first visit, in the Autumn, was overcast an rainy, we experienced beautiful weather on our second visit in May. Have a great time.