Baltic Sea Cruise July 2019

[mfordski7]

Hi!

 

I am having a hard time choosing between NCL Getaway (Haven) or the Oceania Marina for a Baltic Sea Cruise. I prefer the Oceania itinerary, but I will be traveling with my husband (41) Myself (35) and 2 children (8 and 10). Kids club or activities is not of importance to us. The itineraries seem very port intensive, and our kids usually stay with us anyway. I'm just curious about the cost difference...is it worth it?

 

We are seasoned cruisers and do prefer smaller ships, and both kids are well traveled....but the price difference is just crazy between the 2. Has anyone with children been on an Oceania cruise or NCL cruise that can give me some insight? We have only sailed RCCL and DCL, so both lines are new to me. Thanks!

Edited June 7, 2018 by mfordski7

[kitkat343]

The ship isn't nearly as important as the itinerary for Baltic cruises.

 

Can the Oceania dock directly in Stockholm? You miss the beautiful sail in through the archipelago if the Getaway is docking in Nynashamn next year (I honestly don't know where NCL will be docking in 2019; in 2018 they created a mess by announcing after final payment they were pulling out of Stockholm and docking in Nynashamn for many (possibly all) of their cruises this season after people booked when the port was listed as Stockholm. Docking in Nynashamn leads to an hour transfer into Stockholm, and means you can't get to Vasa first thing when it's empty, and that's a great museum for your kids.

 

I'm not sure how small Oceania is, but I know the Silversea ships were small enough to dock directly in the center of town in Helsinki, which saved people a taxi ride to the center.

 

The Baltic forum might be able to tell you if Oceania saves you a lot of time in terms of Russian customs, and docking in more central locations than the larger ships.

 

Aside from that, have you looked at HAL or Princess? This trip is really all about the destination, not the ship so I'd expand the search to all major lines and see if you can get into Stockholm directly.

 

My son was only 3 when he did this tour, so my the review in my signature line might be of limited use but it talks a lot about options for kids along the Baltics. It's a great trip for families, and you'll have a great time with either line.

[mfordski7]

This is exactly what I am worried about with NCL! They do not dock in Stockholm, but it seems an hour outside the city.

 

Oceania doesn't specify, but its not a large ship, maybe 1200 passengers. I need to check!

 

I haven't looked at HAL, but I have at Princess.

 

Thank you for your help! I appreciate it:)

[mfordski7]

The Marina (Oceania) docks in Frihamnen. Is that into Stockholm?

[All-ready2cruise]

If you look at a map, it seems to be only a 10 minute drive.. I'd conclude that it's pretty close, yes?

[mfordski7]

It seems to be😊

[the2006Junket]

Hi!

 

I am having a hard time choosing between NCL Getaway (Haven) or the Oceania Marina for a Baltic Sea Cruise. I prefer the Oceania itinerary, but I will be traveling with my husband (41) Myself (35) and 2 children (8 and 10). Kids club or activities is not of importance to us. The itineraries seem very port intensive, and our kids usually stay with us anyway. I'm just curious about the cost difference...is it worth it?

 

We are seasoned cruisers and do prefer smaller ships, and both kids are well traveled....but the price difference is just crazy between the 2. Has anyone with children been on an Oceania cruise or NCL cruise that can give me some insight? We have only sailed RCCL and DCL, so both lines are new to me. Thanks!

 

Hi Mford,

 

While I agree with others that the itinerary should drive your choice, the big cost difference and the "kid factor" should also be considered. We're sailing with our 18 yr old son in June on NCL Breakaway, but also considered Oceania and others. In the end, NCL in the Haven won our booking because the dates worked, the itinerary worked (though at the time I thought we'd be docking in Stockholm and would sail the Archipelago), the price with all the "Free" promotions was amazing and we decided that although our son wouldn't be participating in any kid activities or clubs, the Oceania ship might just be super boring for him. The age of the fellow passengers on Oceania is going to be older and they have absolutely no activities designed for families or kids. You cannot find one mention of kids or family-focused activities on their website.

 

We felt that at least on the Breakaway... as much as he is happy to eat meals and do things with us, there would be other kids around his age that he may meet or hang out with in the evenings or on sea days. And even if he doesn't make friends, that the other things like the ropes course, slides, mini golf, arcade, Rock of Ages show etc etc would be more entertaining than the rather sedate activities on board Oceania (tea time, Shows about Peggy Lee, bocce and a putting green...woohoo!). Oceania looks wonderful for me and my husband as we age and I look forward to trying a true luxury cruise sometime soon, but for now, we hope that the Breakaway will be the right choice this time. I'll let you know in a few weeks!!

 

Happy Planning!

 

Lynne

[BostonGal35]

id personally do Oceania. I think the getaway is way too large for the Baltics, particularly st. petersburg as customs can take a long time. we were there quite a while on day one adn that was with suite priority disembark (although it sounds like you would have this as well if you sail Haven).

[mfordski7]

I was just on the phone with NCL and asked if the Haven had priority disembarking while in SPB, they do not, this is very helpful info to me! Thank you:)

 

We are also looking at SilverSeas. Even though they do not have a dedicated kids area, they will have a counselor on board (summer months) to do activities with the kids, if needed. It's not much of a price difference between them and NCL Haven.

[mfordski7]

Please let me know! Thanks!

[Hampton99]

Have you looked at msc yacht club, similar to haven but less expensive. The azamara also has a nice itinerary for the baltics. We have sailed Holland America with our 19, 16, and 14 year old in the Mediterranean and Norway/British isles. They enjoyed both trips. Last summer we did a land based tour of Ireland and Scotland and all of our teenagers would rather do a cruise next time. We have the haven booked for Italy and the Greek islands for 2019. Most likely will do the Baltic in 2020 on msc yacht club. I agree the European cruises are very port intensive and the itinerary is much more important than the ship or the age of the other passengers.

[Steff79]

2019 the Spirit has two great cruises in the Baltics with some smaller ports.

Sorry, didn´t saw the July, the Spirit is in August there.

[mfordski7]

I did look at MSC and Yacht Club is sold out for our available dates.

 

Holland America does have an itinerary that would fit our schedule that I like. Which ship were you on?

[mfordski7]

I wish we could be flexible with our dates! We have a short window to take vacation time in the summer:(

[GlamorousGirl]

I just returned from a Baltic cruise on Norwegian Breakaway. Although I sailed on a different ship, I felt Norwegian did an outstanding job providing an excellent itinerary and enjoyable excursions. It was a 9 day with 2 sea days - and even with the 2 sea days it felt very port intensive because the excursions I took were very long, with 2 the first day of St. Petersburg (a day and a night one) and a 12 hour Berlin excursion, for example. Didn't have time to do much on the ship being so busy at port and tired afterwards! Spent most of my time in the thermal suite and going to bed early! So I'm not really even sure if the ship matters that much with a Baltic itinerary... I did get to see 3 incredible shows on the ship too.

 

I can't vouch for the other cruise line because I haven't tried it, but in my experience NCL does the Baltic very, very well.

[GlamorousGirl]

I was just on the phone with NCL and asked if the Haven had priority disembarking while in SPB, they do not, this is very helpful info to me! Thank you:)

 

We are also looking at SilverSeas. Even though they do not have a dedicated kids area, they will have a counselor on board (summer months) to do activities with the kids, if needed. It's not much of a price difference between them and NCL Haven.

 

I was concerned about lines in St. Petersburg after receiving a notice on the ship that getting through security in Russia can be "challenging." My concerns were completely unfounded. I was on a pretty big ship - the Breakaway - and the Russian passport/security checkpoint was a breeze every time but one. You just need to get off the ship early. The one time there was a long line was when I returned from a night time excursion after 11:00pm when there was only one officer working because of the late time. But, frankly, in my opinion, dealing with Russian security was far easier than dealing with U.S. and other European security checkpoints! They seemed better prepared, more efficient, and more amply staffed.

 

As for Stockholm, I had a Stockholm excursion and the bus ride from where the ship docked was no problem at all. It took less than an hour and the Swedish countryside was beautiful. It would have been a shame to have docked in Stockholm and missed it. And despite the bus ride, I had plenty of time to enjoy Stockholm. I was also at the Vasa in the afternoon and it wasn't too crowded.

[Oceansaway17]

Also think about the Serenade of the seas. The pools are covered. On NCL they are not.

 

I think in the end - any ship in Baltics is good but if you have kids, tend to their needs first and that will dictate your answer. I know Disney does Norway but not sure if they do Russia.. Good luck. Mid size ships are the best way to go I do think.

[Hampton99]

I did look at MSC and Yacht Club is sold out for our available dates.

 

Holland America does have an itinerary that would fit our schedule that I like. Which ship were you on?

 

We were on neiuw Amsterdam and the Zuiderdam. We also have a limited schedule in the summer because of school vacations. Which is why we book haven, yacht club. We don't have time for multiple cruises a year so we do one big one and are willing to pay for upgraded service. The Mediterranean was a 12 night leaving Barcelona and ending in Venice. Included Greece, Croatia, and Montenegro. The Norway British isles was 11 night had three stops in Norway and did Northern Ireland and Scotland, beginning and ending in Copenhagen. Each time we were in the Neptune suites. On Holland America the suite benefits are not that great, compared to ncl and Msc. My now 16 daughters favorite cruise was the zuiderdam Norway/British isles because there were not tons of kids but the ones she met she made life long friends with. She still talks with them.

 

Because msc was sold out of the yacht club rooms for three people in the Baltic is why we choose to do the Italy Greek haven cruise. Both were on our wish list. We are hoping when they release the itinerary for 2020 we will be able to get a yacht club room for three/four. I almost booked a land tour for lake como and cinque terra but my family vetoed that and wanted a cruise.

[mfordski7]

I was concerned about lines in St. Petersburg after receiving a notice on the ship that getting through security in Russia can be "challenging." My concerns were completely unfounded. I was on a pretty big ship - the Breakaway - and the Russian passport/security checkpoint was a breeze every time but one. You just need to get off the ship early. The one time there was a long line was when I returned from a night time excursion after 11:00pm when there was only one officer working because of the late time. But, frankly, in my opinion, dealing with Russian security was far easier than dealing with U.S. and other European security checkpoints! They seemed better prepared, more efficient, and more amply staffed.

 

As for Stockholm, I had a Stockholm excursion and the bus ride from where the ship docked was no problem at all. It took less than an hour and the Swedish countryside was beautiful. It would have been a shame to have docked in Stockholm and missed it. And despite the bus ride, I had plenty of time to enjoy Stockholm. I was also at the Vasa in the afternoon and it wasn't too crowded.

 

 

Very helpful! We are concerned about NCL not docking in Stockholm, and of course the size of the Getaway. But if you had no issues, that's great!

[mfordski7]

We were on neiuw Amsterdam and the Zuiderdam. We also have a limited schedule in the summer because of school vacations. Which is why we book haven, yacht club. We don't have time for multiple cruises a year so we do one big one and are willing to pay for upgraded service. The Mediterranean was a 12 night leaving Barcelona and ending in Venice. Included Greece, Croatia, and Montenegro. The Norway British isles was 11 night had three stops in Norway and did Northern Ireland and Scotland, beginning and ending in Copenhagen. Each time we were in the Neptune suites. On Holland America the suite benefits are not that great, compared to ncl and Msc. My now 16 daughters favorite cruise was the zuiderdam Norway/British isles because there were not tons of kids but the ones she met she made life long friends with. She still talks with them.

 

Because msc was sold out of the yacht club rooms for three people in the Baltic is why we choose to do the Italy Greek haven cruise. Both were on our wish list. We are hoping when they release the itinerary for 2020 we will be able to get a yacht club room for three/four. I almost booked a land tour for lake como and cinque terra but my family vetoed that and wanted a cruise.

 

 

So many choices, this is going to be so hard to choose!

[mfordski7]

Also think about the Serenade of the seas. The pools are covered. On NCL they are not.

 

I think in the end - any ship in Baltics is good but if you have kids, tend to their needs first and that will dictate your answer. I know Disney does Norway but not sure if they do Russia.. Good luck. Mid size ships are the best way to go I do think.

 

 

I do like some of the Serenade's itineraries. We sailed with RCCL this Spring Break and my daughters were split up in kids club. They are very close in age and the counselors refused to let my youngest join her older sis. Because of this my younger daughter wouldn't go to kids club and ended up with us every night. To be honest, the counselors were not very accommodating or nice like they are on Disney:( Even though we generally choose itinerary over ship, that experience for us has turned us away from RCCL. Not to say we wouldn't sail again with them if the price and itinerary fit......it would just need to be a perfect fit.

[flexsmom]

I was just on the phone with NCL and asked if the Haven had priority disembarking while in SPB, they do not, this is very helpful info to me! Thank you:)

 

We are also looking at SilverSeas. Even though they do not have a dedicated kids area, they will have a counselor on board (summer months) to do activities with the kids, if needed. It's not much of a price difference between them and NCL Haven.

 

 

 

Our experience on the Getaway in the Haven on the Baltic itinerary was that the concierge would escort us down to the disembarkation area via a service elevator at all ports whenever we were ready to go. This included St Petersburg which substantially helped us in hopping in a line for immigration since we did a private tour. The concierge escort for each port and for final disembarkation was a huge perk for the Haven. Maybe it’s not listed on a sheet of benefits for the customer service people who go only by the info they have at their fingertips, but it definitely exists.

 

That said, we were on the first of last year’s Getaway cruises to dock directly in Stockholm and the archipelago was truly amazing. Most of the other dates had to dock in Nynashamn, including several that he the itinerary changed just weeks before the cruise dates. We were lucky. If the archipelago truly is important to you, I’d go towards Oceania. We had a fabulous time on Getaway and loved the Haven experience, but the smaller ship will maximize your odds of that sail through the islands. A large number of this year’s dates on Breakaway have already been changed to Nynashamn and people who booked long ago aren’t happy about it, which is understandable.

 

Happy planning!

 

 

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[kitkat343]

There was a change in port rules in St. Petersburg this year. Previously, ships were not allowed to grant priority disembarkation to passengers on their tours. In previous seasons, haven passengers were granted priority disembarkation by ncl. However, starting this year there was a change in rules at the St. Petersburg port, and ships can now allow ship tours to disembark first and require independent tour to wait to disembark on days in which a large number of ships are in port. As far as I know, ncl has not issued a written statement as to whether haven passengers will still get priority disembarkation in St. Petersburg. A previous poster on this thread was told over the phone that ncl is no longer granting haven priority disembarkation in St. Petersburg, although the phone reps are not entirely reliable. I had priority disembarkation on the Star, and even with skipping the lines from ncl perspective we would up waiting about a half hour in the Russian customs line (it would have been at least an hour otherwise). The op is looking at booking next year and we’ll get a sense of how the new port rules affect St. Petersburg this season.