Med. vs. the Baltics

[katiebeth]

For those of you have cruised both the Baltics and the Med., I would be interested to know if you had a clear favorite or if they were both great in different ways.

 

We cruised the Med. last summer on the Millennium from Barcelona to Venice and it was terrific. The ports were incredible and I can' wait to go back. We had such a great time, I can't imagine enjoying anything more.

 

This summer we are cruising the Baltics. My husband has always wanted to see St. Petersburg. We are very excited and so grateful we are able to go. However, I must confess, that I am not quite as excited as I was about our Med. trip. It seems that I am not planning and researching as much as I did for the Med. trip. Please don't get me wrong, I can't wait to go, but am wondering if I will enjoy it as much as the Med.

 

I have a feeling that I will be very pleasantly suprised and love the itinerary.

 

Just looking for any insights and comments from those who have done both cruises.

 

Thank you,

 

Nancy

[leoandhugh]

sounds to me that, after your 1st cruise which you rave about, you are setting yourself up not to enjoy the Baltics as much by not doing the planning, It is almost as if your attitude is, despite your denial, that you dont want to enjoy it as much.

You should do at least equal planning and research; the two areas are very different. St Petersburg, while not an attractive city for the most part has much to offer - the Hermitage, the Czarist palaces. Tallinn in Estonia has a fascinating medieval city center surrounded by modern buildings. Oslo's scenic approach up the long Oslofjord is spectacular as is

Stockholm. I urge you do your research and allow yourself the chance to enjoy what can be a very fulfilling journey.

[katiebeth]

Dear Leoandhugh,

 

Please let me clarify. I am an extensive (my husband uses the term "obsessive"). planner. I have researched and have a file started for our Baltic trip. I use an accordian style file folder with each port "tabbed" separately. I use cruise critic extensively and print off comments/suggestions/info; as well as the very helpful information contained on the ports of call site. I am appreciative to all of those on these boards who so willing provide helpful information. I try to do the same. I even have Alla lined up for a two day private tour in St. Petersburg and have reviewed (although not yet selected) shore excursions in other ports offered through Celebrity.

 

The purpose of my post was to hear from others who have cruised both the Baltics and the Med.. I am curious as to others opinions about what they enjoyed best on each itinerary.

 

I have a passion (again my husband refers to it as an obsession) for travel. I have a great time wherever I am and grateful that we have the resources and time to travel.

 

Please believe that I am not setting myself up for disappointment. Who could be disappointed with such a great itinerary? I am just saying that I seemed to have a greater desire to see the Med. than the Baltics. I don't necessary think that is bad. I am sure everyone has places that they really want to see and other places that it would be nice to see but not a "must see".

 

As stated in my original post , I am prepared to be pleasantly surprised. I am sure that there are many on these boards who enjoyed the Baltics more than the Med.

 

I am just looking for some feedback on the ports, and not necessarily any comments regarding how others perceive I am feeling about this trip.

 

I do appreciate your comments on Tallin, Stockholm, Oslo, and St. Petersburg.

 

 

Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

[Susan-M]

Hi Nancy,

 

We have done both the Baltic (Cunard) and the Med. (also on Millennium). I too am an extensive planner and for our Med cruise, had a binder with sections for each port - 8 months worth of planning and research went into it and it paid off immensely.:) For our Baltic cruise, I carried a Fodor's guide and a few travel articles that I was able to gather up in the 3 months between booking and cruising - it was our first cruise and pre-CC for me, so I was really winging it as we knew that we wanted to do the ports on our own as much as possible, but didn't have a lot to work with. It turned out to be a wonderful cruise and great itinerary.

 

In the Baltics, we were able to do all of the ports with the exception of St. Petersburg on our own. (In the Med, we did all but Naples on our own.) The two are quite different but both are wonderful .... I would love to do both again, but the clear winner for me would be the the Med. However, you won't be disappointed, rather, as you say, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

We had two days in Stockholm and bought a city pass that allowed us to travel on the buses, subways and included museum admissions. A great city to explore on your own!

 

In St. Petersburg, we did the ship's tour for a day and a half, and wandered around on our own for the other half day (something you aren't supposed to do without a Visa, but we took a chance.) The treasures in St. Petersburg are amazing .... and the opportunity to go to the Hermitage is worth the whole trip!

 

We rented bicycles in Helsinki and had a fun day exploring. Also did the same on Gotland Island.... spent a few hours exploring by bicycle and then returned them before spending time in walled town of Visby.

 

In Tallinn, we took the ship's shuttle to the town and explored on our own - with the help of Fodor's (that book got a lot of use on that trip!)

 

I can relate to how you feel about being more excited about the Med .... I felt the same way when planning our Xpedition trip this past November. I knew the Xpedition trip would be fantastic (and it was) but I didn't have the same level as enthusiasm that I did when preparing for our Med trip (and with spending that much money, I was feeling a little guilty :o ) I rate the Med cruise as my favourite of all itineraries and cruise vacations .... but I would not have wanted to miss the Baltics or the Galapagos.

 

You are going to love the long daylight hours on your Baltic cruise .... there were some nights when the sun was setting at 11 p.m. and back up again around 4 a.m. (we also went in late June).

[katiebeth]

Dear Susan,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. I have seen so of your other postings and value your opinions and advice.

 

Your post is very helpful and provides some great information. How did you like Cunard? I would love to sail on the Queen Mary II.

 

We will be on the Constellation for the Baltics cruise which is my favorite Celebrity ship. For whatever reason, I like it better than the Millennium. It is probably because we sailed on her in 2003 when she was only 10 months old. We sailed on the Northern Europe and Norweign Fjords itinerary. I loved it and it runs a very close second to the Med. The fjords were spectacular and I loved all of the ports. It is hard to pick a favorite port, Brugge, Copenhagen, and Cork, were all fabulous.

 

I think my favorite port in the Med. was Santorini. We drove to Oia which was breathtaking. I also loved Florence and our excursion in Naples which took us to the Isle of Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. (alot for one day but surprisingly we didn't feel rushed or exhausted at the end of the day).

And then there's Venice .....what can I say ...everyone should experience it at least once in a lifetime.

 

Anyway, thanks for your post.

 

Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

 

P.S. Have you posted a review on the Galapagos? I have eyed that itinerary as well.

[jezzdogg]

We the baltics on Connie and the Med on Millie. Again I think my favorite of all time was the Millie.....just something very romantic about the ports and ahh Venice(think that is the most romantic with St Marks square and a cup of coffee at night listening to the violins. Wish we were going about this summer)

In Helsinki we did the hop on hop off bus no need for a tour. Also in Copenhagen you can do the same and get tickets to tour the old palace.

Talin you can do on your own also.

We had a stop in the port for Berline, which is hrs away. Instead of being on the train which was very hot and stuffy We meet 2 other couples on the roll call and had a driver meet us by the ship and the guide meet us at the edge of the city. We arranged the tour so we could do what we felt was important to the 6 of us being of Jewish hertiage. Something i would definitely do again

Enjoy the cruise and your planning

[Rev22:17]

Nancy,

 

For those of you have cruised both the Baltics and the Med., I would be interested to know if you had a clear favorite or if they were both great in different ways.

 

We cruised the Med. last summer on the Millennium from Barcelona to Venice and it was terrific. The ports were incredible and I can' wait to go back. We had such a great time, I can't imagine enjoying anything more.

 

This summer we are cruising the Baltics. My husband has always wanted to see St. Petersburg. We are very excited and so grateful we are able to go. However, I must confess, that I am not quite as excited as I was about our Med. trip. It seems that I am not planning and researching as much as I did for the Med. trip. Please don't get me wrong, I can't wait to go, but am wondering if I will enjoy it as much as the Med.

 

I have a feeling that I will be very pleasantly suprised and love the itinerary.

 

Just looking for any insights and comments from those who have done both cruises.

 

Based upon what I have seen of ports of call in both regions, I have to say that these destinations are quite different, but both are wonderful. I prefer northern and western Europe over the Mediterranean, but YMMV. In particular, Oslo and Copenhagen are fantastic ports of call!

 

Norm.

[Susan-M]

Hi Nancy .... many thanks for the nice comments :)

 

I really enjoyed our Cunard cruise ... the ship was small (we had 600 passengers on board) & an older ship, but very nice. With it being our first cruise, it was so much to absorb .... I was really in awe of the whole experience! I wouldn't hesitate to sail with them again.

 

When I booked our Baltic cruise, it was a toss up between it and the Norwegian Fjords .... so I am still looking for a Fjord cruise (DH isn't as avid a cruiser as I am, so we do a lot more land vacations.) Does Constellation still do the same itinerary that you did in N.Europe and Norway?

 

I didn't do a Galapagos review, but one of the people on our roll call did (Catfish47). Celebrity does a fantastic job with that trip!

 

I'll look forward to reading your comments (and review if you write one) on your Baltic cruise.

 

Do you think you'll do another Med cruise sometime soon? I keep suggesting it to my DH ... but he keeps reminding me that there are so many places that we haven't been to yet and we need to focus on those places :)

[katiebeth]

Dear Susan,

 

I checked the Celebrity website and did not see the Northern Europe and Norweign Fjords itinerary for 2007. I think I remember checking last year and they weren't offering it either. I am not sure why because it is absolutely terrific. Even when Celebrity did offer the itinerary, I believe it was only once a year. We sailed it in July of 2003. The itinerary included LeHavre (Paris), Cork, Ireland, Dublin, Greenock Scotland, Bergan, Olden, and Geirganger (Norway), Copenhagen, and Zeebrugge (Brugge) Belgium. I don't know if another cruise lines offers the same itinerary. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

As far as the Med., ....yes I would love to do it again. I may like to try a smaller ship such as Oceania or Regent Cruises or possibly Crystal.

 

My husband is the same way, and would probably want to try something different. Although to tell you the truth, I am the one who plans all of our travel. He always enjoys our trips, but I don't think he would travel nearly as much if I didn't have such a passion for it. The one place he has always wanted to see is St. Petersburg. I have chosen all of our trips to date, so it is about time he has his say. In fact, when we did the Northern Europe and Norweign Fjords cruise, we had originally looked into the Baltics. However, when I saw the Fjords itinerary, I convinced him to do that one instead of the Baltics. Then of course, last year we did the Med. I think it is finally his turn!!

 

As far as other trips, I would love to cruise Tahiti. I think that is several years off, but something to think about. One of the major drawbacks is getting there. We live in Florida and I think it would take us close to 24 hours to get there (laying over in Atlanta and L.A.)

 

Take care and Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

[katiebeth]

Dear Susan,

 

First of all, I need to clarify that our cruise was the British Isles (not Northern Europe) and Norwegian Fjords. It was 14 nights round-trip from Dover.

 

I have searched the Celebrity website further and it appears that Constellation does not offer this itinerary at all anymore. The Century which sails out of Amsterdam offers several sailings that hit some of the ports included in our itinerary but not all of them. For example, Century offers a 8 night Norwegian Fjords cruise, a 9 night Scotland and Ireland cruise, or a British Isles and Western Europe itinerary. Truthfully, none look as good as what they offered when we sailed in 2003.

 

Royal Caribbean offers a British Isles and Norwegian Fjords cruise (12 night) on the Jewel of the Seas. Several of the ports are the same as ours, but doesn't include Dublin, Copenhagen, or Brugge.

 

I don't know about Oceania, but they do have some great 14 night European itineraries.

 

I hope that Celebrity will at some point offer the 14 night British Isles and Norwegian Fjords cruise again. I am not sure why they stopped or why it was only offered once a year when it was available. I am guessing the Baltic itinerary is more popular (I am not sure why). Maybe someone else on these boards has some insight.

 

Nancy

[Ichiban Nekko]

Century sails out of Amsterdam on July 9th for a 12-night Arctic Circle and North Cape Cruise. The ports scheduled are Alesund, Alta, Honningsvag, Tomso, Molde, Olden, Bergen and then returning to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, no calls at Copenhagen, Dublin or Brugges. But we are certainly looking forward to the day of cruising to the Arctic Circle (between Alesund and Alta). We have dreamed for years to getting to the Top of the World. And now it's only a few months away.:D

[TourDeCruise]

Nancy & others: Like you, we really enjoy the Mediterranean and have done 4 Celebrity Med cruises on the Millennium, Galaxy, & Century in the past 4 years. In between some of them, we did the Constellation Baltic cruise. I too was not as excited about planning the Baltic cruise, although I continued my planning (overplanning) like I did on all other cruises. One of the highlights was going to Finland as that is my maternal, ancestral home. The Med cruises will probably always be our favorite, especially the Galaxy Eastern Mediterranean cruise, because we are very much into archaeology and ancient civilizations. But the Baltic cruise was also fabulous as well and it was worth all the planning I did.

 

On the 2004 Baltic cruise, this is what we did:

Oslo - Viking Ship Museum, Fram Museum, Kon-Tiki Museum and walked around Olso -- used the Olso card and walked to everything except taking the ferry to Bygdog

Stockholm - Vasa Museum, National Archaeology Museum, the Outddor Folk Museum (didn't have enough time there), another museum near Vasa (the last museum was not worth the time in our opinion), and walked around the Gamla Stan -- used the hop-on hop-off bus and Stockholm Card

Helsinki -- walked the city and went to Olympic area (not worth the time), the National Museum (the best because of my ancestory -- museum has artifacts from modern day back to 8000bc), Rock Church, Sibelius Monument, and the promenade with market place plus had lunch and some shopping

St. Petersburg -- 2 days with Red October tours, went to Hermitage Museum including the Gold Room, church where the Nickolas & Alexandra family is buried, Church of Spilled Blood, 3 other churches, Peterhof Palace, Catherine's Palace, the palace where Rasputin was murdered, and a marketplace

Tallin -- on our own walking around all over

Copenhagen -- on our own with two canal boat trips -- one narrated and one hop-on hop-off boat where we went all over and hopped on and off, went to Rosenborg Castle and to the Gamla Stan

 

Susan-M: Do you remember where you rented the bikes in Finland? We'd like to do that next time in Helsinki.

 

We enjoyed the Baltic so much that in May we are doing a Century B2B with Amsterdam-Scotland-Ireland-Channel Islands followed by the Norwegian Fjords -- same as what Nancy mentioned in one of her posts.

 

Kathy

[rebeccalouise]

Thanks for sharing- I am so excited about my Millenium Mediterranean cruise now!

As to the OP, from what I have heard, the Baltics are very scenic and you will have a great time. Enjoy trying something new.

[pierog]

Nancy;

 

I'm also an obsessive planner, nothing wrong with that!:)

 

I've done both, and we'll be doing Venice-Barcelona next June on the Millie. I did the Baltic with Norwegian, Greek Isles with Windstar, but have toured Europe thru car and train. I'm spanish-italian. As far as which one is better it really depends in your tastes. If you can, go to Moscow. That was the jewel of my trip. Being able to see the Kremlin, Red Square it's absolutely priceless. Usually cruises stay 2 days in St Pets. Be brave and take the tour to Moscow, you will not be dissapointed. as far as Tallin, Stocholm, Copenhagen goes they are wonderful cities but for some reason not looking forward to going to them again as I am with Venice and Rome or Capri which I've been going to since I was a teen. My dad always asks me why I dont go to places I've not been, which I do, I just go to the Mediterranean to recharge batteries every 2y or so.

 

My favorite will always be the Mediterranean (blood calls), but I will certainly go back to the Baltic, so hey if your husband wants to go to the Baltic go along,you will enjoy it, but next year you can say it's your chance to choose, and you can choose wisely...:) .

[BillC]

We've done both the baltic on the Constellation and the Eastern Med on the Galaxy.Both are fantastic itineraries, and very port-intensive., but I must admit that they can't come close to the Galapagos on the Xpedition, particularly when you add Machu Picchu to the itinerary.

 

We did the "Exotic" version on the Galaxy whih had us spend 2 days in Istanbul (fabulous place!) and then into the Black Sea to Rommania and the Ukraine, which are getting their tourist acts together but the people make up for the lack of infastructure.THe stop at Kusadasi and the excursion to Ephesus are not to be missed. Santorini is a jewel.

 

I would do either itinerary again. Strongly recommend that you plan small private tours in St.Petersburg since you will see so much more and have much more flexibility that the ship's tours. Red October is a good independent company.

[Susan-M]

I have searched the Celebrity website further and it appears that Constellation does not offer this itinerary at all anymore. The Century which sails out of Amsterdam offers several sailings that hit some of the ports included in our itinerary but not all of them. For example, Century offers a 8 night Norwegian Fjords cruise, a 9 night Scotland and Ireland cruise, or a British Isles and Western Europe itinerary. Truthfully, none look as good as what they offered when we sailed in 2003.

 

 

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for the information on Celebrity's Fjords, B.I. and W. Europe itineraries. Sounds like you were lucky with the itinerary that you did in 2003. I have been keeping an eye out for the 'ideal' itinerary .... hopefully for 2008. We had Tahiti booked (Tahitian Princess) for this October, but cancelled as we've decided to spend two weeks in Hawaii at Christmas with our children. We have the same problem with distance to Tahiti, and might wait till DH retires and we can find the time to include Australia and N.Z. with Tahiti.

 

I too am the one who does all of the travel planning .... I'm sure my DH would plan a trip if I asked him, but it would probably be to a place that required a tent, canoe and backpacks :)

[Susan-M]

Susan-M: Do you remember where you rented the bikes in Finland? We'd like to do that next time in Helsinki.

 

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy, I don't recall the name of the place (it was listed in our guide book and was within walking distance of the port). Fodor's online has this recommendation: http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=helsinki@72&cur_section=fea&feature=30009

 

We rode to an open air museum: http://www.nba.fi/en/seurasaari_openairmuseum .... and fit in several other sites along the way, including the Church in the Rock.

 

It was a really nice way to spend the day .... very scenic and an easy/safe place to ride.

[Susan-M]

Hi Nancy,

 

Not sure if it was mentioned above, but one of the highlights in Stockholm is the City Hall. It's a fascinating building, esp. the Gold Room in which the walls are covered with millions of pieces of gold and glass mosaic pieces.

 

http://cruises.about.com/od/northerneuropeancruises/ss/cityhall_stholm_5.htm

[TourDeCruise]

Susan: Thanks for your Finland information. We are avid cyclists, so next time in Helsinki, we will have to rent the bikes and go to the open air museum. We did see a fair number of cyclists there. There should be a "next time" although if we are not on a cruise, I would like to find the ancestral family farm which is many miles north around midway to Lapland. I have an old picture of the farm if they haven't torn down the houses and barns. We also love cross country skiing, which we may need to do versus biking depending on what time of the year we go. Kathy

[Susan-M]

Susan: Thanks for your Finland information.. We also love cross country skiing, which we may need to do versus biking depending on what time of the year we go. Kathy

 

Hi Kathy - you're welcome .... I would like to do some more exploring in Finland also - it's a beautiful country!

I really enjoy x-country (and downhill) skiing too, but we get lots of opportunities to do that here - esp. this year with all of the snow that we're getting :)

[RdubYa]

I've done both - Baltic on Galaxy in 2001 and Med on Millenium in 2003. Both were great experiences and would repeat either/both someday. I can't imagine you'll be disappointed by the Baltic itinerary; Oslo and Stockhold (especially) are stunningly beautiful sailing in/out. Both of these along with Copenhagen are the cleanest major cities you'll find and are extremely tourist friendly and easy to get around in. St.Petersburg is worth experiencing strictly for the Hermitage and palaces; otherwise it's gritty and struck me as somewhat backwards. Don't leave the tour group and go it alone. Berlin is worth the bus or train ride to spend the day in and explore on your own - it's so fast-paced and bustling with activity and building everywhere. Our intinerary didn't stop at Tallin, but did take in Gdinya Poland, which was a surprisingly charming little resort town. It was late August/early September and for me, the weather was ideal - high 60's to mid 70's. Athens and Rome in August was 95+ and not pleasant weather for trudging around the ruins. I also found it interesting that views of the shoreline from the ship at sea were much more impressive in the Baltic than the Mediterranean, which was usally hazy. Unless you were close to shore, you couldn't see anything. On the Baltic, you could usually see the distant coast and not just waves.

 

Enjoy your trip!