Trip Report Posted; Constellation in Baltic; 2006

[Scott Cyn]

I have just posted a long-overdue trip report from a cruise last summer aboard Celebrity Constellation to the Baltic. If anybody has questions, post them on here and I'll do my post to help. The trip report can be read at:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=26453

[Peregrina651]

Scott --

 

About 1/4 of the way thru your review I stopped reading -- and printed it out! There was too much good advice to scribble on the back of a note card. It needs pen and highlighter to do it justice--and multiple readings.

 

We aren't on the Constellation (maybe next time) but your reviews of each port are stellar, detailed but not over-kill. Your advice about the shuttle into town and the reminder to bring a jacket if we plan to be on the water in June are gems.

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us.

[nanelizca]

What a great review - I did the same thing the previous poster had done and printed it off. I'm not going on Celebrity this year (we're on NCL), but your tips on the city information will be very helpful. Thanks!

[dog]

Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed reading your trip report! :)

[cadreamer]

Great review. I found it good reading, direct, and very helpful. I just want to comment that Alla is not a "single person operation". She has several other guides working with her. She explained to us that she also has a "back up" system in place in case a probelm develops (a guide gets sick etc.).She has no sponsored store for you to go to for your "shopping time" and for paying your bill. We too believe the guides take you to "comfort stops" where they get a monetary reward but did not find this happening on our tour with Alla and Anna. We shopped at the streetmarket you described near the Church On the Spilled Blood and loved it. I only mention all this because there are folks reading your review who are planning their trip to St. Petersburg this summer and I did not want them to get the wrong impression about Alla-Tours.

[henny penny]

What a great review. I shall print it out and highlight the cities that we are visiting. We are cruising with Royal Caribbean leaving from Harwich in August. Although the itinerary is slightly different, your review will be extremely useful!! Many thanks.

 

Our first cruise, so very excited!:) :)

[05mak05]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the FABULOUS review! I've forwarded the link to friends and like other posters, stopped reading and started printing. We're on the Royal Caribbean "Jewel of the Seas" on Aug. 27, 2008 out of Harwich and your review has certainly given me a wonderful starting point for the planning and organizing efforts!

[nanelizca]

Thanks again for the review, Scott. We're most likely going to use Red October for our tour - was it on these boards where you learned the names of guides to avoid?

 

BTW, they're now including the hydrofoil ride back as standard (well, as part of the cost) so I guess a lot of folks thought the way you did about wanting to do it.

 

Were you on a private tour with Red October or were there other people in your group? If so, how large was the group? Any real complaints about Red October that you could mention?

 

Thanks again.

[Scott Cyn]

Thanks again for the review, Scott. We're most likely going to use Red October for our tour - was it on these boards where you learned the names of guides to avoid?........

 

.....Were you on a private tour with Red October or were there other people in your group? If so, how large was the group? Any real complaints about Red October that you could mention?

 

It was indeed on these boards where I picked up the names of trouble guides. I guess it was on this Baltic board, but I also spent a lot of time on the Celebrity board. Even other people's roll call threads can be helpful, especially after they return.

 

We were on a small private tour with RO. My wife and I were travelling with my sister and her husband. We thought about recruiting more folks from our roll call to join our tour, but we ended up deciding we would splurge and take the expensive small-group route. After all, how many times are we going to be in St. Petersburg?

 

The only complaint I have is that they push you to shop in their store and in their friends' stores. They take you to the RO store for you to pay your bill. Of course, when you get there, you find that it is a rather large souvenier store, complete with free shots of vodka. The store is very nice and has all the souvenier stuff you could want, but somehow you feel like it's a manufactured experience. I felt like we were wasting our time there when we could have been taking in more sights.

 

In addition to the RO store, earlier in the day our guide stopped in at another smaller store, which she billed as our first "comfort stop". I'm quite sure she got a little incentive from the shopkeeper if her group bought anything. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, since the requisite free vodka was on hand.

 

These are small complaints. It wasn't a big deal. Russia is trying to find its way to a free market economy and it was kind of entertaining to see the budding entrepreneurs in action.

[lionheart]

Great review of a great trip.

 

Kurt

[Boo's Mom]

Excellent review, Scott !

 

It is fun re-living the same cruise, through different eyes/different tours.

 

Thanks.

[nanelizca]

It was indeed on these boards where I picked up the names of trouble guides. I guess it was on this Baltic board, but I also spent a lot of time on the Celebrity board. Even other people's roll call threads can be helpful, especially after they return.

 

Thanks - I'll do some more investigating.

 

...but we ended up deciding we would splurge and take the expensive small-group route. After all, how many times are we going to be in St. Petersburg?

 

That's what I figure; now I need to convince my traveling companions. The cost for the private guide just doesn't seem like that much more - maybe around $100 or so per person. In the scheme of things (i.e. in terms of the expense of the entire trip, that's really nothing).

 

The only complaint I have is that they push you to shop in their store and in their friends' stores.

 

We're not huge shoppers, so they'll most likely be disappointed if they expect much in the way of purchases, but it's always fun to look.

 

 

Thanks again; I've put a couple comments up above.

[Peregrina651]

The only complaint I have is that they push you to shop in their store and in their friends' stores.

 

We're not huge shoppers, so they'll most likely be disappointed if they expect much in the way of purchases, but it's always fun to look.

 

Nanelizca, if you are paying for the tour and you are not shoppers, then make it clear to the tour company. If they do stop at a store you don't wish to go into, then just don't get out of the van. Your tour. You make it clear what you are interested in. They know these websites exist and they know they get a lot of business from the recommendations made here.

 

One of the companies has a store attached to its offices and I've read reports of being herded in there when they stop at their office to collect the payment for the tour.

[nanelizca]

Nanelizca, if you are paying for the tour and you are not shoppers, then make it clear to the tour company. If they do stop at a store you don't wish to go into, then just don't get out of the van. Your tour. You make it clear what you are interested in.

 

You're exactly right - thank you for the thoughts.

 

Nancy

[dog]

In my correspondence with RO, which we have booked, there was mention for those who do not wish to shop, I'm assuming in the RO store, that a deposit would be required at time of booking.

 

We have cut the time for this down to 1/2 hour to make our payments ( 6 of us) and shop in the RO store. We do not have to give a deposit. We are okay with this, as we have 2 very full days of sight-seeing planned with no other shopping.

 

J.(dog)

[wandb]

What a great review, Scott! I have printed, underlined, highlighted, and circled. Lots of great info for us to use when we go to the Baltics in just 2 months.

 

I was excited to see that your cruise was at the same time of year as ours. Most folks on these boards seem to have been in the Baltics in July and August. So tell us a bit more about the weather. What type of jackets, coats, etc. did you take? How cold was it out on the deck in the early a.m.?

 

We leave Harwich on May 30, so that evening and all day on the 31st will be cruising to Oslo. Was this about the coldest stop? If you have pictures or a scrapbook that you can look back at to see what type of clothes you needed, it would be a great help. We don't want to freeze, but don't want to overpack, either! (I know that last year's weather is no guarantee of this year's weather, but I think it would help).

 

Thanks!

B.

[Scott Cyn]

So tell us a bit more about the weather. What type of jackets, coats, etc. did you take? How cold was it out on the deck in the early a.m.?

 

We leave Harwich on May 30, so that evening and all day on the 31st will be cruising to Oslo. Was this about the coldest stop?

 

Let me start by saying that my overall memory is of great weather. Not too hot, not too cold. A light jacket would be fine in most places. We never needed a coat at all.

 

After our first two days at sea, our first port was Stockholm. As I said in the review, I was up on deck very early for the archipelago. And with a stiff breeze at 6 AM it was very cold! I couldn't stay out long, so I quickly repaired into the cafeteria and parked myself in front of a big window. When we went ashore later, I wore a short-sleeve shirt with a light, sleeveless sweater. I carried a jacket that I am wearing in some of our pictures. My wife was wearing a skirt with a long-sleeve shirt and a light sweater-type jacket.

 

One of my favorite pictures from our trip is in St. Petersburg and shows us capitalist tourists posing in front of a statue of Lenin (who's going to bury who?). I'm wearing khakis and a short-sleeve shirt and my wife is wearing a light skirt and a sweater set.

 

I just looked through all our pictures and the clothes are pretty much the same throughout: light, short-sleeve shirts with a light jacket handy. Oslo was the same way. In fact, we don't remember any real weather difference at any port.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Scott