MSC Opera PAX

[blndmn1]

I have been searching nearly every thread and cannot for some reason find anyone else going on the same cruise we are May 3 out of Kiel Germany or May 4 out of Copenhagen. I also posted or thought I posted a query about edocs. Can someone explain what they are and their importance. Thanks, blndmn1:)

[milliem]

Hey blndmn, we are sailing on the same date as you are. Based on your name, I'm guessing you may be part of the same large group that we are: HD.

 

We are really looking forward to the trip, and like you, I've been looking all over online for past cruisers on the Opera with the same itinerary and haven't had much luck. I have no idea what edocs are.

 

A question: Are you packing for cold weather? Coats, etc.?

 

Maybe we'll run into you on the ship!

[blndmn1]

Hi Milliem. I am with the HD group. My wife and I live in Alaska, so we are dressing for the same weather we are accustomed to this time of year. The Baltic States average a couple of degrees warmer than here, but close enough to dress the same. We are both bringing our P Coats for warmth and rain slickers for the rainy days. Sweaters are probably appropriate as well. I think I read the average temperature is between 50-60 fahrenheit in May.

I buy from HDNW. How about you? Where are you from? I have been surfing CC for a couple of months and besides you I have only read one post from a couple in Australia. Their name were Bruce and Sue. Other than HD folk most of the passengers will be European. That's why we see few post about this cruise on the board. Can we send our email address through this board? blndmn!

[sea-explorer]

Hi,

I sailed exactly this itinerary last August on the Lirica. If you have any questions on the ports, I'll be happy to answer them if I can. One thing you do need to be aware of if you do not know already is that you cannot tour St. Petersburg on your own. You either have to take a ship's excursion or book a private tour in advance. (visa restrictons).

 

As for the weather..well May should usually be okayish, Spring like really. However, it is snowing here today in a month where usually in the SE of England anyway, the weather is usually warm & sunny.:eek:

[milliem]

Blndmn1- We live in Utah and my husband works for HDintermountain, so we are going as hosts on the trip. Thanks for the weather info! It sounds like we should plan on weather similar to what we have in UT right now, mostly in the 50's.

 

This should be a fantastic trip! I think you are right that other than the HD group, our other shipmates will be mostly European. Having traveled in Europe a few times before, we are excited to have a european feel to this cruise. rather than the completely American experience we are used to when we cruise on RCI or the other big names. I think that almost every negative thing I've read about the Opera can be attributed to people expecting American service rather than European. I'm looking forward to embracing the differences!

 

Sparky, thanks so much for your information. I may have questions for you in the coming weeks. Luckily, our group has offered what appears to be a really good tour in St. Petersburg that includes both the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace, which we are really looking forward to. Did you get to visit those places?

 

Blndmn, did you sign up for the company trips, or are you doing it on your own? When we cruise, we typically go on our own. However, because this area is completely unfamiliar to us, and because my 70 year old parents bought tickets for the same cruise, and they wanted to be very safe, as far as being sure the ship would wait for us, etc., we mostly went for the company tours. Having done company trips for 15 years, I do trust them. I have never had a bad experience on one of their tours. They usually do a great job of being prompt, making sure you see the highlights, and although they can be a little pricey, it takes the work out of figuring things out. I just can't tell you how excited we are!!

[blndmn1]

milliem- Yes, we did sign up for most of the company tours and like you have never had a bad experience with them. Did you go on the Greek Island Cruise last year? Its ironic that you are taking your 70 year old parents with you as we took mine on the Greek Island Cruise. We all had a great time, but my wife and I hardly remember anything fantastic about the trip because we were catering to my parents so much and worried about them getting separated from the group. They are quite capable of taking care of themselves and we probably shouldn't have molliecoddled them so, but we were just a little nervous about their safety. My mother has rheumatoid arthritis and needed assistance on every excursion we went on, so we didn't get to notice as much as we would have had we been on our own. All that being said, we are not at all disappointed they went with us. It was a lifetime experience for them. My father had never been out of the country before.

We are very much looking forward to this trip, although my wife gets very sea sick if there is so much as 1 foot seas, so we are hoping for as calm a cruise as the past one. She didn't get sick at all on the last one.

You are welcome to email us if you like at blndmn@gci.net

[milliem]

Blindmn- I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise last year! We went on the Boston trip last year, so no Greek Cruise. I've heard that it was a great trip, though. It is ironic that you also took your parents on a trip!

 

I'm sure things will be pretty similar with my parents. I'm already thinking about things they would enjoy, and want to make it really special for them. They are pretty seasoned travellers though, and have actually been to St. Petersburg on their own many years ago. My biggest worry is them getting there alright. Being hosts, my husband and I have to fly in a day early to get set up, and my parents are flying in with the regular group. I'm sure they will be fine, but they will be on their own to make a flight connection at the Frankfurt airport. So I'll be happy to see them show up in Kiel. Between acting as hosts and worrying about my parents, it may not be as relaxing as some trips have been, but we aren't the only intermountain hosts going this time, so that will make it easier. I'm looking forward to the balcony rooms and of course the ports. We chose to do all of the company trips, but are planning on signing up for the ships excursion for Copenhagen that lasts 7 hours instead of 4 and includes riding on the city canals. My husband and a coworker are going to ride bikes in Helsinki while my parents and I do the company tour. Which trips are you doing?

[blndmn1]

milliem- We are doing the 4 hour company tour in Copenhagen and Stockholm. We decided to rent bikes or walk if they are not available in Visby since it is so small and are doing the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace company tour in St. Petersburg. We are also going to use the city bikes in Helsinki and tour the city on our own. I have been on Google Earth a great deal since we found out about the trip a year ago and found there to be lots of sights to see within each city, so I am very excited to go as well. Google Earth has member photo images posted on it, so I feel like I have been to all the cities already, but it will be great to see them in person. I am particularly excited to cruise through the archipelago in route to Stockholm. It should be beautiful.

My parents found their way to Venice a day early on their own last year and then spent three days in Rome on the way back. They boarded a train out of Venice and managed to get to Rome without my assistance so I'm sure I worried about them too much on the cruise tours.

Have you been on the MSC website to have a look at your cabin/suite? We upgraded to a suite, but in hindsight probably should have kept the standard cabin since my wife gets sea sick. A cabin in lower midship would probably have been better for her as opposed to the top floor. I was surprised to see there were very few suites available, but after comparing last years ship to this one, I found this one to be somewhat smaller.

I agree with you about some of the posts on this site being a little biased to American culture and we like you enjoy the European culture and will feel right at home.

Have you ever taken a laptop on a cruise before and if so was the connection speed fast enough to use Skype? We are leaving 2 boys (a 2 year old and a 4 year old) at home and wanted to Skype grandma so see the boys and they could see us as well. If nothing else it would be nice to keep in email contact with them. We bought phone cards on the last cruise but it was difficult finding a pay phone that worked or would accept the phone card. Also the time difference made it difficult to call while the boys were awake while we were in port, so Skype or email during our time aboard would be an advantage.

blndmn1

[blndmn1]

Hi,

I sailed exactly this itinerary last August on the Lirica. If you have any questions on the ports, I'll be happy to answer them if I can. One thing you do need to be aware of if you do not know already is that you cannot tour St. Petersburg on your own. You either have to take a ship's excursion or book a private tour in advance. (visa restrictons).

 

As for the weather..well May should usually be okayish, Spring like really. However, it is snowing here today in a month where usually in the SE of England anyway, the weather is usually warm & sunny.:eek:

 

Hi sparky1664- We are hoping for spring weather, but being from Alaska we will be prepared for any weather. Was there anything particularly fascinating about any of the cities that we should not miss or anything that isn't publicized that we shouldn't miss. My wife and I have never been in northern Europe before exept for UK, so we do not what to expect from the natives. Hopefully they are receptive to Americans. Did you find the staff onboard the Lirica to be helpful and friendly?

blndmn1

[milliem]

blindmn1,

 

We haven't ever taken a laptop on a cruise before, but we are planning on taking ours this time, for the very same reason as you are. We won't be trying anything other than email, but it seems to be the best way of communicating with home. We are also leaving our kids, but ours are an 18 year old and 16 year old twins, and they are staying home alone. You can imagine that I am anxious to be able to keep in touch! They are great kids, have stayed alone for up to a week before, and my sister lives two blocks from our house. Still, I'm a wee bit nervous. This will be the first time we won't be in cell phone range!

 

Sounds like you made great choices in your excursions!!

 

Sparky1664,

 

I'm interested in reading your reply to Blndmn's questions above!

[blndmn1]

Milliem- I ordered a GSM phone from Mobal Communications that has a UK sim card in it that will allow us to make phone calls home without the roaming charges. I am also going to take my new iPhone and add the World Traveler Calling feature on it, so we can make international calls for a reasonable rate.

blndmn1

[sea-explorer]

Hi both,:)

You seemed to have your tours all sorted, but I'll give you what I can, & perhaps mention some mistakes we made so that you can avoid them. I recently deleted a lot of links from my favourites as it was becoming cluttered..I have my sights now on our next Eastern Mediterranean cruise.:rolleyes:

 

We travelled with our 2 sons, (13 & 19) so I think my plans may have been geared to keep them interested. We had a wonderful time but felt there was so much to see so maybe, as we only live about 20 minutes away from Dover, we'll go again sometime in the future.

 

We flew to Copenhagen & boarded the ship there. Our first port was Visby. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough to tender so we missed the port. I found it difficult to get info on Visby, but had planned to include a visit to St. Mary's cathedral, wander round the strets of the old town and visit the new Gotland Historical Museum. Some info can be found on the links here.

 

http://www.gotland.net/english/visby.asp

 

http://www.gotland.info/language/eng/

 

http://www.gotland.se/komverk/forvaltn/tf/hamn/visbyport/index.htm

 

http://www.lansmuseetgotland.se/1322

 

Riga

This is where I felt we had perhaps messed up a little. We took the shuttle into the old town..good idea it is quite a walk. Okay for the fit, but DH & myself are no longer spring chickens. Here, right at the shuttle stop, you will find the Museum of occupation of Latvia. Quite interesting and free..there is a box for donations. This is also where the HOHO bus starts, & this is where I made the mistake. (Maybe I'm being a little unfair here..there were two operators, perhaps we just chose the wrong one.) We hopped on it, intending to get off & explore the market, & then get off again in the region of the Freedom monument & explore a little. There are a few museums at Riga castle, but you can't see the castle itself as it is used as the residence of the president.

Well, it is the worst HOHO bus I have encountered. Hardly any commentry, old & tatty, & we spent the first part of the journey snarled up in traffic in the New Town. The bus didn't automatically stop at the designated stops & before we knew it it had sped past the stop for the market. By this time it was raining & our eldest son had fallen asleep..probably the boredom!!. So given the weather, we stayed on & finished the tour. Afterwards we wandered the nearby streets & stopped at a cafe to try the local cuisine before catching the shuttle back. If I were to go again I would perhaps consider a trip to the open air museum or Jurmala beach instead, either under our own steam or on a ship's excursion. There is also an article on Riga here on Cruise Critic which you might find useful.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ports/newport.cfm?ID=160

 

Helsinki

A lovely port...but such a short time, what a shame. My family would love to go back.

 

You can download a PDF brochure from this site, which basically gives you everything you need to know for a visit.

 

http://www.hel2.fi/tourism/en/matko.asp

 

We took the ferry to Suomenlinna fortress, visited the museum and explored the island. The boy's loved it. We just had enough time to wander round the markets (indoor & outdoor) & spend some money.. before heading back. Again, we used the ships shuttle which drops you off at the market place and the point of departure for the ferries.

 

Another option here is to use the 3T sightseeing tram from the market place to explore any sights which take your interest from the PDF brochure above. Link to PDF tram route here:

 

http://www.hel.fi/wps/wcm/resources/file/eb950102caf5a17/3T_english_2007_net.pdf

 

St. Petersburg

Brilliant..but one day is not enough. We took a private tour here & were so glad we did. We were first off the ship & on our way well before anyone else. In fact we didn't see anyone as they all must have been waiting in the lounges to be called. The other advantages were we were able to pack so much more in, we were dropped off & picked up right by the entrances & exits, no extra walking, no queuing for tickets etc.

We started off with a full city tour while the streets were still quiet, stopping off at St. Nicholas Church, St. Isaacs, The Church of Spilled Blood & the Aurora for example. We then went to SS Peter & Paul's fortress to see the tombs of Tsar Nicholas & family. On to the Hermitage & Winter Palace. We actually also went into the Gold room, but I wouldn't do this again. Lots of opulence, but by this time we were flagging and here we were not with our tour guide to say okay we have seen enough let's go for lunch as the museum has a rule that only their tour guides are allowed to escort you in here..& they talk...a lot.

After a restaurant lunch we took the hydrofoil to Peterhof and spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the gardens & fountains.

 

Again you can find a little more info on this port on CC.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ports/newport.cfm?ID=73

 

Kiel

Again, not sure we made the best of this port. My eldest was keen to visit Hamburg so we took the train. This was fine, but the journey took over an hour & I think they were fed up with the journey & interest in the City seemed to be lost. In the end we didn't see too much of Hamburg as they voted for a visit to the aquarium. What is useful to know if anyone plans to visit Hamburg by train, is that you can buy a family ticket which covers up to 5 people at a much cheaper price. We asked about the tickets at the tourist info desk at the station & the lady went to the machine & bought the ticket for us. I had my doubts it would work, but the inspectors on the train accepted it quite readily.

 

Copenhagen

This was our debarkation port but as we had a late afternoon flight we did a little exploring on our own. (As we had booked a transfer MSC took our luggage to the airport.) We took a taxi from right by the port to Nyhavn, the canal district, took a canal boat tour and wandered the canal side, had a coffee & watched the world go by. All good & I would certainly recommend it. Here is where we went wrong again though. I wanted to go on to the Tivoli Gardens & my husband set off walking, hoping to perhaps pick up a bus on the way. We didn't. By the time we got there he started to panic about getting to the airport & retreiving our luggage so we ended up heading off to the metro instead & eating lunch whiling away our time at the airport! We should have taken a taxi to the Tivoli instead & of course I need to return to Copenhagen just for this. :) There is also an ice bar on a street alongside the Tivoli which I think would be well worth a visit & was in my plans, but alas not to be.

 

I sailed on the Lirica, not the Opera, but found the staff, dining, bar & room stewards to be very pleasant friendly & helpful. The Maitre'D however was very austere & aloof. Amazingly though, although he never smiled, he was always quick to escort us to a large table at the front of the ship right by the window, when we appeared in the dining room for breakfast. As they say..go figure! The reception staff were also somewhat aloof. To be fair, we had little to do with them, just the occassional visit to order room service & shuttle tickets. No problems with them though. I think it is just their way. I think they think they have to appear this way to seem efficient & carry out their duties in an appropriate manner if you see what I mean.

 

Hope some of this is helpful. Anything else, just ask, I'll try to remember.

[sea-explorer]

Ah..just noticed, your itinerary is slightly different in that you visit Stockholm instead of Riga..Much better I think.

[milliem]

Sparky1664- Wow! Thank you so much for all that great information! It sounds like you had a very nice trip with your sons. The only drawback to cruising versus a land trip that I can find is that you often wish you had more time in some of the ports of call. But the advantages of not having to pack/unpack, worry about meals, trains, flights, etc. makes it worth it. And then you can come back for an extended stay later if you wish!

 

Blndmn- I like your cell phone idea. We need to be working out something like that. I'll need to get busy and figure it out! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for calm seas, both for your wife (none in our party typically get seasick) and so that we don't miss Visby!

[moveup]

If you use a cell phone while at sea, regardless of your cell phone and subscription, you may be paying $5 per minute for the satellite link that carries your call to and from the ship (the main one is Sea Mobile). This is charged to your cell phone bill so you won't know until your vacation is over. Most of the Europeans on our cruise last month on the Orchestra waited to use their cell phones until we were in port, so that they were truly using cellular service rather than satellite + cellular. An alternative: I used my laptop (actually a tablet PC) with Skype VOIP. I had to pay MSC 0.40 euro per minute for the wifi connection, plus Skype's charges (only 2 cents per minute to call the USA), so it worked out to about 62 cents per minute, whether we were at sea or in port. Depending on how many calls you plan to make, and duration, that may be cheaper than renting a cell phone. However, you need a wifi connection so Skype or other VOIP won't work off the ship unless you go to an internet cafe.

[milliem]

Moveup- thanks for that information. I'm beginning to think that just emailing might be the best way for us to go. Of course we'll need to pay for the wireless minutes, but considering the huge time difference, calling isn't going to be convenient either. Hmmmm.... decisions, decisions. On the bright side, I found a perfect jacket that I think will be light enough yet warm enough for the cool weather! A cruise is a great excuse to bolster up the wardrobe a bit!!!

[blndmn1]

sparky1664- I thank you as well for that very informative post. I have visited all the sites you sent and found them to be quite useful.

 

milliem- I like the way you think. I am all about giving the ole' wardrobe a spring overhaul. Out with the old and in with the new and what better excuse that a cruise. My wife is way more conservative than I am about buying new clothes. She worked out a deal with me though, that what ever I spend on new clothes she gets to spend the equal amount, but she just never uses up her allowance. :)

 

moveup- You are quite right about calling on the cruise ship. However, I purchased an international cell phone from Mobal.com and they instructed me to use it in the ports when the local server shows up on the display. Beyond 5 miles from shore the ship's cell mast takes over and then you are charged the higher rate. The benefit of the international cell phone you are charged a flat $1.50 per minute, no roaming charges rather than use your regular cell phone which you will pay your regular long distance international plus roaming charges. I intend to take my laptop with Skype as well to make calls from the ship while at sea and during our time in St. Petersburg

[milliem]

Blndmn (or anyone else who has done this cruise), do you mind if I ask which cell phone provider you use?

 

The reason I ask is that I just got off the phone with my provider (tmobile) and this is the information I recieved from them:

 

They said that there would indeed be a $4.99 per minute surcharge added to all calls made from the ship or from St. Petersburg, or recieved while in those places, so the safe bet is to keep the phone off during that time. He said that even if you didn't take a call, but someone dailed you while you had your phone on: automatic charge. He added us to an international plan which costs nothing and doesn't change the plan we already have, and said that it looks like we should have good service in every single port except Russia. Our charge will be $0.99 per minute, with no additional charges of anykind. Because we are already on a plan that has free unlimited texting (a must with three teenagers), we will be able to recieve texts absolutely free while in ports, and will be charged $0.35 for each text we send. I'm thinking we may do the text thing alot, since my kids can text faster than they can write, and as a mom of teens I'm a pretty good texter myself. That way they can send the message whenever they want, and I will reply when we are in port, and they can read them at their convenience. Then we will do a limited amount of calling. Now I'm unsure as to whether to take the laptop or not. I think it will depend on if my husband needs it for work.

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if someone else has experience with tmobile and has done it. I was assured our phones (a razor and a blackberry pearl) would work fine there and all, but I would hate to get there and not have it work. Any comments, anyone?

[milliem]

Sparky1664-

 

When you were in Copenhagen, did you visit the Church of Our Lady, also known as the Copenhagen Cathedral? A couple of people have mentioned that they really enjoyed that, and I can't see it listed as incuded in our group tour.

 

If time permits when our tour is complete, we may try to visit it on our own. It is supposedly close to the Round Tower. Does that sound familiar?

 

Also, did you enjoy the cruise of the canals? We are taking the tour that includes that, and I hope we didn't make a mistake in choosing that one over the shorter one. It just sounded like a nice way to see the city.

[AmoMondo]

Justt wanted to sau - have a Great Time to all of you who are going. I did the same trip on the Opera last July and although the weather was awful, I loved the cruise. I've been on the Opera six times and she is a beautiful ship with great crew.

[milliem]

Thanks AmoMondo! We leave in about two weeks, so it is seeming like it is finally getting here, after a year of waiting!

 

Do you have any suggestions of things not to be missed, or things to avoid? I really enjoyed Sparky1664's comments, and would love more of the same!

 

Was the weather cold and rainy? It certainly didn't snow in the middle of the summer, did it? I'm a little worried about the weather for our trip, but am packing mostly for cold and rain, so I won't be disappointed if that's what we get. I guess I wouldn't be thrilled if it was so cloudy and foggy that we couldn't enjoy the view from the balcony!

[blndmn1]

Hi AmoMondo- thanks for the kind words. We are very much looking forward to the trip and hope that all the bad press we have been reading about the Opera has been wrong or that Capt. and crew have made drastic changes to improve whatever those who had bad trips on her felt was wrong about it.

 

milliem- I have AT&T and with a monthly charge of $5.99 plus .99 world traveler roaming charges per minute. I also purchase and international GSM phone from Mobal Communications for $99 with a UK sim card in it, we can call home from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland for $1.50 out and $1.25 for calls in. It is however $8.95 in Russia. I hope this helps.

Looking forward to going on a cruise again.

blndmn1:)

[sea-explorer]

Sparky1664-

 

When you were in Copenhagen, did you visit the Church of Our Lady, also known as the Copenhagen Cathedral? A couple of people have mentioned that they really enjoyed that, and I can't see it listed as incuded in our group tour.

 

If time permits when our tour is complete, we may try to visit it on our own. It is supposedly close to the Round Tower. Does that sound familiar?

 

Also, did you enjoy the cruise of the canals? We are taking the tour that includes that, and I hope we didn't make a mistake in choosing that one over the shorter one. It just sounded like a nice way to see the city.

 

Hi,

We didn't see the church unfortunately. I didn't see it as part of any tours but I'm sure you could sort out a visit. Copenhagen isn't too large & if you have the time, I'm sure a walk round the old town with the Round Tower & the Cathedral would be worthwhile. I would have liked to do it, but our time was limited. We did enjoy the canal tour as it was a quick & easy way to glimpse the main sights. You can also buy tickets for hop on hop off canal boats here if you have a little more time to explore.

 

The weather? We were there in August & had some warm days, but I'd describe it as more Spring like than Summer. Temperatures probably ranging from 50's to 60's. Showers rather than constant rain though. If I remember correctly our St. Petersburg guide told us they expect to have only 26 dry days per year. We were very lucky here..it was dry for our tour in the morning, had obviously rained whilst we were in the Hermitage & was warm & sunny during our afternoon at Peterhof. No other rain apart from Latvia when we were on the bus, it had stopped when we got off. Dry & Springlike in Kiel, Helsinki & Copenhagen. You'll probably need a sweater if you take a canal boat tour though & a light rain jacket just in case.

 

On the ship..the seas were obviously too rough for tendering at Visby but it didn't appear so on the ship that day. We also had one night when the ship was listing, can't remember where, I think it was on the jouney between St. Petersburg & Kiel. It wasn't really rocky though. It didn't bother us, apart from the fact we had trouble walking in a straight line that night..but we are hardened Brits who are used to crossing the English channel on a ferry in high winds so it all seemed very smooth to us! :D

 

My youngest went in the pool every day, I joined him once or twice..but I must say it certainly wasn't overcrowded.

 

One other thing to be aware of. Because of the time differences you will need to put your clocks back a couple of times on the first part of your journey..you will lose one hour before St. Petersburg & as it will be a busy day with an early start, an early night would be a good idea here.

[milliem]

Thanks for the tips, past cruisers! Thanks to you, we will be well prepared! If you think of anything else, I'd love to hear about it before we go!!!

[timmy1]

has any of you HD folks recieved your travel doc yet?

hope to see you in Germany

-herb:D