Baltic Adventure, Voyager, Stockholm-Stockholm 7/15-7/26

[hobse]

Just a few observations, comments on our recent cruise. It was our first time on Voyager. It was a very port intensive cruise with new ports being visited for the first time.

 

Inclusive Wine/Liquor: All you Grey Goose fans will be happy to know that it was prominently displayed in all lounges and included. Now if the lounges could just get mint for a mojito and make it right. Room Service made great mojitos though. Included wines retail for approximately $9-$11 (with one or two exceptions), but are good choices. If you don't like one they will bring you another. You can order additional cocktails or bottles of wine through room service.

 

Ship & Cabin: Some have mentioned her looking tired. Thought she looked fine, maybe a little dated on upholstery/carpet, but she is going to dry dock in December as most are aware. She was very clean and maintenance/polishing was ongoing. It will be interesting to see what is changed in December. The light fixture over the bar in Horizon was being measured when we were there. Nice cabins and baths although we prefer the showers (in the shower only rooms) on the Mariner. And I miss the Aveda products. Most important to me, the a/c worked great!

 

On-line reservations still aren't quite 100%. Both shore excursions were accurate, but only 50% for the restaurant reservations, even though we had a printed confirmation. So double check on arrival.

 

Restaurants/Food/Service: Compass Rose service was excellent, food mostly good although some inconsistencies (meat overdone), and it really could use more variety and innovation. Fish dishes were pretty non-existant except for salmon. They had the same Corvina 2 nights in a row.

La Veranda food and service were very good, even though they were shorthanded a few times. It too could use different/better menu items for the lunch buffet.

Didn't care for the pool grill except on the two special days.

Signatures is not our favorite.

Love Latitudes, hate to see it go.

 

Overall, it was a great cruise. We enjoy cruising with Regent and the all inclusive policy is nice. It seems to make things more relaxing, and you do get your wine faster. For those that have been comparing, we recently cruised on the Oceania Insignia and enjoyed that as well. Enjoyed the food more on Oceania as it seemed to have more variety and creativity with its menu items. Service on both is great with Regent getting a nod there. Another plus, Regent provided free shuttles in to the towns if needed and Oceania did not (at least on our cruises).

 

Just a short overview. Happy to answer questions/provide detail.

[basedow]

Hobse, Thanks for your observations. We will be departing for the Baltic cruise in a couple of weeks so I was interested in what you had to say.:)

 

Does the ship offer free shuttle service into all the ports (I'm not curious about St. Petersburg)? Did you enjoy Helsinski? What did you see there?

 

Basedow

[hobse]

Yes, there were shuttles for every port except St. Petersburg (which we were extremely fortunate to be able to dock right in town on the Neva River). However the shuttles usually didn't begin until about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour after docking.

 

Helsinki was okay, actually we found it somewhat boring, but it was a beautiful day so we still enjoyed it. We walked in from the ship to Market Square and where the ferries are. We bought an all day ticket on the HKL line (the city line) for 6 Euro which was good for the ferries and trams. We took the ferry over to Seomenlinna and walked all over. Caught a return ferry then hopped on the 3T tram (tram stop is very close) for a "city tour". We got off at one of the stops to see the Rock Church we had heard about, but unfortunately it was closed for a wedding or funeral. We then got off and saw Senate Square and Upenski Cathedral, then walked back to the ship.