Baltic on Spirit. First time cruiser questions.

[kruzseeka]

Hi there,

 

That explains why you can't find a cabin number then, unless you ring up and pay (£35?) to choose a particular cabin, you won't know until you get to the port.

 

You can't book excursions before you get on board with Thomson although if you look on their website under 'Ports of call' you can see what trips they are offering - I think there are usually some extra in your Destinations Guide when you get on board though. But you could look at these and perhaps get an idea of some you'd like to do beforehand.

 

If there is something you REALLY want to do I would recommend that you fill in a booking form and post it in the box at Destination Services as soon as you get on board (if it isn't open). At least yours will then be one of the first to be handed in. ;) The main problem is when there are trips with 'Limited Availability'. It will tell you which these are in the Guide. Once they are full, you're put on a waiting list but of course it's likely you'd be disappointed. With other trips it's often possible to book until the day before - but as it gets closer to the day of the trip, they do fill up. Usually on the first sea day they will have a presentation about the destinations but often they don't tell you much more than is in the guide.(The team on Destiny were excellent though and were far more interesting and informative than any others I've heard.) After the talk on desinations you can imagine there will be a bit of a rush to book but as I said before it's the 'Ltd availability' ones you have to watch out for. The 'Hermitage WITH the Gold Room' is one example. They may have several Hermitage visits but only a small number for the Gold Room bit (you have timed entrance with one of the guides from the Hermitage). Last time we went, I put my booking in before we unpacked! But I didn't rush for any of the others.

 

It's hard to say how much money you might need - it depends on what you do on shore. We eat so much on board :eek: we hardly ever have anything to eat off the ship except perhaps a coffee and cake (as if I need it :rolleyes:) so we don't spend much other than on postcards, stamps, entrance fees and souvenirs. On the Baltic trip we've only ever taken Euros which we found were accepted everywhere (cafes in Tallin, stamps in Helsinki, souvenirs etc.) and used our credit card for what we considered 'safe' transactions e.g. the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Russia is different though - they have a 'closed currency' (whatever that means) and some shops will not accept anything but Roubles. However, the Hermitage and vendors outside of Catherine's Palace, Peterhof, in the markets and the 'official' tourist shops the guides take you to all accept £, $ and euros. We bought a beautiful guide book of the Hermitage for £5 (not hardback - but beautifully illustrated). We generally take at least £300 worth of Euros (with card back-up) but as explained don't spend excessively and usually find this is enough. If you go out for lunch especially in the expensive Scandinavian countries (watch out for the price of a beer here!) obviously you will need a lot more.

 

We get our currency before we leave (M&S commission free) but someone said on here that the ship's exchange rate was good - but I've never used them.

 

Hope that helps - but it is an individual thing really.

[Cymro1953]

Yes, you've got to have cake it's essential. And if you can manage a good breakfast like Kruzseeka said, fill yourself right up and you'll be OK till wel after lunch. And with 24 hour buffet there's always something to eat as soon as you're back on board

 

Closed currency officially means you can't take it out of the country with you. So make sure in Russia you don't end up with too much small change. I don't know what we're supposed to do with the notes tho', whether we can change them into something else in the port. It will be the same with us in Egypt