freodr

We are booked on the Royal Princess Baltic cruise and I'm not going to let one diversion in Nynashamn take away from it. The prices we got for the cruise were outstanding and SPB Tours is picking us up at the tender to do a tour and Princess gives much more time at that port for Nynashamn than they do for docking in Stockholm. I suppose if the sail in is a deal breaker for someone, then they should pick another line. As to why Princess is going to Nynashamn, I wonder if it relates to the size of the Royal. We are going into Berlin with SPB Tours. I doubt we would ever get to Germany again and it's our one opportunity. We'll suck up the long bus ride.

It's not just the 'diversion' to Nynashamn that is causing concern, I realise that the time spent in that port is longer, but there are other issues with that cruise as well. I particularly would like to sail through the Archipelago, so all things considered the Emerald is the best cruise for me. As for getting a good deal, personally I would rather pay a more (within reason!) and get exactly what I want rather than 'make do'. I don't think that we will be back in Northern Europe any time soon, so have to see and do as much as we can. Berlin and several other cities will be tagged on at the beginning or end of the cruise. Looking forward to having a great time on the Emerald. Hope you have a great time on the Royal.

Thanks to all of you for your input. After a lot more research and thought we have rebooked on the Emerald Princess July 26th. We don't need hassle on a cruise vacation, also fewer people on the Emerald.

Thanks again

I agree that going to Nynashamn rather than sailing right into Stockholm is a disappointment. But I can't see any reason why passengers would be leaving and joining the ship at Warnemunde and St Petersburg, if I'm reading your post correctly. I've never known Princess to do this before and I'm not sure what would be the reason. Can you quote what you've read or post a link to it, please?

If you look at the June cruises for the baltic you see that there are three different dates for embarkation.

John Bull, I know stewards usually have help on turnaround days, but if it is in the middle of a cruise these people will be attending to their normal jobs. The new port is much farther away from Langeline and is apparently sectioned off so the ho ho busses probably won't be allowed to come too close.

I know none of this seems like a deal breaker but considering all of these things together, it might be less of a hassle to go with some other line and less passengers

I have been a lurker on the boards for ages, love Princess and have been on many cruises, but now I have a concern about my upcoming cruise.

We have booked the Royal Princess Baltic cruise from Copenhagen on June 14th 2014

I ordered the highly recommended Baltic Treasures DVD (which is awesome by the way) and began my research, all well so far, then I began looking a little closer at the cruise itself and now am getting worried. I thought that all cruises had one embarkation and disembarkation day (apart from World Cruise) but I see that on this cruise not only are passengers getting on and off in Copenhagen but, Warnemunde and St Petersburg as well. OK so this won’t impact me much, but surely the cabin stewards are going to be overworked on those days trying to clean the changeover cabins and cope with all their normal duties as well.

Then I see that the ship is going to Nynashamn and not Stockholm itself and this means two things of concern, firstly we miss what I believe is a beautiful sail through the Stockholm archipelago and secondly that we will have to use the lifeboats to get ashore. 3600 passengers trying to get off the ship as fast as they can to get to Stockholm doesn’t thrill me, then the hour train ride to the city, my doubts are growing here.

Next thing is that we have to take a ships shuttle in Aarhus to get to within 15 mins walking of the city, again 3600 people trying to get off the ship as fast as they can. Apparently the ship is in a container dock and no-one is allowed to walk in the area.

We have already decided that the 6hour roundtrip to get to Berlin is not worth it, and have extended the stay in Europe after the cruise to take in that City as well as a few others. The new dock in Copenhagen isn’t the easiest to reach either, sporadic bus service or Taxi, the train station is now too far away to walk to/from.

So now in a quandary, should I change cruise line and have a more relaxing cruise, no tendering, shuttling etc. or go with my favourite line?

Hope this isn’t too negative, but I would like some reassurance.