jaylaykay

The ports, and the times in those ports, are perhaps rather more important for a Baltic cruise than the cruise line.......

 

Most ships include an overnite & two full days in St Petersburg, for some it's two nights / three days.

But for some it's just a single day, and that's woefully inadequate for St Petersburg. :(

I'd definitely pass on a cruise which didn't give at least two days there.

 

Some of the very largest ships port at Nynashamn for Stockholm because they're not permitted to sail through the archipelago of islands & into Stockholm itself. Nyneshamn to Stockholm is an hour's travel by train or road, and more importantly you miss that glorious sail-in through the islands - one of the world's best sail-ins.

IMHO you should avoid any cruise which mentions Nynashamn.

 

Some itineraries include Warnemunde, on the German coast. A pleasant enough stop, but the real attraction for some is the opportunity to visit Berlin.

Berlin is something over 3 hours e/w from Warnemunde, and you'll not do it justice in a fore-shortened port-of-call day, Better to put Berlin on the back-burner until you can give it several days, but some folk may not have another opportunity. If that's you, you'll want Warnemunde on the itinerary, and more importantly you'll want the sailaway time to be as late into the evening as possible.

 

For Brits, a sailing from the UK is convenient.

But it adds a couple or three sea-days, so for those flying to a cruise a better bet would be cruising from Amsterdam or Copenhagen or occasionally other Baltic ports.

 

The Baltic and the Norwegian fjords are almost-always two different itineraries, don't get confused between them..

 

Fred Olsen's clients are almost-entirely Brits.

But they don't bite, and they have a similar language to your own :p.

Fred appeals mainly to active recently-retireds, though for the Norwegian fjords - so much less strenuous than the Baltic - the average age may be higher.

Definitely not suited to kids or the younger set.

Their ships are little old hand-me-downs, and don't have the whistles & bells of more modern cruise ships.

But very friendly, as most small ships tend to be. And friendly on the pocket, including on-board prices.

 

All just MHO as always

 

JB :)

This is absolutely dead-on accurate! We just cruised rccl which I could take or leave, but we didnt need Berlin this trip, we wanted two days in stp, and we had unique opportunities in Riga and Klaipeda. Tour with locals and get insight into the Soviet era. Alla was excellent in stp.

I wasn't overly impressed with the ship but the itinerary was terrific!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is the Princess board. Why would I care what RCCL or any other line charges for RS.

That was not the question by the OP anyway.

It is 8$ just for morning coffee? Ouch! Hey rccl, we really enjoy free room service breakfast on hal!! Since you are reading!![emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If they take Australian credit cards then why would they not take US issued cards?

My understanding is they don't all take them...and those that do have a good surcharge...I just use cash or nets.

For uber, just need the app and connectivity?

I don't think Singapore cabs take a US credit card. If they do, it is hit or miss. How are you getting to the ship next day? How far are you staying from the ship? I would take about 100 SGD out and use any change for tips to the crew. They can cash anything in.

Hope this helps!