Steviemk14a

Have you got most of your questions answered by now? You seem to have some good advice offered. We find the wrist bands work well - tried with and without. They also work well on helicopter flights.

Anything else?:)

Did you pick a cruise? Can't see any more posts.

We have found plenty to do on Fred.Olsen's smaller ships. Remember that there are only so many 'at sea days' to find things to do on board,and you will probably want to get off at each port you visit in turn.

All 4 of them have a deck where you can actually walk around the whole ship plus tiered open sterns (back ends) with lots of sitting places and favourite corners to relax in, inside and out.

Smaller ships are likely to be able to berth alongside at small ports like Flam, so Fred.Olsen will fit that bill. Besides, they are actually a Norwegian maritime company. Sailing from a number of UK ports, you may be able to select somewhere other than Southampton that suits you with F.O. You will find all the meals included with F.O except an afternoon tea offered on certain days for a supplement. We didn't find many or any catches with them, except the charge for bottled water in the cabins. I'm not associated with them by the way!

By sailing from London - check the small print! If it's Tilbury then that is okay by car but not exactly close to Stansted, Southend of even London City Airports. Whichever departure port you pick, build in enough time to be in the vicinity of the port in good time, the day before to be on the safe side. Good cruising!

Good evening (to nitmm01),

I've dug out the Shore Tours book (A4 size) that F.O sent us about 2 months before cruise departure date, Aug 2015. There were 21 tours for St P., one on each page and the page layout matched what was also displayed in a similar format on the company's website at the time, ranging from a couple of hours on a coach with five stops and a visit to a large craft store through to various combinations of museum visits/river cruises/tours including some city walking and metro trasin travel experiences and the legendary ballet, spread over the two days.

I will take a small risk and suggest that nearer the time you will feel spoilt for choice - or take a private party option organised by F.O - it has its own page in my book; or travel around independently with your own visas.

We booked on board the Braemar for an Iceland taster cruise in Aug 2016 but the shore tour details that far ahead were also not listed or confirmed so the future tours manager photocopied the tours from a recent July 2015 similar cruise as an indication of what to expect. I hope the info you're getting on this forum is an approximate indication of what to expect in Russia.

Fred.Olsen make a big thing of sailing their small ships right into the heart of destination ports and this was the case with our cruise to St Petersburg (2 days there in our case). It may not be so every time in every port but this definitely apply to the other 5 ports we called on our Baltic cruise. We were close enough to the city centre to get cathedrals etc in the background of our on deck photos.

We relied on F.O's visa and booked some shore tours - a city coach tour because my wife can't walk that well; a coach trip to visit the Faberge Eggs museum.

About five coach loads we saw went to the ballet one evening all dressed up as is required.

Some obviously did their own thing with their own visas and private tours. Lots visited the museums and went on river cruises using F.O. tours, a walking city tour etc. Plenty to do.

F.O usually send a semi-personalised shore tours book out about 2 months (?) before I believe: plenty of detail and candid information about how much walking is involved and quite precise about how many steps there are on each tour. City area maps for each port are included.

What we found was website shore tour bookings closed a few weeks before the cruise start date but the manager explained they are then available from the tour counter on board and via the cabin interactive tv which is a bit clunky but worked ok for us. It's nice being on a smaller ship where you can walk right up to the shore tours counter and be greeted with the tickets you just booked on the tv! No queuing. Duplicate shore tours were put on in some cases.

Braemar, nice comfortable ship, friendly crew, the entertainment you may not find thrilling but we enjoyed some of the performers' acts very much.

'Keith 1010' gives out good advice, get the Berlitz book: my head is spinning after reading only half the good advice you've already been given.

Just as important as looking or discounts on the quoted fare, is what does the fare include/exclude? Can make a big difference to total outlay.

Even if you pick a ship with formal nights, individuals can still do their own thing, eat casually or have room service. You will be staying in the equivalent of a mobile 4* or 5* hotel with choices, your choices. And don't try to do much, plan too much in advance. Treat day 1 as zero day and build up from there...

You can stay on board and enjoy the facilities or get off but best to do that after the organised tours have left. Smaller ships may dock closer into city centres than the bigger ones berthed at semi-remote cruise terminals or worse, offshore (via tenders). It's also quite nice to go back to the mother-ship for mid afternoon tea, each to their own preferences...

Carry as little as possible and enjoy boarding. Cameras, medicines, jewellery, I pad, documentation. Some lines won't let you take on wines. Why bother, you should be going to stay in a mobile 5* or 4* hotel - won't they have wines on board, yes they will! I don't know what door decor is?

If you use a bag (any bag) only partly full you may have some useful space for the various presents and purchases you may well come back with.

To believe what our cruising-experienced friends said: 'You will enjoy it and everyone worries about packing the wrong clothes.'

The Med is not a good choice for many sorts of holiday that time of year. Going to Barcelona could be self-contained fly there and back 'city break' and plan a cruise for 2016? Most/many cruises will only provide enough port time for a taster-visit at each destination.

Or, maybe you should consider a 4-7 day cruise immediately before Christmas/New Year and just go with a seasonal itinerary?

As for good service, suggest you read the scores on the Cruise Critic website.

Read all the advice you can get hold of. Cruisin' Chick gives some good advice above. Days at sea can have a different feel and tempo to them to port visit days: on sea days try to enjoy that after breakfast feeling of not actually having to do anything until lunch, then slowly and deliberately add items - some deck walking (if your ship has a promenade deck!); gym maybe, meet for coffee at 11 etc. Chill.

Port visits are mostly only going to be taster visits if you haven't been there before - one good museum/meal/venue, not ten in ten hours! You can vary what you do with each port of call. We took an open top bus tour in Copenhagen on our recent Baltic cruise but only ended up having nice pastries in a cafe I had been to before: in Helsinki we took a harbour tour, visited a market, tram museum, military museum, lots of shopping and still got back in time for an early tea. And no-one knew or minded.

i read everything I could before our recent cruises and tried to anticipate everything - I did not chill until I realised after being on board for 2 hours that there was NOT a sign on my forehead saying 'new to cruising.' Chill and Enjoy.

Good advice to wait. I think everyone thinks having a baby around will limit holiday choices: we did far more after daughter was born than before.

Bill S has the right idea, gives good advice. Engine room noise and vibrations is sometimes reported on some ships, mostly older ones. Newer ships may have external propulsion pods. Away from self-service laundries may also be advisable. Hot steamy environments can waft along nearby passageways. The pricing structure should give you somer clues, paying more may - may - be quieter.

Sea sickness - wearing acupuncture wrist bands, sold in the UK by Boots chemist shops for example, seem to work fine for many people. Each band has a small button embedded which you locate about 3 fingers-width down from the bottom of the hand on the inside of each wrist (but check instructions!). They also worked fine for me flying in Chinooks in Afghanistan!

Broad questions. Some ports, some cities are more dangerous than others however you travel there. Common sense, discretion getting money out, going on organised tours are all advisable in some places. Driving to a UK port or the airport for fly/cruises can be dangerous. If you are more comfortable with your own age group, seek out a cruise line that focuses on that age group. hope this helps.