twruger

And someone else on our cruise (I think on this thread) mentioned it didn’t seem humid to them at all but we’re from TX...so it’s relative I guess

That was probably me, commenting on the heat was not as bad as Texas. But the humidity was definitely bad, and the Baltic buildings seemed to mostly use open windows as their air conditioning. Upon returning to ship, the showers were a priority! Air conditioning on the Breakaway often worked TOO well, and that's ok. :p

About how many rubles did you get? Did you have to order them and then go back to pick up?

I got 14,000 rubles. We later had two in our party who had to cancel, so I bought about the same amount of rubles from them. I ended up bringing about 10,000 rubles back.

Yes, in using a branch office I had to order them, and they were available the next day.

As an adult, the language and content didn't bother me, but I personally wouldn't take an under 18. But to me it was just embarrassingly bad. I would say horrible. I regret not walking out, and kicked myself for staying to the end. My wife was also upset with me that I didn't suggest walking out. :) But it seems that some people liked it.

I'm really curious about the fees. When I use an ATM I get the bank rate for exchange. My only fee is from my bank and is 1% of the exchange.

 

So for instance if I got $10 worth of rubles at an ATM i would get about 635 rubles and my bank would charge me 10 cents. I'm trying to understand how Chase is better than this.

The problem with ATMs is that fees vary based on your bank and such. One person's fees may be different than the next. Sounds like in your case, it's likely the equivalent of transferring stateside, so you probably won't see much fee difference. Personally, I don't like wasting time hunting down or standing in line at an ATM, or risking finding one that doesn't work, etc. It was easier for me to just get exchange ahead of time and carry with me.

It is too bad they did not give you time in the evening to explore, I guess the guide was tired. A few companies have pretty much free time until 10-11pm to do as you please. The city is safe and fun at night so exploring and engaging with the very friendly locals is the highlight of the trip for many.

Actually they did allow more time to explore, based on whatever you had prearranged with them. We were a family of six, and they put us together with a family of four (10 total). Only 3 in my family had preplanned to do the evening cruise, so after the day tour they took 3 back to ship, and the other 3 (including myself) to the cruise with the other family of four. The last 3 of us didn't plan anything after the cruise, so they took us to ship and the other family of four continued on even longer. They must have had more stamina! :)

The tour tickets are printed with the start and return times for each day. Those tickets (aka visa waivers) are only checked on departure Day 1, and not on return or on Day 2. So I'm not sure if it would matter how closely the times are followed. They might have let us continue on later if we had asked, but it had already been a long day and rest was main goal at that point.

I don't believe the 18,000 passengers is an issue, as the Russian port immigration officials have at least four different immigration centers. When we were there, there were four ships docked, so each had its own immigration center. Traffic in one would not affect another. Vehicle traffic seemed negligible, as I never saw any road contention in/out of port. Even the parking lot for the immigration center used for Breakaway was at most half full of tour vans and buses.

We were in Group C, and adhered to our group time of 8:15. Then we waited in the theater for almost an hour. If NCL was enforcing delay, I would rather wait in my room and tell us to just head to gangway at 9:15. NCL blamed the Russians the whole time, but just didn't seem valid. Day 2 everyone just walked off without any wait at all. Granted, the Russian officials were quickly scanning passports and not going through the whole process as Day 1, but it still seems the Day 1 debacle was more of NCL's making. Just the fact that independent tours are forced after NCL tours is suspect, but hey I'll give those people a break since they got suckered into paying more than double to be in larger, slower groups.

When we finally were off the ship and out of NCL's grasp, Russian immigration seemed organized and efficient, although more manned stations surely wouldn't hurt. There were about 15-20 people in each line, and I believe we were only in line about 10-15 minutes. We were with the immigration officer for probably one minute each, although I did observe some people get stuck for 5-10 minutes. I'm not sure what issue held them up. Maybe something with their tour tickets or a flag that came up on their particular passport. But our group of six was through with no issue. We were in our tour van 5 minutes later, and waited 20 minutes for another family of 4 to join our group, and then we were off.

In the end, it was fine. Just a bit of waiting, but we had plenty of time to see everything. We were in St. Petersburg for at least 12 hours on Day 1, and when we finally returned to the ship, that wait didn't matter much and we just wanted to sleep and move on to Day 2! :)

 

15:30 - 16:30 Vodka Museum with degustation

Well.... hmm.... I missed this. I now sense I must do the cruise again to hit the SPb Vodka Museum and do some degustation! :D

So you used public transit both too and from the ship terminal? Did many other passengers utilize the public transit? Or did the majority use taxis or go on shore excursions? Our primary concern is getting off the ship and having a gigantic line waiting for public transit. Getting back to ship is an exercise it giving yourself sufficient time to get back in time, sometimes not for the faint of heart. Thanks again:)

We knew a lot of people were disembarking that day, so didn't try to get off ship first thing. If I recall, we weren't off until 8:30 or 9. There didn't seem to be a lot of people waiting for the bus, and it wasn't full when we pulled out. We used Bus 25 to/from the port.

Even though this is a Copenhagen thread, I'll summarize what we did in each port... (sorry) :cool:

Warnemunde - embarkation, arrived by rental van from Hamburg

Tallinn - on foot

SPb - Independent tour (Best Guides)

Helsinki - Public transport (Tram) and on foot

Stockholm - Public transport: Train, ferry, tram, return train (which was ugh a train/bus/train combo) and on foot

Copenhagen - Public transport (bus) and on foot

Warnemunde - disembarkation, left by rental van to Berlin

Yes moderno buffet bfast is free and so much calmer than the main buffet

THIS is an understatement! :D Moderno buffet is sooo much calmer. It quickly became our go-to every day before leaving port.

The O'Sheehans breakfast was ok too. I never quite understood the the frenzy at the buffet. The Garden Cafe food was mostly mediocre at all times, although there were a few good standouts from time to time (especially grill night). The three dining rooms seemed always half-full at best. I only assume most people like the immediate satisfaction of grabbing bad food at the buffet over ordering from a menu and waiting. Granted, the service at dining rooms was always slow. It was nearly impossible to get water refills.

Thank you. I valued something about this number. For me the ship doesn’t feel busy too. Only at some times at the garden cafe but found every time a seat.

But sorry, don’t want to disturb the report.

I was very curious about how full it was booked as well. I didn't get the feeling that it was fully booked, but really had nothing to go by. We embarked in Warnemunde, so on July 31st as we left Copenhagen with the next set of new cruisers who got on there, we noticed a remarkable drop in the crowd in the atrium and buffet that seemed like more than 50% fewer people for that next sailing (which is still in progress).

We were on this cruise too and also did the Escape room - I wonder if we were in the same group as there was a family with a son and younger daughter. We are Mark and Debbie from the UK. If you are the same family then we were at a table on the far side of the room with another couple and a father and his son - we didn't escape (its hard!!!) I don't want to give any spoilers!!

We were on this cruise, and the escape room was one of the top activities our 12yo wanted to do. We never found it on the dailies or to be open at the Spiegel Tent.

The only difficulty with this port last week was (in our case) Norwegian Cruise Lines preventing anyone who did not purchase an exorbitantly overpriced excursion through them from getting off the ship in a timely manner.

With Best Guides, we had a great tour. Our driver dropped us off and picked us up at the front door everywhere. We never waited in line for more than 5 minutes anywhere to get in (Hermitage, Peterhof, Catherine's Palace, and Church on Spilled Blood). Mercedes van was clean, cool, with water and wifi. We tipped 750 rubles per person to driver, and twice that to the guide. I figure it worked out to about 6% and 12% respectively.

We just returned, and also docked in Nynashamn. No matter whether you take train or bus, they both have their problems. NCL "Guest Services" only made the problem worse. We booked 391 days before the cruise, when Stockholm/Archipelago was still advertised. We received email about port change about 120 days before cruise, and that NCL would pay for the transfer to Stockholm. On board, we were not given the free transfer, and "Guest Services" argued with us that we had not booked before the port change. They immediately got snooty and combative about it just by nicely posing the question to them. They ultimately relented after forcing us to wait 30 minutes standing at the desk and never returning, however they gave us a single crappy option. They only had two bus transfers, both which would cut the port time short by 2 hours. You did not have an option to stay the full reasonable time in Stockholm.

The two shuttle options were 7:30-2:30, or 9:45-4:45. First, it is ridiculous that they cut the port times short if you take the shuttle. Then they said that the 9:45 shuttle was fully booked, so they could only give me the 4:45 return tickets, but not the 9:45 outbound. I still do not understand how that makes any sense at all. Wouldn't both legs be booked to the same capacity? They weren't selling them separately. Then they said that they couldn't give us the 7:30 outbound tickets because they were still selling them to other passengers. Ehh?!? So after they sold out, they could then give them to us? So they basically would only give us a return from Stockholm.

Nynashamn is a bad situation, and NCL seems determined to make it worse. We gave up on NCL and took the train. It was a much better option, but had its downsides as well which came close to making us miss the ship. However, we had a wonderful day in Stockholm, and everyone in our group felt it was the city which we would most like to return two for multiple days.

I faced this same dilemma, as we really wanted to do Berlin, but seemed too far to roundtrip it in one day. Our solution was to take the option that allowed us to embark in Warnemunde instead of Copenhagen (we were on NCL, not sure if you are or have that option). In doing this, we actually flew into Berlin, spent two days there, took train to Hamburg, spent two days, and then on to Warnemunde to embark. After cruise, we returned to Berlin for another two days. With those four days in Berlin, there was still much to see. One day in Berlin would have left us feeling robbed. :)

If that is not an option and you can only port in Warnemunde, I suggest Lubeck. You can get there by train or rent a car, and is about 1h 15m from port. Great medieval streets, churches, market. Although I have not been, Schwerin is a little closer and may be a nice visit also. Even Hamburg is closer than Berlin, but at least two hours travel from port.

We had our 2-day tour booked thru Best Guides, which was great. We contacted them later and said we also wanted a river/canal tour, and they easily added that on for $40 each. On the first evening after our day tour, they dropped us at the boat, we took a 1 hour cruise, and then they picked us up and took us back to ship. There was not time to go back to ship between day and evening cruise. You can't book a tour spontaneously while there, as the tour groups have to take your passport info and preprint the tour tickets, which are required for you to pass thru immigration.

We just got Rubles at Chase Bank before leaving home. Easy to get and lower fees than ATM or a money exchange. I was in SPb last week, and having rubles handy was definitely a plus. Since we had them, we didn't even try to use USD or EUR, or iron anything (absurd). Besides, the recipient can iron their own money! :-D We do prefer using credit cards, and never had an issue in using them. But having rubles made it easier at many places, especially when time is valuable during a brief visit with so much to see. That also keeps from burning precious time trying waiting in line and hoping an ATM will work. We had some left over, and we'll take back to Chase to exchange back to USD. The total fees are trivial.

We're docking in Nynashamn in August on the Regal Princess. The plan is to take the train into Stockholm, visit the Vasa Museum, the ABBA Museum and some time in Gamla Stan. Anyone have the best modes transportation / routes for getting around with little back tracking? We're most likely going to get the 1 day travel card. My understanding is this covers travel to and from the port and all public transportation in the city. All the islands have me slightly confused about the most direct way to get around.

This is the path I put together before going, used it last week and worked great! The all-day ticket covered the train from Nynashman to Stockholm and back, the Djurgarden ferry, and the Tram 7 back to Kungstragarden. (Forgive my Swedish misspellings.) Upon arrival in Stockholm, we walked to City Hall, did the guided tour, walked to Gamla Stan, strolled around, ate lunch, ferried to Djurgarden, went to Vasa museum, Tram 7 back to Kungstragarden, then walked back to Stockholm City commuter station to catch train to Nynashamn.

The only downside was the train back to Nynashamn did not go straight thru. There were issues that forced the train to stop in Hamden. From there, they sent replacement buses to shuttle us past two stations, where we got back on train to finish journey to Nynashamn. The buses were a 10 minute walk away and hard to find, with little direction. We had left early enough that we made ship with 30 minutes to spare, but anyone not expecting this and catching last train might be caught missing ship. Be prepared for such mishaps, and don't take the last train. In talking to others who took a bus, they had similar problems also and nearly missed ship.

My recommendation to other cruisers is to choose a cruise line that always berths in Stockholm

so that you get the sail through as well as a full day in Stockholm.

^^^ This!

We docked in Nynashamn last week on NCL Breakaway, and getting to Stockholm was a debacle. We took train, which was great going to Stockholm. On the return, there was a disruption in line due to maintenance, we had to exit train in Hamden, find replacement buses which were a 10-minute walk away and hard to find, which took us two stations away before we got back on train to return to Nynashamn. This confusion will likely cause some to miss ship, and I've heard of similar issues with other past cruises. In talking to those who took ship-based excurions on buses, they did not fare any better. A large company like Norwegian should be able to easily work with SL to arrange the train for all passengers and ensure the end-to-end journey in both directions. NCL really didn't seem to care and only made the situation worse. Their Guest Services was a disgrace and only left everyone who talked with them angry and frustrated. Despite the train issues and return risk that we faced, I still feel like it was the better option. The all-day ticket also covered us for transport within Stockholm, including the Djurgarden ferry from Gamla Stan, and Tram 7 back to Kungstragarden.

We used Best Guides last week, and had our 10 and 12 yo's in the group. While nothing was tailored especially to them, they still enjoyed the tour. I have a little more detail about our tour here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1583993&page=14

We took the bus at Ocean Quay. There is a ticket machine by the info booth where you get off the ship, and the bus stop is 20 feet away. Take the bus 25 to Nørreport and the walk from there isn't bad. We were soon at Rosenborg and then Nyhavn. We had embarked at Warnemunde, so Copenhagen was only a cruise stop for us, so we had to head back to ship for 4:30 all aboard. Waiting at the bus stop at Nørreport, we noticed that Bus 25 did not have times posted as did all of the normal city bus routes. We waited for 20-25 minutes at the stop, and a lot of people were there freaking out that the bus wouldn't come in time. They started calling taxis and people were talking about sharing rides, and the tension kept increasing. I wasn't worried and just held my ground watching the arriving buses. Finally, at 4:00 exactly, the Bus 25 arrived and we were back at the ship in 15 minutes.

If that sort of thing worries you, get to the stop a little earlier. I would do it again, and don't see any advantage in paying a LOT more for an excursion.

I packed totally wrong. Brought light jackets for me and kids and raincoats for all. Never used. I only had one pr of shorts, everyone else only 2. Most people were dressed for the Caribbean. We brought enough clothes to wear with some repetition til bulk laundry day, but everything was so gross by then.

 

Just keep watching the weather, it did look like a cooling trend was coming...

Haha, we were on the same cruise. We also brought jackets, pullovers, and raincoats that were never used. But we had plenty of shorts. Every day was hot and we sweat a lot, and ended up pretty gamey at the end of each day. But we left our homes in Texas where it was 20-30 degrees F warmer (they were seeing 110F), so we still felt like we were making out very nicely in the Baltics! The air conditioning on the NCL Breakaway worked awesomely, and the Baltic breezes while cruising were amazing also.

I can't say enough good things about Nike Dri-Fit clothing. It wicks sweat very well, and somehow still doesn't get as stinky as other fabrics. If it gets wet when raining, it dries very quickly. Also, if you need to sink wash, it dries quickly. It has convinced me to buy as much of it as possible for shirts, shorts, underwear, socks, etc. Yes, I love it! I haven't had as much success with other similar brands.

Buy what you like! There are a few things we tend to look for everywhere on each trip and build a "collection", which are tea towels, Christmas ornaments, and Starbucks mugs. We have found that by mapping and going out of our way to find Starbucks stores, we tend to see other sights that we would not have seen otherwise. But that's just our thing. Find YOUR thing! :)

Best souvenirs are found in street markets, which we found in Tallinn and Helsinki. I brought back a neat looking bottle of vodka from St Petersburg. In Helsinki Market Square, I found some cool T-shirts and matching fridge magnets with picture of Baltic Sea and the major cities saying "I've Crossed the Baltic Sea". Buy what will mean something to you for a long time, not just some trinket that will lose sentiment over time or stuff just because it is there. You will get sick and tried of seeing matroyshka dolls, as they are everywhere and every shop has hundreds of them. My wife looked for Christmas tree ornaments, so we have a few of those and each Christmas we'll get those nice reminders of our great trip to the Baltics.

We also just got off the Breakaway in July with our 10 and 12 yo's. I didn't get the sense that the ship was full, although I have no way to tell what the booked capacity was. The ship did not feel overly crowded. The kids hated the Splash Academy, and since we gave them the option to do so, they refused to go back after one visit. They enjoyed roaming the ship, hitting the buffet and restaurants on their own, and doing various activities. The onboard activities were effectively never open, or for very limited times, and usually while in port and you were away and unable to use them anyway. My 10yo found the water slides open only briefly on Day 2, and we never found them open again for the rest of the cruise.

However, all of the ports were crowded, and Copenhagen seemed the worst by far. But still we managed, and just kept the kids close and an extra eye on them.

I can't speak to best or worst, but pic below is the bottle I just brought home a few days ago. The store where I shopped said it was not the best, but a very good quality. It's more of a souvenir, and I bought mainly for the design of the bottle. I spoke to the sales person in the store at length, and she was glad to give me many samples. :-D She explained that like anywhere, there is a wide range of quality, and seems that most of their offerings she warned me against buying, so they have plenty of bad vodka too. The store where I purchased wrapped this in bubble wrap, and I just put in middle of clothing and checked in luggage for trip home. That could be more problematic if you have multiple bottles, but just depends on your luggage space. Shipping would be quite expensive, and I did speak to various vendors about shipping for many different items, and none like to do it as issues during shipping fall back to the vendor to resolve. The duty free shop on the pier in SPb also had a variety of vodkas at good prices, but was more of your typical brands. I went ahead and bought a bottle of Grey Goose there since it was such a good deal.