VivianK

Great to hear on your May Baltics "good luck" with the weather, but what happened for you is not the "normal" or average.

 

Here are a few weather averages/details for these three key cities in the Baltics by looking at the 7th, 15th, 23rd days of each month from http://www.wunderground.com:

 

Copenhagen: High/low averages,

May, early: 61 high/47 low °F

May, mid: 63/48 °F

May, late: 65/50 °F

 

June, early: 67/53 °F

June, mid: 68/54 °F

June, late: 69/54 °F

 

July, early: 69/55 °F

July, mid: 69/54 °F

July, late: 69/54 °F

 

August, early: 67/53 °F

August, mid: 66/52 °F

August, late: 64/51 °F

 

Sept., early: 60/49 °F

Sept., mid: 58/47 °F

Sept., late: 56/45 °F

 

St. Petersburg:

May, early: 60 high/41 low °F

May, mid: 62/44 °F

May, late: 65/46 °F

 

June, early: 68/49 °F

June, mid: 70/51 °F

June, late: 72/53 °F

 

July, early: 72/53 °F

July, mid: 71/52 °F

July, late: 70/51 °F

 

August, early: 66/48 °F

August, mid: 64/46 °F

August, late: 61/45 °F

 

Sept., early: 55/41 °F

Sept., mid: 52/38 °F

Sept., late: 48/36 °F

 

Stockholm:

May, early: 60 high/44 low °F

May, mid: 62/46 °F

May, late: 63/49 °F

 

June, early: 66/52 °F

June, mid: 68/54 °F

June, late: 70/55 °F

 

July, early: 71/56 °F

July, mid: 70/55 °F

July, late: 69/54 °F

 

August, early: 67/52 °F

August, mid: 65/50 °F

August, late: 63/48 °F

 

Sept., early: 58/44 °F

Sept., mid: 54/42 °F

Sept., late: 51/40 °F

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 215,248 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Thanks Terry! Great information.

just a point: we went on the Baltic cruise in May 2016. We originally booked a cruise in June, but then saw that we could save $2,000 total on veranda cabin if we went on the first cruise of the season. So we switched. The prices ended up dropping by $50 pp and we got an extra perk before final payment was due, but did not see much change after that. Then all hell broke out in europe and the prices starting dropping on the other cruises - but if that had not happened, price is much higher in summer months

Weather- we had the most beautiful sunny, warm and everyone told us how lucky we were. It was for all the stops - never wore a coat. Later cruises had horrible cold and windy. Can't predict the weather, but don't eliminate May because you think it will be too cold.

Thanks for the advice. We'll definitely consider May.

Any idea when the schedules for these cruises will be available? Thanks!

4774Papa, thanks for the link to your Japan cruise. We are booked for a cruise in Japan in 2018. I enjoyed your photos and review. It was the first real look at what we will experience.

Thanks again for posting.

We're looking towards 2018 for Japan and wondering which cruise you found enticing? Thanks

Hope to sail with you in the future!

Barry, Clojacks, Were you able to find another cruise? I hope so!

Just got our notification through our TA. They are offering a "protected fare" on only 2 sailings! Man, they are sure going above and beyond making sure their customers are satisfied. At the present they are only offering the "inconvenience" $200 OBC for the one Chartered cruise and not the second cruise we paired with it as a back to back. I'd be curious to know if anyone else on here has a back to back affected and if they are going to pursue a nominal similar compensation for losing the second cruise as well.

Have you been able to find another cruise? I hope so.

Jazzbeau,thanks for the info on insurance company.

They had certain cruises that they were offering the compensation. It happened that the one we wanted was one of them as it had many of the same ports. The price was lower on the new cruise so I didn't worry about a price match guarantee. I booked the new one today and got a balcony 2 cabins away from the one I had on the cancelled cruise. I was not B2B. We like to spend some time on land as well as cruise. Last time we went to Lake Bled in Slovenia for 4 days before leaving on our cruise starting in Venice.

Spoke to our TA who contacted Celebrity. CRUISE CHARTERED. Received $200.00 and re-booked another cruise. Always thought it would end this way!!

Too bad, it was a great itinerary.

We have not gotten any email as yet.

Sounds interesting, Jazzbeau. Would you please let me know the name of the insurance company that your TA uses. The one I use (if you purchase at final payment )will cover pre-existing beginning when you leave your home, but that is only if everything has been "stable" for 60 days prior. It would be great if we didn't have to insure every time at deposit!!

Uh-oh! misspelled "waive"

As you noted, the charters make more money for the cruise line. Therefore it's a buyer's market: when the charter group is ready, the cruise line has to clear the ship. Celebrity doesn't get to set the cut-off date or they would lose the business. But we individual cruisers want the schedules to come out sooner and sooner, so people will get bumped. As long as they do it before 331 days out, people shouldn't have a financial loss. Note: I don't discount the emotional loss -- I'm a planner and I get invested in my plans so I would be upset if the rug were pulled out from under me; but I understand enough of the business to know why it happens and will keep happening.

I agree except if you need to wave "pre-existing conditions" one is required to book insurance within 21 days of the initial deposit which is what we did...back in January. If you wait to book insurance and you have an issue with something that you have ongoing, you will not be covered. In addition, some people are working within certain dates and obligations. For them it's very frustrating. There's no great solution to this problem.

My husband got a response to an email he sent to Celebrity. Basically the lady that phoned us cannot at this time disclose any further information than what we already know-- which is nothing.

IMHO Cherylroslyn is correct. We're waiting for something to happen or not so Celebrity can move forward with the booked passengers. Yes, we are fortunate that we haven't purchased air!!

Called our big box store TA and she got "them" on the phone. Still no news!

Why not go ahead and book an alternative cruise for now? You can always cancel it without consequence IF your original reappears.

We've considered it, but rather not lay out another $1,000.00 deposit. May not have a choice if I get sick of waiting.

Thank you, Barry. Lori & BEAV. You are right not to get too aggravated because it doesn't help.

Only problem is while we wait and wait the prices on other cruises may increase. Last year the European cruise we booked went up continuously and we were thrilled we booked early.

Let's hope we hear real soon.

The people in the REVENUE department do know, but won't tell. The only reason for this kind of delay has to be because they are waiting for a contract to be executed. If it's the whole ship we'll be cancelled; if it's partial they won't divulge that for fear of existing passenger cancellations. So very frustrating!!

Please let us know what you learn. Thanks

Vivian

We did not get a call back- no surprises there!!! I think it's pointless to keep calling, they're obviously not going to reveal anything until they are good and ready. I would definitely have let you know if I heard anything. Pretty frustrating! Well, enjoy your weekend.

Thank you for the update Clojacks! My husband never heard back from the Revenue department.

I don't think I mentioned it, but we were going to go to Iceland on the way to Amsterdam and stop over for several days. Icelandaire does this with in combination with Amsterdam and then from Barcelona we were to fly to London(spend a few days) so we could again use Icelandaire home. Most of the other trips we are looking out we are Rome round trip or Barcelona round trip. Icelandaire doesn't fly to either! A unique itinerary, which is why we chose it.

Maybe a river cruise...LOL!

Clojacks, it's so puzzling that your TA is the only one that is still selling the trip. There are other large TA's that have dropped it.

We've scoured the cruise lines and come up with a few alternatives. Even if the cruise does come back on, chances are there will be a large group booking which they won't explain in detail to the existing passengers already booked. We've already seen their sense of "transparency."

Thank you for the link VILLAUK! Doesn't look like I would like to be on the ship with a huge group booking!

My husband called our TA and they called the revenue dept of X. No luck! Nobody knows what's happening and if they do they're not telling. I'm just about ready to "jump ship."