Gigiandbaba

It is interesting how people look at things differently. To me, sea days means reading a great book in one of the many different places to curl up and read, or just to sit and watch the sea. As I have stated before, we loved the food, and I think the reason for them to dish out the salad is to avoid as much as possible all the handling of the utensils which helps to avoid norovirus problems. When you sign up for a tour with Viking, you know there are going to be more people than a private tour and you just go with the flow!!!!!

My husband were on the Homelands cruise last Sept, and we thought the food was outstanding-the Chef's Table was one of our favorites. We are going on our next cruise with Viking in June, and I am dieting so that I can indulge again, esp the gelato bar!!!!! I guess that if I thought the food was terrible, I certainly would not have booked another cruise.:o

JiminyC_fan-that is a really good web site-we are on the "Into the Midnight Sun" cruise, and all of our ports are on there, with alot of good info. Thanks

Celiac cruiser-I don't know when the Viking tour goes to the Hermitage-we did the Alla tour. And I really don't know the things that Viking does but Alla took us on a tour of the subway system -it was really quite facinating as each station had a different theme-we saw "the Olympics" and "Naval" things and the trains went very fast!!!! We got on at one station and off at the next. And really, the best reason to go with a private tour is the small group-so much easier.

Whatever tour you do in St. Petersburg, be sure that the visit to the Hermitage is in the morning before it opens to the public or else it is VERY crowded and then not as enjoyable.

A description of Molde from a Norway travel book:

Molde is part of a archipelago sheltered from the Norwegian Sea; its mild climate, green vegetation and rose gardens earn it the title "Town of Roses". A statue of the Little Rose Seller stands in the marketplace, where stalls sell everything from fruit and vegetables to clothes and, of course, roses.

A one-hour signed trail leads from town to Varden, Molde's best vantage point, overlooking fjord and island to the snowcaps of the Sunnmore Mountains. The view from here is known as the Molde Panorama-townspeople claim you can see 222 peaks!!!!

We are on this cruise June 25th from Bergen so that sounds like a great hike.

We were in a forward Explorer's Suite in September on the Homelands cruise and just loved the space. I think that the forward suite might have more room on the inside as the veranda is smaller than the aft suites. It was a perfect amount of room for us, and we spent alot of time in our cabin as it was so enjoyable.

On our Sept cruise, the sea was really calm in the Baltic but when we got into the North Sea on our way to Norway, there was only a slight chop but nothing to interfere with anything you wanted to do. We had brought Bonine and ginger candies with us but never opened them!!!!

We took the Homelands cruise Sept 4-18-packed for cool and rainy weather-but we had beautiful weather-sunny and only a few drops of rain in St. Petersburg-in fact in Germany, the temperature was close to 90 !!! We had sun in all of the ports in Norway which is known for its rainy weather. I think it is very hard to predict which time of year is best for weather in the Baltics.

You definitely need sturdy shoes as there cobblestones in all of the port cities. I think that most people wore "athletic" shoes, and they were very comfortable.. We just returned from the Homelands Cruise, and it was really wonderful. We had such beautiful weather, and we had not packed for that!!!So bring a variety of clothes!! We did many tours on our own as Viking provides shuttle buses at the ports that are not close to town. All in all, a great trip!!!