Murdo2012

I can confirm that all the SPG guides are excellent. However, ours was truly outstanding!  For a St. Petersburg tour, contact Viktoria (Vika) Rother at SPB Tours and ask for their most senior Elena (blonde, tall, older lady) as Elena is a common Russian first name. Elena has an advanced degree in Russian history, has been giving tours for years, absolutely fluent in English, has taught all the younger tour guides at SPB, is an encyclopedia of information, and is treated like royalty wherever she goes. She is so well respected that her tour group goes to the front of the line at each stop. SPB prices are excellent and they give discounts for groups. We will definitely use them again.

Thanks, Dave for your live comments. We just finished a 14 day Baltic itinerary on the Koningsdam and I concur with many of your observations. We loved the Koningsdam and understand that there will be a few hiccups in the first few sailings. I'm so glad you have noted an improvement with the staff in the various dining room venues. Stan Kuppens, the wonderful Hotel Director was aware of service problems and was working diligently with his staff to address issues brought to his attention.

As you observed, the Dutch Cafe patrons stayed long past what is considered polite when others are waiting. Obviously, the Dutch passengers loved this spot and lingered on and on and on, reading books, etc. The same people were occupying the same table for 2-3 hours at a time. There are many empty lounges throughout the ship where guests can congregate if their sole purpose is to read or socialize. The Dutch Cafe's most popular menu items (like pea soup and poffertjes) were often unavailable by mid day. Hopefully, management will take note of the success of the Dutch Cafe and expand the space or encourage time limits which I realize would be impossible to enforce. However, an hour does seem reasonable for most folks. By necessity, many guests, including us, ordered "takeaway" to eat in our cabin.

Yes, they do serve it in the MDR but I must say it was much tastier in the Pinnacle Grill. I found the Creme Brûlée in the MDR varied in quality - sometimes good but sometimes a little too runny.

I noticed the difference as well and mentioned it to the dining room manager. He told me that the Creme Brulee in the Pinnacle is made from scratch with eggs and cream.... and the MDR is basically a "custard" made from a pudding mix.