I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate this review. My sister and I (mid/late 20s) are going with our parents (...older than late twenties) on this cruise in August and as the voted travel guide, this has been a gold mine of information. I finished reading Rick Steves' and am glad to see a recent comparison as well. Not to mention your additions of DIY and the Princess Patters! While our port days are in a different sequence and hence All Aboards will be altered, this has been a tremendous help on how much I think I can get done (and how many books to pack!)
I have a couple of questions, though. I know you said your sister and yourself were fairly active, and my sister and I should have little problem with that, but my parents are more sedentary and have some bothersome knees, etc. with too much stress from running or standing all day. Do you think your DIY schedules (such as Oslo and Tallinn) were hectic, or was the time indoors, eating, etc. enough of a break not to feel much strain? While I am a history nerd and want to see as much as possible, I do not want to wear them out and force the next day to be shortened or painful, and I wonder if my sister and I should separate or skip places or try to include them. I feel like your itineraries seem to match my planned paths rather well, so I was wondering on your insight. We also scheduled the two palace tour in St. Petersburg via Princess against the negative reviews on this site for a few reasons, and I was hoping it was not too crowded and exhausting- I'm glad to see you enjoyed it.
Also, previous reviewers have mentioned leaving passports in the safe and either taking photocopies or just the ship card in many ports (excluding SPB, of course). The Patters you so wonderfully posted dictated bringing them to each port, though the only time you mentioned them were SPB. You also returned to the ship for lunch before, so I wondered if you brought them all day, at the beginning of the day only for customs, or if it wasn't very necessary?
Thank you again for your wonderful and honest review!
Emerald Princess Baltic trip report - May 23-June 3, 2013 (with pictures and patters)
in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea
Posted
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate this review. My sister and I (mid/late 20s) are going with our parents (...older than late twenties) on this cruise in August and as the voted travel guide, this has been a gold mine of information. I finished reading Rick Steves' and am glad to see a recent comparison as well. Not to mention your additions of DIY and the Princess Patters! While our port days are in a different sequence and hence All Aboards will be altered, this has been a tremendous help on how much I think I can get done (and how many books to pack!)
I have a couple of questions, though. I know you said your sister and yourself were fairly active, and my sister and I should have little problem with that, but my parents are more sedentary and have some bothersome knees, etc. with too much stress from running or standing all day. Do you think your DIY schedules (such as Oslo and Tallinn) were hectic, or was the time indoors, eating, etc. enough of a break not to feel much strain? While I am a history nerd and want to see as much as possible, I do not want to wear them out and force the next day to be shortened or painful, and I wonder if my sister and I should separate or skip places or try to include them. I feel like your itineraries seem to match my planned paths rather well, so I was wondering on your insight. We also scheduled the two palace tour in St. Petersburg via Princess against the negative reviews on this site for a few reasons, and I was hoping it was not too crowded and exhausting- I'm glad to see you enjoyed it.
Also, previous reviewers have mentioned leaving passports in the safe and either taking photocopies or just the ship card in many ports (excluding SPB, of course). The Patters you so wonderfully posted dictated bringing them to each port, though the only time you mentioned them were SPB. You also returned to the ship for lunch before, so I wondered if you brought them all day, at the beginning of the day only for customs, or if it wasn't very necessary?
Thank you again for your wonderful and honest review!