Viking Sun Homelands departing Stockholm today

for anyone boarding today just thought I’d mention that it’s the Stockholm marathon. There’s a lot of road closures. We’re just leaving our hotel in the city and have been told that there’s no taxis operating after 11am.

for anyone boarding today just thought I’d mention that it’s the Stockholm marathon. There’s a lot of road closures. We’re just leaving our hotel in the city and have been told that there’s no taxis operating after 11am.

Today being Saturday, June 2, 2018.

Good luck with your boarding and have a wonderful cruise. We'd love to hear some of your comments along the way about your ship and the cruise.

One quick question. Who is the cruise director on your cruise? We'll be on Viking Sun later this month. Enjoy your time.

Too late to read this warning. We had a long hot wait on our bus from the airport until the organisers of the marathon realised that many bus loads of us needed to get to the ship!

Helsinki today. Very nice place and we enjoyed the panoramic tour.

Not enjoying the queuing on board though. Can only stand the World Cafe after the feeding frenzy has died down!!

Thank you for your insights. We follow you on the Viking Sky on the 9th so any information is great.

Too late to read this warning. We had a long hot wait on our bus from the airport until the organisers of the marathon realised that many bus loads of us needed to get to the ship!

Helsinki today. Very nice place and we enjoyed the panoramic tour.

Not enjoying the queuing on board though. Can only stand the World Cafe after the feeding frenzy has died down!!

Assume the Helsinki panoramic was the included tour?? Was it just a bus tour?

When you get to Copenhagen, be sure and do the canal boat ride while there (highly recommended by Rick Steves)-the Neto-Badene company; it's located about a 5-10 minute walk from where the Viking shuttle is; beautiful ride and not expensive at all.

The Helsinki tour was a panoramic and included one. It was good. Lasted 3 hours but with a stop of about an hour in the centre and another shorter stop for the Sibelius monument.

Currently docked in St Petersberg surrounded by huge cruise ships. Cold wet weather Glad we're not getting off the shop today.

Another grey, depressing day moored at grey, depressing St Petersberg.

Fingers crossed for a brighter time in Tallinn.

Another grey, depressing day moored at grey, depressing St Petersberg.

Fingers crossed for a brighter time in Tallinn.

What are you enjoying/not enjoying about the ship? Many contributors only give positive comments so would be interested in anything that is disappointing.

Have you chosen not to get off the ship in St Petersburg?

Would love to hear if others have mentioned any issues with getting off in St. Petersburg. Really hope that the weather perks up for you. I am seeing cool - high of 64 F with partly sunny skies for Tallinn tomorrow.

What are you enjoying/not enjoying about the ship? Many contributors only give positive comments so would be interested in anything that is disappointing.

Have you chosen not to get off the ship in St Petersburg?

If you look at Nippy Sweetie's posts you seem to see a pattern develop. Though she is on the cruise she has some predetermined opinions about it that are not to her liking. She will do what she can to make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Though she does have a few posts that are positive, she most often seems to see 'the glass half empty'. I did this cruise a couple of years ago and for me, it was delightful. This is far too much money to spend if you are determined to look at the dark side.

One quick question. Who is the cruise director on your cruise? We'll be on Viking Sun later this month. Enjoy your time.

Christopher Shafey I believe

We’re on board now. It took about half an hour to get through security at St Petersburg yesterday and no time at all today.

Yes it is grim in parts, not helped yesterday by the grey weather. The history of this place is fascinating. The tour guides were excellent, really friendly with a great sense of humour. The staff in the museums seemed very grumpy - our guide said that Russians only smile at people they know!

This is our first ever cruise and we are having a great time

What a difference a week makes. We just got off this same itinerary on the Viking Sun (Bergen to Stockholm, though). Not one rainy day the entire cruise! Great ports, great tours. St. Petersburg great (except for the traffic, but that's true nearly everywhere). To my mind, Viking does just about everything well. Not too long queues in the World Café, maybe two or three people in front of you at a busy time for the buffet. Loved it, and looking forward to our next one.

No self-fulfilling prophesies for me nor glass half full. The weather was indeed awful in St Petersberg: grey and miserable enlivened only by some lightening flashing over the other five cruise ships moored near us.

We enjoyed a spa session and good lunch and dinner today.

No complaints about viking but a disappointment to hear that DH's long anticipated excursion to visit Panzer tanks etc will have to be cancelled unless more people sign up.

Tallinn tomorrow.

In Tallinn we thoroughly enjoyed the included walking tour. We had a terrific local guide who grew up there and was very knowledgeable about the area's history. We also got to go into a wonderful chocolate shop in town that was recommended on this forum (but I can't recall the name).

Another grey, depressing day moored at grey, depressing St Petersberg.

Fingers crossed for a brighter time in Tallinn.

Too bad you didn't get off the ship in SP. It really isn't depressing. They people are wonderful as is the city. When we are on vacation we don't let the weather get to us. It's just something that we don't have control over. Reading your previous posts on this thread, it looks to point out the negative. Better to approach things on the positive side.

We’re on board now. It took about half an hour to get through security at St Petersburg yesterday and no time at all today.

Yes it is grim in parts, not helped yesterday by the grey weather. The history of this place is fascinating. The tour guides were excellent, really friendly with a great sense of humour. The staff in the museums seemed very grumpy - our guide said that Russians only smile at people they know!

This is our first ever cruise and we are having a great time

It isn't that they are particularly grumpy but that they are not expected or even encouraged to smile while working. Smiling is not part of the work ethic and is actually viewed as un-workman-like behavior. We learned this while on our visit to St. P over 10 years ago and then again on our visit to Ukraine. We also learned that Russians have trouble with foreigners who smile all the time; they find it disingenuous. The tour guides have had to develop the smile and the sense of humor.

We did not get off the ship on Russian soil for reasons previously discussed on other threads. I don't propose to go over our reasons again.

We have left Russia now and the sun is out. Onwards!

Enjoy Tallinn, the old town is amazing. Hopefully the sun stays out.

Tallinn was lovely. Sunny but with a chilly breeze. We had a nice guide for our walking tour but we're amazed at how incredibly packed the old town was with tours. There were only 3 cruise ships in as far as I could see but we just swamped the poor old town.

We had a good lunch of Baltic herring and rye toasts at a cafe opposite the flower market.

Tallinn was lovely. Sunny but with a chilly breeze. We had a nice guide for our walking tour but we're amazed at how incredibly packed the old town was with tours. There were only 3 cruise ships in as far as I could see but we just swamped the poor old town.

We had a good lunch of Baltic herring and rye toasts at a cafe opposite the flower market.

A 10 mph wind from the north can make it seem a rather chilly 60 F. It has been mentioned about the crowd in Tallinn in the morning. Though it seems to go against nature, Tallinn in this direction is best to do on the last included excursion. The later departure makes this easy to do. We made your choice and left as soon as we could for outer Tallinn and by the time we got back around 3:00, the main square was cleared and had a great time.

Hope things go better for you in Gdansk and enjoy your sea day.

If you look at Nippy Sweetie's posts you seem to see a pattern develop. Though she is on the cruise she has some predetermined opinions about it that are not to her liking. She will do what she can to make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Though she does have a few posts that are positive, she most often seems to see 'the glass half empty'. I did this cruise a couple of years ago and for me, it was delightful. This is far too much money to spend if you are determined to look at the dark side.

Dauntless - have you googled the definition of "Nippy Sweetie"? I did laugh when I first saw her handle and read subsequent posts as it doesn't always mean a sour sweet! ;)