Baltic cruise?

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Hi,

I was looking at doing the Baltic cruise on Jewel in August.

It turns out that my work calendar may be tricky at that time. May might be better for work reasons.

Who has done this route in May? How is it?

We really want to go this year because I understand that it is the last year for the Jewel.

If August is that much better than May, then I may try to pull some strings.

Thanks!

[katetim]

My family and I did a back to back Vision of the Seas Baltic cruise out of Stockholm in early August, 2011. The ports were absolutely amazing, and we had a wonderful time. As for the weather, it was either overcast or rainy every day except one, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Whether you choose to go in May or in August, you should be prepared with rain gear and layers.

 

Bon voyage!

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Thank you for your comments.

[debache]

I did the baltics on the jewel in August 09...it was fantastic...The weather was in the 60s and we had no complete wash outs but we had some rain a few days never really sunny....Estonia is a must see beautiful....I enjoyed every port very much...go and have a great time...go to weather channel website check out the weather in both May and August and also check out the sunset times...this might help you to decide...

[SadmanCruiser]

We did the Baltics in May. Crossing the North Sea was foggy and we did have at least some rain in nearly every port. Weather 50's and 60's.

 

Still a wonderful cruise.

 

Pete & Wifey

[Tucker in Texas]

We did the Baltics in May last year on Celebrity out of Amsterdam and it was great. I packed long underwear because I was afraid of the cold but only used them once in Finland and could have gotten along fine without them. Helskini was overcast that day with maybe a sprinkle now and then which probably contributed to the cooler weather. In other ports the weather was fine needing only a jacket even in Russia.

 

Tucker in Texas

[critterchick]

Where did you hear/read that it'll be the last year for Jewel to do the Baltics? Not that rotating ships isn't a good idea, just curious.:)

[New to Europe]

For those of you who recently did the Baltic cruise on the Vision-what were your impressions of the ports, ship, etc. ? My two kids (21 and 22) are taking the cruise that leaves out of Stockholm June 25th and they're not sure what to expect. Is there any easy way to get from the pier to the airport? Also-do they have a Quest show on the Vision?:confused:

[IWORK2CRUISE]

I saw another post that indicated this would be the final year for Jewel to do the Baltic route. I din't bookmark it so I can't go back to it.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Oh, my fingers just can't spell tonight!

Anyway, I found what I had read.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1538149

[critterchick]

Oh, my fingers just can't spell tonight!

Anyway, I found what I had read.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1538149

 

Take that with a grain of salt. The OP on that thread hears a lot of things from the crew that don't come to pass.

 

But if he got it right this time, then I suspect that RCI will put another ship on that route. The ports are simply brilliant, and if you get a little rain, just make sure you have a coat and umbrella.

 

The "best" time to go is to catch the summer solstice (June 20 this year)- the sun never sets, and it's quite interesting, and eerie, to have light in the sky all night long. We were on a mid-July sailing in 2007 and, although it wasn't quite peak, it was amazing.

[catloverinhightown]

We sailed in the Baltic in may 3 years ago. The only day it rained was in Copenhagen, some days it was really hot. The only problem we had was that it was windy at sea and we couldn't always get on deck, also opportunities for swimming were limited because of that. It stayed light till at least 1am and another passenger told me it was light at 2.30 am so not much darkness, if any. The sunsets were amazing and the Baltic extremely calm most of the time.

We sailed to the Canaries at the same time of year the year previous and the weather was probably worse than in the Batlic states.

We are going back to the Baltics in July this year but are still prepared for mixed weather.

Enjoy whenever you go

[katetim]

For those of you who recently did the Baltic cruise on the Vision-what were your impressions of the ports, ship, etc. ? My two kids (21 and 22) are taking the cruise that leaves out of Stockholm June 25th and they're not sure what to expect. Is there any easy way to get from the pier to the airport? Also-do they have a Quest show on the Vision?:confused:

 

The ports were the main draw of the trip. My kids are younger and learned an amazing amount about the culture and history of each country we visited. I did a lot of research on the ports section of cruise critic and scheduled a private tour of St. Petersburg which was worth every cent. We did a free tour in Estonia which was marvelous, and self-toured in Stockholm and Helsinki. It was an intense trip with almost no relaxation time, but we expected that.

 

Vision of the Seas was clean and in good repair, but it is a smaller ship with fewer entertainment venues than other ships we have been on. I'm not sure if they had the Quest - we were simply too tired at night to do much else but eat and sleep!

 

There are many ways to get from the pier to the airport in Stockholm. Taxi is the quickest but most expensive. We took a City bus to the Arlanda Express train to the airport, which worked out fine, and took about an hour. Everyone speaks English, and the public transport system is very good.

[Quasar1011]

The "best" time to go is to catch the summer solstice (June 20 this year)- the sun never sets, and it's quite interesting, and eerie, to have light in the sky all night long.

 

Why would the sun never set in the Baltics? The Arctic Circle is quite a ways north of there.

 

But yes, you would have twilight instead of complete darkness.

[madra2112]

We did a week on Vision out of Copenhagen in August 2010, we were blessed with the weather and had a wonderful time. We had two teens with us, aged 16 and 17 at the time and they had a ball.

 

There was a Quest on board, in the some enchanted evening lounge, I got involved and really enjoyed it. I loved the feeling of being close to water on Vision, while it lacks the bells and whistles of the Voyager and Freedom ships we'd been on before, it had everything we wanted.

 

The steam and sauna are the best I've sen on a ship, and the covered solarium (with a solarium cafe doing sandwiches, salads, burgers, hot dogs) was a treat.

 

Here's a link to my Facebook page, if you go into it and click "see all", scroll down and you'll see the albums from the Baltic under the heading "Cruise 2010 - Helsinki" etc.

 

http://www.facebook.com/donalkavanagh/photos

[time4me2fly]

For those of you who recently did the Baltic cruise on the Vision-what were your impressions of the ports, ship, etc. ? My two kids (21 and 22) are taking the cruise that leaves out of Stockholm June 25th and they're not sure what to expect. Is there any easy way to get from the pier to the airport? Also-do they have a Quest show on the Vision?:confused:

 

We sailed on the Vision to the Baltic in July 2011. The easiest way to get to the airport from the pier is by taxi.

 

Yes, they had Quest on our sailing. Always LOTS of fun!

 

The ports are just wonderful to visit. The ship is small and doesn't offer much, but you are so busy in port, so you don't spend a lot of time on the ship. There are still plenty of things to do on the ship, when you get back from port...dinner, trivia, casino, Quest, Schooner Bar...

 

We had 6 people in our group that were in their 20's and they enjoyed the cruise.

[Sinppu]

Why would the sun never set in the Baltics? The Arctic Circle is quite a ways north of there.

 

But yes, you would have twilight instead of complete darkness.

 

NOT that far ;)

The sun does set in the area where the Baltic Sea cruises, but only for about five-six hours at a time.

I've lived in Helsinki all my life, so I can guarantee the OP that the weather can be anything from freezing to hot in May. The same goes for August.

Our summers are said to be short both in time and in snow :D

 

In another words, if you are lucky the weather will be lovely. If not, it will rain and be cold.

 

I personally think the itinerary is great. You get to experience very different ports, cities and countries. Especially Stockholm is beautiful.

I myself work on a Baltic Sea cruise ship but due to short distances, a cruise is one or two nights. I never get bored looking at the Stockholm archipelago.

[cruisecriticmember]

Take that with a grain of salt. The OP on that thread hears a lot of things from the crew that don't come to pass.

 

But if he got it right this time, then I suspect that RCI will put another ship on that route. The ports are simply brilliant, and if you get a little rain, just make sure you have a coat and umbrella.

 

The "best" time to go is to catch the summer solstice (June 20 this year)- the sun never sets, and it's quite interesting, and eerie, to have light in the sky all night long. We were on a mid-July sailing in 2007 and, although it wasn't quite peak, it was amazing.

 

Our cruise ends on the date you mention and the Norway cruise embarks that day this year.

[woody73]

We went on the Jewel in August 2010 and had excellent weather.

 

Woody

[Paulxyz2004]

I´ve done the blatics three times. Twice in May and once in August.

 

May is the time to go to experience the white nights in St. Petersburg.

[toocruisin2]

We did the Baltics on the Jewel in May and it was perfect!! Great weather, great cities, a great ship, super cruise director and wonderful crew. If you need specifics about departing from Harwich, hotels in London, etc. just send me a PM.

 

The temps were in the 60's, and we had clear days throughout (that was just good luck). Now the one thing you should know is that a May cruise will not have a lot of school age passengers, so depending on your preferences, that could be an issue; we had four adults, so no problem for us, but the few young adults on the cruise didn't have a lot of company.

 

Paul

[IWORK2CRUISE]

We changed our original plan and will now sail B2B in August on Brilliance of the Seas. One week Baltic and the second week Norwegian Fjords. Yeah!

Now we need hotel(s) in Copenhagen.

I was trying to search on RCI today for a. the port location and b. the hotels that RCI uses.

 

Not happening today. I kept getting messages that the information was not available or that they were making updates.

 

Does anyone have a hotel to suggest in Copenhagen? Does anyone know where the ship docks?

 

Thanks!

[hazmat1]

BOOK IT.

 

Probably one of the best cruises we have been on. The history of the ports and the scenery. We loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat. We traveled in July 2008 and the weather was very nice, 60s most of the time.

 

I haven't checked the new itinerary, but if St Petersburg, Russia is on the list, make sure you visit the Hermatage (sp) museum. You might not get a chance to be up close and personal with those artifacts and art in your life. The fjords of Norway are breathtaking and if you can, try to see the changing of the guard in Stockholm at the royal palace.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

Thanks, hazmat1. We are booked for the cruises. We are going!

[hazmat1]

Thanks, hazmat1. We are booked for the cruises. We are going!

 

Can you take us with you?