Wheather on baltic cruises

[Sicilian]

I know you can't predict Mother Nature, but for those of you that have been on Baltic Cruises, What is the typical weather expectation for July. Just got back from Marina cruise to Great Britian and temp was between 50-58F. Loved the ship. Food was outstanding. Thanks for your guidance.:)

[roberts2005]

Prepare for rain and hope for sun

[orchestrapal]

We've been on three Baltic cruises. First early June - warm with one beautiful rain storm during dinner in St Petersburg. Second Mid- June beautiful again with slight drizzle for 10 minutes in Talinn. Late June very warm 80's and no rain. All three cruises had very calm seas.:)

[bbwex]

We had great weather the whole time save for a short, but chilly rain just before we left Helsinki. As they say in stock market advertising, past performance is no guarantee of future performance! You have to be prepared for some rain. Temperatures should be pretty comfortable, but again........

[winegirl]

Check the monthly average temperatures on the Weather Channel for each city you are visiting. We travelled there in the 3rd week in June. The highs were supposed to be upper 60's, and the nightly lows about 50. That was very accurate for the entire trip.

 

We had a downpour in Talinn during our walking tour. It was gloriously sunny and clear in Helsinki. Overcast in Copenhagen and Stockholm, clear and sunny in St. Petersburg. Sea was calm. Some beautiful sunsets. Also some unexpected downpours. The pool deck area was warm some days, but cool in the evenings.

 

I recommend layering, with a light fleece or windbreaker jacket for at sea and evenings out on deck or in town. During the day, microfiber Tees, shirts or blouses. If it looks overcast or there is a chance of rain, pack a small collapsible umbrella. Extra pair of shoes in case yours get wet.

 

Don't let the weather get to you. If it rains, it rains and you still tour. I found the weather much more comfortable than southern Spain in July.

[Sicilian]

Thanks Winegirl. I am also considering a Euorpean riverboat cruise and noticed that you have been on one with AMA. Do you mind sharing your experience. I would appreciate it. Thanks!!!

[winegirl]

Sorry so late in reply, I don't look at these boards a lot.

 

Re River Cruise: I'd look at reviews of the river cruises on this website. Also check the Boards for River Cruising, I think under Specialty Cruising.

 

We are not the best people to ask about that: river cruises are getting very expensive nowdays. The advertised prices you see are normally for the lowest price cabins, which are very few in number. Add in your taxes, fees and the adder for the cabin you really want, and you will see the price explode. Most don't "include" air but will book it for you. We book our own since I want a certain schedule with few to no stops.

 

The cabins on the newer boats are nicely appointed, but very small.

 

I was not happy with the dining on our river cruise. We found ourselves eating on shore a number of nights, along with others who were not enamored of the food. It certainly did not come close to Windstar, Oceania or Seabourn dining.

 

Included excursions are a nice feature and we enjoyed them.

 

My TA has suggested we try Uniworld for any future river cruises. I'd have gone to Peter Deilmann but they went out of business. Uniworld was my TA's pick for higher end river cruising. I've also heard that Tauck Tours offers top of the line travel experiences, including river cruises. If I were to go on another river cruise, I'd look at Uniworld and Tauck.

[Tansy Mews]

A good source of weather info is http://www.weatherbase.com

The averages and highest and lowest temperatures are based on quite a few years data.

We did the Baltic cruise at the beginnIng of July this year. For the most part it was good comfortable touring weather. Few people in the pool though! In Riga we had hot weather - about 30C.

[calvin81]

We cruised in the Baltic at the end of July 2010. We started in Stockholm and it was in the mid-60's, drizzly one of our pre cruise days too. We left Stockholm on a sunny afternoon, with temperatures rising. Helsinki was beautiful -- lo 70's and sunny. Perfect for sightseeing. Then we got to St. Petersburg and the temperatures hit 100! And nothing is air conditioned, or air conditioned well, as we are used to in the States. Our minivan was very warm, depsite the a/c. We had a bit cooler temps in Latvia and Estonia, again in the 70's. Perfect day in Visby -- mid 70's and sunny, but not humid. (St. Petersburg was humid as well as just plain hot.) Ronne was chilly and rainy, the worst day. Warnemunde was perfect again, as was Copenhagen. Got a bit cooler in Copenhagen and the nights cooled off -- needed a jacket when we walked around Tivoli at night. So my advice is pack layers! We weren't prepared for the heat in Russia and could have used shorts in Visby and Germany too. In St. Pete I wore one of my skirts I had packed for dinner as it was cooler than anything else I had brought, and the sleeveless shell I had along. Kind of dressy, but comfortable. Who expects a 40 degree temp swing?

[katz]

We cruised the Batlics in July 2010. We did not have any rain, but they were in the middle of a heat wave. Temps were in the 90's in St. Petersburg and Tallin.

 

I would suggest keeping a close eye on the weather predictions for that area as your cruise gets closer. I use weatherbase.com.