Silhouette runs into bad weather in Baltic

[frteach]

I am currently sitting on the Sil heading for St. Petersburg, which we were supposed to be at by 7 AM. Windy weather meant that the ships in the port yesterday were not able to leave, so although we arrived, there were no parking spots left! Most passengers had 2 days of touring planned, as we are going to be here overnight, but they just informed us that they are going to extend our stay by 2 hours tomorrow, and try to rearrange tours so that we see as much as we can. Lots of disappointment, but we are trying to make the best of it. Also, the Russian dance troupe which was going to entertain us tonight will be left on the dock in SP. No matter how much planning is done, you always have to be flexible.

[countess5]

I am currently sitting on the Sil heading for St. Petersburg, which we were supposed to be at by 7 AM. Windy weather meant that the ships in the port yesterday were not able to leave, so although we arrived, there were no parking spots left! Most passengers had 2 days of touring planned, as we are going to be here overnight, but they just informed us that they are going to extend our stay by 2 hours tomorrow, and try to rearrange tours so that we see as much as we can. Lots of disappointment, but we are trying to make the best of it. Also, the Russian dance troupe which was going to entertain us tonight will be left on the dock in SP. No matter how much planning is done, you always have to be flexible.

 

So sorry to hear of the issues with weather, we were in STP in May. What a city!

I feel for those that had private tours like we did. Trying to rearrange those will be difficult. Enjoy the time you have, we loved the Sil! Better weather wishes for the rest of your cruise.

[wendyam76]

Sitting in the Sky Lounge hopefully waiting for the pilot to guide us in. We too had a private two day tour booked but am hoping that they will still be able to manage something with us tomorrow - it's better than nothing and I feel so sorry for the crew who would have expected a much easier day today and all the moans/complaints they have had to put up with. My mum and I enjoyed a relaxing day and watched Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

[dodger1964]

I pulled up the ship on tracking website...looks like it is slowly moving (but in the wrong direction??)...probably just looks the wrong way on the website. Shows 260 degrees.

 

hope you get there soon!

 

http://www.shipcruises.org/2013/02/celebrity-silhouette.html

[wendyam76]

We are still waiting for the Russian Authorities to clear us and allow the pilot to guide us in - so we aren't really moving!

[pjs678]

Sorry to hear - the weather was great two weeks ago when we arrived for 3 days on the Silhouette. Hopefully, you will be able to squeeze in the best of the sites. My advice would be to skip Peterhof but not Catherine Palace if you have to eliminate one of them.

[dodger1964]

Well I guess the good news, website shows Serenade of the Seas at 12.2 knots and its headed out of town! Hopefully you will take its place.

 

(it still shows Silhouette at 3 knots...maybe that is just to keep it from drifting??)

[merlin5353]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. While aboard the Silhouette last month, we missed almost an entire day in Stockholm (should have arrived at 9am, got in at 7pm). John

[frteach]

Thanks for all the hopeful wishes for us Sil passengers. The first day of our tour is indeed refunded, and we will do the second day, which thankfully includes the cathedrals and the Hermitage, and unfortunately does not include the palaces. I am disappointed about the fountains, etc. Many people are scrambling and the shore excursions desk was not a pretty sight. We are moving into the port as I look out the veranda door, after holding a position all day. I don't know what happened to those with private tours, maybe someone who is on cc can update this.

[TeaBag]

I'm glad you are finally getting docked. St P is definitely the jewel of this itinerary. So sorry you will miss the fountains at Peterhof but if the weather is bad, it would not be all that great anyway. I applaud your calm acceptance in this great disappointment.

[navyskipper]

What is the latest SP docking estimate from on board for Silhouette?

[H2OH!]

so sorry to hear about the weather issues and the delayed docking. Disappointing indeed and a reminder that we do need to remain flexible when mother nature throws us for a loop.

 

Have fun with the time left. SP Russia is on our to do list- most likely 2018:D

[The BarCarres]

Sorry to hear of your disappointment. We had similar weather situation last July on the Silhouette in Scotland (same weekend when they cancelled the British Open). We had planned our cruise on being able to go to Inverness and it was cancelled completely :(

I know with cruises we are at the mercy of Mother Nature, but it can be so disappointing.

Hope the rest of your cruise goes better.

 

Joanne

[andrewsjerrypat]

We have some friends on this voyage. Do you have any updates on the second day (actually the first day and only day in port) in SP.

Did they extend the time you are there. How were tours handled?

Just curious.

We were there last month.

Thanks Jerry

[frteach]

We were on a Celebrity excursion and we did the one day and got the other refunded. They chose to do the itinerary that stayed in the downtown, the cathedral, church of the spilled blood, and the Hermitage. Lunch was at a nice restaurant (in a large hall) and we were entertained by Russian dancers and musicians at lunch. I understand that the palaces are about 30 km outside of the city, and I don't think anyone on a Celebrity tour got there. Maybe some of the private tours were handled differently, and went different places. Extending the time made no difference to most, since you needed to have a tour. You could have arranged a private tour and taken advantage of the extra 2 hours, of course. The Hermitage was wonderful, definitely my highlight so far, and the cruise sponsored tours got in earlier than others, so the first part of it was much less crowded. It was a madhouse by the time we were leaving. You can't do it justice in 1/2 day though. We were in Helsinki today, another beautiful city, and Stockholm is tomorrow, so I think everyone is getting over it. The weather was still bad on the day we were there, as well. Our guide told us "welcome to a Russian summer". Apparently SP only gets 60 sunny days per year, so what kind of odds did we have anyway?

[frteach]

Just talked to someone who had arranged a tour with a private SP company, and they did better, I think. They got a refund of 1/2 for the first day, and they rushed around and filled in one of the palaces, the Peterhof, as well as the cathedrals of the downtown area and the Hermitage, which was all we got on the Celebrity tour. There were several different companies that people were working with, so I will keep asking around. The missed day at SP is still a topic of conversation on board.

[wendyam76]

We got all of our first day refunded by SPB, did all of the cathedrals, early entry at Hermitage, Faberge museum, subway, local market and more. Had the option of going to Peterhof but with the rain decided not to. We didn't sail till 8pmso our tour lasted till 7pm. Very impressed!

Wendy

[eandj]

We got all of our first day refunded by SPB, did all of the cathedrals, early entry at Hermitage, Faberge museum, subway, local market and more. Had the option of going to Peterhof but with the rain decided not to. We didn't sail till 8pmso our tour lasted till 7pm. Very impressed!

Wendy

 

THIS is why we always use local companies to tour with. With the smaller groups, adjustments can be made to get the most out of the time. Did Celebrity give any actual cash refund ( not obc) back for the lack of tour time?

 

We used SPB and were VERY happy. I suppose you guys missed the subway ride? That was VERY fun.

[Durkman]

We were pierside on Serenade and heard about Silhouette's bad break with the weather. Sorry to hear it.

 

Not sure which ship was supposed to leave on July 5 that couldn't; we were on our first of two days so it wasn't us - we left on time on July 6 when the weather was much better (but still not terrific).

 

I will say that I can't blame whoever made the decision not to get underway on July 5th; there were 30-40 knot winds and decent swells pounding us against the pier all evening. We were moving around at the pier more than I have when underway on a lot of the cruises I've been on. They had to cancel the aerial acrobatics show that was scheduled in the Centrum that evening due to the motion of the ship!

[in2up2]

The private tour companies all seemed to have made similar accommodations. We had booked a 2 day private tour with TJ Travel. They were in regular email contact with me on Day 1 and crammed as much as possible in on Day 2 minus Peterhoff/ Catherine's Palace. And charged 1/2.

 

 

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[frteach]

Glad to hear that the local tours all seemed to work out as well. No cash refund from Celebrity, only refunds to our account. No subway or market for us, bur neither one was on the tour to start with. There was of course a stop at a huge souvenir store just before we returned to the ship. They always manage to get that in!

[Sandtrap328]

Glad to hear that the local tours all seemed to work out as well. No cash refund from Celebrity, only refunds to our account. No subway or market for us, bur neither one was on the tour to start with. There was of course a stop at a huge souvenir store just before we returned to the ship. They always manage to get that in!

 

Celebrity refunded the funds back to you in returnable credits. You did not give them cash - they did not give you cash. Hope you got some nice Russian souvenirs!

[CptSticky]

Have had the opposite. Woke up in the morning to still see St P. Missed Helsinki and our bike tour. The Chanel to StP is pretty narrow and any real wind is a major problem. As you said, stay flexible. I love B2B's because you get two shots at all the ports. Last March we made a bucket list by sailing around the Horn on the second try. Had we not been B2B.........

 

 

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[Moksha22]

Hi. Was the casino open for the nights you were at StP?

[dazey]

WE are planning the same cruise leaving August 23, 2017 on

Silhouette. Can you tell me about the weather that time of year? Of course, I know odd things happen. We were in Rome in mid September and it was over 90 degrees/