Please help with first Baltic Cruise itinerary!

[pattycat1]

We will be taking our first Baltic Cruise this summer and are undecided about which itinerary. If you have cruised the Baltic, please help us decide. We can only be away for a seven night cruise due to responsibilities at home. Here are our choices.

Celebrity Silhouette (really like this ship-just enjoyed a quick Bahamas cruise on this ship!) departs from Stockholm (overnighting in this port), then visits Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallin, and Riga. It does not overnight in St. Petersburg. We would probably book Aquaclass.

Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas visits the same ports, but instead of overnighting in Stockholm, it overnights in St. Petersburg. This is an older ship and recent reviews mentions wear and in need of a refurb. There are several aft balcony cabins available on this ship.

Would we make a mistake by not overnighting in St. Petersburg?

Feedback, please! I am also posting on RCCL board.

Thanks.

[HokiePoq]

I would go for the overnight in St. Petersburg as we spent two full days touring when we were there. Loved Stockholm but thought we saw a lot in just one day, especially the Vasa Museum which was so interesting.

[teacherman]

For only a 7 night cruise in the Baltic, I do not think which ship matters. We were just on the Serenade last month and it was fine. It does not have a lot of bells and whistles like the bigger ships, but I do not think you will have time for bells and whistles. An overnight in St Petersburg is the way to go. We toured 2 days with the Red October tour company. Great tour. We shared with 6 others on our cruise. I feel the MUST sees are Catherines Palace and Peterhof. Some like the Hermitage, but I was not.

[mandream]

Agreed. If your decision is solely based on itinerary, I would definitely do the overnight in St. Petersburg.

 

Mike

Edited January 28, 2017 by mandream

[eyelovcrusin]

We did a 12 day Baltic on the Silhouette 2 years ago. We loved the ship but I agree with the above posts- go for the overnight in SPB. It was the highlight of our cruise and there is way too much to see in 1 day. Frankly, we could have easily used more than 2 days there. I felt like we saw Stockholm in 1 day and think it was probably our least favorite port on the itinerary.

Have a great cruise, whichever one you decide on.

[mrsaquashark]

We did the Baltic on Serenade last summer and had a great time. We did fly into Stockholm 2 days before embarkation and if you could swing flying in a day or 2 early, I recommend it. But yes, I agree about needing 2 days for St. Petersburg. We did Insider Tours' Roll Like a Russian tour, and extended our stay the first night by having dinner in the city.

 

We love Silhouette too, but their Baltic itinerary the week we went was 12 days beginning and ending in Amsterdam, which we couldn't swing from a time off perspective. Serenade was in fine shape, we found service at the bars to be excellent and the food in the main dining room exceeded our expectations for Royal.

[Pushka]

The Silhouette is doing a fabulous Baltic cruise in July this year with an overnight in SPB and Copenhagen.

[81Zoomie]

We selected the 13 night Eclipse cruise in August because it has several sea days mixed in after hectic port days. Hopefully we won't feel like we need a vacation after the vacation!

[TeaBag]

We did not see all we wanted to see in the 2 days we were in SPB. Go for the overnight there.

[mek]

The Baltic is all about the ports and an overnight in St Pets is a must. Be sure to use a private tour guide there - we used Denrus.

 

I was on Serene 2X last year - the ship is fine

Edited January 28, 2017 by mek

[eandj]

DEFINITELY do the overnight in St. P.

On a side note.... don't let the cruiseline tell you that you HAVE to use their excursion tour there due to visa restrictions. As mentioned there are many government approved tour companies which, when you book, will arrange the temporary visa you will need. There are two large popular companies, Alla and SPG (our perfect choice) Tours as well as some smaller excellent ones. You can book online and pay when you are there. The group sizes will be no more than 15 or so. So you will see and do much more than the large ship groups. Do some research here on the Baltic ports boards. You'll learn a lot to make your trip memorable.

7 days really is not the way to cruise the area. You will miss lots. But DON'T miss the full 2 days in SPG.

Edited January 28, 2017 by eandj

[Mr. Click]

We did the 12 night Baltic cruise from Stockholm to Amsterdam and the Silhouette about 18 months ago and loved every minute of it but if they are not overnighting in SPB I would skip that itinery. Ours included overnights in Stockholm, Copenhagn and SPB. We also did stops in Tallin, Frederica Denmark, Helsinki etc...but SPB was a major highlight.

[easyboy]

It's the cruise where the itinerary was more important to us than the ship. Overnight in St. Petersburg is more productive than in Stockholm. The standard 2-day guided tour was already hectic for all the popular sites to visit, yet we still missed to see how the locals live. But don't miss the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

[jelayne]

Another vote for overnight in St Petersberg!

[morechances]

And another. St Petersburg is a great city. The overnight will be worth it.

[mek]

DEFINITELY do the overnight in St. P.

On a side note.... don't let the cruiseline tell you that you HAVE to use their excursion tour there due to visa restrictions. As mentioned there are many government approved tour companies which, when you book, will arrange the temporary visa you will need. There are two large popular companies, Alla and SPG (our perfect choice) Tours as well as some smaller excellent ones. You can book online and pay when you are there. The group sizes will be no more than 15 or so. So you will see and do much more than the large ship groups. Do some research here on the Baltic ports boards. You'll learn a lot to make your trip memorable.

7 days really is not the way to cruise the area. You will miss lots. But DON'T miss the full 2 days in SPG.

 

Also, if you decide to use a private tour, don't let the cruise line tell you that you have to disembark after the groups going on their tours. I know this happened a few years ago and not sure if it still is, but this is not a tender port and you may get off the ship any time after it has been cleared.

[eandj]

Also, if you decide to use a private tour, don't let the cruise line tell you that you have to disembark after the groups going on their tours. I know this happened a few years ago and not sure if it still is, but this is not a tender port and you may get off the ship any time after it has been cleared.

 

Good point! I forgot that particular " alternative fact".

[PROCRUISE]

Definitely overnight in St. Petersburg and pay to do private tour. We used Red October for our two days here and it was fabulous and no waiting in lines, which you'll get with ship tours. Enjoy!! Also, as previously mentioned, don't allow the ship to tell you that you must wait to disembark. We were at the head of the line and as soon as the ship was cleared, we marched right off the ship way ahead of all those on ship tours.

Edited January 30, 2017 by PROCRUISE

[busby]

Definitely need overnight stay in St P. we actually did 14 day cruise on Eclipse last year with 2 nights in St P. planning to go back as still plenty to see.booked our tours with Denrus who obtained visas , only joined by 2 other couples so had very leisurely visits no waiting for others to catch up,we were off ship and through immigration with no problems.