Considering 2018 Baltic Cruise on Eclipse, few questions

[kdnmom]

Hello,

 

We are considering booking a 12-night Baltic cruise on Eclipse, round trip out of Amsterdam, July 1, 2018. We're debating between this and an 11-night similar Baltic cruise out of Warnemunde (Berlin) on the Regal Princess. We have a few questions:

 

1. Does the Eclipse cruise through the archipelago on its way to/from port in Stockholm? I've read about this route being very scenic which would be a big plus for me. (We really enjoyed sitting on our balcony and watching the scenery go by on our Alaska cruise a couple of years ago and this strikes me as similar.) Is the Eclipse too big to navigate this area? Princess's website seems to indicate that they dock at Nynashamn, which I believe means that they don't cruise through the islands, so this would be a plus for Celebrity if the Eclipse does.

 

2. The Eclipse does not stop in Oslo while the Princess does. Any opinions as to whether this is a big loss? (I recognize that they would just be opinions.)

 

3. How feasible is it to tour Berlin from Eclipse's stop in Warnemunde? Is it too far/too long to travel with 3 kids? The ship is slated to be in port from 9am-11p.

 

4. Any recommendations for what's best to choose for the current Celebrity Go Big/Better/Best promotion? We will have one cabin with 3 kids and one cabin with 2 adults. Adults are drinkers who are on the border of value for the Ultimate drink package vs. Classic, but the 4 sea days may push us over... We don't generally do much spending on board except for shore excursions for tender ports in order to save time with guaranteed early tenders...

 

Thanks for any input!!

[Keddy72]

Just got off the eclipse Baltic trip from Southampton. The eclipse did go through the archipelago and it was stunning, both on the way inand the way out and under the beautiful bridge with a 4 metre height clearance. Really was breathtaking and the highlight of my trip,

You can go to Berlin, but be warned it's a long day, we didn't do it, because spending 3 plus hours each way for a few hours after an intense Russia port was too much. There was a road issue on way back and done coaches were an hour late so I'd doing it be warned if not using celebrity o book Berlin it's along journey to not miss the ship

[cruisin lady ca]

Hello,

 

We are considering booking a 12-night Baltic cruise on Eclipse, round trip out of Amsterdam, July 1, 2018. We're debating between this and an 11-night similar Baltic cruise out of Warnemunde (Berlin) on the Regal Princess. We have a few questions:

 

1. Does the Eclipse cruise through the archipelago on its way to/from port in Stockholm? I've read about this route being very scenic which would be a big plus for me. (We really enjoyed sitting on our balcony and watching the scenery go by on our Alaska cruise a couple of years ago and this strikes me as similar.) Is the Eclipse too big to navigate this area? Princess's website seems to indicate that they dock at Nynashamn, which I believe means that they don't cruise through the islands, so this would be a plus for Celebrity if the Eclipse does.

 

2. The Eclipse does not stop in Oslo while the Princess does. Any opinions as to whether this is a big loss? (I recognize that they would just be opinions.)

 

3. How feasible is it to tour Berlin from Eclipse's stop in Warnemunde? Is it too far/too long to travel with 3 kids? The ship is slated to be in port from 9am-11p.

 

4. Any recommendations for what's best to choose for the current Celebrity Go Big/Better/Best promotion? We will have one cabin with 3 kids and one cabin with 2 adults. Adults are drinkers who are on the border of value for the Ultimate drink package vs. Classic, but the 4 sea days may push us over... We don't generally do much spending on board except for shore excursions for tender ports in order to save time with guaranteed early tenders...

 

Thanks for any input!!

 

We booked on this cruise in May while onboard Celebrity Equinox. I will tell you that the fares are now the lower they have been since that time. I originally booked the "go better" package with the classic beverage package and unlimited internet. Since the current fare is so much lower than the original fare, we upgraded the cabin category and decided to go with the "go best" package.

 

My rationale for selecting the "go best" was as follows. The "go best" package is $540 per person so for two adults the cost is $1,080. This provides $150 per person of onboard credit ($300 total), covers the gratuities of $336 per cabin (2 adults), provides unlimited internet which costs $269 per person ($538 for 2 adults), and gives you an upgrade to the premium beverage package which would cost $11.80 per day per person or $141.60 per person for the entire cruise ($283.40 for 2 adults). The total value of these four perks is $1,457.40. This doesn't include the cost of the classic beverage package since that is the one perk most often taken as the "freebie" with the "go big" promotion.

 

You could choose to add a second perk under the "go better" promotion. However, that only makes financial sense if you are selecting the unlimited internet as your second perk. The cost of the second perk is $180. The only perk that costs more than that dollar amount is the unlimited internet.

 

I would hope you could apply the $300 onboard credit to the gratuities for your second cabin. I would definitely ask if that can be done.

 

I am unable to answer your questions about the ports since this will be my first Baltic cruise. I will be following this thread as I would also like to know the answers to your questions.

 

If you do book this cruise, do join our roll call.

[eandj]

We did the Princess choice. We did go to Oslo. Easily explored on our own. No need for excursions. The Sculpture park and Viking Museum were great.

 

We did port in Nynashamn. However sometimes the ship will go thru the arch. Just depends on other traffic. We were disappointed. But it was possible from Nyn. to do a ferry tour through the route while visiting a couple of the little island towns. We did a private tour of Stockholm which was very nice.

 

We chose to go to Berlin with a private tour. The city is fantastic with so much to see in a relatively short time. We felt the cruisers who boarded from Warnemunde really were lucky as they could add a couple days pre or post to get a lot of the city. We were totally happy with our choice to do the day visit. We were in the city about 6 hours.

 

We are X elite, but were very happy with our Baltic trip with Princess, always a choice for us depending on itinerary.

[Iamthesea]

We sailed on the Celebrity Constellation when doing this cruise. IMO, to really see/study Berlin, one needs more than a few hours. If you can swing it, my suggestion is to fly to Berlin before your cruise, spend at least 2 nights there, and then fly into Amsterdam for a day or two before the cruise. It's what we did. Our philosophy is always "why go all the way over to Europe and not take advantage of as much as possible!" ;)

 

Try pricing the trip as a multi-city flight. Or price round trip to Amsterdam and then adding a hopper (KLM or Easyjet) to Berlin. Yes, you would have the cost of the extra hotel nights, but you might be surprised the the airfare is not that much more than flying straight to Amsterdam. While in Berlin, we used the underground transit system to around. We were able to see all of the major tourist attractions, and then some.;)

 

During our Warnemunde stop, we took a private tour of that city, and of Rostock. Thoroughly enjoyable day. :)

[kdnmom]

Thank you all for the input! I decided to go ahead and book on Celebrity since the rates were currently so low (relatively speaking!). They assure me that the deposit if fully refundable up to 90 days out, so I can cancel if we decide against it.

[Tiggertastic]

Apart from st Petersburg you can do all the ports yourself and save a small fortune. Use a local guide in spb as 2 days with them is what the ship charge for 1. I can't think of any tender ports on this trip so no need for the celeb early tenders. Hertz have a car hire place dockside at warnemunde or the train station is literally less than 10 mi Utes walk and you can do lots of places by train. Rostock, Schwerin being a few. Th cost into berlin by the ship is big money so you ma want to consider using a local company.

 

 

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[hubofhockey]

We did the Princess itinerary. As you note, there are subtle differences. Princess is Copenhagen to Copenhagen and Celebrity is Amsterdam to Amsterdam. Both now go to the Archipelago. At one time, Princess did not. Princess gives you Oslo. We also did Oslo on our own. You should also do Tallin on your own. We walked right from the ship into town. The real big decision is Copenhagen vs Amsterdam.

 

I would highly recommend the one hour forty minute excursion to Berlin. It's worth it. We did it with SPB Tours as a combination with their St Petersburg 2-day tour. Heather still works for them and if you use them, request her.

 

If you do Celebrity, the Classic Package is enough for us.

 

I don't think you can go wrong either way. Copenhagen has amazing restaurants and Amsterdam is a cool city. Lots of fun and different. We did Amsterdam separately and loved it, but spending a couple of night in Copenhagen was great too. Did a great bike tour.

 

Have fun.

[realnice46]

As previous posts have mentioned you can do most ports on your own except for St Petersburg. Try to book private tour for St Petersburg considerably less expensive than the ship tours.We loved Tallin ,Estonia very nice old city to walk around in.

Ideally plan to stay in Amsterdam a few days before or after the cruise.