Which Baltic cruise and why?

[mahshell]

We are looking at getting married (vow renewal) on a Baltic cruise next summer. We have done a lot of research (and spreadsheet) but are still having a problem deciding which one to do. Looking for mainly all-inclusive/luxury on smaller ship with good food and decent cabin size (veranda/balcony). The ones we have narrowed down to are listed below. Any thoughts on why we should chose one cruise ship/line over the other? Within the cost (total and per day) we have been factoring in what may be included such as airfare (economy or business), beverage packages, shore excursions, specialty dining, wifi/#devices, port fees/taxes. We are also interested whether these ships are still in good shape as some are due for refurbishment/dry dock soon and what the service and food were like?

 

Azamara Quest - 12 nights Stockholm to Amsterdam 

Crystal Symphony - 10 nights Stockholm to Copenhagen

Oceania Nautica - 14 nights Dublin to Copenhagen

Regent Seven Seas Navigator - 14 nights Dublin to Copenhagen

Silversea Silver Wind - 12 nights London to Copenhagen

Viking Sun - 15 nights Stockholm to Bergen 

 

Some have deadlines for deals of October 31 (tomorrow), so we are in a time crunch. Any help, thoughts, ideas will be greatly appreciated. 

 

[hallasm]

IMO all good choices - I would choose based on itinerary - some ports are less interesting than others - also how many days in St. Petersburg. In addition to SP I would highlight Tallinn, Copenhagen, Stockholm (not Nynäshamn), and Oslo.

For 10 to 15 nights there must be quite a lot of port visits. If needed I can comment on some specific ports.

[LHT28]

Pick one that stays in SPB 3 nights  at least 2

Crystal & Regent  are more inclusive  not sure on Silversea

 

If the deadline you mention is Oceania  ..wait another offer will be along soon

Nautica  will be redone June 2020

Also check Marina  Sept 8  Stockholm to Amsterdam  14 days

 

Pick one that ticks more boxes  for your wants & needs

Enjoy whatever one  you choose

[dogs4fun]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Pick one that stays in SPB 3 nights

This would be our recommendation as well. Oceania's Marina is quite nice - service is excellent, food is great, balcony staterooms quite nice. 

[mahshell]

22 hours ago, hallasm said:

IMO all good choices - I would choose based on itinerary - some ports are less interesting than others - also how many days in St. Petersburg. In addition to SP I would highlight Tallinn, Copenhagen, Stockholm (not Nynäshamn), and Oslo.

For 10 to 15 nights there must be quite a lot of port visits. If needed I can comment on some specific ports.

Thank you Hallasm. The itineraries are quite similar, which is part of the reason we had narrowed down to these ones. All stop in SP, Tallinn, Copenhagen and Stockholm. As well as the start and end points, other stops are Berlin, Riga, Antwerp, Helskini, Rotterdam, Gdansk, Alborg, Stavanger, Eidfjord and traversing the Kiel Canal and the English Channel. Most have 2 or 3 nights in SP.

My husband is leaning toward the ones with larger cabins - Regent, Viking, Silversea.

[mahshell]

20 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Pick one that ticks more boxes  for your wants & needs

Enjoy whatever one  you choose

Thank you LHT28. They all tick pretty much the same boxes, hence are difficulty in choosing. I'm sure we will enjoy whichever one we choose, but we are wanting to make sure we get all information available before we do. Thanks for the tip on waiting for another deal. I figured that would be the case. 

Unfortunately the trip on the Marina is too late for us. We have a family event we need to be home for around that time. 

[mahshell]

20 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

This would be our recommendation as well. Oceania's Marina is quite nice - service is excellent, food is great, balcony staterooms quite nice. 

Thank you dogs4fun. Unfortunately the trip on the Marina is too late for us to take. 

 

How did you find the size of the rooms? They seem to be smaller than the other ships, so we wondered about that.

[dogs4fun]

Room size was adequate for us - actually, we spend very little time in our rooms as we always maximize our time in port. Compared to hotel rooms (especially those in the US), we find all staterooms quite small regardless of the ship on which we are sailing - unless, of course, you book a suite.

[mahshell]

Thank you dogs4fun. We haven't cruised together before, but he says in the past he has spent a fair bit of time in the cabin or on the balcony reading when he wasn't in port and likes to have room to stretch out (6'4"), so it is why we are leaning toward the larger cabins. My past experience is that I'm usually out doing things or on a deck, so it isn't as big of a deal for me.

[LHT28]

Then I would choose  one with the larger cabin  for your DH 

We do not spend much time in the cabins  so we usually book an Oceanview on port intensive  cruises

The R ships you would probably be OK in a PH +

so now you can eliminate some with smaller cabins  that should narrow down some of your choices  😉

you can compare ships/cabins/layouts   at

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/index.php

 

enjoy

 

[hallasm]

2 hours ago, mahshell said:

Berlin, Riga, Antwerp, Helskini, Rotterdam, Gdansk, Alborg, Stavanger, Eidfjord and traversing the Kiel Canal and the English Channel.

Nothing special - just note that  'Berlin' is actually Warnemünde - 2h 40 min drive by car (3 h 20 min by train) from Berlin. - 'Kiel Canal'  is a narrow canal with two locks while the 'English Channel' just is the sea between France and England.

[flowslow]

I agree with choosing a cruise that stays at St. Petersburg for 2 or 3 days. It's really worth visiting and exploring, you would want to have as much time touring around St. Petersburg as possible. You can also add a day tour in Moscow if you have 3 days in St. Petersburg. Good luck in choosing! 

[wishIweretravelling]

One benefit of Regent Navigator is that it usually docks right in town in St Petersburg. Silver Wind is also small, so likely docks there as well.

 

If your ship does dock downtown, it may be worth your while to get an individual visa for Russia so you can get off the ship without a guide and stroll around.

 

If you do choose Regent Navigator, do your research on cabins. The ship has a vibration problem in the aft cabins. Forward and midship cabins are fine.  It's a favorite ship of mine, but I'd never take an aft cabin.

[bbwex]

I concur with the three days in St. Petersburg's being a requirement.  We sailed with Oceania on Regatta (one of the R-class ships) and we were able to sail up the river and dock right across the river from the Hermitage.  The larger ships have to stay out at the industrial docks, or at least did in 2009, and that is further away from everything and not as pretty of an area.  We enjoyed Talinn, but it did not offer a whole lot to see.  Helsinki was really nice for a day.  A long stop at Rostock or Warnemunde which will allow a trip to Berlin would be important as well. 

[Salf777]

This might be late but we were in the Azamara Pursuit and booked the August Baltic sailing on the Quest. We were so impressed with Azamara we booked onboard. We were frequent RCL cruisers and a few years ago we had some poor experiences and have been sailing NCL Haven. We felt Azamara is a whole different feel. Upscale but not pretentious, friendly and super helpful staff.  Perhaps more experienced deluxe/luxury cruisers can weigh in and our view may be a little short sighted coming from a more mainstream cruise line. However, we have found that NCL Haven was exceptional, in our opinion, and the Azamara experience was far better. Also, we have kind of had our share of the large ships so that can be a factor. Anyway I’m rambling. We just loved Azamara but our travel agent is a big Oceania fan. After much of my questioning her on the board I have concluded that each has their own positives and each its own fan base which can be very firm in defending their choice. We are planning a big trip in 2021 and I have been trying to figure out Azamara vs Oceania by asking questions here. The itinerary is basically the same on both for what we are looking at best I can figure is it’s personal preference. We are doing Oceania in December to try it out and get a feel for both. 
As I read this I realize that it did nothing to answer your question so I apologize for that but wanted to basically say Azamara is a great choice if you go that way in my op