Help with Baltic Cruise!!!!

[Packing Light]

My wife & I with several friends are considering a Baltric Cruise and would like some help. We are concerned about poor weather and rough seas and could also use help with the best itinerary. We just returned last month from 12 days on the RCCL Brilliance to the Mediterranean and it was magnificent with perfect weather (between 68 & 80 and always sunny). We are afraid any other cruise will be a let down after this one.

 

I know we would like to visit St. Petersburg and maybe Germany but any other info would be helpful including ship suggestions. But our greatest concern is the potential for poor weather and rough seas which can ruin a vacation. Thanks for any help given.

[Danish viking]

If you are cruising i june, july and august the weather will be warm but there will be some rain but not much.

[sunprincess]

I did the Baltic last August on the Star. Our weather was good. Very little rain. In Stockholm it was warm & sunny - many in the pools.

The seas were calm & smooth the entire cruise.

 

I do have a review posted here & photos below in my webshots link.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=12514

[cruisemom42]

If you choose an itinerary that departs from Copenhagen (rather than England) you have very little chance of hitting any rough seas in the summer.

 

The weather can be iffy, but you can't expect it to be a Mediterranean vacation. If you go knowing that it can be cool and sometimes rainy, you will be fine. We went on Star Princess late May/early June last year and the weather was not bad at all. I took a jacket but never really needed it and it only rained one morning out of the 10 days.

[easy22]

we just got back. the weather was fine. only rained in Gdansk and not all day. it was not a cold rain either. just a light spring rain. we took the fold into a pocket pouch windbreakers that can be carried in your backpack/purse and that was sufficient for coats. take an umbrella. it was a fascinating cruise. lots of things to do. too many things as always. i highly recommend the Star Princess. the food was great. you never felt like there were 2500 people around except sometimes when getting off the ship. just get down to the gangway early to avoid the crowds. you do not need any tours except in St. Petersburg so that saves a lot of money. getting around is easy and transportation is efficient. people speak English and are very nice to boot.

In St Petersburg, use a private tour company rather than the ship. you want to try to have a small van of people. vans hold 14 but we liked having just 8 of us in there. was very comfortable with the extra seats. also, 8 is as large a group as i would like to travel with to get around quickly thru the venues and agree on what it is you want to do.

 

Linda

[suron]

We were on the same sailing last August as Sunprincess who has posted further up on this thread. In fact we joined a Roll Call with her and several others and had a great time together.

 

I too have posted a review of our trip which can be found at

www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=12469

We took some different shore excursions to Sunprincess so you may be interested to read about our experiences.

 

You will love the Baltic itinerary and we can certainly recommend that you sail on Star Princess.

 

Good Luck with your plans

 

Suron in Bristol,England

[TheMexican]

I'm excited to read that I might even be able to catch some rays during my upcoming Baltic Cruise!

 

I'll be sure to pack a couple of swimsuits!

 

:)

[lionheart]

THe weather in the Baltic is tough to figure out plus its a tough cruise to pack for. On the June 3 cruise, only had a few rain drops late in Copenhagan:thats it. The second day in St. Pete. on though to Oslo what quite warm (shorts weather). The locals in many of these ports were enjoying the weather wearing sandals, shorts tank tops etc.Some of the locals commented that these days were the warmest they have had and it rain quite a bit in April-May. I found going down to Bermuda rougher than this Baltic cruise. The ship was rocking a little bit the first day or so and a little bit later on this cruise but my two times down to BErmuda in the last few years, the water was rougher I felt.

I was on the Constellation for 14 days and felt this was the best group of ports to visit. Sweden, FInland, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway and back to Dover England. Busy but real fun.

 

Enjoy picking...

 

Kurt

[laurasyf]

I just returned from the Seven Seas Voyager with their 7 day Baltic cruise starting in Copenhagen then to Gotland, Estonia, 3days in St. Petersberg and finally in Stockholm. Great trip and great weather all week. You are in the gulf so there was little to no rocking. I would highly recommend this cruise.

[dileep]

We had good weather last year in late May. It is a fun cruise. The itinerary changes slightly with the sailing date even for the same ship & cruise line. At least it did for the Celebrity Constellation last year.

 

If you want to see what we saw, look at my video

http://www.archive.org/details/BalticsCruise2005

[shopgirl1964]

I just got back from this cruise on Holland America - it was in the 80's and sunny every day (even in St. Petersburg) - it was quite hot for Europe, but only one day of rain. We never needed a jacket or sweater, even in the evening. We departed and returned to Copenhagen, the sea was very calm the whole time. It was a great trip, the ports are fabulous, I don't think you could go wrong with this cruise!

 

Shopgirl1964

[spuds]

Our weather on our Baltic Cruise (July 1-15th) was unbelievable... there were actually times when it was too hot to sit out on our balcony. However, I understand that Europe is experiencing above average temperatures right now.

[MTemple212]

We also had great weather on our 4-14 July baltics cruise. no sweaters or jackets were needed. someone here talked about Germany. I would recommend taking a bus tour such as trafalgar or globus if you really want to learn about and see the sights in Germany. Germany really is a beautiful place, especially in Bavaria!!

[Balliett]

I hope you will post a trip report of your baltic cruise!

[Balliett]

I hope you will post a trip report of your baltic cruise!

[cherylakers]

We were also on the Star Princess for the July 4th sailing. It was wonderful. Take the one that does Oslo and not Berlin. What we did is we flew in to Berlin and spent 3 wonderful days. Very easy to get around. Then we took a train to Hamburg for 1 night and then another train to Copenhagen. Our train actually pulled on a boat and took us across to Denmark and then continued on it's way. It was wonderful. We stayed at the SAS Radisson through Princess. It was walking distance to everything, but I think I would recommend the SAS Royal as it was a little closer to train station, Tivoli, etc. In St. Petersburg we toured through Denrus and had a great 2 days. We took ship shore excursions everywhere else except Tallin which was very easy to do on your own. It was very hot on our trip which is unusual for the Baltics. We did the Med the year before and spent 3 days in Rome prior to the cruise. It was a cruise of a lifetime. I know what you mean about maybe being disappointed. Go with the attitude that this will be different. Nothing compares to the ruins of Rome being 2000+years old. The Baltic cities are fairly new being founded in the 16th and 17th century for some of them. The war also took its toll on most areas. It was beautiful and I'm glad we did it, especially St. Petersburg. If you have any other questions, you can email me direct at aakers1049@msn.com

 

Happy sailing

Cheryl

[larablair]

I posted my Baltic's cruise report over on the Oceania site. It is in 4 parts. You will need to scroll down to start with part I(warning: it is long)I loved this cruise!! The Regatta is a fantastic ship.

[gooselace]

I posted my Baltic's cruise report over on the Oceania site. It is in 4 parts. You will need to scroll down to start with part I(warning: it is long)I loved this cruise!! The Regatta is a fantastic ship.

 

Tried a search on Oceania forum. No results for your report. Can you provide the link, or exact title of thread?

[gooselace]

Don't know why I bothered with search. Just scrolled until I found part IV. Glad I did. Nice review with lots of specifics.