Questions about Constellation Baltic Cruise 07

[Scott1990]

My family and I are going on a Baltic Cruise on Constellation Summer 07. We have never been on a cruise before. I am curious about booking dinner times. Any opinions on whether early or late is better? Does this interfere with entertainment choices?

 

Has anybody stayed in the Family Ocean-view Stateroom with Veranda? Were the fold-out couches comfortable?

 

Lastly, we would like to book a private tour in Russia. I have seen DenRus and a few other companies mentioned. We would like to go just the four of us and pick what we would like to see. Has anybody done anything like this, and if so, do you have any tips?

 

Thank you.

[MSBYRDY]

We did the Baltic cruise on Constellation and had the corner aft FV cabin. It was wonderful. I don't know about the couch as it was just for the two of us and we used that room as a sitting room. It's a great space to have and the balcony is wonderful. Grab it if you can get it.

 

As for private tours in Russia. We booked Denrus and it was just for the two of us, to enable us to see the most at our own pace. They were wonderful and I would highly recommend them. We had Ilya as our guide and he is just great. I don't think you can go wrong using them.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

Marilyn

[MSBYRDY]

Oops, forgot the dinner question. WE had late seating and it was best with port intense itinerary. Some nights they did have theme buffets available rather than having to go to the dining room and we did use that some nights when coming back late. I wouldn't want to feel rushed to get back for an early dinner. Just our opinion, but something to think about.

Marilyn

[mischamom]

We've done the family suite (aft cabin w/large balcony) on both the Infinity and the Summit and found it fantastic! (Did the same on Constellation for our upcoming trip in 2 weeks). Our experience is that this cabin is fabulous. The balcony is so large that it functioned as an additional room for our family (2 adults, 2 kids) and our daughters (8 and 15 at the time) found the sofa beds comfortable (and they each loved having their own bed). We liked the privacy sliding doors between the two spaces. Well worth the extra bucks and we felt more secure with this arrangement rather than having 2 adjoining rooms. We really spent a lot of time on the balcony (on the Summit to Alaska we had 4 lounge chairs and a table and chairs and spent quite a bit time there with room service and our own private seating area for the sightseeing for Inside Passage and Hubbard. We'll let you know how it worked out on the Constellation when we get back (we have booked Denrus for the St. Petersburg portion but will be doing a lot of our own arrangements in the Scandinavian countries---those cities are quite easy to get around by yourself).

[Skeezics]

Book late dinner. This cruise is quite port intensive and sometimes you get back from tours later in the day. Gives you a chance to rest a bit before enjoying your evening. You will love this cruise. We did the Moscow trip with Celebrity, was fantastic.

[rienreiter]

Hi:

 

I was on the Baltic Constellation cruise of May 20th and loved every minute of it. It will be one of the most memorable cruises that you will ever take. I know that it was for me and, as your first cruise, no doubt it will be memorable for you too.

 

Here are my answers to your questions:

 

Dinner: we always book late seating. Why?

 

A) Having early seating means having to rush to take a shower and get dressed. If you come back tired from being on shore, it can be stressful because you'll be rushed from shore trip, to shower, to dinner table. You're on vacation; it's time to relax.

B) Having late seating means you will have a couple of hours to wind down, have a drink (in your stateroom or in a bar), take a short nap, read the paper, watch TV, or anything else that you want to do before getting ready to go to dinner.

C) Last but not least, we are just not early dinner people. We are late night people. But of course, this is just our personal preference.

 

Showtimes: All production/theatre shows are scheduled twice for each evening. If you are in early seating (6:00 or 6:30 I think), then you will attend the 9:00 PM show. If you are in late seating (8:30), then you will attend the 7:00 PM show.

 

Have not stayed in a Family Ocean View stateroom with verandah. Instead, we stayed in the Celebrity Suite (very nice) but my friend who slept on the sofa bed said that it was very comfortable. He had no complaints whatsoever.

 

We also had a private tour with DenRus in St. Petersburg. There are many good arguments for both Red October and DenRus. The only reason for which we picked DenRus is because I read a few comments where others indicated that Red October was not as flexible and/or accommodating as DenRus. I would definitely recommend DenRus as we had an abosolutely fantastic experience with them. Our tour guide was Ludmila and I have nothing but the highest recommedations for her. I am a Russian history buff so I knew exactly where I wanted to go and that is exactly what I stated to DenRus on my first correspondence with them. Every place that I requested they accommodated for us. One plus to being on a private tour is that whenever you show up at a place where there is a line to get in, you always jump to the front of the line, even if it is one of the ship's tours. Happened to us a few times. It can be more expensive than the ship's tours but you'll be way ahead of the game. In the 2 days that we were in St. Petersburg, we were able to see more than the others who went on the ship's tours. We went to Catherine Palace, Hermitage Museum, Sts. Peter and Paul Fortress, Peterhof, Church of the Spilled Blood, Yusupov Palace, and St. Isaac's Cathedral. We did not request a ride on the subway but Ludmila insisted that we do it and we were glad that we did. If you do not know much about St. Petersburg, my advise is that you pick up a book about touring in St. Petersburg (such as Fodors or Frommers) and go from there. You will not regret it and you will not forget it.

 

I hope that I have helped you somehow and wish you a memorable first cruise.

 

Regards, Juan

[chrismch]

Like you, we have booked a cruise on the "Connie" for 2007- specifically the Aug 4th cruise. If you go to the ports section of this board you will find lots of info from past cruisers of the Baltics and even some pictures. Someone posted a view from the balcony their aft cabin and it was very spacious with room for 2 chaise lounges and a table and chairs and really sold me on the room. You might be able to get some info from recent cruisers by looking up the roll calls of people who are going now and get their feedback if they post after the cruise. It really does sound like a truly memorable cruise.:p

[Scott1990]

Thank you all for your thoughtful information!