Question About Baltic Cruises

[xyz111]

What is the current quality of Seabourn shore excursions in the Baltic?

 

Also, have any of we Seabourn folks been on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager recently?

 

What is the current quality of the Voyager shore excursions in the Baltic? How do the Voyager's current shore excursions in the Baltic (it would have to be the past season's excursions) compare with those of Seabourn?

 

What is the current quality of dining on the Voyager? Does the food being served on the Voyager match the ambience of its dining environment? How does the food currently being served on the Voyager compare with that of Seabourn?

 

Thanks for the information. My wife and I are planning a Baltic cruise and need guidance in selecting the ship/cruise line.

[dmb707]

Hi

 

A point to bear in mind is that the Seabourn ship can sail right up into St Petersburg near to the Hermitage, where as the Regent is docked quite a long way from the centre so more time travelling etc.

 

I found the quality of the excursions to be very good on Seabourn when i was in the baltic in 2005, however if i was to go again i would book a private tour as you can do a lot more

 

Although i have been on the voyager this was some time ago so sorry can't comment on the food quality at present.

[MarciAnn]

We did the Baltic cruise in Voyager in 2005 when it was still Radisson. We love Seabourn, but chose the Voyager because it was the only itinerary at the time that spent three days in St. Peterburg and we wanted to do the full day excursion to Moscow and still have 2 full days in St.Petersburg. We were very pleased with the Voyager. The rooms were the largest of any ship I had been on and all have full balconies. The food was very good as well. We did not use any of the ship's excursions, other than to Moscow, but instead hired a private guide through Red October which I highly recommend you do. We were two couples and were able to customize our itinerary and see so much more than had we done the ships excursions. I recommend you visit the port of call board for the Baltics where you can get a lot more information on private guides.

 

The Baltics is a very port intensive cruise so we did not spend a lot of time on the ship other than the one day at sea. Although the Voyager is much larger than the Seabourn ships, there was never a wait for anything and it was an intersting expereince to try a larger ship.

 

I have not been on any of the Radisson ships since it was purchased by Regent so I can't comment on whether there have been any changes, but again it is a port intensive cruise and I would go with the best itinerary and use a private guide.

[wripro]

I agree wholeheartedly with MarciAnn. No matter which cruise line you end up taking be sure and use private guides like Red October or Denrus in St. Petersburg. It will end up costing less and you will have flexibility and not have to deal with a bus full of people. By the way, dmb707 is also correct that Seabourn docks right at the English Embankment which is on;y several blocks from the Hermitage and all the other important sights.

[Chairsin]

We are seriously considering the 12 day Seabourn Baltic cruise June 1, 2009. We like the fact that it does have three days in St Petersberg and only 2 sea days. Docking by the Hermitage is a big plus for us since we love to wander on and off the ship on our own and tendering then busing is a real pain in the you know what( though for us Regent would not have been an option anyway, not knocking it, we just love Seabourn's smaller size.) We had originally thought about the late August cruise but some people we met on our recent cruise said that that was a little late in the year to be there unless you really like cooler temps.

[MarciAnn]

Chairsin,

 

Keep in mind that ifyou want to get on and off the boat at your leisure without a guide, you will need to get your own visas. At lest in 2005, that was an ordeal.

[Chairsin]

MarciAnn,

Thanks for the info -- I'll keep that in mind. We just found out it is a Virtouso cruise (with the same two hosts we had on the first leg of our recent Med cruise) so there is even more reason to book it. Once we do we will start to work the visa issue.

[RachelG]

Actually the Voyager docks at the same place as Seabourn, right down from the Hermitage. We were docked next to the Seabourn ship during our trip in August, and I have some great pics of it and of the Hermitage taken from the top deck of Voyager.

Quality of food on Voyager was excellent. I look forward to sailing with Seabourn in the future, but the balcony was the reason we chose RSSC for this trip.

[Chairsin]

Rachel,

Do you recall if the Seabourn pride was parked with the port or starboard side facing land in St Petersburg?

[RachelG]

Can't remember, sorry. But either side would have a good view. One side was the Hermitage down a little ways. The other side was a beautiful church that is being restored. Our guide said it was a skating rink during Soviet days.