Review of Journey's June 18 cruise - pretty long

[KnoxvilleSam]

Azamara Journey

12 Night Scandinavia & Russia

June 18-June 30, 2009

Stateroom: Penthouse Suite 7119

 

Pre-cruise information: I selected this particular cruise for the simple reason that the itinerary provided 3 days in St. Petersburg, 2 days in Stockholm, and 2 days in Copenhagen (not counting the day of embarkation). It didn’t hurt that I had read great things about the Azamara ships and that the itinerary coincided with our daughter’s work schedule. It turned out that there were many other reasons that made this cruise wonderful, and a few hiccups (mostly outside the control of the ship) that made the trip “interesting.”

 

I originally booked a sky suite (to better accommodate 3 adults), but when prices started falling in the spring, I found a penthouse suite that became available after final payment was due that cost us, after taking into account OBC and prepaid gratuities, all of $140 more than we originally paid. This may well be the only time we ever end up in a penthouse suite. The second great thing about the cruise, obviously, was the itinerary and the independent excursions we arranged and undertook in each of the six ports (see below). Finally, and contrary to the forecasts even the day before our departure from the US, was the weather – other than 30 minutes of misting in Copenhagen on the day of our embarkation, we had perfect weather, meaning lows in the low to mid 60s F and highs in the mid to high 79s F.

 

We arrived in Copenhagen a day early and took a taxi (about $40 US) from the airport to the Marriott (booked via a Priceline bid). The cost was acceptable (everything in Copenhagen is costly), the amenities and condition of the hotel were great, but the location was simply not good. The Marriott is several long blocks from Tivoli Gardens and even farther from most other major attractions in Copenhagen (e.g., Stroget, Nyhaven, Little Mermaid). The city is walkable, but make sure you have good walking shoes!

 

The night before embarkation we met up with CC roll call buddies at the Absolut Ice Bar for a couple of drinks (about $25 pp per drink) and then went to Tivoli for a nice dinner at Groeften. Then walked back to the Marriott.

 

Checkin: We got a cab from the Marriott to the ship’s berth at Frihavnen for about $30 US. We arrived at the ship around 11:45 and made it onboard in about 20 minutes (no line but still forms to fill out). Our cabin wouldn’t be ready until 1:30, so we met some of our CC roll call friends on the pool deck (deck 9 on the Journey) for a cocktail then on to our cabin when ready. We had already made reservations for Aqualina for our first at sea day and made the rest of our reservations as soon as we were in our cabin. As suite guests, the ship asked us to select one of its specialty restaurants, so we selected Prime C for our sailaway dinner since we’d be going to Aqualina a couple of nights later. We also made reservations for a couple of additional nights at Prime C and Aqualina while in line.

 

Room: When we first walked into the room, we were elated with its size, arrangement, and furnishing. The PH suite is aft and is about 560 square feet PLUS a huge veranda that wraps a bit around the side of the ship. The bedroom is spacious, with lots of closet space (more than the three of us could use) and a vanity area just outside the adjoining large bathroom (equipped with Jacuzzi). A second half-bath is just inside the entry to the suite, and the living room (with a 4-seat round dining table) was equipped with a sofa bed (that our daughter said was perfectly comfortable) and a large-screen TV. The veranda was equipped with a dining table for four on starboard side of the veranda, and with two chaise loungers on the other side. The veranda was accessed by sliding glass doors from the living room and from the bedroom.

 

Service in our cabin was great. Our “main” butler (Arvind), second butler (Minish) and housekeeper (Rosalie) were unobtrusive but always available. Rosalie was possibly the best stateroom attendant we’ve ever had – incredibly personable, warm and helpful. Our daughter asked Rosalie (on the sly) on our last sea day if she could make a towel animal for my wife; when we returned after dinner my wife found two “kissing” swans on our bed, which was also adorned with rose petals! Arvind was prompt every morning with breakfast (full breakfast a couple of times, juice and coffee/espresso every other morning), and Minish was always around (quite often helping Rosalie). Arvind or Minish were also prompt with our tea and/or savories every afternoon if we ordered them the night before. Given how port-intensive our itinerary was, there were a few days when we didn’t get to have them, but when we did the food and their presentation were great.

 

Food: Mostly wonderful. The 2 specialty places were excellent, as was Discoveries (the main dining room). The service was great, wine selection was reasonably priced and the food was very good. We generally had breakfast at Windows Café (the buffet line, which changed name to Breezea for the evening meal), and it was always tasty. My only complaint about breakfast there was with fellow passengers, some of whom apparently don’t know the meaning of lining up at the omelet station. Lunch at the buffet was mixed – maybe we were spoiled by the main dining room and the specialty restaurants. They offered sushi a couple of evenings that our daughter really enjoyed. We only tried the pool bar/grille a couple of times – had a nice burger and fries. The ship also sponsored special evening buffets a few nights (featuring port-related foods), including our overnight in Stockholm where they even made their own “ice bar” that was a lot of fun.

 

Excursions: Other than taking the ship’s shuttle from the dock to downtown areas in Stockholm and Copenhagen, all of our excursions were independent. We either “did” DIY (Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm and Copenhagen) or our privately arranged independent tours (used SP-B Tours for Berlin and St. Petersburg). The main reasons we decided to use a private tour guide for Berlin and St. Petersburg were to keep costs lower than tours offered by the ship and to keep the size of the group smaller.

 

Ports:

 

Warnemunde/Rostock for Berlin: As noted, we used SP-B Tour for our excursion to Berlin. Although we ended up seeing lots, in the future I wouldn’t take a trip from this port to Berlin. The distance is simply too great and too much time is spent in transit. Unfortunately our driver from the dock to Berlin spoke no English so we were occasionally out of touch with what was going on. Our tour guide in Berlin (also arranged by SP-B) was a young American (maybe 30 years old) who was incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating. That being said, however, it still took us 4 hours each way in transit, and we were getting nervous about getting back in time, particularly when the driver couldn’t tell us how long it would take to get out of Berlin (the traffic at 4:30 pm was horrendous). We got back with 45 minutes to spare, but the 9 of us in the minivan were getting pretty nervous.

 

Helsinki: We would have enjoyed Helsinki quite a bit were it not for two hiccups – we were there on a Sunday and the summer solstice, meaning that the market area (some would say the major attraction) was essentially shut down, and I was pick-pocketed at the Tourist Information Center. The pick-pocket incident was weird – we had gone into the TIC to purchase tram tickets. I took out the leather “pouch” containing my Euros and sea-pass card (but no credit cards or ATM cards, thank goodness), took out the money for the tram tickets, put the pouch on the counter, and the next second it was gone. We told the agents behind the counter and they didn’t seem to be very concerned. When we came back to the TIC just before returning to the ship, they were more concerned and told us to report it to the police – my wife tried to from the ship’s phone, but the police authorities said we had to appear in person to file a report. Since the ship was about to leave, we didn’t file an official report. Lesson learned? Not even Tourist Information Centers are safe from pick-pockets.

 

St. Petersburg: Simply incredible. Of course, the fact that the Journey docked at the Lt. Schmidt embankment right on the Neva River, across the river from the Church of Spilt Blood (viewable from our veranda) made it even better. Our tour guide, Elena (from SP-B Tour) was great (as was our driver Yuri). We had the same group (11 of us) for all three days. We had no problem disembarking (at least problems no greater than anyone else getting through passport control) – the first day it took about 30 minutes, the other two days there was no line so disembarking was a breeze. The first day we drove about the city with a couple of stops for photo opportunities, then drove to Catherine’s Palace – about a 40 minutes drive and then VERY long lines through the palace itself. Our lunch that day was so-so – blinis and a soda pop at an outdoor café.

 

Our second day started a bit later (9:00 am) and included, at the end of the day, a canal ride that was fun and restful. This was after our 2-3 hours at the Hermitage (incredibly ornate – much more so than the Louvre and the interior even rivaled Versailles). That morning we visited Peter and Paul fortress and cathedral, where we got to visit the memorial graves of all the Romanovs and enjoy an acapella (sp?) group singing in a closed side chapel and then visited the Church on Spilt Blood. At the end of our tour the second day, our guide accompanied us to a Stolle’s near the Mariinsky Theater for a bite of dinner before attending an opera at the theater. The opera (a contemporary The Brothers Karamazov) was interesting and fun, but we opted out after the first act (and 15 scenes) that lasted a bit over 2 hours. As previously arranged, our driver Yuri met us outside the theater and took us back to the ship.

 

Our final day in St. Petersburg included a visit to a market (with tastes of various local foods), a short subway ride (one stop – very interesting) and then a drive to Peterhof for a walk through the gardens and fountains and a visit to Mon Plaisir (a small “palace” actually used by the Romanovs). We returned to St. Petersburg by hydrofoil (very cool), then a late lunch at another Stolle’s (think pies), and finished up at Yusupov’s palace (site of Rasputin’s murder). When Yuri and Elena drove us back to the ship at 4:00 (ship departed at 5:00), Elena pulled out a bottle of vodka for all of us to have an informal toast to conclude our visit to St. Petersburg. I would recommend SP-B Tour (aka Viktoria on the CC forums) without hesitation. Our group was small, we saw lots, and the price was much less than comparable activities obtained through the ship’s excursion offerings.

 

Tallinn: We had about 10 hours in Tallinn. Rather than walk to the town (maybe a 20 minute walk, but through some industrial areas) we took the ship’s shuttle that deposited us next to the old town. Tallinn was a great escape – a step back in time and obviously smaller than St. Petersburg. Lots of walking, a little shopping, sitting in outdoor cafes drinking (beer in my case, cappuccinos for most of us), and people-watching. We did visit a couple of churches but mainly just enjoyed the day.

 

That night we were treated by the senior officers on board to the Best of the Best. This was a fabulous dinner held in Michael’s Club, a six-course dinner paired with wines, hosted by the Captain and Hotel Director. They gave the ladies beautiful red roses and the men miniatures of Estonian vodka. The service was impeccable, to say the least.

 

Stockholm: We arrived in Stockholm a bit ahead of schedule – around 9:30. I’d bought us Stockholm cards, so we took Bus #76 to the Vasa Museum (very interesting for a bit more than an hour) then walked to Skansen, another must see. We found it disappointing – I’m sure that families with children might enjoy it more, but we left after 30 minutes or so. We walked to the Grona Lund where we caught the ferry to Slussen at the southern end of Gamla Stan. We walked a bit, found a restaurant with outdoor seating for lunch, and then walked some more. Then on to the Royal Palace, the Royal Treasury, a store to buy Tom Tars, and then walked to the Stockholm Ice Bar (another one!). Enjoyed a drink there, but afterwards opted out of public transit and caught a taxi to the ship (about $20 US). Dinner on ship that night with late night cocktails on the pool deck and the Journey’s rendition of their own Ice Bar. Very fun.

 

The next day I decided to take it easy while my wife and daughter took the ship’s shuttle back into town for a little more shopping. They also caught the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace at 12:15 or so. I whiled away my time with a massage at the Aqua Spa (my wife and daughter had already spent some time and money there). The sailaway that afternoon at 6:00 pm was beautiful (through the archipelago), and we had a photographer come to our suite for an in-suite sitting (or actually, on-veranda sitting).

 

Entertainment: To be truthful I only went to the cabaret once – for a folkloric show after we got back from the opera. Enjoyed that very much (and it was taped and on the ship’s TV periodically after that). The theater is much smaller than what we had on the Celebrity Millennium and the Princess Caribbean, but it was adequate to the task. But for people expecting big productions, it might be a disappointment. My only other “entertainment” was the casino, which I enjoyed too much, if you get my drift.

 

Ship: Perfect size! Many liked the casual atmosphere - no formal night. Some folks did wear suits to dinner, but others just shirts and slacks. People could have gone to a buffet dinner where shorts and jeans would have sufficed, so that option exists.

 

The spa was great. They offered the usual range of massages, facials, and manicures, but also had a board certified acupuncturist on board. There was a steam room in the men's and ladies' locker rooms. Robes and slippers were provided. Behind the spa, there is a private terrace with a thelassotherapy pool. This was provided as an amenity to Penthouse and Royal Suite guests and was available to others for an additional $175 per couple for the cruise. We used the thelassotherapy pool probably 5-6 times each.

 

The weather was good enough most days to use the pool on Deck 9 and its hot tubs.

 

Staff: The level of staff excellence can be attributed to the Hotel Director, Philip Herbert. He had prior experience on the Crystal and Celebrity and applied his knowledge and experience to the Journey. He was incredibly gracious and helpful. The captain/master (Georgios Theodorou) was affable and friendly. The Cruise Director, John Howell, seemed to be everywhere! He constantly asked people how things were going. He greeted everyone as they headed out on daily excursions, walked around during sea days, poked his head into the restaurants and emceed the evening entertainment. He also taped a segment in the casino bar one night discussing the activities the following day and featured my wife, daughter and one of our new friends (they were whiling away their time while husbands/father sat at the blackjack and poker tables); his only mistake was that he called my wife “Candy” throughout the video (which was repeated numerous times on the ship’s channel on TV the next couple of days) – it was hilarious when the three of them gave unexpected answers to John’s questions.

 

Debarkation: Very smooth and organized.

 

If you have any questions I'll try to answer.

[Cruiser Nonna]

Thank you so much for your indepth review. We will be on the Journey the end of July - I do have some general questions if you would not mind?

 

1. I know you mentioned the lines getting off in St Petersburg - what time did you actually get off and begin your tour?

 

2. You mention using the ship transfers in several ports - do you remember the cost per person? Did you happen to check on the taxi rates? There are 4 of us and wondered if it was better to take a taxi.

 

3. Did Journey offer a soda card as does Celebrity? Cost? Did you happen to notice the cost of sodas and drinks? I am taking my 19yr old grandson and just want to be prepared.

 

4. Anything you wish you had done or would do differently if you were going again?

 

5. We too plan to go to Tivoli for dinner night prior to cruise - did you enjoy the restaurant you chose? Other suggestions?

 

Thank you so much for taking your time to share - have been so looking forward to hearing from someone that recently did this cruise.

[Cheesi]

Sam,

 

Great review, thanks.

 

Was the Stockholm card was $ well spent? Did you buy it advance before the cruise?

 

I think Norma hit some of my other questions - especially

 

4. Anything you wish you had done or would do differently if you were going again?

 

Thanks, Pat

[KnoxvilleSam]

Thanks for the kind words regarding my review. In response to your questions,

 

Cruiser Nonna:

 

1. I know you mentioned the lines getting off in St Petersburg - what time did you actually get off and begin your tour? The first day we were scheduled to start our tour with SP-B at 8:00 am; we were off the ship and in line with Russian passport control by 7:45 and met our guide and driver by 8:20 or so.

 

2. You mention using the ship transfers in several ports - do you remember the cost per person? Did you happen to check on the taxi rates? There are 4 of us and wondered if it was better to take a taxi. In the parlance of cruise ships (I think), we didn't use transfers (i.e., to and from the ship on embarkation and debarkation) but did use shuttles occasionally from where the ship docked to the "center" of town. The cost was $10 US per person round trip. I think my review says how much we spent on taxis when we did use them; that is, in Copenhagen, from the airport to our hotel was about $40 US, from our hotel to the ship was about $30, and the ship to the airport at the end of our cruise was about $60 US, and in Stockholm, from the center of town to our ship at Frivhavnen port was about $30 US.

 

I think you CAN find a taxi that will accommodate 4 people plus luggage in Copenhagen (the person in charge of the queue will help), but I don't know if any extra costs for the fourth person (we had 3 people).

 

3. Did Journey offer a soda card as does Celebrity? Cost? Did you happen to notice the cost of sodas and drinks? I am taking my 19yr old grandson and just want to be prepared. We didn't inquire about soda cards. I believe that sodas are $2.50 per can, plus 18 percent (gratuity). Sorry I can't tell you any more on this.

 

4. Anything you wish you had done or would do differently if you were going again? Yes - not get pick-pocketed in Helsinki :D I'm sure there are things we could have done differently to increase how much we saw, but recognizing that the cruise is very port intensive, we absorbed about as much as we could. Plus, we were very fortunate in getting a very inexpensive upgrade to our suite - that made things "more wonderful" than what we had planned on.

 

5. We too plan to go to Tivoli for dinner night prior to cruise - did you enjoy the restaurant you chose? Other suggestions? We enjoyed the Groeften very much (and I picked it out after reading reviews on TripAdvisor), but recognize that Tivoli is awash with restaurants. These range from VERY fancy (and VERY expensive) to fairly plain but good (but still expensive - it's Copenhagen after all). There is a brochure for Tivoli that I think we picked up after paying our entrance fee (about $15 US per person, as I recall) that lists many restaurants in Tivoli and provides a map showing how to get to them.

 

Cheesi: Was the Stockholm card was $ well spent? Did you buy it advance before the cruise? It depends on how much you want to do and how much time you have in Stockholm as to whether it's cost-effective. We did enough to make it useful - used public transit (e.g., bus from our dock to a stop near the Vasa Museum) as well as entrance fees to Vasa, Skansen, Royal Palace, Royal Treasury, etc. The other intangible advantage is that you don't "waste" time purchasing entrance tickets at each venue. Yes, I did buy the tickets online ahead of time - ordered them a couple of weeks before our cruise and they were mailed to us within a week. I wouldn't cut that quite so close if I did it again - order them at least 3 weeks ahead of time.

[cluso]

for a great review.

We are staying 2 days precruise, and leaving from CPH the day we return--1135 airline departure. Do you think that will go smoothly??

Thanks :rolleyes:

[j!m]

you should have no problem at all catching an 1135 plane home

[Susan-M]

Sam,

I really enjoyed your review ... thank you for posting it!

 

You mentioned that one of the reasons for choosing this cruise was because of the 3 days in St. Petersburg. It sounds like you had a very interesting time there, but I wondered if you felt that 3 days was a good amount of time, or if 2 days would have been sufficient?

[KnoxvilleSam]

Sam,

I really enjoyed your review ... thank you for posting it!

 

You mentioned that one of the reasons for choosing this cruise was because of the 3 days in St. Petersburg. It sounds like you had a very interesting time there, but I wondered if you felt that 3 days was a good amount of time, or if 2 days would have been sufficient?

 

The length of time in any port that one desires is really an individual decision. I loved three days, would have enjoyed even more. I don't know which, of all the sites we visited, that I'd be willing to drop in order to "do" a 2-day stop in St. Petersburg. I could have easily spent an entire day at Hermitage. On the other hand, any time at all there is really a blessing. So could I "live" with 2 days there? Of course.

 

Sam

[SkiCruiser44]

I can't wait until we sail Sept 13th!!!

[Andy]

Hi Knoxville Sam !

 

Thank you for your excellent review. I'm glad you and your Family had a wonderful time on Journey. Welcome Home !

[Hawkmoth]

3. Did Journey offer a soda card as does Celebrity? Cost? Did you happen to notice the cost of sodas and drinks? I am taking my 19yr old grandson and just want to be prepared.

This one I can answer - Journey did have a soda club for $5 per day. We didn't use it, but there was a sign I noticed at the pool bar when we sailed from Copenhagen.

 

Vicki and I were on this cruise too, and I can't think of anything that I would change in Sam's review, although we can't review a penthouse suite and we didn't get our pocket picked anywhere. We were with Sam et al. for the Saint Petersburg private tour, and it was wonderful. We wouldn't have traded the three days there for two. Those three days were part of why we chose Azamara.

 

The only hiccup we had was being "treated" to a very l-o-o-o-ng, scenic route back to the airport in a taxi in Copenhagen. That added about $10 US to the cost of going, compared to coming in from the airport on arrival. We stayed for three days in Copenhagen after the cruise.

 

Dick

[avidtrav]

Thank you KnoxvilleSam for your exceptional review. My wife and I chose the Azamara Quest for our next cruise primarily due to its itinerary (Black Sea August 23rd) but have been, to some extent, apprehensive about our Azamara cruise, only because we have been somewhat spoiled by Crystal and Oceania, and believing too that Azamara might not measure up even though our TA advised us that she felt Azamara has matured to a much more competetive product with Oceania. That was until we read your review. Now we leave with great comfort and much less apprehension.

 

Thanks.

 

Sandi and Paul

[Cruiser Nonna]

Knoxville Sam - thanks again for all the help - I apologize for misleading when I mentioned "transfers" I should have said "shuttles" was looking at the difference between pricing with the cruiseline shuttles and taxi since there are 4 of us - sorry for the confusion.

 

How did you handle currency conversion? Did you do it prior, on the ship; do you exchange for the different currencies or just Euros -

 

Thanks again for all your help and advice

[KnoxvilleSam]

Knoxville Sam -

How did you handle currency conversion? Did you do it prior, on the ship; do you exchange for the different currencies or just Euros -

 

Thanks again for all your help and advice

 

Hi Cruiser Nonna -

 

Other than 15 euros that we had left over from a trip last summer, we relied on ATMs to get local currency everywhere. The only currency exchanges we did was when we had more Swedish and Danish currency than we could use and used the Guest Relations desk to reclaim some US dollars. Any leftover coins can be given to a charity - I think it was Make A Wish Foundation - in a bin next to Guest Relations.

 

Sam

[vival]

Hi Sam

 

Thanks for your excellent review we leave tomorrow for the 12th July cruise and your comments help to add to the anticipation.

We have booked our St Pete tour with Viktoria and have a couple of questions about your experience.

Did she contact you prior to your tour? - as yet we have had no contact from her and as we leave in a few hours I would like to know that everything was confirmed.

Were you happy with your tour or was there anything you would have done differently?

Thanks again

 

Vivien

[KnoxvilleSam]

Hi Sam

 

Thanks for your excellent review we leave tomorrow for the 12th July cruise and your comments help to add to the anticipation.

We have booked our St Pete tour with Viktoria and have a couple of questions about your experience.

Did she contact you prior to your tour? - as yet we have had no contact from her and as we leave in a few hours I would like to know that everything was confirmed.

Were you happy with your tour or was there anything you would have done differently?

Thanks again

 

Vivien

 

Hi Vivien - sorry I didn't see your post until just now, so you've probably already left for your cruise.

 

Our last contact with Viktoria was probably a few weeks before our cruise (and I think that was with respect to our evening excursion to the Mariinsky Theater instead of our daytime tour). I don't think you need to worry about that - she's very well organized, particularly now that she's hired some helpers (in addition to her guides).

 

I was very happy with everything we did in St. Petersburg - our guide (Elena) and driver (Yuri) were incredibly professional and friendly. As practically everyone says about this cruise, St. Petersburg really IS the highlight of the cruise.

 

Sam

[gersy]

what did you do in lubeck?

[KnoxvilleSam]

what did you do in lubeck?

 

Sorry gersy, but Lubeck wasn't on our itinerary. Can't help.

 

Sam

[gillianrose]

Thanks for a very thorough review. Do you recall which other ships were with you in ports of call, esp. St. Petersburg? Did you ever happen to chat with anyone from the other ships to compare notes?

 

How did Azamara's location at each port stack up against those of other companies?

[vival]

Hi Vivien - sorry I didn't see your post until just now, so you've probably already left for your cruise.

 

Our last contact with Viktoria was probably a few weeks before our cruise (and I think that was with respect to our evening excursion to the Mariinsky Theater instead of our daytime tour). I don't think you need to worry about that - she's very well organized, particularly now that she's hired some helpers (in addition to her guides).

 

I was very happy with everything we did in St. Petersburg - our guide (Elena) and driver (Yuri) were incredibly professional and friendly. As practically everyone says about this cruise, St. Petersburg really IS the highlight of the cruise.

 

Sam

 

Thanks Sam that is good to hear. We are in Copenhagen and can't wait till tomorrow when we set sail.

 

Vivien

[KnoxvilleSam]

Thanks for a very thorough review. Do you recall which other ships were with you in ports of call, esp. St. Petersburg? Did you ever happen to chat with anyone from the other ships to compare notes?

 

How did Azamara's location at each port stack up against those of other companies?

 

My memory is somewhat hazy about that now, although I did create a spreadsheet a month or so before our cruise that was badly out of date by the time we got to each port.

 

Copenhagen - docked at Freihavnen (sp?), farther away than other cruise ships (because the cruise originated and finished in Copenhagen). I think the NCL ship was in port when we were there.

 

Warnemunde/Rostock - I think there was one other ship (Oceania Regatta?) docked next to us. Since we left the port area early for Berlin (4 hours away), its location wasn't too important to us.

 

Helsinki - There were a couple of other ships docked in Helsinki when we were there, but only one (a Costa ship?) other "near" us. We were at the "closer" berthing area in Helsinki - walked in from the ship.

 

St. Petersburg - We docked on the Lt. Schmidt Embankment - a prime location in "downtown" St. Petersburg. One other cruise ship (a Seaborne ship?) was docked at the English Embankment across the river from us. We passed the much larger NCL ship docked in the cargo port area on our way in.

 

Tallinn - Several other ships docked with us in Tallinn. The dock area itself is relatively compact (i.e., one particular berth didn't seem to be much better or worse than the others).

 

Stockholm - We were at the Freihaven port - pretty far away from typical sites (Vasa, Skansen, Gamla Stan). I think there was one or two others there with us.

 

I never really chatted with people from other ships while on our cruise so didn't have a point of comparison. But I do think that the smaller Journey had advantages over the larger ships (e.g., NCL, Costa) in terms of port location. And for my money, it also had the advantage of size - we were a very small town, whereas the larger ones were pretty large villages.:)

 

Sam

[greyhound101]

We are taking the cruise on June 6th 2010. I noticed the ship returns to Copenhagen and docks at 6 a.m. The flight we would need departs CPH at 9, I looked at other flights and found they depart also early morning. What sort of return flight did Azmara provide or did you have to spend a night in Copenhagen in order to return to the US? You may respond back at afenster2@cox.net if you wish.

 

Thank you in Advance,

 

 

Arthur Fenster

[Hawkmoth]

We were in no hurry because we spent three days in Copenhagen after the cruise, but our flight from Copenhagen to Chicago on SAS left about 3:30 in the afternoon. Another couple from the cruise were leaving on SAS at about the same time for Seattle. I guess this is a long way of saying that early morning flights aren't necessarily the only option. Obviously, that depends on where you need to go!

 

I don't know how you could disembark after a 6:00 am arrival in time to make a 9:00 am flight, but perhaps it can be done. I would be confident that Azamara would try to accommodate you, though, and that they would give you accurate advice about it.

 

Copenhagen was the final port of call for us, so we arrived the day before disembarkation. I remember that there was an announcement that people could leave as early as 5:00 am or so the next day if they took their own luggage off the ship. But that wouldn't help if arrival were the same day as your flight out.

[Hawkmoth]

Do you recall which other ships were with you in ports of call, esp. St. Petersburg? Did you ever happen to chat with anyone from the other ships to compare notes

My memory is no better than Sam's, but I do remember seeing Emerald Princess in Stockholm while we were there. We didn't talk to passengers from other ships either.

[gillianrose]

My memory is somewhat hazy about that now, although I did create a spreadsheet a month or so before our cruise that was badly out of date by the time we got to each port.

 

Copenhagen - docked at Freihavnen (sp?), farther away than other cruise ships (because the cruise originated and finished in Copenhagen). I think the NCL ship was in port when we were there.

 

Warnemunde/Rostock - I think there was one other ship (Oceania Regatta?) docked next to us. Since we left the port area early for Berlin (4 hours away), its location wasn't too important to us.

 

Helsinki - There were a couple of other ships docked in Helsinki when we were there, but only one (a Costa ship?) other "near" us. We were at the "closer" berthing area in Helsinki - walked in from the ship.

 

St. Petersburg - We docked on the Lt. Schmidt Embankment - a prime location in "downtown" St. Petersburg. One other cruise ship (a Seaborne ship?) was docked at the English Embankment across the river from us. We passed the much larger NCL ship docked in the cargo port area on our way in.

 

Tallinn - Several other ships docked with us in Tallinn. The dock area itself is relatively compact (i.e., one particular berth didn't seem to be much better or worse than the others).

 

Stockholm - We were at the Freihaven port - pretty far away from typical sites (Vasa, Skansen, Gamla Stan). I think there was one or two others there with us.

 

I never really chatted with people from other ships while on our cruise so didn't have a point of comparison. But I do think that the smaller Journey had advantages over the larger ships (e.g., NCL, Costa) in terms of port location. And for my money, it also had the advantage of size - we were a very small town, whereas the larger ones were pretty large villages.:)

 

Sam

 

Thank you, Sam and Hawkmoth!