Baltic Cruise with 15 family and friends

Great ports!  Ship is older, but well-maintained and clean.  Crew was friendly and helpful.  Shows were good with a wide variety of entertainment.  Dining rooms did a super job of seating and serving 15 of us every night, typically without a reservation at around 2030.  Did eat one night in La Cuchina (Italian) as a group, very good.  Entertainment in the bar areas was excellent, fun and easy listening. 

Difficult to find and get to the new cruise terminal in Copenhagen... taxi driver was lost within the port area, but we eventually followed another taxi and found the new entrance to the terminal. 

Check in and load aboard went very smoothly with little time waiting in line. 

Luggage was in the room after we had lunch at the buffet... very efficient! 

Underway was on time and provided some great views departing Copenhagen. 

Bought train tickets in Wannermunde for a ride to Rostock.  Returned and wandered around the port city of Wannermunde, had dinner on a canal and enjoyed the evening. 

Tallin was very easy to walk to the old city from the pier and spend time wandering around and shopping in the old city shops. 

Shore excursions in St. Petersburg required if you are US citizen or you can get your own visa with a letter of sponorship, but costly and takes time to process.  Norwegian sponsored shore excursions were well worth doing. 

Helsinki was easy to buy buy hop-on-hop-off bus passes at the pier and a boat tour at the center market of the city/port. 

Stockholm was overwhelmed with cruise ships the day we visited, 7 in port.  The Vasa museum tour was a must as a shore excursion since as an individual the line to buy a ticket was a kilometer long!  Even in the group the Vasa was still worth seeing for the one hour alloted... more time would have been better. Also, visited an ice bar for the experience and enjoyed vodka in an ice glass dressed in cold-weather gear in the bar. Having signed up for the shore excursion probably allowed us to bypass some lines and maximize our time in port in Stockholm. 

All the ports were very beautiful, with incredible scenery on arrivals and departures.  Sunrises were very early and sunsets were very late allowing for great views. 

Very good bargains onboard the ship... save your money in Russia, spend it on the ship at the Russian Bazzar on the last at-sea day.  You'll get better quality and a better price for the same merchandise the tour stops were offering. 

All in all, the cruise met expectations and the Baltic capitals are definitely worth visiting.