This was my 8th cruise and in the past I have sailed with RCL (5) NCL (1) and Carnival (1) and have spent over 50 days at sea. This was our first time on any Princess ship, and most likely won't be our last. We embarked at Copenhagen at about 12 p.m, when the embarkation opens, and from the first moment to the last, we enjoyed it. Although this was one of the longer cruises we've been on, we weren't homesick at all, like we sometimes are on 7 day journeys. Read about the details below.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food was probably the most outstanding thing about our cruise trip.
Let's break down the food into different parts:
Breakfast buffet:
Breakfast buffet was average. There was good selection, including meats, omlets, fruits, pancakes, etc. However, most items stayed the same everyday. If you like eating the same thing for breakfast each day, there is very good selection. If you want to switch things up though, it might not be the best for you, as only about 5 items switch every day.
Lunch Buffet:
We were only able to have one lunch in the buffet, first day, since at other times we were either at sit down lunch or at port. Our first impression was good though. Salad selection was good, and there was a good international selection of food.
Dinner Buffet:
Dinner buffet was themed every night, and after sit down dinner we always headed up, although we were full, we would still stuff ourselves. The dinner buffet had a row of set courses, likes roast beef, French fries, snow peas etc. Salad and bread in the middle, and a themed row. There was an Italian night, American Night, Asian Night, and local themes, like Bavarian, Baltic, and Scandinavian.
Pastry shop:
The pastry shop features bread in the morning and deserts and pastries in the afternoon.
Sit down Lunch:
Sit down lunch is in Concerto dinning room and features a brunch menu, soup, salads, appetizers, and different entrees, like sandwiches for quicker sit down lunches, and with items like Fried seafood, Nasi Goreng, Steak, Ham, and Mussels as mains.
Sit down dinner:
Sit down dinner was awesome. We chose the set time at 5:45 and were served by Jigger and Marissa at table 627. Shoutout to them, they were incredible and hilarious. Selection was good. The soup and salads were average, but the pasta was like heaven. Mains were good too and featured NY steak, Tofu, fish, and Lobster on formal nights.
Other Dining
Swirls:
Ice cream and popcorn 6 out of 10
Prego Pizza:
Poolside Pizza 7 out of 10
Trident Grill:
Poolside Burgers 6 out of 10
Alfredo's Pizza:
Sit down pizza 8 out of 10
International Café:
8 out of 10
Sandwiches, Salads, Pastries
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Average activities.
Culinary demo's
Trivia
Zumba Classes
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Average Production Shows:
Sweet Soul Music
bravo!
Good production Shows:
Fiera!
The Voice of the Ocean
Other Shows:
Magic Shows
Beatlemaniacs
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Dining staff
Jigger 9 out of 10
Marissa 7 out of 10
Cleaning staff
Polaris 9 out of 10
Thank you to total staff 8 out of 10
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Mini-Suite was spacious for 4 of us. Nice to have a balcony.
2 single beds
Sofa-bed
Upper Berth
Beautiful charming city with canals.
Little mermaid is not neccacary
Copenhagen card is useful for transportation and attractions
If you have time visit Fredriksborg castle, Amalienborg, Carlsberg Factory, and for kids zoo and aquarium are both quite good. If you cruise departs from Copenhagen you should spend 2 or 3 days before or after (we spent two days after and still felt rushed to see everything).
Oslo is a decent city to visit. Oslo card is useful for transportation and museums. Oslo is a very walkable city. Fram museum and folk museum are recomended. Vigeland sculpture park is also excellent on a fine day
Warnemünde is a very fine town, with beaches, lighthouses, and fish markets. We didn't head into Berlin but we also went out of Warnemünde. First we stayed in Warnemünde for about and hour. It's a great place to just stroll around. Then we headed to Wismar, just and average place. Schwerin castle, about an hour and half away from Warnemünde is very nice. Museum shows you the life in the castle, and you can spend some time enjoying the garden and lake.
Probably our favorite port, since weather was good. Stockholm is about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes away from Nynashamn, which is nice as well. Your ship could say tender required, but it is actually a floating gangway, which is very wide and essentially a regular gangway on giant buoys. It is completely safe. Gamla Stan Stockholm is nice to stroll around, and be sure to try Nutella ice cream if you stumble apon it. Skansen is an outdoor museum/zoo about folk life in Sweden, which you should check out.
Port Ranking:
Stockholm (Nynashamn)
Copenhagen
St. Petersburg
Tallinn
Warnemünde
Oslo
Helsinki
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