Great way to visit the Baltic region. Very active (well over 10,000 steps per day). Mix of walking, bus, and biking.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Smooth and easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Only real complaint is that while the Solarium is open until 9 PM, the Park Cafe snack area inside it closes at 6 when the Windjammer Buffet opens. It should be kept open later so that those who want to use the pool or hot tub can grab a snack.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Enjoyed pickleball on the sea day! But one other day it was listed at 9 am, and the whole area where the sports court was located was closed. :( Also, there really need to be some educational presentation / lectures in the evening. The cruise was all around the Baltic ports, and it would have been great to have an opportunity to hear more about the Hanseatic League, the Baltic states, etc.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
A step down from earlier cruises. Not first rate. For the last evening's performance, the MC wasted 10 minutes walking through each of the ports we had visited and the entertainment that had been offered on those nights. What's the point? We were there.
Children's Programs
N/A
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Excellent service from cabin steward and main dining room waiter and host.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Overall clean and well-maintained. However, when searching our cabin for an item that fell, found dirt and old trash under the bed and furniture.
Ship tip
Note that the Park Cafe in the Solarium closes at 6. No handy snacks while in the pool or hot tub.
Great port of call. However the "Stockholm on your own" advertises three stops, one of them being the city hall. However all the main attractions in the city hall are inside, which is viewable only by a 45 minute guided tour, and the excursion bus only stopped there for 30 minutes! Worthless. We abandoned the excursion at this point and had a great tour of City Hall, rejoining the excursion only at the very end to get back to the ship, using city transit otherwise.
Toured on our own. Some of our group really enjoyed the sauna and dip in the Baltic that is right down the road from the port. Don't wait until too late in the day - it fills to capacity.
Used a private guide from Peter's Walk. This wasn't cheap, but not only did we avoid the huge lines at some locations (e.g., the Hermitage), but were able to skip to the front of even the tour groups line and go right in. Another highlight was supper at the neighborhood bar near where our guide lives.
Not much to see, other than the city ramparts. But we did our own walking tour and had a nice lunch. We walked by the beach but didn't try swimming there.
We booked a bike tour with Fairy Tale Tours. A good, but not excellent guide. Worth doing. Others in our group took a small boat tour of the harbor and canals with Hey Captain and also had a great time. Hey Captain runs smaller boats with smaller groups.
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