Question About Voyager in the Baltic

[xyz111]

Can anyone help us with some specific questions about the Seven Seas Voyager in the Baltic? It's been several years since we've been on Radisson/Regent, and we'd appreciate updated information.

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 Crystal and Seabourn?

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

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

[Travelcat2]

While I hope you are able to get responses to your questions, it may be difficult to find members who have been to the Baltics multiple times on different cruise lines tha can make accurate comparisons.

In my opinion, the best way to tour the Baltics is with a private tour company (Denrus, Red October, etc.) rather than doing a ship excursion on any cruise line.

"Does the food match the ambience of the dining environment?" Can you be more specific?

Several pages could be written about the differences between Crystal, Regent and Seabourn. There are very few similarities. In terms of comparing food on the three lines, it is very subjective. You will no doubt find different responses on each of the boards. We were on the Voyager last week and find the "current quality of dining on the Voyager" to be excellent.

[Hambagahle]

This is a difficult set of questions to answer! We were on a Baltic cruise on Voyager in June 2006 and loved every minute. (Dover to Copenhagen, with stops in Ijmuiden, Warnemunde, Tallin, St Petersburg, Stockholm. We were supposed to stop a Visby but it was howling with wind and the Captain couldn't get the anchors down!) The only ship-organised tours we did were: Warnemunde, which was a walking tour of Rostock. We had a superb guide and loved every minute. Tallin, where what we saw was great but the guide, a young student pressed into service because there were 3 large ships, plus ours, in port and guides were in short supply, was nice but not great. We eventually left her in the old town and walked around on our own and then took a taxi back to the ship. So I would give the ship's tours mixed reviews. However normally we do take RSSC tours and have found them, with few exceptions, to be very good.
I totally agree that a private guide in St Petersburg is the best. We used Galina, of Galina Travel (she has her own website). Galina is wonderful and has guided many VIPs including two US Presidents. She took us to places when they were closed to the public, and we met the directors of the Chinese Pavilion in Orangjeburg and Catherine's Palace. This was very special as they were both most interesting. Galina is not cheap (cost us around $1000/day including the car, driver, entrances and the "baksheesh" needed to open closed doors!) but we thought it was money really well spent. When you think that a full day tour on RSSC can run $300+ per person, $1000/day for 3 was not at all bad!
However since I have never been on Silversea nor Crystal, I cannot give you comparisons. For us we liked the Baltic so much (have been to most of the countries there on our own before, including Russia) that we will most likely take another RSSC cruise there one summer.

[tombo]

We did a Baltic cruise a few years ago on mainstream line. We were in St. Petersburg for two days, but you could only get off the boat if you were taking one of the ship's excursions. Otherwise you needed to have arranged for a Russian visa in advance of sailing. I don't know if this has changed or if the local tour operators are authorized to escort small groups under a blanket visa but you should probably check before you make your plans.

[Travelcat2]

Visas are not needed with local tour operators.

[RachelG]

We did Copenhagen to Stockholm this summer with stops in Visby, Tallinn, St Petersburg, and Helsinki. The only ship's tour we did was in Tallinn, and it was quite disappointing. To do over, I would have just done my own exploring there. The only reason we did the tour was to visit the Occupation Museum, which is normally closed on Mondays, but is included in the tour. The Occupation Museum was great--I could have spent the entire time there. The rest of the tour was really bad.
Visby is easily done (and probably best done) on your own.
We hired a guide from Anastasia for the 3 days in St. Petersburg. It actually cost less for the 3 of us than doing ships tours every day for 3 people would have, plus we were able to see more because we could move from place to place quickly.
Helsinki--it was raining cats and dogs. We did our own exploring. Several people who were on the tours were upset because the tours were not cancelled despite the weather being inappropriate (for biking, hiking, kayaking). Some got money refunded, but not all.
Copenhagen and Stockholm are both easily done on your own.