nisky

We sailed on Royal Princess last month (4,100 passengers) and had anytime dining. Once on board, you can reserve a time by the DINE phone number or by approaching the maitre D after you have eaten. Our group of four ate between 6:00 and 6:30 pm and we never had a wait or needed a reservation, either for a private table or eating with others.

 

nisky

For 2015 Scandinavia-Russia cruisers, I will include more port info on our Scandinavia-Russia cruise, as well as my compilation of tips from previous cruisers, in my upcoming ship review under ‘Member Reviews’. For now, here’s a summary of our experiences on the Royal Princess.

 

We felt this was a terrific itinerary on a good ship. We much prefer smaller ships, but picked Royal Princess because its itinerary included Oslo, Norway on an 11-day cruise with only two sea days. Next year, it appears the Regal Princess, the sister ship to the Royal, will sail this itinerary.

 

The Royal is certainly beautiful, particularly The Piazza, dining rooms, Horizon Court & Bistro, and Princess Theater. We had no complaints with our balcony cabin, mid-ship on deck 14. We would have preferred more cabin storage space, but we managed ok. The balcony was large enough for us, and bigger than we were expecting from prior reviews. Bedding was very comfortable. We had no problems with the bathroom, except for a cranky toilet button. We always walked up to deck 16 for breakfast and snacks via the aft stairs, which put us right at the entrance to the Horizon Court.

 

As for dinners, we ate early in Symphony dining room (anytime dining) and the four of us never had a wait, for either a private table or dining with others. We felt the food was good, not great, but better than our last few cruises on Celebrity. The arrangement of the Horizon Court is much improved, with two mostly port-to-starboard aisles (each with food on both aisle sides), and one port-to-starboard aisle in both the Horizon Bistro and the Pastry Shop. There were never any long lines of cruisers waiting in cafeteria-style lines, even at busy times, that we experienced previously on other Princess ships. Service personnel provided coffee, tea, and cold drinks after we sat down.

 

The Crown Grill was terrific - one of the best meals we have ever had not only on a ship, but anywhere.

 

Service personnel around the ship were as good as we have had on any ship. They were friendly and very attentive, without being pushy.

 

We felt most of the shows we attended were just ok, but the Russian Folkloric Show on our first night in St. Petersburg, and the final cruise night 'Spectacular' production show were both outstanding. The theater is definitely too small for a ship this size, requiring arriving 20-30 minutes early for a good choice of seating, or any at all.

 

We used private company tours (only 16-31 people!) for five cities on this cruise, and we couldn't have been more pleased that we did. Be prepared to do lots of walking in these port cities, including a heavy dose of cobblestone walkways!

 

There are ship ‘cons’ to be aware of, especially on this itinerary: 1) the much reported mid-ship elevator situation, particularly above deck 7 where there are no mid-ship stairs, is as bad as others have reported. The elevators are ridiculously small, and often pass you by – which is the primary reason that cruisers pushed all the elevator buttons. We avoided mid-ship whenever possible and often took the staircases ; 2) tendering in Nynashamn, a 20 minute process at best, followed by a 45-60 minute ride to/from Stockholm after you are on land, instead of docking right in the Stockholm harbor as smaller ships do… and you don’t sail through the archipelago into this city; 3) docking at Containerhavnen in Aarhus, requiring a (free) 8-minute shuttle ride, instead of docking right at the edge of town; 4) docking in West Harbor for Helsinki, requiring an expensive shuttle, unless you are on a Princess or private company tour, as we were; and 5) queuing for a departure group number to leave the ship in the above mentioned ports and St. Petersburg. HOWEVER, if you are willing and able to go to the assigned departure locations (Symphony dining room and once in the Vista Lounge) about 20-30 minutes earlier than the posted times for Aarhus, St. Petersburg, and Nynashamn, you can avoid the masses on this ship and get off pretty quickly.

 

If you are a large ship person and don't mind walking to reach the fore or aft staircases or elevators, we think you will really like this ship. As for us, we wouldn't pay a premium to sail on the Royal again, unless it was the only ship sailing on an itinerary we wanted to cruise.

 

Many thanks to ElKay55, 2pbears, IECalCruiser, bellasorella, dockhl, bluenoser2, Pam in CA, VirtualRain and many, many others on Cruise Critic for their great advice and tips!

 

nisky

We had a great Scandinavia-Russia cruise. It was nice meeting everyone and sharing private company tours with many of you. The only regret I have is that I did not suggest a brief get together on our final sea day to share contact information.

 

If you have photos or other information to share with other members of our Meet & Greet group, send your email address to me at: nisky214 @ gmail (dot) com – with no spaces, of course! -- and I’ll create a mail list for us.

 

Otherwise, we hope to see you on another cruise in the future!

 

nisky (Stan)

What time was your meet?

 

Over the years it has been a point made by a few Cruise Directors that its best to have the M&G sometime between 10:00am and Noon as it would be less of a conflict with staff's daily business so that officers could show up.

 

Our first M&G was 3:00-4:30 pm (muster drill was 5:00 pm) and the second one was 3:00-4:00 pm. These times were the best for our group, and Stacey Anderson told us that the times were ok for inviting ship personnel.

Just returned from the Aug 19-30 Scandinavia/Russia cruise on the Royal Princess. I organized two Meet & Greet sessions (embarkation afternoon and first sea day, afternoon) through Stacey Anderson, as Pam noted, and we requested and were assigned the Horizon Terrace, port side, behind the Horizon Court. They had the area blocked off for us. A bar steward was assigned to take drink orders. We had over 40 people who attended and there was space for lots more. Our only mild disappointment was that none of the ship's officers and staff could attend either session, but we had a great group of people who we saw often throughout the cruise.

jdm, lrjlaw and bonship - Thanks very much for your comments! We're taking mostly private company tours and hopefully we'll be able get off the Royal Princess in St. Petersburg and Nynashamn as quickly as you did.

 

jdm - Also thanks for your info on our Aug 19 roll call!

 

If you have any other advice, let us know!

 

nisky

Thanks for your report. We'll be on the Royal next week! I have a few questions for you:

1) Did you have a full ship?

2) How much time did it take to get off the ship at Nynashamn and in St. Petersburg?

3) For the latter, was getting through immigration longer than a half-hour?

4)Any other tips?

 

nisky

Do you need the exact fare amount when you board buses in Denmark and Norway? Can you purchase bus tickets in advance for buses in these countries?

 

Thanks

nisky

bluenoser2 - Regarding Nynashamn... It sounds like Would they only give tender tickets to a husaband & wife if both were present, correct? How early did your group assemble before the announced start of Princess providing tender tickets?

 

Thanks again for an informative report.

 

nisky

bluenoser2 -

 

We're very much enjoying your reports! When you were docked in Aarhus, where did the shuttle bus drop you off? Was it near any specific building or street?

Thanks very much

nisky

Bus 66 goes directly to Nyhavn from the next door Vesterport station.

 

 

 

 

For the other question I have a few suggestions.

 

 

http://www.krak.dk/person/resultat/elizabeth+stein

 

http://www.krak.dk/person/resultat/mark+stein

 

 

 

http://www.krak.dk/person/resultat/michael+stein

 

http://www.krak.dk/person/resultat/henriette+stein

Danish viking -

Thanks very much for the bus information and those web pages. Is there a way I can translate those pages into English?

nisky

Where is the Royal Princess docking in Aarhus this year, and can we walk into town or do we need to take a shuttle? We hope to get to Den Gamle By on foot or by bus. From a port search, it appears we are docking in Containerhavnen (since the ship is too large to dock closer) where walking may not be allowed.

 

Comments from cruisers this year would be appreciated!

Thanks!

nisky

If you still have the time, could you forward the Tallinn walking tour to me at

sstrauss214@yahoo.com

 

Thanks very much!

 

nisky

Danish viking & others in/near Copenhagen

 

1) From the Imperial Hotel, what bus do you recommend to go to/from Nyhavn.

 

2) We will be in Copenhagen next month to start/end our cruise. I am having no success in numerous internet searches trying to locate cousins I have never met. If you have any suggestions on how I might look for them, I would be most grateful. You can email me if you wish at sstrauss214 @ yahoo dot com (no spaces).

 

Here are the names:

Elizabeth Stein Old address may have been Skottegarden #12, #5 2770 Kastrut, Denmark. May have worked for SAS; (now age in upper 60s); son: Mark.

Michael Stein (now age in upper 60s)

Henrietta Stein (now age in mid 60s); son: Jonathan

 

nisky

formal night is on the first sea day and the day port in Helsinki

 

Thanks very much. This sounds like it may be the case for our cruise. Our first sea day is Day 5 and Helsinki is day 9 (after two days in St. Petersburg).

 

Our second sea day is the day 11 (last day on ship) so I'm pretty sure it won't be that one on our cruise.

 

nisky

[quote name='Kinkacruiser']Before I tell you about Helsinki and our first day in SBP, I need to revise my nationality breakdown. Those original percentages were from our CC roll call, but in fact we have about 300 Aussies, 700 Americans and the balance of passengers are from the UK and Europe. The ship seems crowded, with just a tad over 3000 pax. You notice it when waiting for the elevators at mealtimes and on port days. Many times it's faster to use the stairs.

So the most popular tea is English Breakfast and Peter - there is night life after 11 pm (not that I've seen it).

[B]Helsinki [/B]was so-so, with the highlight of the attractions being the Rock church. There were lots of dogs being walked in the parks, so some of us became homesick for our pets. Today's tour was 3 hours and the weather was great.
[B]SPB [/B]- what can I say....simply GRAND and amazing :):). Perhaps a little too much time was spent in the Hermitage looking at paintings, plus we had to wrestle with all of Europe again. We started the day with a subway ride which was astonishing. Too many great sights and experiences to mention here but our private guide was simply outstanding.
Immigration was a breeze. Our group assembled at Vines at 6.30 am and were were off the ship and waiting for our guide and bus at 6.50am. No need to go to the dining room on deck 6 as instructed, as our large group was whizzed though quickly. Tonight many went to the ballet in the city and there is also a folkloric show in the Princess theatre. An early night here as we meet again in the morning for a hydrofoil and canal ride to Peterhof Palace as well as other attractions. I hope there won't be too many more churches;) but I'm looking forward to more amazing sights and experiences.

Talk again soon....
Anna[/QUOTE]

Anna,
Thanks for your interesting posts. When you were in St Petersburg, you mentioned getting off the ship as a group. Were you on a Princess tour or a private tour? If a private tour, how did you arrange this?
Thanks very much.
nisky

Thanks for your review. We'll be taking this cruise in August. Can you tell us:

1) which nights were formal nights; and

2) was ship time the same as the port where you arrived.

 

nisky

Hi I will email them to everyone in the next day or so. Sorry for the delay. On a business trip and swamped

 

If you can't post these info sheets on this thread, I would appreciate a copy at this email without the spaces:

sstrauss214 @ yahoo dot com

 

Thanks very much.

Rosenborg opens at 10:00

 

Also the stores at Strøget opens at 10:00

 

 

By this walking map I would say that its possible to see it all on foot.

 

Danish viking - Thank you. Did you have a walking map that you meant to attach as a link? I could really use that.

 

Would you recommend that we walk or take public transportation to Rosenborg and Nyhavn?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

nisky

Danish Viking and others –

We need your help again. We have a short stay in Copenhagen before our cruise in August – a Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. We will be staying at the Imperial Hotel. We would like to take the Netto canal boat cruise at Nyhavn, see the Rosenborg Castle, stroll the Stroget, and visit Tivoli Gardens at night. Are we close enough to walk to all of these venues or would we need to take public transportation? If we need transportation, can you advise how to get there? Also, what times do stores open on the Stroget in the morning and is the Rosenborg open for an early enough for a morning visit? We want to get to our ship by noon to 12:30.

 

Thanks very much.

nisky

If anyone is wondering why The Square is not the best choice of hotels atm just look at this photo.

 

Metro construction on the front and the Scala high rise construction on the backside. :D

 

 

 

http://map.krak.dk/m/nNVuM

 

Regarding construction: Do you think we will be ok at the Imperial Hotel? We are only planning one night there.

Thanks

nisky

ISLAND FAN:

We are sailing the Baltics/Scandinavia on Royal Princess in late summer, and Princess told us we will be docked at Flex Terminal, Pier 245 (~ ½ hr to airport) in Copenhagen.

 

I went over to the "Northern Europe & Baltics" ports of call section (under "Europe") and asked where this pier is located in the "Wonderful Copenhagen" thread.

 

Danish viking, who has a wealth of great information, answered my inquiry (page 63, post #1245) with a photo link:

 

The cruise terminal is here.

https://maps.google.dk/maps?q=Sundka...+Nordhavn&z=16

 

I plan on confirming the location with Princess again as we get closer to the cruise. Hope this helps.

nisky

Thanks for the pier info on Warnemunde. It was very helpful in planning for our cruise next summer.

We will be taking an SPB tour to Berlin and back during our one day in Germany on the Royal Princess. Hopefully this will work out well, although we know it will be exhausting. We've never been to Berlin, and we think this will be the best option for us.

Any additional advice (including a museum we might be able to squeeze in if there is any free time) would be appreciated.

nisky

Danish viking & others:

Thank you for your earlier advice on taxis from the airport.

 

We have now booked the Imperial Hotel in August 2014. Can you advise how we would get from the airport to this hotel by public transit and how far we would have to walk with our luggage from station (train?/metro?) to this hotel. I'm sorry if this has been asked by someone before.

 

Thanks!

nisky

And happy and healthy holidays to you as well. Your posts have been very useful to us in planning our Scandinavia/Baltic cruise next summer. We appreciate your helpful comments.

nisky