The Baltic on MS Island Sky - a mistake?

Hello!

I hope this is the right place to post. :)

I am travelling alone and have booked a 14 Day Baltic Renaissance Crusie on the Island Sky - run by Noble Calendonia in August this year. I cannot find any relevant reviews on this board just a few mentions of the boat, and on different routes.

I have grave misgivings after reading some awful, but old, reviews on this ship before it was refitted. however, the customer service from Noble Calendonian is living up to their poor reputation so far. I made a complaint through my travel agent that the advertised discount was not passed on to me through the booking agent or the cruise company, and it has now been removed from their website. This was GBP500, which was welcome due to the huge single supplement.

I am now in some trepidation that it's all an awful mistake, and I am hoping someone has some recent info on this ship and this itinerary.

http://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/tour/tour.asp?tourname=baltic+renaissance+2011+&sec=76&tour=1405

They seem to be very lax as I have not yet applied for my Russian Visa invite so I can apply. I really need to be organised (one of my failings).

Does anyone have any experience of them?

Thank you!

Hello!

I hope this is the right place to post. :)

 

I am travelling alone and have booked a 14 Day Baltic Renaissance Crusie on the Island Sky - run by Noble Calendonia in August this year. I cannot find any relevant reviews on this board just a few mentions of the boat, and on different routes.

 

I have grave misgivings after reading some awful, but old, reviews on this ship before it was refitted. however, the customer service from Noble Calendonian is living up to their poor reputation so far. I made a complaint through my travel agent that the advertised discount was not passed on to me through the booking agent or the cruise company, and it has now been removed from their website. This was GBP500, which was welcome due to the huge single supplement.

 

I am now in some trepidation that it's all an awful mistake, and I am hoping someone has some recent info on this ship and this itinerary.

 

http://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/tour/tour.asp?tourname=baltic+renaissance+2011+&sec=76&tour=1405

 

They seem to be very lax as I have not yet applied for my Russian Visa invite so I can apply. I really need to be organised (one of my failings).

 

Does anyone have any experience of them?

 

Thank you!

It'll be great. 95% of the pleasure of a Baltic cruise is the ports and you have a very intensive intinerary, with only one day at sea. A comfortable ship is a given, it will be fine, I'm sure.

As for the Russian visa, book a 3 day tour with any of excellent independent companies and you won't need one.

You'll have a ball, don't worry.

Tony

Hello!

I hope this is the right place to post. :)

 

I am travelling alone and have booked a 14 Day Baltic Renaissance Crusie on the Island Sky - run by Noble Calendonia in August this year. I cannot find any relevant reviews on this board just a few mentions of the boat, and on different routes.

 

I have grave misgivings after reading some awful, but old, reviews on this ship before it was refitted. however, the customer service from Noble Calendonian is living up to their poor reputation so far. I made a complaint through my travel agent that the advertised discount was not passed on to me through the booking agent or the cruise company, and it has now been removed from their website. This was GBP500, which was welcome due to the huge single supplement.

 

I am now in some trepidation that it's all an awful mistake, and I am hoping someone has some recent info on this ship and this itinerary.

 

http://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/tour/tour.asp?tourname=baltic+renaissance+2011+&sec=76&tour=1405

 

They seem to be very lax as I have not yet applied for my Russian Visa invite so I can apply. I really need to be organised (one of my failings).

 

Does anyone have any experience of them?

 

Thank you!

Well, I don't know if you made a mistake but I will say that their website is a shambles. It took me quite awhile to actually find any information on the ship and even then it was poorly written and poorly laid out. They are trying to cram too much info into a poorly designed site.

Once I found the information the ship sounded ok to me. I would love to try a small ship like that. Sorry you are having customer service problems already.

I also gather that it is not "all inclusive", is that correct? I notice that they offer "selected wines" at lunch and dinner, but the price seems a little steep to me if it is not AI.

Keep on the travel agent ... make them work. :)

Hoping you have a great time,

Al

As a small comfort I can tell you the Island Sky quay position in Helsinki is ideal next to the Old Market Hall and a stone's throw to market square. No need to worry about bus transport or shuttles as most other cruise passengers have to.

Thanks Ultima (I have those glasses btw :) ). I guess I won't know until I know! I am finding this terribly confusing, maybe I'm getting old, and I should try and trust it will all be alright!

On a positive they have agreed to pass on the discount I was due for and refunded the 500.

There you go.

As the Beatles once said, "It's getting better all the time'.

You will have a ball.

Cheers

Len

Not sure if we are on the same cruise but I am booked on a 13 day cruise of the Baltic on the Island Sky on August 13th this year.

I have also had trouble finding any information on this cruise . In Australia we have booked through a very reputable travel company APT and that is the only reason that I am not concerned about the lack of info. Perhaps this is a first time cruise to this location, it does appear that it only happens once a year.

I will be contacting APT shortly in regard to the Russian visa. From what I have read if we stick to the shore excursions organised by the cruise company , we are covered, should we want to go exploring on our own we need either a visa or to book with a local guide .

Hopefully I will see on the ship.

Cheers

Denise

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

The previous posters won't be joining you...their cruise was in 2011.

The Island Sky is a very small specialized cruise operation. There are probably very few people here who have any knowledge of her.

Thanks Bruce, I did realise after posting that it was an old post but I couldnt work out how to delete the post !!

Gosh, what a long time ago now, so much life has happened!

I can confirm it was an amazing cruise! there are some threads on Trip Advisor under Noble Caledonia. Since that post they have acquired two more ships from the same build of 8, and we are due to go on one to Japan in 9 weeks. I have also traveled on Island Sky twice since I posted, and will be sailing on her later in July this year too (BIG year for sailing this year!)

I am afraid we had a major, major issue with APT and only sailed with them a third time to use our refund. I book directly with the ship's company office in London. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)

The Russian Visa was a PITA, and I can confirm every single dock was totally enviable due to her size! St Petersburg docks within sight of the Hermitage (English Dock). yes, Helsinki's market is 100 yards from the berth. :)

Hi Denise. My husband and I are booked onto that cruise in August this year too. We are very excited about it!! We are platinum members with APT and have always been impressed with any of the tours that we have done with them because of their attention to all the fine details and the fact that they take care of everything and all we have to do is to sit back and enjoy ourselves!

We met a lovely couple on our APT African trip in September/October last year and they are booked onto the Baltic cruise too.

Our travel agent has told us that we need to give a copy of our passports (when we get them as we had to apply for new ones cos our old ones are almost expired) to APT and they will supply us with a "Letter of Introduction" which goes with our Application for a Russian Visa.

My husband and I live in Brisbane - where do you live?

Are you doing any other tours before or after the Baltic Cruise?

Regards

Sandy

Hi Sandy, how wonderful to hear that you are on the cruise as well.

We are from Perth and this is our first sea cruise, my husband is not keen on trying the larger ships so I found this cruise and thought it would be ideal. I have only had 3 European river cruises previously, which I adored so I am hoping it will be a great adventure.

We have recently retired so I am slowly trying to get my husband on some more trips but one trip a year to Europe is his limit at the moment and he is not happy about being away for more than 4 weeks. But I will work on him.

My travel agent is my daughter who is leaving the country next week for a couple of year to "see the world" , again, so I might contact APT and request the Letter of Introduction direct. Thank you for that. It will be wonderful to meet you in August, I am really looking forward to the trip.

Cheers

Denise

Hi Denise

My nephew and his wife live in Perth, so we called in there on our way back from Africa in October and spent a few days there - we were very impressed with what we saw - it is such a lovely place!

I have been retired for over 3 years now, but my husband is still working.... at this stage.... but I am working on him!! :p

We both absolutely love adventuring to new places.

Our youngest daughter and her husband moved to the UK in 2008 for 2 years, but ended up staying for 4 years, so we spent 3 months with them, using them as a home base to go exploring Europe and coming back to them to refresh and spend time with them before heading off again - great system!! We did a driving holiday up to Scotland with them which included seeing the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (a lifetime dream), we took them on a Greek Island Cruise (to say thanks for having us), we did a bus tour of Italy, a driving tour of Ireland, a River Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and lots of day trips in and around London and the bottom of England - absolutely loved it and could have kept doing that!

We also went over to London when our beautiful grand-daughter was born and again for her first Christmas - not a white one like we hoped, but we did go to Switzerland for 10 days and had a wonderful time in the snow.

We have also done several other non-European tours too.

We are also doing a cruise on the MS Island Sky on 1 August from Tromso to Oslo (APT's Fjords and Fairytales) and then doing the Best of the Baltics from 13 August, so we are really looking forward to it!! We have cruised on a large ship up the coast of Alaska but we much prefer the idea of a smaller, more intimate size ship like the European and Asian River Boats, which is why we chose to do these two cruises on the MS Island Sky.

We are really looking forward to meeting you and your husband in August.

Regards, Sandy

The Berlitz Guide to Cruising gives Island Sky 4+* out of 5*, and is highly commended.

I am sure you will have a great time!

If you go on a ships tour or with an accredited private tour firm, you do not need a Russian visa for up to a 72 hour stay.