Baltic Breakaway cruise 5/29-6/7

We just finished this cruise and had an amazing time. We were so sad to leave. We stayed in the Haven in a 2 Br. Amazing suite, lots of storage. Food in the haven restaurant was excellent. Our butler Flordeliza and room steward Ritzel made our stay very comfortable. Patrick the concierge, amazing. The bartenders Kumar and Ivana always had our drinks ready. And the rest of the staff truly could not do enough. Always so pleasant. The ports were great. Did tours through ncl, except for Russia where we used an outside company. We were fortunate to have beautiful sunny weather in all of the ports. The only place where it was a bit cool was in Stockholm.

We ate at Cagneys, La Cucina, Tepanyaki and food was great. Our cook at Tepanyaki put on an excellent show. We had so much fun there. Also ate at Margaritaville and Osheehans. Very good.

Had some issues the first 3 nights with a large group of families staying in several rooms around us. Kids running all around early morning, late at night, slamming doors, yelling, banging, rolling around the floors and ringing doorbells and running away. They rang ours every day . We let it go the first night thinking it would get better. The 2nd night it was worse so we talked to security but the chaos continued. The staff was so stressed out by them as well. On the 3rd night when the kids rang our doorbell several times at 10:45pm, we had enough. My 14 yr old daughter was crying because she had not had a good sleep since she got on the ship. A whole bunch of security came and they spoke to all of the families and must have watched the floor video because the next day the hotel director came to talk to us and told us they warned the families that if there were anymore issues they were off the ship for good. Never had any problems after that.

Overall an excellent cruise!!!

Thanks, did you save any dailies you can scan?

How were the ports?

Thanks, did you save any dailies you can scan?

 

How were the ports?

I did not save the dailies. They did have lots of activities on the ship. They had trivia, deal or no deal, bingo, slot, blackjack and poker tournaments. Canvas painting and so much more. They always had stuff going on in the atrium

Thanks for review, sorry to hear about your issues!!! Some parents need to be horse whipped letting their little hooligans behave this way!!

Glad to hear you had a great trip sryan! If you don't mind sharing, what NCL excursions did you do? Did you enjoy them all and would recommend them? I am on the July 4 sailing and am curious in what others think of the NCL excursions instead of private tours.

Thanks for the review. How was last stop, Nyshaven/Stockholm? (I know this is incorrect spelling). I've read that there were some issues with the free transfers into/out of Stockholm due to the port changing.

Great review! I’m on the 6/25 sailing and I’ve booked all NCL excursions as well so I’m also interested in hearing about what you did. Also, how was the entertainment? Did you go to Rock of Ages?

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Glad to hear you had a great trip sryan! If you don't mind sharing, what NCL excursions did you do? Did you enjoy them all and would recommend them? I am on the July 4 sailing and am curious in what others think of the NCL excursions instead of private tours.

We did city tour of Rostock Germany through NCL. Also had some free time to explore. Took us around the city to see sights. Once tour over we walked to Warnemünde(5 minute walk) beautiful seaside town with shops and restaurants. We did not go to Berlin because it was 3 hour train ride each way but many other passengers did go and loved it. We did Talin city tour through NCL. great way to see the city. We did a 2 day must see tour in Russia with Alla tours. We were supposed to have early entry to Hermitage but that was changed on us so Hermitage was extremely crowded. We also went to Faberge Museum in the evening. It was a 13 hour day so unfortunately we did not make the 2nd day because we were exhausted. The good thing with the Alla tour was there was only 14 of us instead of large bus.

We did Discover Helsinki tour through NCL and then stayed in the city for a couple of hours and they had shuttles running every 30 minutes back to port. It was free if you were on an NCL tour but you would have to pay if you did not do a tour but wasn’t too much. Not sure if this tour was worth it. Lot of other guests took the hop on hop off busses in the city.

In Stockholm we did Vasa museum, ice bar and old towne. Great tour plus we had 2.5 hours to explore Old Towne which had shops and restaurants. Since we had an Ncl tour there was a bus at the port. Anyone that did not have a tour set up needed to purchase train tickets. We did enjoy all of our tours.

Thanks for the review. How was last stop, Nyshaven/Stockholm? (I know this is incorrect spelling). I've read that there were some issues with the free transfers into/out of Stockholm due to the port changing.

We had an NCL tour booked so we did not need transfers. They took us on a bus. I believe you could purchase transfers to Stockholm if you are not on a tour. Stockholm was 1 hour drive from the port.

Great review! I’m on the 6/25 sailing and I’ve booked all NCL excursions as well so I’m also interested in hearing about what you did. Also, how was the entertainment? Did you go to Rock of Ages?

 

 

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We did not go to Rock of Ages. We went to the cirque dinner show which was great. Never made it to Howl at the moon but did hear it was great.

Thanks so much for the review. We are also doing all NCL tours except for SPB. (BestGuides there)

I am glad NCL took care of the door ringing issues, except it probably took them 2 days too long to do so! How long did it take you to get through Russian immigration? And were the NCL tours you took well-organized?

Sryan, let me know if I understand this correctly. We have an NCL tour for Helsinki so we can stay in town after the tour is over and get a free shuttle back to the ship? Is that correct? So is it the same for Stockholm? We are doing the same tour as you in Stockholm. Also, how did you know where to find the shuttles back to ship? Did your tour operators tell you when they dropped you in town.?

Sryan, let me know if I understand this correctly. We have an NCL tour for Helsinki so we can stay in town after the tour is over and get a free shuttle back to the ship? Is that correct? So is it the same for Stockholm? We are doing the same tour as you in Stockholm. Also, how did you know where to find the shuttles back to ship? Did your tour operators tell you when they dropped you in town.?

I am going to jump in here. We did the Hop on Hop off bus in Helsinki. It takes you round to about 16 different stops all day. You walk off the ship and there are the HOHO buses directly outside the gate. You can buy a ticket right there. They have taped guided tours to listen to if you want in about 10 languages. You plug the earphones in the back of the seat. I would recommend this option-easy peasy and a lot cheaper than an NCL tour. You will love the Baltics!!

Also,we had a $50 excursion credit that we did use on an NCL tour in Stockholm. We docked in Nyhashamn which is an hour away. We did not want to deal with public transportation. We did Stockholm by Land and Sea. It was great for us-a boat ride around the city, the VASA museum, a brief walking tour of old town and free time in town. I was not going to worry about getting back to the ship on time! We rode on an NCL bus with a Swedish guide. Again very organized and stress free.

Enjoy!!

Also,we had a $50 excursion credit that we did use on an NCL tour in Stockholm. We docked in Nyhashamn which is an hour away. We did not want to deal with public transportation. We did Stockholm by Land and Sea. It was great for us-a boat ride around the city, the VASA museum, a brief walking tour of old town and free time in town. I was not going to worry about getting back to the ship on time! We rode on an NCL bus with a Swedish guide. Again very organized and stress free.

 

Enjoy!!

So happy to hear you enjoyed "Stockholm by land and sea" as this is the tour we booked also!

I am going to jump in here. We did the Hop on Hop off bus in Helsinki. It takes you round to about 16 different stops all day. You walk off the ship and there are the HOHO buses directly outside the gate. You can buy a ticket right there. They have taped guided tours to listen to if you want in about 10 languages. You plug the earphones in the back of the seat. I would recommend this option-easy peasy and a lot cheaper than an NCL tour. You will love the Baltics!!

 

Also,we had a $50 excursion credit that we did use on an NCL tour in Stockholm. We docked in Nyhashamn which is an hour away. We did not want to deal with public transportation. We did Stockholm by Land and Sea. It was great for us-a boat ride around the city, the VASA museum, a brief walking tour of old town and free time in town. I was not going to worry about getting back to the ship on time! We rode on an NCL bus with a Swedish guide. Again very organized and stress free.

 

Enjoy!!

Thanks great to know!! NCL has the HOHO offered for about $35 per person. What did the tickets cost you buying ticket right there? The HOHO will bring you back to the ship??

We also bought a NCL tour for Stockholm as we didn't want to deal with public transportation into town

Purchased Berlin through NCL due to distance, don't want to miss the boat

SPB we are going through SPB tours, much cheaper then NCL

Thanks great to know!! NCL has the HOHO offered for about $35 per person. What did the tickets cost you buying ticket right there? The HOHO will bring you back to the ship??

We also bought a NCL tour for Stockholm as we didn't want to deal with public transportation into town

Purchased Berlin through NCL due to distance, don't want to miss the boat

SPB we are going through SPB tours, much cheaper then NCL

I do not remember the exact price but it was in the $30 range. You could Google it. I do not remember the name of the company. I think there were 2 of them. And yes, the port is one of their stops. They were good about communicating how and when to get back to the ship.

Also in Helsinki, if you like Salmon and seafood, make sure you save some room for lunch at the harbor. They have many open air tents cooking fresh seafood. We ate a cinnamon roll at a bakery on the Esplanade first and unfortunately were not hungry. I would have had the salmon first and then the cinnamon roll. Enjoy!!

Oh wow, I was on the same cruise and had problems with children running up and down the hallways screaming after 10pm too! It was only really bad one night though. I asked them to be quiet, there was no parent in sight. What floor were you on?

Oh wow, I was on the same cruise and had problems with children running up and down the hallways screaming after 10pm too! It was only really bad one night though. I asked them to be quiet, there was no parent in sight. What floor were you on?

Oh good grief I hope this doesn't happen on my cruise. I know many will not agree but why anyone would take little kids on this port intensive cruise is beyond me, I wouldn't take a kid under 12, but that's just me.

My DIL is sitting this cruise out as we all thought it's not a cruise for a 4 year old.

I do not remember the exact price but it was in the $30 range. You could Google it. I do not remember the name of the company. I think there were 2 of them. And yes, the port is one of their stops. They were good about communicating how and when to get back to the ship.

 

Also in Helsinki, if you like Salmon and seafood, make sure you save some room for lunch at the harbor. They have many open air tents cooking fresh seafood. We ate a cinnamon roll at a bakery on the Esplanade first and unfortunately were not hungry. I would have had the salmon first and then the cinnamon roll. Enjoy!!

Oh Yes!!! Thanks for that tip

I was on the same trip, those kids were spoiled little brats, they also talked with no manners to bar staff, just demands

I was on the same trip, those kids were spoiled little brats, they also talked with no manners to bar staff, just demands

And in the Haven that people pay good money for!!

I'm going to have to start researching cruise lines that are not so kid friendly for cruises like the Baltics

Oh wow, I was on the same cruise and had problems with children running up and down the hallways screaming after 10pm too! It was only really bad one night though. I asked them to be quiet, there was no parent in sight. What floor were you on?

We were in the Haven, deck 16.

Thanks so much for the review. We are also doing all NCL tours except for SPB. (BestGuides there)

I am glad NCL took care of the door ringing issues, except it probably took them 2 days too long to do so! How long did it take you to get through Russian immigration? And were the NCL tours you took well-organized?

It did not take us long to get through immigration. We waited in line 10 minutes. The NCL tours were very well organized. We really enjoyed them.

I thought you had to be of certain age to use hot tubs, it didn’t apply to them, On returning to the haven bar one at about 10.30, the whole area had been taken over by the families, we went to bed.

I thought you had to be of certain age to use hot tubs, it didn’t apply to them, On returning to the haven bar one at about 10.30, the whole area had been taken over by the families, we went to bed.

I would have been pizzed!!!! About how old were these brats?