Just back from the Baltic on Voyager

[alibee]

Got back last night from a wonderful trip. Unbelievably good weather. It was sunny and very hot (in the 80's) everyday everywhere except for Tallin where it was overcast. I never so much as wore a sweater.

 

For all those going on the same trip--every night was country club casual casual except fort he one formal night, which means no jacket for men unless eating at Signatures. I don''t know why they don't tell you that ahead of time, It would make things so much easier. It was also a bit of an older crowd--avarage age ranged from 50-75. Very few children or young adults.

 

We loved the ship. The cabins were great and the bathroom was huge. The food was very good (not great, but very good). Signatures was a disappointment, Latitudes was very good and we thought the Mediterranean Bistro at the Veranda was particularly good. Service was a little spotty at first, but by a few days into the trip all was fine.

 

We used Red October in Russia. Our guide was good, but not great. Interestingly her father had been a high level minister in the Soviet government so her political views were quite interesting (She insisted, for instance, that the Jews were free to practice their religion during Soviet times and suffered no repercussions for doing so) I had added the Chinese Pavilion to our tour based on the recommendation of a friend who had been to Russia earlier in the year and I highly recommend it. It is close to Peterfof and nlike everything else you will see, it has not been restored and this was perhaps the most interesting of all the palaces we visited.

 

We did the ship's one day excursion to Moscow, and while I found it very interesting, I am not sure I would do it again given the chance. We wound up travelling more than sightseeing and it was exhausting.

 

Tallin was very interesting. Nothing in particular to see in Helsinki (great crafts market close to where the boat is docked) and we loved Stockholm--stayed at the Grand.

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship or the itinerary, I would be happy to answer them.

[gopackgo]

Alibee,

 

Great to hear about your Baltic cruise. I will be taking the exact same one next summer on August 6th.

 

Please tell us more about what excursions you did in each port.

 

Sorry to hear that the food wasn't great. Even Signatures wasn't all that great? I am surprised to hear that. I have never been on the Voyager yet. Just the Mariner and the Diamond. We loved the food and service on the Mariner. Can you give more details about the service at the beginning of the cruise? Just curious.

 

Any recommendations for hotels, restaurants or activities in Stockholm or Copenhagen? What was the name of your Red October guide?

 

Were there large groups on board? What was the entertainment like?

 

Sounds like you had a good cruise overall.

 

Sorry about all the questions. Thanks for the info!

 

Ginny

[umcerjudy]

We have Red October booked for Aug 29 & 30. What was your guides name. I will request that we not get her. I have heard the other guides are wonderful. Did she take you to the subways? I really want to see them. Also, was it very hot and humid in the museums? Hermitage? We are tking the 4 night Moscow pre-cruise. Did you go to Hamburg and what did you do there? Amsterdam?

Thanks!

[petlover]

So surprised to hear of your disappointment in Signatures! Was it the food or the service or ?? We were on the Voyager in June and ate at Signatures twice. I had the filet both times and it was out of this world...as was everything else!

[English Voyager]

In Helsinki,the church built into the cliff is worth seeing.

In St.Petersburg,if one is not visiting the Hermitage,the shop in the Pushkin Palace sells a 2 hour DVD(all regions) touring the major exhibits of the Hermitage which is well worth buying($20).

[japiscopo]

Alice: Great to read your write up of your trip. You and I emailed briefly earlier this year about visas. We leave in 1 week, and hope you can answer a few questions.

 

Glad to hear about country club casual. Now don't have to pack a sport coat along with a suit.

 

Which guide did you have with RO?

How did you pay camera fees to take pictures inside the different sights in

St. Pete?

What are some of the things to buy in the RO store?

We plan on taking food from the ship for lunch in St. Pete. There has been a

lot of discussion on this board of not being allowed to do that. Did you

hear or see anything that suggested this on the Voyager?

 

Glad to hear you had a good trip. We can't wait to leave.

 

Mary Lou

[alibee]

I will try to answer all your questions:

 

Excursions we took:

In Tallin we took the ship's walking tour which hit all the sites you want to see. Thje town is not that close to the dock and I did not see many taxis, although I was not really looking. They gave us about an hour in town if you wanted to take the bus back and that was plenty of time to walk around a bit and have coffee at an outdoor cafe. (That was the one day that the weather was not good). A lot of tourists milling about. I saw that a lot of people from the Baltic Ports board were making reservations fro lunch at Old Hansa for lunch. It is strictly for tourists and I don't recommend it. There seemed to be a lot of nice restaurants for lunch if that was what you wanted to do, but we chose to return to the boat to eat and relax.

 

As for St, Petersburg, I did not mean to give the impression that we did not like our guide. She was really fine and very accommodating, I just think that all of these guides have theur set rap, so to speak. They take you to all of these sites that have been renovated and are very pristine and you see what the Russians want you to see. In a way it is like Disneyland,. That is why the Chinese Pavilion was so extraordinary. Our guide had never even been there and Red October had never had a request to go there before. It seems that everyone goes with their suggested itinerary. (We had also added the Grand Choral Synagogue) Our friends had been in St. Petersburg on their own earlier in the year and the private guide they hired through their concierge took them there and they told us not miss it. We went there instead of touring inside the palace at Peterhof (again at our friends' suggestion since we were going to Catherine's Palace which aopparently is so much grander) By the way, you definitely do not need your own visa if you go with Red October. They make it very easy. Going through customs was a breeze with their tickets and they meet you right on the other side of customs. The van we had for the four of us was very comfortable, clean and air conditioned.

 

On the first day, we took sandwiches with us which we had ordered fron room service the night before and delivered with breakfast in the morning. Room service told use we should have ordered box lunches through any of the dining rooms with 24 hours notice. Room service was very apologetic that they could only give us sandwiches wrapped in saran wrap, but that was fine with us. We wound up eating them at the outdoor restaurant at Peterhof where we ordered beverages and ice cream. When we tried to order box lunches that night for the third day, we were told by the dining room manager that they were not allowed through customs. We did not argue (notwithstanding that we had already brough sandwiches out) and we ate a quick lunch at a charming outdoor cafe that our guide took us to very close to the Hermitage. If you take the one day excursion to Moscow you are taken to the Cafe Pushkin for lunch which is supposed to be one fo the best restaurants in Moscow.

 

There is nothing to buy in the Red October store--all junk as far as I was concerned. If you want to buy high quality souvenirs, our guide took us to a store right near the Grand Hotel that sold well made nesting dolls, lacquer boxes and the like. I had little interest in either.

 

Some of the sites required a charge for taking pictures or videos inside (no pictures are allowed at all inside the Hermitage). We chose not to do so, so I am not sure how it would have worked. On the ship's tours (at least in Moscow) the guide collected it on the bus in US dollars and you wore a sticker on your shirt.

 

You do not need a lot of rubles. The ship will exchange dollars on board fro pocket money--small amounts. Not sure the maximum they will exchange. Almost everywhere took dollars or credit cards.

 

In Helsinki we cancelled our walking tour with the ship (couldnt bear another tour after Russia). We docked right in town and leisurely took in the sites on our own. Senate Square and the church built into the rocks. The people who took the ship's bike tour (very flat terrain) thought it was great and I was sorry we didn't do it.

 

In Stockholm we were staying at the Grand which we had booked on our own. At the last minute we decided to take the ship's tour right off the boat since we could not check into our hotel until the afternoon and the tour would drop us at the hotel. The tour ws actually very good--Vasa museum which should not be missed and the City Hall where the Nobel banquet is held. As it turned out our room was not ready until 5:00 (which made a lot of people very angry) and we toured around a bit on our own until it was ready. Over the course of the weekend we took a canal cruise, toured the Presidential Palace and the old town as well as the Nobel Museum and the Arms Museum. Stockholm is a fabulous and beautiful city. If you do not get up in the very early morning hours to see the archipelagos as the ship sails into the city it is worth it to take the boat cruise to see them. We ate at two very good restaurants both recommended by the concierge. One was Cafe Opera which turns into the hottest club in town after about 11:00 PM. It even had roulette and blackjack tables The other was Sturehof which had great fish. Both of these restaurants are in the part of town with the most active nightlife and we sat at a cafe after dinner and had coffee and just watched the action.

 

I have written enough for now and I will wrie again tomorrow and answer your other questons about the ship.

[gopackgo]

Alibee,

 

Thanks so much for your detailed coverage of you outings and the info about Stockholm, etc. I found your info to be really helpful. I really appreciate it.

 

Can't wait to hear more.

 

Thanks!

 

Ginny

[KatWag]

Ginny -

 

We're on your cruise next year! I can't wait. Sounds like it's going to be an amazing trip.

 

Alibee, thanks so much for posting. Makes it seem so much closer. :)

 

Kathy

[gopackgo]

Hi Kathy,

 

Not to hijack this thread, but we will have to help each other as we plan our outings, etc. Looking forward to meeting you and some other posters.

 

Ginny

[adrenn]

Alibee -thanks for sharing all the information about your trip and I'm glad it worked out so well for you. Usually the # of country club casual/informal/formal nights are in the first section of the booklet you get with your tickets. The Chinese Pavilion and the Synagogue sound like great adds to the list of "must sees" in Russia.

 

Mary Lou - we found it helpful to have a small amount of rubles with us when we left the ship last year; take advantage of changing them on the ship before you go. Our first red october guide couldn't change $$ to rubles when we got to the Peterhof.

 

The tours themselves were very regimented as alibee indicates. The guides have exact times they take their parties into the museums and the museum employees stick to those timelines. The video & camera licenses were approximately $3 equivalent & $6 equivalent and had to be paid in rubles at a desk at the beginning of the tour. You can't leave your guide to run over & get $$ exchanged for rubles and catch up later. Once you pass the place where you buy the camera licenses, there's the check room. If you don't have the licenses, the cameras go into the check room which you retrieve at the end of the tour. The exchange facility was located at the end of the tour, so my husband (who loves taking pictures) was very disappointed he didn't get any inside shots of the palace. I would assume the ship's tour guides would accept rubles for the licenses if you had them, but you can check on that with the tour desk before you go. Hope that helps. Cheers, Anne

[English Voyager]

If one is going on a ship's tour,and the camera licences are not included in the tour price,the guide will accept payment in $ US.

Payment for items purchased in the Palace's gift shops can also be made in $ US.

In fact we have never had a need for Russian roubles.

[kevins]

Alibee-

We also used Red October on the same trip. At the time, we joked within our little family how our guide was probably former KGB. She had been involved in tourism during the Soviet era and was also a language teacher. She was on a state pension and had a summer house. We couldn't understand how they could have a summer house on a teacher's salary. You are correct in that there is only slight apologies for the Soviet way of life and in fact I think they are more Soviet than Capitalists. It was ironic how when we approached a museum or palace we were shuttled in ahead of massive tour groups without the slightest hint of impropriety.

 

That being said, whether they're mafia or soviets they still did a great job in my book. Our guide was Elena and the driver was Peter. For those of you who get Sasha as a driver fasten your seatbelts. He drove us back to the pier one day doing 95kph in a 40kph zone on the wrong side of the road.

[kevins]

My husband forgot to mention how nice our lunches were when we toured St. Petersburg. Our tour guide, Elena, contacted all the restaurants beforehand to let them know what our main course would be. So, by the time we reached our destination, our salad course was waiting for us. The first day we ate in the city restaurant "Our Petersburg." Quaint place with paintings of St. Petersburg on the walls on a background of powder blue. Our meal consisted of a very nice chopped salad of various sweet peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. topped with a light dressing. The soup was cabbage in a chicken broth with carrots. Tasty. The main course consisted of your choice of breaded chicken cutlet or fish. My son and I had the chicken and my husband had the fish. Both dishes were served with delicious homemade mashed potatoes and vegetables. Bread was served at all the lunches. Dessert was a crepe or blintze pancake with jam. Tea, coffee, and water are complimentary. Sodas and wine extra.

 

The second day, we ate at "Rzjewsky". All of us had beef stroganoff with rice. It was tasty, but not as good as that served the first day of the cruise in the Compass Rose. Their borscht was delicious. Ditto on the salad. Dessert was a creamy, lemon-lime tasting cheesecake of sorts. Tough to describe but delicious. This restaurant was dark and rustic-looking.

 

On the final day of our tour, we ate at "The Russian Club" which was a really nice restaurant next to the Church on the Spilled Blood. A delicious bowl of chicken noodle with mushroom souped was served along with the bread basket and salad. The soup warmed me up after walking around in the wind that day. While sunny, it was a bit chilly. Our main course consisted of a boneless grilled pork chop with veggies and roasted potatoes. For dessert, we had slices of banana, vanilla ice cream, toasted almonds, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. YUMMY!

 

The cost per person for each meal was $17. Service was always excellent. Many of our waiters and waitresses were surprised when we tipped them and accepted graciously.

 

While some people might think that is extravagant for lunch, it's better than eating at Russian McDonald's or packing food from the ship that probably spoiled by the time you were ready to eat. If you're spending thousands of dollars on a cruise, it's not worth nickel diming meals. We thanked our Red October tour guide for choosing such nice places to eat. It was definitely money well spent.

[kevins]

We totally agree with comment about the Red October store. Don't waste your money unless you want to buy some trinkety "tourist trap" souveniers that most places sell. I felt like I was at the Jersey Shore in the 5 & 10. No thanks.

 

If you want REAL Russian icons and religious items, go to the museum churches and/or working churches. We found that out a little too late. Our Red October tour guide whisked us away from the those shops because she said "You can find that at Red October." WRONG! We are Russian Orthodox and we know the good stuff from the cheap stuff because our church has a boutique and sells Russian goods.

 

I personally got caught in the Red October web because I thought that store would have a blue and white porcelain icon with the Blessed Virgin Mary in the center that I saw in St. Isaac's Cathedral. Our tour guide said "We have that in our store," so I figured I'd wait until we got there. WRONG! The saying "You snooze you lose" rang strong in my head that day.

 

Don't be fooled!

[kevins]

My husband and I ate lunch at the Old Hansa. We would recommend it for something different. The wine and beer was different and tasty. My husband's beer had spices he couldn't even figure out. The wine was a little spicy too ---maybe cinnamon. My husband enjoyed his platter of game sausages. My filet of beef in mushroom cream sauce was tasty. It came with a barley side dish, smoky baked beans or lentils, and mashed potatoes tucked inside a pastry "bag." We didn't have room for dessert. We saved that for the coffee station on the Voyager.

 

There were lots of German, Greek and Italian cafes lining the streets. I was leaning more towards Greek food, but my husband was looking forward to the bear sausages!

[gopackgo]

Kevins,

 

Thanks for all the info on your Baltic cruise! I may go ahead and print this thread so I don't lose all the valuable tips from you and Alibee. We will be going next August.

 

Ginny

[freddie]

Hi, Ginny - We were on the Voyager Baltic cruise last summer from Stockholm to Rouen, with 3 glorious days in St. P. Although we used the ship's service for our 1-day private guide and driver (and were absolutely satisfied with them), we also heard very good things about the Red October guides. In any event, we cannot emphasize enough the wisdom of doing private tours, rather than the horrible bus tours. (We wasted much of our first day there by going on the bus tour of St. P. which was included in our Virtuoso fare. What a sad use of about half of the day, while we waited for people to drag themselves back onto the bus, including one of the Virtuoso travel agents, who regularly was late getting onto the wretched bus.) When you have a private tour (whether just the two of you, or a slightly larger group of four or six), YOU set the pace, determine how long to stay at each place, etc. It is so much better than being trapped into the bus schedule.

 

We also ate of the Russky Club on the day we explored St. P. on our own (we had individual visas). We made a whole lunch of their marvelous soups and appetizers (solyanka soup; borsch; piroshki; pelmeni - stuffed dumplings in rich cream sauce; new potatoes fried with onions and wild chanterelle mushrooms; chicken giblets baked with cheese and cream sauce). It isn't cheap - the above-described delights, plus four beers and half a liter of an excellent Georgian white wine, came to about $86.00. But it was a remarkable and memorable lunch.

 

After lunch (or before, depending on your schedule), the best place in St. P. to shop for souvenirs, is the crafts market right across the street from the Russky Club and the Church of the Spilled Blood. It has a much more interesting selection of goods than the tour company stores, and at far better prices. Just tell your private guide to let you spend some time at that crafts market, rather than waste time visiting the Red October store. (Again, one of the great advantages of a private tour is that YOU set the agenda, not the guide service or the bus driver.)

 

Some of the people we met on the ship thought it was just too extravagent to use the private guides and drivers and opted each day for the bus tours. We, on the other hand, regretted enormously having wasted our first day on a bus tour and wished fervently that we had engaged a private guide for that day, as we did for the second wonderful day. After all, we had already spent a lot of $$ to get to St. P. on this cruise and will not likely be back to that lovely city in the next few years (there are too many other new places to visit and enjoy). Therefore, to forego a wonderful touring experience in order to save a hundred bucks or so is not at all prudent, at the end of the day. At least, that is how we see it...

 

Cheers, Fred

[umcerjudy]

Thanks for all the insight on St. Pete's. WE are doing Red October Aug 29 & 30. I am wondering about eating the salads. Did anyone get sick? I was told not to eat anything washed with tap water. How is their meat (beef, etc.)? This will be an incredable experience for us. Keep posting your thoughts and opinions. Thanx!

[kevins]

We did not have any problem with the salads. They were actually pretty tasty and seemed properly prepared. Each place gave us bottled water-good thing too because I was even concerned about washing my hands in their bathroom (it was clean-I just worry about the water stories i've heard).

Kevin

[alibee]

Now that I am a bit recovered frm the trip I will try to answer your questions about the ship.

 

As I mentioned the cabins were wonderful. Very well laid out and spacious. I have sailed Seabourn in the past and this cabin was bigger and better. We were in a category D on the 9th deck in the middle of the ship towards the front. The ship is so stable we never felt any movement whatsoever. With that said, I did go towards the back of our deck where the C cabins were and there was a vibration. I am not sure it would have bothered me, but I am glad we chose not to go with a C cabin as we had originally intended.

 

As I had also mentioned the food was very good, but we felt Signatures was a bit of a disappointment. In our foursome we had the filet, sea bass and the lamb chops and only the fillet was worthy of comment. Thr sea bass and lamb chops were nothing special. The dining room food was quite good and since the ship tended to do the cuisine of the port we visited we ate in the Veranda a couple of nights since we are not big on Russian or Swedish food. The mediteranean bistro in Veranda was actually quite good as was the Asian fusion cusine in Latitiudes. As the menu is fixed in Latitudes and Signatures for the entire week, we chose to eat in each only once. (You can only make a reservation for one night when you first board and waiting on line to make our reservations when we first boarded was the only time we waited for anything the entire time on the ship--other than for spa treatments).

 

I thought the spa treatments were excellent and I am quite picvky when it comes to this. We each had two massages and they were both heavenly. Unfortunately, the spa is small and they can not accomodate everyone who wanted appointments. The late afternoon on port days were quite in demand and if you did not make a reservation there as soon as you got on the ship you were out of luck. So if you are interested, head there right away--even before the restaurant reservations. There is also a full service beauty salon, although I did not partake of its services. The gym is well-designed although small.

 

The entertsinmnet was also very good. They young troupe of singers and dancers were very talented. There were two nights of opera, one night of jazz, a night of broadway hits, a and a night of pop tunes. I am not sure what they did the day we were in Moscow as we got back after 10:00. (by the way, for those of us on the Moscow excursion they had a special buffet waiting for us in the Veranada which was a very nice touch).

 

I had mentioned that the service was a bit spotty when we first embarked and you asked me for examples. The rooms are serviced twice a day with the evening service being turn down and a fresh supply of towels. The first night our friend's cabn ws not serviced and the plastic sheeting for luggage was left on the bed and they had no fresh towels. While I was unpacking I had asked for additional hangars which were never supplied. It also took two days for our in-room bar set up to be delivered (although we did not miss it).

After that however. everything went very smoothly. Room service breakfast was always delivered promptly, the cabins were very well maintained and service in the various dining venues was always excellent. In fact in Russia, we had bought cavier and during lunch one day on the pool deck we asked for all the accoutrements and they just appeared.

 

We enjoyed the casino. It was very intimate and it seemed to be the same small group that frequented it each night. They were a variety of blackjack and specialty poker games as well as a mini craps table and a roulette wheel. there was also your usual assortment of video poker and other slot machines. I even heard that someone on our cruise won the progressive jackpot on one of the slot machines. (The casino did stay open in the evenings while in port in Russia).

 

Finally, I caution you that if you sign up for any excursions by faxing in the form that comes with your documents do not expect the ship to have your reservations. This was a complaint among a number of the passengers including us. There wasn't a problem because we had pre-booked the full day Moscow excursion and none of the shore excusions were closed. However, you won't know that you are not on the list until the morning of the excursion. Your tickets are delivered late the night before. So if this is the way you booked your excursions, check with the tour desk in advance.

 

As I also mentioned previously every night except the one formal night was country club casual. My documents only said one fromal night and did not specify how many other nights were informal and how many were country club casual.

 

I think I covered everyone's questions, but please let me know if you want to know anything else. For those who have not yet left, do not agonize over anything. Just relax and have a good time!! There is nothing to buy in Russia other than trinkets. Wait for Sweden and buy the signed crystal art by Kosta Boda and Orrefors. Theyr are truly beautiful and much cheaper than in the states.

[curiouscruiser]

We did this itinerary a few years ago. Though I've heard great things about Red October, we also did the private guide through the ship in St. Petersburg and loved it. We could spend as little or as much time as we wanted in each location, and got to choose where we wanted to go. We also got visas, and it was fun to be able to leave the ship and wander when we wanted to. (We were on the Navigator.)We loved the craft area across from the Spilled Blood cathedral, and most of our souveniers came from there - they bargain and love American dollars. We also shopped at the Hermitage - which was not air conditioned and very warm - some of the older folks really had difficulties by the time we were done as there aren't many places to sit.

 

We did the city tour of Helsinki and thought it was good - we hit the highlights and then were free to wander the open air market as it was near where the ship docked.

 

Talinn was a surprise - we hadn't really heard much about it and thought it was charming. People were friendly and there were lots of shops with local crafts and such.

 

Sounds like you all had a wonderful trip! I'd go again in a nano-second!

[Kwaj girl]

...DH and I (from Huntsville AL) are also joining you on 8/6/05! Will be arriving Stockholm 2 days early and have not yet decided wehere to stay...also have 1 night in Copenhagen and another in Prague on the way home (can't complain...first class frequent-flyer tickets!).

We were going to do the all-day Moscow trip but are now having second thoughts after reading some of the above posts...but will definitely do the Arctic Circle trip in celebration of my 50th birthday on that date.

Look forward to meeting you!

[gopackgo]

Great to find another poster who will be on our cruise next year! Sounds like you have a good plan for your after cruise trip.

 

We finally made up our minds today and will be flying from Dallas straight to London and spending 3 nights there. Then we fly to Stockholm on Wednesday so we can still have 3 nights/2 fulls days before the cruise. We are heading home the day after the cruise ends in Copenhagen.

 

We will all have to share our info as we plan the trip.

 

So far, it is us (Jim and I), Katwags, Denise and Alan and Ngaire and Ken, and now you and your DH.

 

Ginny

[nyfeds]

Hi kwajgirl!

 

We are on your sailing on August 6th! Good hearing from you! Hope you continue to post so we can pick each others brains on this trip.

 

We are arriving in Stockholm Wed. evening to allow ourselves a few days to tour Stockholm. Our hotel is the Hilton Stockholm Slussen. We will also spend 1 full day touring Copenhagen, staying, as of now, at the Copenhagen Marriott. Then we head for Amsterdam for 3 days touring.

 

We're really excited about this trip! Please keep in touch!