Trip Review Crown Princess Baltic June 19th

[Lisette]

Day 1

We left Toronto on Air Canada connecting through Heathrow on SAS to Copenhagan. We could not believe that SAS does not even give economy class passengers water during there flight you have to pay for it. Later we looked up on the flight forums and found out that the ecomomy class is nicknamed the punishment class!!!

This trip was a birthday gift for my Mother in Laws 80th birthday. We arrived in Copenhagan June 16th and stayed at the Marriott. We took a Taxi from the airport to the hotel which was much easier than trying to find the train etc. We were so tired! We had booked 2 executive rooms on points and were really grateful that we did as they had a great free continental breakfast and hot apitizers and free alcohol!!! we did not need to by any food for the 3 days we were there! saved a lot of money.

 

Day 2

Woke up and booked a morning sightseeing tour of Copenhagen. 12:30pm they dropped my husband and son and I off at the main square and took mum back to the hotel. We walked all over Copenhagen for about 4hrs, visited the round tower and climbed to the top, what a great view, walked all through the stroget, to Nyhavn and had a beer, great place to just sit and relax. Walked back to the hotel past the stock exchange building and palace.

 

Day 3

I had booked a day tour ahead of time to visit the 2 famous castles outside of Copenhagen, in Hellingor and Hillerod. The tour was as good as it could be, I am not fond of organized tours but with our mum along we could not do a lot on our own. The 2 castles are well worth the visit.

 

Day 4

Embarkation Day: My brother in law had flown in late the previous night. We had booked a Canal tour in the am and decided to go and visit Rosenburg Castle right after. thoroughly enjoyed the crown jewels at Rosenburg and the castle and grounds are beautiful, well worth a visit. I enjoyed Copenhagen and managed to see most of the sites that were on my list. We took a taxi to the port as it was quite aways from the Marriott, the Crown was docked at Freeport. There was no lines and were able to board with very little problems, it seems to work well when you go later in the afternoon!

The Muster drill was at 5:30pm(a neccessary pain!!)

The Crown is a very beautiful ship, but is a little too big for our liking. It always seemed that the atrium was crowded. Our Cabin was a balcony on Dolphin deck, we have cruised many times and found that we love a balcony!

We had dinner in the Horizon court and went to the welcome aboard show.

The singers and dancers on this cruise were the best we had seen on the princess line, the production show were superb, the other entertainment was not however. There were too highlights one was a comedian who had us in stitches and an amusing juggler comedian.

 

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[lchen818]

We were on the Dolphin deck as well (D715). We might have run into other.

 

For those who are interested, I preferred a cabin near midship; but it turned out to be a great cabin location. It was near the back staircases/elevators and the laundry room. It made it very convenient to get to the Horizon Court and laundry, which was a necessity for a 10-day cruise.

[TLCOhio]

THANKS for the start of your report! Enjoyed the parts on Copenhagen. We will be there from 9 am to midnight on July 27! I assume food prices were high in Copenhagen and the Baltics area. Don't be shy. Tell us your biggest surprises and secrets from this trip. What was over-rated, boring, etc. Keep it rolling! Terry in Ohio

[Lisette]

Day 5

This was an at sea day, Princess has a lot of great activities onboard. I love trivia so there was 3 for the day. In the morning we slept in and boy did we enjoy that. The show in the Princess lounge was called "what a swell party" a look at the Cole Porter Era, as I said earlier the dancers and singers were the best! The cruise directer Billy London was amusing at best not as hands on as some of the cruise directors we have had but with 3,200 people on board it must be hard!

 

Day 6

Stockholm: We arrived at 10am and the ship was leaving at 5pm. My mum in law was taking Princess tours so the rest of the family could explore the ports on our own and mostly on foot. Here we decided to take the HoHo boat and found it really convenient, it was right by the ship and we got onto the first boat. We took it to Gamala Stan the old town of stockholm. We had also purchased the Rick Steves guide book before leaving for the trip. It was very amusing to see how many people had this book we kept passing people doing the same walking tour!! I also purchased John Lawrence's DVD from his website and found it very useful to plan our days.

We did Rick Steves walking tour of Gamala stan backwards LOL so that we could end at the Palace to watch the changing of the guard, it worked well. Loved the "Iron boy which is the tiniest pulic statue in stockholm you really have to follow his book to find it though!! The Royal Palace was wonderful, we got there in time for the Military Parade and Changing of the Guard, well worth waiting for. We also toured the Royal Apartments and the Royal Treasury, I love looking at jewels and crowns!!! Following the Palace we got back onto the HoHo boat and went to the Vasa museum, this was wonderfully laid out with the ability to walk all the way around this huge ship called the Vasa that sunk 20mins into its 1628 maiden voyage. Don't miss this wonderful museum!!!

 

Day 7

Helsinki: This port too was very easy to do on your own. We took public bus #16 to the city center, it was filled with loads of crown passengers ( damm too many people reading cruise critic LOL!!!) When we got to the center of Helsinki we boarded the 3T tram you can get a day pass for bus and tram for 6 euros, very reasonable. We visited the Rock Church, Olympic Stadium and went up the observaton tower, what a fantastic view of Helsinki defintely worth the short walk from the Tram stop. We then walked from the Stadium to the next tram stop. Took it to Senate Square and visited the Lutheran Cathedral, beautiful building. We walked to the Uspensiki Cathedral which was quite a hike up to it as it stands on a small hill but well worth the visit. After this we still had time to take the ferry over to Suomenlinna Island, we walked around for about an hour and then it was time to go back to the ship. We never bought any food at any of the ports, we always just made a sandwich the night before and I put it in my backpack and we ate on the go, saves so much money as food is so expensive. I also took baggies with me, lots of them to put the sandwiches in, it was great. Arrived back at the ship tired but happy, we spent 6 euros and our feet and saw quite a bit of Helsinki.

 

Day 8

St Petersburg: Here I prearranged a private tour for the 5 members of my family with Alla tours. It was a fantastic idea and I was so pleased with this tour, we did not have to wait in line at any of the sites and managed to see everything that we wanted to see in the 2 days so much better than the cattle buses of princess (did I say that out loud!) Our guide was super, we were good little passengers and met in the dining room that they told us, maybe that was not such a good idea but we wanted to follow the rules. We arrived in the dinning room at 6:30am and were led off the ship at 7:15am but the line for the Visa's took us almost an hour standing listening to a brass band on the dock, at first we found it enjoyable but after about an hour of the same tunes we were ready to pay them to stop playing!!! We finally got our passports stamped and red cards and Alla was waiting for us. We again took lunch from the ship and also I brought lunch for the guide which she enjoyed, it saves so much time and allowed us more time at the sites.

We visited Yusupov's Palace, St Issaccs Cathedral, Church on the Spilled Blood, St Cathrines Palace, Peter and Paul Cathedral and fortress, St Nicholas Cathedral, the Ambor room at St Catherines palace was amazing. The opulance that you find in St Petersberg is second to none and we have done a great deal of travelling thoughout the world. The Russian Tzars really knew how to live high on the hog!!!! We made it back to the ship around 7:30pm and boy were we tired.

 

Day 9

St Petersberg: Getting off the ship was much easier today as we were able to just walk off the ship and pick up the red card. Alla tours was again waiting for us, we had a great Mercedes van that was air conditioned. We made our way to the Hermitage, what an amazing place this is, our guide got us an early entry at 9am the Museum does not open until 10:45am. We past such a long line of people waiting to go in, I tell you if looks could kill I would not be writing this review right now!!LOL We spent 31/2 glorious hours here including a visit to the Gold room which was so worth the extra $20. We even splurged and purchased a Faberge-esque egg, it was a copy of the coronation egg. It has a model of a carriage inside the egg, I love it!!!! We ate our lunch that I had prepared from the ship in the van on the way to Peterhof Palace. Unfortunately we had some rain during our visit, we toured the inside of the Palace and the rain stopped but as soon as it was time to walk through the fountain park and to the Hydrofoil pier the skies opened and deluged. We were soaked by the time we made it to the pier (ah the pleasures of travelling!!!) The Hydrofoil from Peterhof to the Heritage pier is a great time saver and very interesting again it was worth the extra $20 for this experience and again we got on infront of the whole line of people waiting and got the best seats in the house!!!(love Alla!!) We were back at the ship at 5:30pm, the traffic was terrible on the way back from the pier.

 

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[Lisette]

Day 10

Tallin: This is another great port that you can do yourself. The Crown was docked by 7am and we left the ship shortly after as the time is limited in this port, we had to be back on the ship by 12:30pm. Tallin is a lovely medevil town with lots of character everywhere. We again used Rick Steves guide book and walked from the dock to the city gate where you find the Fat Margaret tower and the gates to the city, it is about a 20min walk depending on how fast you go. Because the ship is there so early in the morning nothing was open so we walk up to the upper town and worked our way down. There are some beautiful outlooks which are described in Rick's books. There is a Russian Cathedral which is worth a short visit inside. We walked up the narrow spiral stairs at the Holy Ghost church and were rewarded with a superb view of tallin. We spent the morning walking around amiring this lovely town and then made our way back to the ship for 12:30.

 

Day 11

Gdynia: The Crown was docked at 9am and we had to be back on the ship for 5:30pm. I had prearranged a full day tour from tours in Poland and was very please we did. It was a very reasonable price and we had a private driver and guide. We wanted to visit the concerntration camp of stuttoff the tour started with a 1.5hr drive through the country to the camp. After the camp we toured Gdansk and Sopot, and on the way back to the ship had a short tour of Gdynia. The driver and guide were really great and met us as soon as we were off the ship.

 

Day 12

This was a very welcomed day at sea after so many ports in a row.

 

Day 13

oslo: This port was very simple to see on your own. The ship docks right in downtown so it makes it a very easy walk to where ever you want to go. Unfortunately the ship docks at 7am and nothing is open until after 8am. We found the best thing to do is make sure you have some Nordic Kroner and make your way to the tram stop near to the Nobel building and take the Tram #12 to Vigeland sculpture Park. The park is open 24hrs and is the best choice to start your day of touring. We got to the park about 7:30am and basicly had it to ourselves. What a wonderful park, make sure you find the statue of the "crying Boy" it is truely amazing how much emotion he captured in this figure. We took the tram back to the city did Rick Steves walking tour again, we made our way up the hill to the Royal Palace and took pictues. We decided we wanted to see Edvard Munch's famous painting of "the Scream" so we made our way to the National Galley. This is so worth a visit!!!! it was free admission and FREE toliets!!!!! Norway has some wonderful artists and we really enjoyed seeing all the paintings. After the National Gallery we walk over to the city hall where you can see some amazing murals. We made an executive decision not to visit the museums on the island and slowly made our way back to the ship. Very expensive city!!!

 

 

 

Day14

Disembarkation Day: Everything went like clockwork, I had prearranged a tour and transfer from Princess as it was the easiest way of seeing Dragoer fishing village and not have to drag our suitcases with us. We really enjoyed walking through the fishing village and seeing the beautiful little thatched cottages and beautiful gardens. We also had a city tour as well. Arrived at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.

 

THE SHIP: The Crown Princess is a huge ship with 3200 passengers and does feel like a large ship. Princess does tend to nickel at dime you but its is your choice to let them. I myself cannot bring myself to pay for ice-cream when you can get it free in the dining room for lunch and dinner, I guess there is something wrong with me!!! LOL We had one of the best stewards we have ever had, she was always so happy and full of life, every nite she would make towel animals and see if we guessed what it was LOL the cabin was always emaculate!!!!

 

THE FOOD: For breakfast in the ports most of the time we had it in our cabin. We found room service most accomodating. Even if we asked for things that were not on the breakfast menu they were always on the tray. We like anytime dinning as it gives us the choice to eat when we want!!

The service in the dining room was great, the food was wonderful, I believe it has improved and I love Princess's new menu, I guess its up to individual tastes, and I hope Princess never gets rid of lobster night I would be devistated.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: The production shows were awesome!!! There were three during our 10 day cruise and we enjoyed each one of them even when we were so tired we could barely keep our eyes open. I thought the the Russian dancers that the ship brought on in St Petersberg were wonderful, very nice touch for Princess to do that and very well worth watching without having to leave the ship!!!! The port lectures by John Lawrence were very informative and well worth either watching them on your stateroom tv or going to see his lectures. All in all this was a fabulous trip, there are pros and cons to all the cruise lines but I do enjoy the Princess ships and they have a great repeat customer rewards program.

 

I hope I have not bored you too much with this review, please feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to answer.

[CCKelly]

Lisette,

 

I noticed from your trip report that you purchased a Faberge like egg. Did you look through many shops to find what you liked and did most of the shops carry nice quality eggs? Would you mind letting me know the approximate price range?

 

I don't think there is much time to shop with all the must see sites in St. Petersburg, but we would like to come home with a nice souvenir.

 

Thanks!

[Lisette]

You are right there really is not enough time to do much shopping due to the huge amount of sight to visit. We were taken into a "popular" souvienir store by our guide but I found the prices quite high and the quality was not great. I bought a few of the nesting dolls really cheap. When we visited the Hermitage Museum we had about 20min to look around one of their stores that sold the eggs. They are only copies but really beautiful, there were bigger ones. Ours is about 8in tall and it cost us $298. The hermitage Museum has a website that shows you what eggs are available.

[sunsetme]

thanks for the great report, 3 questions

for sandwiches did you order room service or just make sandwiches and keep them in your refirgerator till the next day?

the dragor princess/airport thing--what time do you get to the airport?

do you feel rushed? we have a 3pm flight out I am wondering if we should cab to the airport check in and then take a train or bus by ourselves.

thanks

[Lisette]

For the sandwiches that I took ashore I went up to the Horizon court Buffet later in the evening they always had bread and meat or cheese of some sort and they have these great homemade cookies, boy were they good. I used my baggies and made sandwiches and put them in the fridge until we left for the exursion. The cookies also made a great snack and the guide in Spb loved them LOL. As far as the time to the aiport they dropped us off at around 12:45pm, we had a 3:55pm flight and had no problems at all making it. They said at the tour desk this tour was for people with flights after 3pm so I don't think you would have a problem getting to your flight. We did not feel rushed at all at the airport even though it was really busy. Don't hesitate to ask any other questions I will be glad to answer them.

[pattyj 1204]

Let me add my thanks for taking the time and effort to post this comprehensive review. We are going to the Baltics in about 24 days and I am reading everything I can on it. It is making me anticipate this trip.

[CCKelly]

Lisette,

 

Thank you so much for taking time to write a trip report, it is really helpful for those of us going later this summer, even though we will be on a different ship. Thanks for the information about the eggs, we just wanted to get a ballpark price range to see if that is something we should look for, sounds like a good price, not too cheap and not too expensive.

Glad you had such a good time, and of course, I can't wait till our trip.

[TLCOhio]

THANKS for your detailed reports and info! It really helps in our planning and prep. Will be there in about two weeks. Any added thoughts, with some time having passed, on what you would have skipped or added to your schedule as you did it? What single place most surprised you? We'll visit all of your locations except not doing the stop in Poland. Terry in Ohio

[Paparam]

Lisette,

Thank you so much for the trip report. Do have a some questions

(1) Where did you obtain local currency for bus /tram rides when in the different ports like Oslo and Stockholm?

(2)Do you know if one does not follow the rules and wait to be called in St. P did they stop you from disembarking?

(3)Were their separate immigration lines in St P for the private vs Princess tour passengers?

[Lisette]

I hope you have a great vacation, to be honest I found all the sites we visited were great, Helsinki didn't really do much for me, the highlights of my trip were St Petersberg and Tallen, expeciall SPB the palaces and churchs were truely amazing. The private tour with Alla was the best investment of the whole vacation.

[TLCOhio]

I hope you have a great vacation, to be honest I found all the sites we visited were great, Helsinki didn't really do much for me, the highlights of my trip were St Petersberg and Tallen, expeciall SPB the palaces and churchs were truely amazing. The private tour with Alla was the best investment of the whole vacation.

 

THANKS for the added info and insights! We'll work hard to enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[Lisette]

1. I managed to get some small amounts currency for most of the ports from my bank. You really didn't need rubles as they take credit cards and US in Russia. In Oslo it was great that we had some Norway Kronor as the trams only take local money and the ship arrives at 7am when nothing is open. It was easy for us to just get the day pass from the machine with local currency and visit Viegland park first.

 

2 and 3: We did follow what Princess told us and we eventually got off. Some people on this board have just gone to the gangway and did not have any problems. We just did not want to take any chances. When we got out there was 3 lines for Princess tours and 1 line for independant tours but we got through by about 8am and Alla was waiting for us.

 

hope this helps

[Yumagal]

For the sandwiches that I took ashore I went up to the Horizon court Buffet later in the evening they always had bread and meat or cheese of some sort and they have these great homemade cookies, boy were they good. I used my baggies and made sandwiches and put them in the fridge until we left for the exursion. The cookies also made a great snack and the guide in Spb loved them LOL. As far as the time to the aiport they dropped us off at around 12:45pm, we had a 3:55pm flight and had no problems at all making it. They said at the tour desk this tour was for people with flights after 3pm so I don't think you would have a problem getting to your flight. We did not feel rushed at all at the airport even though it was really busy. Don't hesitate to ask any other questions I will be glad to answer them.

Did you sign up for the pre flight tour of Copenhagen before you left home or on the ship. Did it fill up fast?

[Lisette]

I signed us all up for it before leaving for the vacation. All the buses were full on the day of the tour but I don't really know if they booked onboard or did before hand. I know that the Crown has 3200 passengers and they only had 2 post tours with transfers so it might be a good idea to book before hand. The good think about booking before the cruise is that you have the option to cancel on the ship at the tour desk before a certain time, I think the day before the tour. You are only charged on your onboard account not previous to your trip so you don't loose anything by booking ahead of time.

 

Hope this helps

Have great vacation!!!

[Yumagal]

I signed us all up for it before leaving for the vacation. All the buses were full on the day of the tour but I don't really know if they booked onboard or did before hand. I know that the Crown has 3200 passengers and they only had 2 post tours with transfers so it might be a good idea to book before hand. The good think about booking before the cruise is that you have the option to cancel on the ship at the tour desk before a certain time, I think the day before the tour. You are only charged on your onboard account not previous to your trip so you don't loose anything by booking ahead of time.

 

Hope this helps

Have great vacation!!!

Thanks so much. As soon as I finish typing this I'm going to book the post cruise trip.

[BonnieJB]

Lisette,

We are leaving in three days (yikes!) for our cruise on the Crown. Thank you so much for sharing your trip experiences and ideas. I compile suggestions from reviews by cutting and pasting to a Word document file. I include maps, print it out and staple info from each port together. We are bringing a plastic sleeve to keep info dry in case of rainy weather. We are going to Warnemunde, but will not be seeing Berlin. Does anyone have any excursion ideas closer to this port? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Bonnie in Michigan

[Pepes Pal]

For the sandwiches that I took ashore I went up to the Horizon court Buffet later in the evening they always had bread and meat or cheese of some sort and they have these great homemade cookies, boy were they good. I used my baggies and made sandwiches and put them in the fridge until we left for the exursion. The cookies also made a great snack and the guide in Spb loved them LOL. As far as the time to the aiport they dropped us off at around 12:45pm, we had a 3:55pm flight and had no problems at all making it. They said at the tour desk this tour was for people with flights after 3pm so I don't think you would have a problem getting to your flight. We did not feel rushed at all at the airport even though it was really busy. Don't hesitate to ask any other questions I will be glad to answer them.

 

Lisette,

What is the name of the book you bought for the "Walking Tours" and where did you purchase it?

We will be on the Crown Princess for the Aug. 18th sailing and these books would be helpful.