SEASCAPE: A SCANDINAVIA AND BALTIC CRUISE REVIEW

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did do. 
So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the harbour. 
Catch the trade winds in your sails. 
Explore. Dream. Discover. 
- Mark Twain

We sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark on May 23. 2012 and sailed back on June 3, 2012. We visited the following ports: Oslo, Norway (sadly we didn't docked here because there's a pilot strike instead we saw the Norwegian Fjords); Aarhus, Denmark; Berlin, Germany; Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia (we were here for two days); Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. 

THE CRUISE COMPANY

We wanted to see Scandinavia and the Baltic through Princess Cruises. Princess Cruises has the best itinerary for this region. See the reason why we wanted to do a cruise, on this post. We heard great reviews about this cruise line so we opted to do it through them. 

THE ITINERARY

The map shows our cruise itinerary. We started and ended in Copenhagen. We were also able to visit another port in Denmark (Aarhus). Warnemunde is your gateway to Berlin and we had an 2 nights in St. Petersburg, Russia. The itinerary is the real taste of Scandinavia with a taste of the Baltics.

ROOM WE BOOKED

We booked a balcony room at the aft side of the ship. It gave us the best unobstructed view everywhere we went. We highly recommend it! The room was spacious and just what we needed. The room was serviced everyday and its immaculately cleaned. 

EMBARKATION AND DISEMBARKATION PROCESS

One thing we love about the cruise is how effective, efficient, and organized they are during embarkation and disembarkation. In a business that caters for tourists, that relies on being on schedule, Princess Cruise was on top of their game. We were able to reach the port in Denmark with no hassle and you can easily find it.

Once we reached the boarding point, there are numerous tents set up  for passengers to line up and wait for their turn to get checked in and get the ID cards that they issue. Mind you, this was a pretty fast process considering the magnitude of people that they expect. The process was simple, straight forward, and very organized. We checked in with our bags, they gave us our ID cards that is going to be used the whole duration of the cruise on board the ship, which was pretty smart. The ID cards contain our information with a barcode on it: name, room number and credit card information. We absolutely loved this idea because you don't have to show your credit card over and over again, from morning coffee, afternoon snacks to dinner, all we do is present the cruise ID card and we are gone and done. Our bags was delivered inside our rooms before we even opened our rooms, talk about efficiency!

THE SERVICE

This cruise line, gets an A+ for their impeccable customer service - from our cabin attendant, who is on top of everything in fixing our rooms, changing our towels, making sure the linens are fresh and tucked - to the waiters and waitress who assist us in every need we request. You are assigned to a seat and time to eat for the whole duration of the cruise and the waiters knows you by your name, even the cabin attendants. Every night before docking to your next destination, they have a country summary for every port that shows information about the history of the country, currency, food and other information you would like to know. They also keep us updated of the weather and other important stuff the passengers needed to know. They are very attentive to every request and serves you with the biggest smiles on their faces. They made the cruise a pleasant experience and we admire their hospitality and the willingness to serve with pride. 

THE DINING AREAS AND MEALS

Usually, the meals are inclusive on cruises. The food served is better than most buffets in chain hotels in America. Some are pretty good, some are just okay. If you are expecting high end, like Michelin star or Iron Chef type restaurants, it's not like that. They serve you the typical hotel staples and not the innovative, new hype, fusion type meals. Every night, they serve you with different menu, of course, it's always exciting to know what they are going to serve for dinner the next day. 

When you are tired from sight seeing and you go back hungry, you can just go and grab something to eat. They cater to whatever style you want: on-the go, buffet, or sit in a restaurant, whatever you feel like doing during that day. They also have specialty restaurants if you get tired of the typical dining areas. We ate on a specialty restaurant one night, it was pretty good.

ON-BOARD ACTIVITIES

The cruise line offers a lot of entertainment on "cruise days" from free or paid activities. The gigantic ship offers casino, shows, spa services, movies on board, swimming pools that caters to both adults and kids, restaurants and other stuff. It is huge and the ship will definitely keep you entertained. No time to get bored! 

It's not a cruise, it's a love boat.

THE VERDICT

Overall, it was a great experience because it was easy and hassle free. Don't get us wrong, we like the experience we had with Princess Cruise. They did a great job in taking care on all of our needs and we have no complains about it, but, if you are going to ask us if we want to do it again? We are going to say NO. We wanted to try what cruising really is. And we did, its now checked off on our list but with our travel style, we did not like how we only have a few hours on some ports because we have to be back on time and we don't want the cruise ship to leave us. We are always CONSCIOUS of the time and felt hurried because we never thought of that on our past trips. During the cruise, we made sure to arrive at the port an hour earlier before the cut off time, so we have enough time in case we get lost. We felt rushed to see it all. What if we wanted to eat in a great restaurant in the city? What if we wanted to stay longer in one tourist attraction? Bottom line, you are quite limited with what you can and cannot do. We felt like cruising is for the people who don't want to worry about the logistics of getting to different places and the hassle of planning.

In traveling, there are trade-offs, we traded convenience over the fun of actually planning our travels. After this trip, it reminded us on how much we love to plan, research, organize our trip the way how we wanted to handle things. It reminded us the very reason why we LOVE TO TRAVEL, to explore the off-the-beaten paths, get lost, just wander and let each day pass us by without worrying about the time and the cruise ship leaving us. We love to eat on places where locals eat, not to get stuck on tourist trap restaurants, just because we didn't have the time for it. We love to see the true local vibe, drive around, stop where we want and to literally explore the country for what it is, being a traveler at its finest.  We did not regret our experience, but instead, gained more knowledge of how we want to travel and how we want to experience the world. 

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. The content on this post is our personal opinions and views. These are mentioned for the sole purpose of giving information of products and services that we like to recommend.

Categories: Europe, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Scandinavia and Baltic Cruise, Travel Reviews, Travel Tips