Hubby just booked the cruise to the Baltics. It’s a very small ship. We have a year and a half, but I am excited. I’ve always wanted to go to Russia. Hubby has never been on a cruise, and I went on a horrible carnival cruise to bahamas 25 years ago with a friend.
@eyemamom, we’re looking at a Baltic cruise for this coming May. Haven’t decided yet but I hope we do it. I’d love to visit Russia!
We did a Baltic cruise in '13 and loved it…except St. Petersburg. Getting off the ship and through their immigration was a nightmare. The first day we went to Peterhoff and it was a complete zoo. Overcrowded, no time to do more than walk through the rooms before the “docents” would start screaming in Russian to move along. It was better in the gardens but still over crowded. We heard the same about the Hermitage and the other popular sights. The second day we did a more casual tour and went to the food markets, road the train, shopping mall etc… I think it was a “Russia of the people” tour or something like that and we got a much better feel of how every day Russians live (and got an earful about their politics). It was still guided because it was required and we couldn’t explore on our own. I didn’t like the feeling of being so restricted. I’m certainly glad we went and had the experience, but I liked every other port of call much better.
Don’t want to hijack the thread but we’re considering a Baltic cruise. Can anyone share which one they selected and why they chose that particular one? Can start another thread if it becomes a problem.
I would hate any tour which doesn’t allow free roaming in St. Petersburg. It’s a beautiful city. I grew up in Russia and visited again last summer, let me know if you need hints.
As a never cruiser, we’re doing the ritz carlton cruise to the baltic. It’s 10 days, with 3 in St Petersburg. It’s a small ship, with fewer than 150 rooms. I’m not a big conga line on the lido deck kind of person. It wasn’t so much I was looking to do the Baltic specifically, but I thought the ritz cruises looked nice. Once we saw all their trips, and hubby knew I always wanted to see Russia, this was something he said he’d try. I wanted to try a river cruise through Russia, but hubby wouldn’t do that, and I’ve heard people end up on buses when the water is too low, or too high.
We’re starting in Copenhagen and also going to Talinn and Stockholm. Enough off the beaten track, to me, that’s it’s worth doing as a cruise to see a few places I wouldn’t necessarily want to spend a week or more.
A Baltic cruise is my ultimate bucket list trip.
I want to wait until retirement so we can spend a good amount of time in Russia and Scandinavia
If you don’t have a visa, you can not explore St. Petersburg without being on a tour: http://www.russiavisa.com/visafreeentry.htm.
Our cruise ship staff and the tour guides were adamant that we stay together.
We went on Norwegian. We were pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the trip (first cruise). We started and ended in Copenhagen with stops at Rostock, Estonia, St. Petersburg (2 full days), Helsinki, and Stockholm. We wished we would have spent 1 day in St Petersburg and 2 days in Stockholm!
Just finished reading The Bronze Horseman trilogy by Paullina Simmons. For those of you interested in Russia, it’s set in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), at the beginning of WWII. Winter is a good time to read it, for the full effect of the story. It makes me really want to visit.
We loved Tallinn; very easy to walk on your own (get Rick Steves’ latest European cruise ports book).
St. Petersburg is not the usual tourist spot, so you definitely have to do your research. To the previous poster who said getting off the ship was a nightmare, it’s certainly not like walking off in Cozumel, but I wouldn’t call our debarkation a nightmare. Definitely go to the “other CC” – Cruise Critic – and look at the Ports of Call board. Lots of info on all ports, Europe and everywhere else. Use a good tour company in Russia; we went with TJ Travel.
I’m sure ease of debarkation has to do with the size of the ship. We were on a large Norwegian cruise with 2000 passengers. It took more than 2 hours to get off the ship the first day. It was easier the second day but still not like walking off in Tallinn (which was one of our favorites).
Just booked our flights to America - we’re in Britain - to see our son who is a first year. In October we visited his city and campus and loved it and to keep the cost down we did home exchange. We said we’d visit once a year but each time go to somewhere different in the States with son coming to visit us wherever we were.
Using Home Exchange keeps the cost down and certainly adds a ‘twist’ to the holiday. Initially we explored the idea of the Yellowstone area - but due to having to travel in the summer holidays second homes on offer were already booked. We widened our search to Cape Cod - San Francisco - New York with little success. Our problem was we couldn’t do a reciprocal exchange due to people in our house - something that I have learnt to avoid next year. One place I want to visit is Biltmore so looked in that area. We are now flying into Charlotte NC and heading to the Smokey Mountains. We are delighted and excited about our holiday.
Next year I am going to offer a reciprocal exchange and see where that takes us. It’s a way of not having to make the decision but rather having the decision made for you. Anyone for Sheffield?
And cheap to boot.
Other than our beach trip with family, we do tend to rely on TV to show us interesting places. We got sucked into the Viking River cruise ads, LOL, and will be doing the Grand European in October. That said, we have a long list of places we’d like to go, so I can’t say it’s difficult. I really, really want to see the Grand Canyon for our next big trip. I never have, neither has hubby.
@TatinG We did a Scotland / England trip two years ago. Please PM me if you’d like any info! Started in Edinburgh, then Pitlochry, then Glenfinnan, down to York and ending in London.
Just getting around to reading this thread… gaining some ideas in the process, of course!
We pick travel locations by:
Looking at a map/globe and spurring memories about something we want to see - bucket list style. This also works if we know we are heading in a certain direction and want to see what else is around.
or
Googling something like “inexpensive vacations” and seeing if anything comes up that looks interesting - though we’ll make our own arrangements rather than going with any group or offering that we see.
or
Seeing where a specific airline flies (like Southwest or Qatar), what flights available fit our budget and timing, and then looking to see if there is a place to stay and things we want to see/do. We end up in some interesting places this way.
One of our fondest trips came back when our lads were 12, 10, and 9. We let them each pick a spot in the continental US that they wanted to see - then we played “Connect the Dots” on a month long road trip. It was a blast, but was over way too quickly. Two years later we did a similar trip, but allowed 2 months.
For any who are curious, the 5 places originally selected were:
12 year old - Mt Rushmore
10 year old - Four Corners
9 year old - Giant Redwoods/Sequoias (we saw both)
H - Grand Canyon
me - Grand Tetons
Interestingly enough, when I did a survey after our trip of what each of us liked the best of all the things we saw on that trip (added several “in the area” or “along the way”) none of those 5 were in the Top 5. Instead, what we all loved were:
Yellowstone
Bryce
The Badlands
Mesa Verde
after those our loves diverged more.
We love traveling, though Disney wouldn’t attract us. BTDT and after seeing the “real” things they mimic, even my lads didn’t want to go back as a top choice. For theme parks they prefer Busch Gardens (better roller coasters). We’re adventurers in our travel - love hiking, snorkeling/diving, exploring, etc. We’re not cruise, all inclusives, or organized trip fans. We want to wander on our own time frame and with private guides where desired.
For anyone going to Edinburgh, I highly recommend the Kildonan Lodge Hotel. Super friendly staff, nice rooms and easy bus ride from the city center
I just booked a tour to China yesterday after receiving a great discounted offer via Travelzoo. 10 days guided tour then 3 extra days in Shanghai. It wasn’t really on my wishlist, but the minute I saw the email, my heart leapt and I went for it. Checked with DH and got the thumbs up, but honestly I had already booked it by the time he replied.
I am the trip planner in the family, and usually spend a lot of time researching airfares, hotels, etc, so having this travel company making all the arrangements will be a complete switch for me.
It’s a big hole. Buy the coffee table book and save yourself the hassle. Totally underwhelming. (I live in AZ.) But I’ve never found any place I’ve traveled to hold up to the professional photos, so I no longer travel. (I know, minority opinion.)
We did Zion, Bryce, Page AZ (Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend), Grand Canyon, and Death Valley in one big trip last spring. I’m glad I saw GC but feel like ‘okay, done that, don’t need to go again’. I loved Antelope Canyon and also the Narrows hike in Zion (although Zion overall is gorgeous but so crowded… we had to wait about an hour for the shuttle bus in the morning).
I love the Grand Canyon and have been there several times, North and south rims. We are all different.
Also loved Glacier NPark and Waterton, the Canadian portion that connects with Glacier.
We loved Yellowstone as well and have been there twice. We just went to Acadia in Maine and that was gorgeous as well, fortunately warmer than it is currently.