My friend Jill and I had never cruised before and chose this to enable us to visit St Petersburg.

We hadn't really considered the ship, but certainly chose well for our first one. The ship provided all we wanted and although we had been concerned about having too many days at sea, when we arrived in Stockholm we didn't want to get off!! We enjoyed all the ports er visited.

We were told by travel agent that we could only visit St Petersburg with a trip organised by the ship due to the visa situation. We found out by accident (on Tripadviser) that we were covered as long as we went on an organised tour. We booked a 2 day Grand Tour at a very reasonable price (there were other options) and had a brilliant time, they didn't take any money prior tothe tour - and in fact we paid at the end of the first day. The guide Julia was unbelievable in her knowledge and it was a fascinating tour. We met other people who didn't enjoy the Hermitage due to the crowds, it was busy and in places you couldn't avoid it, but Julia was fantastic at taking us to see interesting things in quieter places. All in all we can't praise them enough, so glad we didn't listen to other passengers 'scare' stories about not getting off the ship, taking 45 minutes to clear immigration (took us 5) and that we wouldn't find a loo as museums don't let you use theirs!!! Read more