MSC Orchestra Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We are a family of 6 and we were Booked in a 14 night cruise Kiel/Baltik/Kiel/Norwegian Fjords/kiel.
Arriving in Kiel main train station and already informed (not personally) that the embarkation port had changed to Osturfehafen, we used a public bus to go to the dock. The bus took us a 15 minutes walk with luggage away from the pier. However, arriving in Kiel next week we found out that there was a free shuttle bus from the pier to the train station and back for which nobody had informed us. An informative e mail from the company would have been very useful and respectful for customers !
Embarkation was easy because we arrived early and after avoiding all these people who tried to sell us free drink packages (costing 26 euros per day????) and the photographers standing in our way like Tunisian bazaar carpet sellers, we went to our cabins, which were basically nice.
Cabin Review
Interior Stateroom
Basically furnished and decorated, clean with good service.
Port Reviews
Stockholm
Got around in public bus. Managed to see Vasa Museum, Skansen and a little walk in the old city center.
Tallinn
Mostly on foot and taxi, we went to Seaplane Hangar Museum and for a little walk in the city center.
Helsinki
On foot and public transportation, barely enough time for a short walk in the town center
Bergen
A free shuttle service to the town center and a walking tour around Bergen
Flam
Arriving at 12:00 noon the local tourist office told us that every activity was already sold out and after a short walk around this tourist trap we returned and enjoyed the empty ship!
Stavanger
On foot around the (very expensive) city, nothing special, a sardine canning museum and return to the ship
Geiranger
Tourist trap!!!
You must spend a lot of money just to get somewhere out of this hole to see mountains ice caps and waterfalls which by you can see for free all the way the ship's route in the fjords.
St. Petersburg
We had booked a private tour to Hermitage, river cruise tour and bus city tour which proved to be excellent and very worthy for the money. The operator was "VisitRussia" and we paid 450 euros for 6 persons for a private van with driver and English speaking guide. They took us from outside customs area in the pier and returned us after 8 hours. The experience was excellent. Also it was visa free.