This cruise was wonderful from start to finish. The embarkation and debarkation were smooth, easy, and fast. The ship is so beautiful that I took pictures of several of the public rooms. The service throughout the ship was not only helpful and friendly, but they seemed genuinely happy and eager to be helpful. I did not eat in a specialty restaurant as the food and service in the dining room were so good. The buffet was mostly good as well. There were a few times, such as Asian lunch, when I didn't find much I wanted. On those occaisions, I had pizza, which was consistently good. The grill for hamburgers and hotdogs is right there as well.
The entertainment I saw was good. We only had three production shows instead of 4 due to 'technical difficulties'. The three I saw were enjoyable, and the performers are certainly talented and hardworking. They brought in two local groups for us, one on our overnight in St Petersburg and one on our overnight in Dublin. Both groups were a lot of fun to watch as they did traditional music and dancing. The piano player/singer in the Casino bar was also very good. The cooking demonstration was much more fun than others I have seen due to the fun personalities of the head chef and maitre d'.
I had a balcony cabin which was definitely a good size (although I travel alone, so two people might not agree with this). There was a lot of storage including a good number of drawers as well as a number of shelves in the bathroom. The balcony, deck seven, was completely covered from above, and you can't see the ones below either. There are walls between the balconies next store almost completely closing you off and giving a real sense of privacy. My room got flooded one night when a pipe burst in the hallway. Once I let them know that, I was in another balcony cabin just down the hall within about 20 minutes to sleep the rest of the night. The next day, they helped me move my belongings to the new cabin as the other one still had some clean up needed. They apologized several times, providing me with a free load of laundry for anything that got wet and a bottle of wine. I plan to send a letter to Princess to compliment them on the handling of this situation.
The cruise started from Stockholm. I arrived the day before. The morning before boarding, I had time to walk around Old Town. Old Town is not just for tourists. There are a lot of businesses and apartments there. I walked around the small streets and alleys, walking up to the palace to take pictures.
Helsinki was the first port, and we were only there in the afternoon. There are some nice sights there, and the ship docked right in the center of town. Don't miss the Rock Church, it was amazing and beautiful. I was on a private tour, but it should be easy to do this city on the HOHO.
