We drove the 5 hours to Harwich the day before and stayed in a nice hotel called The Tower Hotel in Harwich which includes looking after you car for the entire cruise (cheaper than the port car park). Had a very nice breakfast and got a taxi to the port, arriving just before 1100. We had to wait a little while before the embarkation hall was open, but not too long. The process was very swift and managed to get on board just after 1130. Lots of glass which does give a very good veiw whilst at sea, as all RCI ships, very clean and all the staff attentive and seem to enjoy what they do. Customer relations were rather busy on this cruise with lots of money changing going on so try to get there early otherwise expect a bit of a wait. We only did excursions in St Petersburg (see below) as this was the easy option as far as the visa was concerned. We did feel the shops were taking advantage of the 'local markets' as the russian crafts etc did seem to have a mark up from the price that could be obtained ashore. As a members of the Crown and Anchor program we did feel that the enhancements given to us were not as good as previous cruises. The entertainment on board: the singers and dancers were brilliant but we did feel the first show a bit disjointed. The guest entertainers were on the whole of good quality with a varied selection of genre. The on board bands: I felt that as we were on a smaller ship we got the last of the choices, they seem more mature than previous cruises and I don't think any of them had the mother tounge of english, saying that they did have some excellent musicians on board with the classical guitars of the top grade. We did miss certian things that we have become used to on the larger ships.. Tea and coffee making in the cabin was not there, we did not have a flat screen tv and the one we had was looking a bit tired. No ice in the cabins unless you asked for it. The only place we found to make our own coffee was the Windjammer. These are small things as the food on board at any of the places was superb, not massive portions at the main dining room but adequate and you can always ask for two lots of startes and mains and puddings if you so wish just like the americans on our table (which we got on really well with). The price of the booze on board I thought were ok, no real price rise and of course try to get on with the bar staff as they tend to let the flow go on for longer.... real strong drinks - great. I went for the wine package, which works out cheper than ordering at the table, with good quality wines served very well just adds to the dining experience. We tend to include the gratuities within the price of the cruise, but felt our head waiter was noticed by his absence and ended up leaving his envelope on the table! The rest we felt really deserved them.
Copenhagen We like Copenhagen and have been a few times but this time we decided to walk from the ship around the dockside and into town. The small marina just along from the berth was nice and we found some 'friendly' locals to pass a few minutes with. I have seen the mermaid before but my wife had not, and was dissapointed that the mermaid has been transported to China for the world trade fair and they have a large screen showing the crowds walking around it. It was nice to see lots of seating available as it was very hot and we needed to rest several times. We did the normal tourist spots with the Palace and the canal with all the bars etc. Again we were lucky and it seems all the shops had sales on. They are currently doing lots of road works on the main round about and the end of the canal and before the road to the shops, not too bad but it was a little busy whilst trying not to get run over whilst crossing the major road.
Stockholm We berthed in the port a little way from the port, it is walkable but only if you are used to walking a few miles daily. We got the shuttle bus which dropped us in the centre of town close to the old part of town which has some good places to visit. My main mission was to go to the Hard Rock Cafe which took about 30 mins to walk to even in the heat. It has been a while since my last visit it was very clean with loads of shops, eating places etc. Not a cheap place to shop and you have to have the local currency which we exchanged on board for both this port and Gothenburg. We found a small stall to purchase a fridge magnet at a resonable price. A good day.
The cabin was its normal standard, nice and clean and a bed to die for, always the best sleep on board. A nice balcony with good views forward and the beam however slightly blocked aft due to the shape of the balcony. It still has the crt tv (we are used to a flat screen now). No tea or coffee making gear! and no ice bucket unless you asked for it. The shower was ok for size. With a wardrobe ok for the two of us for the 12 nights and eight small draws to use, we had enough space for all of our bits and pieces, however if you used the other bed I am not sure if there is enough space.