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We have just returned after a fantastic cruise to the Baltic 16-30th July 2011.
The entire trip was so very enjoyable and even the few days at sea were enjoyable with so much to do in this magnificent cruise liner.
Our stateroom was on the 6th deck and our 2 stewards were so efficient and friendly. They were quick to clean our stateroom every morning when we went for breakfast and always had a friendly chat and often a laugh or two when we
saw them on the hallway. Room service was excellent - we had breakfast in our stateroom most days when we were in port as often we could disembark quite early so this saved a lot of time.
Evening meals were taken in the magnificent Moonlight Sonata Restaurant and I have to say that the food was of the very highest quality, served by friendly and helpful waiters and sommeliers. Glad to see healthy options available if required and even these meals were delicious. One small criticism, we had requested to be placed on a table for 6 people but for some reason we were sat on our own table for 2, as indeed were the people on the next table (they had also requested a table for 6).
Cafe style meals were available in the Ocean View Cafe on the 14th deck. These were good quality but you had to choose your time to visit as obviously it got really, really busy at peak times.
Excursions -we chose not to take all Celebrity organised excursions because some stops were within walking distance of the cities eg Warnemunde (main excursion to Berlin but this was a very long and tiring trip) we took advice from reviews written by other cruisers from previous trips and took the local train in to Rostock and had a very enjoyable day. Brugges,Warnemunde, Helsinki, Copenhagen,Tallinn and Stockholm were easily accessed via the shuttle buses organised by Celebrity Cruises at a reasonable cost (8 -10 dollars return). The shuttle buses were frequent and we were always told clearly what time we needed to be back on board. In St Petersburg we took 2 excursions each of the 2 days we were in port, simply because we would have had to purchase our own visas at 100 dollars each if we wanted to explore alone. The customs clearance we had to go through every time we left and returned to the cruise liner was a bit tedious but we all had to do it. Once on the quay the Celebrity staff were waiting to welcome all back with ice cold water and cold towels - a very nice touch as it was very warm during most of the stops.
All in all a very enjoyable holiday. We have travelled with Cunard 7 times over the past 3 years and I have to say we both considered the meals and quality of service to be just as good on Celebrity, if not better.
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