Celebrity Eclipse Review

Oh those days at sea....

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Celebrity Eclipse

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Sail Date: Jul 2011
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 1B

Our Celebrity Eclipse Cruise was so good in many ways. But it could have been better. The main problem was the itinerary. The first stop was Zeebrugge for Bruges. Having been to Bruges recently, we thought Zeebrugge might be interesting, but having been told that the highlight was an old U-Boat - and none of the taxis wanted to take you into town (Bruges only) - we gave it a miss. BUT - what has Bruges got to do with the Baltic? Next stop, after a day at sea, we arrived in Warnemunde, ostensibly for Berlin, which was three-hours each way. The ship had to go round the tip of Denmark being unable to pass the Kiel Canal. We took a train to Rostock, which was nice. Then another day at sea, before arriving in Helsinki. Now, if you don't know the ports too well, you might rely on the Cruise information and decide you need to take a tour. These are, as everyone knows, pretty expensive. We took one of the cheaper ones - $39 - which took us to four venues in the city. One of them was the Olympic Stadium, over 50 years old. Very exciting, but we didn't have time to go in. The Sibelius memorial was interesting.

Next day we arrived in St Petersburg. We had booked a two day tour from the company - $305 - in order to see all the sites we wanted. This was mostly pretty good, although it was very hot and the palaces were very crowded: but all well worth seeing. However, spending 40 minutes in a souvenir shop, which sold exactly the same stuff as all the other stalls etc, meant that the visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood was a look at the outside only. Only now do I discover that you can book private tours and do more or less your own thing in a small group. I had got the idea that visas had to be acquired if you weren't with a group from the ship. Silly me.

Next day was Tallin, which we did with a taxi to the top of the old town, and walked our way back down to the ship. Following day was Stockholm. Here we took a tour, under 3 hours for $64, which included a boat trip. Interesting, although the weather was poor. But value for money?

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 1B

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