This cruise, which began in Copenhagen and visited Warnemunde, Germany (Berlin); Gdansk, Poland; Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden, appealed to us for its itinerary. Our boarding process went smoothly, we left our luggage and took a taxi back to Copenhagen. We had only a few hours to walk around a bit. We took a canal cruise, which I would recommend, it gave us an overview of the city and time for a stop for pastry and coffee at a sidewalk cafe. All of these ports were fascinating in their own way. Warnemunde was a charming seaside community bustling with German tourist. We then boarded a train to Rostock and found it to be less charming than Warnemunde. The train ride was about 15-20 minutes and ran frequently.

We contracted with Baltic Travel Tours for a tour of Gdansk and Sopot. The fee was well worth the expense, which was very reasonable. We had an entire day with a tour guide and driver in a minivan. Our charming tour guide Anna was very knowledgeable, spoke English very well and was flexible as to what we wanted to see. Tallinn is very doable on your own. Rick Steves has printable walking guide that worked out very well. Onto St. Petersburg~SPB Travel took very good care of us for three days. Alexandre was our tour guide and we were very fortunate to have been assigned to him (or visa versa!). We covered all the highlights of St. Petersburg. It's an exhausting three days due to the history, trying to absorb all the information and there is a two-hour time change between Poland and Russia. SPB was very responsive when I contacted them to book our tours. They were also very efficient emailing our necessary documents and answering my concerns and questions. I would highly recommend them without reservation as I would Baltic Travel Tours. Helsinki is also doable on your own, as is Stockholm. English is spoken everywhere and there is so much information on the Internet, it is easy to plan your own walking tours. One “must see” in Stockholm is the Vasa Museum. Fascinating!

We were very happy with the Marina as we were last year on the Riviera. There is not one detail that the crew is not happy to help you with. The casino provided evening entertainment. We did not go to the shows after dinner (not our thing) but did enjoy Mio the Magician who performed at different venues throughout the ship.