Having cruised with RCI before on several occasions, embarkation was as it has been for our last 4-5 cruises, as easy as pie. We arrived at the port by taxi, the staff at the port collected our cases and within 15 - 20 minutes we were onboard. Well done RCI, this is how returning cruisers should be dealt with.

The ship itself is in need of refurbishment, there was one lift in particular that would stop at a floor and then the doors would just open and close, some carpets are frayed and edges lifting and in general it needs the upgrade that some of the other ships in the fleet have received.

We chose this cruise as we wanted to travel to see places that we had never been before. The Baltic Cruise seemed ideal. Our only issue with this was our first day in St Petersburg. We had to queue for 1.5 hours to get through immigration, something that should have been in the cruise compass. Immigration staff aren't particularly friendly either, then when returning to the ship we had to queue again for a further 30mins. Read more