We chose this cruise due to the itinerary and the travel dates - the second part of the cruise was transatlantic and eliminated the flight back to the US from Europe. The ship is beautiful, the service and food was very good and the balcony cabin quite comfortable. Cabin stewards did a great job.

Embarkation in Copenhagen was easy, though disembarkation in NY took longer than it should have because "the luggage wasn't ready". Entertainment overall was good, though there were a few "misses" - the magician whose tricks didn't all work and who spent a lot of time laughing at his own jokes comes to mind. However, most of the guest entertainers, onboard orchestra and production shows were enjoyable and Martyn, the cruise director, did a wonderful job. There could have been greater variety in the onboard activities - way too many trivia events for my taste!

We booked very few shore excursions through the ship due to the prices; we find we generally do much better on our own. We did book a city tour in Stockholm through the ship and really regretted that decision. The tour guide was awful, no audio devices had been provided and because she spoke softly and didn't wait for the group to catch up before speaking, we did not hear much of what was said. Lesson learned. However, before leaving home we booked a 2 day tour with TJ Travel In St Petersburg, Russia. It was fabulous. Our guide, Viktoria, was marvelous, spoke great English and was so informative as she took us around the city over 2 days to visit the Hermitage, Faberge Museum, Peterhof, Catherine's Palace, Peter and Paul fortress and cathedral, Spilled Blood Church, St. Isaac's. She knew how to avoid some of the crowds and guided our group of 10 to a great lunch option. Transportation was on a comfortable Mercedes 16 passenger bus. It was a great 2 days, and I highly recommend TJ Travel. Read more