Norwegian Jewel Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,357 reviews

Best St Petersburg Tour Ever!!!

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Norwegian Jewel
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mbreedluv
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2009

I've got to tell you, I was very impressed with NCL, both before we cruised and during. The Baltic 12 day cruise was awesome with the highlight being the 2 days in St Petersburg Russia, particularly with our private tour guide Anya we found through the internet (www.guidestpetersburgrussia.com) but more on that later. I will try to categorize our cruise experience by pre-cruise information, arraignments and preparations (telephone & internet) and then the actual resulting experience both on the ship and in the various ports. Hopefully this information will help all future cruisers. Initially, I checked all the cruise sites and found that NCL had prices lower than the consolidators which is a change from what I'd found in the past so I booked through them on the phone (this turned out to be fortuitous as I will explain). They gave me discounts for being an old guy and also for being retired military. The phone center people that worked with me were very helpful every time I called. They answered all my questions even to the point of quoting NCL guidance so there was no questions on procedures (particularly the procedures for bringing on our own wine). I even got them to provide a partial wine list and we tried the wines before we left so we already knew what we liked (and the cost).

We don't use the cruise excursions when we cruise so I booked everything ahead of time thru the internet. I found limited information about port visits from NCL other than their excursion information but that is understandable, but cruise critic reviews were very helpful in establishing our own excursions. We spent 4 days in London (6th visit) pre-cruise and stayed near the airport (and tube station) and took the tube in which worked well and reduced costs for hotels. We had booked a Shakespearian play at the Globe Theater online which was very enjoyable. Otherwise did the normal tourist stuff in London as there is always something new to see and of course the obligatory shopping for the ladies (I usually sit in a Pub nursing a beer during shopping). We had rented a car, actually a mini van to hold the luggage, (which was cheaper to park at the hotel for 2 of 4 days than rent for 2 separate days) and drove to Dover, saw the Castle and dropped the vehicle off and the rental guys took us to the ship.

We had Port side rooms so we'd be able to see the white cliffs while sailing away. Embarkation was the quickest and easiest I have ever experienced. We were apparently amongst the last to get to the ship as there were dozens of check-in folks and just a few guests checking in so took about 15 minutes to get into the door and on the ship for the 4 of us. Ports:

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