The combination of these two cruises ticked a lot of boxes for us.

Boarding and disembarkation procedures were of the usual high standard we have come to expect from HAL. The other thing that impresses me is HAL's insistence that all passengers attend the lifeboat drill at their designated station. This compared to another line who does it from the 'comfort' of the theatre. I know whose ship I'd rather be on if there was an emergency.

Apart from St Petersburg where we did ship's excursions on both afternoons and Stockholm where we did the ship's Vasa tour, we made our own way everywhere else. Read more