We boarded the ship easily on Monday, June 12th at about 11:30 A.M. I was wondering where all the people were because it was such an easy entrance. We had taken a taxi from our hotel near the airport to the pier which was between $30-$35. It was possible to take the train and bus, but I'm glad we chose the taxi. The area is spread out and fairly desolate. As a matter of fact, we decided to take the NCL shuttle to the airport at the end of the cruise because of the very few taxis available at the port. The shuttle was $30. per person. A taxi would have been about $60.00 but we didn't have to wait on a long taxi line - just board the bus and have the luggage already on board.

The one glitch on the cruise happened in Warnemunde. Due to weather (or another ship in our slip?) we could not dock on Tuesday. We had to wait till Wednesday. For us it was not a problem, but booked trips to Berlin had to be cancelled. We chose to walk around Warnemunde which is a lovely and relaxing town with quaint streets, a boardwalk, and ocean and sand to walk on. Also, because of the delay, we missed the port of Tallin. That didn't make some people very happy either. For us, we just enjoyed our aft balcony.

St. Petersburg was the highlight. We booked a 2 day tour through TJ Travel and it was superb!!!!! Our guide, Sophia, was top notch. I highly recommend this company. Read more