We chose this cruise originally because of the destinations and class of ship. It's expensive, but that keeps the rif raf off the ship, and thats fine w/ me. We originally booked our veranda suite, but when we got closer to the travel date, we upgraded to a penthouse suite on the 11th floor, and so glad that we did. We flew into Copenhagen 2 days early to enjoy the city. 2 days was enough as theres not that much to do. We did Tivoli Gardens in the evening, and they had a nice firework show, and walked along Nyhaven . Many people took a canal tour, but we just walked along it and it was great.

Embarkation was easy, although we did have a bit of a line, which we didn't think we would have since we were boarding at noon with the other suites. Our room was a terrific!! Elegant, comfortable, big and a great balcony. The first port was Germany. We didn't book the trip into Berlin as it was a 3 hour bus ride, there and back. Those that did, enjoyed it, but I didn't want to deal w/ sitting in a bus all day. We walked around the port town. It was OK. Your basic cruise tourist port town. But that was OK, as I had very little expectations.

The following day at sea was beautiful. The weather was great and surprisingly there were plenty of folks relaxing in the sunshine by the pool. We enjoyed the private deck area outside the Canyon Ranch Spa for suite guests. It was quiet, relaxing and private. The next day we were in Estonia. It was a charming little town, easy to walk to and plenty to see. The cobblestone streets would be difficult for those with mobility issues. The town was quaint and the people we met there were sweet and wonderful. Had lots of interesting conversations with the locals. The next 2 days were spent in St. Petersburg Russia. It was incredible. We booked the tours through the ship. We did the canal tour and cathedral of spilt blood one day and that was great. It was a beautiful sunny day, with a cool breeze on the water. Our tour guide Larissa was terrific!! The next day we did another tour and got to have some free time in the city. My husband and I ended up at the Grand Palace Hotel lobby bar with some other folks from our ship, drinking vodka. It was actually great!! We found the city to feel safe and beautiful. They do take you to a lot of souvenir shops, but quite frankly, I wanted to buy some, so I was OK with it. I really wanted to bring home a matryoshka doll, but ended up buying it in the ships shop. The prices were the same, and I felt like the ones on the ship were more legit then the mass produced copies in the shops. We had friends that went to the Ballet in the evening and enjoyed it. We stayed on the ship and it was a quiet evening, because many folks were out in the city on tours, but we enjoyed the quiet. Read more