We chose this cruise for the itinerary since we'd heard from multiple people that a Baltic cruise was a "must do". While we were very impressed with the ports of call, the ship left something to be desired. We had read that the boat had recently been remodeled and you could tell that it had a minimal face lift - new carpet and artwork. The boat itself was very clean and the service was great, but that's the extent of nice things i can say about the boat itself - This cruise felt like a constant quest for RC to get as much money from you as possible - There were hardly any activities on board that didn't come at an additional cost. In the dining room, every menu came with "up charge" items and we were even told that we couldn't have breakfast in the dining room one morning because they were doing a brunch that was an additional $35. We ate in Chops Grille the last night of the cruise because of a good experience we had on another cruise and we were very disappointing. Our service was better in the main dining room and my husband had to send back his steak twice and it was still not correct. We wont be going back to chops again. The windjammer was pretty terrible as well. I was very surprised at the poor quality of the food on this cruise given the opposite experience we've had with RC on other cruises - we chalked it up to the fact that they were probably sourcing from different areas given the area of the world and had less selection. Room service is also no longer included outside of toast, coffee and pastries. Very dissapointed at how nickel and dimed we were given the cost of the cruise itself.

Aside from the food - our service and experience was great. If i had to do it over again i would choose an itinerary that skipped Estonia and Latvia. Russia 2 day tour was fantastic but strenuous - be aware of that if you are not an active person. Finland Icebar tour way exceeded our expectations and ended up being a favorite. Estonia bike tours were a cluster. No organization, Not enough helmets, not enough warning for participants that you need to be a seasoned bike rider to do this tour. We were ok but lost 2 families along the way due to bike wrecks - the tour guides were not really keeping track of everyone either. Taste of Latvia tour was disappointing but cheap.