We picked this cruise mostly because of the itinerary. We wanted at least 3 days in St. Petersburg and this one gave us that, and also allowed us to see some of the less visited Baltic ports. There were no sea days and we were off the boat every day. It was an amazing trip.

We did Oceania tours for three ports (Tallinn, Helsinki & Warnemunde) and Alla Tours for St. Petersburg, Riga, Klaipeda and Gdansk. The Alla tours were better: more intensive, were small groups, and were cheaper. St Petersburg was great, although I wish I had been able to more time (i.e. days) in the Hermitage, and I saw perhaps one too many gilded baroque palace and very little that dates to after the revolution. Riga was a very pleasant surprise as the Art Nouveau district was fantastic. The Curonian Spit and Malbork Castle were impressive and impressive. They were long days and long walks but I highly recommend them.

The wife has celiac disease and we thought a smaller ship which focused on food might be a pleasant experience for her. We hit the jackpot and the cruise formed the heart of the best trip we’ve taken. Unlike our cruise last year on princess we didn’t get a menu for the next day’s meals. Instead we just had to ask the Maitre-D and he/she would tell us which were safe and which weren’t. They was usually a decent choice. This even worked in the Terrace cafe and we ate there often. Three of the speciality restaurants were good, similar to what we have seen on other ships, but the fourth, Red Ginger, was the best. The only negative note was the limited room service menu and hours for breakfast. Read more