Fantastic ports and weather and the Emerald Princess was not a disappointment. Wife, I and two other couples enjoyed the 11 day Baltic cruise on Princess. Spent three day prior to boarding in Copenhagen and the Tiffany Hotel. Did public train trips outside the city as well as the normal boat and walking tours of Copenhagen. Well worth the time spend at the Viking museum, "Hamlet" castle and Sweden. Great people and wonderful sights. Emerald Princes was our first on a large (previous cruises on 1500- passenger) ships) and we were suspect. Worries turned out to be unfounded. Handled embarkation and initial organization very well. Deck 7 was crowded at times but other than the congestion at the photo area and tour organization the crowds were not an issue. Food was reasonably good most of the time. Caribe Grill was our favorite "grab something to eat" place. Did the late fixed seating, which worked out very well considering the full day ports and late late sunsets. Did both "up-grade" restaurants and were not disappointed. Both offered unique service and better than average food. Cabin was regular balcony room, nice enough but smaller than anticipated and no bath/very small shower was an unpleasant surprise. Service overall was good, professional but not very warm or friendly. Got the feeling Princess was 'stretching out" the service help. The biggest service issues were the attitudes and lack of consistent information from the Service Desk personnel. Several times we got different and inaccurate information over the phone or at the desk on various questions. Inaccurate or mistaken info should not occur but if you are wrong at least be pleasant when you give bad info. This was a port intensive cruise and Princess did a good job most of the time getting us off and back on the boat. Even the worries we had about St. Petersburg did not materialize. Emerald had special lines for those persons doing private tours and we got thru customs easily. We did TJ Tours with Katya and it was wonderful. Went to the head of the lines and got special inside info - even an off the itinerary, side trip to get a local meat pie and Russian beers. Ports were all great. We did not do any Princess tours either walked or took local transportation to sights. Worked out very well even for less than experienced tourist. Each port was different and enjoyable. Oslo, Arrhus, Warrenmount, Tallinn, St. P, Helsinki, Stockholm were better than expected. Wish we had money and time for a 30 day cruise.