This was the 12 night cruise from Stockholm to Amsterdam. Three days in St. Petersburg was the highlight of the trip. Staff was extremely helpful, mostly friendly, but somewhat impersonal. This may be for a couple of reasons: 1) the Captain's leadership style, and/or 2) It appeared that many staff members were about to leave for vacation. Many ratings were downgraded because of one or two issues we experienced: 1) Dining and Service - main dining room food and service was poor, with surly wait staff and food well below the quality of the other on-board restaurants. We preferred eating in the Terrace to the Grand Dining Room. This was the reason for the downgraded ratings. 2) Enrichment Activities - This is a somewhat small ship and activities are limited, probably based on previous customer desires and feedback. Not bad, just limited. 3) Shore Excursions - One shorex was most unfortunate: Gdansk, Poland. This was not so much the tour as the tour guide, who did as little as possible to make the experience enjoyable. He basically left us on our own to see the old town area, plus showed no interest in our questions and/or comments during the tour. His response to me when I asked him about my family's home village about 50 miles from Gdansk was an indifferent "You can Google it." Also, the ship's excursions were overpriced and undervalued compared to what we booked independently in several cities. 4) Value - Some port times were painfully limited. Longer times in Tallinn, Gdansk and especially Copenhagen would not have impacted next morning arrival times at next ports of call. Read Less

St Petersburg has been on my bucket list but I wanted to avoid the crowds of summer so the dates were ideal. They also offered a substantial number & variety of shore excursions from which to choose The ship came highly recommended & surpassed expectations. we opted for a local tour guide, again to enjoy a small group & we chose Best Guides , located in St Petersburg. Not only was it less costly than the ship's excursion but everything about them was excellent. The planning was perfect, the guide was delightful, knowledgeable & allowed us to make modifications to the itinerary - some before we left & another while we were there. I highly recommend them. The ship was excellent - the food & service was outstanding. We visited 9 countries in 12 days which was a trifle hectic but quite doable. Comments from most other guests were all favourable & I wouldn't hesitate to travel with Oceania again Read Less

We chose the Baltic cruise with the Oceania Line on the Marina Ship mainly because of the Itinerary. The itinerary of the ports of call was terrific. We totally enjoyed the stopover in St. Petersburg - it was the highlight of the trip. We spent a day in SPB and then a day in Moscow, and then the final day back in SPB. We used Alla Tours for this experience and it was as great as we could have expected. We enjoyed every single port of call and had great tours and did some of the ports on our own. Oceania - Marina was a great ship. We never felt movement over the Baltic Sea and we had a Penthouse Suite which was spacious and very well located on the ship with great amenities.. The food was very good. The specialty restaurants were gourmet. The Wine Spectator dinner that we spent extra for was superb. All in all I would rate this particular trip 5 *****. Read Less

We wanted to celebrate our special anniversary in a memorable way, this trip was beyond our expectations. We chose the Marina at the recommendation of friends, and the Baltic cruise was on our bucket list. We were so happy with both choices. The ship was so well equipped, just the right size for us, and every meal was a gourmet treat. We especially loved the Red Ginger. The cabin was a concierge, a balcony to enjoy the scenery and luxury bathroom, with the added feature of access to the concierge lounge that allowed us access to early morning coffee, newspapers, etc right on our level. Nice perk. The staff could not do enough for you and very friendly, always a genuine smile.Lots to do and see on the ship itself, great evening entertainment but we were kept busy with daily shore excursions. We did not book these thru the ship but thru small group tours with SPB tours or we just went out to explore ourselves. Every city and country we visited had a different flavor, people and politics which we discovered with delight. The best part of the tour is that we met so many interesting, like minded people on the ship, becoming friends. The world is made up of friends and we will be keeping in touch with them. WE would not hesitate to travel on the Marina again and strongly recommend to our friends Heather and Vince Meehan Campbellville Ontario Read Less