Depart Stockholm

Have you thought about a cruise visit to the Baltics? One of our clients offered this very interesting diary of a summer trip to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and we thought you might enjoy reading it. Enjoy…

Day 9 – Saturday – Depart Stockholm 10:15, arrive home Saturday 6 p.m.

Some interesting facts about our absolutely lovely home for 6 days, the beautiful Regent Navigator:

• The ship only carries 400 + guests; there are absolutely no waiting or lines.
• You dine whenever you wish.  The dining room is spectacular, the food exquisite and the waiters are first-rate.
• There is a separate restaurant (Italian Portofino) that requires a reservation (but there is not an extra charge).
• Room service is the dining room food; they come with a tablecloth and set up your food as though you were in the dining room.
• Wine (good quality, not mediocre house wine) is included at dinner and 2 bottles of a limited selection are presented to you when you board the ship.  Beginning with the either the year-end holiday cruises or early 2007, all liquor became complimentary.
• The shops are very nice and the shopkeepers, very helpful.
• The swimming pool is very warm (not unlike bath water.)  Our cabin was spacious and the decks are large and made of teak.  There are countless rooms to explore and little coves and niches in which to get comfy.  Our favorite area is aft on the ship, where they serve breakfast and lunch right outside the Portofino restaurant on a teak deck.

 

 

Shopping tidbits:

 

A little about the entire area:

This really is the “Land of the Midnight Sun.”  It gets dark around 11 p.m., and some days it was light again around 2 a.m..

 

The weather was perfect, sunny and around 70 degrees.  There is limited air conditioning and lots of walking.  The streets are cobblestone so walking in high heels is somewhat difficult.

Visas are required in Russia.  As long as you are on a tour, then there is a group visa.

The Russians are a nice people.  They were very kind, especially considering what they have been through in recent decades.