Princess Cruises - Star Princess Baltic/Russia Review

The Star Princess is a lovely ship.  The cabins are beautifully appointed and comfortable, the on-board amenities are extensive, the entertainment is delightful, and the food (served around the clock in a variety of restaurants) is delicious and plentiful.  It makes for a luxurious vacation.

That said, I'm not normally a cruise ship traveler.  I prefer to create and follow my own itinerary and have the freedom to change my plans if I want, but I thought it was a great way to see the Baltic.  The Baltic nations are not the easiest places to travel, particularly Russia, and there's a lot of ground to cover.  On our cruise, we visited seven countries--Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Germany, Russia.  If we had been doing that on land, we would have been packing and unpacking and on and off trains and cars constantly.  It would have been exhausting.  In addition, navigating immigration for that many countries would have been a nightmare, especially in Russia where special visas and permits are required.  By taking a cruise, we were able to unpack once and Princess handled the visas and entry permits in each country.  I highly recommend this approach to touring the Baltic.

As with most cruises of this sort, the Star Princess offers an extensive selection of tour options in each city, very interesting tours, I might add.  In Estonia, for example, we were able to do a bike safari of an outdoor museum.  It was a blast.  In Stockholm, we visited the site where the Nobel Peace banquet is held.  In Saint Petersburg, of course we were able to see the Hermitage, Peterhoff palace and Catherine's palace, but there were also options for a river cruise and the ballet in the evening.  All our tour guides spoke English well and were quite knowledgeable.

Now, if you want to do a deep dive in any of the Baltic nations, this is not the way to do it. The Star Princess spends one day in each city (two in St. Petersburg) then moves on.  You get only a tiny taste of each city. One other thing to be aware of is that the pace is relentless.  The ship sails to the next port over night and the tours depart the ship first thing next day.  If you want a rest day, you have to skip a city.  For me, it was too much.  I was tired and longed for a day off every third day or so.  That said, I'm glad I took this cruise.  Who knows when I would have seen all those countries, if ever, had I not done them all at one go on this cruise?