In Tallin, Estonia, we decided to self-tour, which was a huge mistake! The streets were VERY poorly marked and with overcast skies it was difficult to get an orientation on our bearings. We ended up buying tickets on the Red Tour Bus, which allowed us to do a driving tour or the whole city in the hour we had left. As this is a get on/get off, narrated tour, this was an excellent investment of our time and what we should have done once we first got off the ship. There are three different tour routes, and between the three routes one can pretty much see the entire city and surrounding area. The only down side to this bus tour was that the bus stopped to let some people off (and we followed) and we returned to that “stop” after touring our site, only to later learn through a helpful local, that the actual bus stop was 200 yards away and no bus would stop where we were waiting. Furthermore, the drive spoke very poor English and unintentionally misdirected us at that particular stop. Traveler’s Tip: Only wait at the marked Bus Stops!

Tallinn

In Sweden we first visited the Royal Palace, which was an interesting fact-filled tour and well worth our time. Then we had a short time for touring the old city square on our own and lunch on our own. In the old town square we visited the Nobel Museum, which I would give low marks as it was not very well organized an it was very expensive. We had a light lunch there, which was very good. The museum was not a good value for what we spent on it. Also we did not have the time require to really see all of the exhibits. We watched part of the Changing of the Guard at the Palace, and then took, a quick tour of the cathedral next to the Palace, which was very beautiful and ornate and well worth the price of the suggested admission. They did not take dollars but did take credit cards. After lunch we got back on the bus and went to the City Hall where we bought three T-shirts and a 4 bottles for about $100! Be wary of the gift shop pricing! Next we went to the Vasa Ship Museum, which was great. We had a little less than and hour there, which was far too little time to see it all. We could have easily spent half of the day (or more) there. I highly recommend it.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, we took the Hermitage and Palace tour. Our guide was very good. His English was great and his knowledge of the places we visited and the tricks of the trade (which entrances and routes were best based on time of day) were very good. I was amazed at the huge masses of people at all the tourist sites we visited and the lack of order. Fortunately we had a good and aggressive guide who could get us through the log jams. The Winter Palace Hermitage was the palace constructed for Catherine the Great in 1764 and was room after room after gaudy, gold leaf adorned room full of artwork. If you are an art fan, this is your place! There was little time to stop and really ponder and appreciate the artwork, but we did see a very large number of paintings by Rembrandt, Da Vinci and other famous artists. If you are not a huge art fan or person interested in classical architecture, then skip this tour because this is most of what you will see (along with hundreds of other noisy, pushy tourists). Our lunch was an excellent four-course meal served in an old palace-turned office building. The meal was very good and included the obligatory shot of vodka and glass of sparkling wine (as well as bottled water). A young man played piano for the first part of the meal, which was very nice. After lunch we toured the very ornate church in the Peter-Paul Fortress and saw the tombs of the Romanov family as well as other famous Russian Royals. Here the crowd control was most needed, as there was a huge mob of tour groups trying to enter at the same time. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful but hard to take in given our short time there and the pressing crowds. I might also add that flash photography and the use of a camera tripod are prohibited here. Next we drove to an old cathedral with brightly colored spires and turrets. We were not able to go into it. Our bus parked on the street and our guide escorted us to the “perfect place” from which to photograph the cathedral (his wife is a photographer). He was right about the spot. Our next stop was a tourist shop where there was a huge variety of very expensive tourist trinkets as well as free vodka shots and coffee and clean rest rooms. We got back to the boat thirty minutes late, but found that there were still busses that were behind us, so it wasn’t a big deal. Apparently this is the norm in Russia. Clearing customs was a snap and we headed back to the boat.

NOTE: WE DID NOT GO TO BERLIN! THis web site does not list our German port, Warnemunde! We docked at Warnemunde and then took an excursion bus to the cituy of Lubeck, the "Baltic Jewel". This was a beautiful old city with lots of narrow streets, open air markets, quaint shops and giant cathedrals. Our only disappointment was that with the four hour round trip bus ride, we did not have much time to tour the city. It was definitely worth seeing.

We had been on three cruises prior to this one: a Carnival (Caribbean islands) cruise and two Holland American cruises (Caribbean islands and Alaska).Again, we’ve had waiters on other cruises that did magic tricks or food service tricks (like pulling a cork from inside a wine bottle with just a napkin) but no extras here other than good service.

Costa Fortuna Review

THis cruise met our expectations and was a good experience

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