This cruise was my first and several seasoned cruisers said I had set the bar very high form my first cruise and I agree! We arrived in Stockholm 2 days early and I highly recommend doing this since there is so much to see in this beautiful city. We met 2 single girls that were doing a St. Petersburg tour with us at our hotel (this was a pure coincidence!) and shared a taxi to the port with them. One of the Texas ladies, Jennifer, recommend we go straight to the ship at our 12pm check out, even though our ticket said to board at 2pm. This was great advice since we were able to quickly get through the check in process and go directly to the Collonade for lunch.

Our suite was ready before we finished lunch. We were on deck 5 and the pictures I have seen online were a perfect match for the real thing, but none of the pictures were of the walk in closet. This was such a blessing since it was large enough to store all of our clothes and keep the suitcases hidden. Our bed was heavenly and the balcony large enough for 2 chairs and a table with room to move around.

Daniela, our hostess did a great job throughout our cruise and had champagne and cavier canapes awaiting us. We were later given a full bottle of vodka (which we didn't even open!), a stocked min refrigerator with beer, cokes, water, juices, and 2 bottles of red wine and could have ordered more if we wished. We ordered room service fro breakfast 3 times and ordered a snack once. I had put our anniversary as our special occasion and received a phone call asking when we wanted to receive a special turn down the first day of the cruise. I chose our sea day and the staff did not disappoint. While at breakfast, they fastened balloons to our ceiling and later on that night a beautiful chocolate cake was delivered to our suite! Read more