Norwegian Star Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was a nine night Baltic Capitals cruise ex Copenhagen and calling at Warnemunde, Tallin, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm - really lovely itinerary. We had very good weather pretty much the whole trip so we were exceedingly lucky and I don't think it would have been as enjoyable in the rain! We opted not to do the excursion to Berlin from Warnemunde and those who did do it said the 14 hour day was completely exhausting. Warnemunde is a totally walkable, quite charming German town with a fabulous beach, hotels and cafes. Interestingly, there was a definite feeling the season was winding up even so early in September with cafes on the beach closed. Tallin old town is also an easy walk from the dock and very picturesque. St Petersburg has to be organised excursions because of the visa situation and be prepared to queue for quite some time, especially at the Hermitage and Summer Palace. Helsinki and Stockholm are easy to do on the HoHo buses found in the port area. We did an excursion in Copenhagen on the last day - moderately attractive but you aren't missing that much if you go straight to the airport. Incidentally, Stockholm has the most beautiful approach through the islands of the archipelago. It is worth getting up early to watch them slip past your window.
Check in for the cruise was quick and efficient. The boat itself was spotlessly clean with good facilities. Interesting mix of passengers - Australian, American, Japanese/Chinese and Brits were in the minority but that wasn't a problem. Food was good quality but NEVER hot in any restaurant and not once did we have a decent French fry - always limp and tepid wherever we tried them!!!. We liked the Aqua restaurant which had a very nice atmosphere. The menus in Aqua and Versailles didn't change much from day to day so I think you could get bored if you were on board for too long! Plenty of choice of other pay to use restaurants but we didn't use them so I can't comments on variety of quality. All in all I would recommend Norwegian for this Baltic capitals cruise if they run it again next season.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Adequately sized balcony cabin. Most important - the bed was large and comfortable and the air con quiet. There was sufficient storage for our needs but it might be a bit tight if you were doing a longer cruise with more clothes. The bathroom was absolutely fine although the toilet cubicle was quite snug and I imagine some of the larger guests had to manoeuvre quite carefully. Nice shower with endless hot water.
Port Reviews
Tallinn
We didn't do any excursion as it is a really easy walk into the centre of the old town. this is very attractive and well worth a look. I believe there is a HoHo bus but it was such an easy walk it would probably not be worthwhile unless you wanted to see more of the city.
Helsinki
Lots of HoHo buses around the cruise terminal and we used this rather than an organised tour. I think we paid around 20 euros and had sufficient time to see most of the major sights although this was one of the shorter stops.
Stockholm
HoHo bus again. We had been told to hand on to our tickets from Helsinki so we received a discount on the ticket price for the bus. Really attractive city with lots of museums, boat trips etc.
Neither Helsinki or Stockholm really need an official excursion and life is certainly made easier by the fact that English is spoken so widely.
Rostock (Warnemunde)
Warnemunde is a very walkable town - clean, attractive and with a lovely beach/seafront. People who did the trip to Berlin (14h) were totally shattered so this was a much more enjoyable start to the holiday for us. It's an easy walk from the cruise dock.