Saturday June 6 - Stockholm
Boarding day for the Seabourn Quest and our 21-day cruise of the Baltic and Norway. After a final breakfast at the Sheraton and packing up we took a taxi to the cruise port arriving at midday. Boarding started about a half-hour later - we headed to the Colonnade for lunch while we waited for the cabins to become available which they did just before 2pm.
As our luggage had arrived in our room, I unpacked quickly so we could join the sail-away at 4pm. The cloudy and cool day cleared to a bit of sun as we sailed out through the Swedish archipelago - a wonderful site. After showers we attended the destination lecture for Tallinn our first port of call and an overview of the St Petersburg tours - which we had booked immediately on boarding.
We had dinner at the Colonnade - surf & turf night - we went with double surf (2 yummy lobster tails) and no turf - excellent. Unwisely we went to the club for an after-dinner drink and listen to the “sounds of the BeeGees” - due the clock moving forward 1 hour we only got to bed around midnight.
Sunday June 7 - Tallinn
We had a bit of a sleep-in then went for breakfast around 8:30am - there was no rush as the Quest was only scheduled to dock at 10am - in fact we were a bit late due to very strong winds. In spite of these winds (gusts to 60 knots) it was sunny and almost warm (high teens). We spent a few hours walking around the very picturesque old town with its medieval walls and towers and winding cobblestone streets and numerous churches. The town square and surrounding streets were lined with cafes with the sunny ones becoming busy as mid-day approached.
We went back to the ship for a late lunch then attended the lecture/overview of St Petersburg at 4:30pm as the ship left port.
It was formal night which was proceeded with a ‘meet and greet’ the captain and senior officers in the Grand Salon before hand - complete with cocktails and canapés of course. Dinner was excellent - lobster (again) for both of us then off to bed early as the next 3 days in St Petersburg were going to be chocker-blocker with tours commencing at 8:00am.
Just as we were heading off to bed there was a medical emergency on board (details unknown) but a guest was heli-vacced off the ship.
Monday - Wednesday, June 8-10 - St Petersburg
We had booked wall-to-wall tours for St Pete’s as this is the only way to visit Russia without going through the hassle of obtaining a tourist visa. The Quest docked on time at 7:45am - at the pier closest to the city - virtually right in the middle of the main attractions - how lucky was that - most ships are docked much further away. It was a sunny but very windy day with a high of 18℃ forecast.
First up was an 8:00 for 8:30am start for the Petershof summer palace about an hour’s drive from the pier. The palace, fountains and gardens were totally amazing - we returned by hydrofoil (a 30 minute trip) and landed only a 5 minute bus ride from the ship. We arrived back at 1pm so had to rush in a quick lunch as our next tour was a 1:40 for 2pm start.
The afternoon tour included photo stops at the most famous of the city’s buildings, museums and churches and a one-hour river/canal boat trip. All excellent with great photo opportunities in the wonderful sunshine - we were lucky as St Petersburg only enjoys about 50 sunny days per year (according to our guide).
We returned to the ship around 5:30pm just in time for fives showers and dinner - which was at Restaurant 2 - which is by reservation only - the fixed deguestion menu was not really to our liking.
On Tuesday, we started with a tour of the Hermitage Museum - no doubt the "piece de resistance” of St Pete’s. It was 3 hours of fascination in this most wonderful palace and museum. Then it was back to the ship for lunch and a short break.
In the afternoon we visited the Faberge Museum & Imperial Eggs - this private museum which has only been opened for 2 years was amazing.
Back on board, we had dinner in the main dining room which was only about 50% full as many guest had elected to attend the ballet and many (100+) had taken the 18 hour day trip to Moscow.
On Wednesday we took an all day tour (starting at 7:30am) to visit the Romanov's palaces about an hour’s drive out of town - these were Catherine’s, Alexander and Pavlovsk palaces. In addition to magnificent buildings they are surrounding by huge gardens and in the case of Pavlovsk by one of the largest’s parks in Europe. The tour ended with a traditional Russian lunch complete with bottles of vodka and (believe it on not) Russian wine which was probably best used for cleaning patio floors. The lunch was fun with good company from fellow guests and wandering Russian musicians - but essentially the venue was a bit of a “tourist trap”.
We arrived back at the ship at 3:45pm in time for an afternoon nap followed by showers then a caviar sail away at 5:45pm. We attended the Helsinki presentation then had dinner at the Colonnade - a Russian themed menu which was not the best ever meal but OK. Then it was off to bed early as the Quest sailed towards Helsinki.
Thursday June 11 - Helsinki
We were alongside the city center port at 8:00am. It was a wonderful mostly sunny day with a high of 18℃. We walked into the center of town - less than 5 minutes and bought a day pass on the public transport system. We then boarded tram number 2/3 which circles the city in a figure 8 - getting the lay of the land. This took a bit longer than we expected - about 1 hour. We alighted at the main train station and walked along the main streets. After a quick trip back to our ship for lunch we headed out again and took the ferry to an island (Suomenlinna) which is home to an old fortress and many former military houses - many now cafes, shops and museums. We walked around for about 1 hour then headed back to the city and walked around some more. Around 4pm we headed back to the Quest as final boarding was at 4:30pm with sailing at 5pm.
We had the “Chef’s Dinner” in the MDR (Main Dining Room) and shared a table with 2 ladies (mother and daughter) from Vancouver and Victoria. To our surprise the Chef’s Dinner did not allow you to order from the classic menu - kind of problematic when 2 of the courses were not Dieter's favourites (salmon tartare and seared scallop).
Friday June 12 - sea day on the Baltic
It was the most beautiful day so far - sunny and almost warm - amazing. After 5 “gruelling" days of touring it was time for a rest day. We pretty much lazed about joining a trivial pursuit competition with a bunch of Aussies in our team.
I had my hair done in the afternoon while Dieter attended the destination presentation on Copenhagen.
There was a party going on the pool deck pre-dinner with a march past of the crew - we linked up with 2 other couples from the US and ended up having dinner with them. It was off to bed a bit later than planned but the clock went back 1 hour so it did not really matter.