Fred Olsen is a Norwegian company and mainly caters foe British guests, if you've never heard of them. The ports of call were the main attraction.

I think that Cruise Talk's ship review section likes the 'Black Watch'?

I agree with Skyhawk, Tallinn was one of my favourite ports as well. We did not take a tour, there was plenty to keep you occupied in the old town its self with its medeival walls to walk along. If you dock right in Tallinn itself, from the decks of the ship its quite a sight looking towards the old town with all the towers and churches on the skyline.
Cheers

I am going on a Baltic cruise in August on the ROTTERDAM.

We will have to swap our experiences,won't we? At least,we will both be really up to date!!

Can't wait,can you?

When in August are you going? I've booked a cruise starting August 10 on the Rotterdam.

Did you get the forms and the shore excursions booklet by now?

Do you know how long in advance does HAL send the tickets.

Yes,I am going on the ROTTERDAM on August 10th from London(Dover). Hey hey hey,we're going to be shipmates. Are you 1st or 2nd sitting? I am 2nd sitting but will be with a large group.

No,I don't have any info yet from HAL except my flight arrangements which were done separately. I have yet to receive my visa form from them(Russia).

HAL usually sends the cruise et al tickets about 2-3 weeks in advance of sailing time,along with the shore trip info.

We should try and find each other on the ship,shouldn't we? Then we can put a face to all this ,dare I say,gibberish we all post!!
(hee hee hee!!!) Needless to say,I have a weird sense of humour,being originally from England and now living(and loving it)in Canada.

I will be on first sitting.

It would be nice to meet on board the Rotterdam.

My travel agent told me today that the embarkation port was changed from Dover to Harwich, I checked the HAl page, they did.

Just checked with my travel agent and yes,the embarkation port is now Harwich. She didn't bother to tell me before because I have my transfers booked with HAL,so it makes no difference to me where I embark from.

However,for anyone NOT using HAL,it will make quite a difference.(Dover being on the South coast and Harwich being on the East coast)

The only noticeable thing will be that the bus ride will take about an hour longer being as Harwich is further away from Heathrow than is Dover.

Pity you will be at first sitting but I always eat breakfast in the Dining Room.Look out for me on the first day...I always wear a T-shirt touting CANADA!!! Just give me a yell!!!!!

As for why the switch from Dover........I just called HAL and was told that it really hadn't changed.The brochure was printed incorrectly!!!And it was always Harwich!!
(mind you,this was from a gal on reservations so who knows the real reason?Maybe to do with the heavy traffic in the shipping lanes in the English Channel? Your guess is as good as mine,guys!)

Harwich is quite a historic maritime town. It has a small and charming 'old town'. Car Ferries operate from Harwich to the hook of Holland (for Amsterdam), including the amazing HSS Fast Ferry!

The Stena HSS is the biggest of its type in the world! It is as big as a football pitch. It can carry 375 Cars and 1500 passengers, at 40 Knots. It is powered by four Jumbo Jet type engines! You might just get to see it?

See the picture below of Harwich.

My goodness me,what a lot of info from you and what a great picture! Thanks so much.

I received my Shore Excursion book yesterday and yes,the cost of the Moscow trip is fairly high.It is a full day trip including air and lunch at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses,all for US$492,which sure mounts up when I add the exchange rate,into CDN$.(Guess I will pass that one up!)How about you,Ronit,are you taking that particular trip?

Malcolm,what part of London are you from? I lived in Chiswick,Croydon,East Dulwich and Brixton MANY MANY years ago(late Fifties),when I was young and foolish as they say!
I have lived in Ontario,Canada since 1965.

St.Petersburg is do-able on your own, too. I highly recommend the Lonely Plant guide book that's specific to St. P. The pier is controlled by the "mafia" so few cabs are allowed in the area, but they are there. I remember it was about $10 US from the pier to a downtown hotel. Get the cabbie's cell phone number, otherwise you get out of the
returning cab at the gate to the pier compound and either walk or take another cab ($5 for us) back to the ship. One day we "hitch hiked" on another cruise ship's tour bus for the return to the pier.

You can get day trips at great savings from the vendors just outside the big "mall" on Nevsky Prospekt. Outside the city, you want to see the summer palaces, Peterhof and Pushkin. You can get a fast boat to Pushkin just across the street from the Hermitage.

I think it was 80 rubles. The summer palaces didn't take credit cards or US dollars. Best exchange rates are at the AmEx office in the Grand Hotel Europe.

I was beginning to get a bit worried as this thread suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks!

Our sailing dates are getting pretty close,aren't they? Are you as excited as I am?

Right now I am praying that the Air Canada pilots don't go on strike as my flights both to and from Europe are with them.

I don't know Barking at all but thanks for those nice words about Canada!

You can see the Stens HSS Fastferry in the picture if you scroll to the right.

My word but you do give us some terrific pictures! Thankyou.

As for the names of those ships? Sorry,haven't a clue but they don't look like any of the HAL ships...probably RCL....
any takers,anyone???