I'll begin with my review of the ship and the on-board experience, then discuss the ports.

Disclaimer: My wife and I are in our mid-thirties, and this was our first cruise. Right away, that puts us in a tiny minority of cruise passengers so my opinions should be evaluated in that context.

We picked this cruise because we had a specific window of opportunity for our vacation (mid-to-late August) and we thought that the weather in Northern Europe would be more hospitable than in the Mediterranean, which was actually our first-choice destination. (As it turned out, we got that part right. Most days were sunny and in the 70's, and we had just a couple hours of rain on three different days. However, we heard that the trip immediately before ours had rain almost every day.) Once we picked the location, we chose Norwegian over the other lines primarily because of its “Freestyle Cruising” atmosphere.

Freestyle cruising primarily means you get to choose when and where to eat each day. The Norwegian Dream has two main restaurants (with identical menus), an Italian-themed “Trattoria,” Le Bistro (with a fancier but never-changing menu, smaller tables, and a $10 per person cover charge), and four casual buffets – the Sports Bar, a pizza/pasta place, an on-deck barbecue (weather permitting), and a small buffet in the observatory. Most of the restaurants are open for four-hour windows, allowing a lot of flexibility in terms of when you want to eat. Hours are usually modified to accommodate port schedules. In the main restaurants, you can choose to dine by yourselves or to be placed with others who have come to eat at the same time. (Sometimes there is a short wait for a table for two.) In the buffets, you find your own table and there is usually no table sharing. This arrangement is well suited to people who fear getting stuck with undesirable companions at meal after meal, but it also allows you to meet some of your fellow passengers should you so desire. The quality of the food ranged from perfectly adequate to very good, and of course you never have to worry about small portions. There was a slight nod to the cuisine of the locations we visited, and a few internationally flavored theme nights, but overall I’d simply describe the menus as “eclectic.” By the way, NCL heavily promotes their chocolate buffet. Don’t get too excited – it only happens once near the end of the cruise and it runs from 11:30 pm to 1:00 am. Probably not worth staying up for.

While the attire may be more casual than on other ships, it’s not exactly like hanging around in your own living room. Jeans and tee shirts are expressly banned from the non-buffet restaurants in the evenings, and seldom seen any other time of day. The suggested clothing is “resort casual.” For men, the uniform is polo shirts, slacks, and loafers, and women are usually in comparable garb. On our 12-day cruise, there were two formal-optional evenings at which black tie was evident, suits were common, and “resort casual” was OK, too. And if you insist on tee shirts and jeans, the sports bar and barbecues are at your service.

Speaking of clothing, be prepared for a big laundry bill, especially if you exercise. We did laundry once at about the midway point and it cost over $30.00. (Each pair of underwear was $1.25, as was a pair of socks.) And laundry takes two days (unless you’re willing to pay a 50% surcharge to rush it), so don’t wait until you’re down to your last change of clothes. (You can bring as much clothing as you want on the ship, but it’s hard to get 12+ days’ worth of clothing on an airplane.)

Speaking of extra charges, there are a lot of them. To eliminate the last minute scramble to get cash for gratuities, NCL adds them automatically to your bill: $10 per passenger per day. This covers tips for restaurant, room, and activity staff. You have the option to request an adjustment up or down, but I doubt that many people do. I will say that the crew works very hard and is very polite. They earn their tips even though they know the tips are automatic. Tips for bar service (15%) are added to each bar bill. Prices were $1.25 for a can of soda, $2.75 for a draft beer, $4.50 for most cocktails, $6.00 for frozen and other specialty drinks, and $20-$30 for most bottles of wine. Other extra charges include foreign currency exchange ($3.50 per transaction), Internet usage ($0.75 a minute or $200 unlimited, plus a sign-up charge), and phone calls back to the States ($5.95 a minute). There are plenty of other ways to spend your money on board, including the casino, bingo games, duty-free shops, art auctions, professional photography, and of course, booking future cruises. On the other hand, the base charge was pretty reasonable. We paid less than $2,000 per person for an inside cabin, port charges, and trip insurance through www.mytravelco.com.

I was surprised to learn that the ship is less than 10 years old and got renovated (and expanded) just three years ago. It felt a little run down and a little out of style. The décor evoked words like glitzy, tacky, and kitschy. I haven’t been to Las Vegas, but this is what I’d expect from a second or third tier hotel there.

The amenities could be better. The weather was not warm enough to encourage a lot of swimming, which was a good thing because the two pools were very small and one was closed for maintenance for three days. (The hot tubs got a lot more use.) The gym is open 24 hours a day but has only a handful of treadmills, bikes, and stair climbers, and some of these were broken. (There is also a weight room that seemed quite adequate.) The golf cage has very few clubs, it’s so narrow that you sometimes hit the side netting with your backswing, and the mat had deep rubber divots where the tees should have been. It was nice to have a library on board, but it was short on well-known books. There is plenty of deck space for sunbathing and looking out to sea.

There was a fairly good list of activities to choose from while at sea, including aerobics and dance classes, putting contests, trivia challenges, cultural and self-improvement lectures, and quasi-artistic demonstrations (vegetable carving, napkin folding, etc.). We achieved a modicum of fame on the ship, as my wife sang in the passenger talent show and I won Norwegian’s version of “The Weakest Link.” Even so, there were certainly times when we felt that there was nothing to do except drink or gamble. During those times it would have been nice to have a quiet place indoors to read, other than our cramped cabin. The observatory and other lounges were usually busy with one activity or another.

We have pretty high standards for entertainment and we found most of the offerings quite poor. This included the Broadway-style revues, the cabaret singers, comedians, and dance bands (with the noticeable exception of the 6-piece “show band,” all of whom hailed from St. Petersburg, Russia – they were quite good.) Other passengers did not seem to share our opinions, as the main evening entertainment was always heavily attended and we overheard some very favorable comments.

Our cabin was just fine, considering it was at the low end of the scale. We had a king-sized bed, small couch, a tiny TV with 5 or 6 channels, just enough storage space, and an airplane-sized bathroom. Hot water was a bit shaky on days when everyone was going ashore at once, and I’d recommend that you bring your own soap, but otherwise we had no complaints.

In sum: I felt that we got a lot of vacation for our money, and we well cared for. I was impressed with the efficiency of the NCL operation. I have heard others say that NCL is not the cream of the cruising crop, and I find that easy to believe. We may have been in the groin, rather than the lap, of luxury.

Now, about the ports ….

First, some general observations. The only place where you really have to take the NCL-sponsored shore excursions is St. Petersburg. You can’t even get off the boat there unless you’re part of their tours or if you’ve gotten a special visa well in advance of your trip. In the other ports, though, it’s a short walk from the pier to the touristy parts of town, and each walk is safe and picturesque. (Stockholm is a 30-minute walk, but cabs are available at the pier if you want them.) It’s pretty easy to find independent guided tours, or you can simply wander around with a guidebook.

There is a consultant on board who can give maps and helpful advice about each port. She is primarily there to tell you where to shop and how to avoid paying value-added tax, but she’s worth talking to if for no other reason than to explain exactly where the ship docks and how to get to town.

Guidebooks may tell you to carry travelers’ checks, but once ashore it’s much easier to deal with cash or credit cards. The ship will cash travelers’ checks for you at no charge (they give you $US), but as noted above there’s a fee for foreign currency exchange, and they don’t carry Estonian kroons or Russian rubles on board. You’ll find that the exchange rate in town is better for cash than travelers’ checks, and you can keep cash in a safe in your cabin. So we found it best to cash our travelers’ checks on board, then exchange a $20 bill into local currency as soon as we got into town. Any larger purchases can be made with credit cards, which usually give very favorable exchange rates. If you can’t find a place to get the foreign currency, don’t despair. Most of the souvenir shops will take American cash. If you are planning to take the shore excursions, or any other guided tour, have some cash with you for tipping the guides. NCL recommends one or two dollars per person per tour. I assume any currency will do.

Do not carry large sums of cash of any kind. A couple we met were conned out of $300 in Helsinki by a pair posing as a foreign tourist and an undercover policeman. The “cop” accused the “foreigner” of trying to pass counterfeit money and asked to inspect the victims’ currency. They didn’t see the “cop” pocket the cash, but when they checked their wallet five minutes later, it was gone.

Be prepared to be disappointed with the amount of time you spend ashore, particularly in Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. As you look at the published schedule, remember that you have to be on board a half-hour before sailing and usually can’t get off until a half-hour after docking. If you’re into cultural immersion, cruising is not for you.

Our experiences on land:

We made our own flight arrangements and flew into London-Gatwick. We bought bus transfers through NCL to the cruise terminal in Dover ($100 per person round trip, well worth it for the convenience). We didn’t get to see any of Dover, but I can verify that the cliffs are indeed white.

Our first day at sea was actually not at sea, but rather in the Kiel Canal. It was interesting to travel through a waterway just barely wider than the ship itself. Lots of locals come to watch the ship go by, so practice your waving.

On Saturday morning we docked at Warnemunde, Germany. From there you have the option of taking a day trip to Berlin, a 2-1/2 hour train ride away. We decided instead to take NCL-sponsored excursions to Rostock (of which Warnemunde is a suburb) and to the nearby countryside and seashore. Rostock has a lovely old part of town, reminiscent of Munich, and Warnemunde itself is a picturesque fishing village and tourist resort. These areas can easily be explored without the benefit of an organized tour. The pier is a 5-minute walk from the main Warnemunde strip, where you can also catch a quick train to central Rostock. However, it’s not easy to find travel books for this town. The afternoon tour of the countryside included a fascinating brick gothic cathedral and some insight into the economy and lifestyles of what used to be East Germany. I could have lived without the ride on the century-old “Molli” train, which was slow, uncomfortable, and noisy.

After another day at sea, we docked at Tallinn, Estonia. I can’t understand the thinking behind visiting Tallinn on a Monday, because almost all the museums in Tallinn are closed on Mondays. To make matters worse, we arrived on August 20, which is Estonian Independence Day. Even the tourist office was closed. Fortunately, we were able to make our way to the Hotel Viru, where we picked up a one-day Tallinn card. This entitled us to a 90-minute bus-and-walking tour (worth taking), free admission to those museums which were open, and discounts at some stores. We had just enough time to walk most of the old part of town, which is a very well preserved medieval city. We were able to catch a glimpse of modern-day Tallinn on the bus tour.

The next two days were in St. Petersburg, whose majesty was impressive but which struck us as surprisingly dingy. Lots of old, flaking paint and peeling plaster. It didn’t help that the sky was overcast on both days, and even when the sun peeked through the clouds the city didn’t seem to brighten up much. We took five different excursions, including a city overview, a close-up of three cathedrals, a morning at the Hermitage museum, an afternoon at the Peterhof palace, and an evening at the ballet. Going to the Hermitage in the morning is key, because it opens up for tours an hour before it opens to the public. In contrast, we waited almost an hour to really begin our Peterhof tour, and the tour was only two hours to begin with. The ballet was a special performance for tourists, not the Kirov/Mariinsky, but a very good show nonetheless. You will not get a chance to change currency in St. Petersburg, but all the shops and flea markets you will see take greenbacks (but not travelers’ checks). There is a trip to Moscow available on the first day in port, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The plane was delayed on the way back to St. Petersburg and the group didn’t get back to the ship until 2 am.

Thursday brought us to Helsinki, which was easy to walk and has lots of pretty parks. There were some interesting-looking museums, but we didn’t have time for any of them. Don’t miss the church in the rock. The Helsinki tourist office prints self-guided walking tours, but on the day we docked they were out of the English version. We heard some nice things from other passengers about the excursions to Porvoo and Suomenlinna Fortress.

Friday was Stockholm, which has a small old town, a somewhat larger modern city center, and a vast sprawl over several islands. A 2-hour boat tour from Stockholm Sightseeing gave us a good overview of the city. (This tour was supposed to have individual headsets for each passenger in the language of their choice, but something wasn’t working so instead we got a guide who rotated between Swedish, Spanish, and English over a tinny loudspeaker. If you take the tour, make sure you ask about the narration in advance.) We also walked to the Vasa Museum (highly recommended) and toured the old town and shopping district on foot.

Most of Saturday was spent at sea. We docked in Copenhagen around 7:00 pm. If this is your first trip to Copenhagen, then you must go to Tivoli that night. Two pieces of advice: First, don’t take the bus or a cab to Tivoli. It’s only a two-mile walk, very safe and pretty, and you’ll get to see more of the city that way. Second, don’t eat dinner on the boat. A large portion of Tivoli is devoted to restaurants, and this is really your only opportunity to eat dinner in one of the ports. You might want to take a cab back from Tivoli, though, as it will likely be after midnight when you’re ready to return. Just about everything was closed the next (Sunday) morning, so we just strolled around with our guidebook, hitting some of the sights we had missed on the previous evening’s walk. (We searched in vain for a Danish for breakfast – go figure.)

Overall, this was a nice introduction to Scandinavia that left us wanting more. If you don’t mind getting just a taste of each port, and if you’re looking for a relaxed atmosphere and good value rather than luxury in your cruise ship, then this trip is a good choice.


Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Seniors