In case you are wondering why I never posted about our Baltic/Norwegian fjord cruise, there are a couple of reasons. One is that I did not have internet access on the cruise ship but the main one is that we were so fatigued after our trip across China and Russia that I decided to take a break from blogging. Besides, we had been to almost all of the ports before and so did not take any excursions. No excursions, not much to write about!

I will, however, share my thoughts on MSC cruise lines. We almost always cruise on Norwegian or Princess; this was a change for us. Why did we decide on MSC? Mainly because their itinerary matched perfectly with the end of our railway tour. We finished up in Russia on June 14th; the cruise left from Copenhagen on June 15th. Additionally, MSC does a “status match” which enabled us to have the highest status on their cruise line (black level).

MSC is a European cruise line and so we knew there would be some differences from what we were used to. We were shocked that when we booked the cruise a year out that all of the balconies were taken except for the rear-facing balconies. These rear-facing cabins are a hot commodity on most cruise lines. What could be better than being able to watch the wake of the ship from one’s own cabin? I find watching the wake mesmerizing.

All announcements are given in 5 different languages, given the composition of guests onboard. On our cruise, Germans seemed to be the largest group onboard.

One of the things we like most about NCL is the ability to choose when and where to eat. We were disappointed to find that we only had the option of assigned seating in the formal dining room, and the only alternative dining venue was a sushi restaurant. So, we ate at the buffet. The buffet hours were geared towards Europeans (or at least I am assuming so) – dinner wasn’t served until 6:30 pm. This is pretty late for us; we are early eaters.

The ship itself was quite lovely. Our cabin was nice and our cabin steward was excellent. The balcony was huge because it was at the aft of the ship; much larger than a typical cruise ship balcony. We spent numerous hours enjoying the view.

Rather than posting much about the ports, most of my posts are pictures I took. Heck, I didn’t even take many photos, which is unusual for me!

We are very happy to be back home and have been busily planning our next major trip. We will be returning to Chiang Mai, Thailand for the month of January before flying to Rome to start back-to-back cruises that will take us through the Middle East and down the cost of Africa, ending in Cape Town.

Warnemünde

Stockholm

Tallinn

Stavanger, Norway

Flam, Norway

Geiranger, Norway