Announcing a provisional scheduling of the first of two proposed Baltic cruises around mid 2015.
itinerary – click image to enlarge
At this stage this cruise is provisional only
- we have been granted a limited number of cabins for our group
- we have submitted application for conference space – Eclipse has a 200 seat dedicated conference centre and a dedicated theatre 200 seat theatre which we hope to get some time in
Should we get an acceptable level of conference space/time the cruise is almost certain to be confirmed. We hope to be able to confirm this by mid to late April.
Why announce a cruise that is not yet confirmed?
- many people have (as we have) been anticipating this cruise for a long time
- although it is still provisional it is fairly likely to be approved, but in the unlikely event it isn’t there are other cruises near this time that we can consider
- although bookings cannot open until the cruise is committed, announcing a target cruise and date will give you some time to consider this before it opens for bookings
Itinerary
| Date | Port/City | Arrival | Departure | |
| Saturday 11 Jul 2015 | Southampton, England | 4:30 PM | ||
| Sunday 12 Jul 2015 | Bruges, (Zeebrugge), Belgium | 7:00 AM | 3:00 PM | |
| Monday 13 Jul 2015 | at sea | |||
| Tuesday 14 Jul 2015 | Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany | 9:30 AM | 11:59 PM | |
| Wednesday 15 Jul 2015 | at sea | |||
| Thursday 16 Jul 2015 | Tallinn, Estonia | 10:00 AM | 5:00 PM | |
| Friday 17 Jul 2015 | St Petersburg, Russia | 7:00 AM | ||
| Saturday 18 Jul 2015 | St Petersburg, Russia | 6:00 PM | ||
| Sunday 19 Jul 2015 | Helsinki, Finland | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM | |
| Monday 20 Jul 2015 | Stockholm, Sweden | 9:00 AM | 4:00 PM | |
| Tuesday 21 Jul 2015 | at sea | |||
| Wednesday 22 Jul 2015 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 10:00 AM | 11:59 PM | |
| Thursday 23 Jul 2015 | at sea | |||
| Friday 24 Jul 2015 | at sea | |||
| Saturday 25 Jul 2015 | Southampton, England | 5:30 AM |
The conference will feature:
- an international team of some of the best presenters available
- a wide-ranging program, probably more comprehensive than any other genealogy conference (on land or sea) has ever offered. The extent of this will depend on how much access we finally granted to conference rooms on the ship
- Research Help Zone sessions for expert one-on-one or small group advice
- thousands of dollars worth of prizes (over $6000 were offered on our 4th cruise)
Cost
We expect to be able to advise cabin categories available and prices once our conference room has been confirmed – as we hope it will be. The anticipated entry-level pricing is around AU$2900 (approx US$2700 and £1650), but this is subject to confirmation. This will include all standard meals, accommodation, gratuities (normally a compulsory extra), all conference sessions and access to specialised expert help during the cruise.
Celebrity Eclipse – click to enlarge
The ship
Celebrity Eclipse is one of a fleet of five Solstice class ships (Celebrity) which offer a premium quality cruise, and have some of the highest ratings by Berlitz for large cruise ships. Ninety percent of staterooms have an outside view, and of these 95% have a balcony – more than any other superliner in the world. Standard cabins have a sofa or convertible sofa bed, twin beds that convert to a double bed, plenty of storage space, personal safe, mini-bar/refrigerator, interactive TV, and good-size bathroom. The cabins are nicely decorated and appealing with warm wood-finish furniture. You’ll be provided with robe, tote bag, bath products, hairdryer and safe, and twice-daily room service. Some balcony staterooms are interconnecting. Suites have more space, butler service, better amenities and personal service. There are no single cabins, and 30 wheelchair-accessible cabins.
A 2nd Baltic cruise?
It is still our intention to run a 2nd Baltic cruise, possibly on a Royal Caribbean ship with larger conference space – or maybe on another Celebrity ship. We are still waiting on Royal Caribbean schedules to be released, but expect these before mid-April. The 2nd cruise to the Baltic is planned because of the very considerable interest in this itinerary in 2015. This also offers choice of time to suit, entirely different programs and speaker teams and probably a slightly different itinerary. But primarily because the numbers our cruise surveys suggest would be too great to accommodate just one cruise – the conference space limitations would probably require the numbers to be capped, with many people missing out.
Update 5 April–we have been considering this second cruise for some time, but we are still waiting on further cruise schedules to choose from (expected mid to late April). It has been suggested that this 2nd cruise in the region might be offered with a quite different itinerary – either to Norway/Iceland or the Western Mediterranean – to offer a quite different choice.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO GO… SIGN US UP!
I definitely want to be on one of the Baltic trips.
RCI have released dates, on cruise now.
Voyger Baultic cruise only 12 &24 June 2015
Lloyd, there are no public releases of schedules for the Baltic in mid-2015 for any ships from Royal Caribbean with suitable conferencing facilities. Baltic cruises for 2 smaller ships have been released for some weeks now, but the ships do not have adequate space for a conferences. We understand the remaining schedules will be released in a few days. Whilst we can choose a cruise of interest to us we still have to apply for cabin allocations and access to conference centres, which can take a few weeks to approve (or otherwise)
So for a single traveller, who does not want to share, the estimated cost would be……..
Maureen, we don’t even have twin share prices yet, so just estimated what these might be from standard list prices, with some allowance for gratuities to be included and our conference fee. The single supplement varies from one cruise line to another, but generally ranges from about 50% to 90% above the twin share rate with cruise lines we have used to date. We have not used Celebrity ships before so can’t be sure what to expect from them.
Loved a previous Baltic cruise and would consider another.
Just noticed possible alternative options for a second cruise. These would also us.
definitely would love to be on the Baltic cruise, hope they come out soon with dates. as I want to plan rest of European genealogy holiday.
Kerryn, 11 July 2015 is the date of our 1st preference Baltic cruise. We have been approved for cabins for our group (a limited number), but still waiting on confirmation of our request for conference space. I am reasonably confident but we are in their hands as to whether they do give us the nod – and when. Hopefully this week or next week. As for a 2nd Baltic cruise we have decided to wait on Royal Caribbean’s final releases. I can’t say when that will be for the Baltic, but hopefully the same time as their Australian final releases on 29 April – or sooner. As noted in the addendum to this blog, we may consider an alternative itinerary for the 2nd mid 2015 cruise. We will probably do a very quick poll/survey on this once I have all the Royal Caribbean British/European itineraries.
We are also really looking forward to going on your Baltic cruise. Count us in.
Denise and Phill Grant
Pretty disappointed, it has been suggested for many months now that the cruise would be either June August or if only one it would be June, now it is July. We have a special family celebration on 18th July, s cannot go. Have been arranging house swaps with people in the UK & have had them waiting until I could give dates, now all in vain.
Many of us are also now in h Crown & Anchor Club with Royal Caribbean, so would appreciate Royal Caribbean ships.
Won’t be able to go on this cruise now
Unfortunately we are in the hands of the cruise lines. We based our expected cruises on schedules in 2013 and 2014, which were almost identical for the 2 cruises Royal Caribbean did each of those years on a conference suitable ship to the Baltic. We have just learnt that Royal have no cruises for 2015 to the Baltic on suitable ships – a surprise to us given near identical schedules for the last 2 years.
We put in a submission for the 11 July Baltic cruise on Celebrity Eclipse the day we 1st learned of its schedule – around mid March. We were given approval for a limited number of group cabins fairly quickly, but 6 weeks later we still haven’t had final confirmation of our request for conference space/time. So even this cruise is not yet formally confirmed. We are fairly hopeful however that we will get sufficient conference space to confirm the 11 July Baltic cruise. There are NO OTHER options on conference suitable ships apart from somewhat more expensive cruises on Celebrity Eclipse on 25 July and 8 August.
Celebrity is a sister line to Royal Caribbean, and I understand that loyalty credits and benefits are fully interchangeable between the two cruise lines.