baltic capitals

Just back from Baltics cruise, where too many passengers took the work “baltic” too literally , walking about in fleeces and hooded tops with jeans, when actually the weather was superb.
On last day of cruise I was the only one out on deck at 4pm catching the last rays of sun before returning back home. Never a problem with getting a deck chair on deck any day, but a bit annoying to have move deck chairs to accomodate the movies under the stars covers at 5pm(it never gets dark enough to see the stars anyway)
Felt sorry for the deck waiters, must have been a very poor cruise for tips, most wise people took the soda or ultimate soda package so not much “real sales” to be had.
Usuall Princess traits, ( becoming a bit like Ryanair) they dock in a port, but not within comfortable walking distance, then expect YOU to pay between 10-15 Euros each for the ship shuttle bus, it all adds up if there are 5 of you. Of course they don’t tell you before you buy the tickets that there are “Red” buses at most of the ports(avoid the one in Tallin and just walk into town yourself) and if nothing else, use the maps the bus companies provide as they are much better than the Princess port guides.
This cost cutting is all part the bigger picture of adding more revenue streams for the cruise companies(I guess they are all doing it), but if you just take the port shuttles as one example, on larger ships with 3000+ passengers, if 2/3 go on tours and the other 1/3 want to go independant, that generates in excess of 10K Euros for the bus provider. Not a bad little earner for half a days work.
Same goes for the food on board, although generally excellent, surf and turf now consists of a “steak and king prawns”, not lobster as before.
We have enjojed anytime dining in the past, and it is a great concept, but on the Emerald the two front of house staff (deck 5)were to a point rude and never once managed to accomodate our request, although we noticed they were all over the South American guests and gave them the best waiters(I know it’s subjective) and table locations(fixed everynight).
The ship itself is in good nick, given it is ~7 years old, paint work good with no rust to be seen on our balcony. A good tip here when travelling on the “grand class” , if you want the biggest balconies, book a cabin on deck 10(caribe) the one above the suites, where they have more interior space, you have twice the size of balcony, just perfect to watch the baltic coast line, especially coming in and out of Oslo and Stockholm.
Overall another great holiday with Princess, great service from Bolsover(as always)but I’d rather pay ?œ50 more upfront and not have to worry about how we are getting into the next port, as it ALL used to be included in the past, but as long as you pick your time to book a cruise, for the price we are now paying, I guess we really shouldn’t complain. You just cannot beat it!