FoxyTerrier
August 9th, 2004, 07:49 AM
July 26, 2004
St. Petersburg, Russia day 2 Today we got to sleep in a bit and met our guide at 9am. We had another full day and learned so much about STB. Got back to the ship around 4pm today. While everyone else napped I wanted to watch the sail away from St. Petersburg. I proceeded to the Upper Promenade around 5:25. I was amazed to see a HUGE line of people (several hundred) trying to get through immigrations and security back on the ship. All aboard was 5:30 and it was obvious we weren’t going to make it. I ran back to the stateroom for the camera was no one in our group would believe this. It turns out all the HAL tours (which was a lot) returned at the same time just before 5:30. It took over an hour for all these people to get back on the ship which meant we were late leaving STB. I felt really bad for some of these people that had a hard time standing in such a long lines – many had canes and walkers. This is the web address for Red October: http://www.redoctober.spb.ru/RedOct1280x1024/index.htm - I would recommend them for several reasons, cheaper than HAL, much smaller groups and as a result got back earlier and avoided the long lines returned. Later I had heard the same thing happened for those that went out for the evening in STB. I would also recommend Alyonna who also goes by Helen.
July 27, 2004
Helsinki, Finland Slept in a bit after 2 huge days in STB. We found taxis right outside the ship and asked one to radio for a large van that could also do a taxi tour. Our driver spoke only limited English but we saw most of the sights and were happy as we were all still dragging from STB. When we returned I saw a lot of ship crew staff walking past the taxis to the end of the pier and around the corner. I asked one of them later and was told you can pickup a boat tour of the area not for from the ship. I wish we had done this too.
July 28, 2004
Stockholm, Sweden Today we were hoping to do better with a private tour so my father and I scoped out the taxi situation before breakfast. At this port there was a tourist information center right at the port. We stopped in there and were able to book a private tour. Our driver this time spoke great English and showed up in a Volvo Limo. We had a great tour and our drived dropped off DH and I near the palace so we could see the changing of the guard. The others went back to the ship. The changing of the guard was much different than in England and well worth waiting for. We did some shopping and walked back to the ship. While walkable it was much longer than I had thought. Ouch soar feet. We had heard there would be great views when leaving Stockholm. I insisted we go to the top deck for the sail way. It was not crowded up there at all – we gathered several lounge chairs. Views were amazing and had cocktails up there.
July 29, 2004
Visby, Sweden This is a real small place and not much to see. We did get off the ship for a couple of house but all aboard was 12:30pm. Others had commented that a second day in Stockholm would have been better and I have to agree.
July 30, 2004
Warnemuende, Germany We had prebooked a Berlin tour with the following company:
http://www.berlin-stadtfuehrung.de/english.htm Again this was a great choice. We had an excellent driver and Klaus the owner of the company was our guide and well worth the money. It turned out to be only 93 Euros each for 7 people and HAL was charging close to $300 a person. We had a new MB van saw far more than other I talked to on the ship the next day. We arrived back at the ship around 7pm just in time for dinner. The HAL people returned around 9:30 or 10pm and found the extended Lido buffet had run out of food.
July 31, 2004 Our second day at sea – typical fun day at sea - lots of activities and a chance to unwind. My father told me we went to ships store in the morning to buy a bottle of Vodka for post cruise stay in Copenhagen. He was handed the Vodka in a paper bag and he took it immediately to the stateroom. Seems to be a violation in HAL policy.
August 1, 2004. Disembarkation – this had to be the smoothest disembarkation of any HAL cruise. We had planned on taking a taxi to the airport instead of using the HAL transfers. HAL wanted $42 a person we took a taxi van for $20US total for 3 of us to the airport. We were then flying to Munich for 5 days of driving around Bavaria and my parents were spending a couple more days in Copenhagen so we said our good bye at the taxi stand.
All in all the best HAL cruise ever!!! E-mail me if you have any questions jsnyder @ American.edu
Pros:
New tipping rule.
Nightly flambé desserts
Suite tender priority
Suite luncheon last day
Cons:
New alcohol policy. Still makes no sense since you can bring on wine.
No Noordam tiles
No Suite laundry
No Suite appetizers / hor’douves
St. Petersburg, Russia day 2 Today we got to sleep in a bit and met our guide at 9am. We had another full day and learned so much about STB. Got back to the ship around 4pm today. While everyone else napped I wanted to watch the sail away from St. Petersburg. I proceeded to the Upper Promenade around 5:25. I was amazed to see a HUGE line of people (several hundred) trying to get through immigrations and security back on the ship. All aboard was 5:30 and it was obvious we weren’t going to make it. I ran back to the stateroom for the camera was no one in our group would believe this. It turns out all the HAL tours (which was a lot) returned at the same time just before 5:30. It took over an hour for all these people to get back on the ship which meant we were late leaving STB. I felt really bad for some of these people that had a hard time standing in such a long lines – many had canes and walkers. This is the web address for Red October: http://www.redoctober.spb.ru/RedOct1280x1024/index.htm - I would recommend them for several reasons, cheaper than HAL, much smaller groups and as a result got back earlier and avoided the long lines returned. Later I had heard the same thing happened for those that went out for the evening in STB. I would also recommend Alyonna who also goes by Helen.
July 27, 2004
Helsinki, Finland Slept in a bit after 2 huge days in STB. We found taxis right outside the ship and asked one to radio for a large van that could also do a taxi tour. Our driver spoke only limited English but we saw most of the sights and were happy as we were all still dragging from STB. When we returned I saw a lot of ship crew staff walking past the taxis to the end of the pier and around the corner. I asked one of them later and was told you can pickup a boat tour of the area not for from the ship. I wish we had done this too.
July 28, 2004
Stockholm, Sweden Today we were hoping to do better with a private tour so my father and I scoped out the taxi situation before breakfast. At this port there was a tourist information center right at the port. We stopped in there and were able to book a private tour. Our driver this time spoke great English and showed up in a Volvo Limo. We had a great tour and our drived dropped off DH and I near the palace so we could see the changing of the guard. The others went back to the ship. The changing of the guard was much different than in England and well worth waiting for. We did some shopping and walked back to the ship. While walkable it was much longer than I had thought. Ouch soar feet. We had heard there would be great views when leaving Stockholm. I insisted we go to the top deck for the sail way. It was not crowded up there at all – we gathered several lounge chairs. Views were amazing and had cocktails up there.
July 29, 2004
Visby, Sweden This is a real small place and not much to see. We did get off the ship for a couple of house but all aboard was 12:30pm. Others had commented that a second day in Stockholm would have been better and I have to agree.
July 30, 2004
Warnemuende, Germany We had prebooked a Berlin tour with the following company:
http://www.berlin-stadtfuehrung.de/english.htm Again this was a great choice. We had an excellent driver and Klaus the owner of the company was our guide and well worth the money. It turned out to be only 93 Euros each for 7 people and HAL was charging close to $300 a person. We had a new MB van saw far more than other I talked to on the ship the next day. We arrived back at the ship around 7pm just in time for dinner. The HAL people returned around 9:30 or 10pm and found the extended Lido buffet had run out of food.
July 31, 2004 Our second day at sea – typical fun day at sea - lots of activities and a chance to unwind. My father told me we went to ships store in the morning to buy a bottle of Vodka for post cruise stay in Copenhagen. He was handed the Vodka in a paper bag and he took it immediately to the stateroom. Seems to be a violation in HAL policy.
August 1, 2004. Disembarkation – this had to be the smoothest disembarkation of any HAL cruise. We had planned on taking a taxi to the airport instead of using the HAL transfers. HAL wanted $42 a person we took a taxi van for $20US total for 3 of us to the airport. We were then flying to Munich for 5 days of driving around Bavaria and my parents were spending a couple more days in Copenhagen so we said our good bye at the taxi stand.
All in all the best HAL cruise ever!!! E-mail me if you have any questions jsnyder @ American.edu
Pros:
New tipping rule.
Nightly flambé desserts
Suite tender priority
Suite luncheon last day
Cons:
New alcohol policy. Still makes no sense since you can bring on wine.
No Noordam tiles
No Suite laundry
No Suite appetizers / hor’douves