Just returned from NCL Jewel BALTICS Aug 26,2009 - LOVED IT!

[annfi]

I also just posted this on the Europe forum but wanted to let all the NCL followers know that we continue to LOVE NCL after this cruise!

Got home last night and jet lag had us up at 3am this morning so thought I better post this asap before work and other stuff get in the way. Fortunately with those 2 last days of the cruise "at sea" I was able to make some notes.

August 26, 2009 NCL Jewel, cabin #10068, 12 nights Baltics from Dover roundtrip.
Fantastic itinerary and we mostly lucked out with the weather. Actually our 2 days in St Petersburg were our most sunny and warm days! You need to be ready for rain, wind, cold as weather changes very quickly.

Had three time changes.

We like to travel independently so did not book any NCL shore excursions and recommend the Rick Steves' Scandinavia book for the city walking tours.

THANKS TO HeinBloed for the excellent Warnemunde info!

Highly recommend DenRus for St Petersburg.

Useful things to bring: alarm clock (no clocks in cabin), wire hangers, over door shoe organizer, windbreaker/jacket

NCL Wine Package- the deal was, when arriving on board, you choose 10-12 bottles ahead of time and get 20% off. We like a bottle of red with dinner so we got 11 bottles (for 12 night sailing). Cheapest bottles were Dona Paula Merlot for $27 and Condesa de Leganza for $28.

Ports:

LONDON/CANTERBURY/DOVER:
Flew into Heathrow day prior to cruise. Stayed in Canterbury - according to advice from Trip Advisor used the National Express bus from Heathrow to London Victoria Central Bus station and changed to bus to Canterbury. It may have taken longer than taking the train but it was easy to manage with our luggage. Our flight arrived LHR 6:30am and we were in Canterbury by 10:30am. Fare for the 3 of us was 52pds. We walked from the bus station to our B&B, the Millers Arms. They were very nice and let us check in early. Next morning we walked to Canterbury East train station. Train only took 17 minutes from Canterbury to Dover and cost just 12.75pds for the 3 of us. Arrived at 10:45am - while looking for a taxi, magically a FREE (!) shuttle to the ship arrived! Easy/smooth checkin.

COPENHAGEN
At the shore excursion talk during the day at sea, NCL made it sound like the walk from the pier to town was really long. We, who try to avoid ship excursions, almost gave into booking one, but decided to try to wing it. Ended up being no problem at all and actually a very pleasant walk from Langelinie Pier to town center passing the Little Mermaid statue. Tried to follow Rick Steves walking tour but a little confusing since we were trying to do it in reverse order. Got 200DKK from ATM (about $40USD). Loved Nyhavn. Daughter got a 2 scoop icecream for about $5 and we got the delicious hotdogs (loaded) for about $5 each. Caught a blue Netto boat right there for 30DKK (about $6.00) each for 1 hour canal cruise. Unfortunately, it poured rain during the cruise but still a good thing to do. We enjoyed Copenhagen and very easy to do on your own!

WARNEMUNDE/ Schwerin/Rostock
Thanks to HeinBloed this was one of our most memorable and exciting days! Thanks to HeinBloed's detailed instructions we easily purchased(used credit card) rail tickets "Laenderticket Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" for only 26 €(approx $USD37) for the 3 of us (actually good for up to 5 people). Caught 8:22am train to Rostock and 9:07am to Schwerin arriving at 10:07am. Per HeinBloed's advice we got off at the second station ("MItte") and walked through the shopping mall(used ATM there to get our first Euros) to get to the city center. We toured the beautiful castle for 16 euro for 3 of us. Wandered around downtown and stopped at a little restaurant advertising bratwurst for 1.50euro. Local beer was 2.50euro. Delicious! And halfway through our lunch 6 German tourists arrived to share our table and they were anxious to remember their English and try to speak to us. It was great fun. We clinked glasses and took photos of one another. Took 3:47pm train to Rostock and walked from train station to downtown shopping area - about 15 minute walk. Then train back to Warnemunde and walked around there and had a beer. In retrospect, we wish we had not stopped in Rostock and spent more time enjoying Warnemunde which was wonderful. Definitely Schwerin was a highlight and thanks again to HeinBloed!

TALLINN, ESTONIA
Got off when boat arrived at 9am, easy walk to old town from pier. Followed Rick Steves' walking tour and just after noon followed his restaurant suggestion for lunch: Von Krahli Baar (near water wheel) - only about a block from central main square but no tourists here - only locals, which we love! They had a lunch special for 65EEK ($6.50) that included vegetable soup, bread and a delicious main dish of meat, potatoes and cabbage. Accompanied by the local Saku beer it was only about $31.00USD for the 3 of us and they took credit cards! We were able to buy a small souvenir with USD dollars so did not need to exchange any money. Beautiful town but unfortunately overrun with tourists!

ST PETERSBURG! DenRus 2 day Value tour
After reading so much on CC about the challenges folks had getting off the ship I was really nervous but it all went so easily and smoothly! The ship was scheduled for arrival at 8am but we got ready early and went to mid-ship deck 5 at 7:15am and found other DenRus tour members waiting to get off. We were the first off and on our tour bus by 7:30am!!! From the bus we could see the line forming to get through the immigration. We never heard the arrival announcement. Our tour bus of 31 passengers left at 8:01am! Tour guide Helen Zaitseva (email: zaitseva.helen@gmail.com) was absolutely the best! She moved fast and gave us so much information and she had a wonderful sense of humor. We could not have been happier with the DenRus tour. $295pp for two very full days of sightseeing. First day was downtown sights, canal cruise and 2 hours at Hermitage. Day 2 we did the Metro ride which was amazing and then headed out of town to Catherine Palace and Peterhof. We actually had a sunny, beautiful day which Helen, our guide, kept reminding us to be grateful for since they only have 30 days without rain! The only thing we would possibly change would be to eliminate Catherine Palace. We waited in a lot of lines to get from room to room. Peterhof gardens and fountains was spectacular. For the evening we had decided we did not want to do a touristy folkloric show or ballet and since there was 3 of us it was same price to book private car and driver 7p-11p ($192 thru DenRus). Our guide was Olga and basically we just walked around downtown with her and stopped at an outdoor cafe for local beer. It was very enjoyable and gave us much more of a feeling for the local life in St Petersburg. Our first day in SPB was September 1 which is the national "Day of Knowledge" when all students go back to school and the tradition is for the students to take flowers to their teachers. We saw many beautifully dressed children walking with their parents holding bouquets. We loved St Petersburg and highly recommend DenRus.They were so organized and we were very well taken care of and we saw so much. 2 excellent lunches included as well. And tour guide Helen - if you can get her - you will be very happy! Our family agreed the two highlights were Hermitage and Peterhof.

HELSINKI
We had no expectations and had not really planned anything and leisurely got off the boat- actually had a time change so extra hour of sleep so able to get off at 9am . We did fortunately buy the NCL roundtrip shuttle for $10pp. Glad we did this. It dropped us at the Esplanade and walked down to the Market Square - a very fun place with shopping stalls and orange tents selling food. From there walked up to the beautiful Uspenski Cathedral and then to the Senate Square / Lutheran Cathedral and across the street to the library (good bathroom there!). Then on to the train station and the Rock Church. And back to the Market Square for a delicious lunch from an orange tent.Enjoyed chicken, rice, potatoes and salad. 8 euro each plus 2 local beers total was about $35. Went over to another indoor marketplace nearby and used up our remaining euros by buying two pastries. Back to ship around 3pm. We really enjoyed Helsinki and found the locals helpful and friendly.

STOCKHOLM
Too short of time in this beautiful port (arrived 9am had to be back onboard by 3:30pm). Our plan was to just head for the Gamla Stan(Old Town) and follow Rick Steves walking tour and enjoy lunch. It seemed the time was too short to try to get to the popular Vasa ship as well. Ship docked way outside of town. The day before I had asked the Guest Services desk where we were docking and how to get into town and they recommended the #76 bus and to buy a roundtrip ticket. When we got off the ship there was a huge crowd just inside the cruise terminal and we thought it was for immigration but it was actually everyone buying bus tickets! They accepted credit cards but for the three of us it was $26USD roundtrip (got discount for daughter). Waiting in line for the tickets used up a huge chunk of time. Wonder why NCL did not offer a shuttle (for a fee) like they did in Helsinki. We caught the bus and ended up getting off one stop too early but that was okay as we had a nice walk along the water. Enjoyed walking around the Gamla Stan and had lunch at the Paganini Restaurant. Lots of locals there. They had a lunch special, 90KR ($15) for salad, bread and meat and potatoes. Beer was almost $9 each! Total for 3 was $53! Able to use credit card for lunch and USD dollars for small souvenir so did not need to change currency. By 1:40pm we felt we should start trying to head back. We waited at least 20 minutes for the #76 bus in Gamla Stan and a huge crowd filled the bus at that stop so that the driver could not let others on at the following stops. We were glad to catch the bus when and where we did! We also had to go through a Swedish passport control when we got back. Really glad we did not cut it too close. In retrospect wish we had done the HopOnHopOff boat so that we could have seen more of the sights of what looked like a beautiful city. We lucked out with clear weather for the sailaway and it was beautiful. We watched from poolside and eventually moved up to Spinnaker where we were also blessed with a full moon!

DOVER PIER TO LONDON HEATHROW AIRPORT
I really hated to pay the $80 per person NCL transfer fee but after researching the train and bus we decided to go the "easy" way. Last year we did do the National Express bus from Southampton to Heathrow and that was easy and cheap but Dover is just so much further away. We love NCL's "Easy Walk Off" and always do that so that we don't have to put our bags out the night prior. We headed off the ship at 6:30am, was assigned a motorcoach and left at 7:15am. We arrived at Terminal 1 for our United departure at 9:45am. Flight did not leave until 2:10pm but by the time you go through all the security and enjoy a long leisurely lunch, the time went pretty fast.

GREAT TRIP!!!!!!!

[greenwave1]

great review! I see where you have done the Med as well. We are looking to go to europe for the first time in 2011. Since you have done both, what itenerary do you recommend for the first europe cruise and why? Western Med? Eastern Med, greek? Baltic? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[cpdad]

Welcome home to Northern California. I enjoyed reading your review because I took the same trip this past May. It was fun to relive the good times. There were quite a few similarities between your trip and mine:
took UA from SFO, took National Express to Canterbury (had seen Dover on a previous trip), stayed at Miller's Arms B & B after walking from motorcoach station, used Rick Steve's book to do our own "excursions", and we used DenRus for the two-day tour.

Some differences: mid-May trip probably had cooler (but still pleasant) weather, and crowds were likely smaller than what you experienced. The biggest difference is the ease with which you disembarked on day 1 in St. Petersburg. Our tour did not get underway until around 10:00 AM due to delays in group members getting through customs. I'm glad that situation has improved.

Thanks for the trip report.

[annfi]

Originally Posted by greenwave1

great review! I see where you have done the Med as well. We are looking to go to europe for the first time in 2011. Since you have done both, what itenerary do you recommend for the first europe cruise and why? Western Med? Eastern Med, greek? Baltic? Thanks in advance for the advice.

As much as we enjoyed the Baltic cruise, I think I would recommend the Med for the first time to Europe. We have done two Med cruises - back in 2000 our ship actually docked almost right smack in the middle of Venice ( with a full moon) and that will be something I will always remember (I doubt the ships get that close anymore but not sure). Last year, on the Jade, we loved our Cinque Terre day and a wonderful day in Rome. Southern France, both Nice and Villefranche are gorgeous. We loved wondering around Lisbon and Barcelona. And then there is the "weather" factor. Our 2 days at sea on the Baltic cruise were rainy and cold so all 2800 or so passengers were huddled inside rather than enjoying the sunshine, poolside with the band and buckets of beer! Also, definitely tends to get an older crowd on the Baltics cruise. I think do the Med first and put the Baltics on your "to do" list after that. We have truly enjoyed all of the cruises. Have fun!

[annfi]

Originally Posted by cpdad

Welcome home to Northern California. I enjoyed reading your review because I took the same trip this past May. It was fun to relive the good times. There were quite a few similarities between your trip and mine:
took UA from SFO, took National Express to Canterbury (had seen Dover on a previous trip), stayed at Miller's Arms B & B after walking from motorcoach station, used Rick Steve's book to do our own "excursions", and we used DenRus for the two-day tour.

Some differences: mid-May trip probably had cooler (but still pleasant) weather, and crowds were likely smaller than what you experienced. The biggest difference is the ease with which you disembarked on day 1 in St. Petersburg. Our tour did not get underway until around 10:00 AM due to delays in group members getting through customs. I'm glad that situation has improved.

Thanks for the trip report.

Dear cpdad, that is amazing! I must admit that I was so grateful we planned this cruise for late in the season so we could benefit and learn from everyone else's experiences.
Cruise Critic is the best!

[Houchen9]

Great review. We were on the same cruise and just couldn't get over how good the weather was.

I can recommend the NCL trip " St Petersburg through the eyes of the Russian people" which included an amazing trip down the underground stations and rides on the trains. At first we were told no photos but after checking, the guide said the photo ban had now been lifted. The resulting photos are amazing.

Another simple highlight for me was drinking a few late pre departure German beers at the bar resembling a railway carriage at Warnemunde train station, a five minute brisk walk from the ship. The bar and atmosphere was amazing just before dusk and it had a whistling model train and carriages going round a track at above head height.

I would love to go on and on about this cruise but now back at work so must go.