Silhouette 5/3 - Baltics!

I'd rather post a review here so I can get feedback / answer any questions. I'm wordy! so I will post in parts......

We picked this sail so we could go to Keukenhoff - it was the first Baltics of the season and thus the weather was less than ideal about 40% of the time but fortunately our pre-sail days in Amsterdam (including the day to see the tulips) was just wonderful. Keukenhoff is one of the most amazing nature displays on earth IMO - if you can, GO!

We stayed at the Doubletree near Central Station for convenience. It was OK - roof top terrace amazing but we HATED that part of Amsterdam. Central Station is waaaay too busy - we feared for our lives every time we had to move thru the area. Also we thought the walk to the ship would be easy-peasy but a few steps from the terminal we encountered a canal that we had to go up a lot of steps (with about 50lbs of luggage) to enter the terminal, in the rain - unpleasant! If you want the Doubltree, book early - we booked about 9 months out and saw the price go up quite a bit as it got close to sail time.

The embarkation process was pure chaos - the worst by far ever encountered on Celebrity - maybe because it was the first sail of the season. Those that came early, 11ish? did OK - we arrived at 12:30 and it took us an hour to get onboard. And we were "priority" but I think at least half the ship was! Captains Club, Aqua, Concierge, suites! A lot of pre-boarding unhappiness.

An interesting tidbit - I think our sailing did not sell well - we had several price drops and were all set to get quite the bargain in a verandah that we previously upgraded to Concierge. Then Celebrity contacted us directly (twice!) with a suite upsell that was super reasonable. But one of our travel friends had a TA booking - and at first the TA was having a hard time getting X to offer the same deal for them. She was eventually able to get it (so all of us went for the suite life!) but it did make me think, booking directly with Celebrity can be a good decision too. Sort of a crapshoot in the end!

OK, I'll take a break and see if there is any interest in my ramblings.

This trip is on our bucket list so I'm very interested in hearing about your adventures! Sorry that embarkation didn't go smoothly, hopefully the rest of your trip was better...Did you take any pics? I'd love to see any that you have of the Keukenhof...have heard so many wonderful things.

Keep posting!

Cathy

This trip is on our bucket list so I'm very interested in hearing about your adventures! Sorry that embarkation didn't go smoothly, hopefully the rest of your trip was better...Did you take any pics? I'd love to see any that you have of the Keukenhof...have heard so many wonderful things.

 

Keep posting!

Cathy

Cathy we too were on that sailing - first TA then Baltic, will glady fill you in on our Solstice 9/11 sailing.

Ginny

Cathy we too were on that sailing - first TA then Baltic, will glady fill you in on our Solstice 9/11 sailing.

 

Ginny

Haha, small world eh? Look forward to hearing about your adventures as well and seeing any pics you have! Alaska sounds like it's going to be great fun!!

Cathy

Leaving on May 28 sailing so VERY interested in your thoughts!! Please post soon and often:)

Very interested in your experience on this Baltic sailing and staying in a suite.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are leaving for the Baltics cruise on Eclipse in 6 days. I watched the amazing prices on Silhouette and wished we were not past final payment date. I would have switched as we could have had a suite for way less than we paid for AQ on Eclipse.

We have been to Keukenhof twice and we consider it in the top 5 best places we have ever been. I would love to do a river cruise at tulip time. the rivers of color in those gardens are amazing.

OK, so I've covered the pre-sail, now I'll move on to some port info. We almost always DIY's in ports but of course if you go to St. P, that involves getting a visa which sounded like too many hoops for us. Plus the time is short so it's a good idea to maximize there! I purchased the Rick Steves Guide to Northern Ports and as always was pleased with info given to help us plan our time. Also, we were traveling with two other couples (good friends from former cruises) and they also helped with planning for the ports.

Warnemunde / Berlin - we had no desire to spend the time to get to Berlin so we actually planned to meet up with friends living in Germany at Schwerin for that port - but rail strike! I didn't think Germans pulled that crap. So we stayed in Warnemunde - walked around the town a bit - not a lot to see. Our travel buddies had booked a tour with Dave for most of the day (you can find the info on the port boards). They were pleased with their tour but did say that they thought that the area around Warnemunde was not exactly the most interesting part of the trip.

Now an aside - on the day we sailed, I had a scratchy throat, over the next several days things progressed and I am now not feeling very well at all. I developed a cough that threatened to get me tossed overboard so I went to see the doc. on board. I was thankful I had a fair amount of OBC - what a sad use for it tho - but I did get something to stop the cough but the malaise lingered for several days.

Tallin - rain! not feeling well so probably not as charmed by that stop as others who have visited - used the shuttle as I needed to conserve energy. Near the shuttle stop was an outdoor market - we bought some fresh flowers to take back onboard and enjoy in our stateroom.

St. P. - our friends had contacted a guide, Irina, thru "Tours by Locals" - I believe she was more reasonable than many of the other agencies. Unfortunately I decide getting off the ship for a sightseeing marathon (rain again!) is not smart for me so I miss both days in St. P - next time! But my husband and our friends were very positive about Irina and the sights of St. P.

Helsinki - sunny and cool. We used the HOHO here - as it seemed public transportation involved a fair amount of transferring. We went to the Church in the Rock which was pretty unique but it would have been more impressive if there would have been some music. I'm not sure the organ plays very often. Then we went down by the waterfront - several food stalls there with enticing smells - salmon and reindeer!, I think. I really regret we did not get a plate to share but for some reason no one wanted to eat with me (cough, cough).

Stockholm - I am recovered now! but we encounter a "speed bump" when we dock. I had checked before we sailed and our ship was scheduled to dock in the city - very near the VASA and HOHO boat so we had our day planned. BUT NO! We are at Frindhaven (sp?) - HOHO bus tickets were offered by X before we docked (no shuttle) but the HOHO ends up being a hot mess! Many complaints - not nearly enough buses in service and too long in transit. Most users were fearful to disembark since time in port was limited. Since it was obviously difficult to purchase these tickets after docking, we default to local taxi which ended up being a better option anyways. All six of us can get in one taxi, so price is reasonable (altho the Stockholm taxi pricing seems to be inscrutable, but we feel only mildly ripped off - much cheaper than HOHO). We go to the VASA - very worthwhile, then ferry over to Old Town - charming - and taxi back to ship. Weather nice! Pleasant day!

Ferdericia - WHY? whole town comes out to greet us - only the second cruise ship there ever - of course they love us. Even give us a send off with canons! But another crappy weather day - there are some ramparts to walk along (Luca like) but for the most part a pretty low-key port. I think most passengers would have preferred an overnight in Stockholm or Copenhagen instead.

Copenhagen - gorgeous day! we walk to see the Little Mermaid, then into Nyhaven (sp?) area for canal cruise. Afterwards, long lunch at outdoor café - I even get a little sunburned. There would have been much more to explore with an overnight in port - what we saw from the canal cruise showed Copenhagen to be a charming city, with lots to see.

OK - I'll finish with "ship thoughts" this afternoon.

I did the Baltic on Azamara. I love Celebrity and have 22 cruises with them. However if you can handle the price Azamara is the cruise line to take in the Baltic. We were right in the center of town in every port. We would cruise by the large cruise ships that were miles away. The Baltic was a once in a lifetime trip for us and we were so happy we were not on a large ship. Something to consider if you are looking to book in the future.

Maggie - we were avid Azamara fans until they priced us off the ships! but yes, the small ships have many advantages! and I'd love to sail them again one of these days.

I never expected to sail in a suite but the upsell was a bargain - I don't ever expect to hit that jackpot again! and honestly, we took advantage of this offer mainly at the urging of our travel companions.

But it was quite suite.....we loved the extra room and we had a wonderful butler - Edwin. One night he stopped by the room and I told him, I could not chat now, I was late to the Tuscan Grill. He said he would escort me (did I look like I had too much pre-dinner wine?!). Anyways about 5 minutes later I stepped out into the hall, no Edwin - that's fine, but wait, down the hall, there he is - HOLDING an elevator for me! Also he would bring pre-dinner snacks (shrimp cocktail!) so much we had to tell him, please JUST 10 shrimp tonight!

We used our free specialty dining at Tuscan Grill and Quisne - loved them both. But Quisine was the only place we seemed to have drink package problems - very hard to get the wine steward to refill our glasses with wine from the classic package.

Luminae - OUTSTANDING service and so much more serene than the Masses Dining Room but overall, I think our travel companions enjoyed Luminae more than I did. I found the menu a bit limited and I am not much of a fan of innovative cuisine. The beef and lamb dishes - superb! but I've always thought they were darn good in the MDR. Also some tasty scallops and very good risottos and one night we had the most amazing desert - the chocolate fireball - out came a hard chocolate sphere about the size of a grapefruit - a flaming liquor was poured over and WOW! the sphere melted down to reveal a delicious puddle of yum!

We had the drink package for the first time (classic) and did like using that.

Our cruise director was Luigi and activities director, Kabir. Every morning there was a on ship TV program, Luigi's lounge - goofy but entertaining and probably the first time I've ever taken much note of the cruise director (and Kabir is such a cutie!) We are trivia fans and despite rumors of it's demise, there were several games a day. I think the reason it seems to be on shaky ground is not that it doesn't generate revenue but that the activities staff don't want to deal with the crazed contestants. My Lord, you'd think the prizes were free cruises instead of X medals and lanyards!

I guess that about wraps up what I want to report - even tho I missed St. P, it was still a wonderful trip. We really enjoy the Celebrity product (even when not is a suite) and look forward to enjoying more trips on their ships in the years to come!