Scandanavia/russia july 6-17 royal review starring florence the tiny zebra

When taking a big vacation, there are several important things to consider. One of those details that seems to take our family the longest, is – WHAT will we CALL this trip? To date, we haven’t come up with the definitive answer, but “Getting Funky in the Baltics 2014” is somewhere near the top of the list. But we weren’t sure that would go over well on the Princess board, so we’re open to suggestions.

My reviews, are long, indulgent and enjoyable for me to write. Consider yourself duly warned, and if you proceed, remember I told you so. If you haven’t read any of my other reviews, here’s the scoop on this year’s cast. We are 5 humans, and one small stuffed zebra – the aforementioned Florence. My DH and I are VERY EARLY 50s and we had planned this cruise for years to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Then, along came a good sale, and we decided to take 3 of our kids with us as well. So we did. 3 of them. Our kids. On our anniversary cruise. They had the delight of sharing an inside cabin on a different deck than us, who had a balcony cabin. Florence resided with us. Our 19 year old daughter was too ashamed to have the zebra anywhere near her. Fine. She stayed in my purse (the zebra not my daughter), making cameo appearances in many countries, fortunately without incident.

So it was, that with much trepidation we threw caution and our luggage to the wind, trusting the good folks of Iceland Air with our luggage. We almost always travel “carry-on” only, but since this airline didn’t charge for the checked baggage that we had, we decided to give it a go. And we were off – celebrating Canada Day in fine style, even getting to see a few fireworks as the aircraft rose above the city of Halifax (Nova Scotia, hence the bluenoser2 name….look it up.)

What can be said about Iceland? Hmmmmm……well, given that we landed at some ungodly hour for us, that was early morning for them, and that it was foggy and cold and misty, and we were tired and bleary-eyed, ….not much.

The airport feels like a galactic station with beings coming from everywhere and going everywhere. And here’s my one complaint – why, if all passengers coming into the airport are coming directly off an airplane, where they have just cleared security, customs, and a few have bought things at the duty-free shop before taking off from Halifax, did we have to go through the whole security thing again as we entered the airport, and anyone with liquids (including those precious duty-free liquids) had to give them up? The “What did You think of your Security Experience?” electronic survey got a big grumpy face from one of the DDs who had been forced to surrender her Icelandic water bottle. Next time she’ll drink it before saving it. To balance that negative comment, I have to say that the airport at Keflavik has outstanding washroom facilities downstairs. I lost count of how many ultra modern little rooms (one could certainly not call them stalls) were there. If Dyson can work out the kinks of their faucet that also blowdries the hands (and consequently blows soap foam all over the mirror, walls, and my clothes, and water up my sleeves) it will be a remarkable little invention.

With the hundreds or so of us waiting for our connecting flight to Heathrow, the person at the gate counter quietly nodded her head and whispered “we’ll board now…” and everyone quietly and calmly filed past her and on to the waiting bus that took us to our plane. Very laid back. I was also very laid back, and was asleep before we took off. Must be the Icelandic language.

Once landed in London without incident, AND (glory hallelujah!) with all our luggage, we proceeded to the information area and meeting area to meet our driver we had pre-booked online through TotallyDriven minicabs. We didn’t find him right away, but we were also late getting there, because the line at passport control had been so long (but, we got what could possibly be the only passport/customs officer in the history of the world with a witty personality who made the whole ordeal loads of fun – he really could have said anything, I’m a sucker for a British accent…but add funny to the accent, and our whole family is captivated). However, our driver WAS there, his little sign for us was just very small and I think he had started to give up on us. He was very good, and eventually we made it to our apartment hotel “196 Bishopsgate”.

Tripadvisor and Cruise Critic have been invaluable to us in all of our preparations for this trip and we were not disappointed in our pre-cruise stay in London. Since there were 5 of us, hiring the car service was definitely the way to go since it was a pre-set rate, no worries about a meter running, and we got a bit of a discount for booking a return pick-up when we had done so a couple of months ago. Was the hotel pricey? A bit, but we were staying 3 days and it really met all our needs very well.

I’ll be back later, with a summary of our pre-cruise adventures in London, if you’d like. Then it’s on to Copenhagen for our cruise!

Looking forward to following your review.:D Your first paragraph had me hooked!

Love your reviews and especially, Florence!! Looking forward to more.

Cheers, Denise

 

 

I’ll be back later, with a summary of our pre-cruise adventures in London, if you’d like. Then it’s on to Copenhagen for our cruise!

And I'll be here anxiously awaiting more of the story. :)

Thanks for posting.

Can't wait for the rest! I do remember Florence from a previous review, which was great as well.

Have you started planning for your next cruise yet?

Thank for you posting the review. I love photo reviews.

You have me hooked already. I can't wait for further adventures of your family (and, of course, Florence).

Ann

Thank you for your encouraging words. If life didn't keep getting in the way - life, and laundry - I could really get going on this. Luckily for you reading this, I appear to have a lot of life, and even more laundry to do, so it'll be coming in bits and pieces. Here's our first day in London, and then I'll be back!

So, once we were dropped at our hotel, we cased the joint, and declared it lovely, chose our rooms (it was a 2 bedroom apartment with full kitchen – the DS got to enjoy the cot in the living room…), and decided to look for something to eat. If there is just the 2 of us, this is easy, and actually an enjoyable quest. With 5 it becomes a quiet battle of wills. Fortunately, there was a Tesco just a few steps away from our place, and we managed to find something for everyone there to take back and eat in “our place”. The girls would have happily stayed there using the free Wi-Fi but we booted them out and went for a walk to the Tower Bridge which wasn’t far from our place. And by “wasn’t far” I should explain that DH and I love to walk…long walks. Our kids are not as keen, except for the DS, who, having very mild CP, had been trying to work out before the trip to make sure he didn’t “slow us down” and developed a stress fracture….sigh. He was ok by this point though and had met a few medical personnel back home that were pretty sure he should have a doctor travel with him just to be on the safe side……

I’ll just mention here that all of the places we went to on this trip were new to all of us – DH and I were in London once before at the end of our European Explorer cruise – for a whole 4 hours. So we decided to give it more time this trip. We had done a Mediterranean cruise with my parents from Rome to Venice, then the above mentioned from Rome to Southampton with my dad (after my mom passed away) and now that they’re both gone, we had wanted to continue the route starting in London and since we couldn’t get the itinerary with the ship we wanted to start from Southampton, we made the trip start in London anyway! I’m sure that was fascinating for you all, and for those of you who haven’t nodded off….I’ll now get back on track.

It was a beautiful day and I was smugly nodding to my decision to pack my raincoat in order to keep the skies sunny for our whole trip. Nothing keeps rain away like using up valuable luggage real estate for a raincoat. We ambled about around the bridge and the Tower of London, allowed the girls a chance to visit the souvenir shops outside and then moseyed back, stopping at (you guessed it) Tesco to get some pizzas to bake in our oven. Which we did, and tried to stay awake eating them. Everyone was in bed by 8:30 and of course, awake at totally inappropriate times during the night. The only negative to our lovely apartment was that the front of it, the part that faced the street, the part where DS had to sleep on his cot right next to the windows, was very noisy. So noisy that I was sure the windows were open. They were not. He, being the patient long-suffering type that he is, commented that it got quieter between 2 and 4 a.m.

Eagerly awaiting the next installment......:)

More please... Set aside the laundry

Looing forward to reading your review and seeing your photos. We are doing a Baltic's cruise next year on the Regal and would love to know what to expect, and the must see's in port.

Can't wait for more, thanks for posting.

We had an early start to the next day as we were taking a tour with Premium Tours of London. So that meant getting up at 5:30 local time (um…..that would be 1:30 a.m. for us….) in order to get everyone ready and out the door in time to walk to our pickup spot at another hotel at 7:20. We did it though, and I was so proud of our young adults for not complaining (too much) or dragging their feet (too much) – I think they may have just been sleepwalking that first bit. Florence was totally ready to go - she kept her wardrobe simple for this cruise, just some simple accesorizing with pink duct tape (to match our luggage which was similarily adorned).

We were shuttled to Victoria Station and then transferred to our double decker for a fun day around the town, seeing all the typical London things. We went for a boatride on the Thames, and were right at Big Ben when it chimed 9:00 (not necessarily in that order).

Our guide John was so good at getting us to all the best vantage points for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace– this wasn’t a tour for those who don’t like to walk – quickly!

At the tour’s end we went up on the London Eye to see the sights we now recognized, from a totally different viewpoint. It was a very restful and a great way to end our touring day. So restful that DH and I declared that we could walk back to Bishopsgate. Fortunately, the girls didn’t know how far that was, and fortunately DS didn’t tell them.

Being the wild and crazy Canucks that we are, we (don’t get ahead of me here….) …..stopped at Tesco and got the makings for a Pasta dinner, that we whipped up back at our abode and actually made it to 9:30 p.m. before succumbing to sleep.

Favourite moments of the day: DD#1 – using the ‘restroom’ on the boat (go figure…give them a cruise, and their favourite moment is……). DD#2 – “the thing”. (That would be The London Eye, for those of you who don’t speak DD#2ish). DS – “When some girl came over and invited me and Dad to a Beerfest tomorrow….” (no editorial comment needed). DH – the changing of the guard (finally, a normal answer) and for me….watching my DDs take selfies EVERYWHERE, but especially the long photo shoot at the telephone booth.

Thanks for the report!

Hooked on your review and looking forward to more........enjoy your pics. Hope you'll be able to post copies of the Princess Patters later on:)

Marla, how old are the "kids" and who is the pretty young thing holding Florence?

Thank you so much for posting. We leave Friday for Copenhagen. I'm beyond anxious at this point. Please keep posting. It gets me more excited to go on this upcoming adventure. Been to Europe quite often, but not to the Baltics.

Thank you for your review! You have a gift and skill in writing. Fantastic reading. Looking forward to more!

Melissa

Great fun...love the review!

Great weather for London! :D Thanks for the pics along with your report.

This sure is lots of fun! We will be doing the Baltic on the Royal the beginning of Sept. :D

Pia, the kids are our son 25, our daughter 19 (the one actually holding Florence who usually just embarrasses her to pieces - she must be growing up - no, I can get her to do pretty much anything if she knows the camera is on her....) and the one by the phone booth is our youngest daughter 17.

More to come soon! I'll get back at it.

Sleep in day! I had a Scotch egg for breakfast – never tried one before, but I quite liked it! (That followed my Cornish pasty that I had the day before….I let the guys work on the Fish and Chips entrée….).

This was the day we taught the kids how to use the subway/tube/underground.

We hadn’t even gone through the turnstiles before DD#1 started panicking! Our hotel was right across the street from Liverpool St. Station, and when we got to the platform it was so crowded we weren’t sure how the 5 of us would ever get on at the same time and /or find each other ever again. When we got off to switch to Piccadilly Line it was even worse due to some kind of snafu that had put one of the trains out of service – so there were less trains coming through and far more humanity waiting for them. We missed the first opportunity, and then braced ourselves to make it on the next one no matter what – the next one went right by us – out of service -. By that time DD had calmed down and was starting to see the adventure of our situation and after a few warm-ups, stretches and mental aggressive strategies, we all leapt (well, leapt might be a bit strong – perhaps squished, shoved and slid would be better) onto the next train. When we re-entered civilization again we were in Piccadilly Circus, ready to look around.

We visited Fortnum and Mason’s department store and realized we definitely weren’t in Kansas (or Nova Scotia for that matter) anymore. The displays! The hats! The candy! The tea! The perfume! On to lunch. We found a nice Italian restaurant that also served Fish and chips for the guys. DD#2 ordered a side of “chips” and was quite confused when they brought her mayonnaise. By the end of the cruise, I noticed she was always getting that as her preferred condiment (as well as her usual copious amount of ketchup).

Back on the tube we went – now it was more like what we remembered, and quite civilized. No waiting, no crowds and the kids were handling it like pros. See, she's smiling!

We popped up on the street this time at Harrods and spent lots of time there. The girls were particularly amazed by the formal dress salon – we dragged DD#1 out of that one and managed to get her through shoes without incident or bankruptcy. Since that wasn’t really our style of shopping, we let the girls wander through H&M for a while before getting on the tube again, this time popping up near Trafalgar Square where we just enjoyed some people watching. Everything was being set up for the Tour de France which would be in town after we left fortunately.

One last tube to our hotel, no more panic attacks, everyone had a great day, and a little time for re-grouping. The girls had a fabulous evening meeting DD#1s Facebook/skype friends that she had never met in person. They were able to come in by train from Oxford to get together, and after much hugging and laughter, went to Nando’s which was their favourite restaurant and happened to be right around the corner from our place. The girls actually showed THEM around “our neighbourhood” since they had actually never been in to London! There was no problem figuring out what their favourite part of this day was!

Liverpool St. Station:

While they were out we went for an innocent walk up Bishopsgate, down a little corridor and smack dab into the middle of Beerfest – thousands of people in a square, with the Wimbledon game on a big screen. We maneuvered around the broken cups and scattered bottles, squeezed through people, and made our way back to the train station! All the while with a small smile on DS’s face.

(the view from our place)

As this was our last night in London, we made use of the combination washer/dryer in the apartment. Not a great idea as we had a load of clothes that would not dry. We either didn’t set it right or it didn’t work right but at times it felt like the clothes were getting wetter not dryer! I ended up ironing our clothes dry-enough in the morning. How’s that for an exciting Friday evening?

Keep it coming! Our daughter just landed 1/2 hour ago, coming from Heathrow. And yes, they actually attending the women's finals at Wimbledon.