scubacruiserx2

Enjoying your review very much. We will be on some of the same ports on Princess next year.

 

But mostly I want to have a hug to your sweet freckled grandson. Grandma and Grandpa are out of bounds wonderful. This is the best

Thank you for your kind words Cheryl , and we hope that you will enjoy your cruise . Tyler's mom is single parent , RN who works a 12 hour shift and so we usually have the boys when she's at work . He is a very responsible and caring kid , but also - the man of the house .

Thank you so much for this incredible review! We leave on July 31, so we are reading every single word....

 

Quick question, how difficult is the walk to town for Tallinn? We are doing Ho Ho bus for Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. We are just wondering if we need to buy that shuttle ticket (seems so unfair that they charge shuttle tickets... jmho)

 

Thanks so much for your help and advice!

 

Stephanie

As I was editing photos I noticed this one . We also saw it at cruise ship and so it could be a possibility also .

We found a little shop away from the square where Tyler bought a stuffed animal for his brother . And we headed up to Toompea , a hill which is about 20-30 meters higher than the surrounding area . It can be a steep climb .

We wanted to see the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which we had not seen on our previous trip here .

And , like so many buildings in Europe , work is being done in the Summer .

I left Pat and Tyler with a lady selling nuts and a lady selling paintings .

While I went downstairs to photograph the walls and towers .

On our Reflection TA this spring they invited the entire Roll Call from Cruise Critic as we left one port....there were about 300 on our roll call and I'd say more than half showed up on the heliport for the sailaway....it was very nice...champagne/mimosas....

Wow , we're sorry that we missed the boat ! It seems like the largest Roll Calls that we have seen have been on TA's .

Amber is usually fairly priced here , but near the square may not be the best prices .

We saw a number of nut wagons around town .

We did notice a few things which seemed a bit out of place

On this church wall was some strange art

And the modern movie theatre , while beautiful , did seem misplaced in Old Town .

I loved the dragon motif .

In order to go shopping for Tyler and Pat we first started at the Tallinn Town Hall Square , the oldest in the Baltic area .

We had hoped to shop early for some trinkets before the throngs of humanity arrived .

Score !

It took a 3 photo stitch to capture all of the square .

I don't usually shop , but I was intrigued by this ( but only from a photographic viewpoint ) , until I read the fine print .

Model not included .

Thank you so much for this incredible review! We leave on July 31, so we are reading every single word....

 

Quick question, how difficult is the walk to town for Tallinn? We are doing Ho Ho bus for Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. We are just wondering if we need to buy that shuttle ticket (seems so unfair that they charge shuttle tickets... jmho)

 

Thanks so much for your help and advice!

 

Stephanie

Thank you Stephanie , and enjoy your trip . And just to echo Erik's great answer :

I think it's about a 15-20 minute walk to the old town of Tallinn. It's a rather easy walk, at least when I was there last time.

You will enter the lower part of the old town if you walk from the ship.

It's more difficult to walk around in the old town on the cobblestone streets that can be rather steep in some areas.

Maybe the shuttle drops you off in the upper part of the old town. To walk up there from the lower part of the town can be rather difficult, if you have a problem walking.

 

/Erik

And here's a Google map .

Tallinn is where we found most of the best prices while shopping , and there's a covered mall called Sadamarket that we also shopped at for a warm scarf for Tyler as it was turning cooler for us .

We were invited- maybe because we have Elite C. C status?

We thought that may be the case , or perhaps a suite . It's certainly a nice perk ! ;)

On the July 3 cruise and it was something I immediately mentioned to my wife. Sir Paul is a lefty. Overall the crowd enjoyed the show.

We hope that you had a great cruise ! :) :D

We entered the old town at the Fat Margaret Tower .

Looking back at the gate

There are a number of narrow alleys here

As well as broader streets

This door is the entrance to the Brotherhood of the Blackheads , a trade guild for single men .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Blackheads

Instead of our usual breakfast in the MDR , we ate a quick meal at the buffet and took breakfast down to Tyler in the cabin , where we saw the Emerald Princess from our balcony .

They were moving fast , and the race was on !

Video clip :

We left the ship as soon as we could , hopping to beat the crowds to the old town area . But of course there would be a few photo stops along the way .

Because Pat walks slower than I , she continues to walk while I stop to take photos , and then I usually catch up later . We had a new friend in port that day - The World , seen here in the center of the photo .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_The_World

And here's Celebrity Eclipsing The World .

We had booked , and paid for , a flight on Balloon Tallinn . But when we showed up we were told that it might rain and it was too windy ( It wasn't ) . Further , we were told that there are NO refunds ! They did tell us to check back later for a possible flight . After a fruitless discussion , we chose to go to the old town and would stop back after returning to the port . We only took one photo there - of a pouting Pat .

Plan B - again !!

In the morning we would be in Estonia , but not before another time change , our third .

Great report! Enjoying your photos very much. I especially like the one of the shadow of the Eclipse on shore.

Thank you . I also have been enjoying your photos , especially Alaska ! That was our original plan , but plans change . :) :D

very cool "shadow" picture indeed!!!:)

It was cool from our viewpoint , watching our shadow eclipsing the sun in the people's houses . :cool:

I tried to imagine what a large ship outside of your house would look like , but I guess the people which live there see a number of large ships .

Just before dark , the light burst through for a few brief moments .

And there was a strange , moving Eclipse upon shore .

Video clip :

In the video clip of this beautiful area it was very quite except the sound of the birds as we cruised along . Unfortunately , there was a lot of noise from the breeze on the mic :

Exiting the archipelago .

We were staring to see some signs of life on the way out .

A Tallink behind us ship reminded us that we were on the way to Tallin .

And some camouflaged hardware .

It looked like it was getting dark .

We have identical photos, a combination of sail in ( I was up ridiculously early) and sail out from the helicopter landing area, where we were invited for sail away.

Yeah Jackie it's a super busy day WITH 16 hours of sunlight ! The helicopter area is a fantastic viewing area - you must know someone special . We had a pretty good one on the balcony with the light at our backs , both in the morning and evening . :cool:

There he is !

And when the sun popped out - it was quite beautiful - even our view of the bridge !

Fredriksborg Castle

We loved the numerous houses on the islands , some which were quite small !

Now where did that jet ski go ? He was here just a moment ago !

I'm loving Stockholm! Thank you for giving me the motivation to get DH to consider going there some day - the ABBA museum, and the amusement park complete with roller coasters. :eek: I think he would like the HoHo boat as well. :D Now I just have to be sure he doesn't see the pictures of you guys wearing heavy coats because if he sees that it might be cold there I will never get him to go. :rolleyes:

Pat and I really enjoyed Stockholm , London and the Baltic cruise . We think that Tyler was surprised in Stockholm first , and throughout the trip , to find out how much walking was involved . Secondly , he was surprised how quickly the weather could change in that area , at that time ( Early June ) . July , and August would be warmer , but more crowded .

Tyler only has 1 jacket ( a warm one ) . But Pat and I just layered - no winter coats needed . A shirt or blouse , sweater or fleece and scarf if cool , and a outer nylon shell which folds in a pouch when not being worn . And of course , a small travel umbrella - all in basic black .

The kangaroo style jacket has a lot of pouches ( zippered pockets ) in which to secure passports , wallets , water bottles and cameras - very handy !! ;)

We returned to our starting point at H

Where I saw a souvenir that I would like to take home

This is why I like my DSLR camera . I took this photo of the Parliament Building from a bridge .

And I was able to enlarge it just by cropping the same photo .

And after our bus ride back to the port , I did the same with this photo of the ship .

And the same photo cropped .

Next time : The sail out .

The ride in the foreground is the Insane , and behind it is the Eclipse . Collectively they are the Insane Eclipse .

Another view . You can see a car on the Insane which looks like a circular saw blade .

Wife and Wifi on the HoHo . And I see an iphone and a ipad and i don't know where Tyler gets it .

NCL Star

I like this hotel photo near the Star

And this Giraffe crane . But I've seen much better photos of it online !

We had seen a museum overload look in the city hall which told us that we should bypass the museums and enjoy a walk toward point D , Grona Lund , an amusement park .

Before we went there I had hoped to take some photos from the outside of the ABBA museum but we must have walked past it .

Surprisingly , Tyler showed no enthusiasm for the park . And so while they waited at the pier I took a short walk . I do wish that we would have gone for a bike ride !

And one of my favorite bands from the late 60's and early 70's was playing there . Unfortunately , only one of the original members ( the drummer ) is still in the group .

The free fall tilt !

And so we hopped on for our next boat ride .

On the HoHo boat we saw some nice buildings between point A and B .

We hopped off at point B near the Nordic Museum .

And the Vasa Museum

Was looking for and Eclipse photo review a week or so ago and came across your Total Eclipse review. I binge read that one, then went on to the Regal Princess and now this one. That's a lot of cruising in one week :D

Really enjoying the review and photography.

 

Robert

Hi Robert , we hope that you enjoyed your cruises ! :) :D

We're glad that you are enjoying the review and I hope that I can finish Stockholm today . It's been another busy week of doctors , a surgery and 14 hour days with the grandsons , oh my ! :eek:

And if you would like a scenic cruise on a HAL ship , check out our South American cruise and visit !

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1958814

If there's a down side to the Rick Steves it's thateverybody is doing his suggested walks and so they have become very crowded . We wish that we would have walked old town first and then went to the city hall . Here's 2 points mentioned in his book , the obelisk and a sand pit used for boules .

Also mentioned is the statue of King Gustav III .

There are plenty of other photo ops to be found

Near the statute is where we boarded the HoHo boat

And point H is where boarded .