Scottishclover

One thing to note is that more activities are added to the app as the cruise progresses, so it’s important to refresh it daily. In terms of trivia, sometimes it’s general knowledge, sometimes it’s themed, e.g. Beer and wine, Friends, Movie Quotes. There was always plenty to keep our girls busy on the sea days and what was nice was that we were able to splinter off to do our own things/ interests and then come together again for family activities. You can check the app to look at the type of activities on offer on current cruises. I don’t think they will change too much. There is something for everybody. We actually found the app a really useful tool throughout the cruise.

Thank you for your lovely comments. I think while Helsinki doesn’t stand up to other cities in terms of visitor attractions it has a bit of an edgy vibe, which we like. You need to get under the skin of some cities to fully appreciate them and of course this isn’t possible in a day. We would love to go back and explore more of Finland.

Thank you Chemmo. I totally agree - cruising is a great way to spend quality family time together. We have 2 more Celebrity cruises booked with our girls: Italy, Croatia and Montenegro on the Beyond next summer, and then Japan in Easter 2024. After coming home ‘skint’ from her first year at university, I think DD1 has realised the only way she will be able to afford a holiday is to tag along with us!

10 years ago - I think it’s time to repeat the itinerary😀 The Baltic is a great area for a cruise in the summer. DIY in ports can take a lot of research but I enjoy the challenge. More often than not I get it right - Tivoli was the exception this time.

Thank you for your kind comments. There’s not too many reviews with information about Baltic cruising so I’m glad you are finding it useful.

Thank you for the lovely words. I’m afraid you will have a while to wait for another review, as our next cruise is on the Beyond to Italy, Croatia and Montenegro next summer and then Japan in 2024. As much as we love cruising, we like to have lots of different travel experiences throughout the year if budget and time allows. No doubt though, we will continue to make cruising our main holiday.

Thank you. I would agree that Tallin has a magical, fairytale quality about it. We definitely benefitted from being there on a quiet cruise day.

Forgot to add: if you don’t get your thrills at Tivoli, you can go bungee jumping from a crane in Copenhagen! Once back at the ship, we watched this lunacy from our window, oops balcony ( there’s a wee gift for all you IV haters!!). It was mental. I will say this, the Danes strike me as people who know how to have a good time. Copenhagen Final Thoughts: Three words - off season only! Would we go back? Please see above.

Copenhagen Walk to centre: Around a half hour to Nyhavn. We were docked at Langelinie though. Kudos to Celebrity for that. From Oceankaj, it’s not really walkable. However note that no shuttles were offered from this port for some reason. Coffee Prices: Similar to Sweden ( I used to think Denmark was the cheapest of all the Nordic countries, not so sure now) Our Highlights: Leaving Tivoli 😂 Our tips: If you are doing a canal tour make it the first thing you do. The difference in the queue in the afternoon from the morning was ridiculous! Okay, here’s what we should have done - gone to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art or some other suchlike cultural endeavour outside of the city. Here’s what we did - spent the day at Tivoli Gardens 😱 Now I really need to explain my poor choice here. We have been to Copenhagen twice before, in 2011 and 2016, so have down a lot of the touristy things already like canal tours, National museum, Round Tower etc. DD2 harped on and on about going to Tivoli, even though we have been twice before, and the heat must have went to my head or something, because before I knew it, she had nagged me into submission. The day actually started well with a lovely walk from the ship to Nyhavn, past The Little Mermaid ( make sure you lower your expectations, it’s not exactly Michelangelo’s David), and Amelienborg Palace. We arrived to a relatively peaceful scene at Nyhavn with a few Danes having a Saturday brunch at the outside cafes. The walk along the water was really quite pleasant. There were lots of locals out running the route. Entrance to Amelienborg Palace. If you time it right, you can catch the changing of the guards. You can see how quiet it was at Nyhavn early on. Tivoli wasn’t opened yet, so we walked a round- about route and took in some other sights. The buildings look more German than Scandinavian I think. They have a warehouse feel you get in Northern German cities like Hamburg and Bremen. The Danish Parliament. If you haven’t seen “Borgen” I would recommend it. It’s a great watch if you don’t mind subtitles. The town hall had lots of yellow flowers outside. It was a lovely contrast to the brown brick. We pretty much hit Tivoli at opening time. You can either pay for entrance only ( it is pretty inside for what is essentially a theme park) or you can get unlimited ride tickets, which is what we did and let me tell you they were not cheap!! Ouch, it hurts just thinking about it 🤦‍♀️ Now, in the past this has worked for us, 1) because we spent the whole day there and 2) because we were younger and valued our life less ??🤷‍♀️ It was unbearably busy inside and we ended up only getting on about 5 rides each as the queues were so long. The so- called oldest roller coaster in the world was fun but DD1 and I soon came to the realisation that we actually don’t like the really scary rides so DH was forced to keep DD2 company on anything too crazy. Ha! We all avoided the star flyer though . Been there, done that, and on a very windy April day too. Not even the promise of a free B2B on the Apex would get me back on that death trap! They’re smiling, but are they really having fun?! I was holding the jackets….. I ( very sensibly) decided against this one at the last minute. Now don’t get me wrong, on a quieter day Tivoli Gardens can be really pleasant. There’s a lot of nice restaurants and cafes, most of which you can access from both inside and outside the park. We ate lunch at a pretty decent food hall. They also have concerts and performances e.g., in the past we have been treated to a Danish choir competition, which we watched from deckchairs on the lawn. I think we just hit it on a bad day. Definitely not third time lucky for us. The famous Nimb Hotel. We managed about 4 hours in Tivoli before we decided to call it a day and head back to the ship. I can safely say we did not get value for money. Now, we never like to leave things too tight to get back to the ship so thought we had plenty time to stroll down Stroget shopping street and Nyhavn on our way back to the Apex. We quickly discovered we were getting nowhere fast. The place was hoachin’ ( there’s a good Scots word for you!), what was going on? There were hoards everywhere you looked. People were queuing to get into the Lego shop. Why? It’s the same as every other Lego shop in every other country. I mean I know Lego is Danish but really? The shop isn’t that special. Nyhavn was heaving as well. You couldn’t see the ground for crowds. It took us double the time to get back to the ship than we had anticipated. Is Copenhagen suffering from over tourism? Perhaps, but there were probably other factors in play: it was a sunny day; it was a Saturday; 5 cruise ships were docked. DD1 enjoying a cool drink on the Magic Carpet. Well deserved after putting up with the hell that was Tivoli! To finish this port review, here’s my list of excellent things to do in Copenhagen for those people who haven’t lost their minds: - Canal tour from Nyhavn. We thoroughly enjoyed it on a previous visit. - National Museum, it has a good section for children - Ny Carlbergs Gyplotek for sculpture fiends - Eat an open sandwich and wash it down with a Tuborg or Carlsberg beer - Rundetarn for nice views - Train over to Sweden. We love Malmo and Lund

On-Board Activities Our cruise had 4 sea days and I had wondered if we would get bored easily.This was absolutely not the case. Between trivia, fitness classes, visits to cafe al bacio, game shows, archery, more visits to cafe al bacio ……… we filled the time very easily. There really was something for everybody. From cooking demos to art classes to matinee shows, Celebrity cover every angle. The App gave me a good idea of what to expect by looking at the activities on the previous cruise. Just a little gripe: DD2 had some reading to do for school and found it hard to find a quiet space. Most days she ended up in the solarium. Even the background music in Eden in the mornings was a bit distracting. We seemed to get into the habit of being runner- ups at trivia. We found on Disney the music and general knowledge quizzes to be aimed at an American audience, this wasn’t the case on Celebrity. Embarrassingly, we could not answer the question about the national animal of Scotland. Maybe that’s because unicorns aren’t actually real??!! Combining two of our favourite things - coffee and 80s music - during musical bingo in the Grand Plaza. We got into quite a routine in the evenings. Dinner followed by the game show and pub quiz in The Club, then the show in the theatre at 9:30. The game shows were quite fun. DD1 was persuaded to take part one night but most of the time we just enjoyed “spectating”. There really was plenty going on late and lots of atmosphere. I was totally impressed by all the main shows. I heard there was only one guest act that wasn’t well received in the 12 days on board and luckily we had decided not to go that night. Celebrity did a great job with all aspects of entertainment. There was something for all ages. Photographic evidence of some dad dancing at the Pride Party in Eden. Probably my biggest complaint was the shopping. Do people actually buy anything from all those designer shops? Such a waste of space. Not once did I ever see anyone in the Mont Blanc shop, never mind buying anything. It must have been a long day for the poor lady working in there. Next post will be about our time in Copenhagen. SPOILER ALERT: Other than DD2 we did not enjoy our day there that much.

Thank you. Before the cruise, I was worried there wouldn’t be a lot of younger people on this itinerary and our girls( 17 and 19) might feel a bit out of place. How wrong I was. They had a great time, so much so that we booked to go on the Beyond next year and they both want to come. The Baltic is really a great itinerary.

You are very welcome. Everyone gets something different from a review. For some, the focus is on food and drink and that’s a big part of the cruise so I get that. For our family it was more about the ports and on board activities.

What I actually meant here was that in terms of the ports we were at, for us, I think Stockholm was the best place to have the overnight stop. More options than in other places in terms of museums, attractions etc. Copenhagen would also make a good overnight stop but we have been there a couple of times already. We have travelled a lot and find it very difficult to compare cities, as each one has its own charms. It’s all very subjective - even in our own family, we all had different, favourite Baltic ports.

Stockholm Day 2 We were up at the crack of dawn today with one main mission - to get to the Vasa Museum for opening. We had planned to get commuter ferry 80 and although we could see the jetty there was another waterway stopping us from getting there. Instead, we caught the hourly MS Emelie from a dock about 50m from the Apex over to Djurgarden. It was expensive for a 10 min journey but a very convenient option. While we were waiting, we had a lovely chat with marine scientist, Dr Jack Hardy, who was the Beyond the Podium speaker on our cruise. I wasn’t sure how this museum would go down with everyone but it is the number one thing to do in Stockholm. I can understand why . The museum was so interesting and the information on the restoration of the warship was particularly well curated. You can actually download an audio guide on your phone for extra information. We went to watch the film first, which gives a good overview.How the ship was pieced together for restoration was fascinating. The detail in the wood carving was incredible. Shows the imposing size of the figurehead, made to strike fear into the hearts of any enemy. You could spend days going around the different museums on Djurgarden ( including the Abba one , if you really must, but we decided to walk over to Ostermalm on our way back to the ship. Things were beginning to get busy on the waterfront. There were boats everywhere. You could hire electric boats, kayaks and pedalos to explore Stockholm from the water. It was developing into a glorious day weather-wise for our sail out through the archipelago and the deck was full of people taking advantage of the wonderful views. Here’s a wee selection: Some islands were littered with summer houses. Some people are obviously searching for solitude…. Various sized boats crisscrossed the archipelago. Sailing yachts were especially popular. Final Thoughts Stockholm: As the biggest city in Scandinavia there’s so much to see and do. The overnight stop here was an excellent replacement for St Petersburg. Would we go back? Definitely! As beautiful as it would be under a blanket of snow, I think it’s a real summertime city though.

Stockholm Day 1 Walk to Gamla Stan : 30 mins ( we docked in Stadsgarden, not Frihammnen) Coffee prices: Expensive but doable. Well we had a couple in the chain Espressso House, which I think is probably cheaper than a lot of places. Our Highlights: So difficult to decide.The sail in and out the archipelago is absolutely not to be missed. Stockholm has such a beautiful location on the water. Our tip: Plan and prioritise. There is so much to see and do and you won’t be able to achieve everything. We were lucky to have an overnight in port. If anyone is expecting a review here of the Abba museum, you will be sorely disappointed. Shock horror, we are not Abba fans and I think we were probably the only ones on the ship who didn’t go to the museum! There was a Abba sing-a-long in The Club , which I peeked my head into, but didn’t stay for. It was packed - I reckon there was some covid caught that night. We chose to go to Night of the Chill in Eden instead with Georgia Nasr the solo guitarist, who we thought was excellent. Anyway, back to Stockholm. Why have we never been here before? I kept asking myself. With daily, short flights from Edinburgh we had been missing a trick. Our plan was Day 1 : Gamla Stan area and Day 2: Djurgarden. Up until now in ports we had pretty much done our own thing. In Stockholm we had a free Gamla Stan tour booked with Nordic Freedom Tours and also booked a tour inside Stadhuset (city hall). Be aware, there is a lot of construction at Slussen so the walk in was not as scenic as it might have been. View of Djurgarden from the ship. Stortorget. It was pretty busy. Praestgatan( Not the right spelling - apologies to all Swedes but translates to Priests Street) View of the German Church. Most of Gamla Stan is painted in these muted red/ orange/ yellow tones. We very much enjoyed the tour from Hanna at Nordic Freedom Tours. Just the right mix of history and humour.Would recommended. It lasted around an hour and a half. Everywhere you looked there were imposing buildings. After our tour, the girls had a vegan waffle concoction from a shop on the main tourist drag. They also had gluten free but DH didn’t want to risk it, in case there was cross- contamination. DDs wanted to find a supermarket to search for something they remembered from our last trip to Sweden in 2016. They found it: They haven’t outgrown toilet humour and still thought this chocolate bar name was hilarious. Some things just don’t translate well … 🤦‍♀️ Then we headed over to city hall. It’s a beautiful building inside and out and totally worth doing the guided tour. You can’t book online but have to get tickets on the day. We had no problem getting tickets. The Blue Room, where the Nobel Prize Banquet is held, was being renovated but the star attraction is the Gold Room, each wall made from thousands of mosaics. It portrays Sweden’s history and culture. There was a lovely inner courtyard. This wall in the Gold Room depicts Sweden’s view of the world at the time the building was built. After our tour we walked back to the ship for dinner. On our way we passed Fotografiska, a photography museum. So in the evening while DH and DD2 were busy winning the Bullseye Challenge game show, ( they would not have forgiven me if I didn’t include that little nugget of information 😂) me and DD1 headed out for some more culture as the museum was open until 11pm. There was an exhibition of renowned celebrity photographer Terry O’Neill’s work. We both enjoyed it but it was VERY expensive to get in. We decided to keep the entry price quiet from DH, but he was too busy basking in his archery glory to bother!

So sorry you missed the cruise. What bad timing. I hope you weren’t too I’ll. I’m pleased you’re enjoying the review and it’s hopefully helpful for your trip next year. I think the ship docks at Warnemuende instead of Bornholm? I used to live in Rostock and so know the area really well. There’s lots to see and do if you don’t want to do the long trip to Berlin. If you need any suggestions let me know.

We also find Indian food is a go to. Generally gluten free too. We are very lucky to have an award winning Indian restaurant in the small town we live in near Edinburgh. There was always a good selection of gluten free products in the ports. A lot of the bread was brown and seeded, which DH prefers instead of the white loaves. In Stockmann’s in Helsinki ( see Helsinki post) the selection was amazing. There was also a good selection of gluten free crisp bread, well it’s Scandinavia after all. In truth, most supermarkets in Europe have a good selection. The worst selection and the most expensive in our experience, is in the US. The whole berry situation got to me a bit. Scotland is berry central in the months June to Sept so we are used to eating a lot, especially at breakfast. Local berries were everywhere in the ports, it just seemed like an opportunity missed. I did have a granola bowl in Eden one morning and there were a couple of rogue blueberries on it. I’m sure you will enjoy your Oceania cruise. My dad is a real foodie and that’s his cruise company of choice for that reason.

Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying the review. I agree about the Apex - we were very impressed with all aspects. The staff were so friendly and the service top notch. I know people say you should pick itinerary over ship but I think we have been spoiled by the Apex. While the ports were stunning, the Apex added to the experience.

So lovely of you to comment. I appreciate it. We didn’t think our eldest daughter would still want to holiday with us after being away from home at university for a year. We were grateful to have the family time together.

Riga Walk to centre: We couldn’t 😢😢😢 Coffee Prices: Comparable to UK, although we did choose a cafe in the historic centre. Highlights: The architecture. Loved the juxtaposition of old and new. Our tip: Go to the central market to see the local grannies do their weekly shop. So here’s the deal with Riga. We went in completely blind. No research, nichts, nada. Just woefully unprepared. Why? Well you can probably tell by now that we are DIYers in ports. I find the shore excursions offered by the cruise companies completely overpriced but I do understand that some cruisers enjoy the convenience they offer. I had actually booked an eco bog tour ( yes, that’s meant to say bog!!) with a local company to do a hike in a national park but unfortunately had to cancel. I discovered at the last minute we were docking at KS terminal, couldn’t walk off the ship independently and would need to be shuttled to Riga. The last shuttle back was 3:30pm and that meant the timings were too tight. So we were left with no option but to head into town with no idea what to do, as let’s face it we were getting nowhere fast googling with ship WiFi 😱. Anyone who has been on the Apex knows what I’m talking about. We got off the shuttle and began to wander, my herd of sheep, oops I meant family, following on as usual, when DD1 piped up, “someone on instagram says we should go to the top of St Peter’s Church.” Well, after weeks of trying to get some input about what she wanted to do, I was gobsmacked and so made a beeline for the church. So now we all know that Instagram is at least good for some things!! Riga Rooftops. You could see for miles from the viewing platform of the church. The other direction with the Daugava River. It was from here that we saw the 4 Zeppelin hangers of the Central Market and decided to visit. Buildings behind the church. Riga had all the hallmarks of a Hanseatic City. I used to live in Rostock, Germany, and found the architecture in the old town quite similar . You could see the Art Nouveau style everywhere. Metzendorff House. German merchants established Riga as an important trading port. House of the Blackheads.Beautiful buildings but not original. The building to the right is the Museum of the Occupation. We were planning to visit the museum of the Occupation but in the adjacent square was an outdoor exhibition about Riga and the holocaust. We spent a lot of time here reading poignant, individual stories about the horrors that went on, and Riga’s War History. We felt a visit to the museum might just be too much after that. It was also getting pretty hot by this point so a drink was in order. A badly needed refreshment in the heat. The menu prompted a discussion about the Latvian language. DD1 studies German and Economics and I have a German degree but we could not make head nor tail of the Latvian or Estonian language. Normally you can make some connections to words in other languages but it was just bonkers! Next, we went in search of the market. I had read reports that it was a bit sketchy inside - whoever thought that has obviously never been on a night out in Glasgow 😂. Honestly, the atmosphere did not feel threatening at all. Latvian sweets in the central market. With 2 vegans in tow we did not stop long enough in the meat or fish sections to take photos. LOL! I can tell you pork is the meat of choice in Latvia and they love their dairy. The fruit and veg selection outside was amazing. Local and very fresh. Lots of berries - Celebrity, I hope you’re reading this!! And the plants…… DDs sent pics to their green fingered papa so he could see how cheap they were. €1 for a non- stop begonia. We have been reliably informed that they are at least £3.50 here. After a wander round, we decided to head back to the shuttle bus outside Riga Castle. We did not want to be on the last one. I actually enjoyed the journey back to the ship, we drove past the National Library, through the suburbs with some shabby housing, obviously from socialist times. But that’s part of the city’s make-up and it made it feel authentic. Riga Final Thoughts: Loved everything about it. This was a replacement stop for St Petersburg and I’m so glad we got to see it. Would we go back? You bet! I’ve already looked at flights from Edinburgh for a wee long weekend. There’s so much more to see and we might even get to do our eco bog tour yet.

Thanks for your kind comments. My DH was diagnosed over 10 years ago with coeliac disease and we find it most challenging when travelling. Cruising gives us another option to self catering, which isn’t much of a holiday for me. If you do cruise the Baltic next year, you will find lots of gf options in the ports. We were astounded by the availability of dishes on menus, in Finland especially.

I laughed when I read your point about the bread. My DH didn’t think much of the bread either. We have had many an argument on the street trying to find somewhere to eat that’s gf and vegan, so cruising just takes away the stress. I find Scandinavia in general to be way ahead of other countries when it comes to gf and gluten free choices.

I did wonder if that’s what it was. There were police standing watch outside and railings up to stop people entering the building.

Glad to have brought back some memories. I think the Baltic is a great place to cruise for families. Although our girls are young adults, Scandinavia is very family friendly with lots to do in the cities for younger children. In fact our first city break with them was to Copenhagen around 10 years ago. Have never been to NZ although my sister and her husband lived in Auckland for 5 years. We know a few folks who emigrated and live in the Bay of Plenty.

Tallin Walk to centre: 20 mins to old town Coffee Prices: dirt cheap 🙌 Our Highlights : The Old Town ( I’ll let the photos below do the talking) Our tip: Get there as early as possible . We were at the old town at 7:45am and had it to ourselves. I imagine with more cruise ships the narrow alleyways would be unbearable. I had downloaded a self guided tour for some history but actually Tallin is perfect for strolling, discovering and exploring. Fat Margaret’s Tower - an impressive entrance to the old town. 3 sister’s building. Much of the architecture was similar to this. One of the many churches. Colourful buildings on the main square. The Town Hall - you can see how quiet it was. Totally worth the early rise. Tallin is famous for its Marzipan production. I bought some later on in a local supermarket. We spotted support for Ukraine 🇺🇦 Kiek in de Kok tower View of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Coffee time just off the main square. Anywhere else in the world you would pay a fortune! This time crew from the ship obliged 😀 St Catherine’s Passage We walked part of the city walls and were rewarded with a view of the rooftops. Viru gate - one of the main entrances to the town. We were the only ship in port- I get the impression this is not usually the case. We just hit it lucky. Tallin Final Thoughts: As you can see, Tallin is really picture postcard perfect. It’s been really well restored and every corner you turn is just wow! Would we go back? Probably not, feel like we’ve seen all there is to see. Maybe that’s a bit harsh but it’s all about the old town.