Happycrafter123

Tallin- the best of medieval Tallin tour through NCL good tour. We left at 845 and returned at 2:45 they drove us close to the top of the old upper village then Walked down to the lower village. Walking tour was interesting with history of the different regimes the country has endured. it was interesting to hear about the city’s past as a member of the merchant hanseatic league and the role of the merchant groups and traditional power during prior times despite political ownership of the country we went into the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as another more simple Estonian church. Enjoyed a 20 minute concert of medieval music featuring a lute, fiddle and hurdy gurdy. Lunch was included in the square and about 45 minutes for self exploration. At the end of the day we took a drive to look at residential areas and the song grounds, and learned about the economy and lifestyles. i would also recommend this tour.

@frankhii had trouble booking Tappanyaki in advance. Customer service when I called said to book when I boarded the ship, which worked. Some glitches with their system. Maybe give them a call.

At sea day and dinner at Teppanyaki i found it a bit of a slow day, we had the cruise critic meet and greet at 11 which was nice, fun to meet other guests and hear from the officers and crew. They advise we have about 1600 guests and 1500 crew. went for a wine tasting at le bistro. There was a charge for this but only $22 pp less any discount from dining package, it was about an hour and both educational and fun. We had a competition with guessing the wines in the black glasses and our two groups had a good time getting to know each other too. The two ladies facilitating it really seemed to know their stuff and made it interactive and enjoyable. The highlight of my day. I do recommend this. after that went to the thermal spa and then had a nap…. Oh the joys of cruise life lol! dinner at teppanyaki was disappointing. As usual, amazing wonderful service from the staff, they do pamper us so much, but the food was bland, not authentic, and the seafood not fresh. We eat a lot of tepanyaki and it usually is influenced with ginger, sesame, green onions, rice vinegar etc which were not present. they used lemon juice and butter so very very Americanized. Miso soup was very watered down, perhaps they are economizing on the miso paste? Not impressive. More traditional deserts would be green tea ice cream or mango pudding, in this case the green tea cake was nasty and very sweet. However other folks at the table did seem to enjoy the food, so it would depend on what you are used to. went to the burn the floor show. Left half way through. No clear plot or story line. all in all, not a bad day, but excited for a shore day on Tallin tomorrow.

@FranHIthe restaurants, apart from tepanyaki tonight, have not been busy so I expect you could get in easily. However I have not seen bar dining. I will inquire tomorrow.

@argyll1881 yes they had a wine list on an iPad at Cagneys however as I seemed to be debating they send over the sommelier with the paper menu to discuss choices which turned out to be fun and resulted in good wine picks.

Ncl excursion - Schwerin and it’s fairytale castle this was an awesome day trip. We left at 9 and were back at 3. It was an hour drive to Schwerin which is the capital of the region. Interestingly, this area was part of East Germany which I had not realized. The tour driver spent the travel time to tell us about growing up in the communst era and then what it was like during the transition . We also learnt about the wind and solar power projects and agriculture of the region. In Schwerin we toured the castle and then the old town. The castle built in the mid 1800s has quite a bit of history and the ties between Russia and this area of Germany were also interesting. i would highly recommend this tour for both old and new history as well as the other educational components. It is also charming and scenic. there were lots of bathroom breaks and a one hour break during which some folks visited the church but we grabbed a snack at a traditional cafe

Day 2 - our first port of call is Germany. Warnemunde. A bit damp and cool but the weather app promises temps to go up to 21 later today with some sunshine. Today I’m off to Schwerin to see a castle.

@gatorchinskywine seems hit or miss based on location. dinner at Cagneys we had an excellent sommelier and he was able to recommend wine we quite enjoyed. He made it a fun experience to discuss and sample the wine. It was the highlight of the evening. Attached is wine list from Cagneys the bar at h2o was subpar for both wine and also spirits selection. Mostly geared to the bear and frozen blender drink crowd. Worst old fashioned I’ve had in a long time. Atrium bar had veuve clicquot as well as very professional service too.

freestyle daily for today

@argyll1881yes I enjoyed your posts! I’ll watch out for comedians. check in was smooth, despite a lag between assigned check in time and actual check in. Got to port at 8:40 and check in started at about 10. We were asked to share our vaccine certificates, covid test results (which we got at Copenhagen airport) and passports the. Went through security scan and check in. As we had upgraded room via a bid it took a while for them to print our room cards. Boarded at 10:40. show schedule posted in pic attached. starting off with a drink— veuve clicquot and some water. Beautiful day out with the sun shining. for those interested, in addition to regular beer choices such as bud, etc they also had local Carlsberg which is a nice treat.

We are embarking on our first cruise today and I’ve loved reading the live trip reports here the past few months. I’ll share some of the experience and happy for any questions for others heading out soon. We are two Canadians in late 40’s/mid 50’s and most of our vacations have been to all inclusive resorts in Caribbean so this European Baltic cruise is an experiment with something different. this morning we came to the port by train and bus. The journey was faster than expected and took about an hour. We got here at 8:40, with a 9 am scheduled check in. We dropped our luggage but have been told to wait till 10 for check in, despite our stated check in time. lets see what today holds!

This is the one leaving June 14th? I would be curious too.