Brilliance Cruise to Scandinavia and Russia, planning, cruising and LOT of photos

To start, here is a little about us. My DH and I are in our early 50’s and will be celebrating both my birthday and our 33rd wedding anniversary while on this trip. This cruise is number 16 for us and we are currently Diamond C&A members. Kevin always says I’m not happy unless I have a booked cruise to play with. I guess he is right. I love to tweak, plan and research the cruise and ports. I like to pre pay excursions and drink packages so that I get hit with fewer surprises at cruise time. I also find that I make little splurges on the trip if I pay for them far in advance.

On the planning part, I pre booked and pre paid all of our transfers, pre booked two private tours and exchanged currencies at my local bank for all of the counties we would be visiting. I paid a one time charge of $17.00 for the transaction as opposed to the multiple ATM fees I would have paid while in each country. I also bought the London 2 day pass for our pre cruise stay and the Oyster Card for pre and post transportation. I decided to go with the Oyster Card as it does not expire and would be good for both of our London stays. I also bought and printed our Eurostar tickets as soon as they were available so as not to have the expense at the time of the trip. As far as credit cards, I took our Capital One cards as they do not charge any foreign transaction fees. I had no issues with them not being chip and pin. Everyone, everywhere was more than happy to swipe it and have us sign.

This cruise was a bit of a bucket list trip for us. The Itinerary started in Harwich, England and includes stops in Copenhagen, Tallinn, Estonia; St Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Visby, Sweden. There was also four sea days to enjoy. This was all be followed by a few more days in London and a day trip to Paris via the Chunnel. We had been reading up on the histories of the ports and tips for European travel. I had been reading and watching Rick Steves and even went to a Travel Show near Chicago and met he and Samantha Brown (just as travel motivation you know). I have been packing away little items for months. We read many reviews here on CC and took many of the recommendations very seriously. We bought comfy walking shoes got them broken in before leaving. I also vowed to cut down on my packing. That was a bit of an adventure itself. More on that later.

I hope all of you will join me in putting my thoughts and memories together.

Packing complete, I got it all into two suitcases and two carry ons. YAY!! This is a first for me. I was really worried as this is our longest vacation ever. We were gone for nearly three weeks. I brought along laundry detergent, fabric softener (little packets from a Laundromat) and a new Rick Steves clothes line. All of which I did use, more than once. The luggage coming home was a different story. Shopping in these ports was fun.

As one of my little splurges, I have booked our flights on Virgin Atlantic in Premium Economy seats. This is like business class on other airlines. I decided that I really wanted to make the flight as much a part of the vacation as possible and not just the way we eventually get to our vacation. With these seats we have recliner seats with a width of 21 inches and a pitch of 38. This sounds more spacious and comfy than usual. The seats and extra leg room was much appreciated. And all of the little extras were great.

Great dinner, served on real china and real silver wear.

The wine list

We used BAtransfers for all of our transfers during this trip. They were timely and the vans were all clean. Beyond that I was not impressed. I guess I got what I paid for. The first transfer from Heathrow was OK, the driver a few minutes early, friendly enough and helpful. We were picked up in a mini van even though I had paid for the Estate car (bonus?) I was feeling happy about my decision to book with BA. Greater adventures were yet to come. Stay tuned.

As we were driving to our hotel we got our first look at the London traffic and crowds. Just as my DH was commenting on the unbelievable number of people on the sidewalk (we are used to Chicago crowds) I noticed the black and gold fence going around the building on the corner. DUH!! It’s Buckingham Palace, I shout out what time is it??!! It was 11:15 and the crowd was for the changing of the guard. We came around the corner and there it was, right in front us. This was a big deal for me as it was something I really wanted to see and not so much for my DH. Our driver slowed down right in front (probably not making those behind us very happy) so that I could see and take pics. Another plus for BA driver #1.

We are booked on premium economy with virgin for our flight to London. Was the legroom that much more than economy? Do they continue bar service during the flight like first class? Thanks!

We are booked on premium economy with virgin for our flight to London. Was the legroom that much more than economy? Do they continue bar service during the flight like first class? Thanks!

Way more leg room. My DH is 6' 4" and it is his legs in the pic above. And as far as bar service, it seemed never ending. There was sparkling wine when you board, drinks with the snack, wine with dinner, an after dinner choice of Carolan's cream whiskey or Irish whiskey and my DH even had a bloody Mary at breakfast. We were very happy with Virgin's Premium Economy and will be booking it again for our next trip in May of next year.

One more look at the "leg room". These are my DH's size 14 shoes on the foot rest that can be up or down depending on your comfort.

looking across the isle from us. This seating choice was worth every penny extra for us.

Loving reading your review. I would very much like to take this cruise one day. can't wait to read more!

We booked an Iconic Big Ben view studio room at the Park Plaza Hotel Westminster Bridge for our pre cruise stay. It was amazing. The hotel is modern, clean and has great service.

First look inside our room

I can see the back side of Parliament House

Full view, I’m so happy

Unique artwork throughout the hotel. This wall hides the closet.

The bathroom, apparently the separate shower is a big perk that is seldom seen in UK hotels.

Loving reading your review. I would very much like to take this cruise one day. can't wait to read more!

Thanks, it is going to be a VERY long review. So please hang in here with me :)

Thanks for your pictures and feedback on virgin premium economy. Looks like we made the right choice.

Looking forward to more:)

DW and DD did this itinerary without me, so will be interesting to see more

Happy Days!

Our flight from Chicago was eight hours and we left at 18:40 (6:40 pm for us US people) I thought we would be good sleeping on the plane. But with all that eating and beverage interruptions and of course the movies and entertainment on the plane we only slept 2-3 hours. So to beat the jet lag, and make the most of our first day in London we needed to stay awake. We took the advice of the CC’s that have come before us and set out in the fresh air and sunshine. I had planned to take the river cruise that was included in our London Pass, which would activate our cards and make this be day one of our two day purchase. I’m really glad we didn’t do this. We decided instead to go for a walk and get a feel for the city and where we would like to revisit tomorrow. My brain just would not take in any serious information at this point.

Some nice pics of the hotel from on our way out:

Looking down Westminster Bridge from the hotel entrance

It was hard for me to believe we were really here, and yes I did pinch myself to be sure.

He was fishing for eels.

Yay! Thanks somuch for doing this reviewing. We are sailing on Brilliance in December and I was just bemoaning that I had already read all the photo reviews done since her upgrade and needed more to tide me over. ;)

I knew I had wanted to walk on the Millennium Bridge but this was just too far for us today and as I said my brain just felt like mush and I didn’t want to try to figure out the Tube today. We instead settle for the Golden Jubilee Bridge (Hungerford Bridge) and made this our turn back point. Before climbing up to the bridge we took a walk through the Whitehall Gardens which were just lovely.

The views from the bridge were wonderful.

Yay! Thanks somuch for doing this reviewing. We are sailing on Brilliance in December and I was just bemoaning that I had already read all the photo reviews done since her upgrade and needed more to tide me over. ;)

I know how you feel. Before we did our cruise I was reading every review I could find to pass the time. She is a beautiful ship. You are going to love her. I will eventually get to the cruise. I promise.

Looking forward to more:)

DW and DD did this itinerary without me, so will be interesting to see more

Happy Days!

I can't believe they left you behind. Thank you for coming along with me as I relive our experiences.

I can't believe they left you behind. Thank you for coming along with me as I relive our experiences.

I get 3 weeks of peace and quiet:D just kidding!

I am happy with 2 cruises a year, but the ladies need 3 minimum;)

I gladly oblige for them .

Look forward to more pictures and your great review

Happy Days!

There was bit of a carnival feel to this side of the river. It was a lot of fun. There were street performers of all kinds; carnival rides food trucks and all kinds of entertainment. It was great fun and a wonderful way to pass the time.

Our first British Fish and Chips. My DH likened it to KFC, there was nothing wrong with it. There was just much better (and worse) yet to come.

Yep, attacked by seagulls. But nice view.

Following our walk and lunch, we stumbled into the Big Bus tour stop between Westminster Bridge and our hotel. We decided it seemed like a great way to see the sites. The price seemed fair although I admit I can’t remember what it was. I will try to find the tickets and update everyone later. The ticket was also good for a river cruise taken in the next 24 hours. So this is now the second river cruise we will be able to take if we would like too. Remember the first one is included with the London Pass. This tour started off great. There was a pre recorded tour guide at first. It was OK, all the high points as long as traffic kept up. After a few blocks we had a young guy hop on and take over as tour guide. He was wonderful, very knowledgeable and a bit entertaining without being over the top.

The Big Bus tour bus stop with our hotel in the background.

Our great tour guide.

It was a nice view from the open top of the bus.

Our guide explained that this building was designed as artwork and a bit of a test to see if people would pay attention enough to notice that it is upside down.

We did have an unusual change happen in the middle of our tour. We made a stop to pick up more passengers at stop #1, and were then told that we would be getting off to change busses. At this point we also had an unfortunate change in guides. Our new guide seemed to belong more in Hollywood doing a home of the starts tour than the great city of London. We did see a few more London neighborhoods and eventually returned to our starting point. All in all we probably received way more than we had expected in this tour. And it was now getting late and we were coming up on 35 hours of awake time (minus of course the 2-3 hours of napping on the plane). We headed up to our room for a short break. I decided I was hungry and really had a taste for pancakes. I ordered room service. I admit that this was an odd time of day to order pancakes, but my body was really confused about time at this point and it just sounded really good. Big mistake. I received three maybe 2” rock hard pancakes with fantastic chocolate sauce and 3 fresh berries - I mean 1 blueberry, one strawberry and one raspberry. I don’t even want to remember how much I paid for this. Oh well, lesson learned.

The sun was setting and I wanted sunset and night pics of Big Ben. The weather outside was beautiful and it was supposed to rain the next day. So I grabbed a few shots from our room and we headed out to get some photos.

From our room

Down along the river

WWI memorial in the background. The night before we arrived in London there was an event called Lights out around London. Here is a link to the news article explaining the meaning and importance of the beam of light you see in the background of my last pic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/05/first-world-war-centenary-beam-of-light-london_n_5650036.html

It was very cool to see and to be here at such a special time for England. This is just one of the tributes to the 888,246 British lives lost during that war.

Subscribing! I love this review already! Looking forward to more!

One last pic from our first day. By the time we finally headed off to be, we had traveled over 4,000 miles, and been up for 40 hours and were absolutely exhausted. Looking back on how the start of our vacation went I don’t think I would have changed a thing. Well maybe trying harder to get more sleep on the plane.

I did forget one fantastic experience we had while flying over Iceland. We were flying at 36,000 ft and it was about 01:00 am. My DH roused me and said to open the window shade. I have no photo of what I saw. None would have turned out even if I had tried. But I must say the view took my breath away. There was the big dipper so close to me that I could have reached out and touched it. It was there just outside my window in a totally black sky. All of the other stars were bright and glittered around. So, my advise to all flying over Iceland in the middle of the night is wake up and pull the shade up and have a peek out the window. It was just amazing.

My view as I woke up. It was my birthday and I really was in London. I could hardly believe it. We plenty of sleep and were feeling ready for the day. I had a list of things I wanted to see and do. Now, I will admit that my DH didn’t exactly share an interest in all of my “to do” list. So I did pulled the “but it’s my birthday” whine and he very nicely complied.

The first thing I whined over was to ride the London Eye. Now this is the first time I used the London Pass. Although the price of the ticket is not covered by the pass, you do get express entry by showing it. This was a blessing as the line would surely been more than an hour long wait. As it was, we bought our tickets and was told to show the London Pass at the Skip the Line entrance to the left of the regular line. Bingo, we were in with no wait. Now I did have to put on my big girl panties to deal with the glares we received from those waiting in the regular admission line. Yikes, they were not happy. But after all it was my birthday and I did have my trusty London Pass. This was going to be fun.

Really enjoy this review

Very thorough and personal

Thanks for letting us share part of your lives

Greg :)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Next up was the Tower of London (the only thing really on my husband’s must see list). I figured OK, we can walk there from the Eye. We will just stay on the boardwalk and be there in no time. I figured it was flat and even and would be an easy walk. Haha. So, in my defense and before I go any further we had past the Tower on the bus tour the night before and as we went over Tower Bridge I could clearly see Westminster Bridge and it didn’t look that far. Looks can be deceiving. And if you stay on the boardwalk you will surely miss out on lovely little streets and a great pub with really good fish and chips. Sorry, I digress. My thought was to walk down the boardwalk to the Tower Bridge and cross the bridge on foot and then tour the tower the go to Hung Drawn and Quartered for lunch. We took off from the Eye, and headed down the boardwalk as planned. I later noticed St Paul’s Cathedral and just how close it was (not really). As we approached the very pretty Blackfriers Bridge I suggested we cross there and pop over to St Paul’s. My loving DH looks at me like I’m nuts and you guess it out came the whine. Sorry, but ever since I was a kid and saw Mary Poppins I have wanted to see where the little old lady fed the birds and here that song in my head. So off we go.

This is where the great pub with really good fish and chips comes in. Now Kevin (my wonderful DH) has been a real sport so far and has had nothing to eat yet today. Breakfast was just a cup of tea as neither of us was hungry at the start of the day. It was also definitely time for a pint of beer. We just happened to run smack into the Black Friers Pub. What bit of luck.

This is the best Fish and chips of the trip, I had the Cottage Pie which was really good too. This is also where I had my first Pimms and lemonade. Very tasty.

Really enjoy this review

Very thorough and personal

 

Thanks for letting us share part of your lives

Greg :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for joining me. So many people have posted really great reviews and they have gotten me through months of waiting, I feel it's pay back time. Besides it's fun to relive it.