Norwegian Sun 15/7/12 Baltics Review - Pictures and Food and Dailies!

[ddakrt]

Aaah, that's for the last part!

 

Lol okay, I'll patiently wait for that post. :D

 

In the mean time, don't hesitate to post more pictures, love em!

 

Just for the record, I thought it was some sort of perspective trick, still does lol. It just looks...bizarre.:p

[wabbit42]

Friday July 20th - St Petersburg Day 2 (Part 3)

 

Dinner tonight was back to the Seven Seas. We had a window seat on the starboard side so had a great view of the island of Krondstadt when we sailed past - and we were close!

 

 

 

Food wise I had fried mushrooms, followed by a rib eye steak and cheesecake. Dad had a tuna nicoise salad, beef stroganoff and lemon sorbet. My starter was very good, one of the best I had on the cruise. The main was well cooked and surprisingly little fat was on the steak. It also came with a variety of sides. Dad's salad was also very good, but the beef stroganoff was not as we imagined it would be, more noodles and less beef? The desserts, well...

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went and watched Cripton's Illusions show. It was good and entertaining, definitely one of the better shows on the ship. Also it was just the right length and ended just before it was about to get boring I thought.

 

One last thing we did was look at the mysterious deck 6a. To get there you take stairs from deck 7. It was quiet and the lack of passing traffic made it even more so. Well worth trying to get one of those rooms if you go for an inside or oceanview stateroom.

[wabbit42]

Lol okay, I'll patiently wait for that post. :D

 

In the mean time, don't hesitate to post more pictures, love em!

 

Just for the record, I thought it was some sort of perspective trick, still does lol. It just looks...bizarre.:p

 

No trick, that was the biggest and must have been about 2 - 2 1/2 metres high. They are carved from a single block of marble :eek: and apparently served no purpose, just there for decoration.

[wabbit42]

Please tell me your lunch was a little more appetising on day 2 wabbit?? :)

 

Indeed it was, I would have gladly gone back for more ;).

 

 

 

It tasted better than it looked.

[ddakrt]

No trick, that was the biggest and must have been about 2 - 2 1/2 metres high. They are carved from a single block of marble :eek: and apparently served no purpose, just there for decoration.

 

How extravagant, I'll commission 5 of these when I'm filthy rich. Will they be microwave and dishwasher safe? Otherwise I'll need some extra large appliances too!

[wabbit42]

How extravagant, I'll commission 5 of these when I'm filthy rich. Will they be microwave and dishwasher safe? Otherwise I'll need some extra large appliances too!

 

They'll be OK in the microwave but you'll need a lot of soup! :D

[wabbit42]

Saturday 21st July - Helsinki

 

 

We had a nice welcome into Helsinki this morning from some happy faces on the dock.

 

The view from our balcony.

 

 

There was a small bit of rain at breakfast but by the time we left the ship it was hot and sunny. We left the boat at 8am. We queued up with the other tourists at the bus stop for the number 16 bus which takes you up to market square. We each bought a day ticket for €7, which covers bus, tram and the ferry to Suomenlinna. Once at market square we waited around for the tourist information centre to open to grab some leaflets. Then we got on the ferry to Suomenlinna. If you do this, make sure you get on the right one to get it free with the day pass, other companies cost extra.

 

The 10:37 ferry had us on the island about 10 minutes later. The island is a former fort which is now a UNESCO world heritage site. The cannons and tunnels are still there and you can walk though them. The southern part of the island I found more interesting because there are less buildings so you can walk wherever you want.

 

What's that in the distance? The view from Suomenlinna.

 

 

 

We got a different ferry back from King's gate. It cost us an extra €6 but it went from there straight back to market square which saved us a 30 minute walk in the heat. Also, it was quite a nice ferry inside.

 

We then visited the Helsinki City Museum. It is free and the exhibition was about design. After that we walked along Alexandersgatan which seemed to be one of the main streets in the city. We had lunch at a famous American restaurant which offers free wifi. Afterwards we took tram 3t back to market square, passing the city hall on the way.

 

City Hall

 

Market Square

 

 

Market Square was busy but had lots of stalls for buying unique little gifts for those back at home. Prices were quite high, especially for some of the nicer trinkets we saw.

 

We then returned on the 16 bus to the ship. Just before we got onboard it began to rain, so everybody started to run for the gangway which was a funny moment.

 

We were back in the stateroom by 3:30pm.

[wabbit42]

Saturday 21st July - Helsinki (Part 2)

 

After the sailaway we headed to the Seven Seas. I almost went to Ginza Sushi for dinner tonight, but was glad I didn't because the chocoholic buffet was on in the Seven Seas! We were surprised because there hadn't been any mention of it in the freestyle daily.

 

For starter I had salad with chicken skewers, which was very good although it only came with 2 skewers. My main was roast turkey, which was OK, but tasted different to what I'm used to so not my favourite. Dad had caesar salad (good), with leg of lamb for main which was not well cooked and was very fatty. For dessert he had lemon sorbet, but I went to the buffet!

 

Starter

 

Main

 

Buffet layout

 

Chocolate Eiffel tower!

 

Chocolate covered bananas mmm...

 

Sorry about the quality of the photos, I left my camera in the room and only had my iPod with me.

 

And we had one more surprise when we got back to the room that evening:

 

[Demonyte]

Nice pictures of Helsinki, I too prefer the southern part of Suomenlinna, it's amazing place to spend sunny summer days and the two car ferries to Stockholm go right by King's gate around 5:30-6:00pm daily, always amazing sight.

 

The market square is indeed very expensive place to shop anything else than groceries, we locals have been amazed at the prices there - for example 7 euros for a single iron griddle pan style crépé with jelly is outrageous. :/

 

Thanks for visiting! :)

 

P.S. Alexandersgatan is the Swedish name for the street, in Finnish it's Aleksanterinkatu. And yes, it's one of Helsinki's main streets, after Mannerheimintie.

[ddakrt]

Chocolate Eiffel tower!

 

 

Ahh yes the good old Eiffel Tower.

 

 

This was what happened on my cruise. It wasn't me, I sware!! :o

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. Love the pictures.

 

Looking forward to the next installment.

[relaxatsea]

Hi Wabbit,

 

I'm loving your review! We'll be on the Sun in Dec. and I have one question for you. Did you have bath robes in your cabin?

 

Our cabin location will be very similar to yours so I really appreciated your cabin photos.

[Esperanza7]

Thank you. Great reviews and pictures. Will help the time to pass by till we go next year :)

[portwineboy]

Great review, nice to see the Sun in a totally different environment. I'm really enjoying your photos and commentary, thank you for all the time you put into this!

[tweetylori]

GREAT review and pics...thanks, and please keep 'em coming!

[kwcrnp]

Great review and pictures!!! Waiting for your final installment....we leave in 3 days for the SUN!!!!

[boopsahoy]

Cant wait for more!

[gkny]

The food in the pictures didn't look so good. How did you like the food in the main dining room. Thanks for the review and you did a great job.

[van12]

Hi Wabbit,

 

Thanks you very much for a detailed and informative report, wonderful pictures, tasty food. I loved that you mention about the "Tageskarte" to Rostock. We are going on the same trip (NCL Sun) on Saturday from Nordhavn ...quite exciting (especially after reading your review ). We bought all the city tours on the ship except St. Petersburg.

 

Do you remember which day is the lobster night?

 

Azamara Journey 2009

Oasis of the sea 2011

Will take a while before we can hit the record of 50.

 

Take care (will be glad to read the last part of your cruise)

[wabbit42]

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't updated the post in a while but I'm on holiday again so don't have Internet access! But I have it for a few minutes now so thought I'd answer some of the questions. The review will be finished soon!

[wabbit42]

Hi Wabbit,

 

I'm loving your review! We'll be on the Sun in Dec. and I have one question for you. Did you have bath robes in your cabin?

 

Our cabin location will be very similar to yours so I really appreciated your cabin photos.

 

We had bath robes, only one at first but the maid brought another. They were in the wardrobe with spare coat hangers. Enjoy your cruise!

[wabbit42]

The food in the pictures didn't look so good. How did you like the food in the main dining room. Thanks for the review and you did a great job.

 

It varied. Some nights were better than others, but the dishes themselves varied in quality. This goes for the buffets an the MDRs. The two MDRs are served from the same kitchen so don't expect better quality food in one from the other, just a different atmosphere. The speciality restaurant food was good, if you don'tind paying.

[wabbit42]

Hi Wabbit,

 

Thanks you very much for a detailed and informative report, wonderful pictures, tasty food. I loved that you mention about the "Tageskarte" to Rostock. We are going on the same trip (NCL Sun) on Saturday from Nordhavn ...quite exciting (especially after reading your review ). We bought all the city tours on the ship except St. Petersburg.

 

Do you remember which day is the lobster night?

 

Azamara Journey 2009

Oasis of the sea 2011

Will take a while before we can hit the record of 50.

 

Take care (will be glad to read the last part of your cruise)

 

I think I'm a bit late in answering this one but the lobster night was the first night, in Seven Seas.

[hmsdos]

Love this thread! Thank you sooo much! We have our first cruise on the Sun in November... and.... we just had to cancel a cruise similar to this one for the first week of September.... so this is a great way to enjoy from an armchair ;)

[SunSandSkySea]

Loving this review! Photos are amazing and I'm really enjoying your writing.