Just off a Baltic cruise on Century, what do you need to know?

[dbh62ark]

I loved the Vasa Museum and highly recommend, but I was absolutely enthralled with Skansen, which is also on Djurgården. See http://www.skansen.se. I have a little more info on this posted in my 2003 Baltics trip report at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=52759&page=2&pp=25, post #47.

 

Hope you have a great trip,

Donna

[elin]

Here is what Ann & I ended up doing:

 

Dover: stayed at Churchill Hotel Best Western (best rates on-line) after driving from Heathrow. Car return about 1.5 miles from Western Docks. Old hotel but comfortable inspite of slanty floors.

 

 

Hi Dileep,

Thanks for the great report! I have friend who are looking at staying at the same hotel in Dover. They were wondering if it was Air Conditioned?

Thanks for any help you can provide on this one!

Elin

[SaylorGirl]

I loved the Vasa Museum and highly recommend, but I was absolutely enthralled with Skansen, which is also on Djurgården. See http://www.skansen.se. I have a little more info on this posted in my 2003 Baltics trip report at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=52759&page=2&pp=25, post #47.

 

Hope you have a great trip,

Donna

 

Donna - thanks so much, and I really appreciate the links!

[Bollinge]

You friends can wonder if it's air-conditioned, and when they visit they may wonder where the air-conditioning is, but I wonder whether air-conditioning is necessary. And I suspect the hotel will not have it. (Neither does the Winter Palace / Hermitage - good job we visited in May!)

 

You see we are an island in the Atlantic, not a continent like you, so we never get too hot nor too cold. And Dover is on the seaside, so there is almost always a breeze, if not a gale.

 

If I had A-C in my house here in Coventry, in the centre of England, I might turn it on only six or seven nights a year. Air-conditioning is essential in cars, however.

[dileep]

CF2404 & Dileep - Great information from both of you. Thanks for posting it.

You talked about taking the ferry in Stockholm to the Vasa museum, is there anything there to see if you don't go into the museum?

 

The Museum is the old ship itslef that sank some 400 years ago houirs into its maiden voyage. It was found 350 years later and hauled up and restored. If you are not interested in the ship, don't go there unless you want to visit the open air museum called Skansen. CF2404 liked it.

 

The changing of the guard at the Palace in Old Town was quite interesting. The ship's guide says that it happens at noon. We got there after 12:30 and still caught the last half or so.

 

Old Town has a nice Square with cafes with outdoor seating. The recommended crystal shop has excellent prices. Listen to the Celebrity shopping person on the ship's TV. Good coffee shops too. Cappucino and blueberry muffin was my lunch!

 

I found the information in Rick Steve's Baltics guide to be the most useful for walking tours in the ports he covers (Copenhagen, Stocholm, Helsinki, Tallinn). I found an old (3 years or so old) guide in my local library and copied the 3-4 pages for each city. Bookstores should have latest version.

[dileep]

Hi Dileep,

Thanks for the great report! I have friend who are looking at staying at the same hotel in Dover. They were wondering if it was Air Conditioned?

Thanks for any help you can provide on this one!

Elin

 

It had heat, which is what we needed with temps in the 50's and intermittent rain outside. We woke up and looked out our window and saw the ship docked already at 6:30 am. You see P&P ferry ships and a hydro foil operating too. The floor are slanted and creaky. Location is good and so are the Fish & Chips!

 

It has a courtesy phone to a cab company. About 4 GBP for cab to the dock.

[thecruisechick]

Returning people who visited the Hermitage.

 

 

Did you notice any of the rooms closed for renovations? Specifically the rooms on the second floor?

[dileep]

Returning people who visited the Hermitage.

 

 

Did you notice any of the rooms closed for renovations? Specifically the rooms on the second floor?

 

I did not notice anything. There is way more there than you can possibly see in the 2 hours that most tours allocate for the Hermitage. I was truly amazed by the Rembrabdts and Davincis they had!

 

We did spend some time on the second floor looking at the impressionist painters, Gaugin, and Picasso. They place is so big that it is hard to tell that something is closed.

[que sarah sarah]

Many thanks to all who have posted "on how to do the Baltic's " your information is just grand .:) We have already our Baltics cruise booked for May 2006 with RCI on JOS .

I will bookmark this post and print out some of your suggestions .

 

Our son went to Tallinn this May on holiday and he thought the people and the town were wonderful . He can't wait to make a return visit .

Thanks for all your help .

[dileep]

Our son went to Tallinn this May on holiday and he thought the people and the town were wonderful . He can't wait to make a return visit .

 

Tallinn was our top favorite too. Many others on our cruise felt that way too especially since it was a "surprise"!

[thecruisechick]

dileep,

 

Thanks for the response. I was just wondering and thought I would ask because I'm so looking forward to The Hermitage and wanted to make sure what i thought I read was not true.

 

Also thanks to everyone for the great information.

[dileep]

You may want to tell people what ship you are on in case there are multiple ship in port that day. We had Princess, Celebrity, and Costa next to each other!

[dbh62ark]

I see that you are new to the boards, so welcome. There is a section of this site that has roll call boards, so there is probably one for your sailing. It's fairly easy to find others on your roll call board to fill your tour group.

 

Hope you have a great trip,

Donna

[giraffe0514]

giraffe0514, Bollinge, cf2404 and dileep: Enjoyed reading your comments and opinions regarding the ports, people, etc. Looking forward to our turn on July 2nd. Do have some questions?

 

The cost of hop on/hop on buses in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki?

About $22 each, but save the tickets or receipts because you get a 10% discount at the second and third countries with them.

 

What particular sights/museums in Olso, Copenhagen, Tallin, Stockholm and Helsinki would you consider a "do not miss?"

Copenhagen we enjoyed the Rosenborg Castle. They have a Hans Christiona Anderson Exhibit and the basement of the castle has all the jewls, etc that were interesting. Tallinn we walked everywhere and went into a few major places, all interesting. I got Rick Steves Scandinavia Guide at AAA store. It was a help.

 

Any recommended places for light lunches, snacks, coffee, wine/beer and people watching? Helsinki very expensive but Cafe on the parklike Esplanade down near the docks, outside, afforded great people watching. In Stockholm and Copenhagen small "smorgasborg" places with open sandwiches and pastries were reasonable and good. They are on the main street or pedestrian streets.

 

Is it true the Constellation or Century will not exchange US$ to Estonian kroons or Russian rubles? I believe that is right, but there are ATM machines available in town at all the banks.

 

Any info you would like to share would be helpful to all.

 

Hope this helps you

[LeslieLebo]

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your information and detail. Thanks very much for being so generous and sharing your experiences.

 

We are leaving for the Baltic 6/30/05, and I, too, will be happy to share!

[tartangal]

Two comments : we were told and had read that they want $, not rubles in Russia and that you can use credit cards. But when I tried to buy Russian tea in a confectioner's shop on Nevsky Prospekt they took neither, only rubles. Also we went to the library on board every evening to spend a bit of time looking up the next port for any last minute information about sites we may have missed in our advance planning. It was great to have a variety of guide books to look at and saved bringing any (except for copies I had made in advance of maps of the old towns and walking tours from Rick Steves.

[tartangal]

Returning people who visited the Hermitage.

 

 

Did you notice any of the rooms closed for renovations? Specifically the rooms on the second floor?

 

Just back and the Impressionist rooms were closed to my intense disappointment when we were there May 29.

[dileep]

Just back and the Impressionist rooms were closed to my intense disappointment when we were there May 29.

 

That's strange. We were able to go to the Impressionist rooms on May 29 in the afternoon with our RO guide.

 

There were some very nice Rodin scultures in those rooms.

[Beaufortonian]

Can you tell me something about the formal nights on Century? How many. How formal---tuxes versus dark suits or jackets.

 

Is there genuine alternate casual dining on Century? Where and what hours? Is it any good---choice etc.?

 

How did they handle the two dinner seatings in port?

 

Hope I'm not too inquisitive, but I haven't seen anything on these subjects on the boards.

 

Thanks

[Bollinge]

There were three formal (tux) nights on our 12 day cruise, 3 informal and the rest casual.

 

There is an excellent alternative dining or "casual dining" area set up for dinner on one side of the 11 deck buffet, with tablecloths and waiter service. It has an a la carte menu which changes three times during the voyage. Salmon, sirloin steak and chicken are always available.

 

I think it's open from 6-9.30 or thereabouts. It can be very popular, depending on the ship's schedule, so reservations are recommended. There is a suggested $2 p.p. tip. There are one or two nights when it did not open, so check the programme or with the maitre d'.

[cdfev]

Perhaps the fact that Madonna was touring (with bodyguards attached) in the Hermitage on May 29 was the reason that you were unable to see the Impressionist room. We were able to see this room with our RO guides as well around 2 PM on May 29. It is my understanding that Madonna had been there just one hour earlier.

[tartangal]

We enjoyed Tivoli in the afternoon with a free concert by the Promenade Orchestra in the bandshell: had a very early 20th century feel to the place. And the tulips and other spring flowers were amazing. I had read 10,000 tulips would be blooming when we were at Tivoli and I believe we saw almost all of them on May 23 when we were there.

I saw someone post about the 50 kroner canal ride. We saw that price posted at the first pier we came to, but walked further along and found one for 30 kroner which we took. Had a great time.

[dileep]

We saw the 30 Kr sign too. Did they have an English narration? The 50 Kr boat did.

[Bollinge]

I think the 30kr trip was a hop on hop off water bus, whereas the 50kr ride was a 50 minute guided tour with commentary and no stops.

[dileep]

I think the 30kr trip was a hop on hop off water bus, whereas the 50kr ride was a 50 minute guided tour with commentary and no stops.

 

Correct! we did the 50 minute tour with commentary in 2 languages. The guide was very informative. 1 hour tour for the same price as a beer!