Star Baltics review June 12 - 21, 2013 plus pictures

[laxfanmom1]

Can't wait!!! We leave in 4 days!

[RJ2002]

I estimate that we must have walked four to five miles today and we were definitely worn out. We tried Moderno for dinner tonight which is a Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant (there is a salad bar and they bring around skewers of various meats). Things got off to a shaky start as the tables were too small for a party of four and thus there was not room on the table for everything which made it feel really cramped. Also, they brought us filet mignon which was raw in the middle (not rare but absolutely raw). We mentioned this to the waiter and he had some properly cooked filet mignon brought out (and as much as we wanted) and it was delicious so this problem was handled well. In addition to the skewers of meat, they also brought around some pineapple on a skewer that was cooked in brown sugar and it was absolutely delicious. We asked for several more rounds of that during the meal and they always happily complied. The side dishes of mashed potatoes and grilled bananas were also quite tasty. I would recommend trying Moderno.

 

I was just on the Star and also ate at Moderno. Certainly agree with your comment on the table size on the four tops. Way too small! I mentioned this to the manager, and his response was that we should have reserved a larger table!!??! Oh well. How are you supposed to know in advance that a party of four needs to reserve a table for six???

Edited July 21, 2013 by RJ2002

[kingpgmr]

Day 5 – Sunday, 6/16 St. Petersburg, Russia

The Star arrived at 8 am today in St. Petersburg, Russia for an overnight stay. We booked a two day grand tour through Alla tours and I was a bit apprehensive after a less than stellar tour in Berlin but hoped for the best. One of the perks of being in a suite was priority debarkation which we decided to take advantage of this morning. I had read that immigration could take a long time in St. Petersburg so I wanted to be one of the first ones off the ship if possible. We showed up at La Cucina (after our daily breakfast at Cagney’s) at 7:45 am for express debarkation and waited for about 20 minutes before a line formed and we were marched through the restaurant. It seemed like everyone in a suite on the ship was using the early debarkation so it was a fairly sizeable line. We walked to some private elevators at which point everything came to a halt. The NCL representative told us that we would have to wait for immigration to clear the ship and it might take a few minutes. Finally, after another 20 minutes or so, we were let on the elevator and were quickly off the Star and through immigration in about 5 minutes (ahead of everyone else on the ship). Immigration in Russia requires passports, tour tickets (which act as a visa), and the immigration form which we received in our room the day before we arrived. I was surprised that one also had to go through immigration to get back onto the ship but the line was never very long fortunately (after the initial day one crunch).

 

We quickly found our tour guide from Alla tours and she led us to a comfortable minibus which seated about 15-17 passengers.

 

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Two other families of four (both with teenagers) joined us so we had a nice group of 12 for our two days of touring. One of the families I had met via cruise critic and both families were great touring partners. Our tour guide was Oxana and she was very knowledgeable and did an excellent job. She was also very efficient and walked very quickly most of the time. It was a chore keeping up with her at times (I almost got lost when stopping to take a picture in the Hermitage) but she did a good job of making sure we stayed on schedule.

 

We started our tour and the weather was perfect once again, sunny and cool. Our first stop was at a Russian market to see the various meats, vegetables, and fishes that they typically sell.

 

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Next, we rode the subway for one stop. The subway is one of the deepest subways anywhere in the world and is decorated fairly lavishly.

 

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Then we arrived for an early entry at the Hermitage which is a massive museum housing many, many masterpieces.

 

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We saw paintings by Monet, Rembrandt, El Greco, Da Vinci, Velazquez and many others.

 

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The museum possesses over 3 million pieces of art, only a small portion of which can be displayed at one time. We spent over two hours here and barely scratched the surface. At first, the museum was fairly empty but by the time we left, the crowds were getting pretty difficult to maneuver. This seemed to be a theme at most of the St. Petersburg attractions (large crowds) but we still considered this city the highlight of our trip.

 

After the Hermitage, we headed to the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood which was spectacular from the outside.

 

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We stopped for lunch at a Russian Restaurant which was pretty good. We had a salad, borscht, a chicken entrée and ice cream for dessert. No complaints about this lunch at all.

 

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After lunch, we continued on to St. Isaac’s Cathedral

 

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and Catherine’s Palace. I really enjoyed Catherine’s Palace and the Amber room in particular was quite beautiful.

 

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It was a jam packed and tiring day but also an amazing one with the sights we saw. We also made a couple of quick souvenir stops along the way which was a good thing to us.

 

We made it back to the ship at almost 6 pm so freshened up and ate dinner at the buffet which I did not like. The buffet on the Star felt antiquated and does not have individual stations like on other ships we have been on. If I want to just get pizza for example, I have to wait on line through all of the other items to reach the pizza section. I’m glad we only ate here this one time.

 

We had an evening shopping tour planned with Alla so were back off the ship at 8:30 for that. Of course, it was still bright and sunny out until almost 11 pm so there was plenty of daylight left! Our cruise critic friends arrived (the same family from our two day tour) and off we went. We stopped at a souvenir shop that wasn’t that great and decided to try to find a souvenir shop we had been at earlier that day. Fortunately, the driver (different driver from the day tour) was able to figure out where that shop was which made everyone happy. Then we walked down Nevsky Prospekt which is the main shopping street in St. Petersburg. Finally we drove around St. Petersburg a little more and arrived back at the ship at 11:15 pm. We were all exhausted so immediately went to bed.

 

 

Day 6 – Monday, 6/17 St. Petersburg, Russia

Day two of our St. Petersburg extravaganza arrived all too soon and we were back off the Star by 8 am to meet our group. It was a bit windy and drizzling so a much cooler day than the previous one, but I enjoyed the nice change from the heat of Texas summers.

 

We stopped to take some pictures of the canal and waterfront area

 

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and then embarked on a boat ride which was a slow sailing along rivers and canals of the city.

 

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This gave us a different perspective of the city and was relaxing, although I could not always hear the narrative too clearly. Next up was a visit to Yusupov’s Palace where we heard the interesting story of Rasputin who was a peasant who gained favor with the Imperial family and was eventually murdered.

 

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We had packed lunches today which consisted of a pancake (sort of like a large crepe sandwich), an apple, a Russian chocolate bar and a juice box. It was actually much better than I expected and we got to enjoy it during our smooth 30 minute hydrofoil ride out to Peterhof.

 

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We had a wonderful tour of the Peterhof fountains (a highlight for me)

 

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before a thunderstorm arrived and it rained for about 15 to 20 minutes (and we all took cover in the restrooms). The rain quickly moved on though and the tour resumed. We were getting really tired and out feet were quite sore after two days of extensive touring (plus a day of walking in Tallinn prior to Russia), but there was one more sight to see. We drove back to St. Petersburg and stopped at St Peter and Paul Cathedral, where almost all of Russia’s emperors and empresses are laid to rest.

 

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The final stop of the tour was at a souvenir shop at Alla’s headquarters to pay for the Berlin and St. Petersburg tours. I found it amazing that one didn’t have to pay anything until the last day of touring in St. Petersburg. I guess they have never had problems with individual’s skipping out after the first day of touring (or after the tour in Berlin) and not paying. The souvenir shop was excellent as there was a large selection of nesting dolls, Faberge type eggs, t-shirts, amber, vodka, chocolates and many other items. We bought our fair share of souvenirs here for certain!

 

We arrived back at the ship at 5:15 pm and were starved, so we headed to Versailles for dinner. We had to wait about 25 minutes for a table and were given free drink vouchers to use in the Red Lion Pub next door. This was the only time we had to wait to eat dinner during the cruise. We attended a show (the kids skipped it) by Brenda Cochrane who had played in Chicago on London’s West End. She was very talented but we were exhausted so left early and went back to the room to relax. Fortunately we got to set the clocks back one hour tonight so gained an extra hour of much needed sleep.

[akrob]

Thanks for this review! We are leaving in 5 days for this ship/itinerary, so I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the review to get some vacation previews!

[cruis247g]

I love your review!! Thank you so very much for sharing your trip with us:). I'm planning for next summer and it's quite helpful.

 

Could you share which walking tour you downloaded for Tallinn please?

[kingpgmr]

For some reason, CC will not allow posting of the weblink for Lair Bear's Tallinn walking tour.

 

Here is the address:

www dot brent jes (this is one word...there is no space between brent & jes) dot com/tallinnwalk dot html

[kingpgmr]

Day 7 – Tuesday, 6/18 Helsinki, Finland

Since we had $1000 of on board credit we decided to try one NCL tour (today in Helsinki) and we let the kids pick it out. They decided on Helsinki by Land and Sea which sounded interesting to them. We had to meet in the theater at 8:30 am and after a 10 minute wait, our tour was called. Many people seemed to be taking this particular tour and we filled up three large buses before getting underway. We drove a short way to a nearby pier and boarded a two story boat for the sea portion of the tour. The upstairs was open to the elements but it was yet another beautiful day so we headed up there to sit at a table. I got a little bit warm so I decided to check out the downstairs which turned out to be air conditioned so I stayed down there with my wife while the kids hung out upstairs. The boat sailed past several sights and was relaxing and fairly interesting but not spectacular. I did enjoy seeing several large ice breaker ships.

 

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The Baltic Sea is fairly shallow and does contain that much salt, so it freezes over quite often in the winter months and thus the need for ice breakers. We also saw several large ferries from Stockholm sail by. They leave Stockholm at 5 pm and arrive the next morning in Helsinki.

 

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After the boat portion of the tour completed, we had 45 minutes at an outdoor marketplace (market square) where we found many items that we liked such as handcrafted purses, t-shirts, wood carvings and a variety of nice souvenirs.

 

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Time soon ran out (I wish we had more time here) and we boarded the bus for the land portion of the tour. We passed the Presidential Palace and Uspenski Cathedral and then made a stop at Senate Square for some pictures.

 

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We then continued on past the Olympic Stadium and Opera House and made another photo stop at Sibelius Park where there is a statue made up of over 600 steel pipes to honor the Finish composer Jean Sibelius.

 

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We were given the opportunity to be dropped off in downtown Helsinki but we chose to return to the ship as we were still recovering from the long touring days in Russia.

 

We ate lunch at Cagney’s which was good as always and then retired to the rooms for a well needed nap. Tonight was the Chef’s Table. I signed up for it when we first boarded and my step son and I were very excited about it. My wife and step daughter are fairly picky eaters so they decided to eat dinner at the Blue Lagoon (comfort food) and watch a movie while we feasted on gourmet cuisine.

 

We met at Gatsby’s Bar at 6:30 pm and were immediately seated by the hostess (for the evening) at a reserved section of the bar and served sparkling wine. Other members of the group arrived and we were photographed as a group with executive chef Andreas Sommerfeld on the steps nearby.

 

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This pre-dinner gathering gave all the participants a chance to know one other and helped contribute to the feeling of camaraderie and rapport that continued throughout the evening.

 

We were led through La Cucina to a private dining room that seemed to be set between La Cucina and Aqua. The room was filled with paintings and the table set exquisitely with Versace china. Each group had their photo taken with Chef Sommerfeld and at the end of the evening each group was given a signed copy of the menu along with the two photos that had been taken.

 

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Chef Sommerfeld acted as the culinary guide for the evening as he introduced each dish and explained its major ingredients. He also gave insight into how each dish was prepared. In addition, the head wine steward spoke about the wines which were to accompany each course of the meal. These wines included a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, a California chardonnay, and a cabernet sauvignon also from California.

 

The meal began with an amuse boche that featured molecular gastronomy. A mango provided sweetness while jalapeno ravioli provided spice. This was an interesting and delicious dish as one let the whole spoonful slide into their mouth and let it sit there until the flavors popped. The second dish was an Ahi Tuna Tartare which had amazing flavor. There were also four kinds of lavosh (tomato, basil, curry, and lavender) on the table. The third course was an asparagus cream soup that everyone raved about. It made me want to lick the bowl clean as it was that good. This was followed up by a goat cheese tartlet and then a grapefruit granite to cleanse the palate.

 

It was now time for the two main courses and first up was a pan seared sea bass. Everyone raved about this dish and cleaned their plates. Course seven was a veal chop that was so large that it looked like a bone in rib eye steak. It was served on a bed of sautéed spinach and was accompanied by Anna potatoes. After the veal was served, truffle veal jus was poured over it and the combination of flavors was fantastic. I was starting to get really full but there were still two courses to go in our nine course gourmet extravaganza. A cheese course was served which consisted of two kinds of cheese (one was a pungent stilton) along with honey comb, pickled watermelon and bagel chips. Finally we reached dessert. The men were all served a yogurt mousse dome filled with raspberries and the women were served the chocoholics delight which was a dark chocolate cake with rum infused bananas. Several at the table seemed disappointed that they could not try both desserts so extras were brought out so that everyone could try both desserts.

 

After dinner we were led back to Gatsby’s Bar for a night cap cocktail of anything we cared to order. Finally, the evening concluded at around 11 pm. The four and one half hours had flown by and it was truly an evening we would always remember. We were told that we would receive invitations for a galley tour on the last day at sea which I thought was an excellent extra that I had not anticipated. At $89 per person, the chef’s table sounds expensive, but I found it to be a great value considering the quality of food, and the signed menu, photos and galley tour. I highly recommend it! We got to set the clocks back one hour again tonight.

 

 

Day 8 – Wednesday, 6/19 Stockholm, Sweden

We arrived in Stockholm at 8 am and had our normal breakfast at Cagney’s before walking off the ship for a day on our own. I had considered using one of the hop on hop off buses that stopped right at the pier (there was a green bus and red bus available) but decided against it after talking to a woman at the information desk at the pier. We wanted to go directly to the Vasa Museum so we could enjoy it before it got too crowded. The buses both made multiple stops before they would arrive there so it would take quite awhile to arrive at Vasa if we used them. Thus we decided to take a taxi directly there. In Stockholm, each taxi has different rates that are displayed on the side window. The rates can vary quite a bit so it’s a good idea to check the rates before entering a taxi there. A good rate would be between 300 and 350 kr although we saw some that had rates over 1000 kr. Buyer beware.

 

We found a taxi with a good rate and arrived at the Vasa about 15 minutes later. The Vasa Museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628.

 

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The ship was salvaged in 1961 and restoration work is still ongoing. The main hall of the museum features the ship itself with many different vantage points available to view it. There are also side exhibits showing construction, sinking (it was built without enough stability and a wind gust blew it over and water flooded it through the open gun ports), location and recovery of the ship. It was not very crowded when we arrived so our strategy of coming here first certainly paid off. By the time we left though, the crowds were building. We shopped briefly in the museum store (they had small models of the ship among other souvenirs) and then caught another taxi to old town.

 

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Upon arriving at old town, this second taxi driver said he could not accept American swipe and sign credit cards even though the first taxi driver on the way to Vasa had no problems accepting my credit card. He tried processing my card but told me that he could not figure out how to make it work. I only had American dollars with me and he eventually accepted that when I told him that I had no other method available to pay him. When taking our third taxi later in the day, I relayed this information to the taxi driver as I wanted to make sure he could take my credit card. He told me that all Stockholm taxi drivers know how to accept American credit cards and he seemed upset that the second taxi gave me a problem. He told me that the driver probably just wanted cash so pretended that he could not figure it out.

 

We walked around old town and did some more shopping and had lunch at an Italian restaurant that was fairly good. We each ordered pizzas and mine had reindeer as one of the toppings which was interesting. We then walked to a department store to find my step daughter a purse and we had success as she found one that she really likes. We then took our third taxi of the day back to the ship to relax for a bit before dinner.

 

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As we sailed out of Stockholm at 4 pm, we sailed through the archipelago which extends for 37 miles of various islands and towns. I went out on deck for an hour or so to watch the scenery sail by. It reminded me a bit of sailing through the inside passage in Alaska and was very scenic. Some of the passages we sailed through were extremely narrow so I was glad that we seemed to have a competent captain!

 

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It was my wife’s birthday today so we decided to dine at Le Bistro for dinner, which is a French restaurant. I ordered mussels, escargot and lamb and it was all very good, although I was somewhat ruined for life by the chef’s table the previous night (as nothing could compare to it). My lamb was a fairly small portion but they offered to bring me a second helping to which I gladly agreed. Service was excellent and we all enjoyed our meal.

[mirsown]

Firstly, thank you for your review; we will be doing this trip in just 2 weeks!:)

 

I was pleased by your comments about the Helsinki excursion, its exactly why we chose it- nothing too strenuous or demanding after what looks to be some extremely tiring days at previous ports of call.

[mfeenker]

Thank you kingpgmr, It's been very enlightening cruising vicariously with you.

[laxfanmom1]

Now you've got me craving the chef's dinner! The fee is a lot, though, if you don't have a bundle of OBC! But you only live once!

[Ilikebigboats]

Wow! Great pictures. St Petersburg looks amazing. Your picture of the fountains of Peterhof with the storm in the background is incredible! Im assuming this was your favorite port?

When going through the archipelago which side has better views, port or starboard?

I'm wondering how hard is it to adjust to all that sunshine? Did you have trouble sleeping and did the step kids like it?

Your mouth watering description of the chefs dinner has convinced me that it is worth every penny. I will seriously consider booking it next cruise.

Thanks for the great review!

[kingpgmr]

Wow! Great pictures. St Petersburg looks amazing. Your picture of the fountains of Peterhof with the storm in the background is incredible! Im assuming this was your favorite port?

When going through the archipelago which side has better views, port or starboard?

I'm wondering how hard is it to adjust to all that sunshine? Did you have trouble sleeping and did the step kids like it?

Your mouth watering description of the chefs dinner has convinced me that it is worth every penny. I will seriously consider booking it next cruise.

Thanks for the great review!

 

Thanks for the kind words (and to everyone else who has expressed that they are enjoying my review)!

 

St. Petersburg was indeed my favourite port. It was very tiring but worth the effort to see some truly amazing sights there. Both sides had an equally nice and scenic view when going through the archipelago. I was at the front of the ship when I went on deck to observe it so could see both sides equally well.

 

Definitely do the Chef's Table. It's a meal I will remember for the rest of my life. I can not recommend it enough!!!!

[kingpgmr]

Now you've got me craving the chef's dinner! The fee is a lot, though, if you don't have a bundle of OBC! But you only live once!

 

I would almost guarantee that you won't regret it if you try it!!!

[CP50]

Thanks for your wonderful review and pictures. We're doing this cruise next May and you have given me a load of information as well as excursion ideas.:)

[mfeenker]

A final question kingpgmr, In St Petersburg did the ship use both forward and aft gangways and approximately how many customs lines were open to clear passengers? Thank you in advance.

[kingpgmr]

A final question kingpgmr, In St Petersburg did the ship use both forward and aft gangways and approximately how many customs lines were open to clear passengers? Thank you in advance.

 

I'm pretty sure that they used both set of gangways but since we used priority debarkation I'm not 100% sure of that. On day two, they definitely used both sets but there was no line at all to get off after that first day crunch. As a rough estimate, I'd say there were maybe 14 to 20 lines. We were off quick but I heard stories of others taking as long as 90 minutes.

[kingpgmr]

Day 9 – Thursday, 6/20 At Sea

This morning, my step son and I had the galley tour that accompanied the chef’s table experience from the other night. We are breakfast at Cagney’s and met at Gatsby’s at 10:00 am for our tour. I expected a short tour of the kitchen but instead we were treated to an in depth two hour tour of the kitchens

 

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as well as the food preparation and storage areas by Chef Sommerfeld.

 

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It was a nice accompaniment to the chef’s table dinner. We learned some interesting facts two such as the Star has to order their beef from the USA as they receive complaints if they buy European beef. This is due to the fact that European cattle graze on grass and have a different flavor from grain fed beef.

 

I ate lunch today in the Blue Lagoon and got some fish n chips which were average. We spent the afternoon relaxing and packing. Dinner tonight was in Versailles and I didn’t like anything on the menu so asked for some pasta but they didn’t have marinara sauce as an option. The waitress said she would see if she could get some marinara for me and ending up bringing me a delicious plate of freshly cooked pasta with marinara. Thus dinner was quite good.

 

We attended the Elements show and really enjoyed it. It featured a mix of magic, Cirque De Soleil type acts and dancing and was really well done for a cruise ship production. It was hard to believe that the cruise was already over. I enjoyed the smaller size of the Star and we all agreed that it would be hard to go back to a non-suite cruise after our wonderful suite experience with NCL. I found the service to be excellent on the ship and never encountered an unfriendly member of the staff.

 

 

Day 10 – Friday, 6/21 Disembarkation, Copenhagen

We were spending two more nights in Copenhagen after the cruise. We originally wanted to spend three or four nights in Copenhagen before the cruise but that plan didn’t work out. We used frequent flier miles for three of our four airfares and the only available flight home was on Sunday the 23rd. Thus, we spent two nights in Copenhagen pre-cruise and two nights post-cruise. I didn’t mind splitting up the time in Copenhagen as it gave us the opportunity to stay in two different places.

 

We opted to carry our own luggage off the Star and also to use priority debarkation available for suite guests. We ate breakfast in Cagney’s at 7:50 am, made it back to our rooms by 8:40 am, and had an easy walk to La Cucina. The restaurant was deserted (it was now 9 am) but a woman immediately showed up and escorted us to the private elevator (same one we used for priority debarkation in St. Petersburg). We were met by Omar when we got off the elevator and he walked us off the ship by 9:05 am. The whole process took mere minutes and was the smoothest debarkation out of all of our cruises. Once again, the suite life proved to be a good way to go. There was no passport control or any immigration to deal with so we got into a line for a taxi and only waited a few minutes before we were on our way to the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers for our two night stay.

 

We prepaid for a family room which was basically two separate rooms with a door connecting them. The price was really good though and we had four beds and two bathrooms so everyone was happy with the arrangements. The Crowne Plaza is near the airport and fairly far from downtown Copenhagen but it a couple minutes walk from the metro and regional train station (they share the same station). There is also a mall nearby that is a five minute walk from the hotel. We liked that it was close to the airport since we had a really early flight on Sunday morning.

 

We arrived at the hotel around 10:30 am and the room wasn’t ready yet so we walked over to the mall and had some lunch at Burger King and looked around a bit. We returned to the hotel and finally were able to check in a little before 2 pm. After resting a bit, we took a regional train from Orestad (the station near the hotel) to Kobenhavn H (Copenhagen Central Station). The hotel desk sold train tickets which was convenient.

 

We walked to the Hard Rock Hotel near the train station to buy a t shirt and hat and then entered Tivoli Gardens.

 

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Tivoli Gardens is an older amusement park and gardens and has quite a few restaurants. We walked around and enjoyed the gardens

 

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and then the kids played some games of skill for fun. I finally found my pretzel at a German Beer Hall type restaurant and it was fantastic. We ate dinner at Café Ultimo which was a decent Italian restaurant. On our way out of Tivoli we noticed security asking people to move and a line crowding each side of the sidewalk. Shortly thereafter, the Queen of Denmark walked in. I’m not sure why she was there but it was pretty neat to catch a glimpse of her.

 

We headed back to the hotel via the regional train and watched some television (there were one or two English channels out of the 30 some channels offered) before calling it a night.

 

 

Post-cruise – Saturday, 6/22 Copenhagen

We scheduled a Castles tour through Viator for 10:15 this morning, so we took the regional train to Copenhagen central station and walked to the meeting place for the tour. When we arrived at the designated place though, there was no bus or representatives from the tour company to be seen. We walked back and forth in front of Tivoli and finally I asked someone and he told us it was a half mile back in the direction we had come from. So we walked back and still found nothing. I asked a representative for one of the hop on hop off tours and he gave me excellent instructions for finding our bus. It was of course back in the other direction the half mile that we had just walked. We finally found the bus and soon after the tour started.

 

The tour would visit three castles, two of which we would take a tour of (the third was just a photo stop). We drove along the coast of Denmark which featured seaside vistas and arrived at Kronborg Castle, which is the setting for Hamlet.

 

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It started to rain when we arrived but the tour company had umbrellas for everyone which was handy and appreciated. Kronborg Castle had a medieval feel to it and had wonderful views of the sea. Our next stop was at Fredensborg Palace, which is a summer residence for the Danish Royal family. We only stopped here for 15 minutes to take some photos.

 

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We stopped for lunch at an informal café type restaurant which was average but did the trick for satiating our growing hunger.

 

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The lunch stop wasn’t until 1:45 pm which I felt was a bit late. After lunch we visited the 17th century Frederiksborg Castle, built in Renaissance style with a touch of Baroque.

 

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It is now a national museum containing paintings, tapestries, furniture, porcelain and silver. The castle was huge and hours could have been spent here but our tour was fairly thorough and enjoyable.

 

We headed back to Copenhagen and arrived at 5:30 and caught the regional train back to the hotel. We had planned to eat dinner at the mall again to have something a bit cheaper but learned that it closed at 6 pm on Saturdays. Thus we ate dinner at the hotel which featured expensive burgers and sandwiches. Had I known the mall closed so early, we would have eaten in Copenhagen before travelling back to the hotel. But dinner was good at least, even if overpriced. We had a very early flight the next day so we went to bed early.

 

 

Post-cruise Sunday, 6/23 Home

The first of our flights home was at 7:20 am from Copenhagen to London Heathrow Airport on British Air, so we checked out of the hotel at 5:30 am and had a short taxi ride to the airport. Check in took a long time but we still made our flight with plenty of time to spare. They served a breakfast sandwich on the flight which is more than I expected.

 

We had a four hour layover in London before our 12:25 flight from London Heathrow to DFW airport in Dallas on American Airlines. We ate one last breakfast in Europe (we were still hungry) before heading the rest of the way back home. Our flight was on a 777 so we would get personal entertainment systems (each seat has a screen where one can watch movies, TV shows, play games, etc). We were served lunch and two snacks during the flight and the food was actually pretty good. The flight home was uneventful and all of our luggage made it without getting lost so all’s well that ends well! Thus our trip had sadly drawn to an end. It had been an amazing but tiring time that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. And thus our Baltics adventure had come to a satisfying end!

 

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[Vivsmom]

Thanks so much for the great review. We are going on the Star on August 23rd and your review has gotten me even more excited!

[laxfanmom1]

Thanks so much for the review! We leave in 2 days! Can't wait!

[Mzhelen]

Thank you so much for this detailed review! We are thinking about booking this trip so this was incredibly helpful.

[kingpgmr]

Thanks so much for the great review. We are going on the Star on August 23rd and your review has gotten me even more excited!

 

Thanks so much for the review! We leave in 2 days! Can't wait!

 

Thank you so much for this detailed review! We are thinking about booking this trip so this was incredibly helpful.

 

I'm glad you all enjoyed it as it took me forever to write up! It was definitely a trip of a lifetime type vacation so enjoy it!

[eviezevi]

This was great. We are taking the same cruise on 8/14. You solved my problem with the long trip into Berlin. Bummer about bingo!!

[NYGirl1002]

I loved your review. It makes me sorry I booked the Med one for next year..I could have done this one!

 

I loved your pictures too.

 

We did the Chef's Table on the Jewel in November and loved it so much. I can't wait to book it on the Breakaway in a couple of weeks. I want my sister to try it with us.

[Tricialy]

Great Review - I'm getting here a little late - do you remember how much the taxi cost from the cruise pier to the Crowne Plaza? We're sailing on the Star next June and are staying at the CP before the cruise - I can't imagine taking our luggage on the train.

 

Thanks!

[kingpgmr]

Great Review - I'm getting here a little late - do you remember how much the taxi cost from the cruise pier to the Crowne Plaza? We're sailing on the Star next June and are staying at the CP before the cruise - I can't imagine taking our luggage on the train.

 

Thanks!

 

I don't remember the exact amount but I'm pretty sure it was in the 250-300 DKK range. Yeah, taking luggage on the train would be tough I think.