My Trip Report: Brilliance of the Seas (12 night Baltic, May 18 2015)

[Dick and Jane]

Yes...the vendors will gladly take Euro or US Dollars....however...it is very much illegal to pay with anything other than rubbles in Russia. The local market areas even have undercover police watching just for exchanges occurring in Euro or dollars. It is illegal for both the vendor to take the currency and for the customer to pay with it.

 

 

 

You might not get caught...but if you do, you could be facing more than just embarrassment. Be careful when deciding to use dollars or Euro! I would recommend sticking to credit cards, and ATM machines You usually get the best exchange rates at ATMs anyway....

 

 

Rules and practices are always changing. Best to be a smart and alert traveler. When we visited Moscow in 2005, the Kremlin would take our U.S. dollars!

[pattycodd]

Hey Silent Bob.

 

I hope I am not repeating something that you have already mentioned or that another person has already asked. I have not yet read all your posts. We are considering the Piccadilly to get from Heathrow to Picadilly Circus switching to Bakerloo to the Waterloo Station. We will each have 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on as well as small medical bags. We handle these very well on our own. My question is, is this doable on these trains at 8:00am with many other passengers on the train? I am assuming that you carry your bags onto the train with you. Is that correct? Thanks for all the information that you are passing along to us. This planning process has seemed very overwhelming.

 

Patty:)

[KingHal]

...We are considering the Piccadilly to get from Heathrow to Picadilly Circus switching to Bakerloo to the Waterloo Station. We will each have 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on as well as small medical bags. We handle these very well on our own. My question is, is this doable on these trains at 8:00am with many other passengers on the train? I am assuming that you carry your bags onto the train with you. Is that correct?....

 

Hi Patty,

 

I live in London and might be able to help you with your questions:-

 

Firstly, yes you carry your bags on the Tube with you. It's like the New York Metro.

 

Assuming you are arriving Monday-to-Friday, you are proposing to travel in the rush hour if setting off at 8am. This won't be a problem getting on the Piccadilly Line at Heathrow, but it will be very busy when you are looking to change trains in central London.

 

A better way for you to get to Waterloo on the Tube would I think be to change to the Jubilee Line at Green Park, rather than the Bakerloo Line at Piccadilly Circus. The Jubilee Line is a newer line, and I think there will be less steps involved at Green Park.

 

You might be better off to grab a coffee at Heathrow, and setting off from there at 9am to reach central London just before 10am; rather than setting off at 8am and reaching it just before 9am.

 

If you are arriving on a Saturday or Sunday the tube will be much quieter and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best wishes.

[Trekker954]

Boarding

 

We tend to eat at speciality restaurants the first night because of the BOGO coupons given to D+ passengers.

 

You cruise a lot, but not sure if you are aware. RCI has been typically very good about allowing you to chose a different night to make your BOGO reservation so long as you PAY that first night. We have done that when we have the 5 of us. Of if it is just two of us, we often do specialties two nights. The first night and another night. But we have to Pay for both the first night. its so long as that coupon is "redeemed" aka billed the first night. We've been doing this for years. You may have to ask for the maître d.

[silentbob007]

You cruise a lot, but not sure if you are aware. RCI has been typically very good about allowing you to chose a different night to make your BOGO reservation so long as you PAY that first night. We have done that when we have the 5 of us. Of if it is just two of us, we often do specialties two nights. The first night and another night. But we have to Pay for both the first night. its so long as that coupon is "redeemed" aka billed the first night. We've been doing this for years. You may have to ask for the maître d.

 

We ended up doing that. It was the first time it was offered for us. :)

[silentbob007]

Hey Silent Bob.

 

I hope I am not repeating something that you have already mentioned or that another person has already asked. I have not yet read all your posts. We are considering the Piccadilly to get from Heathrow to Picadilly Circus switching to Bakerloo to the Waterloo Station. We will each have 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on as well as small medical bags. We handle these very well on our own. My question is, is this doable on these trains at 8:00am with many other passengers on the train? I am assuming that you carry your bags onto the train with you. Is that correct? Thanks for all the information that you are passing along to us. This planning process has seemed very overwhelming.

 

Patty:)

 

Hi Patty ... just to add to what KingHal said ... it is doable but seating may be awkward. Those trains are not really built for luggage and in my (limited) experience there was not a great place to sit with luggage if you didn't want to completely jam up the works. It's doable, but you may have to figure out the best way to handle the bags. My dad and I stood the entire ride both times (about an hour) ... once at the back of a train and once to the side of a door ... we were trying to be extra conscious of how much we were in people's way and of course we either had just had many hours of sitting or were going to have many hours of sitting upcoming. I saw different people wrangle bags and there was not a great way to do it that I saw as there are no racks.

[silentbob007]

A few more things about St. Petersburg and immigration ....

 

I realized I forgot something in my previous discussion of the immigration process. When we returned to the ship on the first day, we had to queue up to show our passports to a booth agent who removed the slip placed in from the morning agent and stamped the passport with a "return" stamp. This did not take a real long time but it took a bit.

 

On the second day, when we went for our tour, the immigration agent simply looked to see that we had both stamps. If they were both there, we were waved through. This was much quicker (obviously) than the first time through the checkpoint. Since everyone was so nervous about the time it took that first time, it also meant most of the people for our tour were through the checkpoint and at the duty free shops about 45 minutes early ... our tour guide laughed and said that always happened (that everyone expected a long process on the second day and were very early).

[KingHal]

Hi Patty ... just to add to what KingHal said ... it is doable but seating may be awkward. Those trains are not really built for luggage and in my (limited) experience there was not a great place to sit with luggage if you didn't want to completely jam up the works. It's doable, but you may have to figure out the best way to handle the bags. My dad and I stood the entire ride both times (about an hour) ... once at the back of a train and once to the side of a door ... we were trying to be extra conscious of how much we were in people's way and of course we either had just had many hours of sitting or were going to have many hours of sitting upcoming. I saw different people wrangle bags and there was not a great way to do it that I saw as there are no racks.

 

 

This is a useful website:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/blog/transport/taking-luggage-on-the-london-underground-from-heathrow/

[pattycodd]

This is a useful website:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/blog/transport/taking-luggage-on-the-london-underground-from-heathrow/

 

 

Many thanks, King Hall and Silent Bob. We are still unsure if we are going to try the underground from Heathrow, but if we do, I do believe a stop for coffee is in order prior to boarding (a bit later). LOL

 

Patty:)

[KingHal]

Many thanks, King Hall and Silent Bob. We are still unsure if we are going to try the underground from Heathrow, but if we do, I do believe a stop for coffee is in order prior to boarding (a bit later). LOL

 

Patty:)

 

Wise move :D

 

This is what a crowded Tube train looks like:-

 

This is what Rush Hour looks like on the platforms:-

Edited June 17, 2015 by KingHal

[Carolla5501]

You know if you are really concerned about luggage...

 

The Heathrow Express goes non stop to Paddington Station where it's easy to catch a cab to your hotel. The Express is not cheap (but you might check on line, sometimes they have special offers) but it's designed for travelers with nice luggage areas and is never that crowded so finding a seat has never been an issue.

[xpcdoojk]

So what were the temps like since you were there in May?

 

Great review. BTW.

 

Thanks

 

jc

[silentbob007]

Temps were very pleasant ... I'd say 60s most days and we lucked out with very little rain.

[Carolla5501]

One quick questions (For now :) )

 

Did the ship change time with the ports or was it always on "ship's time" Trying to make sure I know when to come home!

[TeeRick]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the awesome review. I'm with the group leaving mid-July for this cruise. Back to Russia- we are also signed up for the Alla Comfort tour- it looks like you were able to use your credit card there without it being rejected by your bank- correct? Did you pay for other items at shops in Russia with your credit card? Some on our roll call have suggested taking currency with them which can be obtained (in the US) through AAA or from your own bank in advance. Or just from the ship while on board. It seems that needing small change to use public toilets has been brought up as one reason. Was this an issue? Enough restroom stops for those with old cranky prostates?

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and photos! Bringing back great memories for me. :)

[TexMom]

Thanks for sharing your fabulous photos and great first-hand experience with us! I for one am hoping that you will be able to come back and update us on the rest of your cruise experience someday soon. Would love to hear about Helsinki, Stockholm, and if you were able to visit the new port of Skagen.

[Capella Black]

Hey Bob, great review! Am about to be on this ship (13 days to go, but who's counting) and was wondering what the cocktail options were like. Am particularly a fan of frozen cocktails - did there seem to be a range available?

[cruisin to]

When tipping the Alla tour guides, did you tip in dollars? Thanks!

[Empeds]

Formal nights are nights 2, 6 and 9

Enjoy

[floridasun lover]

Great review with beautiful pictures - just hope we are fortunate to have the beautiful blue skies you had!

 

Question - don't know if I missed it, but when were you off the ship in Harwich, what was immigration like and what train did you take? I want to buy an advance ticket, but what time train??

 

Thanks

[Priusprof]

Hello all. We were on this cruise along with Chris and his dad. Just like Chris we did the Brilliance transatlantic from Tampa last year but did not do back to back because DW was not able to take the month of May off. Unlike Chris, I planned this trip in great detail because I booked way in advance and had certain things I wanted to do. We experienced mostly the same things so I would just like to add some differences to what Chris did for perspective. I took pretty much the same pictures that Chris did so I'll not clutter things up with my own pictures.

Getting to the cruise.

We took a transatlantic on Quantum to Barcelona and then spent 5 days in Paris and London pre cruise. We flew into Heathrow on Saturday morning from Paris and arrived before 8 AM. One way tickets from CDG to LHR were about $80 plus a $25 bag fee. We had Silver Shuttle pick us up and take us to our hotel. We stayed at the Double Tree Hilton Westminster for the weekend for 159 pounds per night. We were able to walk to all the attractions around Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, 10 Downing St. We also bought HoHo bus tickets and used the bus to see attractions in other parts of the city. We bought tickets on line for Westminster Abbey and Kensington Palace and skipped waiting in long lines to tickets. The Abbey is not open to tourists on Sunday so plan accordingly.

On Monday morning we had rain but we had booked a 16 passenger shuttle with First Choice that was 420 pounds. So, about $41 per person and $45 with drivers tip. No dragging the luggage anywhere, no getting to Liverpool Station, no changing trains or dealing with big suitcases, small suitcases or carry on bags. The shuttle dropped us right at the baggage drop and we then walked into the terminal to check in. We arrived at about 2 and the lines were not bad. Half were Diamond Plus and half had regular check in. It took a few extra minutes for the non priority folks to check in and then we went onto the ship. We dropped our carry on bags in the cabin and went to the Windjammer for lunch.

[Priusprof]

Great review with beautiful pictures - just hope we are fortunate to have the beautiful blue skies you had!

 

Question - don't know if I missed it, but when were you off the ship in Harwich, what was immigration like and what train did you take? I want to buy an advance ticket, but what time train??

 

Thanks

It's the strangest thing but there is no immigration in Harwich. You get off the ship and collect your luggage and leave the terminal. We were in the first group off the ship and that was at 7:00 AM We hired a 16 passenger shuttle from First Choice and it was 2:30 minutes to Heathrow. There is a train parked right by the ship that takes you back to London but I'm not sure what time it leaves.

[Priusprof]

Cabin Selection

We had booked this cruise day 1 and we had 1100. That is a JS in the aft port corner. It has a huge balcony and is ideal for sail away parties. It is ,IMHO, the best cabin for the money on the ship! Probably one of the first cabins to sell on any Radiance class ship. Our travelling companions had D balconies on deck 9 so we were sail away central.

Dining

We had My time dining and had a table for 8 on deck 5 by the rail.Just like Chris and his dad we took advantage of the BOGO on Chops and Giovanni's.I paid a visit to the Maitre D' on the first night since we would not be there until the second night. I gave him all the cabins and made a standing reservation for 7 PM. There were two formal nights on day two and day 10.When we arrived on day 2 for dinner there was a line to check in and then we were shown to our table. When we saw what a great table we had been given I went back to the desk and expressed my appreciation to the Maitre D' for the great table. From that point forward, we asked him what nights we should do specialty and he showed us the menus so we would not miss our favorite dinners in the DR. Every night the head waiter and the Maitre D' checked up on our table and made sure everything was perfect. We no longer had to stand in the check in line and just walked to the table and sat down nightly.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Priusprof

[Priusprof]

The ports and touring

We had formal tours in two places with TJ Travel. We did the standard 2 day tour in St Petersburg and a 5 hour tour in Tallinn. St Petersburg was two full days and it included lunch the first day, all admissions, and a hydrofoil ride to Peterhof. We had two vans of twelve people that one of our party organized. It was $251 and Tallinn was $75. We paid for all of it the second morning in St Petersburg. Tips were 10% for the guide and 5% for the driver. I paid in US$ to avoid the horrible exchange rates and bank charges. The only place that we experienced an issue was the second day in St Pete at lunch. Our guide took us to this really great cafe but we discovered, after the fact, that they only took cash and only rubles. He was really surprised and ended up paying for 10 of us and then we paid him back. The food was great and with soups or salads, or meat pies, and drinks it was about $7 a person. It was the one great bargain of the touring. In addition to all the places that Chris mentioned we also visited the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood and we toured on of the subway stations of the St Petersburg metro. One of our group arranged a trip to the Minsky Ballet and so at the end of our day she was met by one one TJ's guides and escorted to and from the ballet. When we returned to the ship we saw the ships Ballet tour heading for the theater dressed in suits and dresses. According to our van mate the Minsky was the real deal ballet and the ships tour went to a different show.

Copenhagen

Here we toured on our own. We walked along the water and took the obligatory Little Mermaid pictures. Then we proceeded into downtown and we bought tickets for the Hop on Hop off boat. We did a tour of the harbors and canals and when we got to the stop closest to Tivoli we hopped off.We went to the Hard Rock for souvenir pins and shirts and then walked back to the ship. We had nice weather and temperatures were mid 50's.

Tallinn

Our tour was a combination of the city and the old town. We spent the first couple of hours seeing things like the Presidents Residence, the outdoor amphitheater where the Music Festival is held, and some of the parks. Then our bus took us to Old Town. We started the walking tour at the top level and stopped at the churches and walked the cobblestone streets into the main part of old town on the lower level. We visited an old Apothecary and a bakery. The tour included coffee and pastries and then we had some free time to wander before meeting at the lower gates to meet our guide.

It's very charming inside the old walled city and fun to walk through with all the shops and sidewalk cafes.