Ho hum: yet another Baltic Sea review

[FitchburgWIFamily]

OK…so you all are going to get Baltic Sea overload as there are at least three review threads going on right now for the same May 24th sailing. But, considering we had more than 70 people RSVP to the meet and greet, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This is a port intensive sailing, and since all of us did different excursions at each port, I figure I’ll chime in as well.

 

Background: I travelled with my 86 year old mother who uses a walker to help her balance and get along and my 21 year old niece who just graduated from college. We had originally booked a family suite on deck 12, but changed it at the last minute to a penthouse suite with balcony at the last minute for an inexpensive upsell. This is my 4th NCL cruise, my 3rd in a suite, and my 2nd on the Star: we sailed on her before her recent dry dock. This is my 2nd non-Caribbean cruise, too. If I had only ever sailed the Caribbean on NCL, I don’t know that I would have recognized this as the same cruise line.

 

As I add notes, I will sometimes add a comment at the end to note things that I saw that were: Different from Caribbean:

Different from Star before last dry-dock:

Different from Star vs. other ships:

 

But, before I get to all that, I have to get us to the boat.

 

 

Copenhagen before cruise: We arrived mid-day on Monday, the day before we sailed. Copenhagen airport is lovely and was a breeze to get through. Line to get train information was a bit long, but information given to us was spot on. We were able to use elevators (or, as we learned to call them over there: lifts) to get the train platform and the train was easy for my mom to negotiate with her walker. Train took us one or two stops past city center, where we got off and started our trek to our accommodations. We made an odd little parade: niece with backpack pushing her roller bag, pulling her grandmothers. Grandmother with her walker. Daughter bringing the rear with her roller bag, her back pack, her purse and Grandmother’s purse as well. I felt like the person in the nursery rhyme with the “each wife had seven sacks, and each sack had seven cats.” Monday was a bright sunny beautiful day…a bit warmer than we had expected (mid 70s). We got off the train, up the lift, over the tracks and finally to the sidewalk.

 

Our hotel was a “10 minute” walk from the train station, which is 10 minutes in normal people time, about 30 to 40 minutes in 86 year old with walker time. More than once, when we stopped to look at our little map to make sure we were still on track, a friendly Dane would stop and ask us if we needed directions.

 

Our hotel was actually the Adina apartments. To walk there, we walked by the entrance to the Kastellet and to the park where the mermaid statue was. We finally arrived at our apartment and it was wonderful. Front desk staff was very friendly, apartment had a nice little kitchen, a living room and a bedroom. Bathroom had a tub and shower (not handicapped accessible) and in a little closet, a washer and drier. Laundry soap was provided for a fee. There is a restaurant in the same building…a little pricy but very nice. A nearby Neppo market has everything we needed for a light supper. A bottle of wine, some crackers and some spreads and cheeses looked good when we bought them, but was a little awkward when we found out you were supposed to bring your own bag to the Neppo. We made do by stuffing our purses, but could have planned that a bit better.

 

From the hotel, once we got my mom settled, my niece and I walked to the park to see the Little Mermaid statue. It was a beautiful afternoon, the lilacs were in bloom, and the streets were thick with bicyclists and the walks were thick with Danes out for runs. So, we enjoyed the walk, but I do NOT think the statue is really worth going out of your way to see. Next to the statue, the Kastellet is far more interesting. Still in use today as a military facility, the grass covered walls have a path to walk around (or run if you are a Dane). We walked part way around and then cut back to the entrance we came in at.

 

Next morning, I got up and walked to an excellent bakery around the corner where I picked up some Danish for breakfast, because, you know, we were in Denmark. The room had a kettle to boil water and some espresso packets, and from the Neppo market I was able to get some yogurts and granola and some excellent strawberries. We dined in style before checking out of our little apartment.

 

The front desk called a cab for the short drive to the port. Cab ride was less than $20.00 USD.

 

Boarding the ship:

Arrived at port at about 11:00 which was apparently crazy early as the terminal was essentially empty. Got checked in in a matter of minutes and escorted to the suite waiting area.

 

Different from Caribbean: OK..I have only ever boarded from NOLA for the Caribbean, but if the boarding time is noon there are queues of cars and swarms of people by 9:00am. Not so in Copenhagen, from our perspective I don’t know that the terminal ever really got congested.

 

We were escorted on board in in our seats at Cagney’s by noon…less than an hour from when our taxi let us off by baggage control.

 

I don’t know if it was because we were early or if they just don’t do it, but there were no welcome aboard photos, no staff dressed up in themed costumes. And at Copenhagen, you enter on deck 4, so there was no Ahhh moment when you enter into the atrium on deck 7. Little bit of a disappointment.

 

Lunch for suite passengers was in Cagney’s on boarding day, in Moderno the rest of the cruise, no idea why.

 

We had unlimited beverage package for me and for my niece, and unlimited dining package for us as well. Mom did not. We all ordered the specialty cocktail at Cagney’s to celebrate getting to the boat. I gave them my card (marked UDP) and my mom’s, but they never brought us a bill to pay for my mom’s drink. I assumed at this point it was an oversight.

 

After a leisurely 3 course lunch, they made the announcement that our cabins were ready, so we headed to the front of the boat to see our suite.

 

Our room: 12012: Penthouse with Balcony

 

Our room was all made up exactly as we needed it: the large bed was made as two singles, and there were three bathrobes, three loofa clothes, three sets of slippers, etc. So Kudos to NCL for figuring that out. Room is exactly like 3/4ths of a family suite. In the area that the family suite on the 12th floor would have the Murphy bed and table, they cut into the room to have a small balcony. That means you don’t have a dining table in the room, so when Mom dined in the room, she had to eat at the desk.

 

With the two beds split into two twins, there was room to walk around one twin bed on 3 sides, but the other twin bed was pushed up against the wall. The curtains for the patio door to the balcony kind of block the access to the nightstand on one side, so you can use it for stuff you don’t really need to get at a lot on the cruise.

 

Since we would be making the sofa bed up into a bed each night, the two occasional chairs were pushed together on another wall kind of like a small loveseat and that is where we kept our coffee table. There are the huge windows next to the sofa, so if it isn’t warm enough to sit on the balcony, you still can have that view from the comfort of your sofa.

 

Balcony (which is what we upgraded for) has two small chairs and a small table, and then a recliner. There are two of the Penthouse with Balcony rooms right next to each other, and their balconies are separated by a metal divider. Because the balconies are cut into the ship, the acoustics are a bit rough…you hear everything on the other balcony…pages of a book turning gets amplified by bouncing off all that metal.

Different from Star vs. other ships: This is our third suite on this class of ship, and probably my least favorite. The 2bdrm family suite on deck 11 just felt so special when you walked in with the woodwork and the entryway. The family suite with balcony on the Dawn had a huge balcony cantilevered out over the side of the ship, so you didn’t have the acoustic issues.

 

Remainder of that day:

 

Our luggage arrived fairly early, so we unpacked and got things stowed away.

 

Lifeboat drill was the usual cursory safety drill. It was here we first saw our assistant cruise director (Marie?) who had a less than pleasant voice and manner about her. She barked at passengers and then said “Just because I talk with an accent doesn’t mean you can ignore what I say” which I thought was a pretty loaded statement for someone to make in an international cruise when we all speak with an accent.

 

Finally it was time for sail away, and we sat down on our balcony to enjoy our views. I was leaning over the balcony railing, my mom was in one chair and my niece was in the lounger. We just started talking about different things in a normal conversational tone of voice. My mom and my niece somehow got on the topic of smoking and what more (if anything) could be done in the U.S. to eliminate it any more. The conversation was not heated or loud. All of a sudden, our balcony neighbor in a booming German accent tells us to “Be quite, you are not alone, bitte go inside to talk, the balcony is not a place to talk.”

 

We were all shocked to silence. I get that the acoustics of the balcony meant he could hear our every word, but I was pretty sure the balcony WAS a place to talk. It was one of the times when you think of the perfect comeback 10 minutes later. In that moment, we were just stunned to silence. We spent the rest of sail away like little kids waiting in front of the principal’s office: silently looking at our knees in an equal mix of guilt and righteous indignation.

 

The show that night was the preview show, which we skipped because we were doing something else. We figured we would get to see all those acts eventually anyway.

 

We had dinner in the main dining room: I had a Caribbean pork roast that was one of my favorite meals on the cruise. We bought my mom a bottle of wine she would end up drinking from for the remainder of the cruise.

 

After mom went to bed, my niece and I went back out for a cocktail or two, and then we called it a night. We spent most of the time over our cocktails talking about whether or not we were going to be able to use the balcony we had paid to upgrade to if it meant we couldn’t talk on it.

 

Day Two: Germany

 

Mom and I were signed up for the NCL excursion PICTURESQUE VIEWS & THE MOLLI TRAIN. With our 75.00 per port excursion credit, it came out to just a bit more than $60.00 USD per person. The Molli train was not the highlight of this trip, it was the cathedral in Bad Doberan. The cathedral definitely deserves UNESCO world heritage status and it definitely worth seeing. We also had a nice visit in a seaside resort where we had a bite of cake and a cup of coffee and some free time to take pictures or shop. We were back to the ship by 1:00pm and my mom and I both thoroughly enjoyed our day. I escorted my mom up to our suite, and then headed back on shore. A tall ship was visiting from Russia, so I got a few pictures of that and of the Russian sailors in their dress uniforms with their impossibly tall hats. From the ship, it is very easy to get down town, just follow the pier to a tunnel under the railroad tracks, and then take that path up across the bridge.

 

The town of Warnemunde was hopping with two cruise ships in port. The afternoon was sunny but a bit chilly. I followed the road along the canal past all sorts of restaurants, food stands, tourist shops, etc. and finally ended up at a great beach. Spent some time wading the Baltic Sea, and then walked back up shore a little so I could climb the lighthouse. Walked back on a road one block off of where I had walked before and saw charming little fisherman cottages, and then I headed back across the bridge to head back to the boat. I managed to stop at Karl’s Pier 7 to see how many ways they had found to use a strawberry (they found a LOT) and then moseyed back on the boat.

 

My niece had spent the day going to see Schwerin Castle on her own. She ran into a bit of difficulty when she got to the train station and there was a long queue of people waiting to use the kiosks to buy train tickets. Apparently confusion reigned supreme, so after waiting and waiting for people to try to figure it out, my niece went up and helped people. She spend two semesters in Europe: one on Poland and one in Hungary, and spent every weekend and break touring all over Europe, so she knows her way around a ticket kiosk and a train schedule. She managed to help quite a few people, but by the time she got a chance to buy her ticket, she had missed her preferred train. She still managed to make it to the castle and back to the boat before I got back from my little walk downtown.

 

It was warm that afternoon and sunny, so we went to step out onto our balcony to (quietly) enjoy the day. Boy, were we surprised to smell the strong smell of cigarette smoke on our balcony. Our neighbor who didn’t want us to talk on our balcony (which is NOT against the rules) had no compunction about smoking on his balcony (which is against the rules). Just like the sound stays trapped in that confined little space, so does the smoke. As soon as we opened our patio door, the cigarette smoke went right into our room.

 

If he hadn’t yelled at us the day before for talking, I might have just given him reminder through the barricade that smoking was not allowed in the balconies but I didn’t. I closed the patio door, went over the phone, and called to report him. If I knew how to type nanner nanner poo poo I would because that is exactly how mature I felt when I hung up the phone.

 

We had time for an afternoon snack and cocktail before dinner. We dined in Aqua, and saw everyone race in after their tours to Berlin which got back after 8:30 pm. Honestly, we felt a bit smug to be so rested and relaxed when these poor folks looked just like I would look if I spent half a day on a bus or a train going all the way to somewhere and all the way back.

 

I know some people probably love going to Berlin from Warnemunde, but all three of us agreed, there is plenty to see up by Rostock and with a lot less bother.

 

Note: Rostock, Warnemunde, etc. are all part of the former East Germany...and English is not near as common as it is at the Scandanavian ports or in other parts of Europe. Signs and kiosks often have English versions, but most of the people I ran into had little to no English.

 

The show that night was Yuri and Nato. Yuri is an incredible strong man (who can do sidewise pushups. You have to see it to understand it) and Nato does some aerial acts and hoop acts. Show was really good and well worth it.

 

A few laps around the deck after the show let us see the pilot leave the boat in choppy seas (I thought he was going in).

 

Day three: at sea day.

 

We had volunteered to coordinate the meet and greet, so after our breakfast, we got our stuff ready for that. Our butler helped carry the door prizes downstairs and set them up. We had (she says modestly) a really good meet and greet. Over 75 people had signed up and I think over 50 people showed up. Conversations were still going strong as the crew was cleaning up after us.

 

Day was sunny if not balmy, so that afternoon, we spent some time in a hot tub and dried off in the sun.

 

Different from the Carribean: No chair hogs, plenty (plenty) of open seats.

 

We went down to 5 o’clock somewhere to have a pre-dinner drink with mother, and again, explained that we got two drinks for free but needed to pay for the other, but he wouldn’t take my mom’s card and just rang the three drinks through on the cards with UDP. Now we are starting to see a pattern.

 

Different from Star before last dry-dock: Of all the improvements since dry-dock the upgrade to this bar on the 7th deck is by far my favorite. Gone is the heavy furniture and dark corners, in is bright walls and easy to move chairs. Loved this space!

 

The Captain's reception in Spinnaker was that night but we wanted to try to dine in a specialty restaurant, so we only got to stay for about 30 minutes at the reception. Unlike our previous receptions, the captain did not pose for photos and seemed a bit…aloof. Come to think of it, I don’t think the captain came to our meet and greet either.

 

Anyway, we raced out after only one free drink and a few shrimp and headed to Tepanyaki for dinner. This was our first time at a Tepanyaki on NCL…and it was … well entertaining. My steak and chicken were both very good. Mom’s sea food was good but a little heavy on the calamari. One thing that is kind of awkward is you get your dinner in bits. Here is your beef. 10 minutes later, here is your chicken. Oh, and vegetables? Those come later. I saved my salad to eat with my dinner, but when I wasn’t looking, they cleared it. And the desert (green tea cake) was not my favorite. When the first brought our bill (they bring you a bill so you can tip the staff) they had not charged for my mom’s dinner. I had to ask them to charge for her. All in all, it was kind of entertaining, but not worth doing more than once. Ever.

 

Show that night was Band on the Run, which I had seen and not loved on previous cruises so we gave it a pass on this one.

 

Next up: Estonia and St. Petersburg

[fabnfortysomething]

we were on the Star last May for the Norway itinery and also stayed at Adina apartments in Copenhagen

We had a studio apartment with limited kitchen facilities ie microwave oven not stove top and found the local Netto store lacking in microwaveable meals!

Did you find the full kitchen better for self catering as would consider Adina in future if cruising from Copenhagen

 

enjoying your review and chuckling at your revenge on your balcony neighbour!

[FitchburgWIFamily]

would consider Adina in future if cruising from Copenhagen

 

I would recommend the Adina hotel with the following caveats:

 

We paid about $230 USD for a one bedroom apartment, which is a pretty good rate for any accommodation. That is only about $50.00 USD more than we paid for our room at the CabInn City Hotel on the way back.

 

The CabInn City hotel had a great location and a nice lobby and common rooms, but the room itself was smaller than a room on a Train. The bathroom shower was the kind that you turn on from the bathroom sink and the whole bathroom becomes the shower stall. So space for price at the Adina is excellent. One bedroom apartment had a full bath, a small but full kitchen, a table and four chairs, a sofa, ottoman and coffee table. I think our entire room at the CabInn could have fit in the bathroom of the Adina apartment.

 

And, the next morning when we left for the boat: we could have taken the bus to the port easily (if not for mom and her walker and all that) but the cab ride was not very expensive.

 

And, the front desk staff was very helpful.

 

And, it is a good way to see the stuff like the Little Mermaid statue on that end of town.

 

However, it is not a good location if you want spend your night at Tivoli gardens or be close to city center.

 

So if you are just coming to town to look for a place to rest before you cruise: Adina. Or if you are coming to town and are willing to spend a whole day downtown, come to the Adina and take the train or a bus downtown and enjoy yourself.

 

But don't come to the Adina and miss Tivoli or Nyhavn because they are not convenient from the hotel.

[deefer]

Holly organized our meet and greet and did an amazing job! Thank you so much, it was the first meet and greet we have attended and you have set the bar high on our expectations for future ones. She had goodie bags for all!

 

Even though I was there, I am following both your and Brian's reviews,it makes me feel like part of me is still on vacation!

[molly2kit]

HI Holly,

 

We stayed at Cabinn after the cruise also and agree completely - lobby ok but room so tiny for the 2 of us and also we found it incredibly hot and really unable to sleep because of that. The breakfast was a zoo!

 

I much preferred our hotel pre cruise - Hotel Bethel which was only a little bit more but everything was so much better. The only thing Cabinn had going for it was that it was close to Tivoli and the train station and that is why we picked it.

 

I agree with Deefer. The meet and greet was really good and you did a great job. Thank you very much for that.

 

Marlene

[Kealy]

Following and enjoying your review. : - )

[Still Dreaming]

Love the review so far! Following

[FitchburgWIFamily]

OK...let me catch up on some photos before I do the next few days.

 

First of all...the very clean very easy to use train from the airport to downtown Copenhagen...we had to figure out which were the handicap cars so my mom could get in with her walker, but they are well marked:

 

 

 

 

From the Hotel Adina it was just a short walk to the park where the little Mermaid Statue is. Flowers were in full bloom:

 

 

And we took our obligatory photo of the statue:

 

 

But we didn't think that was the best statue even in the park: there were a number that we thought were more impressive:

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

But the best part of that walk was our walk around an in the Kastellet:

 

 

 

 

Even the swans in the moat mugged for the camera:

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Next are a few shots of our suite, a penthouse with balcony room 12012:

 

The sofa bed with the great view of the ocean:

 

 

The two chairs were over here to make room for the sofa to be made into a bed for my niece:

 

 

The large bed was made into two twins by the balcony. You can see what I mean about the draperies getting in the way of the one nightstand:

 

 

And here is the chunk of the suite the carved out to make the balcony:

 

 

And here is my niece enjoying a margarita in the Five O'Clock Somewhere Bar....as I mentioned this is my favorite redo in the dry dock...bright and open and inviting:

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Germany:

 

Here are a few of the pictures I snapped on the shore excursion my mom and I took:

 

Linden lined drives:

 

 

Seaside villages:

 

 

The little wicker cabanas all lined up on shore:

 

 

But the highlight was the cathedral in Bad Doberan:

 

 

With tombs showing the styles of the ages:

 

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Germany (cont.)

 

And stained glass windows for days:

 

 

But the best was the alter(s):

 

 

I took mom back to the ship:

 

 

and went back ashore for a little explore.

 

A tall ship from Russia was in port:

 

 

And so were its sailors:

 

 

Fog would roll in in waves:

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Germany (still).

 

Warnemunde is extremely easy to walk around: restaurants and tourist shops line the streets:

 

 

 

I managed to wade in the Baltic:

 

 

And climb a lighthouse:

 

 

and almost get a view of the ship from the top:

 

 

The whole town was lovely:

 

With old homes:

 

 

And new:

 

[Badger-Badger]

From a former resident of Fitchburg ..... Lovin' your review. 3 more weeks until we do the same cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Day Four: Estonia

 

I had signed mom and niece up for Scenic Tallinn, which with the $75 credit per port was less than $20.00 per person, so it was a good way for Mom to see some sights.

 

That left me on my own: footloose and fancy-free. This was a little vacation within a vacation for me: I had my Rick Steve’s Northern European Cruise Ports book loaded on my kindle, and I was all set to do the walking tour of old town.

 

Note: I really encourage anyone who is taking this cruise to get a copy of this book if you like Rick Steves at all. It is nice even if you take a ship’s tour to read some information about the history of the city and some of the sites you saw before or after that tour to help it all sink in.

 

His walking tour of Tallinn was spot on, easy to follow, and gave me all sorts of information about the buildings I was seeing. The day was gorgeous, blue skies, sunny, and I loved loved loved this city. Stopped a great museum that had a bunch of exhibits about how the people of Tallinn and Estonia have struggled to hold onto their identity through all their occupations. In the old walled city, I climbed up on the walls (which was a LOT more challenging than I thought…I do NOT know how anyone does that in a coat of armor, I had a tough time in tennis shoes stepping up the narrow tall steps). Toward the end of my tour, I stopped by the wall of sweaters (of course) and got myself a sweater, my mother a shawl (she was cold on the boat) and my daughter at home some mittens with some furry cuffs.

 

I left the old town, went to the fancy mall and used the restrooms (for a fee, of course), and on the other side of the mall, caught a bus to Kadriorg for a walk in the gardens and a bunch more pictures. Caught the bus back to close to the port and got back on the boat. If you exclude what I spent on my sweater wall purchases, I think I only spent about $10.00.

 

Of course, I got back on the boat in time for a cocktail and snack before dinner, and we dined in the Main dining room again before the show, which was Andy Bunger, the Power of Music. Andy was raised by a family who did cruise ship entertaining, and his show was pretty classic cruise ship entertainment. He had the audience laughing and he was pretty good.

 

Mom retired after the show, and niece and I headed off for a nightcap or two.

 

Entertainment and bars on the Star:

 

I commented on my review of our last Caribbean cruise that the entertainment in the atrium and bars was too loud and too in your face. On the Star on this cruise, the entertainment was the exact opposite. A classical pianist and a piano song man, an instrumental trio, and a jazz group. All of them were entertaining to listen to, but if you wanted to have a conversation over your drink or enjoy your meal O’Sheehan’s, you could do it without having to shout. Even the band that played the Spinnaker and other larger venues (Exoitique) wasn’t amplified past the point of tolerance.

 

Bars: having the unlimited drink package definitely changed the way I cruise a bit. We probably managed to hit 5 O’clock Somewhere almost every afternoon and I think we always managed to have at least on drink in Gatsby’s. Never hit the Saki bar, and the one time we went up to the Bier Garten there were no seats left in the shade. Our old favorite bar is now kind of sort of part of Moderno is not really as fun as it used to be. The pool bar, being the closest to our room, was a favorite stop on the way back to our cabin after a shore excursion. I know I didn’t drink my per day price worth out of the drink package, but having the drink package just meant I never looked at the extremely over inflated price of any drink. Oh, and it meant my niece always ordered call instead of rail (I stubbornly ordered rail just because). Bar tenders and wait staff were always available, no slowness in service noticed. And not once in a bar, despite my always telling them my mom did NOT have the drink package did they ever charge my mom for a drink. We paid for her bottle of wine which she nursed for the cruise and that was it. She probably only had a dozen or so drinks the rest of the cruise, but still, we couldn’t get them to charge for her.

 

Bar tenders and waitstaff quickly get to know you and remember your drink order, which when you consider how many passengers they see in a year is pretty impressive.

 

 

Day Five: Russia

 

Because of mom’s mobility issues, and because St. Petersburg is so formidable as a port, we had decided to book a private tour instead of risk holding up a whole group. After corresponding with quite a few, I found Stan Jacox who has two enterprises: Tickets and Tours and VJ Services. VJ Services specializes in customized itineraries for small groups and persons of limited mobility.

 

They provided a wheel chair, a van, and an excellent guide, and we set off on a two day adventure for about $300.00 USD per person ($1,000 with tips) overall. Stan was easy to communicate with via email and very very responsive to my questions and came up with a great itinerary for us that didn’t leave us feeling too rushed or make us feel like we had missed too much.

 

Getting off the ship we used the suite privilege of meeting our Concierge and walking off the boat early, which was good, because going through customs in Russia takes longer than anywhere else. We drove through a few neighborhoods, stopped for a quick subway ride (mom had to stay in van for subway ride as she doesn’t do escalators, and the subways have really really really long escalators and no lifts). The subway is really something everyone should do: the artwork in each station is different and wonderful. One stop, which is close to a manufacturing plant, was decorated with aluminum sculptures that highlighted the things produced in the plant. The next stop had frescos exemplifying good communist values: hard work, family, etc. Fun to see and well worth it.

 

Next, it was a drive out of town to get to Peterhof in time to see the fountains turn on. This was a mad crush of people and we didn’t tour inside of Peterhof. The gravity fed fountains are pretty cool, but it is also cool to see what they have done for restoration since WWII and to learn how they hid the statues and the parts of the fountains to prevent them from being destroyed. One of the main features of the fountains they hid so well they couldn’t find it and had to make a new one. Someday, someone is going to dig a whole and be really really surprised to find a giant gilt lion or some such.

 

We had a nice lunch in downtown Pushkin at a restaurant with a fixed but very good menu. Then it was off to Catherine’s Palace for a tour of the inside. If you like gold and frescos and murals and gold and mosaics and gold and inlayed floors and mirrors and gold, then Catherine’s Palace is the place for you. The Amber room: completely coated in Amber is not the most decadent room on the tour. Because Mom was in our rented wheel chair, we got to use a different entrance and a lift. We had to wear little slippers over our shoes to protect the floors. The whole thing is just so…decadent. There was more we had planned on doing that day, but we were all sort of sated and jaded and done. So, we headed back to St. Petersburg proper and to our ship and we were back by 5:00 pm. Time for dinner before the Russian Folkloric Show in the Stardust. This was an excellent show, with very very talented dancers and wonderful music.

 

After having constant narration through the day from our guide telling us when something was built or what it represented, I kind of missed that in the show that night: it would have been nice to know what the different costumes represented, whether it was regions or eras.

 

But in any event, it was a wonderful wonderful show and one of the highlights of the trip.

 

Next day, we did not have the advantage of the concierge’s early disembark time, so we tried to get an early start. We had to go back through customs (again) and met back up with our guide and driver. We started this day with a canal boat tour (a great way to see the city), and then went to the Peter and Paul Fortress. We had intended to see the church there, but everything was halted temporarily for a delegation from Cuba. All sorts of identical cars and guards in suits and official people sped in, cut to the front of the line and held everyone else up. We decided not to spend much more time waiting and headed off.

 

There were loooong lines waiting to get into the Winter Palace at the Hermitage, and having seen the Summer Palace, I was not that eager to go through another gold and gilt extravaganza. So, we headed to the General Staff building on the grounds of the Hermitage for a nice lunch in their cafeteria and then a great walk through their most impressive collection of 19th and 20th century impressionists and other works. Manet, Monet, Picasso, Degas, Rembrandt, etc. etc.

 

Our afternoon at the gallery was made more enjoyable by the fact that I had to kind of have a talk with our guide. Irene, our very knowledgeable very capable guide had a story about everything….every building, every room, every statue. It got to be a bit of information overload. So, at lunch, I explained that we liked to view our art in silence to enjoy it for what it is. She quickly gave us the spiel of how the collection was started while we ate, and she did an excellent job of staying almost silent while we toured the galleries. Every once in a while, something would just spill out about this painting or that one, because she couldn’t contain herself.

 

After the Hermitage, it was on to the Church of the Spilled Blood, which is a mosaic and onion dome monster of a church. And it was here that I reached my saturation point. The church is not an old one, it was finished in 1907. It was built to commemorate the spot where Alexander II was mortally wounded by a grenade thrown by a former serf who felt that the tsar’s reforms had not gone far enough. I don’t know, I am only a silly woman from Wisconsin, but if the reason your father was killed is because the lower classes thought he was a bit tone deaf to the needs of the lower class, is the best answer to build the most elaborate gaudy mosaic gilded church that has ever been built? The mosaics inside (and the entire inside is mosaic) are wonderful works of art, and the outside is post card pretty. But this is not a church used for worship, this is just a monument built by people who were tone-deaf to the needs of their people.

 

We again had a few more things on our itinerary, but we were all just done. Done being told when each and every building was built, done with gilt, done with gold, done with excess. We headed back to the ship and were on board by 4:00pm. Sorry Russia.

 

Anyway…it was a sunny day (our first in a few) and we had our balcony facing shore, so we went out on our balcony to enjoy our cocktails we had picked up on our way back to our room. And what do you supposed we smelled? Smoke. Again. And there is no other place it could be coming from than our neighbor’s balcony. I went in and called to report him again (I admit it, I was holding a grudge). By the time the floor officer arrived, our neighbor had left his state room, but they searched for evidence. He must have taken his butts with him, because they found none.

 

Mom was done in, and starting to feel the impacts of a cold coming on. She retired without dinner, and my niece and I headed up to Moderno to binge on meat. And binge we did. So much so that we missed the Spanish Ballet that night, which I was looking forward to. But Moderno did not disappoint. We had to give up before they stopped bringing meat. The salad bar alone is worth the price of the cover charge.

 

I’ll upload some pictures of Estonia and Russia and then finish off with the Scandinavian ports.

[jonj]

Thanks for posting

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[LTC]

Loving your review and pictures! Did this cruise a few years ago and this is bringing back great memories.

[cml4958]

Holly, enjoying the review. Looking forward to the rest!

 

Carrie

[Seminole1975]

We are hoping to go on this tour on the Getaway next year. Your review is very informative! Enjoying it and learning a lot. Your Mom is awesome btw! I hope I am cruising at 86! Wow!

[jmele999]

Great Review. We are doing the same cruise in a few days. Do you happen to remember the name of the concierge?

 

Thanks.

[JimAOk1945]

This itinerary is on my bucket list. I really appreciate you taking the time to post your review and pictures. I look forward to seeing more.

[callmehalia]

Great Review. We are doing the same cruise in a few days. Do you happen to remember the name of the concierge?

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Karin was the concierge.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FitchburgWIFamily]

OK…I promised pictures of Estonia and Russia before I went on, but I only have the pictures from Estonia ready.

 

Tallinn is a beautiful pedestrian very friendly city that is really a city within a city: there is the lower town where merchants lived and worked and then an upper walled city.

 

In the lower city I took in a museum in a form Guild Hall:

 

 

And lounged for a bit on the city square:

 

 

In the interior walled city I marveled at the Russian Orthodox Church:

 

 

 

And climbed the impossibly steep stairs to get on top of the wall (they get steeper the higher you go):

 

 

And I took pictures of everything:

 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

Estonia (cont.).

 

One of the great things of getting into the center walled town is there are some great vistas looking down over the outer town and out to more modern Tallinn.

 

If you look closely, you can see the piers and our boat:

 

 

Another great vista (look at how steep the roofs are! I would NOT want to be a roofer in this city!)

 

 

So, if you can find the humbly named Fat Margaret tower and go through the gate, it is well worth the time to tour:

 

 

 

After I finished with the old town, I took a bus out to Kadriorg to see the gardens. There is also a very good museum out here, but I didn’t have time to do it justice.

 

 

 

Plus it started to look like rain, and I am an absolute chicken about missing the boat and I wanted to make sure I got back on time.

Edited June 14, 2016 by FitchburgWIFamily
Fixing photo link

[FitchburgWIFamily]

I’ll post pictures of Russia soon. Meantime, I will pick up on Day 7.

 

Finland

 

A lot of people are disappointed by Helsinki as being kind of a letdown after the sensory overload that is St. Petersburg. To us, it was just the opposite: it was like going to a quite cabin after spending weeks in the crowded city. First of all, I have to give credit where credit is due: the weather was absolutely perfect: crystal clear blue skies and warm (almost hot). We were happy because it was sunny and bright, and the citizens of Helsinki were happy because it was sunny and bright.

 

Mom and I were signed up for DISCOVER HELSINKI through NCL, which with our 75.00 credit was about 35.00 per person. This is a short excursion that takes you to the scenic highpoints of Helsinki (the Sibelius monument and the Rock Church) and then leaves you at the city center for a bit to shop or get a bite to eat. Our guide was pleasant and for mom with her walker, this was probably the best bet. However, my niece got a 10 euro ticket for the Hop On Hop Off bus, got to see exactly the same things as we did, and could pick where else she wanted to get off. So, after I dropped Mom off on the boat, I bought a 10 euro ticket and we headed back on the loop. In the morning, since the busses were just starting out, they started from our Pier and went right downtown. In the afternoon, when we hopped on again, it went from our Pier to the other Pier before it went downtown, which made it a bit longer.

 

However, over all: the Pier to downtown would be a long long walk. In Helsinki, where the big scenic draws are free, the HOHO is definitely the way to go. Might be a good idea to ride it all the way around first and then pick where you want to hop off. I liked it better than our tour because it was easier for me to get off and take pictures of things I couldn’t shoot through the bus windows.

 

The rock church is wonderful. But my favorite stop was the Sibelius monument. Not because I am a big Sibelius fan, or because I love modern sculptures (cause I strike out on both counts), but because when I got off the bus at the top of that hill I smelled the pines and heard the wind blow through the trees and the air felt so good and clean. It felt like going “Up North” to a cabin. And after all the being herded and shepherded through all the gold and gilt and excess of St. Petersburg it felt so good to be outside in the quiet fresh air.

 

Anyway, my niece and I both enjoyed the old market building and the open air market and made the HOHO in plenty of time to get back to the boat for a drink and an before dinner snack.

 

Overall: Helsinki was a wonderful port: scenic, safe, easy. Plenty of opportunities to shop, dine, take pictures, or just walk around. Skip the tours here and do the HOHO.

 

Even though we had unlimited specialty dining, we all decided we weren’t really that interested in the specialty offerings, so we headed to the main dining room for dinner. Except for the Moderno and Tepanyaki, we alternated between the Main dining room and Aqua for the entire cruise. I only ordered on thing off the standard menu (the right hand side of the menu) the rest of the time one of the daily offerings (the left hand side of the menu) tripped my trigger. We had no complaints on service. And my mom’s little bottle of wine was brought up each time we asked. I would definitely recommend to any wine drinkers buying a bottle of red and a bottle of white (Billy Joel?) and using that each night. I think we paid about 50.00 with tip for her bottle which was a lot less than we would have paid by the glass each night.

 

Oh..and one other anecdote: I am not a wine snob…I am like whatever the opposite of a wine snob is: I like my wine white, cold, inexpensive and a tad too sweet. My niece did a wine course while she was in college and knows a lot about different types of wine, different vintages, etc. She can taste the tannins and the fruits and the type of wood the wine is aged in. I can taste that it might be better if I added a bit of Sprite. Anyway, on the ship they have very well trained sommeliers who serve the wine. It never failed: I would randomly pick some sweet German or other white wine (even if I was eating red meat!) and my niece would carefully pick the best wine to accompany her meal. When the sommelier would bring my wine, or my mother’s bottle (which I picked for her based on price) the sommelier would wax poetic on how wonderful my choice was: this is a great such and such from a wonderful winery that is just starting to gain notoriety as an award winning blah blah blah. And then they would poor my niece’s wine and say Nothing.

 

The show that night was Dou Elegia: a married couple who do a wonderful dance/acrobatic act. The best part of that show was an audience participation bit where they were trying to get different sections of the audience to clap in synchronization. Poor first section could NOT get it.

 

Nightcaps in Spinnaker (Rock Night) and then some laps around the ship, and it was off to bed.