Eclipsing Northern Europe by cruise : Basic black , and Baltic blues

[scubacruiserx2]

Qsine is especially fun with more than just a couple so I'm sure your grandson had a good time with all the quirky presentations. It's a fun place!!

 

Wondering how the motion was in your forward cabin on a windy sea day...if you had any of those....

 

 

We had hoped for a larger group but our CC group was fairly small . Perhaps because the cruise had originated in the UK , and children were still in school .

 

We really didn't feel any problems while underway . I think that the bulbous bow really did it's job and the design is very seaworthy ! However , when using the forward thrusters to dock or leave port - it was a different story ! :eek:

 

Here's a bulbous bow and forward thrusters from the HAL ship Zaandam .

 

 

Photo and article from Wikipedia :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbous_bow

[scubacruiserx2]

Joe, I am happy to see your Qsine experience as I missed it on the Silly and mean to enjoy it on the Reflection.

 

As it was sparsely populated were you able to get a discount in advance?

 

On our sailing it was selling for $30 pp at the table outside the buffet on our last night but we had decided to try the MDR for the first time.

 

Don't stint on the pics! (as if...)

 

Norris

 

On longer cruises like this one we like to try different dining options especially on the dress up days or days at sea . We did get about a $ 30 reduction pp by booking a 3 visit package in the specialty restaurants , in advance of our departure on this cruise .

[scubacruiserx2]

Enjoying your review! We're on a variation of this cruise which goes btb with the Fjords in August. Interesting to read about the passport issue since we will need them in STP! :)

 

 

Thanks ! That sounds like a great cruise(s) . And as Jackie mentioned below , you will have them before SPB ! Ours were picked up by us on the day after Bruges - our first day at sea .

 

 

You will have your passports returned well before St Pete!

[scubacruiserx2]

Thank you for the welcome. I am glad to be safely on board for this cruise. I don't EVER want to be a pier runner - even on a virtual cruise! :eek:

 

We couldn't agree more , but , to borrow the title of a famous Russian movie ( in Russia ) The Irony of Fate almost caused us to become pier runners in SPB ! :eek:

 

Or so we thought - at the time !

[scubacruiserx2]

This course was Pat's and my favorite

 

 

It's kinda like a buffet in a box !

 

 

 

A Greek and Middle Eastern sampler plate

 

 

 

 

The desert menu is a Rubik's Cube contraption which is opened to Tyler's favorite course .

 

 

 

 

A chocolate tombstone !

 

 

 

 

As I reflected on Tyler's tombstone photo , I asked Pat the other day what she wanted written on her tombstone ( she had a close encounter last year ) . She said that she didn't really know and asked me what I wanted . I instantly thought of an obscure Moody Blues song title . What am I doing here ? :eek:

[Gracie115]

As I reflected on Tyler's tombstone photo , I asked Pat the other day what she wanted written on her tombstone ( she had a close encounter last year ) . She said that she didn't really know and asked me what I wanted . I instantly thought of an obscure Moody Blues song title . What am I doing here ? :eek:

 

Ha ha....love it... I'd go with another band of that era...the Grateful Dead's line :

 

What a long strange trip it's been!!! :D

[scubacruiserx2]

Ha ha....love it... I'd go with another band of that era...the Grateful Dead's line :

 

What a long strange trip it's been!!! :D

 

 

Yes it has been !! ;)

[scubacruiserx2]

My choice for dessert was the Strawberry Fields Forever

 

 

 

 

And a Silver Bullet

 

 

 

 

No , not Bob Segar's band ! The Gelato at Qsine . :) :D

 

 

[dustball]

Dear Scubacruiserx2,

 

Thank you so very much for your wonderful report!! We are going on July 31st so we are so grateful for the info. May we ask a few questions?

Can you tell me what ports you docked at in Stockholm and Copenhagen (or if you noticed the dock was convenient to the Ho Ho bus). We intend to tour Copenhagen and Stockholm by Ho Ho bus, so just wondering...

 

Can you tell me where the wonderful chocolate shop is in your photos of Bruges?

 

Also, I am traveling with at 13YO boy as well! (Wish we were on your cruise or vice versa!) Can you tell me what things you did he enjoyed the most?

 

Thanks so very, very much!

 

Stephanie

[upwarduk]

We were on Eclipse Baltic cruise 25 th July 2015.

The Ho- Ho bus in both Copenhagen & Stockholm is at the port gate. You can buy tickets at Guest Relations prior to boarding.-

[scubacruiserx2]

After dinner we found our Eclipse Today on our bed

 

 

And yes , on our second day at sea the sun would be rising at 4:38 am ! We decided then and there to try to sleep in the next day .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally , can some one tell me what's right with this photo ?

 

 

 

 

The wayward kettle , and all that goes with it , had returned .

 

 

 

 

And although it was out of focus , we rejoiced to see it , and thought of all the joy that it would bring !!!

Edited July 7, 2016 by scubacruiserx2

[Tom Baker]

Dear Scubacruiserx2,

 

Thank you so very much for your wonderful report!! We are going on July 31st so we are so grateful for the info. May we ask a few questions?

Can you tell me what ports you docked at in Stockholm and Copenhagen (or if you noticed the dock was convenient to the Ho Ho bus). We intend to tour Copenhagen and Stockholm by Ho Ho bus, so just wondering...

 

Can you tell me where the wonderful chocolate shop is in your photos of Bruges?

 

Also, I am traveling with at 13YO boy as well! (Wish we were on your cruise or vice versa!) Can you tell me what things you did he enjoyed the most?

 

Thanks so very, very much!

 

Stephanie

 

I'm on the 31st July Cruise sailing with my 13 yo daughter and my 14 yo son. The Stockholm port will be S167 STADSGÅRDEN according to the port authorities website. I've booked and paid for the HOHO bus already due to the fluctuations in the £.

 

It cost me £88.80 including the river boat cruise for all 4 of us which I think is good value.

[dustball]

Tom Baker

Fantastic info! We are booking through British Air as we have a lot of avios points! Are you doing Ho Ho in Copenhagen?

Please bring your kids to the meet and greet and I will bring mine! My son would love to meet other teens (not sure if I can get him to the teen club!)

 

Thanks again!

Stephanie

[Tom Baker]

Tom Baker

Fantastic info! We are booking through British Air as we have a lot of avios points! Are you doing Ho Ho in Copenhagen?

Please bring your kids to the meet and greet and I will bring mine! My son would love to meet other teens (not sure if I can get him to the teen club!)

 

Thanks again!

Stephanie

 

We dock at Langelinie in Copenhagen which is about a half mile (flat) walk along the promenade to the Little Mermaid.

 

We shall be taking the HOHO bus from there. The HOHO picks up at the port, with long queues to get on the HOHO bus, drives up to the Little Mermaid, nearly everyone gets off to take pictures.

 

The secret is that seats cannot be reserved or saved on the HOHO bus, so get on there and take your pick of the seats on the top (open) deck (if it's not raining) Many people leave bags / umbrellas / coats on seats which is not permitted. I once saw someone collect all the left items and take them off the bus :eek:

 

We will definitely bring the kids to the meet and greet See you there :)

[scubacruiserx2]

Dear Scubacruiserx2,

 

Thank you so very much for your wonderful report!! We are going on July 31st so we are so grateful for the info. May we ask a few questions?

Can you tell me what ports you docked at in Stockholm and Copenhagen (or if you noticed the dock was convenient to the Ho Ho bus). We intend to tour Copenhagen and Stockholm by Ho Ho bus, so just wondering...

 

Can you tell me where the wonderful chocolate shop is in your photos of Bruges?

 

Also, I am traveling with at 13YO boy as well! (Wish we were on your cruise or vice versa!) Can you tell me what things you did he enjoyed the most?

 

Thanks so very, very much!

 

Stephanie

 

 

Your welcome . In Copenhagen it was the Langelinie promenade . In Stockholm it's the star on the map and the Celebrity shuttle bus went to the Opera House .

 

 

The HoHo buses were at both locations .

 

 

The Chocolate shop was the first one at this link :

 

https://www.choco-holic.be/en/shops

 

 

I'll have to ask call Tyler and ask him about the other ports , but in SPB it was the helicopter ride , Peterhof and the metro . And he loved the Khachapuri ( cheese bread kinda like pizza ) in the Georgian restaurant that we ate at .

[perfect match]

We couldn't agree more , but , to borrow the title of a famous Russian movie ( in Russia ) The Irony of Fate almost caused us to become pier runners in SPB ! :eek:

 

Or so we thought - at the time !

 

You and Pat pier runneers? :confused::eek: Based on all of your reviews I've read, that does not sound at all like you! :eek:

 

I can't wait to hear that story!

Edited July 8, 2016 by perfect match

[upwarduk]

You and Pat pier runneers? :confused::eek: Based on all of your reviews I've read, that does not sound at all like you! :eek:

 

I can't wait to hear that story!

 

Not sure what a 'pier runner' is!

New expression for me.

[Spike11]

Your welcome . In Copenhagen it was the Langelinie promenade . In Stockholm it's the star on the map and the Celebrity shuttle bus went to the Opera House .

 

 

The HoHo buses were at both locations .

 

 

The Chocolate shop was the first one at this link :

 

https://www.choco-holic.be/en/shops

 

 

I'll have to ask call Tyler and ask him about the other ports , but in SPB it was the helicopter ride , Peterhof and the metro . And he loved the Khachapuri ( cheese bread kinda like pizza ) in the Georgian restaurant that we ate at .

 

For the July 31st sailing, we are actually due to dock down the bottom of this map just to the right of where it says "fotographiska". As you can see it's much nearer to the centre, though the hoho buses will also call at this terminal.

Loving this review by the way - I'm avidly reading it every day!

[scubacruiserx2]

You and Pat pier runneers? :confused::eek: Based on all of your reviews I've read, that does not sound at all like you! :eek:

 

I can't wait to hear that story!

 

Yeah , we might catch the drama from the balcony but rarely do we get back late .

[scubacruiserx2]

Not sure what a 'pier runner' is!

New expression for me.

 

A derogatory term for someone who returns to the cruise ship late , thus delaying departure of the ship and inconveniencing everyone on board . In some cases they recognize their plight and begin running to catch the ship before it sails . :eek:

[scubacruiserx2]

For the July 31st sailing, we are actually due to dock down the bottom of this map just to the right of where it says "fotographiska". As you can see it's much nearer to the centre, though the hoho buses will also call at this terminal.

Loving this review by the way - I'm avidly reading it every day!

 

Thank you for reading and sharing this with us . It's seems that the Eclipse is using a number of different docking areas in Stockholm . Will you share with us where you obtained this information so that others in the future can make their plans from where they are docking ?

 

IMHO , you have the best docking to explore Stockholm on your own . This was the place which we docked at 10 years ago on NCL , and another NCL ship was there on the day that we visited . Our plans were predicated on docking there and we had to radically change plans at the last minute !! :eek:

[bengaltiger1]

We docked in Stockholm yesterday. We were due to dock in an area thirty minutes outside of the city, but woke up to an announcement telling us that the captain had been able to dock ten minutes from the city. They offered free services to guests who were had private tours and needed to contact the company to inform them of the change of location. I apologise, but I didn't take much notice of the names of the docks. We were on a Celebrity tour, which included a boat tours and the City Hall. The boat tour was not worth it. It was a single deck, covered boat and made for very poor photo ops. The City Hall was amazing and well worth a visit. If we visit Stockholm again, we will do it ourselves. The weather was excellent. We are in Tallin today and the weather couldn't be more different.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Spike11]

Thank you for reading and sharing this with us . It's seems that the Eclipse is using a number of different docking areas in Stockholm . Will you share with us where you obtained this information so that others in the future can make their plans from where they are docking ?

 

IMHO , you have the best docking to explore Stockholm on your own . This was the place which we docked at 10 years ago on NCL , and another NCL ship was there on the day that we visited . Our plans were predicated on docking there and we had to radically change plans at the last minute !! :eek:

You can usually find the docking information (expected docking) by searching for the port site for the particular destination. For Stockholm it is http://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/. If you use this make sure that you change the pull down men from "in port" to "expected" - otherwise future calls won't show up. For the Celebrity Eclipse call on 9th August you can see that it is Stadsgarten - which is the terminal at the bottom of your map - rather than Frihanman - which is where you docked. I think that Frihanmen has two or three berths for cruise ships, Stadsgarten only one (though a roll on-roll off ferry docks adjacent). Hope this isn't too much information!!

[Spearj]

Not sure what a 'pier runner' is!

New expression for me.

 

Have a look on You Tube for videos - very funny in a sadistic sort of way.

 

If you book a shore excursion through the ship they should wait, otherwise you're on your own :(

[upwarduk]

Have a look on You Tube for videos - very funny in a sadistic sort of way.

 

If you book a shore excursion through the ship they should wait, otherwise you're on your own :(

 

Thanks, just never heard the expression before.

We have done a number of ship's tours when we first started cruising, as we were afraid of 'missing the ship.'

Now we tend to DIY.

The Ho- Ho bus in Stockholm visits both ports; we fortunately were at the Fotografiska last July, but a P&O ship was at the Hamn AB. We stopped there on the Ho- Ho bus to pick up passengers. I suspect it depends how many ships are in on a particular day.