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PHOTO REVIEW! Zuiderdam's Baltic Adventure

Bostonjetset

By Bostonjetset,
in Holland America Line

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Reading your review & looking at the pictures brings back memories of our Baltic cruise on the Prinsendam.

Allan

 

Happy you are enjoying it!!

I'd love to sail on the Prinsendam one of these days.

 

Wonderful photos! All nice shots!

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

 

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying.

 

Love,love,love all of your beautiful photos!!!!!

 

Tivoli ahhhhhhhh[emoji847]

 

Thank you soooo much for taking me down memory lane.

 

Denise [emoji847]

 

Thanks dear! Xo. Tivoli is the best isn't it?!? Such a happy place.

 

Really enjoying your review and great photos too - looking forward to more! :)

 

Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying. I will continue this morning.

 

Great pictures -- I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread before I had breakfast. All those food pictures is making my hungry.

 

 

 

Loving your review and all the memories.

 

Hahahaha. And I didn't even get to the gnocchi picture from the Canaletto yet! Lol

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Day 4 [sea Day]

 

06/12/2017 - 11.05pm

A fairly standard sea day today. After a large breakfast, we lounged about until the "on location" talk about the history of Faberge. There was a small [maybe 3 min.] sales pitch at the end but mostly the talk was 40 min. of pretty interesting info about the history of the jeweler. Then we went to afternoon tea at 3pm in the dining room. It was nice but I do miss the Royal Dutch Tea and the Indonesia Tea which had ve both been discontinued according to our waiter when I asked. I shall mention this disappointment in my post-cruise survey. At 3.30 we met with the future cruise consultant and booked our March trip on the Koningsdam for the $100pp deposit...nothing to lose as it is refundable up until final payment. At 4.00pm we went to a talk about the artistry behind Russian souvenirs. Also very interesting.

 

 

I brought Agatha Christie's "At Bertram's Hotel" on this trip so read a few chapters after a soak in the hot tub. After that it was time to dress for dinner. On this Gala Night, I noticed about 60% had on at least a tie [most with jacket] and the rest were more "country club casual". The women dressed up a little more than the men. Very few tuxedos and gowns though we did spot a few.

 

The evening show was "One World", featuring songs having to do with the Earth, seasons, etc. It was okay but not the best I've seen on a ship. We will order from room service tomorrow as our "wake-up call" before our day in Tallinn. Really crazy how it is after 11pm and still light outside!

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Day 5 [Tallinn, Estonia]

 

06/13/2017 - 10.12pm

Tallinn was such a charming city!! We had planned to go to the Kumu Museum after lunch but we fell so much in love with the old town that we decided to skip Kumu and just wander around. We went to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the morning [after stopping for a coffee at a cafe with a VERY handsome waiter] and the inside of the church was just stunning & full of gold! Lunch was at Olde Hansa where we had a wonderful lamb dish with barley and DH had the bear/elk/boar sausage, service by another handsome waiter! Then, we just strolled around taking pictures and shopping. I got a very unique bird brooch made from wood and another brooch made from silver and amber. DH got a Russian lacquer box [even though we will be in Russia tomorrow!] and some local watercolor paintings.

 

 

Dinner tonight was in Canaletto and it was quite good...worth the $15 upcharge for the AMAZING gnocchi and shortribs alone!! Service was super friendly although it was a tad slow, taking almost 2 hours for dinner. I don't like to rush a meal but it's odd how 1.5 hours seems perfect yet 2 hours seems like it drags on.

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CruiseMGM

CruiseMGM

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Loving your review! We did a Baltic cruise 2 summers ago (on a competing line) and stopped at many of your ports, so we've definitely been enjoying your beautiful pictures. It was so much fun to see your shots of Copenhagen, as we adore the city and can't wait to go back. And Tallinn, ahhhhh, we just wandered around the old city, too. Loved eating on the town square (selyanka soup, FABULOUS!!!) and stopping in to the Hell Hunt pub for a brew and a plate of wonderful little sausages with a pesto cream dipping sauce.

 

We love the Zuiderdam and have sailed on her 2 times (the manager of the Pinnacle Grill is a favorite of ours, hope you had the chance to eat there [wonderful food for lunch or dinner] and meet him, too).

 

Best wishes!

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Loving your review! We did a Baltic cruise 2 summers ago (on a competing line) and stopped at many of your ports, so we've definitely been enjoying your beautiful pictures. It was so much fun to see your shots of Copenhagen, as we adore the city and can't wait to go back. And Tallinn, ahhhhh, we just wandered around the old city, too. Loved eating on the town square (selyanka soup, FABULOUS!!!) and stopping in to the Hell Hunt pub for a brew and a plate of wonderful little sausages with a pesto cream dipping sauce.

 

We love the Zuiderdam and have sailed on her 2 times (the manager of the Pinnacle Grill is a favorite of ours, hope you had the chance to eat there [wonderful food for lunch or dinner] and meet him, too).

 

Best wishes!

Thank you for the lovely words! I'm happy you are enjoying the review. I, too, adored Copenhagen! It's a wonderful city [there will be more pics later as we overnighted there on the ship at the end of the cruise] and is a place I vowed to return again...along with Stockholm. In fact, all of the ports on this itinerary were wonderful but those two felt just magical to me. Tallinn's old town is indeed special as well.

 

We did not eat in the Pinnacle Grill this trip though we have on past trips. It is a wonderful experience as well. Our next HAL trip is on Koningsdam so we'll finally be able to try Tamarind, which everyone raves about haha.

 

I'm enjoying your photos and narrative! We took the same cruise 3 summers ago (on the Eurodam), so much fun to relive these ports. I loved Tallinn too, such a charming town. Some of your photos look just like ours lol.

 

I'm so happy you are enjoying the review. There is loads more to come. I took WAY to many pictures in Russia so am still sorting through them. That will be next but I am trying to post the narrative and the pictures in order so it's taking longer than expected haha.

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Wonderful commentary and photos!

 

I hope you will continue describing the cold soups, the big winner for me in any HAL MDR.

Pear is a fav, but have not had the kiwi-melon. That type is the "gazpacho" kind and OK, but the cream fruit soups.... Wow!

 

Noticed on our Europe cruise in March that there was no Indonesian or Dutch Tea either. Dam! Regualr Tea was held in the Explorer's Lounge, so at least you got the MDR, which is a nicer set up.

Did you have the "Classic Tea"? Ours was on Gala nights: special little cakes and such served on the 3 tiered tray at each table. Nice.

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Wonderful commentary and photos!

 

I hope you will continue describing the cold soups, the big winner for me in any HAL MDR.

Pear is a fav, but have not had the kiwi-melon. That type is the "gazpacho" kind and OK, but the cream fruit soups.... Wow!

 

Noticed on our Europe cruise in March that there was no Indonesian or Dutch Tea either. Dam! Regualr Tea was held in the Explorer's Lounge, so at least you got the MDR, which is a nicer set up.

Did you have the "Classic Tea"? Ours was on Gala nights: special little cakes and such served on the 3 tiered tray at each table. Nice.

Thank you my dear!!!

 

I agree about HAL's cold soups...WONDERFUL. All were delicious save for the kiwi-melon one. I love gazpacho but this was just a bit odd. The lingonberry was the best of this trip and I've never seen it before [perhaps it is only on the itineraries that include Sweden?]. The pear was also wonderful as was the mango.

 

We did have the classic tea with the tiered tray. It was a nice presentation and was in the MDR. I believe only the 2 "classic teas" were in the MDR whilst the other days were in the Explorer's Lounge. I miss the sausage rolls at the Dutch Tea though!!

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Thank you my dear!!!

 

I agree about HAL's cold soups...WONDERFUL. All were delicious save for the kiwi-melon one. I love gazpacho but this was just a bit odd. The lingonberry was the best of this trip and I've never seen it before [perhaps it is only on the itineraries that include Sweden?]. The pear was also wonderful as was the mango.

 

We did have the classic tea with the tiered tray. It was a nice presentation and was in the MDR. I believe only the 2 "classic teas" were in the MDR whilst the other days were in the Explorer's Lounge. I miss the sausage rolls at the Dutch Tea though!!

 

Yes! Sausage rolls. And the chicken and mushroom in party!

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Bostonjetset Great Review Rare

Bostonjetset

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Day 6 [st. Petersburg, Russia]

 

06/14/2017 - 10.09pm

St. Petersburg was absolutely stunning!! The baroque palaces, onion-domed churches, and the grand Nevsky Prospect were all truly breathtaking. It really was an exhausting day though. We started at the Hermitage with an early entry and thank God for that as we had many rooms in the Winter Palace to ourselves before the crowds arrived. Next was Peter and Paul Cathedral to see the tombs of the Romanovs. We had a wonderful lunch included with our tour that consisted of cabbage soup, chicken Kiev, and some eclairs. Beer or a glass of wine was served and the meal finished with tea or coffee.

 

 

After lunch we went to Catherine's Palace which was gorgeous [with lovely grounds] but WAY too crowded. Two and one half hours of line and line, mostly just to get a glimpse of the fabulous Amber Room [though all rooms were beautiful]. I am truly glad we passed on an evening tour as we are really worn out and have another busy day tomorrow. I will say that we could not be more pleased with Alla Tours. Our guide, Alexandra, is fantastic and or driver is professional and efficient [even though a bit quite]. We paid less than the people on HAL tours and got more sights & a much smaller group [max is 16 but we only have 12]. Not a lot of time for shopping though I did get a pretty nice Matryoshka doll for the equivalent of about $40 USD.

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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What were the temperatures for you? We laugh that we picked the wrong year to go -- in the 90's everywhere and we were told it was highly unusual. This was a few weeks later than your cruise and included a 10-day northern Europe cruise immediately before the Baltic. So 90's from London to St. Petersburg.

 

St. Petersburg is definitely a port best seen with a private tour. We toured with SBP a total of 22 hours over 2 days. :eek: I know how tired you were! Thanks again for the great review!

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