Getaway July 18 Baltic Cruise

[NCruiser2012]

My family was on the July 18 to July 27 Getaway Baltic cruise sailing from Copenhagen. Rocklinmom did an excellent job of summarizing the cruise, but our experience was a little different than hers, so I want to share some of my thoughts.

 

The Getaway has become my new favorite ship. We have sailed on the Epic, the Star, and on Celebrity. I thought the Getaway was well-laid out. Our rooms were near the elevators. It did not seem like we did any excessive walking. We very rarely waited long for an elevator.

 

I loved the ship. I did not think it was too big, but we are used to the bigger ships. The weather was calm and we hardly ever felt the ship move. I had thought about getting an aft room, but we ended up mid-ship. I am so glad. The vibration in the very aft was strong in the restaurants. I do not think I could handle that for the entire trip.

[NCruiser2012]

My biggest advice for a Baltic cruise is to dress warmly. Summer is much different in the Baltic countries. I had a wind-proof, rain-proof jacket that I wore a lot. I also had a light sweater and a light sweatshirt. I wore the sweatshirt constantly for 9 days. I usually am the last person to get cold, but I wish I had packed another sweatshirt and sweater that I had left behind. If it is 68 and sunny, short sleeves are great. If it is raining, 68 is freezing. In St. Petersburg, there was a hail storm and it looked like there was 3 inches of snow on the ground.

 

On the ship, especially on the upper decks, I wore my jacket and sweatshirt all the time. There was lots of seating for the buffet outside, but it was a little chilly out there. My son talked me into the ropes course. I wore everything I had and was still a little cold (and terrified).

[pr0pel]

Thanks for checking in. Did you miss any ports?

[NCruiser2012]

Our first stop was Rostock. The ship arrived a little late. The crew told us that we should go to the public ares which we did. We had to wait a very long time to get off. Every time I would ask a crew member what was going on, I heard that it was the German authorities who were the problem. I take issue with this because, first, the ship arrived late and, secondly, the crew should have had a better plan for getting people off the ship. Passengers were shoving and pushing down the stairs. This was probably my biggest complaint with the cruise. This should have been handled a lot better.

 

We took SPB Tours to Berlin. I thought it was worth it. The trip was only about 2.5-3 hours, not 4+ as another poster said. We stopped half way for a restroom and snack break. It was an interesting ride. If it takes 1.5 hours to get to the castle, I think Berlin is worth another hour or two. I am a big fan of SPB Tours. The tours we took with them were well run and the guides very professional.

 

It was very hot in Berlin and crowded. Princess Kate and Prince William of England were in town and our guide tried to get us away from them and the crowds following them. It was funny that they kept following us. Everywhere we went, Kate and William would arrive soon after. They actually waved to us three times.

[300dtc]

Thanks for the tip! Was it warm enough in any ports for capris or shorts? It always looks like it's really hot in Germany for instance...did you utilize the stuff a bag with laundry while onboard? If you did when was it during the cruise?

 

 

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[NCruiser2012]

Thanks for checking in. Did you miss any ports?

 

We missed no ports and even made it all the way to Stockholm, sailing on the archipelago. That really was one of the high points of our trip. It was so beautiful and there were so many little red cabins. It made for a wonderful afternoon.

[pr0pel]

We missed no ports and even made it all the way to Stockholm, sailing on the archipelago. That really was one of the high points of our trip. It was so beautiful and there were so many little red cabins. It made for a wonderful afternoon.

 

Thank you. Can you tell me when you start seeing the archipelago and when it stops? We have a balcony and don't want to miss the action. We dock in Stockholm at 8AM and leave at 4PM.

[NCruiser2012]

Thanks for the tip! Was it warm enough in any ports for capris or shorts? It always looks like it's really hot in Germany for instance...did you utilize the stuff a bag with laundry while onboard? If you did when was it during the cruise?

 

 

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I had jeans and a warm pair of pants. I did wear capris for some of the ports. I was warm as long as I had a jacket. I did not wear shorts, but saw a lot of people wearing them on the ship.

 

It was 84 in Berlin, the only hot day of the trip. It was made worse by the crowds. I believe Rostock stayed much cooler than Berlin that day.

 

We did use the laundry special for $19.95. I think we got the bag on Sunday night, but they told us we would not get the clean laundry back until Tuesday night, two days before the cruise was over. We did stuff the bag full and actually got the clean clothes back on Monday night, although I saw the stewards delivering a lot of clothes on Tuesday night. At least we had something clean for the last two days and the trip home.

 

I wish they had offered the laundry special a few days sooner because we spent several days in Copenhagen beforehand. I did wash some things in the sink earlier in the cruise. I could not give up my sweatshirt for two days, so it was pretty dirty by time we got home.

[NCruiser2012]

Thank you. Can you tell me when you start seeing the archipelago and when it stops? We have a balcony and don't want to miss the action. We dock in Stockholm at 8AM and leave at 4PM.

 

You will sail into the archipelago overnight before Stockholm. I did get up once in the middle of the night and saw that there were lighted buoys to lead the way. You will see some of the islands before you dock at 8am. Leaving Stockholm, it takes a good three or more hours to go through the archipelago, so you will not miss it. I wrapped myself in the quilt from the bed and had a glass of wine. It was so relaxing! This was the only night we ate dinner in the buffet and sat by a window. That was an interesting perspective being so high in the air.

[Bean2010]

I am from Scotland and wore shorts every day except the last sea day when i wore jeans. I did not wear my cardigan during the day, except for the last sea day when it was overcast and for a wee while in StP when it rained, but was not cold. Rostock's weather was lovely and warm. It is a lovely place to walk round with amazing buskers and open air cafes. I did every town in shorts and t shirt, I took my cardigan but never wore it during the day.

 

Sailing out of Stockholm at 4pm was amazing and we sat out in H20 and watched the islands and other ships go past, it was lovely.

 

I used the laundry special too and got my washing back really quickly (although I did end up with an extra shirt which i returned!). They did a half price washing offer on the first day.

[NCruiser2012]

On our first day at sea, we went to the Cruise Critic meet and greet in Cagney's. NCL had put out a very nice spread and there were many officers who attended. The meet and greet was not well attended by passengers. If fact, I think there were more officers than passengers. Many NCL people handed out their cards and said to call if we had any problems at all. We met Silas, the cruise director, who was very nice. He stopped to talk to us every time we saw him for the rest of the cruise. I have nothing but good to say about Silas. He, of course, was everywhere during the trip.

 

The crew did not take questions during the presentation. They just introduced themselves and everyone left. I was hoping to ask about the issues with the Germany, but I never got a chance to talk to anyone.

 

The next day we received a plate of chocolates in our cabin. I guess this is the power of Cruise Critic.

[NCruiser2012]

I am from Scotland and wore shorts every day except the last sea day when i wore jeans. I did not wear my cardigan during the day, except for the last sea day when it was overcast and for a wee while in StP when it rained, but was not cold. Rostock's weather was lovely and warm. It is a lovely place to walk round with amazing buskers and open air cafes. I did every town in shorts and t shirt, I took my cardigan but never wore it during the day.

 

Sailing out of Stockholm at 4pm was amazing and we sat out in H20 and watched the islands and other ships go past, it was lovely.

 

I used the laundry special too and got my washing back really quickly (although I did end up with an extra shirt which i returned!). They did a half price washing offer on the first day.

 

My son wore shorts, also, almost every day. He did the water slides on the ship and did not complain at all. Where we live, it is in the 80's almost every day in the summer.

 

One thing about St. Petersburg: leave your coat in the bus when you go into the Hermitage. It tends to be a little stuffy in the museum. Unfortunately, when we went outside, we got caught in the hail storm.

[NCruiser2012]

St. Petersburg hail:

 

[tonywold]

On our first day at sea, we went to the Cruise Critic meet and greet in Cagney's. NCL had put out a very nice spread and there were many officers who attended. The meet and greet was not well attended by passengers. If fact, I think there were more officers than passengers. Many NCL people handed out their cards and said to call if we had any problems at all. We met Silas, the cruise director, who was very nice. He stopped to talk to us every time we saw him for the rest of the cruise. I have nothing but good to say about Silas. He, of course, was everywhere during the trip.

 

The crew did not take questions during the presentation. They just introduced themselves and everyone left. I was hoping to ask about the issues with the Germany, but I never got a chance to talk to anyone.

 

The next day we received a plate of chocolates in our cabin. I guess this is the power of Cruise Critic.

 

We did talk to Silas about Germany and he said that things got compounded with the late arrival and that it was the first time they docked in Rostock and there were more staff organizing folks the rest of the cruise to the point where we never had to wait to disembark at any port after Rostock. There was a delay through immigration in Russia, but NCL was very organized in getting us off the ship and the delay was supposedly a computer issue in Russia, but we made our tour with ALLA just fine. Silas, and the other officers at the meet and greet remembered our faces and grated us everywhere the rest of the cruise. I was greatly impressed with them all. This cruise had a different group dynamic of passengers from previous sailings according to the crew, but the behavior of some passengers did not diminish the great experiences we had because of the crew. We were lucky with the weather and wore shorts in Berlin, Tallinn, and had nice weather in Stockholm as well.

[easyboy]

Following along.

[EllieinNJ]

Following too.

[NCruiser2012]

We did talk to Silas about Germany and he said that things got compounded with the late arrival and that it was the first time they docked in Rostock and there were more staff organizing folks the rest of the cruise to the point where we never had to wait to disembark at any port after Rostock. There was a delay through immigration in Russia, but NCL was very organized in getting us off the ship and the delay was supposedly a computer issue in Russia, but we made our tour with ALLA just fine. Silas, and the other officers at the meet and greet remembered our faces and grated us everywhere the rest of the cruise. I was greatly impressed with them all. This cruise had a different group dynamic of passengers from previous sailings according to the crew, but the behavior of some passengers did not diminish the great experiences we had because of the crew. We were lucky with the weather and wore shorts in Berlin, Tallinn, and had nice weather in Stockholm as well.

 

I am glad you spoke to Silas because I never heard what the problem was. You are right - things were much better at the rest of the ports. Russia was handled well by NCL, but not by Russian customs.

 

I am curious, why were the dynamics different on this cruise? What behavior was different?

[NCruiser2012]

Our cruise was a little different than most. Our next stop after the first sea day was Helsinki. We took the Hop-on-Hop-off bus. There are two lines that look exactly the same. We chose the Stromma company which says "City Sightseeing" on the side. It seems that this line had more buses. I did not do a scientific study, but we never had to wait long for a bus and there was always a line for the other company. The cost was 20 euros at the pier. They took credit cards. The tram was not a far walk. Does the tram go to the Sibelius monument? I am not sure.

 

If you go to the Sibelius monument, walk on the other side of the monument and pass the tour buses. There is a very pretty cove with a place for coffee. We did not stop for coffee, but I have seen this place discussed on the Baltics board. The air was fresh and clean and everything smelled so good in Helsinki.

 

We went to the market and bought a few souvenirs. Shop around a little because prices did vary. I was looking forward to grilled salmon, but it looked like it had been sitting there for awhile, so we did not eat at the market. There are some nice little shops just off Senate Square. At some, the prices were as cheap as the market prices.

 

Last time we were in Helsinki, we ate at Strindberg and had a lovely meal in the upstairs restaurant. It was expensive but the food was interesting. We knew that the restaurant was closed for vacation when we visited this time. We ate at the first floor coffee shop which was not quite as good as the restaurant, but we still had a pleasant meal sitting outside. I had one smorrebrod and dessert which was more than enough food. If you need a quick meal, they serve food cafeteria style inside.

 

I know the bus is more expensive than the tram, but it is so easy!

[NCruiser2012]

NCL learned from Rostock. It was much more organized getting off the ship. Hanno was outside letting small groups get in line for customs.

 

St. Petersburg customs was awful. We had to wait forever in line. It was at least an hour and a half. I don't mind waiting in line if it is organized, but it was a mess. They need to get some Disney rope corrals. I did not think Russia had computer problems, it just took a long time for them to scan and type in everyone's passport. If that is their procedure, I understand, but it is the line management that was a problem.

 

We were in line, but actually moved backwards. People would go into the building, use the bathroom, and then wander right into line in front of us. This happened over and over, so we had to call people on this. They would just cut in line in back of us. Or, there would be 10 people in a group and each would be in a separate line. Then, when one person in our line got close to customs, the other 9 people would come over in front of us. The last straw was when a group of 30 people tried to convince the customs official that they were an hour late for their tour and the official was going to let them in the front of our line. Guess what, we were all an hour late for our tours. He finally made them go to the back of the line.

 

As I said, a more organized approach would have helped immensely. Again, this was a Russian issue, not something NCL could control.

[Travel R]

NCL learned from Rostock. It was much more organized getting off the ship. Hanno was outside letting small groups get in line for customs.

 

St. Petersburg customs was awful. We had to wait forever in line. It was at least an hour and a half. I don't mind waiting in line if it is organized, but it was a mess. They need to get some Disney rope corrals. I did not think Russia had computer problems, it just took a long time for them to scan and type in everyone's passport. If that is their procedure, I understand, but it is the line management that was a problem.

 

We were in line, but actually moved backwards. People would go into the building, use the bathroom, and then wander right into line in front of us. This happened over and over, so we had to call people on this. They would just cut in line in back of us. Or, there would be 10 people in a group and each would be in a separate line. Then, when one person in our line got close to customs, the other 9 people would come over in front of us. The last straw was when a group of 30 people tried to convince the customs official that they were an hour late for their tour and the official was going to let them in the front of our line. Guess what, we were all an hour late for our tours. He finally made them go to the back of the line.

 

As I said, a more organized approach would have helped immensely. Again, this was a Russian issue, not something NCL could control.

 

For SPB, we had a semi-private tour of 14 ppl. We all met beforehand in the morning and proceeded to the off ramp before they gave the okay. We were off the boat with a minimal line at customs (20-25 minutes for the entire group), and on our bus (the bus was there and the tour leader commented that we got out very fast).

 

I know it is contrary to what they announced on the ship (to stay clear of gangway until they give the okay), but being rebels saved us a lot of time.

 

Note: I was talking to someone that did the same as us - got off the ship and through customs early -- although he was on the bus early, others on the same tour did not get to the ramp early, and he waited for an hour on the bus for them to arrive.

[Seminole1975]

NCL learned from Rostock. It was much more organized getting off the ship. Hanno was outside letting small groups get in line for customs.

 

St. Petersburg customs was awful. We had to wait forever in line. It was at least an hour and a half. I don't mind waiting in line if it is organized, but it was a mess. They need to get some Disney rope corrals. I did not think Russia had computer problems, it just took a long time for them to scan and type in everyone's passport. If that is their procedure, I understand, but it is the line management that was a problem.

 

We were in line, but actually moved backwards. People would go into the building, use the bathroom, and then wander right into line in front of us. This happened over and over, so we had to call people on this. They would just cut in line in back of us. Or, there would be 10 people in a group and each would be in a separate line. Then, when one person in our line got close to customs, the other 9 people would come over in front of us. The last straw was when a group of 30 people tried to convince the customs official that they were an hour late for their tour and the official was going to let them in the front of our line. Guess what, we were all an hour late for our tours. He finally made them go to the back of the line.

 

As I said, a more organized approach would have helped immensely. Again, this was a Russian issue, not something NCL could control.

 

Thank you for doing this. I am following and taking notes. One would hope that since this ship has been coming to St. Petersburg for several months, that the immigration line would get better, but it sounds as if it got worse! Can I ask, what time did you get in line and what time did you get cleared from immigration?

[NCruiser2012]

For SPB, we had a semi-private tour of 14 ppl. We all met beforehand in the morning and proceeded to the off ramp before they gave the okay. We were off the boat with a minimal line at customs (20-25 minutes for the entire group), and on our bus (the bus was there and the tour leader commented that we got out very fast).

 

I know it is contrary to what they announced on the ship (to stay clear of gangway until they give the okay), but being rebels saved us a lot of time.

 

Note: I was talking to someone that did the same as us - got off the ship and through customs early -- although he was on the bus early, others on the same tour did not get to the ramp early, and he waited for an hour on the bus for them to arrive.

 

I did notice that they were letting people off the ship early. You were smart! We went with SPB, but did not do a semi-private tours, so, even though we waited a long time in line, we still had to wait for others.

[NCruiser2012]

Thank you for doing this. I am following and taking notes. One would hope that since this ship has been coming to St. Petersburg for several months, that the immigration line would get better, but it sounds as if it got worse! Can I ask, what time did you get in line and what time did you get cleared from immigration?

 

Let me work backwards... Our tour was to start at 8:30 am. We were to be outside customs by 8:00-8:15. The ship was supposed to dock at 8:00. I think we got off early, maybe 7:30-7:45. We did not get outside the customs building until about 9:30. Just so you know, all the tour companies waited for passengers. Our guide said this was unusual that it took so long.

 

It was almost as bad when we cruised two years ago, so it has nothing to do with the Getaway. This time I timed it and it took 2-3 minutes per person to go through customs, so you can understand our concern if they put 30 people ahead of us. I am not sure if another ship was in port or not. Maybe someone else on the trip remembers.

 

I did not monitor the other lines. We were on the far right near the bathrooms. The sneaky people came from the right. I am not sure if it would be better to be further away from the bathrooms or not. In the scheme of things, a couple hours do not matter. It was just frustrating that it was so unorganized.

Edited August 2, 2017 by NCruiser2012

[Seminole1975]

 

I did not monitor the other lines. We were on the far right near the bathrooms. The sneaky people came from the right. I am not sure if it would be better to be further away from the bathrooms or not. In the scheme of things, a couple hours do not matter. It was just frustrating that it was so unorganized.

 

Yes, it does sound frustrating! I would have been. So we need to count on at least an hour in the immigration line to be safe. We do have a private tour of 5 people and are in the Haven. Don't know how that will or will not impact anything, except that we will not have to wait for anyone else on the tour, hopefully. (My son works on the ship-I am hoping that he will be allowed to get off with us). Thank you so much for your information.

[NCruiser2012]

Yes, it does sound frustrating! I would have been. So we need to count on at least an hour in the immigration line to be safe. We do have a private tour of 5 people and are in the Haven. Don't know how that will or will not impact anything, except that we will not have to wait for anyone else on the tour, hopefully. (My son works on the ship-I am hoping that he will be allowed to get off with us). Thank you so much for your information.

 

I saw some of your other posts. Was your son Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet? We enjoyed this show very much. The cast is so talented.