Live from Voyager in the Baltic

[LinRon3]

On 5/10/2022 at 7:52 AM, pretzlaff said:

We got off on Sunday.  The airport was worse than I had imagined for a Sunday morning.  There was a long line to check bags.  The line for security was worse. 

 

We passed by the covid test place three times.  The first time was when we first got there and there was no line.  Second time was before check in and there was a fairly long line.  The third time was after check in and the line had not moved much in the 20+ minutes.  People from the boat were still in line and had not even started testing yet.

 

I don't believe that it ended well for many as they still had to then check in and go thru security.

 

We brought our own Binax tests.  Trouble was that the wifi was so poor the sea day before debarkation, that we tested at 5:30 am when we docked.  I used my ipad on the cell towers to get a solid signal.

 

I asked at the desk is they did testing on board for flying and they said no.  I asked if I could buy back up Binax tests from them, and they said no.  They said to 'get tested at the airport'.

 

If you have not left for the cruise yet.  Order some tests from emed.com.  If you are currently on board, self assist your luggage off at 7am and grab the first cab to the airport to beat the lines.

So did you have any problems with the Binax tests? DId wifi work or did you have to use LTE data etc? And how did  you get documents to show [we always want the paper copies if possible].  So many questions on all this covid stuff and RCL doesn't seem to offer much advice on it. Thanks though for any info.  

[pretzlaff]

No problems with Binax tests.  I would take three tho.  sometimes there are issues.  I did not trust the wifi.  It dropped out constantly during the cruise.  So I only trusted LTE.  I take screen shots of the results from emed.  That way if I don't have service at the airport, I just pull up the picture.

[marielco]

Along with the sail in the other must see in Stockholm is the Vasa ship in its own museum.  We did not go this time as we saw it some years ago. A 17th century warship which was recovered completely intact.  It is amazing.

we went to the top tier event yesterday afternoon.  Statistics for those interested:

 

Total C&A passengers on board 415

Gold 189

Platinum 65

Emerald 32

Diamond 74

Diamond Plus 52

Pinnacle 3

 

The person with the 3rd highest points on board was unusually a Diamond plus member with 664 pts

 

2nd highest a Pinnacle member had 961 and 1st was a Pinnacle couple with 1576

 

 

[marielco]

The ship the past two days in port has at times felt like the Marie Celest - very quiet. But it has not effected the activities on board, all are running as usual. 
 

We went to the first production show last night. Broadway Rhythm and Rhyme.  As the name suggests song and dance from the musicals.  
 

The clocks went forward one hour last night.   We are docking in Tallinn at 10am but All Aboard not until 7.30 pm. 
 

This cruise there has not been a port map in the Cruise Planner, not sure if this is just our cruise or new on RC.  The Shore Excursions have no port maps either. 
 

The Cruise director at the show last night said we dock near in so it is only a ten minute walk into the town.  He said the port authority supply a shuttle which costs €10 but did not mention a free shuttle.  We will find out more this morning. Temperature today in Tallinn is forecast to be 9c brrrrrr

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, marielco said:

Total C&A passengers on board 415

Did you get the overall total? 

[marielco]

17 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Did you get the overall total? 

The total number of passengers on the ship is 1,099

[marielco]

We took the port shuttle into Tallinn yesterday. €10 round trip there was no free shuttle.  Weather was cold, overcast and misty in the morning but it lightened up and the sun came out. 
 

Ice show last night was excellent. 
 

this morning we docked early in Helsinki.  The weather is lovely and sunny. 

[lionheart]

7 hours ago, marielco said:

We took the port shuttle into Tallinn yesterday. €10 round trip there was no free shuttle.  Weather was cold, overcast and misty in the morning but it lightened up and the sun came out. 
 

Ice show last night was excellent. 
 

this morning we docked early in Helsinki.  The weather is lovely and sunny. 

Do the shuttles run close to when ship docks or within an hour? Tickets ahead of time for shuttle?

 

thanks 

[marielco]

1 hour ago, lionheart said:

Do the shuttles run close to when ship docks or within an hour? Tickets ahead of time for shuttle?

 

thanks 

Shuttles were running soon after docking.  We bought our tickets at a booth on the quay, not sure if you can buy on board in advance.  They are rub by the port not by Royal Caribbean. 

Edited May 13, 2022 by marielco

[lionheart]

2 hours ago, marielco said:

Shuttles were running soon after docking.  We bought our tickets at a booth on the quay, not sure if you can buy on board in advance.  They are rub by the port not by Royal Caribbean. 

Thank you 

 

Helsinki is the one I need shuttle for Estonia I will walk 

[marielco]

I noticed the Port Merchants shop on the Promenade has been shut all week.  I Asked why this evening. I was told they are not allowed to sell alcohol or tobacco (in the shop) on this itinerary.  The shop will not open again until 4th September. 
 

Disappointed in the Casino.  I usually enjoy the 1c simple fruit machine type slots.  There are none in the casino. No video poker either. Lots of the big bling type machines but the old three reel slots a thing of the past. 
 

Theatre show tonight Danish magician/sleight of hand entertainer Martin Brock. Quite a good show. 

Edited May 13, 2022 by marielco
Spelling error

[rudeney]

57 minutes ago, marielco said:

Disappointed in the Casino.  I usually enjoy the 1c simple fruit machine type slots.  There are none in the casino. No video poker either. Lots of the big bling type machines but the old three reel slots a thing of the past. 

 

Bummer!  I'm not much of a slots player as I prefer blackjack, but it is disappointing to not have any of the traditional reel machines.  Those are so much more fun than video screens.

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, lionheart said:

Thank you 

 

Helsinki is the one I need shuttle for Estonia I will walk 

 

Tallin is a lovely walk. I even did it twice to get Laura a hat.

 

Came in handy a few days later😉

[wdw531]

On 5/9/2022 at 6:47 AM, colsky said:

It will be great to follow your posts on your cruise, as we are sailing on the Voyager from 31 July.

 

I'm interested to know about the leaving the ship policy, particularly in Stockholm.  I'm sure I read somewhere that you now no longer have to be on a ship excursion, in order for an unvaccinated child to leave the ship.  But, our itinerary still says that families travelling with unvaccinated children must purchase a RCL tour in order to leave the ship at a port of call.  We're in the annoying situation that we have a 10 year old who we are trying to get vaccinated before our cruise, but, according to our research and phonecalls with NHS helplines, a 10 year old cannot get proof of vaccination for travel, you have to be at least 12 for that. So we may have a vaccinated child who we can't prove the status of to enable us to leave the ship!  

We were on the May 1 sailing with an unvaccinated infant. We freely walked off in every port and never had to show documentation to leave the ship or to go to restaurants/shops/etc. The Cruise Planner online did still have the note about having to go on ship's excursions, but I think someone just forgot to delete it.

[LinRon3]

On 5/12/2022 at 2:16 AM, marielco said:

Along with the sail in the other must see in Stockholm is the Vasa ship in its own museum.  We did not go this time as we saw it some years ago. A 17th century warship which was recovered completely intact.  It is amazing.

we went to the top tier event yesterday afternoon.  Statistics for those interested:

 

Total C&A passengers on board 415

Gold 189

Platinum 65

Emerald 32

Diamond 74

Diamond Plus 52

Pinnacle 3

 

The person with the 3rd highest points on board was unusually a Diamond plus member with 664 pts

 

2nd highest a Pinnacle member had 961 and 1st was a Pinnacle couple with 1576

 

 

Interesting statistics.  We're always just trying to learn how many passengers onboard...and usually told 'they don't know' or 'we're not allowed to provide that information'  etc [in customer service and general conversations with crew].  You've even got the C&A numbers!  Again, interesting. So where does one go to find such stats anyway?  

[CatLadyFemme]

44 minutes ago, LinRon3 said:

Interesting statistics.  We're always just trying to learn how many passengers onboard...and usually told 'they don't know' or 'we're not allowed to provide that information'  etc [in customer service and general conversations with crew].  You've even got the C&A numbers!  Again, interesting. So where does one go to find such stats anyway?  

The top tier reception for those, and the loyalty ambassador for the general number or guest services will say sometimes.

[AdventureKenandCar]

Thanks for the info. I’m sailing July 3 from Stockholm. 

[LinRon3]

Yes, thanks so much to all the posters this thread for valuable information and general interest of the experiences people are having/had this cruise.  

[maggienc17]

On 5/8/2022 at 8:29 PM, KittyCruz said:

We're on this cruise end of July so looking forward to hearing about your trip and learning as much as we can

We are on July 31 and trying to make excursion plans.

[maggienc17]

On 5/14/2022 at 5:04 PM, wdw531 said:

We were on the May 1 sailing with an unvaccinated infant. We freely walked off in every port and never had to show documentation to leave the ship or to go to restaurants/shops/etc. The Cruise Planner online did still have the note about having to go on ship's excursions, but I think someone just forgot to delete it.

We are on this cruise also.  Trying to plan our shore activities.  Do you know what time we can board in Stockholm?  We will be there 3 days before cruise.

[colsky]

5 hours ago, maggienc17 said:

We are on this cruise also.  Trying to plan our shore activities.  Do you know what time we can board in Stockholm?  We will be there 3 days before cruise.

We're on the 31 July sailing too and getting to Stockholm 2 days before. We're currently picking our pre cruise Stockholm hotel and post cruise Copenhagen hotel. We also need to find somewhere to have our pre cruise Covid tests in Stockholm!

[marielco]

On 5/15/2022 at 6:34 AM, LinRon3 said:

Interesting statistics.  We're always just trying to learn how many passengers onboard...and usually told 'they don't know' or 'we're not allowed to provide that information'  etc [in customer service and general conversations with crew].  You've even got the C&A numbers!  Again, interesting. So where does one go to find such stats anyway?  

I asked the C&A Loyalty Ambassador how many passengers on board and she was able to look it up on her computer and told us 1,099.  The other statistics are always given at the C&A Top Tier event during the cruise. 

[marielco]

Left the ship yesterday morning and took the paid shuttle to Copenhagen airport.  You can also take a free shuttle to the nearest Metro station. One line goes right into the airport building.  The Metro in Copenhagen is very efficient, trains run every couple of minutes. They do not have drivers which is a bit disconcerting at first as you can sit at the front window as you fly through the tunnels. 
 

It took a full hour to get through security at the airport.  They kept apologising for the delay.  We saw a line at the Covid testing Center as well but not very long.  
 

 

[astangenes]

1 hour ago, marielco said:

Left the ship yesterday morning and took the paid shuttle to Copenhagen airport.  You can also take a free shuttle to the nearest Metro station.
 

 

I dint know there is a shuttle to the metro station? Do you know how often it goes? And does it also goes from Metro to the ship? 

[Nunagoras]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:55 AM, marielco said:

We took the port shuttle into Tallinn yesterday. €10 round trip there was no free shuttle.  Weather was cold, overcast and misty in the morning but it lightened up and the sun came out. 
 

Ice show last night was excellent. 
 

this morning we docked early in Helsinki.  The weather is lovely and sunny. 

Just to clarify the Tallinn port shuttle issue: Back in the day when I did it in 2014 or 2015, Tallinn cruise terminal was a very industrial cargo dock with some cruise assistance. Then, once we had the last possible dock so far away to the port gate, they run a free shuttle from the ship to the port gate done on a very old, ugly, soviet era urban commuter bus, obviously in very bad conditions, so basically like falling apart as far it went!... At the port gate we opted for the Gray Line HOHO that was rightly outside the gate. So: Do they have now a proper cruise terminal? Are they servicing it with a pay for good shuttle done on 21st century tourism busses? Do they still have the HOHO's available there?

 

Have a nice day!...