LIVE from Scandinavia on the Voyager of the Seas July 31-August 10, 2022 with Dragon of the Seas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

12 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

So excited to follow as we embark as you debark.  I am impressed with your plan.  Iam just trying to figure out how to get from the airport to my hotel.  lol

I am not sure where your hotel is located.  If I had it to do over again I would take the taxi after the Arland express.  This is a taxi stand right by the exit. 

[Another_Critic]

Just now, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I am not sure where your hotel is located.  If I had it to do over again I would take the taxi after the Arland express.  This is a taxi stand right by the exit. 

Remember that the next cruise is from Copenhagen, not Stockholm.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I don't think anyone will need to get from the Stockholm airport to the ship on the next one.

Sorry--had not thought about the fact we land in Copenhagen.  HaHaHa  Blame it on not enough sleep.

[irishgal432]

5 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I am not sure where your hotel is located.  If I had it to do over again I would take the taxi after the Arland express.  This is a taxi stand right by the exit. 

Thanks, but Iam leaving from Copenhagen, I will have luggage so Iam taking your advice.

[Sarah1974]

following along, and loving your review so far.  Have a great time

[DragonOfTheSeas]

After a short nap we got up and walked around the area some just to get our bearings.  As I mentioned Slussen is a transportation hub and busy most of the time.  It is currently undergoing a huge construction project.  I am not sure what they are doing. 

 

While the cranes take away a little from the views of Gamla Stan and the surrounding water are beautiful. 

 

We are Hilton Diamond members so we visited the executive lounge after our walk.  That is where I took this picture.  

 

 

 

I had identified a restaurant near the hotel for dinner.  It has great reviews and was very busy on the outdoor seating.  But, the inside had plenty of room. 

 

DH and I decided we would try the Swedish meatballs. 

 

 

They were great.  I was only able to eat half of them.  The waiter asked me if I didn't like the dinner.  It was a big plate of food. 

 

 

Tomorrow is the all important Covid Antigen test.  I will let you know how it goes.  

Edited July 28, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, irishgal432 said:

Thanks, but Iam leaving from Copenhagen, I will have luggage so Iam taking your advice.

 

Taxi in 2018 was about $70 to Nyhaven

[DragonOfTheSeas]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Taxi in 2018 was about $70 to Nyhaven

Yes, pricey--I can not comment on Copenhagen yet.  Give me a few days. 

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Yes, pricey--I can not comment on Copenhagen yet.  Give me a few days. 

 

Personally, I think that's a bargain based on convenience factor. Especially factoring in the jet lag we'll be experiencing 

 

Have fun in Copenhagen 

[adam7392]

Are you planning on going to the ice bar ? Might go in Friday evening to celebrate negative covid test - hopefully!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

15 hours ago, adam7392 said:

Are you planning on going to the ice bar ? Might go in Friday evening to celebrate negative covid test - hopefully!

No, I think we are going to the Happy Hour here at the hotel.  DH and I are pretty tired out from our touring today. Good Luck on your test.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The most important news of the day is that we are NEGATIVE!  Yeah!  So we are officially cruising.  

 

I did not mention it before because I did not want to jinx us but we have been lucky with with our cabin.  We booked a balcony years ago on deck 6.  About a month after final payment the prices went down.  We had already put in for a Royal Up bid on all of the suite categories except two bedroom and the Royal suite.  But the price difference was within a few dollars of what we bid for a Junior Suite so we did a paid upgrade.  The advantage of that is we get the points for a suite.  I went back to our Royal Up bids and removed the JS and adjusted the other bids down since we had paid a little more with this move to JS. 

 

Imagine my surprise when Monday we got an email that our bid for an Owner's Suite was accepted.  Hooray!  We have had a a few Junior suites when I got a good price 😊. . . and we had a Grand Suite once.  This will be a real treat for us. We will enjoy having breakfast in Chops Grille each day and since we have a dining table and chairs we might eat in for a few meals.  

 

We are by the elevator on deck 10.  If you pass by you will notice my Dragon of the Seas name sign on the door.

 

We got an email this morning from Gabriel Cecy welcoming us to the voyage.  He is the Suite Concierge. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Today was Covid testing day so DH and I set out for Gamla Stan about 9:20.  Our appointment was for 10 AM and we did not want to miss it.  It only took us a short time to ride the T-bana one stop from Slussen to Gamla Stan and arrive at the pharmacy on Västerlånggatan.  Describing this as a pharmacy is a misnomer. It is a small office with a desk, printer and 2 small booths in which they actually test you. There are no products for sale.

 

Here is a map of Gamla Stan [old Town]. You can see all of those places. 

 

 

 

 

After we finished our touring we went back and got a printed copy of our results. The first  picture shows the street around 10 am  this morning and the last two show it at almost 2 PM.  It was shoulder to shoulder.  At home this would be called a super spreader event. LOL

 

You do not need to be there at 10 am, but as early as you can get there is good.  It is a quaint little street and we enjoyed looking in the shops. It is the most popular in Gamla Stan. We did a take out lunch from one of the stores.

 

 

 

 

 

I am going to go back and get some souvenirs.  I did not want to carry them around today. 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

After the testing we were headed to Storykyrkan  ‘The Great Cathedral,’ [open 10-6]. Where coronations and weddings take place. It dates from the 1300’s. Admission is 60 SEK and includes audio guide. . .  but we missed it.  There is currently a lot of barriers and high  temporary construction walls around the cathedral and we missed it on the way in.  We were too tired to look for it when we left.  😲

 

I bought the Rick Steves Scandinavia book as part of my research.  He suggests that unless you have lots of time touring the palace will eat up all your touring time. It is huge.

 

He suggested visiting the Royal Armory. [side entrance of the palace] It is free and there is a lot to see there.  [weaponry, carriages, fashion, etc] It was enough for us.  

 

 

Look at this dress can you image wearing this?

 

There was a statue of Gustaf Vasa in the square outside the palace. I told DH he looked like Bonaparte

Edited July 29, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas
spelling

[adam7392]

Our tests results negative, so Ice Bar for us tonight.  Can finally realise we are going on the cruise after multiple obstacles (COVID test, airline cancellations, airport chaos, environmental protesters closing roads here in UK etc).  Will be taking ferry Sunday morning to the ship :).  Enjoy rest of your time in Stockholm and the Suite on the ship.  Will be exploring Gamla Stam tomorrow.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, adam7392 said:

Our tests results negative, so Ice Bar for us tonight.  Can finally realise we are going on the cruise after multiple obstacles (COVID test, airline cancellations, airport chaos, environmental protesters closing roads here in UK etc).  Will be taking ferry Sunday morning to the ship :).  Enjoy rest of your time in Stockholm and the Suite on the ship.  Will be exploring Gamla Stam tomorrow.

I am glad to here you are negative, too.  Enjoy the ice bar.  We will be taking the ferry from Nybroplan to the port at Frihammen, also. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

After the Armory we walked down the steep hill to the waterfront. 

 

 

 

 

We saw lots of boats there and we thought there might be a ferry. 

 

There wasn't a ferry there at the time and we did not wait.  We looked at a couple of the  sightseeing boats.  There was a Hop On, Hop Off boat that was 500 SEK  for 24 hours [around $50]  and an electric open sightseeing boat.  We decided to go with that electric boat since we already had transportation tickets. 

 

This is where some of you on this same cruise could add details of any boat tours you took.  

 

The tour was 1 hour and it was 26 SEK. My CC posted this as $51.06 for the two of us. 

 

 

I can not tell you if this was the "best" one to select.  Most of the other boats were bigger and enclosed.  I am sure that the enclosures are needed most of the year.  However, today the weather was perfect.  

 

Here is Eleanor our guide and Chris the pilot.  He had to duck under some of the bridges--but, not the one below.

 

 

 

This is a map of our route. [solid gold line]  You see some of the most visited sight from the water.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This will be a little out of order but I had trouble with the server at the hotel last night and couldn’t post the pictures of the boat tour.
 

I’ll do that later when we’re home. But we are at the vasa Museum now the number one tourist attraction in Stockholm. The Vasa was a war ship that sank in 1628 and it lay on the bottom of the Stockholm Harbor for 333 years before it was raised.

 

It’s a unique museum.

 

 

The ship is 98% original most of what’s not original our stainless steel bolts that they used to replace the resting iron ones and the new rope rigging. Everything else is pretty much what it was all that long ago. The really cold water in the harbor preserved the wood and even the skeletons of the crew that did not make it off the ship. 
 

this is a 1/10 scale model of the ship. 

 

At the back of the ship you can see the mini statues the ship was carrying and how colorful it was.

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

The plan for today was to visit the island of  Djurgarden. It is a city park with many museums. The Nordic Museum is the oldest. This building was designed by Carl Milles. I will mention him again tomorrow. 

 

As seen from the water:

 

There is also a museum dedicated to the characters of Swedish children’s literature, primarily the books of Astrid Lindgren. There are a lot on Pippi Longstocking references. 
 

 

 

I mention theses because they are very popular. You might want to visit. But, we didn’t visit them. Hahaha Our second stop was the Viking Museum. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[smush21]

Following along also and enjoying review. We will be on voyager on 21st Aug. 

[HUNKY]

I’m currently on board, hopefully Irene will be your cabin attendant. She is wonderful! We are in the Valencia suite. I don’t know where you were from but as a we are from the southern US we appreciate the wonderful air conditioning. Just a hint try to avoid the pepperoni pizza it is bad. In Riga, go tour the House of the Black Heads.  It is walking distance from the complementary shuttle. You can pre-book a tour for €30.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

1 hour ago, HUNKY said:

I’m currently on board, hopefully Irene will be your cabin attendant. She is wonderful! We are in the Valencia suite. I don’t know where you were from but as a we are from the southern US we appreciate the wonderful air conditioning. Just a hint try to avoid the pepperoni pizza it is bad. In Riga, go tour the House of the Black Heads.  It is walking distance from the complementary shuttle. You can pre-book a tour for €30.

Thank you for the advice.  We will be on the Voyager of the Seas.  I have never heard of the Valencia Suite.  

 

We are from Virginia and like air conditioning, too.  However, we have not needed any in Stockholm.  The weather has been perfect.  Sunny with puffy clouds and around 70-73 degrees each day.  

 

Thank you for the advice for Riga.  The House of the Blackheads was something I want to see. 

Edited July 30, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

OK--time for the Vikings.  I really liked this museum.  It is relatively new and uses various techniques to enhance the experience.  They use holograms, smells, things you can touch and feel [warmth of artificial fires], locations to take pictures with artifacts and things children can touch and climb into.  Our DGD would enjoy this decoding station.  You can see the other children's work. 

 

 

Their goal is to give a true overview of Vikings rather than the myth.  [food dwellings, clothes, etc]

 

 

At the end is an 11 minute ride.  The car has 2 seat levels and can hold 5 at the most. 

 

You tell them your language and the commentary in your car is in that language. Some reviews say it is a cheesy presentation.  It is not Disney quality, but, gives a lot of information within the story it tells.  YMMV  I think children would like this museum.

 

I even took a picture in the throne. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DELTABLUE]

Dragon...loving your pictures and traveling along with you.  Can't wait to see what is in my email each morning.  Keep enjoying and sharing your wonderful trip.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

OK, the server seems to be working tonight so I will go back and post some pictures from the boat tour.  

 

There were lots of other boats of all sizes in the harbor and the canals.  I thought they sometimes came pretty close to one another.  You had 2 cruise lines:  Viking and Mein Schiff. 

 

 

Then you had all the ferries going back and forth all day.  There were also canal boats for "under the bridge" tours.

 

 

 

 

There were even little zodiac boats.  Look at these bare chested guys.  It was a noce day, but not that warm. LOL 

 

 

 

 

Then there was this boat.  It is permanently tied to a dock.  It is a hostel.  😮 That would be an experience.

 

 

Our guide said some of the boats you see along the side are being used as house boats.  Getting a rental in the city involves years on a wait list.  Or enough money to buy an apartment or house.  She said a house was very expensive.  Students get to have student housing at a reasonable price. 

 

edit:  I am not sure why I can not edit out this second picture of this boats.  I have tried twice. I am sure it is operator error. 🤪

Edited July 30, 2022 by DragonOfTheSeas