Not so baltic in the Baltic - July 20 -August 1st Best of Scandinavia on the Apex

[SandyR5]

LOVED reading your posts. We were supposed to be on the ship with you, BUT I tested positive 2 days before…3hours before we were leaving for the airport. 😥. Rebooked for next year. Wonderful reports. 

[Scottishclover]

13 hours ago, txtechmk said:

We did this same cruise (with exception of one or two ports) in late May early June and had a wonderful time.  I enjoyed your pictures and you have a lovely family.  The Apex is a great ship indeed.  Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying the review. I agree about the Apex - we were very impressed with all aspects. The staff were so friendly and the service top notch. I know people say you should pick itinerary over ship but I think we have been spoiled by the Apex. While the ports were stunning, the Apex added to the  experience. 

[Scottishclover]

10 hours ago, calicakes said:

Could you find good GF bread in the ports?  I would have bought a loaf and asked the waiter at the buffet or OV cafe to toast it.  I don't eat beef, so I tend to stick to the Indian food at the buffet.  

 

I consider myself "plant based" more than vegan( I do eat pasture raised eggs and pasture raised chicken).  We decided to try out Oceania after someone on one of my live blogs suggested it.  I was complaining about some of the food on Celebrity.   I think I'm going to request some special vegan/vegetarian meals on cruise next month. 

We also find Indian food is a go to. Generally gluten free too. We are very lucky to have an award winning Indian restaurant in the small town we live in near Edinburgh.

There was always a good selection of gluten free products in the ports. A lot of the bread was brown and seeded, which DH prefers instead of the white loaves. In Stockmann’s in Helsinki ( see Helsinki post) the selection was amazing. There was also a good selection of gluten free crisp bread, well it’s Scandinavia after all. In truth, most supermarkets in Europe have a good selection. The worst selection and the most expensive in our experience, is in the US.

 

The whole berry situation got to me a bit. Scotland is berry central in the months June to Sept so we are used to eating a lot, especially at breakfast. Local berries were everywhere in the ports, it just seemed like an opportunity missed.  I did have a granola bowl in Eden one morning and there were a couple of rogue blueberries on it. 
 

I’m sure you will enjoy your Oceania cruise. My dad is a real foodie and that’s his cruise company of choice for that reason.

[Scottishclover]

6 hours ago, SandyR5 said:

LOVED reading your posts. We were supposed to be on the ship with you, BUT I tested positive 2 days before…3hours before we were leaving for the airport. 😥. Rebooked for next year. Wonderful reports. 

So sorry you missed the cruise. What bad timing. I hope you weren’t too I’ll. I’m pleased you’re enjoying the review and it’s hopefully helpful for your trip next year. I think the ship docks at Warnemuende instead of Bornholm? I used to live in Rostock and so know the area really well. There’s lots to see and do if you don’t want to do the long trip to Berlin. If you need any suggestions let me know. 

[vickykay]

Sandy,

 

Sorry to hear you caught Covid and hope you’re doing well.  When is the cruise next year?  

[Scottishclover]

Stockholm Day 1

 

Walk to Gamla Stan : 30 mins ( we docked in Stadsgarden, not Frihammnen) 

 

Coffee prices:  Expensive but doable. Well we had a couple in the chain Espressso House, which I think is probably cheaper than a lot of places. 

 

Our Highlights: So difficult to decide.The sail in and out the archipelago is absolutely not to be missed. Stockholm has such a beautiful location on the water.

 

Our tip: Plan and prioritise. There is so much to see and do and you won’t be able to achieve everything. We were lucky to have an overnight in port.

 

If anyone is expecting a review here of the Abba museum, you will be sorely disappointed. Shock horror, we are not Abba fans and I think we were probably the only ones on the ship who didn’t go to the museum! There was a Abba sing-a-long in The Club , which I peeked my head into, but didn’t stay for. It was packed - I reckon there was some covid caught that night. We chose to go to Night of the Chill in Eden instead with Georgia Nasr the solo guitarist, who we thought was excellent.

 

Anyway, back to Stockholm. Why have we never been here before? I kept asking myself. With daily, short flights from Edinburgh we had been missing a trick. Our plan was Day 1 : Gamla Stan area and Day 2: Djurgarden. Up until now in ports we had pretty much done our own thing. In Stockholm we had a free Gamla Stan tour booked with Nordic Freedom Tours and also booked a tour inside Stadhuset (city hall). Be aware,  there is a lot of construction at Slussen so the walk in was not as scenic as it might have been.

View of Djurgarden from the ship.

 

Stortorget. It was pretty busy.

 

Praestgatan( Not the right spelling - apologies to all Swedes but translates to Priests Street) 

 

View of the German Church. Most of Gamla Stan is painted in these muted red/ orange/ yellow tones.
 

We very much enjoyed the tour from Hanna at Nordic Freedom Tours. Just the right mix of history and humour.Would recommended. It lasted around an hour and a half.

Everywhere you looked there were imposing buildings.

 

After our tour, the girls had a vegan waffle concoction from a shop on the main tourist drag. They also had gluten free but DH didn’t want to risk it, in case there was cross- contamination. DDs wanted to find a supermarket to search for something they remembered from our last trip to Sweden in 2016. They found it:

They haven’t outgrown toilet humour and still thought this chocolate bar name was hilarious. Some things just don’t translate well … 🤦‍♀️

Then we headed over to city hall. It’s a beautiful building inside and out and totally worth doing the guided tour. You can’t book online but have to get tickets on the day. We had no problem getting tickets. The Blue Room, where the Nobel Prize Banquet is held, was being renovated but the star attraction is the Gold Room, each wall made from thousands of mosaics. It portrays Sweden’s history and culture.

There was a lovely inner courtyard.

 

This wall in the Gold Room depicts Sweden’s view of the world at the time the building was built.

 

After our tour we walked back to the ship for dinner. On our way we passed Fotografiska, a photography museum. So in the evening while DH and DD2 were busy winning the Bullseye Challenge game show, ( they would not have forgiven me if I didn’t include that little nugget of information 😂) me and DD1 headed out for some more culture as the museum was open until 11pm. There was an exhibition of renowned celebrity photographer Terry O’Neill’s work. We both enjoyed it but it was VERY expensive to get in. We decided to keep the entry price quiet from DH, but he was too busy basking in his archery glory to bother!

 

 

 

[SandyR5]

Thanks. All I had was a stuffy nose, but enough to test positive. 😥. We rebooked as a b2b with the Iceland/Ireland we had previously booked for next year. Now 24 consecutive days on Apex. ☺️  We have never been onboard for so long!  Yes, they have substituted Berlin for Riga. We were in Warnemunde once before and toured so we’ll go to Berlin this time. We also do the “free” walking tours in most ports. They are absolutely the best. We have been to most of the ports on both trips before, but they are some of our favorite places and we love revisiting, wandering the cities, stopping for lunch or drink or coffee and just loving the fact that we can do this. 

[calicakes]

5 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

I’m sure you will enjoy your Oceania cruise. My dad is a real foodie and that’s his cruise company of choice for that reason.

We did our Oceania cruise in February, it was amazing.  Next month is Italy/Greece/Montenegro on Celebrity. 

[Scottishclover]

Stockholm Day 2

We were up at the crack of dawn today with one main mission - to get to  the Vasa Museum for opening. We had planned to get commuter ferry 80 and although we could see the jetty there was another waterway stopping us from getting there. Instead, we caught the hourly MS Emelie from a dock about 50m from the Apex over to Djurgarden. It was expensive for a 10 min journey but a very convenient option. While we were waiting, we had a lovely chat with marine scientist, Dr Jack Hardy, who was the Beyond the Podium speaker on our cruise. 
 

I wasn’t sure how this museum would go down with everyone but it is the number one thing to do in Stockholm. I can understand why . The museum was so interesting and the information on the restoration of the warship was particularly well curated. You can actually download an audio guide on your phone for extra information. We went to watch the film first, which gives a good overview.How the ship was pieced together for restoration was fascinating.

The detail in the wood carving was incredible. 
Shows the imposing size of the figurehead, made to strike fear into the hearts of any enemy.

 

You could spend days going around the different museums on Djurgarden  ( including the Abba one , if you really must, but we decided to walk over to Ostermalm on our way back to the ship. Things were beginning to get busy on the waterfront.

There were boats everywhere. You could hire electric boats, kayaks and pedalos to explore Stockholm from the water.

 

It was developing into a glorious day weather-wise for our sail out through the archipelago and the deck was full of people taking advantage of the wonderful views. Here’s a wee selection:

Some islands were littered with summer houses.

 

Some people are obviously searching for solitude….

 

Various sized boats crisscrossed the archipelago. Sailing yachts were especially popular.

 

Final Thoughts Stockholm: As the biggest city in Scandinavia there’s so much to see and do. The overnight stop here was an excellent replacement for St Petersburg. 
 

Would we go back? Definitely! As beautiful as it would be under a blanket of snow,  I think it’s a real summertime city though. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

54 minutes ago, Scottishclover said:

..'Final Thoughts Stockholm: As the biggest city in Scandinavia there’s so much to see and do. The overnight stop here was an excellent replacement for St Petersburg. 

 

Stockholm is a great place but I'm not sure I would equate it with St Petersburg.  However, under the current conditions, St Petersburg may not be an option for a while.

[Country_Cruiser67]

Thoroughly enjoying your review. Thank you for sharing a different perspective rather than the usual fare!

[irvington]

So wonderful to read this. I plan to go on this itinerary next summer with my two sons in their early 20s and I can imagine us doing a lot of the same things.

[Scottishclover]

9 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Stockholm is a great place but I'm not sure I would equate it with St Petersburg.  However, under the current conditions, St Petersburg may not be an option for a while.

What I actually meant here was that in terms of the ports we were at, for us, I think Stockholm was the best place to have the overnight stop. More options than in other places in terms of museums, attractions etc. Copenhagen would also make a good overnight stop but we have been there a couple of times already. We have travelled a lot and find it very difficult to compare cities, as each one has its own charms. It’s all very subjective - even in our own family, we all had different,  favourite Baltic ports.

[Scottishclover]

8 hours ago, Country_Cruiser67 said:

Thoroughly enjoying your review. Thank you for sharing a different perspective rather than the usual fare!

You are very welcome. Everyone gets something different from a review. For some, the focus is on food and drink and that’s a big part of the cruise so I get that. For our family it was more about the ports and on board activities.

[Scottishclover]

4 hours ago, irvington said:

So wonderful to read this. I plan to go on this itinerary next summer with my two sons in their early 20s and I can imagine us doing a lot of the same things.

Thank you. Before the cruise, I was worried there wouldn’t be a lot of younger people on this itinerary and our girls( 17 and 19)  might feel a bit out of place. How wrong I was. They had a great time, so much so that we booked to go on the Beyond next year and they both want to come. The Baltic is really a great itinerary.

[vickykay]

Very much enjoying your review!  We did this cruises several years ago and loved loved Talin.  So magical.  Thanks so much for all the photos.  We’re also big fans of Stockholm.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[Scottishclover]

On-Board Activities

Our cruise had 4 sea days and I had wondered if we would get bored easily.This was absolutely not the case. Between trivia, fitness classes, visits to cafe al bacio, game shows, archery, more visits to cafe al bacio ……… we filled the time very easily. There really was something for everybody. From cooking demos to art classes to matinee shows, Celebrity cover every angle.  The App gave me a good idea of what to expect by looking at the activities on the previous cruise. Just a little gripe: DD2 had some reading to do for school and found it hard to find a quiet space. Most days she ended up in the solarium.  Even the background music in Eden in the mornings was a bit distracting. 
 

We seemed to get into the habit of being runner- ups at trivia. We found on Disney the music and general knowledge quizzes to be aimed at an American audience, this wasn’t the case on Celebrity. Embarrassingly,  we could not answer the question about the national animal of Scotland. Maybe that’s because unicorns aren’t actually real??!!

Combining two of our favourite things - coffee and 80s music - during musical bingo in the Grand Plaza.

 

We got into quite a routine in the evenings. Dinner followed by the game show and pub quiz in The Club,  then the show in the theatre at 9:30. The game shows were quite fun. DD1 was persuaded to take part one night but most of the time we just enjoyed “spectating”. There really was plenty going on late and lots of atmosphere. I was totally impressed by all the main shows. I heard there was only one guest act that wasn’t well received in the 12 days on board and luckily we had decided not to go that night. Celebrity did a great job with all aspects of entertainment. There was something for all ages. 

Photographic evidence of some dad dancing at the Pride Party in Eden.
 

Probably my biggest complaint was the shopping. Do people actually buy anything from all those designer shops? Such a waste of space. Not once did I ever see anyone in the Mont Blanc shop, never mind buying anything. It must have been a long day for the poor lady working in there. 
 

Next post will be about our time in Copenhagen. SPOILER ALERT: Other than DD2 we did not enjoy our day there that much.

[peanut head]

This has to be one of the best reviews I have ever read on CC.  Your description, humor, overall writing style and details are unsurpassed.  Please don't ever hesitate to write another review in the future.  Thank you!

[Scottishclover]

Copenhagen

Walk to centre:  Around a half hour to Nyhavn. We were docked at Langelinie though. Kudos to Celebrity for that.  From Oceankaj, it’s not really walkable. However note that no shuttles were offered from this port for some reason.
 

Coffee Prices: Similar to Sweden ( I used to think Denmark was the cheapest of all the Nordic countries, not so sure now) 
 

Our Highlights: Leaving Tivoli 😂

 

Our tips: If you are doing a canal tour make it the first thing you do. The difference in the queue in the afternoon from the morning was ridiculous!

 

Okay, here’s what we should have done - gone to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art or some other suchlike cultural endeavour outside of the city. Here’s what we did - spent the day at Tivoli Gardens 😱

 

Now I really need to explain my poor choice here. We have been to Copenhagen twice before,  in 2011 and 2016, so have down a lot of the touristy things already like canal tours, National museum, Round Tower etc. DD2 harped on and on about going to Tivoli, even though we have been twice before, and the heat must have went to my head or something, because before I knew it, she had nagged me into submission.
 

The day actually started well with a lovely walk from the ship to Nyhavn, past The Little Mermaid ( make sure you lower your expectations, it’s not exactly Michelangelo’s David),  and Amelienborg Palace. We arrived to a relatively peaceful scene at Nyhavn with a few Danes having a Saturday brunch at the outside cafes.

The walk along the water was really quite pleasant. There were lots of locals out running the route.

 

Entrance to Amelienborg Palace. If you time it right, you can catch the changing of the guards.

 

You can see how quiet it was at Nyhavn early on. 
 

Tivoli wasn’t opened yet, so we walked a round- about route and took in some other sights.

 

The buildings look more German than Scandinavian I think. They have a warehouse feel you get in Northern German cities like Hamburg and Bremen.

 

The Danish Parliament. If you haven’t seen “Borgen” I would recommend it. It’s a great watch if you don’t mind subtitles.

 

The town hall had lots of yellow flowers outside. It was a lovely contrast to the brown brick.

 

We pretty much hit Tivoli at opening time. You can either pay for entrance only ( it is pretty inside for what is essentially a theme park) or you can get unlimited ride tickets,  which is what we did and let me tell you they were not cheap!! Ouch, it hurts just thinking about it 🤦‍♀️ Now, in the past this has worked for us, 1) because we spent the whole day there and 2) because we were younger and valued our life less ??🤷‍♀️

 

It was unbearably busy inside and we ended up only getting on about 5 rides each as the queues were so long. The so- called oldest roller coaster in the world was fun but DD1 and I soon came to the realisation that we actually don’t like the really scary rides so DH was forced to keep DD2 company on anything too crazy. Ha!  We all avoided the star flyer though . Been there, done that, and on a very windy April day too. Not even the promise of a free B2B on the Apex would get me back on that death trap!

 

They’re smiling, but are they really having fun?! I was holding the jackets…..

 

I ( very sensibly) decided against this one at the last minute.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, on a quieter day Tivoli Gardens can be really pleasant. There’s a lot of nice restaurants and cafes, most of which you can access from both inside and outside the park. We ate lunch at a pretty decent food hall. They also have concerts and performances e.g.,  in the past we have been treated to a Danish choir competition, which we watched from deckchairs on the lawn. I think we just hit it on a bad day. Definitely  not third time lucky for us. 
The famous Nimb Hotel.

 

We managed about 4 hours in Tivoli before we decided to call it a day and head back to the ship.  I can safely say we did not get value for money.
 

Now, we never like to leave things too tight to get back to the ship so thought we had plenty time to stroll down Stroget shopping street and Nyhavn on our way back to the Apex. We quickly discovered we were getting nowhere fast. The place was hoachin’ ( there’s a good Scots word for you!), what was going on? There were hoards everywhere you looked.  People were queuing to get into the Lego shop. Why? It’s the same as every other Lego shop in every other country. I mean I know Lego is Danish but really? The shop isn’t that special.  Nyhavn was heaving as well. You couldn’t see the ground for crowds. It took us double the time to get back to the ship than we had anticipated.  
 

Is Copenhagen suffering from over tourism? Perhaps, but there were probably other factors in play: it was a sunny day; it was a Saturday; 5 cruise ships were docked.

 

DD1 enjoying a cool drink on the Magic Carpet. Well deserved after putting up with the hell that was Tivoli! 
 

To finish this port review, here’s my list of excellent things to do in Copenhagen for those people who haven’t lost their minds:

 

- Canal  tour from Nyhavn. We thoroughly enjoyed it on a previous visit.

- National Museum, it has a good section for children

- Ny Carlbergs Gyplotek for sculpture fiends

- Eat an open sandwich and wash it down with a Tuborg or Carlsberg beer

- Rundetarn for nice views

- Train over to Sweden. We love Malmo and Lund 

 

 

[Scottishclover]

Forgot to add: if you don’t get your thrills at Tivoli, you can go bungee jumping from a crane in Copenhagen! Once back at the ship, we watched this lunacy from our window, oops balcony ( there’s a wee gift for all you IV haters!!). It was mental. I will say this, the Danes strike me as people who know how to have a good time.

 

Copenhagen Final Thoughts: Three words - off season only!

 

Would we go back?  Please see above.

[Boatharbour]

3 hours ago, peanut head said:

This has to be one of the best reviews I have ever read on CC.  Your description, humor, overall writing style and details are unsurpassed.  Please don't ever hesitate to write another review in the future.  Thank you!

Totally agree that this has to be one of the reviews I’ve read on CC.  Not only entertaining, but filled with practical information. The summaries are particularly helpful. Thank you!

[mauimary]

Scottishclover.  I really enjoyed your review.   Very practical , entertaining and humorous.  We did this almost identical itinerary about ten years ago with the exception of St Petersburg which was interesting but also a port we would not want to go back to.  We did this cruise in early June and the weather was perfect. We did not have our college age kids with us but had to chuckle at your description of Tivoli.  We only went there as we arrived on a day when everything is closed in Copenhagen and we wanted to do something!  But thank goodness Copenhagen was an overnight.  Would have loved an extra night in Stockholm like you had and like you made a beeline to the Vasa Museum. 

After reading your review it makes us want  to repeat this Itinerary as there is so much to see and do and like you we are do it yourselfers!!! Thank you for taking the time to do this great review. 
 

 

[Scottishclover]

21 hours ago, vickykay said:

Very much enjoying your review!  We did this cruises several years ago and loved loved Talin.  So magical.  Thanks so much for all the photos.  We’re also big fans of Stockholm.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Thank you. I would agree that Tallin has  a magical, fairytale quality about it. We definitely benefitted from being there on a quiet cruise day.

[Scottishclover]

13 hours ago, peanut head said:

This has to be one of the best reviews I have ever read on CC.  Your description, humor, overall writing style and details are unsurpassed.  Please don't ever hesitate to write another review in the future.  Thank you!

Thank you for the lovely words. I’m afraid you will have a while to wait for another review, as our next cruise is on the Beyond to Italy, Croatia and Montenegro next summer and then Japan in 2024. As much as we love cruising, we like to have lots of different travel experiences throughout the year if budget and time allows. No doubt though,  we will continue to make cruising our main holiday.

[chemmo]

23 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

Thank you. Before the cruise, I was worried there wouldn’t be a lot of younger people on this itinerary and our girls( 17 and 19)  might feel a bit out of place. How wrong I was. They had a great time, so much so that we booked to go on the Beyond next year and they both want to come. The Baltic is really a great itinerary.

Cruising, to us, has been the ultimate family holiday. Like yourselves we also enjoy other holiday types but somehow cruising is the holiday style that always brings us together.
 

We cruised first when our son was a small child. As he hit his teens we expected him to get bored but every time we suggested a cruise he was still happy to come. Then he hit young adulthood and he began to go on holiday with friends but still came on cruises with us! On a few more years and steady girlfriend…We thought now our family cruises will come to an end but no…Now we travel on cruises as a foursome!

 

Long may you continue to enjoy your family cruises!