Shutterbug623

We did Nugget Falls and Mendenhall last summer. The photo point Trail is very accessible -I believe it was paved the whole way. Nugget Falls was very flat and paved/hard packed gravel - we saw many strollers and all kinds of footwear make it to the end easily, but not many wheelchairs that I noticed. It didn't seem very much like hiking to me - more of a walk (certainly not moderate hiking). However, there weren't really any benches or waiting points. It was very busy when we were there at the end of June.

Hi RuthC - what time is muster for an 8pm sailaway?

Hi,

I've tried searching for this information on this site already and was unable to find anything recent or really relelvant.

We're headed to Alaska southbound on the Zaandam in June. We're taking the train from Anchorage and will arrive in Seward around 11am. We'd like to see some of Seward (esp. the Sea Life Center), but without our luggage. Does anyone know when boarding starts and/or when rooms are usually ready? (We will also have a toddler with us who will probably be in desperate need of a nap come 1pm.) Can we drop off our luggage ahead of time? Or is there another place in town to store our luggage?

Thanks for your help.

I also posted this on the family forum, but because it's cruiseline specific and this board gets more traffic, I thought I'd post it here too:

We will be traveling with our 13 month old on the Zaandam in Alaska this summer, and I had some questions for someone who's been there.

1) does anyone know what kind of cribs they have? Are they actual pack n plays or something else? (My sister-in-law said their last Carnival cruise had metal cribs.)

2) milk - do they have whole milk on board?

3) snacks - DD is not a picky eater, but I'd like to have something with us in port for her to munch on if need be. Do they have cereal like Cheerios on the buffet? (Not a first time cruiser, but I have always skipped the cereal at breakfast, so I have no recollection of what's there.). Is it kosher to grab some to take with us? (Or some bread or a banana or whatever?) Or should I bring my own snacks? I know you are not allowed to take fresh fruit off the boat, but do all snacks have to be factory sealed (or can I use ziploc bags)?

4) any other tips and tricks? I've read a lot of the other traveling with toddlers threads.

Thanks!

Awesome. When are you traveling. We are on a mid June sailing (June 19).

We will be on the sailing the week after you. :)

We are also traveling on the Zaandam this summer with littles, so I'm following here. :)

We will be traveling with our 13 month old (and our whole extended family, ages 1-well, my mom) on the Zaandam in Alaska this summer, and I had some questions for someone who's been there.

1) does anyone know what kind of cribs they have? Are they actual pack n plays or something else? (My sister-in-law said their last Carnival cruise had metal cribs.)

2) milk - do they have whole milk on board?

3) snacks - DD is not a picky eater, but I'd like to have something with us in port for her to munch on if need be. Do they have cereal like Cheerios on the buffet? (Not a first time cruiser, but I have always skipped the cereal at breakfast, so I have no recollection of what's there.). Is it kosher to grab some to take with us? (Or some bread or a banana or whatever?) Are you allowed to take that sort of thing off the boat? Or should I bring my own snacks?

4) any other tips and tricks? I've read a lot of the other traveling with toddlers threads.

Thanks!

Thanks for the tip on the fridge - I think we'll probably be okay without it, but I will keep it in mind and check with the rest of our traveling party if it would be useful for someone else.

One more question: Are the sofabeds moveable? We were thinking of flipping it around to create a sort of "crib" space for DD against the wall.

Thanks!

Okay, that small curtain was what I was seeing in pictures and I wondered if it closed all the way.

Thanks for all of your responses!

Hi -

This is our first time on HAL and we're sailing later this summer in Alaska in cabin 2678 (category DD large oceanview) on the ms Zaandam. I've been looking for some information I've been unable to confirm elsewhere on this site or the internet (perhaps looking in the wrong place?). Does this cabin have a divider between the bed and the living "area"? (We will have our 13 month old with us.)

Also, do these cabins have DVD players? I've read some places that they do and some places that they don't. Thanks!

Hi - we're doing Alaska in June with our 14 month old. I'm just starting to do research on port excursions, etc for Haines, Juneau, and Ketichikan on HAL. What we're really wondering is if we will need a car seat with us. We'd rather not drag one along if we don't have to, but we also don't want to get stuck because we don't have one. Any advice? Thanks.

Hi - we're headed to Alaska in June, and my husband and I were wondering if the Zaandam has stationary bikes in the fitness center and/or a jogging track (neither of us like treadmills) so we don't go stir crazy on sea days. Any previous cruisers that can help us out? Thanks!

My family (my mom (70ish), 2 siblings and spouses (30s and 40s), husband, and the 6 grandchildren (who will be 19, 17, 14, 3, 1, and 1)) are looking to go to Alaska next summer. My mom and I went almost 20 years ago on Princess, and my siblings and I have done some cruising on Princess, HAL, Norwegian, Carnival, and RCCL. We are spend time in port people rather than hang out on the boat people. We are not sure yet if we will be able to do a land tour, but if we do, it will probably be DIY because of the littles. We will also probably DIY most of the ports, as that is what we tend to do on cruises. Glacier Bay is a must-see for me.

Here's my question:

Best cruise line to take with a group so varied in age? We've been looking at Princess and HAL because they go to Glacier Bay, but we are open to other suggestions.

Is there a great advantage to going out of Seward or out of Whittier?

Does one cruiseline have more "permissions" or better berths in port?

Besides the obvious advantage of cheaper airfare and the obvious disadvantage of not being able to do a land tour in Alaska, are there other reasons for or against doing a round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver?

Are there particular ships that are more friendly to having groups of cabins together? (We'd be putting 3-4 in a room).

Are there certain lines that are more friendly to having a crib in a slightly darkened/separated space in an inside or oceanview cabin, such as a blocked off closet space? (Our cabin on the Royal Princess last summer had a closet area where we could have put a crib and we could still watch TV/have lights on and not bother the kid.)

Are there things I'm not thinking about but should consider when doing the research for this cruise?

Basically, we'd like to see wildlife, do some hiking, and enjoy the outdoors in a gorgeous place together as a family. I realize that everyone has particular loyalties and preferences, and we are experienced travelers and planners, but I'd thank you for any help and input you could give as it's been awhile since we've been to this area.

We just got back from this cruise. We usually just found an ATM and took out the smallest amount of cash possible for snacks, restrooms, and public transit, and used a credit card as much as possible. We took out more Euros because we knew we were using it in 3 of the countries. Usually if places take USD or Euro, they will give you change in local currency.

A few other things I thought of:

1) Take a travel alarm clock - don't rely on your cell phone. Phones do not always pick up on the time zone changes (you are in 3 different time zones on this trip!), and two couples almost missed the 1st day in SPB because of it. I got a cheapo one from Target that worked great.

2) Always grab a map from the TI if you can. Guidebook maps often don't have enough detail. And sometimes it's worth the 5 minutes there to ask what's the best way to get somewhere.

3) Our captain, Dino Sagani, told us each night if there were interesting things happening on entrance or exit from a port. We saw Elsinore Castle (Shakespeare's Hamlet Castle) and a bridge near Denmark that had a whole 4m of clearance as the boat went under. That was cool to see.

4) This cruise is very port intensive (which we loved! That's why we signed up for it!). Be prepared for early mornings. (coupled with time zone changes...)

5) We really lucked out on the weather - most days it was upper 60s or lower 70s and sunny or partly cloudy. It dripped on us in Tallinn, rained a bit in the morning in SPb and poured for a while in Helsinki, but other than that, we avoided the precipitation. Bring a rain coat and layers - I often started the day with a light long sleeve layer and shed it at some point during the day.

We really enjoyed our trip and thought the ports were excellent. I'd recommend this cruise, although next time I might look for an itinerary that docked in Stockholm rather than Nynashamn.

Again, please feel free to ask questions about the boat or about a port - I will answer it to the best of my knowledge!

St. Petersburg

One more hour forward on the clock! St. Petersburg was overwhelming, and I was glad for 2 days. We booked a tour with SPB. We had to go to the Vista Lounge to get a number for disembarking when the Russian authorities gave clearance for groups to come through. We were there at 7:05. Our number was called within 10 minutes (I don't remember what group we were in...2, maybe?), and we were through Russian immigration by 7:22. I think the lines and wait got longer after we came through. We found, in general, that it paid to be early (here with Russian immigration, later with tendering in Stockholm). As soon as we came through passport control, SPB was there to meet us. We were greeted by the owner, Viktoria, and got to know our group members a little. There were 14 people in our group - just the right size for the Mercedes mini-van we had. People were pretty much on time, and we were on our way by 8am.

We spent the first day in the suburbs, seeing Peter and Paul Fortress and church (czars buried there), Peterhof, Catherine's Palace. We had great weather the first day there - 75 and sunny, and I loved the Peterhof Gardens - the fountains, the flowers, the grand summer palace. We had lunch at a restaurant with the meal prearranged by SPB - soup followed by beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes. Dessert was two scoops of ice cream with strawberry sauce. Some people have complained about the food in St. Petersburg, but we found it to be good. Our little bus and lunch had free wifi.

Passport control really does move much faster the 2nd day (basically, they look for your stamps from the day before). We spent the 2nd day in the city. It was rainy on the 2nd day for our canal boat tour. We also checked out a subway station before our entrance to the Hermitage. Katya, our guide, was very good. She clearly knew a ton about St. Petersburg and the art at the Hermitage. The Hermitage was my husband's favorite part of St. Petersburg, and I liked it too. I particularly liked the special exhibit display of czar's clothing and the Rembrandts. We went to the Church of the Resurrection on the Spilled Blood (Russian Orthodox) and St. Isaac's Cathedral, which were both gorgeous. Also, Yusopov's Palace was interesting partially for the Rasputin story, but also for the furnishings in it that were (I believe...it was a bit of information overload) original to the house. Katya also took us to a souvenir shop to get something from Russia. Lunch on the 2nd day was at the Stolle Pie Shop - I loved it! They had meat pies and fruit pies - we each got a small slice of a meat pie and a fruit pie. We had no complaints about the food with SPB (I did also request the pie shop in my email communications while booking, so maybe that's the key).

We took the typical tour here, but I think it was good. Maybe I would have skipped a palace in favor of more time at the Hermitage - we got a little "palaced-out." If you don't like palaces and churches, this is not the tour for you. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Helsinki

I ended up enjoying Helsinki more than I anticipated. We took the tram #9 from the port (10 min walk from the cruise terminal). Stop at the TI in the terminal and ask for a public transit map - it's super helpful. Automated train ticket machines get you an all-day transit pass for 8 euro (machines take coins or cards with chips only - the newsstand cashier was kind enough to make change for our bills). We then took the Rick Steves' tour, seeing Market Square, the Lutheran Cathedral, Stockmann's department store, the 3 Blacksmiths statue, and ending at the Church in the Rock (please don't ask me to spell the Finnish name!) We took a tram back downtown, got take away at the deli in Stockmann's, and got on the ferry to Suommelinna fortress. The ferry goes about 3/hr, and is included in the transit pass. We only had about an hour at the fortress. Because the weather had cleared up (it rained a bit earlier in the day), the fortress was fantastic and we could have spent way way more time there, exploring the fortifications, etc. We walked across the islands to the Kings Gate and then had to turn around and come back to catch the last possible ferry...but if I were to do it again, I would take an earlier ferry to have a little more time cushion before the all-aboard. It takes about 50 minutes (with wait times) to get from the ferry to the tram to the cruise boat. I would also have maybe skipped some of the walking tour and gotten to the fortress earlier - hit Market Square, the Lutheran church, Church in the Rock, and then go to the fortress for the rest of the day.

Nynashamn/Stockholm

I had heard horror stories about the tendering process, so I was nervous about doing this one on our own. The port lecturer on board had a Stockholm train schedule, though, so when I had that info, I felt much better. Unfortunately, we were there on a Sunday, when trains only leave once an hour (2/hr M-F). We again, got to the Symphony dining room, where they gave us a group number (we were in group 3?). We knew the 1st train left for Stockholm at 7:50, but didn't think we could make that as tendering didn't start until 7:30ish (perhaps before??) and it was a 15 minute walk to the train station, where we would then have to buy a train ticket. As it turned out, we walked up to the train station just as the train was pulling out...if we had jogged, we would have perhaps made it. So we bought our all-day transit tickets from the guy in the coffee kiosk, walked up the hill to the ATM to get some Swedish kronor (currency #5? 6? I lost count!) and wandered around town until the 8:50 train left. Hour and 6 min ride to get to Stockholm, and ended in Stockholm's central station. We headed for the Vasa. You can get there via ferry (as recommended almost everywhere) or via tram #7. In hindsight, we ended up waiting for a long time for the ferry, and the tram probably would have been faster (and went right past the water front). There are TIs all over the place - stop in and pick up a public transit map. Rick Steves' map is lacking on this one. We got to the Vasa and waited in line for about 35-40 min. Got inside (free bathrooms and wifi!), watched the movie, and then did a quick tour through the exhibits. We wanted to make the city hall tour at 1:30...so we took the tram back downtown and then walked over to City Hall...to find out that because of a special event, the last tour was at noon that day. :( So, we walked around outside and got lunch at the cafe inside. After buying the requisite country magnet for our fridge, we walked back to the Central Station to catch the 3:04 train back to Nynashamn....along with about half of the boat! It was so crowded that people stood the whole way back. The tender line was pretty long, but seemed to move pretty quickly at about 4:30. We went to the aft Promenade deck and watched them lift the boats back up.

Copenhagen

Since United made us spend 5 hours in our home airport instead of Copenhagen, we missed seeing anything on the way in. We had a morning flight out (9:35am). So...on the way out, we got off the boat early (5:30 am? We only had carry-on luggage, so we did walk-off disembarkation) and got the bus at the UNICEF stop at 6am (first scheduled bus at that stop). You can buy a ticket directly from the bus driver. We got off at Rosenberg Castle and wandered through the gardens and past the castle just so we could say we saw SOMETHING in Copenhagen. Walked down the street a block to the Norreport station and picked up a Metro train (every 2 min or so) to the airport. Check in at the airport and security was a breeze at 7:30 am...in fact, our gate wasn't even assigned yet when we got there. P.S., there is a LEGO store in the B gates of Terminal 3.

Ports

Oslo

I loved Oslo. We walked off the boat straight into the heart of downtown. Following Rick Steves' instructions, we walked to the Tourist Information (TI) behind city hall and bought an Oslo card. We hopped on the ferry to Bygdoy and walked up the hill to go to the outdoor Folk Museum. It was a really interesting museum with most things in English. Check out the daily schedule - we saw them making lefse (Norwegian stovetop flat bread) and saw a music and dance presentation that was cool. We could have spent more time there, but don't miss the stave church. We then took a short walk over to the Viking Boat Museum, which was also super cool. Because we missed Copenhagen, this was really the only place where we saw viking things at all. After that, we took the ferry back to the main waterfront and toured City Hall, where they hand out the Nobel Peace Prize. We stopped at the 7-11 (super authentic and local, I know...) across the circle to grab a snack (they also had an ATM) and a drink before heading to the Akershus Fortress to the Norwegian Resistance Museum - powerful, informative, and well done. (Not huge, though, which was good.) We walked over to the Opera House (so cool that you can walk on the roof!) and made our way back to the boat via Rick Steves' Oslo walking tour that took us past some important sites (but we didn't have time to go in). I really enjoyed Oslo - very walkable, a ton to see, a wide variety.

Gothenburg

We docked in Gothenburg in a remote port. If you were not on a Princess excursion, you had to take a shuttle ($16/pp rt) to get to town about 30 min away. 1st shuttle was at 8am and last shuttle from town was at 1pm. We showed up in the main square at 8:30am on a Sunday....and nothing opens until 10am. Really nothing. Even coffee shops were closed and there wasn't a single person on the streets. We walked around for a bit, looking at buildings along the canal. The botanical gardens are open all the time, but it was a 20 min bike ride from the town square and you needed a chip-PIN card to rent a bike (no cash, no person). It was a lovely morning, weather-wise, so walking around wasn't so bad. Took the canal tour at 10:30 - worth doing. Wandered around through a gardens near the main canal (just off the main drag) and then went looking for a pastry shop and a grocery store to pick up some Coca-cola for my husband, and then ended up back in the town square about 12:45 for the shuttle. I said in the beginning that Gothenburg was "less than stellar" - in comparison to the other ports, it was not as interesting, and if the weather had been rainy, it would have been quite miserable because everything we did was outside - and we didn't really have an option for inside until 10am. It seemed very odd to come into a port so early when there was nothing to do and then leave so shortly after things opened. I understand the itinerary has to be able to get you to the next port, but then choose another place that you can get to later when things would actually be open.

Berlin

We took a tour from Warnemunde to Berlin with SPB Tours (package deal with St. Petersburg). I know that going to Berlin is not for everyone, but it was too huge of a draw for me and we don't often make it to Europe (although if/when we go back, it will probably be to Germany and Berlin.) They were at the dock, very organized, and seemed ready to go. We ended up getting delayed (not SPB's fault), so we arrived in Berlin an hour later than expected. Stephan, the husband of Viktoria (SPB's owner) was there to meet us, and he worked with us to compensate for the lost hour. He was very understanding and made amends immediately, even though it was not his company's fault we lost time. Our tour guide, Jim, was phenomenal. I know a lot of people say that, but he was REALLY good. Originally from the States, he studied in Germany and has lived there for several years. He carried photographs to the sites to show us what it looked like either during WWII or the Cold War, which made it come alive. He was clearly passionate about the subject and could answer all of our questions. It's impossible to see a city like Berlin in one day, but I thought he did a great job of getting us to the highlights - the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Holocaust Memorial, Topography of Terror. Yay SPB tours! Back on the boat about 8pm. There is a stop both ways on the bus for bathrooms - .50 euro for the bathroom.

Tallinn

Time changed one hour forward (on the sea day before). I LOVED Tallinn. What a beautiful medieval city! Also, totally walkable. We walked to the Old Town and followed Rick Steves' walking tour (you'll see we did that often...he would bring us past the highlights and we'd stop in if we thought it was interesting), catching most of the highlights, like the churches, palaces, towers, viewpoints, etc. After finishing the tour, we went to St. Olaf's church to climb the steeple - GREAT view, and the number of steps (238?) did not seem like that many (maybe because we walked up the steps from Emerald to Lido every morning for breakfast...and later for ice cream...:o). Worth it. We ate lunch in a small tiny restaurant just of the main square recommended in Rick's book as "good, solid Estonian food at good prices without the touristy stuff" and it lived up to expectations. Also, I think Tallinn might be the place to find souvenirs. Matryoshka dolls seemed to be of better quality and better prices than in St. Petersburg (14 euro in Tallinn vs. 20-25 euro for the same size in SPB). They have lots of shops up in the upper part of Old Town. We also climbed into the walls near Sweater Wall to see the towers - definitely worth it too. There is also a glass blower on a street off the end of Sweater Wall that was cool to watch. We made our way back to the port along the walls, where there was a summer festival art installation. We got back to the terminal in time to use the free Wifi. While we were sitting there, suddenly the Royal's horn blew the Love Boat theme (to salute another leaving cruise ship). Even though we knew we had time before all aboard, when the horn blew, EVERYONE in the terminal started sprinting for the ship. It was pretty funny...and yes, we were right in the middle of the runners too. So a little less Facebook, a little more exercise, and a few minutes before dinner (probably a positive life choice :o). It was also nice in Tallinn because they used Euros, which we already had from Berlin, so no ATM search!

The much-longer winded version:

Port

We flew into Copenhagen about 5 hours later than expected (thanks, United), but still were able to catch the boat (missed seeing anything in Copenhagen, though...). We took the train from the airport to Osterport Station (must have cash or a card with a PIN to purchase a train/bus ticket - there are ATMs in the baggage claim and along the concourse, so cash is easily accessible) - a 3-zone ticket gets you from the airport to the cruise port for 36 DKK. Trains come frequently - take an Oresund train labeled for Osterport station. When you leave the station, go up to the street and turn left - you will find the bus 26 stop across the street to go toward the port. We then took bus 26 (UNICEF) to the port. It started raining while we were on the bus, and because we were the only 2 on the bus at that point on the route (quite full earlier!), our super nice bus driver drove past the UNICEF stop and dropped us off right at the terminal. The terminal has free wifi (also usable if your balcony is on the terminal side of the ship while docked).

Just got off the Royal in Copenhagen. Here's some about our experience (I posted a lot of this over on the Princess board, but edited this to be less about the boat and more about the ports):

A couple of things:

1) We are not usually cruisers. We chose this trip for the destinations, and it happened to be that the best way to see it was a cruise. We don't do the extras like spas or specialty restaurants, and spent most of this cruise in port.

2) This was my second cruise ever and on Princess...the first was 15 years ago when my main activity was hanging out in the teen center.

3) I did a lot of reading and research in guidebooks and online (especially cruise critic) before we left.

The quick and dirty version:

1) Use Rick Steves' Northern Seaports book. It is designed for cruisers in the Baltics and British Isles, and gives great DIY advice for those not interested in cruise ship excursions (we would have DIY'd every port if we could have!)

2) Favorite 2 ports - Oslo and Berlin. Tallinn also surprised me as being great, even though my brother told me it was great. SPB lived up to expectations. Helsinki was nice. Time in Stockholm was too short. Gothenburg was...less than stellar.

3) This trip can be a ton of walking if you choose it to be - wear comfortable shoes, layers, and don't be afraid of rain. You won't melt. :)

I will post the much-longer-winded version next - I will focus it more on the ports than anything else.

Great review! Looking forward to this cruise in just one week.

Have a great time!! We did!

A few other things I thought of:

1) Take a travel alarm clock - don't rely on your cell phone. Phones do not always pick up on the time zone changes (you are in 3 different time zones on this trip!), and two couples almost missed the 1st day in SPB because of it. I got a cheapo one from Target that worked great.

2) Always grab a map from the TI if you can. Guidebook maps often don't have enough detail. And sometimes it's worth the 5 minutes there to ask what's the best way to get somewhere.

3) Our captain, Dino Sagani, told us each night if there were interesting things happening on entrance or exit from a port. We saw Elsinore Castle (Shakespeare's Hamlet Castle) and a bridge near Denmark that had a whole 4m of clearance as the boat went under. That was cool to see.

4) This cruise is very port intensive (which we loved! That's why we signed up for it!). Be prepared for early mornings. (coupled with time zone changes...)

5) We really lucked out on the weather - most days it was upper 60s or lower 70s and sunny or partly cloudy. It dripped on us in Tallinn, rained a bit in the morning in SPb and poured for a while in Helsinki, but other than that, we avoided the precipitation. Bring a rain coat and layers - I often started the day with a light long sleeve layer and shed it at some point during the day.

We really enjoyed our trip and thought the ports were excellent. I'd recommend this cruise, although next time I might look for an itinerary that docked in Stockholm rather than Nynashamn.

Again, please feel free to ask questions about the boat or about a port - I will answer it to the best of my knowledge!

We were on the same cruise, arrived home late last night so my review will be delayed somewhat.

 

Our opinions of the ports pretty well matches yours, although we decided Berlin was worth a separate trip - we have family in Germany and go there at least once a year, so next time will spend a few days in Berlin. Warnemunde and Rostock were an interesting alternative, and we were thrilled to see the tall ships sailing away after the festival that ended in Rostock the day before our visit.

 

Gothenburg was our least favourite port too, and I was not pleased that Princess took us to a port where we were not permitted to walk, then charged $16pp for a shuttle to town. We had no opportunity to leave the ship without paying for the shuttle.

 

We did our own research and like you found Rick Steves book to be an excellent resource. The only ship's tour we used was the Stockholm on your own option, and while we loved the city, the time there was too short. We did a walking tour in Tallinn and another in Stockholm and booked a private tour for our family with SPB in St. Petersburg which was excellent.

 

We travelled with a three generation family group, one son and his family were first time cruisers, the other group had cruised once before on a smaller older ship. We are seasoned cruisers, with Celebrity and Princess being our lines of choice.

 

Everyone was impressed with the ship and the service. Our granddaughter loved the teen club, but the three younger ones tried the club for their age group (9. 11 and 12) and didn't want to go back.

 

I was aware of the shortcomings that others complain about on Royal Princess, but can honestly say they did not impact us at all. We did so much walking in port that the lack of a proper promenade deck wasn't an issue, our cabins were aft, so we didn't miss the centre stairs and as for the toilet roll holder, what is the problem!

 

The food in our opinion was better than on previous Princess cruises. We had an included dinner at Sabatini's, which was good, but I don't think I would pay $25pp to do it again. DH and I celebrated our anniversary with a Winemaker's Dinner, which was great value for $40pp including wine pairings. We had My Time Dining and after the first night booked the same table for ten each night, which rather defeated the idea, but worked well for us. The waiters got to know the children's preferences and made sure they were served quickly, then they were happy to read or play cards quietly while the adults had a leisurely meal.

 

I seem to have almost written a review. Sorry to have rambled on so long - blame jet lag!!

 

Sheila

Glad you enjoyed the trip too, Sheila! I think I may have seen you with your family in the dining room once or twice - I saw an extended family with children about the ages you posted. :)

Berlin was too much of a draw for me to not go there...we will probably go back some day, but we don't make it to Europe often, so we wanted to make the most of that opportunity. It was worth it for us; sounds like it will be a different trip for you.

I agree with you that most of the complaints about the ship were non-issues...we generally found stairs close enough to where we wanted to be, and I never had an issue with the toilet paper.

The lawn gets long when you leave it for 13 days. :)

Back to the ports:

St. Petersburg

One more hour forward on the clock! St. Petersburg was overwhelming, and I was glad for 2 days. We booked a tour with SPB. We had to go to the Vista Lounge to get a number for disembarking when the Russian authorities gave clearance for groups to come through. We were there at 7:05. Our number was called within 10 minutes (I don't remember what group we were in...2, maybe?), and we were through Russian immigration by 7:22. I think the lines and wait got longer after we came through. We found, in general, that it paid to be early (here with Russian immigration, later with tendering in Stockholm). As soon as we came through passport control, SPB was there to meet us. We were greeted by the owner, Viktoria, and got to know our group members a little. There were 14 people in our group - just the right size for the Mercedes mini-van we had. People were pretty much on time, and we were on our way by 8am.

We spent the first day in the suburbs, seeing Peter and Paul Fortress and church (czars buried there), Peterhof, Catherine's Palace. We had great weather the first day there - 75 and sunny, and I loved the Peterhof Gardens - the fountains, the flowers, the grand summer palace. We had lunch at a restaurant with the meal prearranged by SPB - soup followed by beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes. Dessert was two scoops of ice cream with strawberry sauce. Some people have complained about the food in St. Petersburg, but we found it to be good. Our little bus and lunch had free wifi.

We spent the 2nd day in the city. It was rainy on the 2nd day for our canal boat tour. We also checked out a subway station before our entrance to the Hermitage. Katya, our guide, was very good. She clearly knew a ton about St. Petersburg and the art at the Hermitage. The Hermitage was my husband's favorite part of St. Petersburg, and I liked it too. I particularly liked the special exhibit display of czar's clothing and the Rembrandts. We went to the Church of the Resurrection on the Spilled Blood (Russian Orthodox) and St. Isaac's Cathedral, which were both gorgeous. Also, Yusopov's Palace was interesting partially for the Rasputin story, but also for the furnishings in it that were (I believe...it was a bit of information overload) original to the house. Katya also took us to a souvenir shop to get something from Russia. Lunch on the 2nd day was at the Stolle Pie Shop - I loved it! They had meat pies and fruit pies - we each got a small slice of a meat pie and a fruit pie. We had no complaints about the food with SPB (I did also request the pie shop in my email communications while booking, so maybe that's the key).

We took the typical tour here, but I think it was good. If you don't like palaces and churches, this is not the place for you. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Helsinki

I ended up enjoying Helsinki more than I anticipated. We took the tram #9 from the port (10 min walk from the cruise terminal). Stop at the TI in the terminal and ask for a public transit map - it's super helpful. Automated train ticket machines get you an all-day transit pass for 8 euro (machines take coins or cards with chips only - the newsstand cashier was kind enough to make change for our bills). We then took the Rick Steves' tour, seeing Market Square, the Lutheran Cathedral, Stockmann's department store, the 3 Blacksmiths statue, and ending at the Church in the Rock (please don't ask me to spell the Finnish name!) We took a tram back downtown, got take away at the deli in Stockmann's, and got on the ferry to Suommelinna fortress. The ferry goes about 3/hr, and is included in the transit pass. We only had about an hour at the fortress. Because the weather had cleared up (it rained a bit earlier in the day), the fortress was fantastic and we could have spent way way more time there, exploring the fortifications, etc. We walked across the islands to the Kings Gate and then had to turn around and come back to catch the last possible ferry...but if I were to do it again, I would take an earlier ferry to have a little more time cushion before the all-aboard. It takes about 50 minutes (with wait times) to get from the ferry to the tram to the cruise boat.

Nynashamn/Stockholm

I had heard horror stories about the tendering process, so I was nervous about doing this one on our own. The port lecturer on board had a Stockholm train schedule, though, so when I had that info, I felt much better. Unfortunately, we were there on a Sunday, when trains only leave once an hour (2/hr M-F). We again, got to the Symphony dining room, where they gave us a group number (we were in group 3?). We knew the 1st train left for Stockholm at 7:50, but didn't think we could make that as tendering didn't start until 7:30ish (perhaps before??) and it was a 15 minute walk to the train station, where we would then have to buy a train ticket. As it turned out, we walked up to the train station just as the train was pulling out...if we had jogged, we would have perhaps made it. So we bought our all-day transit tickets from the guy in the coffee kiosk, walked up the hill to the ATM to get some Swedish kronor (currency #5? 6? I lost count!) and wandered around town until the 8:50 train left. Hour and 6 min ride to get to Stockholm, and ended in Stockholm's central station. We headed for the Vasa. You can get there via ferry (as recommended almost everywhere) or via tram #7. In hindsight, we ended up waiting for a long time for the ferry, and the tram probably would have been faster (and went right past the water front). There are TIs all over the place - stop in and pick up a public transit map. Rick Steves' map is lacking on this one. We got to the Vasa and waited in line for about 35-40 min. Got inside (free bathrooms and wifi!), watched the movie, and then did a quick tour through the exhibits. We wanted to make the city hall tour at 1:30...so we took the tram back downtown and then walked over to City Hall...to find out that because of a special event, the last tour was at noon that day. :( So, we walked around outside and got lunch at the cafe inside. After buying the requisite country magnet for our fridge, we walked back to the Central Station to catch the 3:04 train back to Nynashamn....along with about half of the boat! It was so crowded that people stood the whole way back. The tender line was pretty long, but seemed to move pretty quickly at about 4:30. We went to the aft Promenade deck and watched them lift the boats back up.

Copenhagen

Since United made us spend 5 hours in our home airport instead of Copenhagen, we missed seeing anything on the way in. We had a morning flight out (9:35am). So...on the way out, we got off the boat early (5:30 am? We only had carry-on luggage, so we did walk-off disembarkation) and got the bus at the UNICEF stop at 6am (first scheduled bus at that stop). We got off at Rosenberg Castle and wandered through the gardens and past the castle just so we could say we saw SOMETHING in Copenhagen. Walked down the street a block to the Norreport station and picked up a Metro train (every 2 min or so) to the airport. Check in at the airport and security was a breeze at 7:30 am...in fact, our gate wasn't even assigned yet when we got there. P.S., there is a LEGO store in the B gates of Terminal 3.

Ports

Oslo

I loved Oslo. We walked off the boat straight into the heart of downtown. Following Rick Steves' instructions, we walked to the Tourist Information (TI) behind city hall and bought an Oslo card. We hopped on the ferry to Bygdoy and walked up the hill to go to the outdoor Folk Museum. It was a really interesting museum with most things in English. Check out the daily schedule - we saw them making lefse (Norwegian stovetop flat bread) and saw a music and dance presentation that was cool. We could have spent more time there, but don't miss the stave church. We then took a short walk over to the Viking Boat Museum, which was also super cool. Because we missed Copenhagen, this was really the only place where we saw viking things at all. After that, we took the ferry back to the main waterfront and toured City Hall, where they hand out the Nobel Peace Prize. We stopped at the 7-11 (super authentic and local, I know...) across the circle to grab a snack (they also had an ATM) and a drink before heading to the Akershus Fortress to the Norwegian Resistance Museum - powerful, informative, and well done. (Not huge, though, which was good.) We walked over to the Opera House (so cool that you can walk on the roof!) and made our way back to the boat via Rick Steves' Oslo walking tour that took us past some important sites (but we didn't have time to go in). I really enjoyed Oslo - very walkable, a ton to see, a wide variety.

Gothenburg

We docked in Gothenburg in a remote port. If you were not on a Princess cruise, you had to take a shuttle ($16/pp rt) to get to town about 30 min away. 1st shuttle was at 8am and last shuttle from town was at 1pm. We showed up in the main square at 8:30am on a Sunday....and nothing opens until 10am. Really nothing. Even coffee shops were closed and there wasn't a single person on the streets. We walked around for a bit, looking at buildings along the canal. The botanical gardens are open all the time, but it was a 20 min bike ride from the town square and you needed a chip-PIN card to rent a bike (no cash, no person). It was a lovely morning, weather-wise, so walking around wasn't so bad. Took the canal tour at 10:30 - worth doing. Wandered around through a gardens near the main canal (just off the main drag) and then went looking for a pastry shop and a grocery store to pick up some Coca-cola for my husband, and then ended up back in the town square about 12:45 for the shuttle. I said in the beginning that Gothenburg was "less than stellar" - in comparison to the other ports, it was not as interesting, and if the weather had been rainy, it would have been quite miserable because everything we did was outside - and we didn't really have an option for inside until 10am. It seemed very odd to come into a port so early when there was nothing to do and then leave so shortly after things opened. I understand the itinerary has to be able to get you to the next port, but then choose another place that you can get to later when things would actually be open.

Berlin

We took a tour from Warnemunde to Berlin with SPB Tours (package deal with St. Petersburg). They were at the dock, very organized, and seemed ready to go. We ended up getting delayed (not SPB's fault), so we arrived in Berlin an hour later than expected. Stephan, the husband of Viktoria (SPB's owner) was there to meet us, and he worked with us to compensate for the lost hour. He was very understanding and made amends immediately, even though it was not his company's fault we lost time. Our tour guide, Jim, was phenomenal. I know a lot of people say that, but he was REALLY good. Originally from the States, he studied in Germany and has lived there for several years. He carried photographs to the sites to show us what it looked like either during WWII or the Cold War, which made it come alive. He was clearly passionate about the subject and could answer all of our questions. It's impossible to see a city like Berlin in one day, but I thought he did a great job of getting us to the highlights - the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Holocaust Memorial, Topography of Terror. Yay SPB tours! Back on the boat about 8pm.

Tallinn

Time changed one hour forward (on the sea day before). I LOVED Tallinn. What a beautiful medieval city! Also, totally walkable. We walked to the Old Town and followed Rick Steves' walking tour (you'll see we did that often...he would bring us past the highlights and we'd stop in if we thought it was interesting), catching most of the highlights, like the churches, palaces, towers, viewpoints, etc. After finishing the tour, we went to St. Olaf's church to climb the steeple - GREAT view, and the number of steps (238?) did not seem like that many (maybe because we walked up the steps from Emerald to Lido every morning for breakfast...and later for ice cream...:o). Worth it. We ate lunch in a small tiny restaurant just of the main square recommended in Rick's book as "good, solid Estonian food at good prices without the touristy stuff" and it lived up to expectations. Also, I think Tallinn might be the place to find souvenirs. Matryoshka dolls seemed to be of better quality and better prices than in St. Petersburg (14 euro in Tallinn vs. 20-25 euro for the same size in SPB). They have lots of shops up in the upper part of Old Town. We also climbed into the walls near Sweater Wall to see the towers - definitely worth it too. There is also a glass blower on a street off the end of Sweater Wall that was cool to watch. We made our way back to the port along the walls, where there was a summer festival art installation. We got back to the terminal in time to use the free Wifi. While we were sitting there, suddenly the Royal's horn blew the Love Boat theme (to salute another leaving cruise ship). Even though we knew we had time before all aboard, when the horn blew, EVERYONE in the terminal started sprinting for the ship. It was pretty funny...and yes, we were right in the middle of the runners too. So a little less Facebook, a little more exercise, and a few minutes before dinner (probably a positive life choice :o). It was also nice in Tallinn because they used Euros, which we already had from Berlin, so no ATM search!

Will post St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm after I mow the lawn. :)

The much-longer winded version:

Port and Boat

We flew into Copenhagen about 5 hours later than expected (thanks, United), but still were able to catch the boat (missed seeing anything in Copenhagen, though...). We took the train from the airport to Osterport Station (must have cash or a card with a PIN to purchase a train/bus ticket - there are ATMs in the baggage claim and along the concourse, so cash is easily accessible) - a 3-zone ticket gets you from the airport to the cruise port for 36 DKK. Trains come frequently - take one labeled for Osterport station. We then took bus 26 (UNICEF) to the port. It started raining while we were on the bus, and because we were the only 2 on the bus at that point on the route (quite full earlier!), our super nice bus driver drove past the UNICEF stop and dropped us off right at the terminal. The terminal has free wifi (also usable if your balcony is on the terminal side of the ship while docked). We checked in and dropped our stuff off in E323.

The cabin (E323 - Obstructed Deluxe Balcony): it was great and suited all of our needs. We had a lifeboat in front of us, but really the only direction we couldn't see was straight down. It was the first time I've ever had a balcony, and we loved both the fresh air and natural light. Storage space was definitely sufficient for the 2 of us. On-demand TV and movies were great - probably a choice of about 60 movies from old classics to just out on DVD, and they added the MUTS movies after showing them (we don't see a lot of movies in general, so we used this to catch up on some recent ones). Our room steward was nice, but not overly friendly. She did the job.

We went to the MDR for dinner about half the time, but also went to Alfredo's (good calzone, EXCELLENT vegetarian antipasto), and Horizon Court. Sometimes we liked to do what we called the "ship progressive dinner" - salad and fruit course in the buffet, pizza somewhere else, and dessert at the International Cafe or Swirls...interchange courses as you wish. We had anytime dining and never had a problem getting a table for 2. We shared a few times, which was a nice way to meet people, but sometimes it took a long time to wait to fill the table and then it was dinner with 8 instead of 2, so dinner became an extended event. (not a problem, just an observation). We always liked the options at the buffet - breakfast had a wide variety, although the options were pretty much the same from day to day (again, not a problem). Omelets made to order were a nice touch. We only ate lunch on the boat on sea days (2 days out of the cruise), but the lunch options in Horizon court/Bistro seemed varied as well. Like I said before, my personal favorite was the International Cafe with the panini, salads, and pastries. I often liked the desserts there better than in the MDR.

Because we were in port so much, we didn't do a lot of on board activities/entertainment. We did two evening shows in the Princess theater - "Colors of the World" and the Russian Folk Dancer and Music Show. Colors of the World was a little more "Vegas-style" than we would prefer, but the Folk Show was worth going to. We liked the string quartet and some of the smaller things happening in the Piazza. We both enjoyed the culinary demonstrations - fruit and vegetable carving and the galley tour - entertaining and fun. It was just too cold on deck for MUTS to be too much of a draw, but we did watch Divergent one night. Had it been warmer, we would have done more of that. Also, with all of the early ports and time changes (you are in 3 different time zones on this boat, and the boat often docks at 7am), late night activities didn't happen often for us.