Crusin Kelly

We are scheduled to depart Le Havre on the British Isles itinerary and have a question.    This port day is considered an embarking/disembarking point for the trip.   Next day is London and it is also an embarking/disembarking point.  Some get on/off in Le Havre and some get on/off in London.   Now for those of is getting on in La Havre... we will be spending a few days in Paris before the cruise and will take the 3 hour drive from the city to the ship on departure day. . .   I know the ship offers a full day excursion to the Normandy beaches for those that will be departing the next day in London whilst some disembark and others embark...   Here is my question to anyone that has done this trip before.  a)  Does the ship offer a half day excursion to the landing sites - you know - like - "anyone wanting to visit... meet at..."    OR ... b) are there tour companies at the port that would do afternoon excursion... OR c) does anyone have any experience with a tour company that would pick us up at Paris hotel, drive to/tour beaches/museums and drop is off at ship in time for embarkation. . . 

7 minutes ago, Domen said:

 

 

The equation of maximal wave height that a water craft generates is down below (height of wave hitting the shore). 

Hm is maximal wave height [m], V is speed [m/s], X is distance between shore and boat [m], Lv is length of the boat at waterline [m] and D is draught [m]

 

So MSC Operas maximal wave (2 knts and 300m from shore) is 3.4m. This is theoretical height of course. Small boat (10m long, 10 knts, 1m draught and 30m from shore) will generate only 0.35m high waves.

"they told me that there would be no math" !! 

I will add my thanks and well wishes to ms. Mermaid for a Blessed Christmas and Bountiful New Year. 

and we must all offer up a prayer of Thanksgiving to St. Nicholas for his gentle hand in making our sailings safe and worry-free.   "May St. Nicholas hold the tiller."

2 hours ago, Prolly said:

It will be the Idi. We just swopped to it today. Extra day in Strasbourg. Looks like we missed getting through the Gorge by a day. Still, the day boat was fine. We get to Basel on Friday. 

  THANKS ...  looking forward to it...  

SUPER SUPER news... We are supposed to be on Mani on a B to E on the 7th... she is one of the northbound Viking ships...   We hope she makes it...   HOWEVER... if she does, she will be in Amsterdam instead of Basel on the 7th.... hmmm...  seems our ship swap will occur before our trip even starts... Hope there is a Viking longship in Basel on Friday....

Sailing on Mani on Dec 8... rain is good for now... but IF possible, I would request that it stop on Friday (the 7th) the river levels are what they are....   visiting the Markets that we will be able to without rain would be preferable even with the bus rides/ship swapping...    just saying....

Kelly 

I found it particularly easy to stop at the casino bar for a drink to take to the theater, the waiters there are REALLY overworked and slow as a result. Casino barman got used to me stopping by... ;)

i'm going to step in here and defend the original poster's comments about the poor food(and wont use the word CRAP) on Silhouette and provide several examples from our most recent trip in the Baltic in July. I won't comment on the poor waiter service (that is luck of the draw) - and don't get me started on the deportment of the other passengers, children running down the main walkway barely missing old people with walkers and waiters trying not to drop their heavy trays. Men wearing shorts, torn jeans and sandals - dress code not even attempted to be enforced.

1) Ocean View Cafe Buffet at breakfast, while the poached eggs were freshly poached, the hollandaise sauce was kept in a serving dish with no heat, it was COLD and when spooned onto my nicely freshly poached eggs made it almost inedibly cold. The waffles and pancakes were never fresh, had been sitting in the steam table staying warm - one expects to receive a freshly cooked crispy waffle.

2) unable to find anything on the ever-changing daily menu (after 5 days of disappointing food), I ordered the ever-present sirloin. WOW... so much gristle it was un-cuttable I finally got that half of the steak separated from the more tender section and got through it... would have sent it back, but didn't want to piss-off the waiter anymore than necessary.

3) Chocolate lava cake... JOKE ! ! ! I have eaten this on several other ships and get warm chocolate flowing from the freshly baked cake - yum. What I got in the MDR on Silhouette was a small chocolate mini-muffin with vanilla ice cream... really? We both laughed outloud when it was set in front of me.

4) Crepe Suzette my DW ordered this one evening - the crepe was tougher than a 4 day old tortilla. One could not even cut it with the knife !

5) Lawn Club grill (paid $40 EACH for this meal). Starting with the flatbread pizza, served as filler, good but not great. Salad was OK - expecting more salad ingredients other than lettuce and tomatoes. The steak was prepared exactly to order, but it was certainly not an $80 experience to get to watch the chef cook an above average steak.

6) not to be completely negative - on the up-side best meal on the ship was the hamburger at the Mast Grill next to the pool - fresh hot frozen hamburger.

7) another highlight was the "express breakfast" served in the main dining room on 3 particularly early days when the excursions left before 8am. You were excorted to a table and 6 waiters descended on you with coffee, a plate with scrambled eggs and bacon, toast, pastry and an orange juice - all served in 10-12 seconds. no substitutes - just a good quick breakfast before busy days. Much faster than wandering around the different stations and looking for a table at the Ocean View Cafe!

8) one evening they attempted German regional food service in the Ocean View Cafe. The sauerkraut was inedible - tasted bad! and I am not sure what kind of meat was in the next serving dish but YUCK ! AND the "pretzels" were overbaked - yes - overBAKED. not that hard y'all - for trained chef's ? street vendors do it, why can't you?

9) first time I ever got neapolitan icecream in a baked alaska !? also first time there was no fanfare with the waiters and chefs in the dining room. next to last evening, they kinda did a walk through... nothing much made of it so we could give our appreciation to the staff...

10) never got hors d'oeuvres in a bar before dinner, and you always had to ask for snack mix.

SO yes, food service was truely disappinting. We never got the "WOW" moment that we had on previous trips. We will think twice about another Celebrity booking

i would not worry about missing any meal in the MDR, on my last cruise X, the MDR was a forgettable experience. We ate at the Lawn Club grill, certainly NOT worth the $40pp we paid. We had eaten at Qsine on an earlier voyage, it is a MUST if you have never done it - just for the one-of-a-kind experience. Murano and Tuscan are simply the same food, served in a better environment. The buffet was great for breakfast, they have really good burgers at the mast grill(free) and Lawn Club Grill ($15). You will have many opportunities to sign up for specialty dining... trust me. They have a podium at the entrance to the buffet.

I see from your signature, you have QM2 in 2017 - already done or taken already? If already taken, can you compare the service/food/ship?

Amsterdam

The final port on our itinerary was Amsterdam. For disembarkation convenience, we had changed our local hotel to the Movenpick which was located right next to the cruise port. We were surprised to read that our luggage tags provided would facilitate the delivery of the luggage from the hall outside our cabin, directly to our room. An unpublished pleasure, not to have to deal with groups and locating our 2 bags in the warehouse of rows and rows of belongings delivered there. With that bit of convenience, we were free to disembark at our leisure and take our time to get to the hotel where we were to meet our tour. Arriving 2 hours earlier than the meeting time, we walked the area ending up at Dam Square. Back to the hotel in plenty of time, and after several calls from the bellman at the hotel our guide finally showed up 30 minutes late. Turns out this was a private tour, just the 2 of us, so that allowed us flexibility to take our time admiring the windmills at the beautiful Zaanse Sachans village. We saw a working windmill crushing rocks, a cheese making demonstration and a workman demonstrating how to make a wooden clog. Very interesting heritage society presentation of a traditional working village. Our guide turned us over to his father, the owner of the tour company for a ride back to the city, where we requested to be dropped off at the Rijkesmuseum.

A guided tour provided a wealth of information about the dutch masters and insight to the artists and paintings we saw. Iconic self portrait of Van Gogh, Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid”, Rembrandt's greatest masterpiece “The Night Watch” are certainly highlights of the tour. It is a very large facility, way too much to see in a couple of hours. We took a cab back downtown to catch a late afternoon canal ride through several canals,under many bridges. What a great view of a remarkable city.

Kelly was coming down with a cold as we got off the canal boat, so it took a few minutes longer to make our way back to the hotel having to stop every 200 yards or so to catch our breath. Check-in and off to the room where we discover that yes, the luggage had been delivered. A great view of the city from the room was enjoyed shortly before dinner. At the front desk, we arranged for a taxi to the airport for the next day and then crashed into bed.

A non-eventful drive to the airport followed by a long COLD flight home and we call this trip complete.

Oslo

The Silhouette docked right across from the Akershus Fortress on a drizzly foggy morning – don’t forget your umbrella today! We get another good breakfast and get our tour stickers in the theater for the last time on this cruise. The rain is relentless as we work our way to the bus and through the town of Oslo as we head towards the sculpture garden in Vigeland park. We are only here once, so into the rain we go. Turns out that even under umbrellas one can get pretty good photos of the many interesting sculptures, large fountain and unusual monolith. The unique sculpture park is Gustav Vigeland's lifework with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. The statues are all naked some alone, some interacting with other people, children playing, young adults exploring their relationships, parents and grandparents interacting with each other. The monolith has 121 intertwined figures that are characterized by sadness and despair, delight and hope, next to a feeling of togetherness. The sculptor left the interpretation up to the viewer, but mostly tells the story of man’s journey from cradle to grave.

Our next stop was atop the nearby mountain at the Holmenkollbakken ski jump originally opened in 1892, later the site of the 1952 winter Olympic ski jumping competition. The entire jump has been reconstructed several times, the current facility opened March 2006 and features a tower that is 138 feet tall providing a launch point for jumps of over 450 feet. When we arrived, however, the low clouds and fog prevented us from making out any details of the large gray structure and landing zone.

On the way back to the ship we make a short stop at the Viking ship museum where they have restored unearthed Viking ships and other artifacts. While we were eating lunch, the clouds parted, and the sun broke through providing us a glorious afternoon for our walking tour. We made our way from the harbor to the City Hall, saw the Royal Palace from a distance, walked past the Oslo Cathedral, finally walking through the Akershus Fortress before ending right at the ship. A tired couple of travelers, we were. Oslo turned out to be one of our favorite places.

Copenhagen

A sea day was a welcomed break from the first few very intense days of touring. Today we get a late start right after lunch to begin 2 days in Copenhagen.. We drive past the busy beaches on our short drive to the North Zealand district to see several castles. Starting in the North with a walk up to the Kronborg then and a photo stop at the Fredensborg castle and a then a visit to the Frederiksborg Castle before we are returned to the ship just in time for dinner. We have scheduled an evening canal cruise and to our surprise the small tour boat has docked right in front of our ship…how convenient! As we make our way under the bridges along our route, many locals populated the canal-side bars and cafes enjoying the beautiful evening.

The next morning our tour will first take us to the waterside viewing location to see the statute of the Little Mermaid, a required photo for anyone’s visit to Copenhagen. Leaving the harbor area, we drive through the city for some sightseeing on our way to the small village of Dragor. Upon our return to town, we ask to be dropped off downtown, knowing that we have several hours to see the city on our own before the ship leaves. Walking south, we discover the statue of Hans Christian Anderson at the City Hall Square, then past many shops to another square where we locate a sidewalk café for lunch. After connecting to Wifi and downloading our e-mail, we continue our walk down by the bustling over crowded Nyhaven district where we locate the shuttle bus that will take us back to the harbor. A busy couple of days, thankfully there is another sea day again tomorrow.

Berlin

The charter train for all the excursions was waiting for us today just a short walk away when we docked at the port city of Warnemunde, Germany. Once we were all aboard and situated, we were off for a 2 ½ hour ride to the capital city of Berlin. Our tour guide was waiting on the platform to make sure the group was all together before walking through the station to the tour bus. Bryan, a young PHD student at the university began to tell us about the new, vibrant and growing city of Berlin – one much different that most of us remember. Since the Allies completely destroyed the city in WWII, there is nothing old there, all the structures that we saw were newly constructed mostly during the period when the city was divided. Our first stop was at an art project that utilized several hundred meters of a section the Berlin Wall that was not torn down. Art is far from the memories etched on people’s mind when they think of the many hundreds of people killed trying to escape East Berlin. We saw many of the sights of the rebuilt East Berlin including a horribly disrespectful tourist trap area built around the guard shack which was located at“check-point Charlie”. With that perversion of history behind us, we stop at a typical Biergarten for a beer with pretzel and brat, sauerkraut, pork and potatoes served family style –easily the best meal we had on the entire cruise. The afternoon we would continue sightseeing mainly in the old West Berlin sectors which included a stop at the Brandenburg Gate, the new parliament building and downtown in the Kurfürstendamm shopping district. One interesting landmark there was the Ruin of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was not rebuilt as a reminder of the bombing during World War II. “We can not apologize for what the ****’s did during the war”… we have to put it behind us and go forward by rebuilding the new thriving city… as he said driving past an unrestored section of the wall on our way back to the train station. On the train ride back, Kelly and Ethan, a nice 15yr old friend met on the Moscow train ride, while on a tour of the train, they were invited to make a brief visit in the cab of the locomotive of the train. As the sun is setting, the Silhouette departs and we leave the protection of the harbor to chase the sun into the horizon. We were glad to leave Germany behind us.

Tallin

The ship arrived right on time this morning, so we were soon off the breakfast and then to join our tour group in the theater, a process we were soon to get very familiar with. Our bus left the port area, stopping first at the site of the music festival and then at the marina in the village of Pirita the venue for sailing during the US boycotted 1980 Olympics. At that time parts of Estonia had been annexed by Russia. Back to the upper old town where we see the 5 domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and go inside the much older Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin (also known as Dome Church). Continuing the walk to a scenic overlook for some photos, we pass many small shops as we make our way down to the Town Hall Square for a spot of lunch. Our next stop on our walk was inside the Church of the Holy Spirit for a concert of traditional music accompanied on a hurdy-gurdy. Then time for a few more photos and even a bit of shopping before re-boarding our bus to the port. We really liked Tallinn and the well organized and informative tour today - quite possibly our favorite of the trip.

If paying by card it is usually a bad deal if the vendor offers to charge you in your own currency. It is almost certainly subject to a conversion fee plus a poor exchange rate. This is on top of any fee your card provider might charge to use your are abroad ( we have a card that has no overseas charges) . The rates are usually much better if you just charge the card in the local currency and let the banks do the conversion at the prevailing rate.

Agreed, my card has no foreign fees as well. If you are spending more than a few dollars the exchange rate is really inconsequential, what is a few cents here and there - rolled into the cost of the trip. :cool:

Hi Crusin Kelly, reg: Train to Moscow--was the train airconditioned, (I ask because the Celebrity owned train to Berlin several years ago was not) was the Moscow train a Celebrity train, or were tour passengers all in one car? Do you recall the cost? I have been to St Pete before several years ago and the offer then was a plane ride, I did not do it. Why was your trip disappointing--other than the 17 hours, which was about how long the trip would have been on the plane? Thank you for your review, Pat

yes Moscow train air conditioned - Berlin train was air cooled by opening the windows.

There were at least 3 tours on the train, our group was spreadout with the other groups - we took space in 3 cars - our car was all 2 groups.

I booked the tour through Celebrity - over $600

The rain dampened our excitement (no one's fault), the tour was rushed, partially due to the number of people in Moscow on a Saturday, and partially due to the rain. We were pretty wet at the start, then dried off some as the day progressed.

St Petersburg....

Summary .... Too crowded and too rushed...

My wife wanted to stay in St Petersburg to see the Hermitage and Peterhof Palace instead of spending 17 hours going to Moscow. All I know from her day is that by the time their excursion group was released, the wait for Russian customs was over an hour long. They did make it to the Peterhof Palace along with everyone else in the area – very crowded is what she reported. Their group was unable to get through the crowd enough to make it down to the bridge for the best view of the fountains. She was able to get a good vantage point and a few good photos, however. The crowds persisted during their visit to the Hermitage, again they persevered and felt rushed as they caught glimpses of the collections in the few areas they visited. It would take several years to see everything in the museum. After a quick turnaround at the ship to change and grab a bite of dinner, she joined a group to watch Swan Lake at the Hermitage theater that evening. She reported that despite the rushing about, the ballet was certainly worth the effort.

We went together on day 2 in St Petersburg – going through customs is much easier once you have both stamps from the first day in your passport. We arrived at Catherine’s summer palace in Puskin well before the crowds today. We took a leisurely pace through many of the rooms including Green Dining Room, the Blue Drawing Room, the Chinese Blue Drawing Room, the nearly 1,000 square meter Hall of Light, and the fully restored spectacular Amber Room. Then outside we enjoyed a walk in the gardens before heading back to the city for a nice Russian lunch. The afternoon found us making our way to the beautiful Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress located on an island in the Neva river. The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II. Its 400 ft tall gold-painted spire features an angel holding a cross at the top visible from most locations in the city. Next stop for photos was at the site of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. One last view of the Hermitage from the north bank of the Nevis and we were back to our ship. Many more days could easily be spent in this historic city.

I am glad we went to Russia, I am glad I got to walk in Red Square. I am disappointed, however, in the experience. Check... off the list.

Sorry to say, but I just got off the Silhouette today and I thought the food was some of the worst food I have ever had on any cruise. However I found the waitstaff in general to be very polite, friendly, and ready to serve. I believe the Specialty dining and Aqua class are Celebrity's way to serve better food. The only decent food I tasted for 12 days was at Sushi on 5 and Murano. Those were the only restaurants I tried. I am a huge lover of all kinds of potatoes and they were so bad everywhere, I never ate more than a taste. And that says a lot. The buffet just repeats itself everyday. I can honestly say I am pretty sure I lost weight on this cruise.

I wasn't going to go that far, my wife accuses me of being negative... but you definitively said it. there were bright spots at most meals, but not the way it was. as I mentioned in my first posting, the joke that was chocolate lava cake ! the Steak was good, not $45 good, in the lawn grill... the hollandaise sauce was always COLD. The food is probably what will drive me away from another Celebrity cruise. And don't get me started on the slobs that are allows to enter the MDR. . . :rolleyes:

Moscow

I took the option today to take the Sapsan high-speed train to Moscow on a Celebrity excursion. We were the first group to disembark the ship and go through Russian Customs, which was very easy with no waiting. A short bus ride through St Petersburg ends at the Railway Station where we follow our escort through the station and to the platform and awaiting train. Many other trains were stopped at other platforms, this is truly a busy rail station. Slowly we depart and work our way to the outskirts of the city and notice the speed of the train quickly increasing. as breakfast was served on the 4 hour trip we were traveling just over 220 kph (140 mph) on the grade separated concrete tie roadway. The blur of the Russian countryside whizzed past as a nice breakfast was served. Slowing was noticeable as we approached the city of Moscow where the train finally stopped at the Leningradsk Station as rain began to fall. Our guide gets us all together on the platform and leads us to our tour bus and local guide for the day. First stop –Red Square where we see St Basil's church on our way past Lenin’s tomb and out of the rain for some free time to get lunch and shop at the famous GUM department store. Back to the bus to get to the other side of the Kremlin where we are greeted by thousands of other people waiting to get in as the rain lets off. Our guide pushed us past the throng as we already had tickets and through the gates of the red-walled fortress. Across the center of the Kremlin grounds we head past the large cannon and bell to go through the cathedral. The crowd is starting to build so we make our way out and to the Armory Museum to see the many prized collections of art and items of historic significance. All too soon our visit to Moscow is over as we make our way to the subway station. Our guide shows us the interior of 4 or 5 of the beautifully decorated stations before we arrive back 2 levels below the train station. We bid farewell to the tour guide and make out way to the train for eh 4 hour return trip to St Petersburg. A salmon filet is served for dinner. We arrive just before midnight and enjoy a drive back through town seeing the people enjoying the nightlife. A long memorable day is done 17 hours after it started.

sorry to hear about your issues, sounds like they are going to take care of you... good luck

I'll keep writing - in fact posting Moscow now.

Helsinki

Our 7-hour tour today from SPB-Tours took us sightseeing through Helsinki – our first stop at the Helsinki Cathedral. A block over was a local marketplace where we purchased several souvenirs and some wonderful locally grown cherries from the dozens of vendors setup there. After a spot of lunch of lunch at a local restaurant, the bus continued on to the historic village of Porvoo. During our free time,we shopped and then found a chocolate store that has been around since 1871. On our way back to the city, we stopped at the interesting Church in the Rock that was carved out of the solid rock. This was a full day with interesting sightseeing done very well.

Stockholm –

We started out the day landing at the airport and taking a taxi to the hotel and then started exploring the city. We walked a ways to tour the City Hall and then over to the old town of Gamlastan for shopping and some lunch and then an afternoon canal cruise. After all the walking, we decided to take a cab back to the hotel, as it is quite a ways. After checking in and getting freshened up (nap), we headed down the street for dinner. Next morning after a great breakfast buffet we took a cab to the port to meet our tour guide for the day. During our stay we got to see the place where the Nobel Prize banquet is held, saw the narrowest alley, saw the smallest statue, drove through several neighborhoods, enjoyed many shopping opportunities in the old town of Gamlastan, visited the Vasa Museum, took a canal cruise, and experienced the changing of the guard at the National Palace.

Hotel – Scandic Grand Central

Location was a bit far from Gamlastan, but in a nice neighborhood a couple of blocks from fine shopping and many nice restaurants. We had a nice clean room with a view of the main street. Breakfast buffet was a good start to a busy day. The bellman was quick to gather and store our luggage when we arrived and the next morning he arranged for a cab to the port. The front desk was helpful with suggestions for dinner and making our stay pleasurable. We highly recommend dinner the Kott and Fisk Baren restaurant for their unique atmosphere and great food. We used Celebrity to book the room and did not see any agent or get any information from them.

SPB-Tours – Stockholm Highlights Tour. There was a bit of confusion about meeting place, but once we found each other, it turned out that it was just the two of us. Christine made the best use of the time in showing us the sights of Stockholm including the Vasa Museum and the back streets of Gamlastan. She managed to take a few short cuts to get us around the crowds to see the army band that accompanied the day’s changing of the guard at the National Palace. She also suggested a great little place for lunch where the proceeds are contributed to a charity. There was not much time for shopping, but we had done that the day before, and Christine customized the day to our needs and made the day enjoyable, we give her 5 stars. With our private tour complete,she dropped us at the ship for our embarkation activities.

We are just off a Baltic cruise on the Silhouette.. the question "what do people wear to dinner?" The answer... Anything they darn well please... Disappointed in the MDR Staff... :( Shorts were not uncommon. "Chic" is a joke... I will say that on the 2nd Chic night, there were a dozen or so tuxes (including mine) at the early seating... but the guy wearing clothes that just finished cutting his lawn in followed me in . . . flip flops on Casual night, sure, why not, apparently no one cares...? ;p

So bring what you want, wear what you want ...:(:loudcry:

I am enjoying your review very much as we are sailing on a somewhat similar cruise in August.

One question - did you take some currency for the places you visited for tips, etc? We are staying in Iceland and Amsterdam before so I know we will need some local currency.

 

What ship were you on?

on the Silhouette

We took local currency for everywhere. Most everywhere, you can use your credit card, much easier. Most cities, including Amsterdam, Russia excluded, accepted euros. But one tour guide said that their country, everyone uses the credit card option, even for a bottle of water. Sometimes, I even got the option to charge in USD right there.