absolutboy20

We're also really enjoying your review and since Silhouette follows a similar route next week, it's great to have a recent report. Keep them coming and enjoy the remaining days of your cruise!

The daily is pretty spot on. I haven't heard any jazz on this trip but you never with the entertainment. They can be switching out at end of our cruise.

Absolutely enjoying your review ;) (see how I did that, lol) You mentioned kayaking in New Zealand, hoping you did a review of that trip!

[emoji2][emoji2] That was our second cruise we had taken. And I think if we had internet it was for a 30 minute package. The itinerary was Auckland to Sydney on HAL's Oosterdam. The exchange rate was terrible against the Australian currency. I just remember $12 for a Big Mac???!!

Day 7 - Tallin, Estonia Final

We headed back to the meeting point to catch the transfer. The Celebrity Daily indicated we needed our passports, but no one ever asked for pier side.

We had dinner in Luminae while the ship departed port. By the end of the dinner, a boat was nearing our window to pick up the pilot who navigated us out of Tallinn.

The next day is St.Petersburg, with an early start and a hellish passport control. We hung out on the balcony.

OH filled out the room service menu for delivery at 6AM and called it a night.

I'm a day behind now on my reporting. Four consecutive port days it's a little hard to keep up.

This was the sunset leaving Tallinn.

Day 7 - Tallin, Estonia cont'd

We then walked through Town Hall Square which was the main marketplace for selling goods. It is now lined with cafes and restaurants.

The tour concluded about three blocks from Town Hall Square. We were given about 1.5 hours to spend time on our own, with our meeting point for the port transfer to be at the McDonald's. The guide pointed out if you get lost, ask someone for directions to McDonald's, as it's the only one in Old Town.

We were starving so we headed back to Town Hall. I wanted to go back to a restaurant the guide recommended, but it was too hard to find. We found a restaurant, and as soon as we sat down the sky became ominous, winds picked up, and it started to pour. The Town Hall which was crowded with people is now empty. Everyone is huddled under a covered walkway along the church.

I tried a traditional Estonian dish of cheese and bacon soup. Thumbs up.

For an entree, I ordered a filet. It definitely was not a filet but didn't taste bad.

After lunch we strolled around town taking pictures.

Day 7 - Tallinn, Estonia cont'd

Our guide spoke about the period when USSR occupied Estonia during the time of his grandfather. His grandfather’s business was taken over by the government, and he was then sent to Siberia. There is now a plaque to remember some of those who were forced out of the country.

We continued down to the narrowest road in Tallinn.

Old town was built out of stone for fire protection and wood framing was banned. Outside of the stone walls, buildings needed to be built out of wood. The reasoning is that if the city was invaded, they would burn down the area beyond the walls so that they could not be occupied by the invading forces.

We walked by the Holy Spirit Church where the exterior wall has a clock dating back to 1433 and is still functional.

Along the way to the church, we passed by the oldest candy shop in the city which has Tallinn’s speciality, marzipan. They hand paint the marzipan at this store. The treat was also prescribed as medicine to cure a broken heart. We then walked by another oldest landmark, this time being a pharmacy. It is the oldest continuously operating pharmacy since 1422.

Day 7 - Tallinn, Estonia

Woke up to the ship pulling into the port with Oceana and Azamara Journey docked at the other pier. It was interesting to see both ships as they appear to be the same build. Before the trip, we were thinking of switching to the Journey on this cruise as the itinerary was slightly shorter. The Journey also included three days in St.Petersburg which would allow for a day trip to Moscow.

I went down to the dining room, OH ordered room service. I changed my breakfast today to Scottish smoked salmon Benedict, without eating the English muffin on the bottom, to offset the butter fat in the hollandaise sauce.

Our tour today had a start time of 10AM through SPB. This includes a transfer to upper Old Town, walking to lower Old Town with a guide, free time on our own, and a port transfer back to the ship. The paperwork for the tour indicated the meeting point is beyond the gift shops and through the cruise terminal gates where a giant helium balloon is located. We didn't see a balloon but as soon as walked out of the cruise terminal gate the SPB rep was there holding a sign. The balloon is supposed to be a tethered blimp ride but is not operating this year. There were a total of 10 in our tour from the ship. After our group was assembled the representative brought over our guide. His name started with an I and sounded like “Ingekert”. I know I totally botched it.

We boarded our bus to upper Old Town driving by a small theme park and the guide pointing out some buildings including the national theater. One building he mentioned was a hotel. During the time the Soviet Union was in control of Estonia, the hotel was open with 24 floors. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the hotel had 25 floors for occupancy. The reasoning? One floor was secretly occupied by the KGB.

The bus ride took about 10 minutes and we were at the outside of one of the many stone walls that protected upper Old Town.

This was where the nobility and upper class lived. As he was talking about the wall, a rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Rain was not forecasted for today. We walked down the cobblestone street where we saw a Russian Orthodox Church. The facility is going through a restoration, so there was scaffolding covering parts of the exterior.

We were given 15 minutes to explore the church. Photography was not permitted. As we were walking towards to the steps on the church, a deluge of rain started and we quickly ran inside.

We then proceeded to a platform that overlooks the lower Old Town.

Day 7 - Tallin, Estonia

The dailies.

What dock in Stockholm did the ship tie to? IS this the port that's far from town? Do you know if the hoho can be boarded at the port? We're taking this cruise next summer and have been following your posts with interest.

4 out of the 5 cruise ships were docked at Frihamnen cruise port including the Eclipse. Both companies that operate the HOHO will take you to the cruise port, eventually....

I was really hoping to take the river portion of the tour to get us back to or near the cruise harbor, but it was not possible. We waited at HOHO bus stop as the line grew, and 20 minutes later the bus arrived. Another 20 or so minutes we arrived at the cruise terminal around 4PM.

I sat on the balcony watching the other ships depart until 5:15 when the ropes started being pulled back on our ship. I took a shower and got dressed for dinner as we had reservations at Murano. We both did a la carte dining. I had the lobster bisque, goat cheese soufflé, and the lobster tail prepared tableside.

Dinner was good, a little heavy but that's Murano in my opinion. We were offered a discount if we made another reservation to Murano or Qsine, but I declined. For me once a cruise is enough.

We went back to the cabin to watch the sunset.

Someone earlier commented about how beautiful the entry/exit is at this port and they are absolutely right. The channels are narrow with hundreds of islands that are covered in heavy growth trees. The ship is constantly making course adjustments. This must be an exciting port for the captain and pilot to maneuver. It was about three hours since we left port and we still were clearing the channel.

Unfortunately I had to do some work tonight so I skipped the evening entertainment which was a comedy act.

Would I do HOHO again in Stockholm? No. I would have taken a taxi to Vasa, Old Town, and back to the ship. We spent too much time waiting for the overcrowded bus. If we had taken a cab, I feel like we would of been able to see the palace and taken the river cruise.

Pic to end today is the sunset. Have a great one everyone.

Day 6 - Stockholm cont'd

Our next stop was the Swedish History Museum. There is no admission fee, and the exhibit goes through the history of Sweden, the Vikings, old artifacts, and the religious aspect of the country.

We reboarded the bus to head to Old Town. Traffic was heavy as we neared the area. The Celebrity Daily stated there was a street fair that would add to the congestion and to please plan accordingly in getting back to the ship. We made it down to Old Town around 1:30pm. This area has the rustic feel with narrow cobblestone walkways, restaurants and shops lining the area.

I found a highly rated restaurant in the area, but when we arrived to read over the menu, the dishes were a little little too authentic for the OH. No reindeer for him. We found another restaurant, sat outside under a canopy, and refueled.

It was now about 3PM and we spent too much time on the HOHO to get to Old Town. We saw the exterior of the Royal Palace and views of the river.

Day 6 - Stockholm cont'd

As you walk in to the museum, you can't miss what the exhibit is about.

Vasa was one of the largest warships built in the 1600’s that took two years to build, and sank on its maiden voyage due to poor design. The actual ship was salvaged from the bottom of the sea in the 1960’s, and was reassembled in the museum. I saw pictures of the ship online but it doesn't do it justice. Coming from the Eclipse the ship should look tiny, but the Vasa is housed in a 7 story building and is massive. How they built ships without modern equipment is astonishing.

The intricate details of the woodwork survived mostly intact for 300 years under the sea.

The exhibit explores the life onboard the ship, supplies, skeletal autopsies to determine general health of the crew, and replicas of the inside of the ship.

There was also a wing devoted to women and their role in the 1600’s while their husbands were at sea. A movie was projected on the wall depicting the scene of a ship building site.

We spent about an hour and headed back towards the bus stop. Once we got outside, the line for entry was three times as long.

We waited at the HOHO station, and in about ten minutes the bus arrived filled to capacity. Four people got off from the bus, and the driver instructed us to board from the rear door. It was standing room only and I ended up being in the doorway. When the bus pulled up to the next stop, I got pinned between the door and the handrail. Didn't hurt but I learned my lesson.

Day 6 - Stockholm cont'd

For breakfast OH wanted room service as he had EVERY morning, and I went down to Luminae. For once I was the first one to arrive around 7:40. I had my usual breakfast, but I finally gave into the carb basket..

The croissant was tasty, but it had a glaze on it that made it a little sweet. I like mine to have a consistency of a cloud with a taste of a stick of butter.

The gym didn't happen today, as my usual laziness kicked in and i'm actually still sore!

I went back to the room, packed my backpack with the Celebrity umbrella as rain was in the forecast, and OH asked Freddie our room attendant if it was possible to get an extra one. Within a few minutes, he came back with one. I glanced out of the balcony and saw that we were docking. At the same time, I realized there were four other cruise ships in port. Costa, Oceana, RCL Vision of the Seas, and HAL are all in port.

The last minute excursion I purchased was the Hop On/Hop Off tour with the Red Line Bus Company with a river cruise option. I've had positive experiences in other cities. But with five cruise ships in port the system was overwhelmed. I bought the tickets through a third party site and only had the confirmation paperwork. In the past they would exchange the paperwork for a ticket. We got off the boat fairly early and the line for the HOHO was getting long. While standing in line it started to rain.

After some confusion and three personnel later, it was determined that my reservation paperwork was my ticket for the day. We boarded the bus at full capacity and were on our way.

I wanted to visit the Vasa museum but as it was one of the first stops on the route, I wondered if we were better off going to old town first then backtracking to the museum. When we pulled up to the stop, only a few people got off. We made the decision to get off as well since we thought we would beat the crowd. The rain was now falling at a steady rate. I pulled out my Celebrity umbrella and pressed the button to open it, and the umbrella top flew off of the arm like a torpedo into the street. One umbrella down.

We eventually found the Vasa museum after going to the Nordic museum by mistake. We were greeted to this.

After making our way inside, there was another queue to purchase tickets.

They have machine kiosks to purchase tickets, but it would only accept cards with a chip and pin. All of my credit cards have a chip, but no pin. I ended up using my ATM card to get the tickets.

Day 6 - Stockholm, Sweden cont’d

I woke up (better than the alternative) and did the usual glance through the slider. I saw one small island after another with houses dotted between the trees. I changed and took some pictures from the balcony. It was one of those days where the wind was non-existent and the water was flat as a sheet of glass. The ship was so close to the islands that you can hear the wake hitting the shoreline.

As we were navigating around one island a loud alarm was going off with strobe lights. The alarm went silent and then an explosion could be heard and saw dirt shifting. We were passing by some type of mining operation.

I went up to deck 15 to watch our entry into port. From there I could see a cruise ship in front of us navigating between the islands.

I also glanced down to the helipad and noticed that they had another gathering for a sail in.

After spending about twenty minutes taking pictures and enjoying the view, I headed down to Cafe al Bacio for a cappuccino. The barista took my order, made my drink, and I dug into my pocket for my room key. I brought my wallet but no room key. Luckily, he recognized me from the other day and knew I had a premium beverage package and said it was fine. Back up to the stateroom, I rang the doorbell but no answer. I was prepared to sit and wait at the Library but our room attendant walked by and let me in with his key. If he hadn't, it would've been a while as OH had just gotten in the shower.

Day 6 - Stockholm, Sweden

Uploading the daily since I get them early.

Hi,

My wife and I are loving the review and pictures.

Thankyou for giving up your time on board.

We sail Eclipse in 9 days, in a CS, could you tell me how many sockets there are in the cabin please?

So this is where the ship shows it age. There is only one accessible outlet, two if you bring a converter for a European plug.

They are both located on the small desk that I assume your wife would use as a makeup counter. I checked behind the night stands but there but no additional outlets. I highly recommend you purchase a multi-USB charger with smart charging as it will allow you to charge multiple devices at different voltage from one outlet.

.

Now you hogging up the makeup desk for your electronics. Good luck with that.

Enjoy the Fjords!

Please please can you post things on the daily itinerary so I can see what sort of things there is to do on sea days, we go in just over 2 weeks

Hi,

I did post all of the dailies on this thread.

Day 5 - At Sea Day 2 Final

I really don't have much to report on the second sea day. I went back to the gym at 6AM, had my usual breakfast, and spent the majority of time lounging in the Solarium. I'm having a heck of a time with Tapatalk and uploading pictures. The photos would show up as uploading and get to 95% then fail. I had upload each pic about ten times for the app to post. When I got to the helipad pictures it just stopped uploading... I also see it uploaded one thread twice!! I'm hoping it is due to fact that today is the first time land based cell service is not available during the day. The onboard wifi may have been very congested.

The OH went to his second massage appointment and he loved the masseuse. Dinner at Luminae where I chose the caesar salad off of the MDR menu, TWO crab cakes from Luminae, as well as the sea bass. The crab cakes were a tad salty for my taste but had a nice spicy kick.

I still had my evening cappuccino but that didn't help me stay awake for the 10:30 show... I'm getting old and tomorrow I might just fall asleep in Luminae. I'll request the bench seat.

The one thing I regret is that I missed bingo. [emoji31]. I would have been the $10,000 winner.

The flyer for the book onboard offer was included in the daily. This is how we booked our current trip and we received a $500 obc. It looks like in order to get the same amount of credit next year, we need to book the a CS suite or higher and sail on a 16+ day cruise. It's not going to happen..

Weather is slightly warm and rain free. Tomorrow is Stockholm. I bid you adieu with dancing fountains.

Day 5 - At Sea Day 2

The daily is below.

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark Final

I took a quick shower and headed for the helipad as we had received our first invitation to a sailaway. Upon exiting a door on deck 6, we passed by the outdoor rest area for crew. I was pretty excited to see this more than the helipad. We climbed up a set of stairs, champagne was being passed out, and everyone was lined up around the bow of the ship. Quite honestly, I think they invited too many people to this as not everyone will be able to see the sail away. We hung around for about 20 minutes and headed back inside.

We went to dinner, I had ahi steak as an entree, mushroom soup, and a salad. The couple next to us from England engaged in conversation with us and before I knew it was 8:30pm. I had a cappuccino to try and stay up for the 10:30 show, but I didn't have the energy. Lights out by 9:30pm.

I truly enjoyed Copenhagen and wish I had a few more hours to visit Tripoli Gardens and climb the tower.

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark cont'd

After lunch, the other half decided he wanted to head back to the ship as he's still coughing up a storm. We rode back over the bridge, got his bike checked back in, and I ventured out on my own.

The first stop I wanted to see was the Church of the Savior as it had a tower with 400 steps that has great views of the city. I plugged it into my GPS on the bike and headed towards the church. The only downside with the bikes is that there are roads that are made of cobblestone. Without any shocks on the bike, it can be very rough. My wrists started to hurt from all of the impact and when I got back to the ship I realized that my metal watch was banging against my wrist so much that I got a bruise.

When I arrived at the church, there was a very long line for the climb up the tower. It was already 2PM, I decided I wanted to see other sites rather than spending the time in line.

Next Stop was Amalienborg Palace. The unique aspect of this palace is that they are four identical estates built around a large courtyard which the public can access. The Royal Guards are by the double doors.

Stopping by a couple more areas nearby, I headed towards the ship on bike as the map stated there was stations to return the bikes by the pier. I stopped off at a park with a windmill and a canon in front. Now a park, it appears they use it for some type of armory as soldiers were walking around the area.

I continued my way down the coast and finally arrived at the ship. I followed the direction on the screen for the bike return, but no station in sight. I then searched for the next drop off location a little further from the ship.

No dice on the second spot either. I looked at my watch, it was already 3:30pm, an hour before sailing. I started to get a little panicked. Worst case scenario is I needed go back to shuttle bus drop off location and catch the last shuttle to the ship. Hopefully there was a return slot still available. When I started heading back towards downtown, I found a docking station halfway between the city and port that still had slots to return the bike. Bike checked back in, I headed black to the ship. I stopped in the various shops at the pier but didn't find anything that was interesting. I was onboard by 4pm with 800 more passengers needing to arrive.

After lunch, the other half decided he wanted to head back to the ship as he's still coughing up a storm. We rode back over the bridge, got his bike checked back in, and I ventured out on my own.

The first stop I wanted to see was the Church of the Savior as it had a tower with 400 steps that has great views of the city. I plugged it into my GPS on the bike and headed towards the church. The only downside with the bikes is that there are roads that are made of cobblestone. Without any shocks on the bike, it can be very rough. My wrists started to hurt from all of the impact and when I got back to the ship I realized that my metal watch was banging against my wrist so much that I got a bruise.

When I arrived at the church, there was a very long line for the climb up the tower. It was already 2PM, I decided I wanted to see other sites rather than spending the time in line.

Next Stop was Amalienborg Palace. The unique aspect of this palace is that they are four identical estates built around a large courtyard which the public can access. The Royal Guards are by the double doors.

Stopping by a couple more areas nearby, I headed towards the ship on bike as the map stated there was stations to return the bikes by the pier. I stopped off at a park with a windmill and a canon in front. Now a park, it appears they use it for some type of armory as soldiers were walking around the area.

I continued my way down the coast and finally arrived at the ship. I followed the direction on the screen for the bike return, but no station in sight. I then searched for the next drop off location a little further from the ship.

No dice on the second spot either. I looked at my watch, it was already 3:30pm, an hour before sailing. I started to get a little panicked. Worst case scenario is I needed go back to shuttle bus drop off location and catch the last shuttle to the ship. Hopefully there was a return slot still available. When I started heading back towards downtown, I found a docking station halfway between the city and port that still had slots to return the bike. Bike checked back in, I headed black to the ship. I stopped in the various shops at the pier but didn't find anything that was interesting. I was onboard by 4pm with 800 more passengers needing to arrive.

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark cont’d

As we were hungry, I asked our guide to point out on a map where she recommended going for lunch. She recommended the Copenhagen Street food which was a little over a mile away.

While walking we saw kiosk for rental bikes. When in Copenhagen you have to ride a bike. The rental bikes we had were amazing. They are electrically assisted and have a touch screen on the handle bars. The screen will allows you to unlock the bike and is equipped with GPS navigation.

We rented two bikes and headed across the bridge to Copenhagen Street food. The location is in a warehouse, and there is pretty much any kind of food available. The unique ones were Marrakesh, Turkish, surf and turf hamburger, and even the pizzas were unique.

After wandering around the center for about 15 minutes, I settled on Marrakech as I've never had it before and the line was longest. I ordered the chicken which is wrapped in a thick crispy flatbread and also has a salad inside. The dining experience is communal and outside. Can't be shy on this one if you find a spot you have to grab it.

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark cont’d

I booked the tour independently through Kayak Republic. There were two other cruise ship couples who also booked. After about ten minutes of instructions we were putting the kayaks in the water. The first couple really came close to falling into the water when entering the kayak. We have kayaked once before in Dunedin New Zealand. That guide referred to it as divorce kayaks as couples would start arguing on the stability and rowing techniques. We only had one “discussion” this time around. For anyone who hasn't kayaked before, for the first 30 minutes it is like playing kayak bumper cars.

Sorry for the photos not being great as my main concern every time I took pictures is DO NOT DROP YOUR PHONE, and the larger ships' wake made the kayak a little bouncy.

Our first waypoint was the Royal Danish Playhouse. We made our way down river and we're given the opportunity to go under the building where it's supported by columns.

From there we had a distant view of the Royal Palace and the Opera House on the opposite end. One interesting fact about the Opera House is that it was paid for by the shipping company Maersk. One requirement they had is that it needed to be situated directly across the river from the Royal Palace so that it was easily visible.

We cut across the river and went in a small canal passing by one beautiful spot after another.

The tour lasted two hours and everyone made the transition from getting out of the kayak to dock without incident. As I was pulling the kayak out of the water my cell phone fell out of my pocket landing on the dock. I felt pretty lucky.

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark cont’d

I woke up around 5AM again and played around on my phone for about an hour. I could have gone to the gym today, but honestly I was sore from the gym the last two days as I'm out of shape.

I got out of bed and looked through the sliding glass doors and already saw we were entering the port. The vibration in the cabin started when the thrusters are engaged. I quickly changed out of my pajamas to head up to level 14 to watch the docking procedures.

When I got up to the pool deck the ship was turning, and I could've just sat on the balcony from our room to have seen the whole process.

Since I already was out of the cabin, I stopped by the shore excursion desk to purchase the bus transfers to the city center. The buses run every 20 minutes with the last service being at 4PM back to the ship. When I larrived at the excursion desk, there was no one there. I was 15 minutes early as they don't open until 7AM. I sat at the nearby desk for a couple of minutes when a shore excursion representative appeared from the stairs. I told her that I'm more than willing to wait until 7AM as I'm sure she needs to set up. She insisted that she could help me out right away, and in less than 5 minutes I had the transfer passes and her recommendations of areas to see in the city.

When I was leaving the cabin, a request was made from the still sleeping other half to bring back a cappuccino for him. Next stop deck 5, no line, and two cappuccinos in hand.

I got back to the room, and I was asked what time he had to be ready to get off the ship. I told him we needed to be at a meeting point in the city center by 10:45AM. He decided to order room service and I took a shower and headed down for breakfast. I had the same meal as the day before except for changing the mango smoothie to strawberry.

We were off the boat by about 9:30AM and were dropped off by the National Bank in the city center. This was a change from our original drop off location as another tour company was using the usual shuttle bus stop. It turns out that the new drop off location is right across from the meeting point for our next excursion. We now had time to kill and started walking around the area. Our goal was to get to Amelianborg Palace. On the way there we stopped to enjoy Nyhaven. It is truly like the pictures you see online.

We walked a few blocks more until I got concerned that we would not make it back to the meeting location in time. We headed back to the meeting point taking a different route back.

We arrived five minutes before the meeting time. Today's excursion is:

Day 4 - Copenhagen, Denmark

I'll start with the dailies first as they take forever to load on the ship's wifi and usually fail a few times as well.