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Somehow I missed that it was time for another cruise and Live From thread so I got caught up tonight on it!

 

We really liked Emerald when we sailed her back in 2010.

 

Kristin

Next week I will be writing in Shogun's live from thread during the next cruise. Norway should be a real blast!

It was a beautiful warm and sunny day, all day. Almost hot in the sun, but cool in the shade and in the breeze. Very enjoyable. We are sitting in the IC enjoying a variety of teas after having a Bavarian Dinner in the HC. Great fresh sauerkraut, tasty sausages, red braised cabbage to die for, terribly gummy and pasty pasta (hey you can’t win it all), steamed asparagus, a mushroom bisque, really nicely done Pork Milanese and of course, fresh bread and cheeses to die for. A trio is providing the musical backdrop, the staff is very friendly and like is good. (It would be perfect if Judy felt better, but she’s on the mend.)

I really enjoyed Gdynia and Gdansk. (Judy decided to stay in bed today. No need to be coughing up a lung in the closed confines of a tour bus.) The Alla tour was really good, but there was a different vibe from the people and the sights in this town. Maybe it’s because of my familiarity with the historical events of Solidarity in the 80’s and 90’s, the rise of Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II. Maybe it’s because of my familiarity with the WWII history of Poland – the charging of German Panzers by Polish cavalry – or the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Whatever it is I really like the town and the people.

There was only seven of us for the Alla Grand Tour of Gdansk. In one medium sized van, we all had plenty of room. The tour started in Gdynia with a drive around the city. As our tour guide explained, almost everything in the area was leveled during WWII. What has arisen is a mix of old communist building and apartment blocks, Polish government funded restoration projects in the pre-independence days and post-independence private and government investment in redevelopment and restoration. In the ‘suburbs’ this makes for a wild mix of architectures and styles. Almost haphazard, but alive, not sterile. Sort of like Naples – a living practical environment. A lot of green space, a lot of parks, a lot of trees as well.

We visited the shipyards and the Solidarity monument. Not quite what I expected, but interesting nonetheless. It was interesting to hear how the whole movement got started – from a Polish perspective. Our guide’s accent was very heavy, but after a while I was able to dial in a bit, and it became fun to listen to her try to find the English word to describe what she was trying to say. Once again a person I would have loved to have lunch with to listen to her version of what went on in the 80’s and 90’s.

Most impressive is the old town restoration. The theme is to restore the entire area to the state prior to its destruction in WWII. This means you end up with an eclectic mix of 13th through 19th century buildings side by side with very wide pedestrian streets – and of course all of the paved and concrete roadways and walkways are being replaced with cobblestone. The old dockyard canal is being used for guided tours, rental motor boats and a replica pirate sailing ship. And the people are so very proud of what they are accomplishing – and rightly so. It will rival Copenhagen in the architecture, but be designed specifically for people to walk through and enjoy – without the traffic snarl of Copenhagen.

We did visit two more churches. Yes, two more churches. Both magnificent in their own way. The downtown cathedral (St. Mary’s) had to be essentially restored from scratch having been leveled in WWII. Loved the carved wood and the huge pipe organ. But the Oliwa Cathedral takes the prize. Wow! The organ here had over 7000 pipes and we made it in time for a short concert which would blow your mind with the sound. In this day of electronic synthesis, there is just some indescribable quality to a live organ music from such a large instrument. Very moving. And this was one of the few cathedrals to survive WWII almost unscathed. The altar, the artwork, the woodwork, were just phenomenal, unique and interesting. Above the altar were ‘billowing clouds’ with the heads of angels poking above the clouds. This was not a painting, but a 3D diorama of sorts. Just phenomenal.

The only major complaint on the Alla tours, especially this one, was the lack of time for a nice sit down lunch and careful shopping in the downtown area. We only had an hour of the 5 hour tour, but they really should have picked us up an hour early and given us a bit more free time in downtown. After shopping we really didn’t have time to sample the local brews and food. I guess that is what makes a great tour – you want more!

This would be a very easy and comfortable city to DIY. You could easily cab from the ship to the town, or take the Princess shuttle bus, or a train from Gdynia – and the trains (light rail) look very modern and comfortable as well. As in previous ports it was better to bring local currency as all the prices were in Zloty – although credit card sales always have a better rate – it’s hard to put Visa into the church collection plates or for that small magnet or bottle of coke.

That’s it for the night. Time to take Judy back to the room for her beauty sleep! Night!

Weather looks like it could go either way. Partly cloudy one way, black and stormy the other. Its either coming in or going out. We’ll see what’s happening in the next few hours to decide how to dress. Judy will probably not be going out. She had a pretty rough night coughing as the cold moved down into her chest.

We have the Grand Tour with Alla today. Our last Alla tour of the trip. They’ve been very, very good this trip, and we’ve really enjoyed the guides and the itineraries – again at a fraction of the price of the comparable Princess tours.

So yesterday was a nice relaxing day at sea. Did the morning workout and then Zumba with Kim. Finally had our obligatory burger and pizza lunch. The burger and fries were really good, but the pizza dough was a bit flat. Like it needed a bit more salt in the mix. The margherita pizza is still the best overall pizza though. At 1500 we ended up in the wheelhouse again meeting with some fellow cruise critic members to enjoy the buy one, get one for a dollar. Fixed Judy a hot toddy consisting of spiced orange tea from the HC and two shots of Jim Beam Honey Whiskey.

Last night was another early Nyquil night for her. But we did manage to make it to the Captain’s Circle party. They had to have 3 separate parties. There were over 2000 Circle members on the ship. 300+ Elites. The most traveled had over 1400 days, the third a little over 800 days. We’ve sailed with Captain Martin Stenzel before. He’s a very visible captain as he does rounds all over the ship at all hours. He came through Zumba in the morning just to see what was going on. I like a hands on Captain.

Looks like we’ll have to sail on the Royal class sooner or later. With five of those class of ships, I just don’t see them going back to the smaller ships ever again, and eventually these will wear out. What a shame.

Pulling into dock. Gotta go. Later…

What fantastic weather yesterday! And it looks like it’ll be great again today. Just being able to walk around and soak in the sunshine was great, and it was actually warm as well.

Helsinki doesn’t boast antiquities or palaces or lots of museums, but just has a really nice ‘feel’. Very clean, organized, modern and a very nice place to visit. With all the water it reminded me a lot of Seattle, Juneau or Skagway. I deliberately chose the shorter 3 hour city tour with Alla on this stop. After the 4 prior port days, I wanted the option for a short tour, and long nap, or go back into town to sample the food for lunch.

Helsinki is built on solid granite. The ice age glaciers basically stripped the land down to bedrock. You can see this around the city and on the trip into port. The little islands around the port entrance are smooth granite with maybe one or two bushes or trees on them. It looks a lot like the inside passage. Around town various outcroppings of granite are everywhere. Pine and birch trees are everywhere making for a very green looking city. Not sterile concrete and glass at all.

The drive took us around the city and the various parks. Visited the Rock Church, carved out of the bedrock, the Cathedral, city hall and the local market. We could have easily spent a few days in this town. City hall had a display of the weirdest contraptions by a company called Bonk. The displayed items, from an anchovy paste dehydrator to an electromagnetic balloon, are almost indescribable. Everyone will have to wait for the full review as I took photos of the description plate and will have better access to Google to try and explain some of this stuff. We had a great laugh over the black and white photos accompanying the displays. In one photo, of one of the more complex electrical gadgets with wires and insulators and switches, sat a man who had a beard and looked a lot like Rasputin. Charlie, one of our new found friends from Australia, and whom was on the tour with us to see the Rasputin display in St Petersburg, commented that he’s still alive, but now they are trying to electrocute him!

We did visit the Cathedral as well. After seeing the elaborate interiors of the Russian Orthodox churches in St Petersburg, the interior here was quite plain. However, the statues of the 12 apostles on the outside of the church, life sized, are made of pure zinc!

The market was way cool. Love outdoor markets and this was one of the best. Fruits and vegetables, street food, handmade items like sealskin caps (very soft, but illegal to import into the US). We found our obligatory magnet, then a warm wrap for Judy and scouted out where we wanted to come back to after the tour was over. Prices on the fur items were very reasonable. Actually cheaper than the fur caps in Russia. The people were very friendly. Spoke English better than most Americans. (It’s really a shame we don’t require fluency in at least one other language in our schools.)

What’s really interesting to me is that the root of the Finnish language is from a swath of territory that stretches from Turkey to Hungary to Estonia to Finland. It is not Cyrillic or Slavik language based, nor is it Danish/Swedish/Norwegian based. I found that fascinating to contemplate how that came about geographically.

The tour took us back to the ship at noon and we turned around and took the shuttle bus (10 Euros round trip) back to town with Jeanine and Charlie, a couple from Australia we’ve been hanging with for a few days. From the shuttle drop off, we wandered through the Esplanade are to the market for lunch. Jeanine and Charlie had the moose meatballs, Judy had the three meat platter and I had the three fish platter. Everyone agreed the moose meatballs were pretty tough and not very tasty. Probably should have opted for the lamb meatballs in a red sauce that another shop was making. But Judy’s sausage and pork were really good. My salmon was fantastic having been flat topped with dill and lemon. My fish included local ‘wendys’, a small sardine like fish deep fried. They reminded me of the baby fish fried in Vietnam. A little fishy, but not bad.

We topped off the lunch with ice cream, checked out the various statuary in the esplanade and headed back to the ship in time to partake in the buy one, get one for a dollar in the wheelhouse. After seeing Charlie’s pictures of the crocodiles and countryside around Darwin, we want to go to Australia even more.

Dinner for us was a simple trip to the HC for a light snack. Judy had picked up her cruise cold and wanted to do a Nyquil night early. We did go to see a ballroom dancing show by a couple – Katia and Zenia. We really enjoyed the show as we’ve never seen a full show of ballroom up close like this. Only snippets of dance during the production shows. And we are big fans of Dancing With The Stars. They did a really good job going through several ballroom dances – Rhumba, Viennese Waltz, Jive, Swing. Very high energy.

Today is a simple day at sea. I will be doing Zumba at 0930 this morning with Kim. Judy will probably sleep most of the day.

That’s it from the Emerald. Later!

So happy to be able to read your 'Live' reports from the Emerald. I am already putting our clothes and things to get ready to head to the Emerald for the July 9th sailing. We are also on Alla's tours in Russia and Poland so I loved the details you have included. I did get your takeaway about the short time of shopping in Russia....so I will have to make quick decisions on souvenirs for the grandkids! :D

 

A couple of questions:

 

* The weather seems cool in each port and I am packing for layers. How is the temperature on board? Are you finding you need a light sweater on board or is it warm enough to bring sleeveless dresses and tops for women?

 

* As of now, I haven't booked a tour in Sweden. Would you do the same tour again or would you go off on your own?

 

Thanks again for your posts! :D Our excitement for this cruise is building with each day....and post!

Judy is using a hoodie sweatshirt at night in the various venues where the temperature can vary quite a bit. So yes, I would recommend a light sweater for shipboard use.

I would do the tour again. Especially if docked in Nynashamm. Although some people did make it to the train and into town. If the ship had docked in downtown, I would do it on my own for a second trip, but for a first time I would definitely do a guided tour. By the time you figure out where to go and when to go and pay for taxis, entrance fees, and the hassle, a tour is a bargain compared to the stress of first time planning.

Weather is mostly sunny right now. Some clouds, but hard to say what it will be when we dock. Weather could change quickly and the forecast is for overcast/rain. Same as in St Petersburg. We’ll see as we get closer to docking as to whether or not the rain coats go.

Immigration was a breeze yesterday. Passport with two stamps, tour ticket, and out the door. The prices in the souvenir shop were really good if you were paying in Rubles. 95 rubles for a pack of 16 postcards, or $2 or 2 Euros. At a 65 Rubles to the Dollar exchange rate, the Rubles were the best buy. And that was true of everything from T-shirts to eggs to various other baubles. So bring Rubles or use a fee free credit card.

Yesterday’s tours with Alla were incredible, fun, interesting, well planned and very well executed. How Veronica managed to herd us cats so well over the past two days, and remember our faces for tickets, was really amazing. (Although I have to say we were a pretty good tour group. Everyone stayed together, no one wandered off shopping or sightseeing on their own and we were all early back to the meeting place.) What I appreciated was the little things she did as well. For example, during our stop in the Hermitage, we all sort of split up. Some of us had tea or coffee in a café, some went shopping and some went and sat on benches near the exit. She kept wandering back and forth keeping an eye on all of us, keeping track of where we were. That was nicely done.

The weather was pretty bad. Drizzle, fog, overcast, cold wind, rain later in the day. Just not good for photos outside. We started off driving around the city with a few photo stops, then a short canal boat ride on the Neva river and a couple of canals showing us the Peter the Great gardens, where Pushkin was shot, various other spots where someone important was shot, bombed, beheaded, or just in general assassinated. (This is one rough country!) We spent several hours in the Hermitage Museum. Now I am not an art museum guy or a painting of dead people by dead people kind of guy, so my impressions of this part of the tour would not be typical. The ONLY really interesting thing to me in the entire museum was the 12th century dog statue with the face of Putin – I kid you not and I have pictures to prove it.

However, if you like museums and art and that kind of thing, then this place is your cup of tea.

After the Hermitage we did lunch at Metropole. We had a fantastic mushroom soup, a really good chicken kiev and an incredible apple turnover with vanilla ice cream that had blue cheese crispy crumbles in it. The beer was fantastic. Best beer on the cruise so far. It was great to sit around a table and relax with everyone for a while and have some really good food.

After lunch we traveled to 3 different Russian Orthodox cathedrals. The Church on the Blood, built on the spot where Alexander II was killed, St Isaac’s Cathedral, one of the largest in Russia and reminiscent of St Peters in Rome in grandeur, but nowhere near as large, and St Peter and Paul’s Fortress and Cathedral, where all the aforementioned Tsars, Emperors and Empresses are buried – I think only one died of natural causes! All these cathedrals were completely different architecture and internal finishing design, so it really wasn’t just one more church or cathedral. And Russian Orthodox churches are completely different internally than Catholic churches in Rome or Greek Orthodox churches in Greece. The walls and ceilings are literally covered with mosaics and paintings – and not a lot of statuary, but a lot of ornately carved wood. Although I do not care for museums, I really like seeing the inside and outside of different churches or cathedrals. The art, artistry, design and architecture have been fascinating to me and I really don’t get tired of seeing them.

We got back to the ship at 1600 with all aboard being 1730.

I can’t say enough good things about the planning and execution of our 2 day tour with Alla. The convenience of the 16 person group, the pacing of the tours, the sequence of seeing the various spots and the weaving of the story line by Veronica were just first rate. Our driver, Alexander, was top notch. Weaved us in and out of traffic, dropped us off as close as possible to the venue, then picked us up with minimal time lost and maximum efficiency. Even the bathroom stops were perfectly timed and in locations that had plenty of seats to minimize times in line.

The only negative thing about the tours was the weather, but that is beyond anyone’s control. I could nitpick a few things, like we needed more beer at lunch, a bit more free time at the souvenir shop– or a second visit on the 2nd day to spend the rest of our rubles – but not since the Princess Connoisseur Tour of Rome had we had such a great time and saw so many really cool things – for a fraction of the price.

And we still have two Alla tours left. One in Helsinki, one in Gdansk. Can’t wait.

After returning to the ship we couldn’t decide what to have for dinner so we opted for Crown Grill. It was an almost perfect meal! The service was great, the food fantastic. Perfectly cooked lobster tails, lamb chops and ribeye steak. Crispy garlic fries, grilled asparagus, creamed spinach were our sides and were so, so good. Judy had the molten cake for dessert with vanilla ice cream and I had the special Chocolate-Peanut Butter thingy with vanilla ice cream. It was a really great meal to top off a wonderful two day tour of St Petersburg.

Today our tour gets started a little later (0900), so we don’t have to rush. So far the weather seems to be holding.

Later!

Up early, shower, coffee, write, meet at 0730. We’ll probably get off the ship around 0700, if not earlier. Its raining, foggy, chilly. From what I understand it’s a typical day in St Petersburg where they only get 60 to 80 days of sunshine a year. That kinda sucks you know?

So now I have the official paperwork beside me and can tell you exactly where we went yesterday. We started with a drive around the city stopping and photographing various places. The subway ride was quite interesting. The subways are very clean, fast and DEEP underground. Unlimited rides inside the system for one price (~$0.50). Good thing it was Saturday morning as it was uncrowded. The subway system is not connected to the port, but the subway system is pretty cool for DIY’ers – IF you have a Russian VISA.

Our first tour was in the Yusupov Palace including the Rasputin exposition. You know, the guy who had healing powers that they tried to poison (failed), shot once (failed), shot three times (failed) and finally inadvertently drowned him in the river when they were trying to dispose of the body after shooting him three times.

There was one common theme throughout Russian royalty history – they were more likely to die a violent death than of old age!

We then went to the Peterhof via hydrofoil, eating our packed lunch on the way, to tour the lower fountain park and the upper gardens. The statuary was incredible, the flowers just starting to bloom. The fountains rivaled those in Rome for coolness factor.

A bus ride back to Catherine’s Palace was a welcome break. We went through the Amber Room, among others, the subject of one of Josh’s TV series where he was searching for the Amber Room in old **** bunkers in Poland. This was a reproduction of the original.

We stopped by the Alla booth in the middle of a very large souvenir shop. Good prices, excellent selection, great service. I was really tempted to buy Judy a fox fur hat, but not sure of the import restrictions or requirements, so we passed that for Tshirts and caps for the kids for Christmas.

Today we have the Hermitage, lunch in a local restaurant and then three churches and a fortress. The Church on the Blood, St Peter and Paul Fortress including the Cathedral and the Saint Isaac Cathedral.

This is going to be one more busy day!

Later…

I just love overnights. No hurry to get back to the ship at night. Night life if you want it – as if after 6 miles today we want any night life. (Our Venice overnights were really nice.) This night will be spent in prep for tomorrow’s touring which starts at 0730, but means we’re up at 0500. And if today was any indication, it will be a busy. Busy day.

First of all I have to say that this tour was the best planned, executed and staffed excursion since the Connoisseur tour we had in Rome 5 years ago. A whirlwind first day, 5 star tour with Alla. Our tour guide, Veronica, was fantastic. The pace was perfect, the information fascinating and informative. Just one heck of a tour – and we get to keep her tomorrow for the final day of the Grand Tour. Well worth every penny.

So where to start. We ended up early in Da Vinci on deck 6 awaiting call for immigration. They gave us all numbers, and then called for the first 100 at about 7:10. We made sure we took our passports AND our Alla tour tickets as both were required to get through immigration. We went through one at a time as some of the immigration’s officers only wanted one at a time. We got our passport stamped and part B of a two part form. They keep part A. Part B would be collected when we got back in the afternoon, our passports stamped again and that should serve us in the morning along with our Alla Tour Tickets. We got through to the terminal at about 07:30. The Alla guide was there and so was Veronica. After collecting 16 people we hopped in the bus and off we went for a whirlwind tour. The Rasputin museum, the Peterhof, Katherine’s palace, the hydrofoil ride, drive around the city, photo stops here and there. Off the bus, on the bus. Wow. This was great.

Cannot recommend Alla enough for these tours. They were great.

More tomorrow, or the next day, or next week, not sure.

See ya!

This will have to be quick. We have to go through Russian immigration with our Alla tickets and passports starting at 0700. The process is a bit complex, so we will see what happens. Going to be a zoo though, I’m sure.

So yesterday was Tallinn with the Grand Tour by Alla. Helen was our tour guide. We had 32 signed up for the tour and the group was split into 2 groups AND IT POURED DOWN RAIN. The tour itself was a 3 hour walking tour of the upper old town and the lower old town. Then 2 hours on our own followed by a bus trip back to the cruise terminal. Long walks in all directions. Long walk to the port gates for sure. The town is actually walkable from the port or with minor taxi rides. It’s a mix of old and newer construction – same old 1600’s to 1800’s style of narrow row type buildings as the previous ports (Copenhagen and Stockholm). The wall and towers are partially intact in areas. It’s not a complete walled town like Dubrovnik, but still has its charm.

The walls range from the older style curtain walls to the thick cannon resistant ramparts. A lot of the shops are inside the houses that line the streets. The shops range from kitzy souvenir shops to expensive boutiques. Lots of fur here as well.

We went into the local Russian Orthodox Church. Very interesting. The icons, the symbology. Then we went into the corresponding Lutheran church with the family heraldry all over the walls in large wooden carved and very ornate family crests. I only wish we could have taken pictures and the time to study them.

The Estonian language, as I was informed, is not based on Germanic languages, but closer to Finnish, not slavik, and pretty unique. Also interesting is how most common folk are just not happen being in the EU. Price inflation has been their number one issue since switching to the Euro.

We got enough of the town in and the flavor of the area, but come 1300 we were all soaked and it was pouring, so all 16 of us unanimously ended up in the Beer House to dry off, grab some food, hot drinks and beer. Finally a reasonably priced food establishment. Judy had a bowel of cheese/beer soup, I had a bread bowel of beef stew, I had a pilsner, she had a honey meade and we both had a huge soft pretzel. It was a really good meal for 25 Euros. We all sat at this one large table and passed food around for about an hour. Everyone seemed to have a great time and it was a lot of fun to get to know each other over a hot meal and a good drink!

It was great to be out of the rain for sure. The weather certainly wasn’t Alla’s fault.

We almost missed the bus back. The guide had to run off before she could show us the bus pickup point in person, so we all relied on a map and 6 of us ended up one block further than we should have been – on the back side of the opera house instead of the front. But in the end the 6 of us in our little group figured it out and made it on time.

Even almost missing the bus had its bright spot. Judy and I got to walk through a local shopping mall. The kids were all in their school uniforms and Judy just had to get a picture of them in their hats to show Ally back at home. Pretty interesting looking at prices and hot selling items in a country half way around the world – hint, pretty much the same old stuff we go for!

There was no way we were staying up late last night. Today will be a long day.

BTW, I know some people were wondering about the Emerald because of prior negative reviews. We haven’t found one thing we can legitimately complain about. The staff has been fantastic so far. Our Room Steward, our first female room steward EVER, Ann, is wonderful, fast, efficient and always, always has a smile. She’s great. Bar staff everywhere have been great. Our room is not quite in the best spot on the ship, but that’s because we booked a last minute GTY, and we knew we might end up here anyway, so we were prepared. The food has been great, the entertainment has been good. We’ve not been able to do everything, but that’s normal, and now with all of these ports, the only concern is getting a good night’s sleep! Everything else will fall in place…

So that’s it from St Petersburg this morning…Later!

Cloudy with rain is the forecast. It’s a bit overcast this morning. Time to take the umbrellas.

Yesterday started with clear blue sky. It transitioned to mostly cloudy with a chilly breeze during the day, but was partly cloudy when we got back to the ship. No rain. I chose to wear a long sleeved shirt, with the travel vest over the top, and Judy wore her heavy fleece coat with the hood.

It was actually nice docking in Nynashamn. The trip in from the port to the town showed the countryside and the transition from country to ‘suburb’ to town to old town was quite nice. Alla found us. Although the meeting time was a little ambiguous. Their email stated ‘1 hour after docking’, rather than the downtown ‘1000’. The captain, the night before, stated we would dock at 0800, which meant meeting Alla at 0900. But we actually docked around 0700 and the first disembarkation call came at 0720. The second at 0750. We opted to go out at 0750 and found them already there and collecting people at the dock. (By the way, this floating dock thing was great!. Very interesting. We were able to simple walk off the ship as if we were docked.) One group left almost immediately and their bus would return to the ship at 1400. Our group waited til 0900 when the last of the group joined and off we went. We would be back to the ship by 1600. (They extended the port stay to 1830.)

So all in all. It all worked out. We had a good tour. Stockholm was interesting. All of the little islands joined together to form one large city was definitely different. The architecture and buildings were all very familiar after Copenhagen, and yes, as much as the Danes were obsessed with the Swedes, the reverse is true. Tim, our tour guide, spoke very good English with a moderate Swedish accent. He was very knowledgeable about the sights and took us to see the interesting places – like a runestone buried in a foundation in old town, a very steep staircase, a school, statues off in the corners of old town, etc.

Stockholm has a ton of museums. We spent about 90 minutes in the Vasa museum. The museum itself is absolutely stunning., Built around one of the most prominent naval engineering disasters in Swedish history – the warship Vasa – which upon launching sailed about 200 yards, capsized and sank. That’s probably the part that struck me as odd. The museum is very impressive, the ship quite awesome when you are standing beside it. It is preserved magnificently. The artwork, the sculptures, the timbers of the ship – its just so impressive – BUT did I mention the ship sank hours after launching? It turns out to be a calculational blunder. Her ‘sister’ ship was built 2 feet wider and sailed successfully for many years.

For me one of the most interesting talks Tim gave in the museum was the 3 minute Swedish history lesson on the map at the museum. He covered 3000 years in 3 minutes that would take 3 years in a University, and made it funny and interesting.

After the museum we wandered around old town using the palace area as the focal point. Three other cruise ships, one the Norwegian Star, had made it into the center of town anchorage and the place was packed with people and busses all vying for parking in an area designed for horses, not busses. Old town was narrow cobblestoned streets, 3-4 story 1600 to 1800 narrow row type houses on each side. Narrow alleyways, steep stairs and walkways, no sidewalks and packed with people. We did not have time to stop for lunch. Next time we will hit one of the food carts for a hot dog instead of looking for a sit down type restaurant.

Had the ship successfully anchored in downtown, our perspective would have been much narrower. The tenders would have let us off in old town, within walking distance to the palace and the shops/restaurants of old town, but too far to walk to the various museums. Taxis, water taxis or public transit would be required to DIY the downtown area. We would actually have had less time with the guide as he did give us a good overview of Sweden, and its relationship to the Danes (!), on the way in to the town.

All in all a good day to see Stockholm, a good trip. Good value. Recommended.

But it was a pretty tiring day. Got back to the room about 1630, grabbed a bite to eat, showered, and then headed out to watch the production show Blame it on the Boogie. Got in some dancing to canned music in Fusion, stayed through the 70’s Trivia and then danced through most the 70’s party with the cruise staff – not much audience participation – until the feet surrendered. Limped back to the cabin and then had to push the clocks an hour ahead, so we basically got to bed around midnight.

And now we’re sucking down caffeine in hopes of waking up in time to get off the ship in a few hours. Tomorrow morning will definitely be a 5 hour energy morning – I can predict that now!

So off to prep for Tallinn. We dock at 1000 and meet off the pier at 1030. Let’s see what Alla had in store for us!

Later!

Nope, not Stockholm. The Captain announced yesterday afternoon that the winds and low tides would cause us to divert to Nynashamn rather than go into Stockholm proper. I’m sure Alla will find us one way or another. Not sure whether or not we will tender as a ‘floating dock’ was mentioned. Hey, whatever will be, will be.

The weather this morning is blue sky, clear, chilly and a bit breezy. The scenery is gorgeous. Reminds me of Alaska with all the little rocky islands and forests.

So today starts a five day marathon of successive ports. I hope we’re ready for this. The last time we did a port intensive itinerary was five years ago on the Grand in the Med and we were dead on our feet by Barcelona.

Yesterday’s day at sea started clear and warmer, but turned cloudy, windy and chilly later in the evening. No chance at MUTS at all. The cut off for the most travelled luncheon was 400 days and the most traveled is somewhere in the 1400 range. We were seated with Matt Thompson, the Entertainment Director, whom we’ve traveled with before and has his one year wedding anniversary this month with Kim – our Zumba instructor. Matt was fun to sit and chat with over lunch and the lunch was great with Carpacio or Pasta as the starter, Lamb or fish as the main and a really tasty fruit tart thingie for dessert. I really like the luncheons as opposed to the cocktail parties.

We went to see Jimmy Tamley’s show in Explorer’s as well. We have seen him before, but he’s always funny. One of the few remaining really good ventriloquists. We did catch a few dances with Starwave in Explorer’s and did listen to David Marken, the solo guitarist, in the Wheelhouse. Salty Dog had the most people we’ve ever seen in it so far – 12 covers. Not sure how long this is going to last. We haven’t stopped by to see Share yet. We are planning to do Crown Grill at least once or twice in this series of cruises. We also sampled the whiskey menu in the Wheelhouse. They have a 1.75l bottle of a particular whiskey for $1100 on the menu! Their whiskey flight was $25 and consisted of a 25 year old, a 17 year old and a 14 year whiskey. (We settled for the $8 honey flavored Jack Daniels – a bit more smokey/molasses flavor than the honey wild turkey we sip at home.)

So it’s off to explore Sweden. Later…

Boy are those pillow top mattresses soft and delightful. I’m not typically a fan of soft mattresses, my sleep number is 65, but these are really nice. In the old days, on long cruises, we used to order foam mattress toppers while on board and when those became scarce or very thin, we would bring our own. Not with these. This is just downright nice and once having gotten used to the time zone shift – finally – a good night’s sleep is a wonderful thing.

So yesterday was our first tour with Alla on this trip in Copenhagen. Called Wonderful Copenhagen, it was a 3 hour whirlwind tour of the major spots in Copenhagen, followed by some free time in down town Copenhagen and then back to the ship. And the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Clear blue sky, not too hot, not too cold. Finding Alla was easy. We docked at the Langelinje Pier. The big long one closest to the city center. The security gate was right at the midship exit and the two Alla guides were standing on the sidewalk just across the vehicle parkway about 50 feet from the ship. We were split into two groups, our group was 14 people with Hannah as our guide. (We, of course, were in the cool group.)

One thing to know about Copenhagen, which all the guide books stress, is that the city center is pretty compact and easily accessible from the port. About a 2-3km walk from the ship. In fact you can see the ship from the downtown area. But you can’t get a ‘feel’ for the actual compactness until you’ve been there. So for those DIY’ers and aspiring DIY’ers, this is a great city to do it on your own. In fact many people walked the waterfront, via the little mermaid statue, from the ship to downtown. We will probably do the same next time we are back on the next cruise.

Our tour took in much of the downtown area with walking around the residences of the royal family, with a very alert and watchful guard force. We saw the Citadel, the Gefion Fountain, the little mermaid, Nyhavn, City Hall, drove by Tivoli Gardens, Chistiansborg Castle and a bunch of stuff in between. The Rosenborg Castle tour was really interesting. The historical weapons, jewelry, statuary, paintings, architecture, furnishing, plastering and history was very interesting and well presented by Hannah. Once again the cultural biases came into focus as she talked about the Danish-Swedish-Norwegian historical rivalries from the Danish perspective. (It’s going to be equally interesting to get ‘the other side of the story’ from the Swedes and Norwegians!)

As in Rome and other older European cities, the footing is tiring on the old cobblestones with gaps that can easily trap a cane or a wheel. You just have to be careful. And like Rome the drivers are in a hurry constantly and traffic is a real bear. Unlike Rome, bicyclists, not scooters, are everywhere. Copenhagen prides itself on striving to be a ‘green’ city. So even on foot, you have to be aware of the bicyclists. And there is a lot of construction on the new metro which makes things even tougher.

We ended up in the center of town for lunch. While there were a lot of sidewalk cafes around, and not a few American restaurants, like TGI Fridays, Hannah pointed us to a basement café that served the traditional open faced sandwich. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the café, so I will have to retrace our steps on Google to figure it out later when I have a better internet connection. We had lunch with Wendy and John from Australia. And It was different and unique food – something different. I had smoked Herring for the first time. Judy had a white wine poached salmon. The fish was very fresh, the beer really good as well. The dessert was an apple creamy crispy thingie, and the coffee, while very thick like an expresso, was really mild and flavorful, not harsh or strong at all. But warning. It’s expensive in downtown Copenhagen. Our meal was close to $85 US – but well worth the experience.

Now having seen and scoped out the area ourselves, we’ll probably investigate the Citadel a bit more on our next visit in a few weeks. That’s the nice thing about seeing a port more than once. You get to get out on your own with confidence.

We got back to the ship about 1400. Got the obligatory magnet to put on our travel map and worked out way through the security lines back into the ship. Dinner in the HC was standard fare. A really good mixed green salad with all kinds of greens and veggies. Judy tried, and did not like, the tandoori shrimp – the spices were just not cooked enough – but the garlic soup was great, as was the fried flounder and the steak.

We finally got some dancing in last night to Starwave, the R&R band in explorer’s. Mainly four count Rock and Roll, appropriate for Cha-Cha’s and Hustle’s, but we did get one Rhumba in as well. The off the to show. The ventriloquist Jimmy Tamley. After seeing him last night, we do recall having him on another cruise or two before. Good show. Quite fun. Got to spend some time talking to Matt Thompson, the ED, and Kelvin, the CD. It’s nice to reconnect with staff that you’ve cruised with before.

For those of you interested the new ED is a 3 ½ striper. (Matt was wearing his uniform.)

So today is our last day at sea in preparation for the next 5 consecutive port days. It’s a bit overcast and windy this morning, but the seas are just fine. The coffee is good, as usual, and the IC is very quiet. One nice thing about sailing in a ship full of Brits on Holiday is that they take their holidays very seriously and are not about to get up at 0500 for coffee. They wander in starting about 0800. Most around 0900. That makes the lines in the IC and HC very short early in the morning. Nothing like, say, a Hawaii run on a ship full of Americans.

Today is the Most Travelled Luncheon. We are looking forward to that. Tonight will be a mix of dancing and seeing Jimmy’s show in Explorer’s. We will definitely try that one tonight.

That’s it from the Emerald this morning – off to Zumba with Kim!

Quick question concerning currency: are you bringing any local currency or do you have a small amount of euros available for small items in port? We're thinking of the Bruges on your own tour and wondering what would be appropriate.

 

Thanks!

We always bring local currency. That being said, they are taking US$ or Euros or Danish Krone in Copenhagen, but you get a little better exchange with the local currency as everyone rounds up!

Today starts the Alla tours for the Baltic. Looking forward to it. And as usual, it’s up early and in the IC for coffee. Must be getting used to this time zone as I was awake at 0330 – pretty much normal for me back home.

Yesterday was a day at sea, the first formal night, the CC meet and greet, Zumba with Kim, a couple of really good naps, watching the Martian without freezing and in general just chilling out for the day. Zumba with Kim brought back memories of our Asian cruise together on the Diamond. Back when Matt was still chasing Kim before she caught him. Nothing really exciting yesterday, just a couple of interesting observations from the past couple of days.

The full length chair covers in MUTS are now gone. Replaced by a single covered head rest with the MUTS logo. So make sure you place a pool towel on top of the chair mattress before sitting or you could end up with a very wet behind.

The mixed snacks with wasabi peas typically available at bars have been replaced with some sort of poppy seed infused savory animal cracker. I miss the peas! Picking out the peas and sesame crackers first was a pre-drink ritual!

The pillow top mattresses are really nice. Almost luxurious. Quite the difference between that and the rock hard bed at the Hilton in Southampton.

There are over 300 elites on board so laundry is taking two days. Not bad. We had anticipated a lot of elites on these two cruises so we brought extra.

Service has been great so far. Smiles, quick to please. No issues. Food in the HC has been really good. For those of you who have not heard this in the past, we do prefer the HC to the dining room because of the food variety, and to keep me away from consuming vast quantities of BREAD and BUTTER! (Oh do I love that stuff!) But seriously, the chefs have a set menu and recipes in the dining rooms. They are not allowed to deviate that much. On the other hand, they are much freer to try different things and recipes in the HC. So there is some variety. Yesterday was a delicious split pea soup and a non-traditional hot and sour soup with shrimp in it – and some spice to boot. The cold salads were really good as well, some nicely battered deep fried shrimp and fresh salad makings.

That’s it for the morning. Off to Copenhagen…

This is the second cruise in a row that we have had great roll call organizers. From Gary's info on Alla to Karen's google spreadsheet, all of that effort is greatly appreciated.

I feel kind of guilty, but I really, really promise that when I finally quit work, I'm going to help out on these things. But they keep paying me and helping pay for these cruises, so I really can't complain that much!

Anyway, thanks to all who made the roll call fun and informative. Look us up. We owe you a drink based on all the money you saved us on this and the Norwegian cruise.

See you at the M&G later today!

Thanks Again!

Ahh, my favorite morning ritual. A hot latte, an empty IC, a good night’s sleep, my computer (love this Surface Pro), a fresh Patter and a day at sea to plan. Just enjoying the moment. I unfortunately HATE traveling to and fro these cruises. No matter how much I try and relax, my OCPD will not let me until the last detail is taken care of, the last plane departed, the last piece of luggage arrived, the last scheduled even occurred. And with the resolution of the shore excursions yesterday, I was able to get into full cruise mode. FINALLY!

But first its PET PEEVE TIME!

Climb up on soapbox – prepare to orate – orate:

Everyone knows the rules of the almighty coffee card – right? With the most recent coffee cards you are ENTITLED to one specialty coffee per punch AND the freebies (tea, black coffee, etc) ON THE VOYAGE THE CARD WAS PURCHASED! I’m not talking about the old original SUPERCARDS! Now all of us have ‘stretched’ the rules a bit. Primarily from an undated, unused card from a previous voyage for tea or black coffee, or more commonly in a B2B situation in which the wait staff is pretty flexible for. But those of us who sail a lot know the rules and it’s just not nice to a) act like you don’t know the rules to wait staff, or b) express your indignation at the cruelty of the rules to the wait staff, or c) (the worst transgressions of all) invoke a higher power or name drop a supervisor or matre de to the wait staff in order to get your way.

Now on this voyage we traded in our mini-bar for two new cards. And they are different from our old cards – and now marked with the voyage and a green stripe across the top. That’s ok. Them’s the rules and while we might stretch them a bit, we never, ever want wait staff to break them for us. So now we carry two cards – the old one for punches, the new one for the freebies. It’s that simple.

Come on folks – give the wait staff a break!

Oration complete – climbing down off soapbox.

Yesterday In Bruges –

Went up to the shore excursion desk at 0700 and checked the I-pads they have out front for reservations. Sure enough, ours was in there. So I simply got new tickets. No muss, no fuss. The shore excursion staff was smiling and fun – and best of all – no line at 0700!

In short, great day. (Even though when we left the ship it was raining – but wasn’t in town and the sun came out.) We did the Bruges on Your Own, but with a little guided tour and a canal cruise before they kicked you loose for four hours. (Next cruise we will do Bruges on our own completely.) Had a very interesting tour guide. A good tour guide, but what was more interesting was listening between the lines. We’ve never had a continental central European tour guide before and he was Flemish – about as central and continental as you get – very, very interesting perspective on Brexit, the wealth gap and immigrants. Not so much in what he said, but how he said it and how he didn’t say it. Not something to talk about in this forum, but something I’d like to sit and get a British perspective on someday. I absolutely love to observe the differences and similarities between cultures via the tour guides, the staff on board and people watching. I think in a previous life I was either a social anthropologist or a geologist, or some kind of ‘gist’.

I do have to say that the canal water was probably the dirtiest looking water I have ever seen. OMG! This stuff looked NASTY! But the canal ride was fun. It gave you a little more location perspective and emphasized the compact nature of the city center – it is small and very walkable. We had lunch at one of TripAdvisors highest rated restaurants – Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan. A popular brewery. We had 2 each of the Brugse Zat Blonds. Wow! Really, really good beer. We had one full menu lunch and a 2 item lunch. Judy had the cold cucumber and tomato soup – and loved it. I had the watercress and mixed green salad with goat cheese, and it was really good as well. For her main, she had the stuffed pepper and I had the Steak. It was a really great lunch. The food was excellent, the service great, the beer fantastic. The only downer was the dessert. It tasted like cereal, had a texture of soggy cereal and had no WOW factor. Oh well. The previous courses were fantastic. As I posted on Facebook I had lunch with a blonde and a brunette! Considering the quality of the food the prices were not bad for a touristy type town. We probably would have spent just as much at any chain, like Old Chicago’s, on beer, apps and pizza in the US for lunch.

We followed this up by shopping in the back alleys. We stayed away from the larger shops and went for the smaller small business owner shops. Got Ally another hat and found a chocolat shop with free samples. Both owners were so glad to see Americans. According to one, tourism is down 30% because of the terrorist attack in Brussels. Always glad to help.

After shopping, we walked around the area, admiring the horses pulling the carriages, people watching, swan and duck watching, found some really good ice cream and ended up in one of the prettiest little parks – Minnewaters – you know, land of little drinks, not Minnesota, and just chilled in the warm sunshine and people, pet and children watched for a while. It was a really great relaxing, lazy Sunday afternoon in the park in Bruges, Belgium.

We got back to the ship around 1630. It was time for shower, dinner and a movie. The Martian was on MUTS and it gave us a chance to just rest our feet after walking a lot during the day. Unfortunately, the wind was COLD and we abandoned the movie about 2/3’s of the way through. Needed a mummy bag to stay warm during that movie.

When we got back to the room, we had another pleasant surprise. We got invited to the most traveled party and it’s a Luncheon! Those are great!

So today is a sea day. One of the precious few in a port intensive itinerary. It is a formal night, one of three on this cruise. The second being the night of Helsinki and the third being the 2nd to the last sea day.

This cruise has the most cruise staff we have ever sailed with before. Kelvin, the CD, Matt, the ED, Kim, Matt’s better half, Megan, from the cruise with Ally to Alaska last June, and Fernando, from the Crown Tahiti last October. We picked them up some chocolate in Bruges to brighten their week a bit. Cannot go wrong with Belgium hand crafted chocolates!

Today in the patter is Zumba at 0930! And Kim is teaching the class! Haven’t Zumba’ed with her since the Asian cruise on the Diamond. Gotta get them endorphins working this morning. As usual, lots of stuff on the first sea day. Trivia’s, shopping show, fruit and vegetable carving, Pub lunch, a tour of SHARE, a CSI lecture by Ron Bowers (I think it’s the same guy as on the Crown last October), line dancing, ballroom dancing, art lecture and auction, matre de wine club, bingo…lots of typical sea day ‘stuff’.

Tonight is the Captain’s welcome aboard celebration. Three shows by Luke Graves, the comedian. (He kind of bombed out at the 1st welcome aboard show.) Three production showings of I Got The Music. We have the ‘Voice of the Ocean’ tonight. Might stop by to see what the difference is between this and Karaoke and Princess Pop Star. The Quest game show is tonight in Fusion.

Nice job of stuffing the schedule Matt!

And finally, unlike previous cruises with lots of sea days, the next couple of weeks is going to be intense. We have day long excursions planned at all ports, so these updates will be a lot less comprehensive than my typical Live Froms. I’ll try and make it up in the review to be published later. On top of that, intranet connection from our room is the worst I’ve ever had. Its not the internet connection, its connecting to the intranet to start with. Takes minutes to actually connect, even though the node is right down the hallway. So the only reliable connection is in the IC in the mornings.

So that’s it for now!

Hi ccairn,

 

Wish you are great adventure, we will be following you, see you in a few weeks,

 

question

 

who is head chef,

 

thanks

 

yours Shogun

Giuseppe Pollara is the Executive Chef - I think that's the head guy!

In all of our cruises this has been the most confused Princess has ever been. We did get a cabin the night before we boarded, but our room steward apparently didn’t get the memo and her list had our cabin empty for this cruise. So we fixed that. But our card account numbers were reversed on our cruise cards. Judy had my account number, I had her account number. Signing up on the internet was an exercise in futility until I reversed the numbers. Then it worked. (I remembered that my number was always one less than hers.) Of course the bartenders were very confused. My number on my card came up with her name and vice versa. In addition, they have apparently lost all of my pre-cruise excursion reservations from the Princess website. No tags in the cabin tonight and the excursion desk is closed. But they haven’t been charged to the account yet, so we will have to get in another line tomorrow early to sort all of this out.

Not an auspicious start for sure…

So we don’t know exactly what we are doing today. We were supposed to do the Bruges On Your Own, but now, we’re not sure. Hopefully they haven’t lost the reservations for next cruise as well. Many of those were waitlisted and I would hate to miss some of those.

Off to the Que's!

Hi Charles and Judy. We are Scott and Charlie who sailed with you on the Diamond out of Singapore in 2012. Like you we are Hilton folks (met you in the Conrad Centennial lounge in Singapore) and appreciated your quick review of the older Hilton in Southampton as we'll be there beginning August 3rd and then on the Emerald for 28 days starting August 6.

 

Looking forward to more commentary, have a great trip!

 

Will y'all be wearing matching parkas this trip or will it still be tropical shirts?! :D

Being from Colorado - we are wearing our Aloha wear (with Fleece as a backup!)

funny we met on the Diamond - great cruise that the Golden sort of repeats in 2018 - Kelvin Joy was and is the CD, Matt Thompson was and is the CD, his new wife Kim is on board as the Zumba instructor. Its old home week!

We are back and cruising an itinerary we’ve had to cancel once, but this time will finally make it. This is technically a B2B2B, booked as one 28 day Grand Northern European and a 7 Day Scandinavian. Its actually a 14 day Baltic Heritage with the 14 day Norwegian Summer Solstice cruise, plus the 7 day tacked on to complete the northern European bucket list.

So the itinerary for this 14 day cruise is Southampton, Zeebrugge (Bruges and Brussels), Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg (Overnight), Helsinki, Gdansk and back to Southampton. We have only booked one Princess excursion, in Bruges (On Your Own), for this cruise. Based on recommendations we booked Alla Tours for everything else in one package. We will let you know how each city goes. So far they (Alla) has kept us updated on everything and we look forward to the ports and the sights, as well as the more personalized guide service.

Oh, and we are Charles and Judy from Colorado. This is cruise 40 or so for us depending on how you count – we have sailed on the Emerald before, have done the British Isles before, but nothing in the Baltic, or Norway or Scandinavia. We have sailed out of and into Southampton before on other cruises, and have enjoyed the area before as well.

We flew in two days early for this cruise using United FF miles into LHR and Smith’s for Airports down to the Hilton (the older one near the M) in Southampton. (We use Hilton’s all the time because of the HH points.) We flew United Global First on a 767-300 for the first time. It was ok. Equivalent to an Asian business class (ANA for example) and a step above the normal international United Business class. If we get a chance to upgrade on the return flight on a 787 we will just to try out that plane.

Chicago’s international first class lounge hidden behind the customer service desk at C17 was pretty good. Fresh food, not just cheese and crackers, along with unlimited top shelf alcohol, was a welcome treat. The trip over was not that restful. I picked row 1 in a 767 and it’s a bit noisy and gets a lot of light from the forward galley. Judy, in row 2, had a better sleep. The lie flat seats are great for legroom but we did not get the promised mattress pad to make it even more comfortable after dinner. Oh well, it wasn’t that long a flight.

Arrival at the new T2 in LHR was a real treat. We haven’t been in LHR since the move to T2 and it is a really nice terminal for arrivals. A little long walking, but very clean, well lit, good signage, not hard to navigate at all. Lots of restrooms along the way as well. Very important after a long flight. And all of our bags arrived as well. Very nice start.

We were met by Ian from Smiths for Airports. Very, very nice man. Gave us a great guided tour on the way to the Hilton and a side trip to see the outside of Windsor Castle. Great tour of the countryside as well. I highly recommend Smiths for Airports. Yes, more expensive than the National Express bus, but far less hassle, very professional service and a stress free ride to Southampton – not to mention great conversation on all kinds of topics from Brexit to Clinton to Trump to history to peerage to architecture to you name it.

There is a new Hilton in Southampton at the Cricket Stadium, but at 20k points more per night, so we opted for the old faithful Hilton near the north side of town. It’s more a resort Hilton than a business Hilton, but the staff is very friendly, the rooms pretty standard for the UK, the food and drink very good as well. Downtown is only a 10 quid ride away by taxi, the port 15. With so much luggage for a 3 season cruise, no matter where you stay, there’s a taxi ride into the port.

For our day before the cruise we chose to go to the movies at the Odeon across the street from Ikea, frequent a local pub for lunch, people watch in West Quay and the market, and in general relax a bit before the re-packing and ques at the port on Saturday morning. The Odeon is a modern multi-screen theater complex with an Imax. Prices are a bit steep. 21 pounds for the two of us to see an 1100 showing of X Men Apocalypse. A late lunch was at Nick’s. A highly rated Tripadvisor, and cabbie recommended, bar/restaurant just outside the central area. Fish and chips, and a pint of hobgoblin later, and we’re good to go for wandering around the Bargate area.

Since we will be back to Southampton twice more, and having been here before, we opted out of visiting a couple of the museums and will probably train to Portsmouth on one of the turnaround days.

So now from the cruise embarkation patter. Kelvin Joy is the CD with Matt Thompson as the ED. Mario Propato is the Matre De and Martin Stenzel is the Captain. Peter Hollinson is the Hotel General Manager and Giuseppe Pollara is the Executive Chef. Haven’t had time to check out cruise staff yet, so although we’ve sailed with Matt and Kelvin before, on the Diamond Asian cruise, we don’t know if anyone else is on board we know.

Tomorrow is Zeebrugge for Bruges and Brussels. They did collect our passports, specifically for Brussels according to the check in lady, and time skips ahead 1 hour tonight, making for a really early rise in the morning.

For production shows on this cruise we have I Got The Music; Disco…Blame it on the Boogie; What a Swell Party; and, Magic To Do. For movies we have Star Wars; The 33; Everest; Concussion; Daddy’s Home; Spectre; The Martian; Man from UNCLE; Joy; Creed; Brooklyn; and, Bridge of Spies. For Guest Entertainers we have Comedian Luke Graves; Tribute Acts Jayne Middleton, Steve Larkins and David Kidd; Ventriloquist Jimmy Tamley; Instrumentalist Pingxin Xu; Musical Comedy Jo Little; A folkloric show in St Petersburg; Harry the Pianist; Comedy Magic RJ Lewis; Body Balancing Duo Claudio; Juggler Luke Burrage; and a Novelty act of Katia and Zenia. Not a darn thing to do or see…

It looks like the R&R Band in Explorer’s is Starwave. The Rhumba Duo is in the Wheelhouse.

Embarkation was pretty smooth. Left the hotel about 11. Went right in to checkin and to the Elite Lounge. About 11:45 we went through security and are now firmly ensconced in the cabin awaiting luggage.

More Later...

Its all here for the pre-Royal class of ships...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951

He's an Australian who we kindly donated to the US :D:p:D!

Was this like the Brits donating Gordon Ramsey to the US as well?

Hi

 

Southampton Port has it own rules about knifes which are tighter than Princess

 

have been stopped almost every time, sometimes knife taken off me and told to

 

pick it up after cruise, other times had to go to ships security to collect it,

 

was told to put it hand luggage, so did on last cruise they freaked out, I

 

explained l was told to do this, remember this little knife is not a real knife, has

 

done more than 20 cruises, has no sharp bits you could try a saw your finger

 

off and it would not mark your skin.

 

 

 

yours Shogun

Great Tip!

(We are boarding the Emerald in Southampton next Saturday.)

Just tore apart our carefully packed luggage to pull out the Leatherman multi-tool. If they would have a cow over a pen knife they would have an elephant and two giraffes over a multi-tool with enough attachments to reconfigure the ship's balcony railings, or, gasp, a loose screw or two!

Which from the photos looks pretty much identical.

There are typically two loungers, a table and 4 chairs on the balcony, which depending on the size of the box might make it a bit of a challenge to puzzle, but easily doable.

The suite itself is a bit smaller than say, C751 and lots smaller than an owner's suite, but very nice with plenty of room.

This thread has photos of all the aft views, so you can see the beam and the vents. Crown, Ruby and Emerald have the same aft structures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951&highlight=aft+cabins

We will be on the Emerald with Shogun in a couple of weeks and will post a live from...We are on from June 1 to July 9. When are you on? By the end of the cruise we will need to get our lab fix as both of our boys will be with the breeder at 'summer camp'!

We've been on the Emerald before and with Anytime Dining, do not mind the extra deck of people. Venues fill quicker than the Grands, but the Super Grands do have extra nooks and crannies here and there. The supers are our favorite class of ship now that we've learned patience and wisdom in our elder ages...plus the liberal use of electronics waiting for the show to start after getting there early!

Good Luck and give Horton a good ear rubbing from us!

I got a Princess announcement this AM saying that they had opened up a bunch of new cruises. I eagerly looked for Oct 2017 and LA Harbor -- NOTHING!

 

Oh, well!!

 

Sandra:(:confused::eek:

It was an email about the NZ and AUS cruises that opened a couple of weeks ago. Not sure why they are late with their emails...