Baltic Heritage on Crown Princess 3 June, 2017

This is my first review. After reading many wonderful reviews over the years and learning so much I thought it was time to pay back.

First an introduction - DH and I are in our 50's and love to travel. We try to go on an overseas trip for a month or so every year. The last few years have been trips to Europe and include two Mediterranean cruises on Regal Princess in 2014 and Royal Princess in 2016 and a Danube River cruise in 2015. We enjoy mixing independent travel with a cruise and usually research each port and do our own sightseeing using public transport or walking if possible.

After flying into Heathrow we got a National Express bus to Southampton. It cost GBP20 each and took about two hours. We walked to Premier Inn Southampton West Quay where we stayed for three nights. The Premier Inn is in a great location being walking distance from the bus and train stations and across the road from West Quay Shopping Centre and many restaurants.

On our first afternoon we walked around the old part of Southampton. The next day we walked ten minutes to the train station and caught a train to Winchester. The train cost GBP7 each for a return ticket and took twenty minutes. Winchester is a lovely town with a beautiful cathedral.

The last day we hired a car from Europcar and drove to the Tank Museum at Bovington where DH had a number of hours to enjoy the wonderful display of tanks. I went for a lovely walk along the coast from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door.

After DH was finished at the Tank Museum he picked me up and we drove through the New Forest before returning to Southampton.

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Look forward to following your trip - you had a good start from your Southampton base.

Saturday June 3

The previous day I had received an email from Princess informing me that Crown Princess would be docking at the QEll Terminal instead of the Mayflower Terminal. We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with them and after a walk and lunch we collected our luggage and used the hotel's free phone to call for a taxi. The taxi arrived within five minutes and took 15 minutes to drive to the QEll Terminal and cost GBP9 including a tip.

Check-in was very quick as we were able to use the Platinum check-in line. We were on board in 15 minutes and dropped our carry on bag in our cabin. We were very pleased with our cabin E219 - an Obstructed Oceanview.

Our luggage arrived quickly and we were off to explore. Muster was at 4.30pm and was over quickly. We then went to the International Cafe to meet three Cruise Critic couples. We had arranged to travel to Bruges in a taxi together and wanted to meet before the next morning.

We were on the Sun Deck for sailaway and on our way out of Southampton we passed the Queen Victoria coming into Southampton after a refit. We had dinner in the Horizon Court and after unpacking had an early night.

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Love the review !

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Sunday June 4 - Bruges

One of our fellow cruisers had posted on the Roll Call asking if anyone would like to share a taxi with her and her husband to go to Bruges. I was delighted to as the cost was much less than using the Princess excursion and less difficult than going by train. She preorganised the taxi and four couples shared the cost of Euro100 return. We met at the International Cafe and got off the ship together and got the Port Shuttle Bus to the Port gate.

The taxi arrived at 9am as arranged and it took 30 minutes to drive to the main square of Bruges. We got a map from the Information Centre in the main square that opened at 10am. As it was still early there were not many people around so we had a lovely time wandering around the city and along the canals.

As more people arrived in the city we went for a walk to the windmills along the river and along quiet canals away from the crowds.

Ever since seeing the Bruge Madonna in the movie The Monuments Men DH has wanted to see it, so when the Church of Our Lady opened we bought our tickets and went in to see her.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for chocolates, having Gelato and wandering.

We met up with the other couples in the main square at 3.45pm and at 4pm the taxi arrived to take us back to the port. The taxi worked out out really well and for Euro25 a couple was very inexpensive. A huge thanks to the organiser.

Back on board we changed for dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room. We then went to the 8pm show in the Princess Theatre - Steve Larkins is Mercury Rising. He is a Freddie Mercury tribute act and we had a fun time.

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If you took any photos of the menus I would love to know what was offered. We are going on the same itinerary on July 8.

If you took any photos of the menus I would love to know what was offered. We are going on the same itinerary on July 8.

Sorry, I didn't take any photos of the menus. You will have a wonderful time as this is a great itinerary. I hope your weather is as good as ours was with the exception of Helsinki.

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Monday June 5 - Sea Day

I love sea days especially when they come after a busy number of days travelling and sightseeing. We had a relaxing start to the day and DH did a load of washing before breakfast. After breakfast I went to the Destination Presentation for Copenhagen and Stockholm. Then off to morning trivia. At 11am the ship held a minutes silence to remember the victims of the London terror attack.

A lazy afternoon sitting in the sun and reading was greatly enjoyed. At 3pm was the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle at Skywalkers. Six members of staff including Guenther Kopf the Hotel General Manager came to welcome us to Crown Princess.

After a light dinner we went to the 8pm show in the Princess Theatre - Magic To Do. This is a fairly new production show to Princess and was very well received. It was great to see a new show and the Princess singers and dancers were all wonderful.

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Tuesday June 6 - Copenhagen

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning and docked at the Langelanie dock just before 8am. We were amongst the first passengers to get off the ship as I had planned a busy day of sightseeing. A short ten minute walk later we were at the Little Mermaid and we were the only people there! On another 15 minutes to Amalienborg Palace and once again there was almost no one around.

Ten minutes on to Nyhavn where we found plenty of people. The rest of the morning was spent walking around Christianshavn and seeing Our Saviour's Church interesting spire. On to Christiansborg Palace and watching horses being exercised at the Royal Riding Ground. A bit further on to Tivoli which was closed until 11am. This was our furthest point from the ship.

We then walked past the City Hall, through Nytorv Square and into the back streets. We saw St Peter's Church, the Round Tower, Gabrodretorv Square and St Nikolai Church before ending up back at Nyhavn.

We then walked back to Amalienborg Palace for the Changing of the Guard at 12.15pm.

By now we were starting to lag a little so after a quick visit to the Marble Church we headed to the King's Garden for a picnic lunch. A walk around Rosenberg Castle and a visit to the free Restrooms started our afternoon.

Next was the Botanical Gardens and a climb to the rooftop walk of the impressive Palmhouse. It was lovely to walk amongst the tranquil surrounds of the gardens before it was time to start heading back to the ship. Our last stop was at the Citadel close to the Little Mermaid.

We got back to the ship at 3.30pm very tired but delighted with our wonderful day in Copenhagen. A early night was in order after a quick dinner at the Horizon Court.

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Your pictures are excellent.

Nice to see a review that doesn't include pictures of every meal on board and nothing else.

Very nice photos!

Great review, please keep posting, we sail on Saturday. Did you take a tour in gdansk?

Thank you all for your very kind comments.

We took the "Gdansk On Your Own" Princess excursion, sandy999. This was because when I started my research I discovered that Gdansk is about a 45 minute drive from where we docked in Gdynia and All Aboard time was 3.30pm. This worked out really well for us as we had plenty of time in Gdansk to walk around by ourselves and didn't have to worry about getting back to the ship. We found out that after the Destination Presentation on Gdansk that every shore excursion was sold out. When we left the port at Gdynia there were taxis at the port gate but I don't know what they cost and how difficult or not it was to get a taxi from Gdansk back to the ship. I hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise.

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Wednesday June 7 - Sea Day

Yay, another wonderful and relaxing sea day! The day was filled with the Destination Presentation on Tallinn and Helsinki, morning Trivia, Destination Presentation on St Petersburg, lunch at the International Cafe, afternoon Trivia and some sun, reading and relaxation on the Sun Deck.

Dinner was in the Botticelli Dining Room (the Michelangelo Dining Room had no tables for two so we were taken to the Botticelli Dining Room) and had a very pleasant meal. We then went to the 8pm show in the Princess Theatre - Disco Blame It On The Boogie.

A perfect sea day in my books!

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Thursday June 8 - Stockholm (Part One)

I had heard that the sail in to Stockholm through the Archipelago was very scenic so I got up early and positioned myself at the front of the Promenade Deck from about 6.15am. It was one of the most scenic sail ins I have had the pleasure of enjoying. The sun was shining, the water was calm and glassy and it was simply beautiful. There were very few people around - just a few fellow photographers and crew.

Eventually at 9am I had to go and have some breakfast but we had it outside on the Lido Deck so that we could still enjoy the view. The closer we got to Stockholm the cloudier it got and by the time we docked it was overcast. This is the view of Stockholm from the ship docked at Stadsgarden S167.

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Thursday June 8 - Stockholm (Part Two)

We left the ship and following the blue line we walked about 25 minutes to Gamla Stan the old town of Stockholm. It was cloudy and when the wind picked up quite chilly. We were very glad we had worn our rain jackets which kept the wind out!

We walked up Marten Trotzigs Grand the narrowest lane in Stockholm then past the Storkyrkan Cathedral to the Royal Palace.

We then had a very chilly walk past the Parliament Building with the wind blowing directly off the water.

A brief stop at Karl Xll's Torg - a pretty square with a statue of Karl Xll.

We then walked through the Parliament Building and on to Riddarholmen to see Riddarholmskyrkan and a view to the Town Hall.

Then we walked back through Gamla Stan

and we headed back to the Royal Palace to see the Changing of the Guard at 12.15pm. (I've just realised I gave the wrong time for the Copenhagen Changing of the Guard. It is at 12pm not 12.15pm. Sorry!) It was very crowded and there was a fair bit of pushing and shoving if you were fortunate enough to be in the front row as we were. I was hit in the head a number of times with phones and cameras by people trying to take photos over my shoulder (and I'm not even very tall!). At one point I received a big shove from the woman next to me just as I was taking my phone out of my pocket. My phone went flying onto the cobblestones and I thought my heart would stop when I heard the crunch! Luckily it landed screen up and when I picked it up it was OK and just a few dings and scratches on the cover. Whew!!!

During the Changing of the Guard the sun made a brief appearance but when the guard was changed we decided to head back to the ship as we were quite cold. As we were about to leave Gamla Stan I saw a small supermarket and I decided to spend the remainder of my Swedish Krona. A very interesting time ensued with me trying to work out what flavour the potatoes chips were with all writing on the packaging in (obviously) Swedish. In the end I ended up buying Sea Salt flavour potatoes chips. A short walk and we were back on board and having a late lunch.

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Thursday June 8 - Stockholm ( Part Three)

Later in the afternoon the clouds started to break up and the sun came out. By the time of sail away at 5pm it was lovely. DH and I positioned ourselves at the front of the Promenade Deck for the very scenic sail away. Why is it that everything looks so different when you go in the opposite direction? We stayed there taking photos, chatting to fellow cruisers and enjoying every moment of the sail out to sea. We sailed past a group of islands that had been devastated by birds nesting there and the smell was eyewatering! We finally went inside at 8.45pm and the pilots left the ship at 9pm.

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You sound like real walkers, which is our favorite way to see a city. Love the pictures, the Stockholm archipelago sail in and out is our favorite !

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You sound like real walkers, which is our favorite way to see a city. Love the pictures, the Stockholm archipelago sail in and out is our favorite !

 

 

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Thank you. We love to walk if you hadn't guessed already and is also our favourite way to see and get to know a city. We enjoyed every moment of the Stockholm sail in and out and hope to do it again one day.

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Your pictures are beautiful. We will be taking this cruise next week and your posts have made me even more excited.

Great review and photo's Purple Traveler, brought back great memories as we were also on this cruise, we may have met at the meet and mingle?

Your pictures are beautiful. We will be taking this cruise next week and your posts have made me even more excited.

Thank you. This is a great itinerary. Hope you have a wonderful cruise and good weather.

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Great review and photo's Purple Traveler, brought back great memories as we were also on this cruise, we may have met at the meet and mingle?

Thanks. I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as we enjoyed ours. It was one of our favourite cruises. We may have met at the meet and mingle!

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Friday June 9 - Tallinn (Part One)

The weather forecast for today was cloudy with scattered showers so like the good cruise ship passengers we are we wore rain jackets and took umbrellas. Well the weather forecast was wrong! As the day progressed it got warmer and sunnier. By mid afternoon we were in T'Shirts. Each time we saw someone with rain jackets or umbrellas we thought "They are off Crown Princess".

We got off the ship and after an easy 20 minute walk we were at the Fat Margaret Tower, the closest entrance to the Old Town from the ship.

We walked through the old town and had an easy walk up the hill to Toompea Hill. As we neared the top a saw this fun and ornate boot and then we were at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

We decided to come back to the cathedral as we knew it was going to get very busy on Toompea Hill and we went to the Court Square Lookout. The view was great and we could see Crown Princess in the distance.

On to the Paktul Lookout which had an even better view.

While we were there admiring the view an large group of tourists arrived. There was a lot of pushing and shoving so that they could get to the front and then they all turned their backs to the view and spent the next few minutes taking selfies with their selfie sticks. Then they were off without taking any time to look at the view! All the people who had been shoved out of the way repositioned themselves to look at the view and then a few minutes later the same thing happened again with another large group. It was so funny! I wonder if they get back home and look at their photos and say "Oh, so that's what Tallinn looks like"?

On to the Cathedral of St Mary and a visit to the inside of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. We then walked to the Kik-in-de-Kok Tower and back into the Old Town. The Town Hall Square was very busy now with market stalls set up in the middle and the restaurants around the edge a hive of activity.

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Friday June 9 - Tallinn (Part Two)

We popped into the Town Council Pharmacy which is the oldest continually operating pharmacy in Europe. It has been operating since at least 1422 and possibly longer.

A walk through Catherine's Passage and a visit to St Olaf's Church before we headed out of the Old Town so that we could see the Town Wall and towers. We had a lovely time looking at the towers and sitting in the park in the sunshine.

All too soon it was time to return to the ship and we strolled back in the sunshine. Tallinn was one of our favourite ports on this cruise.

That evening we watched the Movie Under The Stars - A Dog's Purpose. It was so warm we didn't need a blanket and we had to wear our sunglasses.

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