Back From Eurodam Baltic - Happy to Answer ?'s

[LAN41]

Don't mean to bug you, but did you post a review? :)

 

 

My review has been posted. Here is the link if you want to take a look:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=87647

 

Hope it works...not that technically savvy!

 

Leslie

[LAN41]

I have read not to count on my USA credit card working because we don't have the chip. Did you find this to be the case?

 

My credit card worked in every single place I pulled it out. It did not have a chip. They would ask if I had a PIN, I would say "No" and it would process just like at home! I can't guarantee that will the case when you go, but it was not ever a problem for me.

 

Leslie

[LAN41]

Hi, my husband and I are in the process of booking a14 night cruise though Princess visiting the Baltic region next July 2012. Any information and advice you can give me about the ports you visited would be extremely helpful. Thanks, Melissa

 

Hi Melnick,

Take a look at my review just posted and let me know if you have any other specific questions on any of the ports we were at. I will be more than happy to help if I can!!

 

Leslie

[Junebug Jeffery]

Enjoyed your review. Thanks so much. :)

[janneke]

To the cruiser "LAN41" in thread # 26:

 

I was on the Rotterdam Baltic cruise that docked in Warnemunde on 24 july 2011. Our excursion guide told us that the Eurodam could NOT dock in Warnemunde on 22 july 2011 due to excessive winds. I don't know what happened to the ship. And this is confirmed by the cruiser "Joy2Day" in the thread # 22 :

 

Our plan for Euros was to get them at a ATM in Berlin, but our ship missed Warnemunde due to wind.

 

But in your excellent cruise review you don't mention this at all!

Here is what you say about Warnemunde :

 

Warnemunde, Germany: We did not want to go into Berlin and so planned a leisurely DIY day in this small, resort, seaside town. Reminded me of a Germany Mackinaw Island (for those of you familiar with Michigan!). Had a wonderful lunch in a small restaurant right on the canal. I think it was called Skeetiste and it had fantastic fresh fish and lovely service. Everyone was very friendly.

 

I understand from this that you were actually in Warnemunde, but the Eurodam never docked in Warnemunde. How can you explain this? Did the Eurodam dock somewhere else then?

 

 

 

This is a mistery to me.

[LAN41]

To the cruiser "LAN41" in thread # 26:

 

I was on the Rotterdam Baltic cruise that docked in Warnemunde on 24 july 2011. Our excursion guide told us that the Eurodam could NOT dock in Warnemunde on 22 july 2011 due to excessive winds. I don't know what happened to the ship. And this is confirmed by the cruiser "Joy2Day" in the thread # 22 :

 

Our plan for Euros was to get them at a ATM in Berlin, but our ship missed Warnemunde due to wind.

 

But in your excellent cruise review you don't mention this at all!

Here is what you say about Warnemunde :

 

Warnemunde, Germany: We did not want to go into Berlin and so planned a leisurely DIY day in this small, resort, seaside town. Reminded me of a Germany Mackinaw Island (for those of you familiar with Michigan!). Had a wonderful lunch in a small restaurant right on the canal. I think it was called Skeetiste and it had fantastic fresh fish and lovely service. Everyone was very friendly.

 

I understand from this that you were actually in Warnemunde, but the Eurodam never docked in Warnemunde. How can you explain this? Did the Eurodam dock somewhere else then?

 

 

 

This is a mistery to me.

 

No mystery, just mixed up dates! We docked in Warnemunde on July 12 and it was an absolutely beautiful day. I have tried to attach a picture, so you can see the gorgeous blue sky! I had heard the next Eurodam cruise which left Copenhagen on July 21, was not able to dock in Warnemunde due to high winds.

 

Leslie

[janneke]

Ah that explains everything

We had an excursion by bus to Lubeck. Lovely city, unfortunately we had a full cold and rainy day. The guide was wonderful and very talkative, no way we could doze off on the way back.

[Joy2Day]

I understand from this that you were actually in Warnemunde, but the Eurodam never docked in Warnemunde. How can you explain this? Did the Eurodam dock somewhere else then?

 

Sadly, there were 24 people trying to meet the Eurodam at Warnemunde. Their flight from Atlanta to Copenhagen had been cancelled and they could not make the ship. So they were in Berlin waiting .... where (ironically) the weather that day was beautiful.

 

Our next day was a sea day, so they could not catch up until day 4 of the cruise in Tallinn. They flew to Tallinn via Riga, spent the night in Tallinn then boarded the Eurodam.

[soldham]

The Eurodam also has the Silk Den and the Tamarind Restaurant. Well worth it!!!

 

And we are just back from this trip on the Rotterdam. Euro's are almost universally accepted though we usually just hit an ATM (usually located in the terminal) for pocket money.

 

We found every port to be rather pricey but in many cases this was the VAT that added upwards of 20% to a purchase. I also found myself thinking of the Euro like a dollar (easy enought to do) and making calculations based on that rather than the 1.40 it really is.

 

We took public transit excusively and did not regret a moment. really puts you in the community......And four of us took the high speed train to Berlin from the port for the cost of one person through HAL on a chartered train with no AC.

[keukalady]

My review has been posted. Here is the link if you want to take a look:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=87647

 

Hope it works...not that technically savvy!

 

Leslie

 

Enjoyed your review. Did you take public transport at Warnemunde port to the seaside resort town? Please advise. Thanks.

[LAN41]

Enjoyed your review. Did you take public transport at Warnemunde port to the seaside resort town? Please advise. Thanks.

 

 

Hi Keukalady,

We did not take any public transportation in Warnemunde. You could walk right off the ship into the resort town. It is right there, less than a 5 minute walk. Glad you enjoyed the review. This time last year, I was knee deep in planning. Now I can just enjoy my memories and this brought them back! Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

Leslie

[keukalady]

Hi Keukalady,

We did not take any public transportation in Warnemunde. You could walk right off the ship into the resort town. It is right there, less than a 5 minute walk. Glad you enjoyed the review. This time last year, I was knee deep in planning. Now I can just enjoy my memories and this brought them back! Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

Leslie

 

I am now the one knee deep in planning for the Ryndam July 7 cruise and your review and advice made it much easier for me. Thanks.

We hope to go to Rostock too. Any tips on this town? I will search the forum to find out as well.

[Carlojai]

We are on the Eurodam leaving Stockholm 31 July for 17 Days. We will visit the typical ports, Tallinn, St. Pete., Helsinki, Warnemunde, Kiel, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and then up the Norway west Coast. In St. Pete. we expect to take a private tour. My question is which of these other ports is easy to see on our own? Any suggestions on ways to get around those ports? Thanks for you help.

 

CarlOjai

[LindaM]

We are on the Eurodam leaving Stockholm 31 July for 17 Days. We will visit the typical ports, Tallinn, St. Pete., Helsinki, Warnemunde, Kiel, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and then up the Norway west Coast. In St. Pete. we expect to take a private tour. My question is which of these other ports is easy to see on our own? Any suggestions on ways to get around those ports? Thanks for you help.

 

CarlOjai

 

Copenhagen is easy to do on your own, but it is a bit of a walk into town. You will pass interesting things on your way, though, including the Little Mermaid. Talinn is extremely easy to do on your own. It's about a 10-15 walk from the port to inside the walled city.

[LAN41]

We are on the Eurodam leaving Stockholm 31 July for 17 Days. We will visit the typical ports, Tallinn, St. Pete., Helsinki, Warnemunde, Kiel, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and then up the Norway west Coast. In St. Pete. we expect to take a private tour. My question is which of these other ports is easy to see on our own? Any suggestions on ways to get around those ports? Thanks for you help.

 

CarlOjai

 

Hi Carlojai,

We did Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm and Warnemunde on our own and it was very easy. With Tallinn, you really can just walk off the ship and it is marked which way to the Old Town. I had pulled a walking tour off the internet so that we knew what we were looking at and had an amazing day of wandering around, shopping and eating lunch. In Warnemunde, pretty much the same thing. Walked right off the ship into the little town and down to the beach. Shopping, people watching, lunching, etc. We loved both those days as they were a little more relaxed, but just as enjoyable. In Helsinki, we took the Eurodam shuttle to the Promenade area. It was cheap and got us to the main area we wanted to see. From the drop off we walked the Promenade, went to Senate Square with the Lutheran cathedral, Market Square with crafts and food vendors (get the reindeer for lunch!!) and took the boat over to Suomenlinna Island for the afternoon. Shuttle took us right back to the ship. In Stockholm, we docked right in town, so if you are in the far port, this may not work for you. But, we (again!) walked right off the ship and walked right onto a HOHO boat that took us all over to everything we wanted to see, which was mainly The Vasa and Gamla Stan. It was very convenient and we never had to wait for a pickup more than a couple minutes. We did HAL excursions in Copenhagen and Kiel. We easily could have done Copenhagen on our own. There were HOHO buses right outside the cruise port and we could have used those instead of the excursion. I did really LOVE the Kiel excursion through HAL. It was called "Castles, Lakes and Roses" and it was a wonderful day! Let me know if you have other specifc questions and have an amazing trip!!

 

Leslie

[TylerRose]

Thank you so very much for taking the time to write & post your review.

I board in a few days and am eager to pick up any special last minute suggestions you might have.

 

My bags are packed... (tomorrow I will put back 1/3 of what's in them- and maybe then my suitcase will even close!)

 

Was there a formal black & white ball?

 

I have been places in Europe where business casual is the daily dress, but I have not been to the Baltic's... Were any ports more conservative in dress, or can we wear jeans everywhere?

 

Glad to hear you were happy with SPb, we booked 4 tours with them!

 

Thanks again,

Robyn

[LAN41]

Thank you so very much for taking the time to write & post your review.

I board in a few days and am eager to pick up any special last minute suggestions you might have.

 

My bags are packed... (tomorrow I will put back 1/3 of what's in them- and maybe then my suitcase will even close!)

 

Was there a formal black & white ball?

 

I have been places in Europe where business casual is the daily dress, but I have not been to the Baltic's... Were any ports more conservative in dress, or can we wear jeans everywhere?

 

Glad to hear you were happy with SPb, we booked 4 tours with them!

 

Thanks again,

Robyn

 

 

Hi Robyn,

Thanks for your nice comments. I am glad that my review helped. I got so much help in planning our trip from the Boards on CC, that I wanted to do my part once we got back. I am sure you will be satisfied with SPb. They were just wonderful for us in St. P. We did not have a formal ball on Eurodam last year. I brought short, cocktail dresses for formal nights and it was fine. Almost no one on our voyage was in black tie for formal nights. Regarding the dress in the European cities.....we did tend to be a little more "dressed" than the usual US garb. I wore jeans in Helsinki and Warnemunde, but did non denimn capri's and cotton skirts and dresses in the other ports. Nothing fancy and good Merrell's or other athletic shoes on my feet, but not super casual. It wasn't really hot, so we had cute cotton jackets or cardigans to throw on over a short sleeve top. I am jealous that you are just setting out on your adventure. The Baltic trip has been my most favorite travel destination so far. I hope that you have an absolutely wonderful time!!

 

Leslie

[TylerRose]

Hi Robyn,

Thanks for your nice comments. I am glad that my review helped. I got so much help in planning our trip from the Boards on CC, that I wanted to do my part once we got back. I am sure you will be satisfied with SPb. They were just wonderful for us in St. P. We did not have a formal ball on Eurodam last year. I brought short, cocktail dresses for formal nights and it was fine. Almost no one on our voyage was in black tie for formal nights. Regarding the dress in the European cities.....we did tend to be a little more "dressed" than the usual US garb. I wore jeans in Helsinki and Warnemunde, but did non denimn capri's and cotton skirts and dresses in the other ports. Nothing fancy and good Merrell's or other athletic shoes on my feet, but not super casual. It wasn't really hot, so we had cute cotton jackets or cardigans to throw on over a short sleeve top. I am jealous that you are just setting out on your adventure. The Baltic trip has been my most favorite travel destination so far. I hope that you have an absolutely wonderful time!!

 

Leslie

 

TY Leslie. Weather (temps) has been a concern me. I keep reading how cold and wet it will be... Now I can put capris and skirts back in luggage. (hmmm, I am suppose to be taking less). Also, ty for your views on local dress... When we were in Italy I rarely saw jeans on us "older folk" as my kids call me now!

My son is a cellist and wears tuxedo's very often so we shall wear them. I have a favorite gown I rarely get to wear, so I look forward to them... love the first formal night--- second, not so much. One cruise we had 4- by then I was hiding in lido!;)

We leave tomorrow.

Any final advice?

Robyn

[TylerRose]

oh my, I just realized this is a review brought back from a year ago. TY for taking time to answer my questions.

[LAN41]

oh my, I just realized this is a review brought back from a year ago. TY for taking time to answer my questions.

 

 

No worries. As I said to someone else, now I am living vicariously through all you lucky people traveling this year!! My only last piece of advice would be to prioritize what you want to see before arriving in port. There is so much in most of the ports that it is easy to lose the enjoyment by trying to "check every box" because you want to see it all. We did really extend ourselves in St. P and stayed for the evening show, etc. because that was our highlight city. But for example, in Stockholm, we spent hours in The Vasa and as much time as we wanted in Gamla Stan, just looking, walking and talking to people. We missed other things that would have been nice to see in Stockholm, but to us, taking our time with our "must see's" and enjoying each day was most important. Again, that is JMO, but it worked for us, especially because it is a pretty long trip and we never felt burned out. Safe travels and let us know how the trip turns out for you!

 

Leslie