Baltic cruise live from Eurodam

[Catathome]

It is sea day on our way back from our Baltic Cruise. I am going to give you a few hints for your cruise to the Baltic.

 

Went SFO to Heathrow via Virgin Atlantic. If you arrive before check in and are in Business or First Class, the Virgin Atlantic club room is "before" the security check thru to gate. At Heathrow they have a club room before security check point and one inside by the gates. Loved the pajamas Virgin Atlantic gives you to change into for the flight along with a glass of champagne. Nice…..

 

Cab ride to Heathrow costs around $60 dollars to Westminster area. We transferred American Express points to Hilton Honors and stayed at the Waldorf Hilton . You can request an upgrade by paying an extra 90 pounds for a king Hilton suite. Well worth it, the other rooms are small. This Hilton is located in the theatre district and 20 steps to a hop on hop off point. Great location.

 

We had the Hilton arrange for a driver to pick us up at the hotel and drop us off at the Eurodam. The company name was Quintessentially Driven. They were very punctual, the car was a new and large Mercedes. The driver was very professional and the cost was 287 pounds. We left at 9:30 a.m. and it took exactly 1 1/2 hours.

 

Eurodam boarded at 11:30 am, which went very smoothly.

 

In Copenhagen, there is a hop on, hop off bus right next to the ship. You can also add on a canal tour. That was the best part of the tour. They take credit cards. We did not exchange any money for that city. Please note, they charge to use the restrooms, so if you are not having lunch somewhere, you might want some small change for public bathrooms.

 

In Warnemunde, we had a personal tour by SPB for Berlin. They were outside the terminal for a bus ride with other SPB clients. We all get off in Berlin and were met by our guide, driver and a mercedes. Our guide was Tom. OMG! His tour was like having a tutorial from a history Professor from Stanford. Amazing!!! He was funny too. This is not his day job and he is not available most days. We were both really impressed with SPB, I highly recommend them.

 

In Tallinn, we went on another hop on hop off bus, right off the ship. You couldn't see much on it, but then we jumped off in old Town and shopped. It was a cute little town.

 

 

In St. Petersburg, we had another personal 2 day tour by SPB. Our tour guide was waiting with a sign right outside the terminal. Eleana was very knowledgable and knew the best places to stop for a clean restroom and to have lunch where the locals eat. The driver was great and the car was another Mercedes. Again, we were very impressed.

 

In Helsinki, this we also used SPB tours. We went on a group tour in a beautiful bus and with about 12 people. Cute town. Nice tour guide too.

 

In Nynashamn, since we spent a week in Stockholm last year, we just took a Holland America tour called The Vikings. The guide was a local history teacher, nice bus. We were so glad we took the tour, it was about 3 hours and he took us to the country side and along the coast to see the locals in small towns while givings us the history and origins of the Vikings. It was beautiful and informative. They have a hop on hop off bus right at the dock, but we landed on a Sunday and "All" the shops are closed. It is about a 20 minute walk to town, there is not much there.

 

We reserved Cabanas onboard before leaving the states. We opted for the top floor "retreat" cabanas There are no pools, so it is very quiet. Get the ones to the side where , they have plexiglass to shield from the wind. They would better if bought for a Caribbean cruise rather than a Baltic cruise.

 

Just a reminder about room service You only have to order from the room service menu if it is after dinner hours. You may order everything from the main dining room menu for the evening, during dinner service hours..

 

I will be unable to answer questions until August 27th. I just wanted to get this out to help anyone boarding for the Baltic in the future.

 

Thanks again for all your help, it truly made our experience very enjoyable.

 

Cat

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.