Live from voyager-July 29 to August 8-Copenhagen to Stockholm

[RachelG]

We are off again. My son and I are sitting in the admiral's club in Chicago awaiting our flight to LHR then on to Copenhagen for our Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise. I have been to several of the ports before, but they are all new to him. We will be joining our friends, Ron and Sue, as well as Sue's sister on this trip.

 

As usual, I will post every day if possible. Please come along for our trip, and please feel free to ask any questions you want answered. If I don't know the answer, I will try to find out.

 

We are flying on AA/BA using miles then will spend one night at the Copenhagen airport Hilton before embarking. We have a very tight connection in LHR that has me a little concerned, but there are plenty of later flights to Copenhagen if we miss it. When I originally booked, there was plenty of time, but then they changed the schedule. Still we always fly in a day early to allow for any mis-connects. So far, so good.

[txladycruiser]

Look forward to your posts, Rachel! Have a great trip!!

 

 

Karen

[captjohn]

Aloha

Rachel, look forward to your posts. My wife myself and 3 friends will be on the Stockholm to Southampton sailing departing Aug. 25th. Let us know who is running the ship and any port information you pickup along the way. Have a wonderful cruise !!

 

Mahalo,

John & Christina

[nana541]

Have a great time! Did this very cruise on Voyager in 2008 and of course loved it! Will keep fingers and toes crossed for your LHR connection...

Looking forward to sharing your adventure!

[Travelcat2]

Really looking forward to your reports. That is such a wonderful itinerary -- it was the first one we did on the Voyager in 2006:)

[harrodsfan]

Say "hi" to the Voyager. we have friends on this trip. I can't believed they routed you through Heathrow during the Olympics.

[WesW]

Hi Rachel, sincere hopes for a terrific (and for your son) a HOO YAH cruise, look forward to reading about it. It is so refreshing to know we have a live/on board thread to now look forward to.

[tallship]

Have a great time Rachel.....hope to cruise with you one day soon. CPH Airport is one of my favorites

[TedC]

Rachel, may all your connections be easy ones - without any drama!

[Threechicks]

Rachel, have a great trip. Elsie

[RachelG]

Thanks for the crossed fingers and toes, Nana, and thanks to everyone for all the well wishes. Our flight arrived ahead of time at LHR, there was no line at all to go through security in terminal 5, so we are waiting to board to flight to Copenhagen.

 

Harrodsfan, I questioned my sanity in connecting through LHR today too. To tell the truth, when I booked the flights, it never occurred to me that the Olympics were starting. And I was able to get business class award seats which is really amazing.

 

Then when I realized the Olympics were starting, which was the same time as the schedule change cutting short our connecting time, I was a bit panicked. But it has worked out fine. They have laid on a bunch of extra personnel at the airport to direct people where to go, etc.

 

Weather here is partly sunny. I am hoping for little to no rain, but looking at the forecasts, that may not work out.

[nana541]

The morning on the West Coast has risen which of course means you must be in Copenhagen one of my favorite cities.... Go down to New Harbor and enjoy, don't forget to pamper your feet and get on the canal boats that go all over the city.... Enjoy!!

[Lovesatq]

Looking forward to all your posts. Copenhagen is one of my most favorite cities. One of my girls spent a year going to school there and I have such fond memories of walking all over with her. Husband is retiring at the end of this year and your trip is on my cruise wish list.

[RachelG]

We arrived on copenhagen with no problems and checked in at the Hilton airport where inha e stayed a couple of times before. Very nice rooms with good bathrooms and showers, comfortable beds, highly recommend.

It is an easy ride on the metro to downtown, so we visited the carlsberg brewery then walked all the way down stroget, the pedestrian shopping street. Too tired to do anything else that evening, we crashed.

 

Sunday am we were up bright and early. We took the metro downtown again. They offer a very reasonably priced 24 hr pass for the metro, trains and buses, but beware-- they only take ash or credit cards with chips and pins ( which most American credit cards don't).

 

We went to the old port then to Rosenberg palace, which was really nice. Took a quick shopping trip in Magasin which is sort of a Danish Macy's. Again ran into trouble with the lack of chip and pin on the credit card.

 

At noon, we took a taxi ( which was willing to take any credit card) down to the voyager. Docked this time at Freeport, which is a bit further out than the port they have used every other time I have sailed in or our from here. Filled out the health questionnaire, and we were on in less than 10 mon with champagne in our hands and being invited to have lunch up top.

 

We immediately ran into our friends and traveling buddies, Ron, Sue, and Nancy. Had a quick lunch in la veranda. No problem with. Drinks or refills. My son and I took a walk over to castellet and the resistance museum.

 

All on board at 5. Captain is John McNeil. CD is Paul reynolds. Muster drill was taken very seriously by all.

 

Dinner in prime 7 was excellent. No negatives at all. I of course had my Dover sole. GE had surf and turf which he pronounced as perfect. Wine filled and refilled promptly. We are off to a great start!

[tallship]

Rachel-

Thx for the updates. Dover sole is one of my favorites too. I have seiously only been to the airport in Copenhagen but planning a trip there later this fall so will check out the things you mentioned.

[Travelcat2]

Glad to hear that you got there safely and are on your way. You have the best Captain and C.D. (IMO). If you talk to Paul, kindly send regards from "Travelcat" (or Dennis and Jackie). Who is the G.M.? Just curious.

 

Do you plan on dining in Sette Mari? Would like to hear your thoughts on this new, controversial dining venue.

 

Enjoy!:)

[mimito4]

Can't wait to read more, Rachel (my granddaughter is Rachael). Sounds like you're off to a lovely start. I shall relish every word because this is a voyage that interests us.

 

Be safe, and continue on with great experiences!

[harrodsfan]

Glad you made it safely. I loved Copenhagen.

I also loved the Dover Sole! Yummy.

John MacNeil was our Captain last spring. He is just delightful.

Wish we were with you.

Can't wait to hear more. Thanks for posting.

[NCCruzQueen]

Rachel, You are always so faithful about posting your adventures. I appreciate your efforts. Thanks so much for your time and energy! Do enjoy your cruise.

[MalibuCA]

Thanks so much for posting, Rachel. As I said in another posting and interaction with you, we are taking the same cruise next year. So, I am hanging on your every word! Thanks for sharing.

 

Shelley

[RachelG]

I love being back on my very favorite ship! I have had time to look around now, and everything looks to be in tip top shape.

 

This am, had a quick bite in la veranda. No problems with service at all. A lot of people had excursions to Berlin. That was too far to me, so we had an excursion to Rostock which is a very nice place on its own.

 

Our guide Katie was really good. Though she did dwell a bit on the bombing of rostock during WWII which waS because Rostock had the plane factory that made the planes that bombed London (so we disn't bomb for no reason).

 

Anyway it is a very nice town which I recommend.

 

In the afternoon, we did a countryside tour which was also quite nice. We went to a beautiful church, rode on a narrow gauge railway, and ate wonderful cake. Again really nice. Plus our guide Anna was a real delight.

 

Dinner in signatures was excellent. I had the scallop appetizer, then the halibut which was outstanding. I have had this din many times, and tonight was the closest to perfect ever.

 

Plus, if you had wanted an extra reservation to either P7 or signatures, tonight was the night to drop by, as a lot of people were just to tired after long excursions. Both were deserted. You could drop by and get a seat.

 

GM is raffeale cinque for who ever asked. I have not met him. Elda is the assistant CD, and I have met her many times before. Very efficient and professional.

[WesW]

Very nice on board report Rachel. Dinner in Sig sounded delicious. Continued well wishes for a wonderful Mother-Son voyage.

[Travelcat2]

GM is raffeale cinque for who ever asked. I have not met him. Elda is the assistant CD, and I have met her many times before. Very efficient and professional.

 

The GM on our cruise (Ralph) told us that a GM from Oceania would be on the Voyager for a while as they are short one GM and he had already been onboard a long time. So, I assume that raffeale cinque is from Oceania. Hoping to meet Elda in the future -- have not heard of her before.

 

Really enjoying your posts.

[witt's end]

I will be reading your posts with great interest since we are on the same itinerary August 15. This will be our third sailing with Captain McNeil so I am ready for the bagpipes and his sense of humour.

Thanks for taking the time to post Rachel. Enjoy!

[RachelG]

A few quick comments while waiting for our tour time.

 

Weather so far has been really good with sun and highs in the upper 60s. Yesterday in Warnemunde, it was bright and sunny till about 5 pm, then it poured rain for maybe 15 minutes, then sunny again. Today in Ronne, it was supposed to rain, but so far is sunny, a bit windy, and in the 60s. Cannot complain at all.

 

We were able to visit our friends suite,mwhich is one of the big ones up on the 11 th floor by the observation lounge. It is huge, bigger than my first house. 3 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a full wet bar, dining room and sitting room. Very impressive. They have the new coffee machine and upgraded teas which is leaf tea in a bag. Very long but narrow balcony with the furniture like is in the back sitting area by the pool grill--the woven chairs with cushions.

 

I had read someone complaining about cheap plastic furniture on their balcony on one of the ships. Not sure where they were, because I have been on all three and none have plastic furniture on the balcony.

 

Also someone had complained about not getting ground pepper in CR. again not sure where that is coming from as we have eaten lunch in CR twice, and both times were offered ground pepper for our salads. Also offered in Signatures last pm without having to ask. In P7, the pepper grinder is on the table.