Eurodam 7/14-7/24 Baltic Gems

[saxndog]

Hello all,

 

I finally have the time to write a review of our wonderful vacation.

We chose HAL because of our previous cruise experience. We preferred the more laid back atmosphere to our Carnial cruise.

 

We flew to Copenhagen a day before and stayed 3 days after the cruise.

Our SAS flight was ok, too bad they partner with United. United used to be my favorite airline, but it seems since their merger with Continental they have become a real mess. One bag of luggage, no peanuts or snacks, and always late. We flew through Chicago to Copenhagen. Some advice here, Chicago is a big airport, 35 minutes is not enough time to get to the international terminal and go through security again. We ran to gate and just made it. We were should had an hour and 50 minutes for our conection, damn United.

 

Copenhagen-

What a beautiful and clean city. We arrived on-time, yeah SAS, and got to our hotel in 45 minutes. We stayed at the Hotel Clarion Neptun near Nyhavn. The hotel is a basic european hotel. Not as nice as a Best Western or Holiday Inn Express, but serviceable. The staff was ok and everyone spoke english. The ladies I dealt with were nice, but didn't offer much help or advice. The gentleman I dealt with seemed bothered by any questions I asked. The room he gave us had a broken air conditioner and he seemed to think it was no big deal. We actually had nice weather and the temps got up to the 80's. I'm from San Francisco, if the temp gets over 80 I want air, especially if I'm paying for it. We did get a portable air machine, but it was quite load. What I did like about the Hotel Neptun is the breakfast and light dinner they provide. The food was quite good and the "light" dinner was a nice salad and cheese buffet with one entre. This is a real bonus in Copenhagen where lunch is usually over $20 each and dinner starts at $40-$50.

 

Eurodam-

I found the ship to be quite nice. All of the public areas were spotless and our room was well cared for by room attendants. We had balcony room #8089 mid ship. The balchony was nice, but the furniture wasn't up to snuff. 2 cheap pseudo wicker chairs, an ottoman/extra seat and a small table. There is plenty of room for a chaise lounge and a comfy chair. The bathroom is nice sized and well laid out. It did have an awful smell when you raised the toilet lid. Also, bring a travel clock, there wasn't one in the room.

 

We did do a few of the ship activities and I used the pool once. The pools aren't that great. The covered one is full of kids which is fine with me. I remember being young. The adult pool is the problem. It seemed to be the preferred smoking area. I fine with people smoking, it was just too many all together and 5-6 cigars for good measure. I didn't go for the pools and it was't that big of a deal for me. My DW did the acupunture and our friends used the gym. I took one of the hands on cooking classes. This was a miss for HAL. The venue is the same stage they use for the group demos. It was fine except there was really no hands on. We also started late and were rushed out for another event. The chef had a lot of info for beginners, but if you have any cooking experience, its not worth it. By cooking experience I mean you cook on a regular basis.

 

Ports-

The ports are the star of this cruise, 6 countries, 8 cities and 3 time changes. Cruise director Ian had lots of information and advice and always bid us farewell in the morning. My only complaint about the ports are the times. On the itinery the times were stated as one thing, but the captain required everyone aboard a 1/2 hour early. Now that would be reasonable if we had all day and got docked on time. This was not the case. We usually docked right on time or a little late. On our previous cruises we always docked early. On a Carnival Med cruise we did a few years earlier we docked early every port. Maybe their more strict about port times in the Baltic. Most ports were 8am-5pm.

 

Tallinn - 7/16 11am-5pm Unfortunately our worst port on the cruise. Pretty city and very interesting. We got in late due a medical emergency on board. No fault of HAL, we turned around near a Swedish port to get the person to a hospital. I hope everyone was ok, I don't know how I would handle a hospital in a foreign country. Tallinn was windy and raining. Our friends arranged for us to pickup Tallinn cards at a nearby hotel. This was a big mistake. We wasted an hour getting the card, then the busses for the Tallinn card weren't running as often because of the rain. We would have better off just doing the regular HOHO bus. We did think the Tallinn card worked on them, but they had seperate Tallinn card HOHO busses. We did have a great lunch. Very cheap and very good.

I got some nice gifts for family here. Definitely the best shopping on the cruise. Too bad its at the start and we had so little time.

We ended up just having 2-2 1/2 in town due to the 4:30 all aboard. I think we should of had a little more time here, we got in a little late and they were really hardcore about the 1/2 early all aboard.

 

St. Petersburg - 7/17 7am-7/18 6pm What a great city! We arrived right on time and then there was some problem with port. Maybe the boarder agents weren't ready. Ian said to try and get the passport officers to smile, he said it was very rare. Lucky me, I got a beautiful fellow redhead. I smiled and said thank you in Russian with a wink and got a big smile from her. Who says flurting isn't worth a try.

 

We did a private tour with SPB tours. I can't say enough nice things about them. We always got quick replies to any stupid questions before the cruise and we were greated by Vika personally. Standing next to her was Katia our tour guide. She was very nice and quite pretty. Her english was perfect. We met Max our driver and were off, literally 5 minutes after we cleared border control. Max drove a Mercedes van plenty big enough all seven of us. Max said he was learning english and wanted to practice with us. I think he didn't understand us once or twice, his english was great.

Our first day we did the city. 3 churches, the Hermitage, Peter's fortress Yuspov's palace and lunch. We were dead tried at the end of day. Word to the wise, make sure your flash is off for pictures. I thought it was and the first time it flashed was when I took a picture of the 1st DaVinci. Big fault pas, my DW reminded everytime I took picture after that. Everywhere was great except the Yuspov palace, it was a little hoaky. Goofy wax figures did not add to the experience. We were offered an evening tour, but there was no way, we were wiped out.

Day 2 we went to the country, Peterhof and Catherine's palace. I preferred Peterhof. The fountains and grounds are incredible. I did notice that the leftside of the fountains was less crowded when the fountains started. It seemed everyone went down the rightside, the leftside seemed nicer for pictures since it got quite crowded. I'm lucky I'm tall.

I would highly recommend SPB to anyone and if you can get Katia and Max even better for you. Our small private tour always got in first. The itinary they created got in before the crowds and when we left the line was around the block.

 

This is getting long, I will finish it later.

 

Rich

[jstducky]

I have a question regarding Tallinn -- why did you arrange to buy the Tallinn card and pick it up at a nearby hotel.

 

In 2007 when I was in Tallinn, they had TI agents at the pier to meet the ship, give us maps, directions etc.

 

I'll be in Tallinn again in about a week and had hoped to buy the 6 hour Tallinn Card. I had read on Tallinn tourism website that the Tallinn cards could be purchased with the TI reps right at the pier. Is this not true?

 

Thanks for doing the review. Looking forward to reading the rest!

[saxndog]

Hi Jstducky,

 

Wasn't my idea to pickup at the hotel. Our friends made the arrangements and it seemed reasonable to me. The ticket agents didn't seem to have the Tallinn cards, in fact they said something about there being so many Tallinn cards. Maybe they had them, I didn't ask.

 

Also there was a makeshift outdoor market by the ship. They had some great prices just steps from the pier.

 

I tried to look for Soviet stuff in Tallinn. I did see quite a bit, but the prices seemed outrageous. Nothing under a $50 with nicer stuff starting around $150.

 

Enjoy your trip, hope you have better weather.

 

Rich

[saxndog]

Time to finish.

 

Helsinki - 7/19 8am-5pm What a nice city. The cruise docks about a mile from the street market. We bought the HAL bus transfer to downtown. We were dropped a few blocks from the eplanade. Not really a place with attractions, but more centrally located. We walked to the harbor market, half a mile or so, and bought an all day pass for tram 3. We did the city curcuit with a stop at the rock church. The rock church is quite small, but very beautiful. A pianist was playing and the aucustics are wonderful.

It did get a bit noicy and most people forgot to remove their hats. It amazes me how people forget manners when they're on vaction. Next we stopped at the harbor market. Lots of souvenirs and fresh food. I wanted to have the lovely fresh salmon they were grilling outdoors. I got out voted for a sit down lunch. We went to Cafe Kappeli across the square. It was good, but grilled fresh salmon for half the price would have better. You live, you learn. We spent another hour shopping after lunch and returned to the ship.

 

7/20 - Stockholm 8am-5pm Another beautiful day for us. I heard the previous cruise had terrible weather. We just had rain in Tallinn and sprinkles on day 2 of St. Petersburg. We walked off the ship, turned left and headed for the HOHO boats. Maybe 400 yards. The first stop was directly too the Vasa museum. This is normally the 4th or 5th stop. We got in 1st with only small crowds. What an awesome place. We watched the movie and took the 1st english tour. Our guide was a young fellow, maybe 19-20 years old, that told the most animated and interesting stories about the ships short maiden voyage. What a treat. We were finished right when the crowds were getting big. Next we went to Gamla Stan, the old town. Just a couple stops from the Vasa. It is very touristy. Some nice shops and lots of pubs and restaurants. We steered clear of the combo pizza/taco place and headed one street to the left. We ate at Slingerbulten, Stora Nygatan 24, a small local place. Very good and reasonable prices. We decided to do a complete harbor trip, then back to the ship.

Here is were the whole leaving early upset me. We got on board with plenty of time to spare. There were a few groups that came back late. And by late I mean, after the all aboard at 4:30. They started blowing the horn and pulling up the gangplank at 4:45. At least 10 people were not onboard. They did make it and were given a hard time, but here's my problem. They were onboard before 5pm, the advertised departure time. I think that's bull#$%^.

 

7/22 - Warnemunde/Berlin 7am-10pm Longest day of the cruise. I split with my DW here, she didn't want to take the 3 hour bus trip to Berlin. I went with our friend Deb and used SPB again. We had a regular sized bus for our group of 20. Plenty of room to spread out and relax for the ride.

Our guide met us in Berlin and he was from Astoria, Oregon. He has lived in Berlin for over 10 years a new the city well. Lots of stops and photos, but you don't really get to go in any place unless your is organized. Our group was a bit disjointed with a few kids and one lady who wasn't feeling to well. Not really a problem, For 100 euro it was well worth the price. I think the ship excursions started at $200. We eat near the murdered jews memorial, very moving in a quiet way. I had a currywurst. This is a grilled hot dog covered with a sauce. The sauce is best discribed as enchilada sauce with curry in it. It was good and I'm glad I tried it, but not really awesome as some people had told me. Back on the ship there was a german band playing and a cookout. Lots of salad and sausages. Did I mention the roasted suckling pig, what a treat. Lots of local desserts too.

 

7/23 - Kiel 8am-5pm Here we did our only ship excursion and I still regret it. We did the Lubeck on your own. Just a 1 1/2 bus ride to a pretty city. $89 each is just too much. I was out voted again here. The city is nice and we shopped and had a nice lunch by the river.

 

Last night on the ship so we had to pack. We had a late disembark and enjoyed breakfast while others were rushing about. It really was nice having a day before and a few days after the cruise to enjoy Copenhagen, with the added benefit of not worrying about rushing to the ship or airport.

 

A bit about the food onboard. The main dining room is fabulous. All my meals were great with a good choice dishes. Here is were HAL kills Carnival. Each night had a bit of local favor and if you don't like what is on the menu, you can always have a steak. Don't be shy about special requests, it was never a problem substituting one side dish for another.

The only issue I had was my Osso Bucco was tough. A bit odd because you usually cook it for a long time. It still tasted great.

I don't usually go for the buffets. Eurodams buffet was excellent.

Breakfast there is omelets and eggs cooked to order and they have an eggs bendict bar. My DW loved the oatmeal and yogarts. The pizza and hamburger joints are ok. Lunch and dinner in the buffet was good also.

For dinner they have many of the dining room entres if you want to skip the crowds. I did take pictures of the menus and will post a link in a few days

 

I will finish with Copenhagen tomorrow.

 

Thanks for reading,

Rich

[saxndog]

Time to finish up.

 

Copenhagen - 7/24-7/27 We had a relaxing breakfast before leaving the ship. Our cab driver from the ship to hotel was a bit of a comedian. I bought something up about the metric system with reference to Pulp Fiction. He was a big fan and regailed us with quotes from the movie. He and I got going pretty good, my DW was totally nausiated by the male bonding over movie quotes lol. We had to wait for our room and decided to take the canal tour. We purchased Copenagen cards which are quite a good deal. The tour was included on the card, but not the HOHO boat. This was a bit confusing because the stop closest to us was on that line. We had to trek to the stop near the stock market. The hour canal ride is quite beatiful with commentary in 3 languages.

Day 2 we did a walk with Richard Karpen from copenhagenwalks.com. Very informative and Richard is a great host. He even treated us to schnaps at a local cafe. We shopped and looked around the rest of the day.

Day 3 we decided to go to Roskilde. They have a Viking museum there and lots of demostrations of viking crafts and ship building. The highlight is the boat tour. You actually row a replica Viking ship out into the bay and sail back in, what a treat, probably best time I had on the whole vacation. I wanted to go again. The last night we decided to eat out near the hotel. We tried Cafe Optimisten in Nyhavn. What a great place. The food was fantastic and the prices were reasonable. They have a website, but it doesn't do it justice. There address is Nyhavn 38, 1051 Copenhagen. Do give it a try.

 

The Copenhagen card covered all the museums and public transit in and around the city. When we went to Roskilde on the train it was also covered. You don't need a ticket. You just need to know the right train and platform. You just show the conductor your card and your set. You do need to find an open seat, some are reserved and it can be confusing.

 

The other restarants we tried:

 

Madklobben - not far from Nyhavn. Good food, kind of pricey.

Royal Cafe - on the Stroget. $25 for lunch famous Smushis

 

Well thanks for reading and I'm happy to answer and questions, and remember:

You don't need a visa in Russia if your on a ship's excursion or have a tour ticket from a private tour company.

 

Rich

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[dogs4fun]

Hi Jstducky,

 

Wasn't my idea to pickup at the hotel. Our friends made the arrangements and it seemed reasonable to me. The ticket agents didn't seem to have the Tallinn cards, in fact they said something about there being so many Tallinn cards. Maybe they had them, I didn't ask.

 

Also there was a makeshift outdoor market by the ship. They had some great prices just steps from the pier.

 

I tried to look for Soviet stuff in Tallinn. I did see quite a bit, but the prices seemed outrageous. Nothing under a $50 with nicer stuff starting around $150.

 

Enjoy your trip, hope you have better weather.

 

Rich

 

I bought our Tallinn cards from the agent at the pier (last August). Bet they still do the same. :)

jill

[dogs4fun]

I have a question regarding Tallinn -- why did you arrange to buy the Tallinn card and pick it up at a nearby hotel.

 

In 2007 when I was in Tallinn, they had TI agents at the pier to meet the ship, give us maps, directions etc.

 

I'll be in Tallinn again in about a week and had hoped to buy the 6 hour Tallinn Card. I had read on Tallinn tourism website that the Tallinn cards could be purchased with the TI reps right at the pier. Is this not true?

 

Thanks for doing the review. Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

Bought our Tallinn cards at the pier last August.

jill

[jstducky]

I bought our Tallinn cards from the agent at the pier (last August). Bet they still do the same. :)

jill

 

great to know! i will be on the lookout for them when i arrive in a week. hopefully, they will have them. if not, no big deal.

[YoPhilly]

Thanks for posting your review.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I've never known a cruise line (all my journeys have been in Europe) that didn't ask passengers to be on board half an hour before departure. The quoted ship's departure time is exactly that, the time for the ship to leave. They want passengers on board, the gangplank raised, and the ropes cast off before departure time.

 

Presumably on American ships the departure time isn't quoted, just the passenger on board time. That's not so much [obscenity deleted], more a different custom. You might as well complain that they were speaking a foreign language in Denmark.

 

Otherwise, thanks for the review.

[Coolcruise02]

Yes, every cruise (20+) we have been on, always requires you to be on board 30 minutes before departure. Just a part of cruising.

 

We were on your sailing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

 

We had a great time and thankfully, the weather was better than what was predicted before we left home! :)