Emerald Princess Baltic trip report - May 23-June 3, 2013 (with pictures and patters)

[dnylla]

Day 5 – at sea (May 27, 2013)

 

Today, thanks to the time change we woke up a little later than usual according to the clock. But we were still probably some of the earliest passengers awake, in part because we did not have the long trip to Berlin the day before. After getting ready we went to the Michelangelo dining room for breakfast. This was a nice change from the buffet where we had eaten breakfast the past few days, and it was not very busy.

 

Then we headed out to the Promenade deck to walk some, since we would not be doing so in port. At first it was empty, just my sister and I and one other lady. More people began to start walking as it got later though and we stopped around 9:00. We headed back to our stateroom to spend some time relaxing, and then went to the Princess Theater for John Lawrence’s port talk on Tallinn. Like Oslo and the other destination lectures, we already had a good idea of what we were going to do in Tallinn but he always had some interesting information and as usual it was all well presented.

 

Following the port talk it was time for us to head to the Wheelhouse Bar for their pub lunch. My sister and I were some of the first ones there and led to a table for two near the dance floor. Sis had the fish and chips, with a Coke. I was hoping for shepherd’s pie, but it wasn’t on the menu so instead I had bangers and mash with a Guinness (it was in a can, not on tap, but that’s not surprising). The Wheelhouse bar definitely filled up while we were eating and when we finished we noticed there was a line at the door of people waiting for tables. We maneuvered through the crowds at the tables outside the boutiques.

 

Soon after that we headed back to the Princess Theater for John Lawrence’s port talk on St. Petersburg. This was the fullest destination lecture we had been to, which was a little surprising given that most of us probably booked either independent tours or shore excursions through Princess. This port lecture was really interesting though because of the history of the city that John Lawrence included in his lecture. I knew some of the history, but not all of it, and attending the lecture definitely helped when we were in St. Petersburg.

 

After the lecture wrapped up we headed back to our stateroom. I read, while my sister went up to watch “Dirty Dancing” for Movies under the Stars. She came back pretty soon though, because it was too cold and windy. Instead we went to the art auction. There were quite a few people, probably because it was a sea day or because the wait staff was offering free champagne if you wanted it. Despite the amount of people, not many were biding. I think maybe once or twice there were multiple people interested in the same piece, but often no one bid at all. I’m not sure if that was from people marking that they were interested in certain pieces of art without finding out what the reserve price was, or the art director, Leif, bringing out extra pieces or art in hopes they would sell, or a combination of both. Because the art auction was so well attended we were off to the side and could not see the art very well, so a little after 4:00 we left and headed to the International Café to grab a bite to eat.

 

My sister and I were eating so close to our assigned dinner time because we had signed up to do the Stammtisch food and wine pairing at Vines at 5:00. We had tried to sign up for the first one on May 25th (our day in Aarhus) but it had already reached capacity so we decided to skip our first formal night and signed up for this Stammtisch instead. After our snack at International Café Sis and I changed into smart casual clothes and headed back to the Piazza to go to Vines.

 

 

 

The glasses were out at the table, but we were there early so we sat and talked to one of the Vines staff members until it was closer to 5:00. When they were ready for us we took seats at the table, along with six others (we were missing one who forgot to adjust her clock). The tapas (two lambchops, a mussel, “chicken sucker”, and a cheese sandwich) were brought out and Ryan, the Vines crewmember, started. This Stammtisch was focused on New World red wines. We tried three different ones.

 

 

 

 

Ryan gave us information about the wines and the process used to make them, as well as providing suggestions for what food would go best with which wine. He was really enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the wine. We discussed which ones we liked, and overall had a really good time. We decided to sign up for some of the following ones, as did a couple of the others who were at the Stammtisch (some of them had also done the first one that was sold out when we tried to sign up). The cost was listed as $15 pp, although with the gratuities that are automatically added it came out to $17.25 pp, but we thought the cost was worth it.

 

When the Stammtisch wrapped up the Piazza was starting to get crowded with people wanting to get a front row seat for the champagne waterfall that would take place in about an hour. My sister and I were feeling the wine a little so we decided to head up to the buffet to grab something more substantial to eat. We felt a little bad up in the buffet because we seemed underdressed compared to the wait staff who were also in their formal wear, especially because it was not very busy at Café Caribe. Tonight the buffet had what I considered one of the best desserts of the cruise at the buffet this evening-the chocolate truffle cake. I had gotten a piece and enjoyed it so much that Sis decided to get one too.

 

While we were at dinner we noticed the ship started tilting to one side. It was enough that it was noticeable and I think our glasses might have started to slide if not for the placemats. Even the servers at Café Caribe were looking around uncertainly. My sister and I were joking that it was everyone lining up on one side of the ship for the free champagne. That may have been part of the truth, but we found out later in the cruise that the champagne waterfall actually tipped over and was not completed (while it must have been a mess for the poor crew to clean up, that would have been something to see).

 

After dinner we were going to try to walk around the Promenade deck again, but it was closed off to passengers, perhaps because of whatever had caused the Emerald Princess to tilt to the side. So we took the stairs back up to deck 15 to try and walk around some. There was a couple people watching MUTS, and two crew members otherwise the deck was deserted. It also wasn’t as good to walk around, so we headed back inside. We stopped by the photo gallery to look at the pictures. We had only had our embarkation picture and the one in Oslo taken, and looked but didn’t see them. After that we decided to catch the 8:30 show of “I Got the Music” in the Princess Theater. We were there about 10 minutes early and the place was already full. We thought the theater was small the first time we were in it for John Lawrence’s Oslo talk, but this definitely proved it. We managed to find two seats at the end of a row, but there was not much open. The show was short, only about 30 minutes, and after that we headed back to our stateroom to start getting ready for bed.

 

 

Coming up… Tallinn

[dnylla]

[123cwm]

I have been so enjoying your posts! I leave for the same cruise in 2 weeks and have loved reading about your experiences. Can't wait for the rest of your posts. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!

[bapaleg]

Thank you so much for all of the information. We are doing this crise in July. Would it be difficult to DIY in Oslo and Aarhus? Also, we were thinking of going to the steak restaurant. Which nite would you recommend.

[chuck99]

Day 5 – at sea (May 27, 2013)

 

Today, thanks to the time change we woke up a little later than usual according to the clock. But we were still probably some of the earliest passengers awake, in part because we did not have the long trip to Berlin the day before. After getting ready we went to the Michelangelo dining room for breakfast. This was a nice change from the buffet where we had eaten breakfast the past few days, and it was not very busy.

 

Then we headed out to the Promenade deck to walk some, since we would not be doing so in port. At first it was empty, just my sister and I and one other lady. More people began to start walking as it got later though and we stopped around 9:00. We headed back to our stateroom to spend some time relaxing, and then went to the Princess Theater for John Lawrence’s port talk on Tallinn. Like Oslo and the other destination lectures, we already had a good idea of what we were going to do in Tallinn but he always had some interesting information and as usual it was all well presented.

 

Following the port talk it was time for us to head to the Wheelhouse Bar for their pub lunch. My sister and I were some of the first ones there and led to a table for two near the dance floor. Sis had the fish and chips, with a Coke. I was hoping for shepherd’s pie, but it wasn’t on the menu so instead I had bangers and mash with a Guinness (it was in a can, not on tap, but that’s not surprising). The Wheelhouse bar definitely filled up while we were eating and when we finished we noticed there was a line at the door of people waiting for tables. We maneuvered through the crowds at the tables outside the boutiques.

 

Soon after that we headed back to the Princess Theater for John Lawrence’s port talk on St. Petersburg. This was the fullest destination lecture we had been to, which was a little surprising given that most of us probably booked either independent tours or shore excursions through Princess. This port lecture was really interesting though because of the history of the city that John Lawrence included in his lecture. I knew some of the history, but not all of it, and attending the lecture definitely helped when we were in St. Petersburg.

 

After the lecture wrapped up we headed back to our stateroom. I read, while my sister went up to watch “Dirty Dancing” for Movies under the Stars. She came back pretty soon though, because it was too cold and windy. Instead we went to the art auction. There were quite a few people, probably because it was a sea day or because the wait staff was offering free champagne if you wanted it. Despite the amount of people, not many were biding. I think maybe once or twice there were multiple people interested in the same piece, but often no one bid at all. I’m not sure if that was from people marking that they were interested in certain pieces of art without finding out what the reserve price was, or the art director, Leif, bringing out extra pieces or art in hopes they would sell, or a combination of both. Because the art auction was so well attended we were off to the side and could not see the art very well, so a little after 4:00 we left and headed to the International Café to grab a bite to eat.

 

My sister and I were eating so close to our assigned dinner time because we had signed up to do the Stammtisch food and wine pairing at Vines at 5:00. We had tried to sign up for the first one on May 25th (our day in Aarhus) but it had already reached capacity so we decided to skip our first formal night and signed up for this Stammtisch instead. After our snack at International Café Sis and I changed into smart casual clothes and headed back to the Piazza to go to Vines.

 

 

 

The glasses were out at the table, but we were there early so we sat and talked to one of the Vines staff members until it was closer to 5:00. When they were ready for us we took seats at the table, along with six others (we were missing one who forgot to adjust her clock). The tapas (two lambchops, a mussel, “chicken sucker”, and a cheese sandwich) were brought out and Ryan, the Vines crewmember, started. This Stammtisch was focused on New World red wines. We tried three different ones.

 

 

 

 

Ryan gave us information about the wines and the process used to make them, as well as providing suggestions for what food would go best with which wine. He was really enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the wine. We discussed which ones we liked, and overall had a really good time. We decided to sign up for some of the following ones, as did a couple of the others who were at the Stammtisch (some of them had also done the first one that was sold out when we tried to sign up). The cost was listed as $15 pp, although with the gratuities that are automatically added it came out to $17.25 pp, but we thought the cost was worth it.

 

When the Stammtisch wrapped up the Piazza was starting to get crowded with people wanting to get a front row seat for the champagne waterfall that would take place in about an hour. My sister and I were feeling the wine a little so we decided to head up to the buffet to grab something more substantial to eat. We felt a little bad up in the buffet because we seemed underdressed compared to the wait staff who were also in their formal wear, especially because it was not very busy at Café Caribe. Tonight the buffet had what I considered one of the best desserts of the cruise at the buffet this evening-the chocolate truffle cake. I had gotten a piece and enjoyed it so much that Sis decided to get one too.

 

While we were at dinner we noticed the ship started tilting to one side. It was enough that it was noticeable and I think our glasses might have started to slide if not for the placemats. Even the servers at Café Caribe were looking around uncertainly. My sister and I were joking that it was everyone lining up on one side of the ship for the free champagne. That may have been part of the truth, but we found out later in the cruise that the champagne waterfall actually tipped over and was not completed (while it must have been a mess for the poor crew to clean up, that would have been something to see).

 

After dinner we were going to try to walk around the Promenade deck again, but it was closed off to passengers, perhaps because of whatever had caused the Emerald Princess to tilt to the side. So we took the stairs back up to deck 15 to try and walk around some. There was a couple people watching MUTS, and two crew members otherwise the deck was deserted. It also wasn’t as good to walk around, so we headed back inside. We stopped by the photo gallery to look at the pictures. We had only had our embarkation picture and the one in Oslo taken, and looked but didn’t see them. After that we decided to catch the 8:30 show of “I Got the Music” in the Princess Theater. We were there about 10 minutes early and the place was already full. We thought the theater was small the first time we were in it for John Lawrence’s Oslo talk, but this definitely proved it. We managed to find two seats at the end of a row, but there was not much open. The show was short, only about 30 minutes, and after that we headed back to our stateroom to start getting ready for bed.

 

 

Coming up… Tallinn

 

Hey Dnylla, looks like I was on the same cruise as you. I didn't notice the ship tilt because I was at the early show. Was surprised to find that the

champagne waterfall was over after the show and there were no champagne left. Only learned later that it tipped over and wished I was there to see it and take a few pictures with my camera lol

[cruise_alot123]

Thank you so much for all of the information. We are doing this crise in July. Would it be difficult to DIY in Oslo and Aarhus? Also, we were thinking of going to the steak restaurant. Which nite would you recommend.

 

We were on this cruise also and it's ez to DIY in Oslo and Aarhus. The ship docked by the castle in Oslo and when you get off the ship, use the ship's bow as your guide and it pointed directly to the pier 93 where you take the ferry to the viking museum. The walk to pier 93 is about 10 minutes and the nobel peace center also right around the corner by the pier.

 

After we've visited the Viking museum which I am not impressed as compared to the Vasa museum. We then took the bus # 30 right across the street opposite of the museum going toward the direction of Nydalen and got off at Olav Kyrresplass, from here we have to change to tram # 20 going toward to Galgebery and got off at Vigeland Sparken stop for the Vigeland Sculpture park. To get back to the ship from the Sculpture park, you take tram or bus # 12 toward the direction of Majorstuen and got off the stop call Aker Brygge for the ship. All the bus and tram rides took less than 10 minutes.

 

Aarhus is also ez DIY, follow the passengers to town and keep the canal water on your left as you walk toward the big department store call Magasin and everything is right here. If you want to go to the open air museum, then walk straight for another 1 km. It's a good 20 minutes walk from the ship into town then 10 minutes to the Magasin department store. From here to the open air museum is another 25 minutes. Also, there's a modern art museum with the big orange sky wall which is on the left of the open air museum.

Edited June 9, 2013 by cruise_alot123

[cruise_alot123]

Hey Dnylla, looks like I was on the same cruise as you. I didn't notice the ship tilt because I was at the early show. Was surprised to find that the

champagne waterfall was over after the show and there were no champagne left. Only learned later that it tipped over and wished I was there to see it and take a few pictures with my camera lol

 

I have the pictures after champagne waterfall crashed. Just need to locate them out of my 2000 photos and post them. I've even took pictures on all those sweeping the broken glasses.

[cruise_alot123]

[cruise_alot123]

The band plays on after the crash....

 

Edited June 9, 2013 by cruise_alot123

[dnylla]

I have been so enjoying your posts! I leave for the same cruise in 2 weeks and have loved reading about your experiences. Can't wait for the rest of your posts. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!

 

Thanks 123cwm. It’s really a great cruise.

 

Thank you so much for all of the information. We are doing this crise in July. Would it be difficult to DIY in Oslo and Aarhus? Also, we were thinking of going to the steak restaurant. Which nite would you recommend.

 

Glad to help bapaleg. We DIYed in Oslo and had no trouble at all. I don’t think Aarhus would be difficult either, although if you dock where we did you will have to take the shuttle over the the cruise center and walk from there, but it looked like a walkable town.

 

Cruise_alot123 posted some good tips to Aarhus for you in post #31

 

 

For Crown Grill, the steak house, I’d probably recommend the second sea day or a day with an earlier on board time like Helsinki or the 2nd day in St. Petersburg. That way you can attend both formal nights (the first sea day and Stockholm day were ours). If formal nights don’t matter to you, your day in Stockholm would also work

 

I didn't notice the ship tilt because I was at the early show. Was surprised to find that the

champagne waterfall was over after the show and there were no champagne left. Only learned later that it tipped over and wished I was there to see it and take a few pictures with my camera lol

that was my thinking too :D, I'll bet it doesn't happen very often. Later in the cruise, I think it was the 2nd sea day my sister was playing Bingo and later said the ship tilted some again, but I was in our cabin reading and didn't notice

 

The band plays on after the crash....

As a good band should :D, Thanks for posting the pictures cruise_alot123

Edited June 9, 2013 by dnylla

[dnylla]

Day 6 – Tallinn (May 28, 2013)

 

This morning after we were up and ready my sister and I headed down to the Da Vinci dining room for another sit down breakfast. We were there around 7:15 and were seated at another table for 8. Shortly after we sat down a second couple was seated. Then after the four of us had our food and were eating a third couple was escorted to our table. Neither of us were sure why the wait staff chose to do that, since there were several couple who arrived around the same time we did, and surely it would be easier to have everyone at the table in roughly the same place in their meal. We didn’t do anytime seating this cruise, but I hope that if people share tables during the anytime dining that they are seated around the same time, otherwise I think that the staggered seating would get old fast and be hard on the waiters.

 

The Emerald Princess docked while we were still at breakfast, around 7:45. We were almost through though, and after stopping by our stateroom we took the stairs down to deck four and we were off the ship around 8:15. We set off walking towards the Old Town. It is really easy to do, you pretty much walk past the little stores set up in the cruise ship area, go through the gate and just keep heading towards the spires.

 

 

 

If anyone prefers more concrete directions or wants to take the shuttle, John Lawrence did describe the two ways into town in his port lecture.

 

Once we reached Fat Margaret Tower, the entry gate into the lower town, my sister and I did the Tallinn walking tour in Rick Steves Scandinavia.

 

 

We headed up Pikk Jalg, past the KGB building that has now been turned into luxury apartments and the elaborate door of the Hall of the Black Heads Society before turning into the Town Hall Square, or Raekoja plats. It was early yet, so there were not many shops open, but it was peaceful and there were not many tour groups out yet either.

 

 

We meandered past Niguliste (St. Nicholas) Church before walking up Luhike jalg. At this point we were starting to encounter tour groups, although these were probably ones that chose to go to the top of Toompea and walk down to the Lower town.

 

 

We passed the Danish King’s Garden and Kiek in do Kok tower, before heading up Toompea Hill. There were several groups outside of the pink Parliament Building and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. We walked over to Tall Herman Tower and saw several buses, with more pulling up.

 

 

Walking back along the side of the Parliament building we decided to go into the the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, because we knew we would not be able to go into the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.

 

 

The Church was nice, with the Russian Orthodox style making an interesting contrast to the churches we had been into so far on the cruise. There was a service going on, so we tourists were behind the small fence that gated off the front of the church, although this may always be there.

[dnylla]

After looking around the Cathedral we continued on our walking tour of Toompea, going past the Toomkirk, or Dome Church, to Patkuli Viewpoint.

 

 

This offered us a great view of the lower town, and even the Emerald Princess in the background behind the Celebrity Constellation. Neither my sister nor I liked the second viewpoint that we went to, Kohtuotsa. It was more of the newer parts of Tallinn, and was also very busy with several shore excursions that were looking out over the city. We wandered back to the Town Hall, and decided we were ready for a snack. I had read about Maiasmokk Café, and we passed it earlier in our walk so that’s where we headed. (Sweet Tooth, the English translation of the café’s name, accurately describes how we ate on our day in Tallinn :D)

 

 

Maiasmokk Café sells Kalev chocolate, so my sister and I looked over their selection before we ordered. Kalev is an Estonian candy company that was founded in the early 1800s. They have a truck/store set up near the cruise ship docks, and some of the souvenir stores we went into also carry their candy, but we figured we’d just get it there. I think the prices everywhere were pretty comparable, maybe varying by 10-20 euro cents depending on the type. We ordered and I had an éclair plus a bottle of water, while Sis decided to try the Tallinn coffee offered by the café. It was coffee served with a liquor in one of the more elegant, glass cups some European restaurants and cafes use.

 

 

We sat at a table and enjoyed our break. I also took advantage of the café’s free Wi-Fi, the first time I’d been online since leaving the states. I had not planned to, but at breakfast one of the people we sat with said he had seen something about riots in Stockholm on the news and hoped they did not cancel our day in port. Since the only thing my sister and I had watched on the tv was John Lawrence’s port lectures and some parts of movies I decided to find out a little more about the riots. I won’t go into all the details, but found out they were primarily in suburb neighborhoods, and had happened a little earlier, so I didn’t think that they would affect us unless something changed. After finishing our treats we looked at the very small marzipan museum also in Maiasmokk Café and headed back out.

 

The medieval pharmacy was next on our agenda, because it was too early for it to be open when we first walked through the Town Hall Square. And it was still closed. This time we actually went into the building, and there was a sign it would be closed until June 3, so we just looked in the windows.

 

My sister and I headed off and found Katariina Kaik, or St. Catherine’s Passage.

 

 

We walked down this neat little passage, and stopped under the part with archways to go into the glass shop. There was one of the arts working on one of his pieces, so we watched for a little bit before looking at the different pieces they had for sale. There were some really pretty items that look like they may all have been made right there. I found a few I really liked, and decided on a gorgeous vase to put in my living room. After making my purchase, Sis and I headed the rest of the way through to the sweater wall.

 

 

As I said earlier, the sweaters in Tallinn were very similar to the ones in Oslo, with similar patterns and colors. They also appeared to be much better priced, I’d say the average price of the ones my sister and I saw were 60 to 75 euros (the cheapest we saw out of all the ports). After looking at some of the souvenir shops near Viru Gate, Sis and I decided we were ready to head back to the Emerald Princess for a late lunch (I was also worried about having a clumsy moment and breaking my vase)

Edited June 9, 2013 by dnylla

[cruise_alot123]

I tried to resize the pictures but could not get the size that I wanted for uploading. Wonder how you upload your large size pictures? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tony

[dnylla]

After setting my vase in the cabin we grabbed a bite from the Trident Grill and some ice cream from Scoops before walking back into town. I had read in a NY Times article about Tallinn that there were some towers of the lower city wall you could climb, which I thought sounded interesting. They were even noted on the map in Rick Steves Scandinavia, which gave us a direction to head. We walked up Piik Jalg again, stopping and looking in any shops that interested us.

 

 

We found the city wall and paid the 1.50 euro pp to climb the three towers there: the Nun’s Tower, the Sauna Tower, and the Golden Foot Tower.

 

 

We had seen the towers earlier during our walk from the first viewpoint, Patkuli, and didn’t even realize it. After climbing up the circular staircase to the city wall proper, Sis and I walked along it and went up each of the towers.

 

 

It was enjoyable, especially since we only encountered one other couple up there, otherwise it was just us and the birds. I’d recommend climbing the city wall, but beware the stairs were steep. Even the first staircase to get up to the city way, a modern one, was tight. The ones from the wall to the towers were old, uneven with tall steps, and dark, with just a rope to hold onto if you stumbled.. Light only came from the door and the windows in the tower, unless you had a flashlight or took a picture like I did.

 

 

If you have trouble making it up the first staircase or are uncomfortable walking on uneven ground you may want to skip this.

 

After we finished at the city wall Sis and I walked back down Pikk Street, stopping in the Imperial Porcelain St. Petersburg store near Fat Margaret Tower for my sister to get a teapot. If you’re interested, the prices were pretty comparable to what you’d pay for porcelain back home. The duty free store at the cruise terminal in St. Petersburg also had some pieces, either priced the same or less, but not as wide of selection.

 

We boarded the Emerald Princess again and headed off to the Da Vinci dining room for their afternoon tea. It had just started and there was a short line, but we were quickly seated at a table for two. The wait staff did a great job coming around bringing us tea, finger sandwiches, scones, pastries and more pastries (or as one of the waiters noted “more calories”). After that we lounged around on the ship, waving to the people onboard the Constellation as she passed and watching the Emerald Princess passengers meander back to the ship before the onboard time.

 

We changed for dinner and went back downstairs to Da Vinci. Neither of us had an appetizer, since we already ate quite a bit more than usual. I had the Old English lamb and barely soup, steak fajitas, and vodka lime sorbet. My sister had a salad, the fettuccini alfredo for her entrée, and the black forest cake for dessert. After changing back into our day clothes Sis and I headed up to the Promenade deck to walk a little. The stairs and Emerald deck of the walk were closed off, so instead of walking laps we walked modified horseshoe shaped laps instead.

 

To wrap up the evening we ended up in the Piazza, listening to Dixieland Date while browsing the future cruise information. Eventually we headed back to our stateroom, set the clock ahead another hour, and got ready for bed.

 

Next… St. Petersburg

[dnylla]

[dnylla]

I tried to resize the pictures but could not get the size that I wanted for uploading. Wonder how you upload your large size pictures? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tony

 

I'm not very good at this yet (this is my first review) so I'm not sure how to change the sizes. I was actually a little concerned mine were TOO big

 

I can tell you how I post my pictures, maybe that will help?

 

I use photobucket, and I did not change any of their default settings. I upload my pictures to their website, then I select the IMG code for the picture I want. This is the information that has [ img] and [ /img] at either end (minus the spaces). I copy the IMG code into my post and when I submit it the picture is in my post.

 

Sorry I don't have any suggestions on how to resize yours

[cruise_alot123]

I'm not very good at this yet (this is my first review) so I'm not sure how to change the sizes. I was actually a little concerned mine were TOO big

 

I can tell you how I post my pictures, maybe that will help?

 

I use photobucket, and I did not change any of their default settings. I upload my pictures to their website, then I select the IMG code for the picture I want. This is the information that has [ img] and [ /img] at either end (minus the spaces). I copy the IMG code into my post and when I submit it the picture is in my post.

 

Sorry I don't have any suggestions on how to resize yours

 

I see, my is from the Microsoft window photoshop and I have to email then resize since my photos are 400x larger then the max size allowed by the CC website. So I have to send my photos first then resize and still did not work. Maybe I'll try Flickr next time.

Edited June 10, 2013 by cruise_alot123

[jdblakeslee]

Just a big "thank you" for posting your trip details and pictures. We leave in a little over a month and I've never felt so unprepared for a cruise in my life! I've been feverishly working on setting up our "schedule" and your excellent notes are providing a great platform.

 

Jennifer

[dnylla]

Just a big "thank you" for posting your trip details and pictures. We leave in a little over a month and I've never felt so unprepared for a cruise in my life! I've been feverishly working on setting up our "schedule" and your excellent notes are providing a great platform.

 

Jennifer

 

glad to be of help Jennifer. I did the same as you, researching on the forums to get some ideas so I'm just paying it forward :) Enjoy your cruise!

Edited June 10, 2013 by dnylla

[dnylla]

Day 7 – St. Petersburg (May 29, 2013)

 

Our first day in St. Petersburg started off with a bang! Well, actually several bangs, right before my alarm was set to go off. We had put a card out for room service the night before, selecting the earliest time frame (6:30-7:00am). I then set my little travel alarm for 6:10 so that we would have time to at least get up and dressed before the breakfast was delivered. But instead I found myself turning on a light and stumbling to the door while my sister buried under the covers of her bed. I double checked the time on my alarm clock with the time on the phone and it was correct, I didn’t adjust it incorrectly the night before. We decided that there must have been a lot of people requesting room service today and they were trying to get all of the room service delivered asap. As we ate on the balcony we watched the Emerald Princess arrive and make a U-turn in the port area before docking at Terminal 4, berth 1 at 6:45. The passengers were cleared to go ashore just before 7:10.

 

We’ll probably be in the minority of posters here, but my sister and I actually decided to just do some of the shore excursions offered by Princess. We had booked the cruise several months ago and did consider booking an independent tour instead. I looked into several of the different tour companies that have been recommended on the board. I discovered though that there were some things that we were interested doing that the standard small group independent tour itineraries did not do (go inside Peterhof palace for example, not just the gardens). My sister really could have cared less about going to the Hermitage (I took her to the Louvre once, she wasn’t very impressed) so we figured skipping that would decrease the appeal of an independent tour itinerary we created for others and the quotes for a tour for just the two of us was more money than we were willing to pay. (plus not going to the Hermitage just gives me an excuse to go back :D) Many of the complaints about ship shore excursions seemed to deal with the Hermitage, which we weren’t going to, and Princess had shore excursions that interested us, so we decided that would be the best option. I did not notice anything from Princess about people booked on independent tours being told they were supposed to wait until after the Princess tours had disembarked, but that may have been a letter or notice that we did not receive.

 

We had received the landing card the previous night with the turn-down service, and had them filled out and ready to go when we headed down to the Explorer’s Lounge for our meeting time. Because we had scheduled multiple shore excursions we took all of our tickets for the day with us, just in case we did not have time to get back on the ship.

 

Our meeting time for the city drive was supposed to be at 7:30, but after we got there Princess had us sit and wait awhile because they said there were long lines at immigration (see, it’s not just people on independent tours they want to wait on-board). The City Drive, our first shore excursion, was supposed to start at 8, but it was 8:10 before we were allowed to disembark. My sister and I were starting to get a little concerned, because we had three shore excursions booked and while we had time in between them, to long of a delay would eat into that. Both of us would have preferred to go and stand in line, because at least then you could tell the line was moving, but I can see why they chose to have us wait on board, giving those who were older or less able to stand more comfort.

 

We passed through immigration, receiving our first Russian stamps and half of the landing card before heading out to the area where the buses were parked. Our bus left at approximately 8:40 and we headed into St. Petersburg. Galina was our tour guide for this shore excursion and she started to tell us about the city and sites we would see. Our first stop was along the river for a panoramic view of the Winter Palace and the Rostral Columns.

 

 

After everyone was back on the bus Vladimir, our driver, went to shut the doors. The back door of the bus didn’t close and then after he messed with it for a while Galina announced “our dear bus is dead”. Not exactly the thing one wants to hear early in the tour. Vladimir went under the bus and after messing around while saying some “magical Russian words” that Galina refused to translate the bus roared to life (okay, not quite roared, but that sounds better than it started working) and we were off. We passed Peter’s cabin before arriving at our second photo stop of the day, the Cruiser Aurora.

 

 

There were some small souvenir stalls here, although they were just starting to get set up. We headed back on the bus and it started with no problems. We drove by the Peter and Paul Fortress as well as the Lenin statue outside the Finland railroad station. Along the way we started to experience some of the St. Petersburg traffic I’d read about, although it only got worse as the day went on.

 

 

We saw additional sights, from the old KGB building to Peter’s summer palace and Michael’s palace before we arrived at the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood.

 

 

It was Wednesday, the day the church is closed, so instead our group had time to walk around the church and shop at the different stands in the souvenir market. My sister and I also tried to get a picture of us with the onion domes behind, but the people who kindly took the pictures for us kept taking more of our lower bodies and cutting off the top of the church so we gave up.

 

After going back on the bus we were off, going down Nevsky Prospekt which was lined with many police officers in preparation for a race that would be closing the street at noon (and causing traffic to get progressively worse).

 

 

After another stop at St. Isaac’s Cathedral we headed back to the dock, passing the Astoria Hotel, where Hitler planned to celebrate his defeat of Russia, and the signs warning pedestrians about the dangerous side of the street during airstrikes. Traffic was starting to get worse, but we made it back to the Emerald Princess at 12:15 (we were scheduled to be back at 11:30). Our next shore excursion, the River and Canal cruise, did not meet until 2:00 so we went back through immigration, where they took the other half of our landing cards and gave us a second stamp in our passports.

Edited June 10, 2013 by dnylla

[dnylla]

For lunch we grabbed a sandwich and sweet from the International Café. With so many people of the ship the Piazza was empty. We went back to our cabin for a little while, then left to make sure we would have plenty of time to make it back through immigration if there was a line again. We made it through quickly this time and looked at the shops in the cruise terminal before heading off to find our bus for the Canal and River cruise. For Princess shore excursions in St. Petersburg only the first tour of the day meets on the ship, the others all met at the bus area.

 

We were on bus blue 1, with Svetlana as our guide. The tour was listed as meeting at 2:00 but by 1:45 our bus was full so we headed out. St. Petersburg had recently celebrated its 310th birthday, and along the way we saw signs celebrating.

 

 

Traffic was definitely starting to get worse, especially compared to how it was that morning. We didn’t arrive at the location where we boarded the canal boat until almost 3:40.

 

We sat outside for the canal cruise. Unlike the lake cruise in Schwerin, where everyone sat inside, with the sun shining and the nice day the outside seats were all taken claimed. Like in Copenhagen some of the bridges here were quite low.

 

 

The canal cruise was interesting. It gave us a different perspective of St. Petersburg, allowing us to see locations that we had seen earlier from a new angle and see new buildings as well.

 

 

We passed the point where we had our first photo stop on the city drive across from the Winter Palace, and the Peter and Paul fortress.

 

[dnylla]

Champagne was included in our shore excursion. I’m not really a fan of champagne, and while I’m sure it was not an expensive type, I thought it wasn’t too bad. Svetlana talked on the ship’s microphone, telling us what we were passing. I was glad that we had attended John Lawrence’s port talk because while we could hear and understand Svetlana with no problem, with his background on the city we did not always have to pay as much attention to her and still be able to follow the conversation. This was especially true when we picked up a Russian boy. Early on in the cruise he stood on one of the bridges we went over and waved. Then he ran head to the next bridge and waved again.

 

 

We realized this on the second or third time and started waving back. He followed us the rest of the way, going from bridge to bridge, which was entertaining. At one of the longer distances between bridges he was even running, and of course we applauded his effort when he made it to the next bridge.

 

 

It probably really wasn’t that far, and since he was a local I’m sure he knew the route and had done it before. Especially since several people offered him cash after we disembarked

 

After the canal cruise we were supposed to walk to the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood. Svetlana had handed out audio systems so she could talk and we could all hear her. But because we been delayed due to the traffic the bus picked us up and took us to the church.

 

 

We only had fifteen minutes there this time, to the dismay of some people on board, who might not have been there yet. After walking through the souvenir stands my sister and I headed to the bus, where surprisingly everyone was on time. We expected someone to be inconsiderate and take as long as they wanted but after just 20 minutes at the church we were pulling away at 5:35.

 

The traffic was even worse on the way back to the Emerald Princess. Even Svetlana commented on it, because of how they had closed the roads for the race earlier in the day. I’m sure the extra cruise ship passengers did not help. There was a ship, the CMV Discovery, already in port when we arrived, and the Norwegian Star pulled in around 7:30. By the time we left for our city drive one Costa Ship was there and an Ibero ship was docked next to the Emerald Princess when we returned from the city drive. (plus a second Costa ship and I think another Ibero arrived in port our second day in St. Petersburg, there were seven total just where the Emerald Princess was docked) That’s a lot of buses and vans to add to city traffic.

 

My sister and I were starting to get a little nervous about all the traffic. We still had the Russian ballet shore excursion to attend. If there was no traffic or schedule issues we were supposed to have been back at the Emerald Princess at 5:30, with the ballet scheduled to meet at 7:00. We were back at the cruise terminal at 6:30. Since we already had our ballet shore excursion tickets we just used the restrooms at the cruise terminal and headed back to the buses. Sis and I had also worn slightly dressier clothes that day, just in case this happened. We carried granola bars with us for snacks and they were our dinner this day.

 

We were on the pink 1 bus, and we left at 6:40, 20 minutes early, because of traffic. Our guide Kate, short for Ekaterina, passed out the tickets. We found out we were seeing “Swan Lake” at the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory. As the bus inched its way through traffic Kate told us her experiences with modern life in St. Petersburg, figuring that we had been listening to historical information all day. We arrived at the theatre at 7:55. The show was originally scheduled to start at 8, but was pushed back to 8:15 because of the traffic.

 

We had good seats, in the stalls near the center of the row. They were seats that I probably would have picked were I buying theatre tickets. The theatre was hot though, I think because it was a warm sunny day and there were lots of people inside. The Princess shore excursion had champagne during the first interval, and I was glad to see there was bottled water which I took instead. As for the ballet, it was okay. I figured it would be a Tchaikovsky ballet of some sort, given he had lived in St. Petersburg. I had already seen ‘Swan Lake’ twice before this trip, so I was hoping for ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, which I haven’t seen yet. Sis was hoping for “The Nutcracker’, because she likes it and had bought a matryoshka with scenes from The Nutcracker on the cruise. I had read that it was not likely to be one of the highly skilled ballet corps this time of year, and that was apparent. I’m not a ballet connoisseur but I’ve been to some, including touring Russian companies. Sis danced ballet for several years, even spending some of those years in toe shoes. The girl who did the role of Odette/Odile was very good, easily the best one onstage. The rest of the performers tried but were not always in sync, sometimes one would fall a little behind.

 

The ballet ended with everyone living happily ever after and we all headed back out to the buses. Traffic was finally getting better and the trip back to the ship did not take as long. However, once we arrived we had to wait in the longest line of the day to go back through immigration. One of the workers had those of us opening our passports to the last page if we already had our two stamps and that helped it speed up, but it was 11:30 by the time we had climbed the stairs up to our room, although the sun was still just setting.

 

 

Shore excursion reviews: The city drive was interesting and we felt like we got to see a lot of the city. Fortunately it was earlier in the day before the traffic started getting too bad. The bus dying was unexpected, but once Vladimir got it going we did not seem to have any more trouble. For anyone interested in shopping there were the souvenir stands near the Aurora and the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood (which had more options). This was our second favorite shore excursion this day.

 

The river and canal cruise was our favorite shore excursion. Since we had seen many of the sights already on the city drive I did not feel like we were missing anything. The walk from where we got off the boat to the church would have been nice to do, but given the time spent in traffic I can see why we didn’t. I was not too concerned when we were given less time at the Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood, since we had been there earlier in the day. But others seemed disappointed.

 

The ballet was my sister and my least favorite shore excursion this day. Part of it was because we were already tired and irritated from having to spend so much time in traffic, stressing whether we would make it or not. Like I mentioned, we were debating if we even wanted to go to it. Other factors were the ballet we saw, which I had seen twice before and Sis wasn’t very excited about and the lateness of the night, after skipping dinner. In hindsight we should have gone to the shore excursion desk earlier in the cruise and asked what ballet we were going to see. We probably would have been fine going to dinner and then the folkloric show onboard instead. But I’d suggest to anyone researching for your cruise in the future, don’t just our experience as the determining factor if you go to the ballet or not. I’d evaluate if you would prefer to have a relaxing evening on ship or if you don’t mind being back later in the evening. Also, if you go with the expectation that the performers may not all be excellent (they do make a real effort though) or are less familiar with ballet then we are you may enjoy it more. It is a good opportunity to see a classic ballet in Russia, especially if it is one you have not seen before.

 

 

Up next… day 2 in St. Petersburg

[dnylla]

[dnylla]

Day 8 – St. Petersburg (May 30, 2013)

 

After our early wake up the day before we decided not to do room service this day. Instead we headed up to Café Caribe. It was the most crowded we had seen it so far, but we still found seats and it emptied out as we ate.

 

Our shore excursion today was the two palaces – Tsarskoe Selo or Catherine’s Palace and Peterhof. We were supposed to meet at the Wheelhouse bar at 7:15, but we arrived early. We were give our purple 1 stickers and the bus left at 7:20. Our tour guide was Galina, who was the guide on our city tour the day before. Sis and I were glad, although all the guides were good we had thought she was the best. We headed into St. Petersburg, then down Moscow Prospekt out into the countryside. Galina passed out the headsets so we could hear here along the way. We arrived at Tsarskoe Selo around 8:20 and had to wait until they opened the gate. The bands that were playing near where the buses parked and in front of the palace were still setting up, although they started soon when they saw us.

 

 

We were the first group in the palace, and after putting on our ‘palace shoes’ to protect the floors Galina led us into the rooms. The rooms were really impressive, especially the Great Hall.

 

 

Just imagine what it must have looked like at night, lit by candles with the dancers twirling during a ball or masquerade. The Amber Room, the one room where pictures were not allowed, was interesting but I did not think it was quite as striking as it looks in pictures. After we finished in the rooms we took off the palace shoes and came out near where we had entered. Galina told us the time to meet to head out into the gardens and we were free to browse the shops or use the restrooms. There were more groups here now, probably because it was starting to get later in the day. We met at 9:30 and headed into the gardens where we walked around.

 

 

The gardens were nice, and were not very crowded. The weather was cooperating as well. Galina had said there was a chance for rain, but there was no sign of it yet.

 

 

Along the water there were some mosquitos, but they were not too bad at first. We were down by the Hermitage pavilion when the mosquitoes started to become quite bothersome so we headed back up to the palace. Galina pointed where some of the gold had been restored on the exterior of the palace before we left the garden.

 

 

We had some free time to look at the souvenir stands and a couple shops near the palace before we headed off to lunch, which was included in the shore excursion. The lunch was held in some of the former servant’s quarters of Catherine’s Palace. We found the tables labeled ‘1’ and joined the other groups for lunch. Bottled water as well as champagne and a shot of vodka were provided. Our table had a slight issue at first, as a couple forgot or did not know about the BMW trick to figure out what plates/glasses are yours, but we got it figured out. The first course was salad with rolls and salmon caviar for those who wanted to try it. I’m not a real fan of seafood, but figured it was included in the shore excursion price, even if it’s not the fancy stuff, and so I might as well try it. It was too salty and fish taste-y for me. The entrée was chicken in sauce with vegetables, followed by ice cream for dessert. Probably not traditionally Russian, but as with the lunch in Schwerin, the food was good. My one complaint was the salad had a bit too much dressing for me, but that’s subjective. While we were eating a group playing traditional Russian folk music, plus at least one opera song came in and entertained us (with a cd available for purchase of course)

Edited June 10, 2013 by dnylla

[dnylla]

After lunch we walked back to the bus to drive over to Peterhof. Some of the roads were a little bumpy, I had trouble making out my notes, but it was a nice scenic drive. We arrived around 1:15 or 1:20 and there were a lot of buses in the parking lot. Galina told us what time to meet back at the bus, in case anyone got separated, then led us to the palace. We went into the gardens first.

 

 

There were groups of people, but overall it was not too crowded. We saw the main fountain first before heading into the east garden. Galina showed us the trick fountains and some of the others that were there.

 

 

 

Then we headed back up to go into Peterhof palace and put on another pair of palaces shoes. There was not really a line when we entered the palace, although we were stuck behind a Costa group that moved slowly. It was hot in the palace, so they wanted anyone going through to check their coats in addition to any large bags. They had the windows open inside though, and so the breeze off the Gulf of Finland was refreshing. Photographs were not allowed inside Peterhof palace. It actually makes sense, because when pictures are allowed but no flash someone inevitably forgets to turn off their flash or thinks the rule does not apply to them, so better just not to allow any. It was interesting to see both palaces in the same day. There were some similarities, but also differences between them.

 

After we removed our palace shoes and left the palace we had a little free time to allow anyone who had checked their coats to retrieve them. Since Sis and I had left ours on the bus (we didn’t need them at all today it was so warm) we enjoyed the view of the main fountain before meeting up with the rest of the group.

 

 

As we left the palace grounds there was a line out the door for people who wanted to go inside the palace, so we were glad we had already been through. On the way Galina commented how lucky we were to have such nice weather while we were in St. Petersburg, warm and sunny both days, instead of the cooler and overcast and rainy that is apparently their normal weather.

 

Our bus left the palace around 3:40 and we were back to the ship at 4:45/4:50ish. There were several of the independent tours also dropping groups off when we arrived. There was no real wait for immigration so my sister and I were through in no time. We decided to check out the duty free store before going to the Emerald Princess. We found some Russian chocolates that were not offered in the boutiques onboard. The store’s prices were listed as Euros, but we were able to spend our rubles. I think they could also convert the prices to USD. We took the stairs up to our stateroom and changed, watching people arrive from our balcony. I think we were some of the earlier ones back because it started to get busier.

 

We got ready for dinner and headed down to Da Vinci. It was Italian night and smelled fantastic when we walked into the dining room. They were making a special garlic and tomato pasta in the room that was not on the menu. I had that for my appetizer, chilled Bellini soup, chicken with ham slices and potatoes and vegetables (I didn’t write down the Italian name), with gelato for desert. My sister didn’t have an appetizer, had the chilled Bellini soup, sea scallops and shrimp with mashed potatoes for her entrée, and the “anytime” crème brulee.

 

After dinner we went up to deck 15 to listen to John Lawrence’s talk about the sights we passed as we left St. Petersburg. As he talked we saw the former top secret naval base where Russia’s Baltic fleet used to be stationed (apparently it was proposed as the cruise ship port for St. Petersburg in the 90s)

 

 

We also saw the project Russia built to close off the harbor (channel? I'm not sure what the proper term for this body of water is) to prevent St. Petersburg from flooding. I did not know until this trip that the Baltic does not really have tides, and when the researchers were looking into the flooding they discovered it was due to changes in barometric pressure.

 

 

When John Lawrence signed off we headed back inside. We still had plenty of rubles left, so Sis and I decided we’d sell them back using the currency exchange machine in the Piazza. The rate wasn’t the best and there was a 4.50 fee charged, but out of all the currencies the rubles would have been the most difficult to sell back when we returned to the states. Then we headed up to our room, where sis watched Hotel Transylvania while I read before getting ready to go to bed.

 

Shore excursion review: This was hands down our favorite shore excursion on the trip and in St. Petersburg. We really liked what we went to see, and either through good timing or luck or a combination of both there were never any huge crowds to deal with or try to move through. Galina was an excellent guide.

 

In general we were pleased with the Princess shore excursions we took in St. Petersburg, so if you are reading this report and are either considering booking a ship shore excursion because it interests you or because it is getting to be too late to book a private one, don’t be too concerned (although we did not do the Hermitage, which may change someone’s experience). The few issues we had with our shore excursion Princess really could not control. The first morning we had to wait for Russian immigration. They could have let us go down and stand in line, but I understand why they kept us onboard. Princess also could not do anything about the traffic, which from the comments of our guides was worse than usual because of the run (the second one we encountered on the cruise and probably the one that impacted us the most). I even heard from one person on an independent tour that the Hermitage was crazy when they were there and the traffic forced them to cut their time short, although the independent tours may have been a bit more flexible in their timing and locations they visited. Regarding the ballet, yes we should have asked what the ballet was beforehand. But Princess and the other cruise lines do not control the ballet season and the fact the dancers might not be the top of the line was something we knew before going. Like I said, overall we were pleased with what we did in St. Petersburg through Princess, and that’s the goal we all have when planning a cruise.

 

 

 

Coming up… Helsinki

Edited June 10, 2013 by dnylla