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Brilliance Cruise to Scandinavia and Russia, planning, cruising and LOT of photos

Kevin's girl

By Kevin's girl,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Really enjoying your review and love your Bears gnome. Thanks for taking the time to share your photos and travel experience.

 

 

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Bears are on FOX at 12:00 today, I will need to write fast so that I don't miss out. That is unless Cutler has a bad day. If that happens I will write through the game and just peak at the carnage. I'm glad you are enjoying the review.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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I am really enjoying your review and can't wait for more. We sailed Brilliance on our first cruise and loved it so much. I love reading about ports we have not been to yet.

More coming up in just minutes. As I mentioned above, I'm trying out some new features and will probably add and delete a few pics as I test out these features.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Day six: Saint Petersburg, Russia

This was the Grand Daddy of our Bucket List, a place we had always wanted to go and thought it impossible to ever get to. I wanted no regrets once we got home. No should have, would have or could haves about this port. I researched the port to death, read all of the reviews I could find and decided to book a private tour for both days. I decided to book with TJ Travel and was nothing but happy with that decision from the moment I sent the request to the last minutes of our tour. TJ was wonderful. The pricing for the tour depends on which tour you book and how many people are joining the tour. The more people the lower the price and they also gave Cruise Critic groups a discount.

 

Planning this port was just plain fun for me. I did get Russian Rubles ahead of time for a less stressful means of shopping and eating. Meals were not included in our tour pricing as there were only the two of us and we had greater freedom to stop where pleased for meals and spend what we wanted to eat. I also did not want to have our driver have to stop at an ATM for me to get cash, although he would have. I had also read that credit cards were easily accepted in most stores but I wanted the ability to make purchases at any street stalls I wanted.

 

We chose the Standard Two Day Private tour. The cost was $560 per person. This included all blanket visa, transportation, photo permits and entrance fees. It also included our driver and tour guide for two days, round trip metro ride, and a ride on the hydrofoil to the Peterhof Palace. The two days were well worth every penny I paid. We had an amazing two days thanks to TJ Travel.

 

Starting the first of our days in Russia, we got up early and had a quick bite to eat in the Diamond lounge. I have forgotten to mention that this became or normal place for breakfast. We would first grab my fresh squeezed OJ from the Windjammer – included in my drink package and then head off to the Diamond Lounge for the rest of our breakfast.

Sorry, I digress; we were off the ship and through immigration in no time. Not a single problem. We each provided our passport and the paperwork provided by TJ and was happily on our way. We were met by our guide Irina and were then taken out to our mini van where we met our driver Gennady. The two of them made a perfect team.

As the tour started I asked questions to get a feel for the ground rules of the tour and to get a better idea of exactly what to expect from our day. Irina seemed a bit nervous with it just being the two of us. She explained the places we would see that first day and asked if there was anything else we wanted to know about. I mentioned the WWII memorial Kevin had seen on the internet. She was unsure of what this could have been. Gennady then asked in Russian what it was that we were asking about. She explained and he basically said the same. Irina did add that if we could get anymore info on the memorial she may be able to add it at possibly additional cost. I assume that would be entrance fee if there were to be any, but we had no other information on the site so I figured mute point. Most important thing was we were here and on our way to the Hermitage.

 

We did make several stops along the way to the Hermitage.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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This was something unexpected for us. As I said before I thought I had researched every must see in this city, but I missed this. The Sphinxes can be found at the University embankment in front of the Academy of Arts. They were purchased by the Academy in 1830 and arrived in Saint Petersburg in 1832.

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theOSU1

theOSU1

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Terri,

 

Love your review! Staying next May at the same hotel and wondering how you got from Heathrow to the hotel. (??) Only at the hotel for one night and then off to Southampton for a cruise, but gathering info on what should be a priority on foot around the hotel for the day in London? Any info would be great...Brett of Florida

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Terri,

what a wonderful review. Please, please continue.

tnanks,

irina

Thanks Irina, I won't stop until I am completely finished with the entire three week trip. Just please be patient with me. Between work, family and my BIL's recent diagnosis of cancer, I get a bit distracted.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Terri,

 

Love your review! Staying next May at the same hotel and wondering how you got from Heathrow to the hotel. (??) Only at the hotel for one night and then off to Southampton for a cruise, but gathering info on what should be a priority on foot around the hotel for the day in London? Any info would be great...Brett of Florida

Hello Brett from Florida. I'm glad you are enjoying the review. You are going to love the hotel. It is really a great place to stay. It's clean, modern and the location is perfect. We had a car from BA Transfer pick us up at the airport and drive us to the hotel. We actually used them for all of our transfers. The price was the lowest of all that were available. They were OK, not great but not horrible. I will pay a bit more when we return next May. We will be on the Explorer just after you. There is quite a bit of discussion on the British Isles/Western Europe page. Here is a link for more information

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=233

 

As far as on foot very close to the hotel is the London Eye, Parliament House with Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Super easy.

 

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This pic was taken from our hotel room window. You get to the Eye by turning right at the end of the bridge closest to the hotel, Big Ben is right there as you can see and just behind Parliament House you can see the top of Westminster Abbey.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Sorry to hear about your BIL. My thoughts and prayers are with him. I am a five year cancer survivor. Please support him and his wife with positive thoughts!:)

Stevie

Thanks Stevie. Positive thoughts are the best medicine. We have come to know far too much about cancer. Our oldest son in thankfully an 11 year cancer survivor this month and next month will mark the one year anniversary of loosing my wonderful Mother in Law to lung cancer. We are happy that my BIL has a treatable form and with prayers and positive thoughts we will get him healthy again soon.

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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Back to Day six In Saint Petersburg:

On to The Hermitage. We did wait for just a few minutes while Irina got our tickets and then we went inside. What a beautiful place.

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The State (Jordan, or Ambassadors’) Staircase

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We learned quickly while here in the staircase to look up in all of the rooms. The ceilings were just beautiful.

 

In The Hall of Peter The Great

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Beautiful inlaid floors

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Kevin's girl

Kevin's girl

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The Majolica Hall

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The Raphael Loggias

Information from the Hermitage website:

This splendid gallery is a reproduction of Raphael's celebrated Loggias, erected in the Vatican Palace and painted by Raphael and his pupils. The Hermitage copy of the Vatican frescoes was produced in tempera by a group of artists under Cristopher Unterberger.

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Up in the ceilings:

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seaofwonder

seaofwonder

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I wish we had more time to explore this museum. Like the Louvre, you could spend all day here. Unlike the Louvre, the crowds are not as oppressive. The Vatican is like the Louvre. Too many people. Russia is great....not too many tourists :)

 

Moscow is on my bucket list, but I may have to add a return to St. Pete.

 

 

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