Review: 12N Scandinavia & Russia - Celebrity Silhouette 28/May/2015

[jimbri]

Wonderful review and photos. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[prish]

Hi Nick, lovely pictures and write-up, thanks! Yes, it was a great itinerary, especially the three overnights, this was the main reason we booked this sailing, though as you say we need a vacation after this port-intensive cruise. Great meeting you guys, keep it coming, thanks again...:)

[cruisedude29]

Great review so far. I love your pictures, what kind of camera do you have. Again thanks for the great review. Looking forward to more. :)

 

Sent from my DROIDX using Forums mobile app

[nekzaadvakil]

Hi Geeta, thank you. Can't wait to cruise again, definitely won't be easy finding such an awesome itinerary. 7 countries in 1 cruise! Pretty awesome.

 

Hey cruisedude, thanks for the compliment, can you believe that all pictures were taken with my iPhone 5S camera. Bought a GoPro but couldn't get it delivered to India on time. The pictures coming up are even better.

[nekzaadvakil]

We were back on the ship after a good day in Stockholm, and decided to grab some dinner at the Oceanview Café. Up until this cruise, we nearly always had most of our meals at the Oceanview café since (we thought) there was always a better choice of vegetarian food. DW turned vegetarian a long time back, while I love my meat. We also found it quicker than the 1.5 – 2.0 hour sit down dining. However thanks to this fabulous staff (Our Maitre’D ERDY) we enjoyed specially cooked meals at the MDR nearly every alternate day (more on this later)

 

The Oceanview café is one of my favourite places to eat. But then I love junk food like Pizzas as well as the wide variety of salads, pastas, continental dishes, Fish & Chips, Mexican, Chinese and Indian counters. While the rest of the food pretty much stays the same, the Chinese and Indian counters have something new every meal and is more than enough to satisfy my appetite. 4 options of pizzas (the pepporoni one is the best) is also amazing. Something that celebrity does better than Royal Caribbean is the option of drinks that they have on offer. I absolutely love the fruit punch and drink only that on my cruise. If I go for a blood test during any of my Celebrity cruises, they will definitely find a few specks of blood in my fruit punch stream. They also have iced tea, apple juice, an orange mix drink, lemonade amongst other drinks and they are all FREE.

 

Since the Casino was shut we hung around the Martini Bar where the live music by the band TOP NOTCH was absolutely excellent. They were one of the best bands we’ve had on cruises and were always dishing out excellent music. We called it a night early so that we would get up early and explore Stockholm in detail the next day. We always LOVE coming back to our stateroom. Our stateroom attendants (Lucille and Jonel) were excellent. They were ninja attendants since we NEVER saw them go into our room, yet somehow everytime we returned, our stateroom was spotlessly clean.

 

 

 

We also love the late sunsets, usually around 9:30-10:00 PM.

 

 

 

29th MAY 2015

 

We woke up early and grabbed a quick breakfast at the Oceanview café. I absolutely love the breakfast here and eat the EXACT same breakfast everyday. Scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, cheddar cheese, more cream cheese, roasted potatoes, chocolate croissant and of course a glass or two of fruit punch. Even my family got bored of seeing me eat the same thing everyday since there was so much more to eat and so many more options. Breakfast often became the main meal of the day since we were nearly never on the ship for lunch.

 

 

There was a chef in the atrium showcasing his skills on how to make fruit puppets and his carving skills. Good stuff.

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

We started by walking along the blue line to the bus stop, and caught the bus to the Vasa museum. The walk from the bus stop to the vasa museum was amazing. Beautiful day, clear blue skies and 10-12 degrees. The area around the vasa Museum is awesome. We reached at around 9:30 am and there was already a long line for ticket purchases. The counter opened at 10:00am sharp and we were inside in less than 10 minutes. The museum is really nice. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who plans to visit, so I am restricting the number of photos. Definitely a must visit when in Stockholm. Amazed to see how our ancestors built this ship without the use of the modern technology that we have today to do everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

After the museum, we took a tram from the vasa museum towards the Abba Museum and Grona Lund, from where we got onto a boat ride which took us across the canal towards Gamla Stan. It was an excellent ride, where we got a nice view of the Stockholm city scape. From there, DW and I continued to walk in the narrow streets, the grand palace, the gardens and grabbed some local food and shopped as well. The two of us love walking and getting a real feel of the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

After a long stroll, some shopping and falling completed in love with this city, we decided to head back to our ship. We had read that the sailing in and sail-out was very good. It was!

 

 

 

Sail away

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

Day 2 on the cruise is the 1st formal night. We are used to having formal nights on the days we're cruising, however since this 12N cruise has only 2 days at sea, the first of which is after 6 days, this becomes our first formal night.

 

A lot of people dress up for formal night and it adds to the overall cruising atmosphere. We dress up and head to the MDR. We meet our fabulous team of Jaime, Yvonne and Adrian who made our dining experience so much better each night.

 

Our Maitre'D Erdy comes and meets with us and sees that apart from me, the others don't really enjoy the vegetarian continental dishes. Here's where he made all the difference. He asked us what Indian dishes (veg and non veg) the rest of us would like and see to it that one of the Indian chefs on board would make it every night we decided to dine in the MDR. We only had to inform him a day in advance. There after we dined in the MDR every alternate day and the rest of the group were really happy with the Indian dishes. They were even better than some of the stuff we got back home. I really liked this option since I got to try all the usual food the MDR served up.

 

 

 

 

The desserts in the MDR were just outstanding! While the Oceanview cafe buffet has a larger variety, the quality of the MDR desserts (as well as the presentation) was amazing.

 

However that never stopped us from checking out the desserts elsewhere on the ship!

 

 

 

Foodies are REALLY spoilt for choice on this awesome cruise line!

[nekzaadvakil]

We were also lucky to land a really amazing table by the window. Since we had a late seating (8:30 PM) and the sunsets were around 9:30-10:00 PM, we had some of the most amazing views right outside our window near our table!

 

 

 

 

As well as some amazing views from the balcony of the room. DW thought that the balcony was a waste on this cruise since she hardly got to sit out due to the cold. But I completely loved it and the views made it all the more special.

 

[nekzaadvakil]

Next port of call on day 3 of our cruise was Helsinki, Finland. My inlaws and their friends decided to take the HOHO bus from outside the cruise while DW and I decided to explore on our own. So we walked out of the cruise port to the tram station. This was a short 5 minute walk in great weather - 12 degrees. I was in shorts and a sweater and really enjoyed this cold climate. At the tram stop we bought a €8 day pass which we could use on the public transport. We didn't have to wait too long for the tram (I think it was #9) and it took us to the city centre.

 

Our first stop was the Helsinki Cathedral and the Market Square. We thought this was central and a great place to start especially if you like walking. We loved the Helsinki Cathedral from both outside as well as the inside. Simple but very classy.

 

One of the pictures looks like a god going to war agains the sun!

 

 

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

From the Helsinki cathedral we walked to the Market Square at the waterfront where there were numerous little local shops and stalls selling all sorts of stuff and local food as well.

 

 

 

 

Here we chatting with a few locals, bought some souvenirs and really enjoyed walking in the square. We had an amazing conversation with one of the stall owners. I mentioned that his city was really beautiful, and he said 'sir, our planet is beautiful'. People just don't talk like that anymore. What an amazing person and what a nice thing to say. I will always remember Helsinki fondly for this simple statement he made.

 

We then walked towards Uspenski Cathedral which also looked very picturesque from outside. Easily one of the best looking cathedrals. The perfect clear day made this city look even better, than what it looks in the pictures.

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

We then walked back towards the Market square to catch a boat to the island of Suomenlinna. We spent around a couple of hours there, old sleepy town. There seemed to be more locals there than tourists who were out for a picnic or to enjoy their day out with their families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

A quick boat ride back to Market square and we continued walking past the stalls towards Esplanadi which we loved. One can easily spend 1-2 hours here with little cafes, shops on either side and amazing statues and locals playing music. In hindsight we wished we had spent a little less time in Suomenlinna and more time here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

We then took a tram to the last place we wanted to visit, the Temppeliaukion church or the rock church. Unfortunately we lost complete track of time and by the time we reached there they had just shut for the late afternoon. They would reopen again in an hour, but there was no way we would have enough time to see it and then head back to the ship. So unfortunately we weren't able to see this church from inside on this trip. Oh well, maybe next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we headed back to the ship, we loved the fact that we were able to see so much in a day and that before we knew it, we'd be back to Russia in St. Petersburg the next day. This is where I keep telling my friends who love their land based holidays about the benefits of cruising. The idea of going to 7-8 different cities in crammed airline seats is just crazy when you have the option to relax in your bed, stretch out, have a great meal, no need of packing bags, and just wake up to a new city everyday! Back on the ship, and we grabbed a meal at our favourite Mast Grill (they also have excellent vegetarian burgers) and enjoyed the rest of the evening at the casino and shows.

 

[Sinppu]

Great so far!! Your love for cruising makes it all the more interesting and heartwarming to read!

 

Lähetetty minun GT-I9505 laitteesta Tapatalkilla

[Mr. Click]

Wow Nik, I think I found someone who made more pictures than I did....they are great and thanks for sharing them and bringing back some great memories of our best cruise ever.

 

Someone asked earlier for port tips....if you are going to Frederica and want to rent a car, do not rent from Sixt. They promised to let us pick up the car at the port and then failed. That meant I got to waste an hour and a half getting a cab and then standing on line at their office despite filling out all of the paperwork for express delivery. It also added 175KR to my cost for the cabs each way. The lost time and lack of information and help from Sixt meant we had to skip Jelling and go straight to the castle. Others like Nik had cars waiting for them at the port as they walked off the ship.

[TexSea]

Great review. I can tell this one will be a blueprint for our cruise next May.

[mskaufman]

Nice pictures. What camera/lens did you use?

[nekzaadvakil]

Wow Nik, I think I found someone who made more pictures than I did....they are great and thanks for sharing them and bringing back some great memories of our best cruise ever.

 

Someone asked earlier for port tips....if you are going to Frederica and want to rent a car, do not rent from Sixt. They promised to let us pick up the car at the port and then failed. That meant I got to waste an hour and a half getting a cab and then standing on line at their office despite filling out all of the paperwork for express delivery. It also added 175KR to my cost for the cabs each way. The lost time and lack of information and help from Sixt meant we had to skip Jelling and go straight to the castle. Others like Nik had cars waiting for them at the port as they walked off the ship.

 

Wow that's some good advice. I'd really be bugged if that was the service we had received. In fact we had also written to Sixt to rent a car but since we got no response we looked elsewhere. We really got lucky with Fredericia Biludlejning, they had a nice car waiting for us at the dock before time (we could see it from our balcony before we got off the ship) and the people we dealt with were warm and friendly. We paid €200 for the car (a nice big 8 seater) and another €10 for fuel. The guys were there to pick up the car an hour early so we didn't have to wait at all.

 

Another suggestion is to have a starboard side cabin since Fredericia had a very sweet farewell which was visible from the starboard side. More on that later in the review.

 

[nekzaadvakil]

Nice pictures. What camera/lens did you use?

 

Thanks. Just used my iPhone 5S camera. No filters, no touch ups, just simple pictures. The places were really picturesque.

[Azulann]

What a wonderful, detailed review.

Love the pictures and the details for DIY in the port cities.

Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

[Mr. Click]

Yes, Sixt was a pain to deal with...and there was an implication that the office was with in a 10 minute walk of the port....it was really 3KM away. I asked for a GPS and they gave me a TomTom but the car we had, a Nissan SUV had it built in....made no sense. Our car was US$114 for the day including the gps but the cab fares and wasted time were not worth the savings... Today date I have not gotten a real invoice or a real response to my complaints to Sixt customer service...so I hope others take heed and not use them in Frederica. Yes, that was some welcome and send off for us. The balconies were full to watch the show.

[nekzaadvakil]

31 May 2015

 

Day 4 of the cruise. St. Petersburg, Russia. Many called it the jewel of any Baltic cruise. We were excited to be back in Russia and after enjoying Moscow so much, we were keen to see this place since it is the cultural capital of Russia.

 

We woke up early since our tour left really early. After very helpful suggestions from our cruise critic friends we decided to go with SPB tours. Geeta (Prish on cruisecritic) made things so easy for us by co-ordinating with SPB tours, as did Vika from SPB. We took a combo tour of the 2 day deluxe tour in St.P and the 1 day tour of Berlin (including the concentration camp)

 

After waking up at 6AM (on a holiday), and a quick breakfast, we headed towards the gangway to exit the ship. We were shocked to see a HUGE crowd that pretty much had the same idea as us. The 'line' to exit the ship was HUGE, here's a picture of it.

 

 

The ships crew were all in place and ensured that we were off the ship in no time. However we then had a long queue through immigration! Our group got really lucky as one of the immigration officers asked us to form a new line at a new counter, and hence we were amongst the first to get out. Irrespective of nationalities, one has to carry your passport when you step off the ship at St.P

 

 

Also you do need to have your tour tickets ready. SPB tours emails them to you a couple of days after you book with them. Immigration was quite quick. There's a nice big selection of shops selling souvenirs right after immigration. Once you exit the building, SPB tours were waiting for us in our buses.

 

We got into our buses and we were off. The first stop was a rather quick one, to the old St.P stock exchange and the Rostral Columns. With a strong wind, and overcast conditions this felt like the coldest day so far.

 

 

 

From here we took the metro towards the winter palace. Having used the metro extensively in Moscow (pre cruise) we were not as impressed with the Metro in St.P. We were told that the metro stations here were the deepest in the world since they were originally dug as a bunker in case of an atomic bomb! The escalators are HUGE and amongst the biggest we had seen.

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

After the metro, we got back into our bus. Quick stop later we were at the winter palace. We were asked to remove our jackets and leave them on the bus to save time through security inside the palace.

 

 

 

 

The palace is really opulent and HUGE. Room after room of really fancy stuff that the Tzars collected. Our tour guide did well to keep our group together and moving in the huge crowd, but we felt rather rushed.

 

As some of you may have realised, DW and I absolutely hate doing tours. We really like exploring new places on our own and having the flexibility of spending more time where we like and leaving museums where we tend to get bored rather quickly.

 

We also think that here's where a good guide can make all the difference between a good tour that's interesting and a run of the mill tour. Unfortunately this one was quirking becoming the latter.

 

The palace by no means is boring, but if we could, we would definitely have liked to do this on our own, at our own pace.

 

 

 

 

You can see from some of the pictures, there was a HUGE crowd!