Russian Around the Baltic on Silhouette

[pjs678]

Could you tell me what tour company he is from or Jeremy's contact information. I'd really like to personalize our Berlin tour and be able to get out and actually see some of the sites rather than just seeing them from a tour bus. Might be worth the extra $$ for the private tour. You can email me directly at: Teannetx@hotmail.com

 

Thank you

 

I can post it here since you asked and I'll email you as well:

 

http://theberlinexpert.com/

[pjs678]

7/1 – Amsterdam to Atlanta (via London) OR Where’s My Soup?

 

We set our alarm at 6:30am as we had booked a 7:30am Celebrity transfer to the airport with the last of our OBC. Quick tip: They will put you on a transfer based on your flight time, so if you want a slightly later transfer, just tell them you have a later flight. They won’t bother double-checking.

 

We didn’t bother with breakfast at Luminae as we knew we would be eating (and drinking) a lot today. We grabbed a quick pastry and coffee at Michael’s and waited for Anca to escort us off the ship at 7:25am. I tipped Anca, as she had been very helpful throughout the cruise. I did not tip our butler (other than when he brought room service a couple of times) as he was basically invisible.

 

When we left the ship, I really wasn’t too upset. I was looking forward to a First Class trip home and I was ready to be home and see our youngest when she returned the following day from her summer program.

 

Anca took us out to the bus and we grabbed seats. It was basically full. It was a quick 20-25 minute drive to the airport (against the flow of rush hour traffic.) Our luggage arrived slightly after we did, but we were waiting under cover (it was raining) and then picked up our suitcases.

 

We checked in at BA and it was nice to be in the First/Club line as the Economy line was pretty long. We then went to the VAT refund desk and after getting a customs stamp, received a refund on some of J’s larger purchases. She was kicking herself because she forgot our receipts from our recent Italy trip and she could have received refunds from those receipts as well.

 

Then we then got a little lost as we tried to find the security line, but we eventually found it. I’m not sure if there was a First/Business line, but there weren’t many people there so we just went through the regular passport check and then security line.

 

We found the BA lounge, which I understand was recently moved and remodeled. It was really very nice for an outstation lounge. There was a nice continental breakfast set up (including Stroopwaffels – my favorite!) and good self-serve espresso/cappuccino. The lounge received the British newspapers on the first BA flight of the day around 10am.

 

 

 

Our flight was at 11:40am so we headed over to the gate around 11:00am. We were among the first to board and we were in the last row of Club Europe (i.e. regular economy seat with middle seat blocked). Due to weather delays at Heathrow, we were about 30 minutes delayed taking off.

 

Once in the air, we were offered a beverage and served a nice snack lunch of cold cuts and cheese with salad. J said it was the best airline meal she had so far on this trip. We landed at T5 about 35 minutes late at 12:35pm.

We went through Fast track passport control and through transfer security, which took about 10-15 minutes. We then headed to the Concorde Room for our layover.

 

I had originally booked a massage for both of us at 1pm and 1:20pm. When I checked at the spa, they had an opening for a wet shave at 2pm, which I had hoped to be able to book. J also wanted to switch to a facial so she booked one for 2pm also. She headed back down to do some shopping (now that the pound had dropped since the Brexit the week before) and I headed to the bar.

 

The lounge was not very crowded, and the atmosphere was friendly, not stuffy. I did look around for celebs, but nobody I recognized was there.

I started by trying both of the champagnes on offer. I preferred the regular Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle to the Rose version. Then I switched to Johnnie Walker Blue, because well, why wouldn’t I?

 

 

J returned from a successful shopping expedition and it was time to head to the spa for our appointments. The shave was very relaxing although a little uneven. She missed a few places so I must have looked like I normally do. :) J enjoyed her facial.

 

Now it was 2:20 so we headed back to the lounge for a spot of lunch (as one says in BA land). J wasn’t too hungry so she had the cauliflower salad, which she enjoyed. I had the curry, which was very good and pretty spicy.

[pjs678]

Here are the Concorde Room menus:

 

 

 

Our gate was posted on the screen around 2:50, and it was ugh, at the end of the C gates, which meant a ride on the transit and a long walk. We left the lovely Concorde Lounge and headed out into the sea of people. We made it out to our gate around 3:15 and waited about 15 minutes before boarding was called for First/Club/Gold all together. We were shown to our seats and, well, that was about it. Nobody offered to give us a quick rundown of the seat features or anything.

 

 

 

We were offered a pre-departure beverage, so we had champagne. We were a little late pushing back, so there was time for a refill. We did receive our amenity kits (different male and female kits), pajamas, and menus for the flight.

 

 

 

The door closed around 4:10pm and we pushed back around 10 minutes later. We had a long slow taxi and finally took off at 5pm. As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I changed into my PJs.

 

About ½ hour after we took off, we were offered a drink and some warm nuts. I ordered some more champagne.

 

Lunch was served around 6pm. I ordered the smoked salmon, soup, and sea bass. J tried to order the burger, but was told that they had no more left. I know BA allows people to pre-order their meal in business and first, but seriously, can they not load a couple more burgers?

 

The smoked salmon was very good and the sea bass was OK. After I finished the sea bass, the flight attendant apologized that he had forgotten my soup (apparently so I had I after all that champagne.)

 

For dessert, I had the berry pie and ice cream. Then I ordered a small glass of the Glenlivet. So, of course he brought me about four fingers of it.

 

I watched a couple of movies on the flight. 10 Cloverfield Lane (per J’s recommendation) was very entertaining and then I watched Eddie the Eagle about the British ski jumper, which was dumb but reasonably entertaining. I also finally finished Show Me a Hero from HBO which I had downloaded onto my iPad for this trip.

 

The seat was comfortable, but it was hard to sleep as this was essentially a day flight, even though it was creeping past midnight UK time by the time the second meal was served. The “tea” consisted of stale sandwiches, scones and cakes. I was looking forward to it, so it was rather disappointing, but I was too stuffed to order anything else and too tired to complain.

 

The flight attendants on this flight literally disappeared after the first meal service and never even walked back through First Class until they took orders for tea. When I got a little hungry after a few hours, I went up to see if they had anything and they told me to go back to the Club World galley for snacks. That information would have been nice to know when I boarded.

 

We landed about 40 minutes late in Atlanta around 9pm and we were allowed to deplane first (before the Club World folks) which was nice. I had read an article that morning while surfing the web in the lounge about a new App called Mobile Pass which allowed us to skip both the regular line and the kiosks when landing at certain US airports from an international flight, so I had downloaded it. We looked for the sign at immigration and it was there. We were ushered through straight to the passport check and breezed through really quickly. We don’t have Global Entry, but this must have been almost as quick.

 

Our luggage was among the first pieces to come out and we headed out through customs to see my mother-in-law waiting for us. We headed home and I think I was asleep within 20 minutes of walking through the door.

 

It was a fantastic trip. Up Next: We grade the Silhouette and give out our best and worst awards.

[tweetylori]

Am loving your report and pics...thank you! Looking forward to your ratings!

[pjs678]

Thanks for the reminder Lori! Sorry for the delay in concluding the report. Work got in the way.

 

So, we have reached the end of the review. What did we think about the trip? How was the Silhouette compared to our previous experience with Celebrity Equinox? How was Moscow as a pre-cruise destination? Was the trip everything we hoped for and more?

 

Probably the easiest way to grade everything will be to summarize our thoughts on each destination, then the ship, then the trip as a whole. I’ll quickly re-run through the highlights, the transportation options and the food so you don’t have to go back and read the whole review if you don’t have the time.

 

Moscow

 

Moscow was fantastic. It was incredible to stand in Red Square and think back to the 80s and the Cold War when we were kids, watching the (seemingly endless) military parades. There is so much to see and do there. I could definitely make a return trip, hopefully in the winter to see everything with a coating of snow.

 

The metro is efficient and fairly easy to use. They seem to have improved tourist infrastructure in recent years compared to some of the trip reports I read. There are information desks and English maps all around the metro and the city.

 

I would definitely recommend staying somewhat near Red Square as you are going to want to visit there (Kremlin, History Museum, St. Basil’s, GUM). Many of the other sites are easily reachable via metro or Uber. Uber is another great option there, but you’ll need a Russian SIM card as Wifi is plentiful, but not everywhere.

 

The food is good and there are some unique Russian cuisines that are fun to try. With the weak ruble, now is a great time to go to Russia. We found it easy to withdraw Rubles from the ATMs, although they tended to limit us to 7500 per transaction (about $120).

 

Stockholm

 

We both really liked Stockholm. Gamla Stan, while touristy, is fun to walk around and combines history and shopping (which was great for our two vacation styles). You also have to get on the water at some point and see some of the city that way. We only took a ferry instead of a boat tour, but it was a real highlight.

 

Speaking of highlights, Vasa is a must-do. I recommend going when they open at 8:30am (in summer) as you will almost have it to yourself for an hour before the buses arrive. If you can’t go early, some folks reported it was pretty easy to visit later in the afternoon after 3pm.

 

The 24 hour bus pass was easy to buy at the airport and was great for getting around as our dock was not walking distance from the city. The buses are quick and frequent. There didn’t seem to be too much traffic in Stockholm even on a Monday.

 

We didn’t really eat any meals in Stockholm as the timing worked out for us to eat on the ship. We did have some good ice cream in Gamla Stan. There’s also a great thread on CC for any questions about this city. We didn’t exchange any Swedish Krona as every place took credit cards, including when buying the bus tickets at the airport.

 

Helsinki

 

A real pleasant surprise. I had low expectations based on reading other reviews. We absolutely lucked out with the weather; cloudless skies and 75 degrees F. The Market Square area was really nice to walk around in, with the bay one side and the cathedrals on the other.

 

Suomelinna Fortress and the ferry ride to get there and back was really enjoyable, probably also due to the weather. It wasn’t crowded on the island and there is a lot to see. It seems like a great place to take kids as there’s no cars and they can just wander around. There’s a great brewery there where I had a nice lunch (not cheap though).

 

The tram system is easy to figure out. Most of the lines stop near the train station so if you get on the wrong tram, just ask the driver. Seems like most Fins speak pretty good English too. Hopefully the port construction will be done by next summer, but that was a minor inconvenience. Helsinki is really a great one day stop on a cruise as you feel like you can see most of what you want without rushing around. There’s a great thread on CC for any questions about this city too.

 

St. Petersburg

 

Loved it. Wish the port was closer to the center part of town, but that’s the downside of being on a huge ship I guess. As we had three days, I felt like we saw most of what we wanted to see, but if you have limited time here (1-2 days), I would make sure you see the Hermitage, either Peterhof or Catherine Palace (my preference would be Peterhof if the weather is nice and CP if not), Church on Spilt Blood, and a boat tour. The rest is somewhat subjective in my opinion. We liked the Faberge Museum, but it’s probably not for everyone. Of course, having visas, we also saw some off the beaten path places like the Kunstkamera, Museum of Vodka and the Museum of Political History. I really wish that last one was on more tour agendas as it was really interesting.

 

This is another city that I would like to re-visit, perhaps in the winter. I would take my time in the Hermitage, see some more of the less popular rooms and also enjoy the food and drink without having the ship to trek back to each night. It would also be neat to take a high speed train either to or from Moscow.

 

Uber was great in St. Petersburg, but of course, most of you won’t need it as you will have your tour guides and their vans/buses. We did find it can get exhausting spending three days there so make sure you pace yourself, especially if you plan to go back out at night to a ballet. We just didn’t see the point of walking around like zombies just to say we saw “everything.”

 

Tallin

 

Like Helsinki, we had awesome weather here. I’m sure that contributed to our enjoyment of this port. It was nice to just walk into town from the ship – no buses, uber, cab, or metro to worry about. The Old Town was really interesting and gave some great photo vistas from the higher points. The market was fun, per J, and there were lots of great artsy stores that she loved.

 

We only spent about 4 hours off the ship here as we were pretty wiped out from the eight previous non-stop days of walking and touring. While I don’t feel like I need to come back, I would certainly get off the ship if I happened to return and explore some more.

 

Berlin

 

Another pleasant surprise. With Berlin on a Baltic cruise, it’s all about the tour guide, and we had the best: Jeremy Minsberg. I booked him almost a year out and I was really happy that we got him.

 

We had a small group of 6 so we were able to get out of the port extremely quick and we were in Berlin by the time some of the tour buses were probably making their halfway bathroom stop. We were fascinated by the Olympic Stadium tower, Track 17, Topography of Terror, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We spent as much (or more) time walking than we did on the van and that gave us a great overview of the city. Again, we had awesome weather.

 

We would love to return here as a part of a longer trip to Germany. I know it’s a long way from the port and a private tour can be expensive, but I recommend going to Berlin if you have never been before.

 

Copenhagen

 

Probably our least favorite port, but ONLY because we had the worst weather here (still not that bad) and because we had seen so many palaces and museums by now that we were somewhat over them. Still a great time, especially the Segway tour and the boat tour. Nyhavn is a must-see as is the Old Town (which is not as set apart as the ones in Stockholm (island) or Tallin (walled)).

 

There’s probably a lot more that we just didn’t have the energy to see in Copenhagen, but there’s a great thread on CC that has tons of info. We ended up not using public transit. We mostly walked and used an Uber on the second day when it was raining. We didn’t exchange any Danish Kroner as everywhere took plastic like Stockholm.

 

Up next: We evaluate the Silhouette, its restaurants and its crew.

[CruiseAwayAli]

Hi,

 

I have a Celebrity cruise gift certificate (purchased at a community event) that I wanted to see if anyone is interested in purchasing. It is for one of three options:

 

1) a 12 night sailing on the beautiful Celebrity silhouette to Northern Europe on a spectacular Baltic/Russian itinerary, embarking in Amsterdam and including port visits to Warnemunde, Tallin, and an overnight visit to St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and return to Amsterdam. Ocean view stateroom for two is included with the choice of two additional amenities:

- Classic Beverage package for 2

- Prepaid Gratuities for 2

- $300 onboard credit for the cabin

- Unlimited internet package for 2

For this option sailing must commence by Dec31, 2017

There are also two transatlantic itinerary options:

2) April 22, 2017 departing from Miami to Rome (16 nights) on the Celebrity Reflection.

3) November 4, 2017 departing from Rome to Fort Lauderdale (15 nights) on the Celebrity silhouette.

 

My husband is unable to take this much time off work with his current position unfortunately.

 

Would anyone be interested in purchasing this from us?

 

I have been told these packages are valued at $10,000+ but willing to sell for $5K and I can directly connect you with the agency to confirm this is a valid offer.

 

Thank you,

Ali