Getaway Baltic Capitals cruise - 16 to 25 May

[Huntingdon1701]

Glad to hear that smoke isn't an issue. Perhaps this itinerary is so port intensive that the casino only opens late at night and on at sea days?

 

What time are the shows that don't need reservations? I am wondering what time should I make the dinner reservations so that I would be able to grab a seat at those shows after dinner.

 

That's a possibility about the casino.

 

The show times vary all over the place. I'll post the dailies in a couple of days so you can look through yourself. On our sailing, the restaurants rarely showed up as full, so you may have flexibility to move them once on board if there is something you particularly want to see.

[hisleepy]

Thank you so much for your prompt response. I will patiently wait for the dailies. =)

[rocklinmom]

Loving your pictures and details! I have a question about St. Petersburg. Trying to decide on our shore excursions there and whether or not to do the Peterhof Palace gardens. Did you ride the hydrofoil? If so how was it? And is it true that there are trick fountains in the gardens, and if so, do they spray random people or people who want to get wet?

[Proopkitty]

I'm going on September 1st for my 50th birthday and I'm so excited! I've booked myself a solo studio and can't wait.

[Huntingdon1701]

Loving your pictures and details! I have a question about St. Petersburg. Trying to decide on our shore excursions there and whether or not to do the Peterhof Palace gardens. Did you ride the hydrofoil? If so how was it? And is it true that there are trick fountains in the gardens, and if so, do they spray random people or people who want to get wet?

 

The Peterhof gardens were impressive, although we didn't stay long. There's a picture of the main fountain area earlier in the thread. They are very close to Catherine's palace, so it makes sense to find a tour that combines the two. There is at least one trick fountain but it was cordoned off so unsuspecting visitors didn't get sprayed.

 

We didn't ride the hydrofoil, because it takes a bit too long and we couldn't spare the time, but I spoke to people who did and they said it was a very smooth ride.

[Huntingdon1701]

I'm going on September 1st for my 50th birthday and I'm so excited! I've booked myself a solo studio and can't wait.

 

That's great - I'm sure you'll love it! The studios are really cosy, and the studio lounge is a great quiet place with the best coffee on the ship, plus free snacks.

[norhel]

I'm going on September 1st for my 50th birthday and I'm so excited! I've booked myself a solo studio and can't wait.

 

I'm also on that cruise and finds this thread interesting reading.

[300dtc]

I'm going on September 1st for my 50th birthday and I'm so excited! I've booked myself a solo studio and can't wait.

 

 

We are on the week before you..I'll leave a light on!

 

 

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[karenj4546]

I'm afraid not. As far as I am aware, lobster disappeared from the fleet menu a while ago, except possibly in the Haven. The MDR has a rotating menu of about 9-10 menus so it is almost impossible to say what will appear on any one night - although a core element of the menu stays the same (Lasagne etc).

 

No lobster in the Haven, except on the seafood benedict at breakfast.

[karenj4546]

I was on the same trip and have now posted my review. Yours is wonderful reading from a different perspective. Thanks for taking the time to do this (and include pictures)!

[CRUISEDOWNUNDER]

Thanks so much for your update. While you were in Copenhagen, do the restaurants or shopping outlets accept USD or Euros at all ? We prefers to use foreign currencies in their countries. Any idea how much (estimate) Danish Krone (Kr) will be required per day (excluding shopping) for food and transport ? What bus (number) did you take from station to Cruise Port. THe Pier Address is Ocean Quay Berth 331, Terminal 1 ?? Can you pay the bus driver when you get on the bus ? Where can I get the directions ? Much appreciated !!

[dexddd]

Russia immigration I think are always grumpy and slow. When we went they also do it a bit different instead of all going as a family we had to go one by one (even kids).

[Huntingdon1701]

Karenj4546 - thanks. Yours is also interesting reading, especially the tours. One day I will sell my soul and both kidneys to get into the Haven.

 

Thanks so much for your update. While you were in Copenhagen, do the restaurants or shopping outlets accept USD or Euros at all ? We prefers to use foreign currencies in their countries. Any idea how much (estimate) Danish Krone (Kr) will be required per day (excluding shopping) for food and transport ? What bus (number) did you take from station to Cruise Port. THe Pier Address is Ocean Quay Berth 331, Terminal 1 ?? Can you pay the bus driver when you get on the bus ? Where can I get the directions ? Much appreciated !!

 

They won't take anything but Danish Krone in Copenhagen. I can't give you an estimate as it depends what you do! What I would recommend is the Copenhagen City Pass for public transport. You can use it on anything, including the bus to the cruise port. I definitely got my moneys worth from it. There is also the Copenhagen card, which gives you discounts on various attractions as well.

 

Foodwise, the city is quite expensive. I was spending about 400 kr for an evening meal. The good thing is that everywhere except a few market stalls will take credit card (a lot of the stalls accept it too), and there are ATMs everywhere, so you shouldn't have trouble paying or getting more cash if you need it.

 

Everything you need to know about getting around Copenhagen is in this thread, courtesy of Danish Viking. He has even filmed the route of the bus to the port for you! I caught the 25 from Norreport. Very easy to find using Danish Viking's pictures, and I just waved my phone with the City Pass text on it and got on. It drops you right outside the terminal. If you don't get the pass, then transport seemed quite cheap and there were what looked fairly simple ticket machines at every station (I glanced at a few and they seemed to offer and English option, although that may not be on all terminals).

[Seminole1975]

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[Rosaleen]

Thank you so much for your reviews!!! We are sailing on the getaway in July and have been anxiously awaiting the first Baltic review. Really looking forward to our trip!

[djacobson]

Thanks so much for the detailed review. Looking forward to reading how the rest of your trip went! I'm going on the same cruise in a few weeks. I'm really excited about it!! We've booked the St Petersburg tour with Alla and i'm planning on self touring everything else. I just read about Schwerin castle recently... i didn't really want to travel all the way to Berlin, so i'm real excited about that option. I'll make sure to check out Rostok's cathedral though!

I do have quite a few very practial questions, if you don't mind (haven't cruised in 15 years! i'm a little rusty):

- how cold/warm is it on the ship? I live in the US and they do love their AC... so i'm always cold! Should i plan on carrying a jacket at all times?

- how formal do you have to dress for dinner?

- do you recommend advanced booking for their shows? What show do you recommend? Is their a best night to go see the show?

- Seems like you enjoyed the restaurant SAvor? Is that mostly because it was less crowded? Any other good options?

- I imagine the pools are heated, do they also have a hot tub (don't have a spa package)?

 

Thanks!

 

You do need to make a reservation for some of the shows. The reservation is added to your key card. The one show I would definitely recommend is Million Dollar Quartet. I would also recommend sitting on the left side of the theatre, behind the piano.

[dv71617]

Temperature - I was quite comfortable in a t-shirt on board the ship, and had to take a jumper off. If you feel the cold, then a light jumper might be in order.

 

Formal dress - there is no requirement to be formal. They ask for slightly smarter wear in the Tropicana, Le Bistro and Ocean Blue, but there is no need to wear dinner jackets/long dresses - although this was the first cruise where I did see a couple of those in Le Bistro/Ocean Blue. I generally had jeans and a short-sleeved shirt (with a collar). People also tended to dress up for photos with the captain, and there are plenty of photo set-ups around the ship where you might want to dress up for a memorable shot. In the garden cafe, shorts are perfectly acceptable.

 

Shows - I do recommend booking because the Getaway has a lot of passengers and the show venues are generally small. Cirque Dreams and Steam is a must to see - I would pick a day with a shorter port call, as the sea days were packed. Turn up half an hour before it starts to get a good seat near the stage. I would also recommend Burn the Floor, and heard good things about Million Dollar Quartet (although not my sort of music so I didn't go) - any night would be fine for those. You might also want to see Howl at the Moon, which is very entertaining, but doesn't require booking. The same applies to the Magician. The other bookable entertainment is Wine Lovers The Musical, which I loathed and will rant about a bit further in the review. That said, the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it.

 

Restaurants - I did enjoy Savor. It is small, and rarely crowded, and I usually got a seat by the window. The menu changes on a daily basis, and the waiters were always friendly. The few times I went to Taste, it's mirror image, the service was weirdly worse but I can only think that was bad luck rather than anything fundamental. Be warned that the service is quite slow in these, although if you tell them that you need to be out in half an hour, they do speed things up for you. The Tropicana is also very nice and has floor shows - there tends to be more of a queue for it and, as a solo traveller, I didn't really want to take up a table for four when there was so much demand. It was very enjoyable when I went with some friends though. The menus in Tropciana, Taste and Savor are the same, but they rotate menus so every day is a different menu. The other free restaurant is the noodle bar, Shanghai which was good - but again usually quite a long queue. I have done all the speciality restaurants previously so, as their menus don't change, skipped them. But they are all very good. I did also go to Ocean Blue and thoroughly enjoyed it. You should probably go to Teppanyaki if you haven't been before - requires booking well in advance.

 

Heated pools - there was a bit of a debate about that. From other conversations, I don't think the main pool was heated (didn't test it myself). The water slides certainly weren't! They do have hot tubs around the pool (about 4?) and another two in Spice. There was high demand for these, and you'd see people in them quite late.

 

I hope you have a fantastic cruise.

 

CIRQUE DREAMS AND STEAM (BANQUET SEATING) or floor seating ?

what's the difference between those two modes of reservation ?

[LucasBraga]

Thank you very much for the response!

 

I booked Getawat but the embarkation port is Warnemunde/Germany. At least on July, this ship is "itinerary", since it doesn't have a final port and always continue, with trips starting both from Copenhagen and Warnemunde. Did it happen in your cruise?

 

If so, I'm a little curious about the on board safety training. Did it happens twice? How they manage different people to do this training?

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[AnyNameNotYetTaken]

Day 2 (ship calendar):

Warnemunde.

Forecast: 55F/13C.

Arrival: 7.30

All aboard: 9.30

 

Thank you for this running commentary, so well put. Let me add that my wife and I did a private tour of Berlin with Jeremy Minsberg, http://www.theberlinexpert.com/. Tailored to our personal likes. The private van cut the travel time to Berlin. I heavily recommend this tour.

[flipflops62]

Day 6

St Petersburg 2

Forecast: 47F/8C (It was much warmer than this!)

Arrival: Overnight

All Aboard: 6.30pm

 

We had agreed a slightly 'later' start of 7.50 for our tour today, as we'd managed to get the subway visit in yesterday. So, again, we all met in the card room and went down to immigration at 7.30. This time, it took under 20 minutes for us to get through immigration. Partly because people were getting off the ship in a staggered fashion rather than all at once, and partly because the immigration officers had recorded all your info yesterday. They still took longer with me for some reason - must have a guilty face.

 

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We started the day off with a visit to a souvenir shop. On the entry, they offered samples of what they called Russian Water, but turned out to be two different types of vodka - so we were all quite cheerful by 8.30 am. There was an immense variety of Russian dolls on offer, including an example of some being crafted. They were excellent quality and genuine - unlike many of those we saw being sold elsewhere - but were also very, very expensive. There was also a lot of amber, which is something else they specialise in. The port terminal also has a wide-range of stores, including someone selling postcards and stamps if you need those, so you could hold off souvenir shopping until the end of your visit if you wished.

 

After that, we headed off for a river cruise, which was a phenomenal way to see the city. The real highlight for me was seeing the cruiser Aurora, which signalled the start of the revolution. I had no idea she still existed, and we got to actually circle her at close quarters. Amazing! [ATTACH]407441[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]407442[/ATTACH]

 

We all agreed that this was probably the best part of the experience. You go through a lot of narrow canals, as well as the open river, and under some low bridges. It was good fun, as well as giving a new perspective on the city. I recommend making sure that your tour includes a river ride. The only downside was that it was very hard to hear the commentator, so I recommend being assertive and asking them to turn up the volume if you are sitting outside (which is the best way to see things, and wasn't cold at all).

 

After the boat ride was the thing that everyone comes to St Petersburg to see. [ATTACH]407443[/ATTACH] It is as impressive as everyone expects. We had early entry before the public so it wasn't too crowded for us, although unfortunately I think this is being stopped for all groups now. Nonetheless, it will be worth seeing. [ATTACH]407450[/ATTACH]

 

Every room is crowded with priceless artifacts, including paintings by Da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt. I won't post many pictures here, because you'll want to discover it on your own. One thing that really stood out was the most beautiful peacock clock I have ever seen - I have a video of it and can e-mail it to anyone who wants to see - you need to make sure you stop to take that in.

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It took about an hour to go around the Hermitage, moving quite quickly. Our guide knew something about every piece, which was very impressive - no reference sheets needed.

 

Then it was off to see the Church of the Spilled Blood - commemorating where one of the Tsars was assassinated. [ATTACH]407448[/ATTACH] It's a very impressive building, but I think we were all more impressed with the distinctive outside than with the interior. This is probably unfair, but we'd seen a lot of Orthodox interiors at that point and they're all designed on a similar theme. [ATTACH]407449[/ATTACH]

 

After all this, it was time for lunch, and we went to a very nice restaurant for some beetroot soup, a savoury sort of pie (like a merger of a strudel and a cornish pasty) and - of course - more vodka.

 

Then it was time for our last stop of the trip - the Faberge Museum. We had skip the line entry, which was a good idea. This museum has only been open for a few years, so it's the first time you can really see the collection together. It's not just eggs, although these took pride of place. We were given the story behind each one, and how they were tailored to what was going on in the Tsar's life in the year that they were made - so sad years tended to result in an egg of a darker colour, for instance. There was also a story to each of the surprises in each egg, which frequently included portraits of the family, increasing as more children were born. There were also some of the mass produced eggs, which I didn't know they did, which could have been bought for a couple of roubles - they even had a shop in London apparently (spot the British flag).

 

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That, unfortunately, was the end of our time in St Petersburg. It was amazing from start to finish, and I would have loved to have had more time there. Anya, our tour guide from Alla, was phenomenal and did a fantastic job.

 

Once we were back at the terminal, we did a bit of shopping for souvenirs (although many of the group had bought mini-faberge eggs to take back) and then boarded the ship. I think the rest of the day included a visit to O'Sheehan's for a snack, then Tropicana for dinner (very enjoyable, although too far away to see the floor show).

 

The ship had a few talks about Faberge and Russian culture throughout the cruise, which were in the Freestyle dailies if you wanted to go to them. There were also a range of Russian souvenir items on board.

 

 

 

I booked this same 2 day tour with Alla! Thank you so much for posting.

[Huntingdon1701]

CIRQUE DREAMS AND STEAM (BANQUET SEATING) or floor seating ?

what's the difference between those two modes of reservation ?

 

The more expensive floor seating is tables right up to the stage. They are sideways on rather directly facing it, but didn't involve much swivelling.

 

The cheaper banquet seating is at the back but takes the form of a comfy sofa-style seating in a horseshoe shape. There was even less swivelling in these seats. I suppose the advantage to these is that the seats are comfier and may be better if you have back or neck issues, but you sacrifice how close you are to the stage - although you should still get an uninterrupted view. You're also closer to the performers when they parade around before the show for photos.

 

I should have a few pictures of it in the rest of the review (hope to continue this evening).

 

Edit: Now I think about it, I'm not sure this was the difference. There was also a second row of sideways on tables further back, which may also have qualified as banquet seating. Either way, I would recommend the slightly more expensive floor seating. You are really close up and I think it was a better experience.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Huntingdon1701

[Huntingdon1701]

Thank you very much for the response!

 

I booked Getawat but the embarkation port is Warnemunde/Germany. At least on July, this ship is "itinerary", since it doesn't have a final port and always continue, with trips starting both from Copenhagen and Warnemunde. Did it happen in your cruise?

 

If so, I'm a little curious about the on board safety training. Did it happens twice? How they manage different people to do this training?

 

It's a split embarkation port similar to Epic with Barcelona/Rome. You can board in either Copenhagen, disembarking there 9 days later, or board in Warnemunde and disembark there 9 days later. Most people definitely boarded in Copenhagen. I guess you would need to weigh up if you have a preference for spending more time in one or the other - you could visit Berlin and then go on to Warnemunde in your own time, for instance.

 

The safety training did happen twice, but you only had to go to the one on the day of your sailing. It's in the onboard daily and they make tannoy announcements about it - and if you don't go, they come and find you. The only difference was that I don't think they shut down all the services for the Warnemunde training (although that might have happened while I was off the ship exploring).

[Huntingdon1701]

I booked this same 2 day tour with Alla! Thank you so much for posting.

 

That's great! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :)

[Nelsj099]

Welcome to Russian customs... I usually get the same line of questions... Where are you going? I tell them where I live. Then they don't know it and I have to start naming other cities around it until I get to the biggest city about 3 hours away before telling them thank you and passing through the gates. There is no rhyme or reason to customs I had a very similar experience in May where I was the third person in my line and the one next to us had already cleared 12 people before I got through! Love Russia.