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Review of Baltic Cruise on the Regal June 13-24/2017

Travlin grrl

By Travlin grrl,
in Princess Cruises

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Helsinki Finland

Great weather again today and we are taking the Winterland Ice Bar and Helsinki Highlights excursion.

When you arrive, there are HOHO buses right there that you can take and a souvenir/gift shop terminal with duty free tax free souvies.

But I decided to try the ice bar and vodka shots for something different. I know there is one in Sweden and that is more of a bar setting which I know I would of enjoyed but this was touted and the "worlds largest ice bar". It wasn't as big as I thought it might be and I think it's more of a place to bring your kids. It's in a warehouse setting and I would of designed it a little bit different. Because it's dark maybe a dark sky with twinkling lights like you were outside instead of open beamed warehouse. Also I would of piped in music because it was a little quiet.

But anyways off we go on the bus to the first stop we make at the Senate Square. A photo op of a beautiful white colummned Cathedral with many stairs leading up to it. After 15 minutes we load up for the Ice bar. When you walk in you suit up in their heavy duty overalls, boots and slim gloves before you go in the ice bar for your shot of vodka in a crystal clear ice shot glass. They have a tobogganing area and you can take a kick sled for a spin which I did for a short couple minutes. There are various ice sculptures and igloos. They also had a husky dog sled ride that would do 2 laps for 20 euros each. The ride was only a few minutes so we passed. If you have kids this is a place for them and they will offer (I think it was Cranberry) juice instead of vodka. We were there for maybe 45 minutes and if you want more of a bar setting this is not for you.

One more stop at the Temppeliauko Rock church becuase it is literraly built from solid rock. We got let off for about a 5 minute walk from the bus. There isn't much walking around the church and it won't take you long to view the church. When we were there someone was playing the piano and it has great acoustics. When you leave there is a cute souvenir shop right across the street to the right. A big selection of very unique gifts. I found these little music boxes that you wind and play everything from "Imagine" to " let it be" . We had the option of staying in town and taking a shuttle back but that would of only given us 2 hours. So we went back to the ship and went through the cruise terminal gift shops.

If I were to do it again I would take the HOHO bus since it is right outside the pier and the town is right there.

Back to the ship for formal night and lobster.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Stockholm Sweden

Today we berth in Nynashamn which is 45 minutes away from Stockholm. If you berth in Stockholm you have to leave by 2:00 p.m. If you berth in Nynashamn you can stay late. We decide to take the Princess excursion " On Your Own" to Stockholm which is around 59 or 69 dollars. This will give us about 5 1/2 hrs. in town. We are given a walking map on the bus and want to go to the Vasa Museum and find out it's about a 20 minute walk. It you are a brisk walker than you can do this easily. If not than you can take a train/tram over. There is also a HOHO boat that will take you around but I didn't want to go all the way to the pier and back so decided to walk along the pitcturesque cobblestone sidewalk along the harbor to the museum. The Vasa Musuem is $16.00 and when you go in, there will be 2 lines. One to the left to buy tickets at the window or the the one on the right that has 3 kiosk machines and will go a lot faster. Guess which one I took? This museum has reconstructed the viking ship that has sunk in 1628 but recovered it in 1970. The museum has 5 floors and I think my favorite part was the display of putting together their bones trying to figure out who they were and what they did. It's amazing what they can decipher from their teeth, bones and shreds of clothing.

After that we walk back to "Gamla Stan" in the old town and stop off for lunch at "Ruby Bistro" for a vegetarian burger and fries. Our table is on the edge of the sidewalk on a narrow little street. Most places prefer credit cards but I also bring some Swedih Krones for souvenirs and such. So once we are done we go shopping and pick up some bath fizzies and soap for my daughter, coffee mug for my son, a Christmas ornament and magnet of a funny viking to commerorate our Vasa museum visit. There are 2 streets full of souveinir shops, coffee shops, waffle shops, ice creams shops and jewelry stores. The waffle cones smell so good and if I hadn't eaten lunch I might of ordered one. I have 60 krones left so we stop off for a beer for my husband, free wi-fi and a restroom. If you need to use a restroom I saw one that uses coins. Other than that you should try to use the one wherever you stop to eat at. After walking past the Nobel Museum and taking photos we head back to where we were dropped off and look for our bus. Back to the ship for sail away from the aft which has the best view. I can't believe tomorrow is our last day which is a sea day and time to pack.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Again,

Thank you for your post. You have given me lots of ideas for our upcoming Regal Baltic cruise on 8/29.

Looks like you had pretty good weather. We hope for the same, although our days will be shorter.

Thanks for following. Yes I was worried about rainy cold weather after reading someone else review who only had one sunny day. We actually had only one rainy day and that was the second day in St. Petersburg. Oslo was the hottest. The sun didn't set till I think 11:00 and even then I felt like it never got really dark. Hope you enjoy your cruise.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Sea Day. Day before Disembarkation. I took a little break because I took a weekend trip up to Portland and now I'm back to finish it up. You know it's time to pack when they put the suitcase mat on your bed. They delivered our steam iron to our room (the one that got confiscated on the first day) so that saved us a trip. We had a chill day of relaxing , packing and making sure we were going to pace ourselves for Crown Grill. The only opening was at 8:30 and I almost couldn't hold out that long. We went for the Lobster as usual but next time I really want to try the Chilean Sea Bass. They sang Happy Birthday to DH because it was almost his bday two days away. I thought they might do something special on the ship for Father's Day ....but not really. Completely full and sad it's the last night we sleep peacefully.

Disembarkation was easy. Our flight was early so we were one of the first ones to get off.The only issue was at the airport. They made us go to 2 lines for "Princess" and the lines started to extend quite a ways. I really thought there was some reason that we had to go to those lines because we got off the cruise but you really don't have to. I could of gone to the ticket counter of my airline and got through much quicker. Which we did see some people do. So my best advice is to skip that line and go to your airline. We wasted a lot of time as there were only 3 agents for all the people coming in. I was going to spend my last Kroners there but because the line took so long I had to take the money home as we had to board when we got to the gate.

By the way, my first time on KLM and I love that airlin

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Overall:

It was a great cruise and St. Petersburg was our unexpected surprise that we loved the most.The weather was great every day except the second day in St. Petersburg when it rained. Not a lot of teenagers on this cruise or kids for that matter.

I feel the food was great for the most part and hey....no dishes or cooking for me.

Service was exceptional as always.

If anyone wants to see "Princess Patters" let me know and I'll post. Just let me know which day.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Thanks purple traveller . I think between the two of us we have covered the whole Baltic Sea. So for anyone following mine is on the Regal out of Copenhagen and Purple traveller s review is under Baltic Heritage on the Crown. I believe out of Southampton...and he has amazing photos.

If anyone has questions...ask away.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Forums mobile app

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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I'd love to see all the Princess Patters from the cruise. But if it's too much trouble to post them all maybe just St. Petersburg Day 1, Stockholm and Oslo.

 

Thanks for a great review. We leave on the next voyage. I, too, would love to see the Patters. Especially days 1 and 3 if you have the time.

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Forums mobile app

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