TRIP JOURNAL: Nicole721 Get[s]away to the Baltics

[Nicole721]

The stateroom hallways still weren’t open at 1:30 – rooms were ready closer to 1:45 – but we didn’t have far to go anyways. We booked a room right beneath Garden Café -- stateroom 14262, a balcony cabin. We went back and forth on whether we should book a balcony or a mini suite, but we went with the balcony even though the price difference was nominal because there weren’t really any additional perks and we weren’t really getting a bigger room.

 

 

14262 is a standard balcony cabin but has one special little quirk: an odd shaped balcony that gave us a little extra balcony space (important on Norwegian, where the standard balconies are pretty tiny). I was really impressed with our room when we first stepped in. The furnishings were modern and really functional, with tons of extra storage that we found incredibly useful. There were a few small touches that we really appreciated, too, like the fact that they put liquid soap in the bathroom (we always pack our own because most cruise lines do not). The balcony was the obvious highlight of the room, though, as it fit not only the standard two chairs and small table, but a lounger, as well.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

[Nicole721]

Stephanie still wasn’t feeling great, so she took a nap while Mom and I set off to explore the ship. We started on deck six and worked our way up through all of the public areas. I love a little glitz and glam, so I thought the Getaway was absolutely stunning. Themed after Miami’s South Beach, the ship shows that SoFlo influence throughout, but especially outside on the Waterfront, a wraparound area similar to the Ocean Plaza onboard the Carnival Vista, with restaurants, bars and viewing areas. Sailing through the Baltic Capitals on a ship that was designed in homage to South Beach felt kind of hilarious, but the ship was beautiful and huge and offered plenty to keep me busy with, so I certainly wasn’t complaining about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

By the time we got back to our cabin, all of our luggage had been delivered and we had a solid hour to unpack before we had to go to muster drill. Though the closet seemed small, it was designed well and we had plenty of room for the three of us to settle in.

 

 

Muster drill was quick and efficient, just the way we like it. Our muster station was in the Tropicana dining room, and all we had to do was scan in and sit at a table in the back. I’m pretty sure I dozed off for most of it. I still hadn’t kicked the jet lag. It was over as soon as it started.

 

 

The sail away party was moved into the lobby due to the pretty frigid temps outside. We checked it out for a few minutes before heading up to deck 8 and the Waterfront to check out the view of Copenhagen as we left. When we realized we’d have the same view from our balcony, we hightailed it back to the room.

 

 

 

 

When it came time for dinner, we decided to try O’Sheehan’s instead of the other options. The menus for the week were posted on the iConcierge app and we didn’t care for the main dining menu. Stephanie wasn’t in the mood for dim sum and noodles, so Shanghai was out and we all decided the menu for O’Sheehan’s appealed the most.

 

[Nicole721]

O’Sheehan’s is a bar slash 24 hour eatery onboard the Getaway, with tons of fun (they have a bowling alley and ski ball!) and a menu full of bar food favorites (think chicken wings, nachos and six different burger and hot dog options). We were a little surprised at just how good the food was (the cheesecake dessert might be the best cheesecake I’ve ever had at sea. It was, like, real cheesecake. Not that weird gelatinous kind you usually find on cruise ships).

 

Nachos

 

Warm Spinach & Artichoke Dip

 

Open Face Turkey Sandwich

 

Fajitas

 

Strawberry Pound Cake

 

Brownie Cheesecake

[Nicole721]

The entertainment for the evening was a Welcome Aboard show, hosted by our Cruise Director, Silas. He introduced the senior cruise staff and the entertainment crew, played some games with the audience and then emceed a preview of a few of the different shows and entertainment options for the week ahead. If this show was any indication, we were going to have our pick of great entertainment all cruise long!

 

 

 

 

 

We called it a night after the show, probably earlier than we ever had on a cruise vacation before. We had an early morning planned in Warnemünde (one that required getting off the bus right after we docked to begin a three hour drive to Berlin!) and with all of the crazy touring we did in Copenhagen and all of the fun things we wanted to try on the Getaway, we got our rest in early so we could have our fun for the next nine days.

[bmwman]

Day 2: London to Copenhagen

 

 

We almost missed our flight. I never say that. That never happens to us. We’re the ones at the gate 45 minutes before boarding watching the people who are late run for it. We’re not the people doing the running.

 

((Well, we had a little buffer room, and we were speed walking to be more accurate, but we came closer than any of us ever want to))

 

You may be sitting at your computer thinking to yourself “Nicole, how do you almost miss a flight when you spend the entire night at the airport?” Funny thing…

 

So Heathrow is like, really big. And we’ve only been there once, so we’re not entirely used to the spacing of the terminals, the layout of the gates or the policies and procedures of traveling through. We left Caffe Nero around 4:30 am – the Heathrow staff who accompanied us to the arrivals area the night before had told us that the Heathrow Express (a complimentary train service that will take you from terminal to terminal) begins between 4:30 am and 5:00 am. It definitely begins just before 5:00 am, but that’s not to say the first train of the day is there at 5:00 am. In fact, the trains don’t go to both T4 and T5, either. There’s a T4 train and a T5 train. And they only run sporadically. Ours was on the arrival board for 5:27 am, which set us into a frenzy – our flight began boarding at 5:45 am and we had to go through security and find our gate.

 

We didn’t know Heathrow well but we knew it well enough to know that it can take up to 20 minutes to walk to your gate. Our tickets had time frames for us – we had to be through security by 6:00 am and boarded by 6:15 am. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to us to think that taking the train to our terminal an hour and a half before our flight would cut things close, but I guess we’re just so used to fast tracking it through O’Hare. Thankfully, the arrivals board was wrong and there’s an announcement that a train will arrive at 5:12 am, right after a train that wasn’t boardable and a train to T4.

 

 

 

The train arrives at precisely at 5:12 am. I guess the Brits have train arrivals down to a science. The ride only takes four minutes, a relief because I was under the impression it would take 15. We have to take an elevator up – you can’t take the escalator, has to be the elevator. We have our tickets from the agent at O’Hare, but I want a new ticket so we can get our gate information. The kiosk can’t find our reservation, but that's fine because we already have paper tickets. We proceed to security with our original tickets and are turned away because they’re too busy. At 5:30 in the morning. That never bodes well. They send us across the departures area to the South security gate. We enter the queue and are immediately flagged – we can’t proceed through security with the tickets the gate agent gave us in Chicago. We need new tickets after we pass through the border agent (…even though we definitely passed through customs when we arrived a few hours earlier). The border agent prints us new tickets and we go into security at the South gate, which, thankfully was not nearly as busy as the North security gate was. I get flagged for random testing on my shoes. Mom gets flagged for random testing on her bag. We keep trekking until we meet the sign that says a walk to our gate would take 20-30 minutes, because we’re near the A gates and, of course, our plane is at a gate at the end of the C gates. There’s rail service to the B and C gates and thankfully it comes quickly – but they then do a surprise security check, where a single agent goes through every car of the shuttle. That takes a bit. Our flight boards in seven minutes. We make our way onto the rail and through the B gates, finally to the C gates. We haul up two escalators and power walk to the second to last gate in the terminal, and we arrive exactly at 5:45 am.

 

…and we arrive only to find out the flight attendants were running late and boarding would begin about ten minutes late. So a few action items here: if you come in the night before and have a flight first thing the next morning in another terminal, find a way to that terminal the night before. And two, always check in at Border Patrol before you go through security. Oh, and also give yourself an extra half hour to navigate your way through the iron and crystal maze that is the Heathrow departures area.

 

 

We boarded our flight to Copenhagen and found ourselves in a row of seats with no air nozzles. Why do a few rows of BA planes not have air nozzles? It’s a mystery, but we’re all overheated from our relay race through Heathrow. We were also too tired to care at that point and I passed out sometime in between the captain announcing our flying time (a brief 1 hour, 20 minutes) and the flight attendants coming through the cabin to present the items you could buy duty free onboard (side note: it’s amazing how much time they have for things like this now that British Airways doesn’t serve so much as a free glass of water anymore. Two years ago, we got a full meal, complete with complimentary libations. Now, you have to pay for water). I woke up as we began our descent into Copenhagen, re-energized from my hour-long power nap.

 

 

The review is wrong of British airways. Water is free so please get your facts right.

 

Not sure why you had to rush at terminal five. The transfers run all night and there is no need to wait for the first train. (Taxi?

[fastpitchdad]

The review is wrong of British airways. Water is free so please get your facts right.

 

Not sure why you had to rush at terminal five. The transfers run all night and there is no need to wait for the first train. (Taxi?

 

Actually, you do have to pay for everything intra-European including bottled water which is quite a change from how it used to be when even alcoholic drinks were free and you got a small meal.

[EllieinNJ]

Thanks for this review. We are doing this cruise on the Breakaway in May.

[Pandot]

Loving your review Nicole! Thanks so much for sharing!

[debenson0723]

Ours was in May, too! When did you sail?

 

I was on the May 25th sailing (boarded May 26th in Germany). After reading further, I realized we were not on board at the same time as our CD was Andre. :)

[HolySpearit]

Following along, we're doing land based to Europe this year but I'm looking forward to seeing the ports and this cruise is on my bucket list so I am loving reading along! :)

[fabnfortysomething]

assuming you will be sailing NCL in the future so a couple of heads up

 

if you board before cabins ready there is usually a place to check your hand luggage-on these size ships usually Headliners/Howl at Moon venue

 

yes they try to usher everyone to the buffet and you said you were happy with it

however it can be a madhouse on embarkation day

at least one main dining room will be open and usually pretty empty because most people are directed to buffet and that can be a relaxing way to start especially if you get a window seat

O Sheehans is also open and nice to sit having a meal whilst people rush throughthe central areas in typical first day frenzy

[Clarea]

Enjoying the gorgeous photos, thanks much!

[abcmom123]

Loving the review! Hope to do a Baltic cruise one day. I lived in Copenhagen for a semester and really enjoyed your photos. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

Nicole ~ glad to see you posting here, your peeps have been waiting for this! I was on the May 25th cruise ( Hi Deb!) so am reliving my experience through you. Glad to hear the Little Mermaid wasn't worth going to see as I missed it when the canal cruise I was going to take wasn't possible due to my friend not finding my hotel!

I had no desire to ever see Copenhagen but was really impressed with it, especially Tivoli Gardens where we couldn't stay up to see the fireworks either.

I love those crunchy onion bits seen in some of your photos, yum.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your trip as I know it's an amazing cruise!!

Thanks for doing yet another review with gorgeous pictures.

Sure hope you try another NCL cruise, possibly the Bliss Panama Canal one in November, a great month to miss part of living in the Great Lakes area.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[Nicole721]

Thanks for this review. We are doing this cruise on the Breakaway in May.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did!

 

 

Loving your review Nicole! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Thanks for reading along! :D

[Nicole721]

I was on the May 25th sailing (boarded May 26th in Germany). After reading further, I realized we were not on board at the same time as our CD was Andre. :)

 

You were the cruise right after us, then! :)

 

 

Following along, we're doing land based to Europe this year but I'm looking forward to seeing the ports and this cruise is on my bucket list so I am loving reading along! :)

 

Ports coming your way! Where in Europe are you heading this year?

[Nicole721]

yay another Nicole trip report! *subscribing* your reviews are part of the reason I'm so excited for my Greek Isles cruise this fall.

 

Awww that makes me so happy!!! :)

 

 

assuming you will be sailing NCL in the future so a couple of heads up

 

if you board before cabins ready there is usually a place to check your hand luggage-on these size ships usually Headliners/Howl at Moon venue

 

yes they try to usher everyone to the buffet and you said you were happy with it

however it can be a madhouse on embarkation day

at least one main dining room will be open and usually pretty empty because most people are directed to buffet and that can be a relaxing way to start especially if you get a window seat

O Sheehans is also open and nice to sit having a meal whilst people rush throughthe central areas in typical first day frenzy

 

Thanks for the tips! Will definitely come in handy on our next NCL cruise :)

[Nicole721]

Enjoying the gorgeous photos, thanks much!

 

So glad you like them!!

 

 

Loving the review! Hope to do a Baltic cruise one day. I lived in Copenhagen for a semester and really enjoyed your photos. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Thank you! :)

[Nicole721]

Hi all!

 

Nicole ~ glad to see you posting here, your peeps have been waiting for this! I was on the May 25th cruise ( Hi Deb!) so am reliving my experience through you. Glad to hear the Little Mermaid wasn't worth going to see as I missed it when the canal cruise I was going to take wasn't possible due to my friend not finding my hotel!

I had no desire to ever see Copenhagen but was really impressed with it, especially Tivoli Gardens where we couldn't stay up to see the fireworks either.

I love those crunchy onion bits seen in some of your photos, yum.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your trip as I know it's an amazing cruise!!

Thanks for doing yet another review with gorgeous pictures.

Sure hope you try another NCL cruise, possibly the Bliss Panama Canal one in November, a great month to miss part of living in the Great Lakes area.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

 

You're always so kind to me! :D And another NCL cruise is definitely in our cards. The Panama Canal would be a dream (we've cruised to Panama, but never through it). I'm really pushing for the Canary Islands + Morocco itinerary next winter because I'm dying to visit Morocco!

 

 

((And honestly, I think the Little Mermaid statue is the most overrated attraction in Copenhagen. It's out in the middle of nowhere, it's tiny and I hear there's always a hoard of people trying to crowd around to take pictures of/with it. You didn't miss a thing!))

[Nicole721]

Day 6: Berlin

 

I had mixed feelings about visiting Germany.

 

There’s so much history and I always get super excited to walk on the sites of major historical events. Like really excited. In a totally nerdy way. But on the other hand, so many terrible things have happened in Germany that shaped the history of our family, that visiting just felt a little…heavy. My historical imagination can run a little strong sometimes. Ultimately, though, I couldn’t judge a country for the actions of leaders of their past – I certainly wouldn’t want people to miss experiencing the beauty that lays within our United States because of the decisions our leaders have made. So I went into Germany with an open mind and a hopeful heart.

 

 

The Norwegian Getaway was scheduled to dock in Warnemünde around 7:30 am, so we had an early morning wakeup to get ready for our tour. We grabbed a quick breakfast up at the Garden Café (which, if it wasn’t at capacity, must have been close because finding a table indoors was just about impossible) before trying to figure out how to get off the ship.

 

The Getaway has gangways on both the forward and the aft of the ship, and no one (including the crew) knew which one (or if both) would be used since this was the first time the ship was docking in Warnemünde. We tried to wait it out with others on deck 5 (since everyone would disembark on deck 4), but eventually, they cleared it out and sent everyone up to the public areas on deck 6 and above. All clear to disembark didn’t come until around 7:45 am, after the ship had been cleared by local authorities and both the forward and aft gangways opened.

 

For the past 13 years that we’ve been cruising, we’ve only ever booked shore excursions through the ship. That extra protection of having the ship waiting for us loomed large, especially on European itineraries where the destination city was hours away from the port. But we’ve come to realize that excursions offered through the cruise line bring limited options (especially on this Baltics itinerary) and we’d get better options and much better value booking privately. Stephanie found SPB Tours on TripAdvisor, where they have a pristine rating and thousands of reviews, so we took a chance and booked a tour of Berlin through SPB. The tour cost us $105 a person where a comparable tour offered through the ship was more than $300, and we received an additional discount for also booking our St. Petersburg tours through them.

 

After we exited the passenger terminal, we made our way to the parking lot per the directions SPB had sent us and found a large SPB sign with our driver, Norbert, who was waiting to check us in. We were directed to a large, comfortable bus while the rest of our tour group checked in – there were around 24 people in all – before beginning the drive to Berlin.

 

 

Berlin is a three hour drive away from Warnemünde, and Norbert informed us that our tour guide would meet us at our first stop inside the city. He passed out some pamphlets and maps and explained that we had a three hour drive ahead, but that we’d be making a stop around two thirds of the way to our destination. Three hours sounds like a lot one way. It is a lot. I can fly to New York from Chicago and back home again in less time than it takes to drive to Berlin from Warnemünde. But the drive passes quickly in a sea of golden flowers outside the window and zippy cars driving alongside us. The time didn’t matter anyways -- just about everyone on the bus was asleep by the time we pulled onto the autobahn.

 

 

 

Norbert pulled off the highway into a gas station for a ten minute break when we were about 45 minutes away from Berlin so we could grab a snack inside the McDonald’s, use the facilities (a €0.50 charge), get Euros from the ATM or buy snacks in the convenience store. It was too early to explore the offerings of a German Mickey D’s, but I withdrew some extra Euros from the ATM and stocked up on some essentials (read: two shots of Underberg and a bag of Haribo gummies) before we hopped back on the bus to complete the final leg of the drive.

 

 

The landscape outside of our windows shifted from green and yellow farmland to urban cityscapes and we knew we were close. Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium, where we were met by our tour guide for the day, Heather, as well as one of the owners of SBP Tours who wanted to personally greet and welcome us to Berlin and assure us we were in capable hands for the day with his best guide. And it wasn’t a joke – Heather is probably one of the best tour guides we’ve ever had. She’s an American expat from Pennsylvania who moved to Germany when she was studying abroad in college and fell in love with the city, opting to move there and continue her education abroad and has been living there ever since. Her love for the country and its historical significance in the world resonated through every factoid and story she told us and in the way she approached sharing the history of the city. She made sure we had plenty of time to take pictures at every stop (always important for me!) and was just such a pleasure to spend the day with.

[Nicole721]

So our tour began at the Olympiastadion Berlin, home of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Located in the former West Berlin, the stadium held a record attendance of 100,000, but nowadays, because of laws and regulations around arena capacity, holds just under 75,000 and is currently used for sporting matches (mostly soccer).

 

 

We hopped back on the bus for a tour of the former West Berlin, driving through the affluent neighborhood of Charlottenburg, past the palace built as a summer home for the Prussian Queen Sophie Charlotte, the zoo and the Berlin Victory Column on our way to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

 

 

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was the second formal stop on our tour, a protestant church on the Kufürstendamm that was built sometime in the 1890s. A bombing raid damaged the church in the early 1940s, but instead of repairing or leveling the old church, it was preserved as a memorial and a new church was built adjacent to it, with gorgeous blue stained glass windows that Heather urged us to go see in person.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Heather gave us a half hour of free time to explore the Breitscheidplatz, to visit the church or the small makeshift memorial nearby in tribute to the victims of the Christmas Market attack last winter (when a truck was driven into a crowd of people visiting the market – the most popular one in the area – killing 12 and injuring 56), visit a nearby currency exchange to ensure we had Euros for our visit, shop in a nearby mall or visit the Starbucks down the street.

 

 

 

We started with a walk through the church and a visit to the memorial before hitting up the souvenir store to pick up some momentos and spending the rest of our time sitting in the square, observing the goings on around us. Berlin is probably one of the more modern European cities we’ve visited and the Breitscheidplatz could have been State Street in Chicago or Herald Square in New York – just a ton of shopping and chain restaurants (to the likes of Forever 21, H&M, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and even KFC).

 

 

 

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was our last stop in West Berlin. From there, we began our drive into the former East Berlin and stopped for our first walking tour, right outside of the Reichstag, where Heather stopped us to show us pictures of what the Reichstag looked like before World War 2 and after, so we could compare it to how it looks today.