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

[Nicole721]

Once we were out to sea, we headed downstairs to the Taste restaurant for dinner. I didn’t think the menu was great, but turkey night is Stephanie’s favorite meal on just about any ship and traveling with your family is all about making compromises (…or so I’m told...by my family). At the very least, because this was our first cruise with Norwegian, everything was new and different and that, in and of itself, made each meal (regardless of which restaurant we chose) exciting.

 

Vegetable Cream Soup

 

Spinach and Beet Salad

 

Bibb Lettuce Salad

 

Potato Gnocchi and Italian Sausage

[Nicole721]

Carved Whole Roast Turkey

 

Italian Meatballs and Orecchiette Pasta

 

Barbecue Mixed

 

After Eight Mint Chocolate Mousse

 

Honey Crème Brûlée

[Nicole721]

We took our obligatory walk around deck 8’s waterfront after dinner, something we did almost every night when the weather cooperated. We had beautiful sunny skies for most of this trip, and the temperatures were mild to very warm in port, but at sea, it was almost always frigid unless the sun was rising or setting and you were in the direct sunlight. Packing for this trip was a challenge in that regard – the swing in temperatures was nearly 30 degrees at some places, but on nights where we weren’t shivering in the outside air, we spent as much time as possible enjoying the water.

 

 

And just about as soon as we got back to the room, we all passed out. It was terrible. We did nothing but sleep just about every night. There were shows, shops, the casino, live music, plenty of evening entertainment, but we were so exhausted. We never got comfortable with the time change (which meant I was napping after dinner and then staying up until 2:00 am just about every night) and between the port intensive itinerary and the long days in these new cities, we were just exhausted.

 

 

Mom slept right through after dinner to the next morning. Stephanie and I woke up in time to check out the Glow party in the Tropicana. While Carnival may through better deck parties (sorry, NCL!), I was impressed by the number of people dancing and singing and enjoying the neon rave. Clearly I could use their tips on how to stay awake long enough to have fun on this cruise!

 

 

 

But after we left the party, Stephanie went back to bed and I bundled up to sit out on the balcony. The sun would set around 9:30 every night, but it wouldn’t actually get dark (or fully dark), and on one side of the ship, there would be this beautiful dusk that would last hours into the night. I would just lounge on the balcony for what seemed like hours, enjoying the colors in the sky as we sailed into the night.

 

[JP-MP 2]

Hi Nicole. I have just finished reading your journal. We are sailing the Baltics in August on Celebrity and cannot wait to experience everything. Thank you for your trip review, your tips and your narrative. It was a pleasure to read.

 

 

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[heliwoman]

NicoleThank you so much for taking the time to share this. I really appreciate it - we are doing this cruise in July. I have a few "technical" questions if you don't mind answering. 1) What time was kept on the ship? On the cruises I've been on, the ship time is the departure port time regardless of what it is on land but this cruise does 3 time zones so I'm curious as to what they do (I did note in one of your pictures the notice/alert about a time change). 2) what did you do for currency? Did you generally put everything on the credit cards? or did you have a handful of euros/kroners/rubles with you?

 

 

Your pictures look amazing. Where they all from your phone? or an actual camera?

 

 

Again thanks!

[momoftwo11]

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[cml4958]

Not Nicole, but the ship changes time to mostly remain on port time, if I remember correctly. And to your second question, we used Euro's mostly but had to get money in Sweden and Denmark, I think. We may have been able to use Euros or our credit card at the cafe in Russia but on the night tour, our guide paid for everything so we didn't need rubles.

[Nicole721]

Hi Nicole. I have just finished reading your journal. We are sailing the Baltics in August on Celebrity and cannot wait to experience everything. Thank you for your trip review, your tips and your narrative. It was a pleasure to read.

 

 

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Thanks for reading! :D

 

 

NicoleThank you so much for taking the time to share this. I really appreciate it - we are doing this cruise in July. I have a few "technical" questions if you don't mind answering. 1) What time was kept on the ship? On the cruises I've been on, the ship time is the departure port time regardless of what it is on land but this cruise does 3 time zones so I'm curious as to what they do (I did note in one of your pictures the notice/alert about a time change). 2) what did you do for currency? Did you generally put everything on the credit cards? or did you have a handful of euros/kroners/rubles with you?

 

 

Your pictures look amazing. Where they all from your phone? or an actual camera?

 

 

Again thanks!

 

Hi there!

 

 

1) We kept to local time in the ports. We had a few time changes, which is probably part of why we napped so much!

 

2) I ordered some krone/rubles/krona/euros before we left from a nearby Travelex for a couple of reasons, mostly because I wasn't sure how widely accepted US credit cards would be (especially because so many of these countries are on chip + pin and many US cards are chip only) and because I was worried with all of the currencies we'd need, visiting too many ATM's would result in my bank putting my account on security lock (which happens frequently when I travel outside of the country, even when I put travel alerts on my account). In the end, I didn't really need the currency because I can't remember anywhere (outside of local street vendors selling tchotchkes) that didn't accept credit cards or where my credit card didn't work.

 

 

3) Some of them are from my camera (a Nikon SLR) and some are from my iPhone :)

[Nicole721]

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Hope you enjoy! :D

[momoftwo11]

I definitely did enjoy and finished reading every entry. Even though I initially had no interest in this itinerary I was captivated by your gorgeous pictures and narrative. Makes me want to consider a trip to the Baltics. Now I'm going to go back and read some of your other reviews. Thank you so much!!

 

 

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[Captain-John]

Day 12: Stockholm

 

We went all the way to Stockholm and all I did was get some avocado toast.

 

Well, that’s not entirely true, but that’s how it felt. But let’s start at the beginning: our Norwegian Getaway docked in Nynäshamn just past 7:00 am. We had originally been slated to dock in Stockholm proper, but due to the ship’s berth (and the fact that there was another mega ship docked in Stockholm), we would have to dock in Nynäshamn instead. The dock in Stockholm is centrally located within the city. Nynäshamn is about an hour away. So while they extended our time in port for the day by an hour, our time was reduced by net one hour.

 

We didn’t book a tour in Stockholm. There is so much to do and see within the city that we didn’t feel the need. We reconsidered when we got the letter about the change in berths, but we ultimately didn’t book a tour since it’s fairly straightforward and easy to reach Stockholm from Nynäshamn on your own. The ship offered a transfer for $49/pp, but if you were willing to brave it on your own, you could take the train direct into Stockholm Central for less than $10 RT.

 

Thanks again for your review. I'm going to jump in on this point, as I'm afraid it's got my hackles up. I am on Breakaway doing this route in July, and I am under the impression we will be docking in Stockholm proper, per the below:

 

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY

2018-07-20 kl. 08:00

2018-07-20 kl. 16:00 S167 STADSGÅRDEN

http://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/

 

No matter the reason, if we can't make it into Stadsgarden and have to divert to Nynäsham, how on earth can NCL charge the outrageous price of $49 p.p. to bus us in, when we're supposed to be docking closer to town all along? If we can't make it due to another ship being in port (port schedules are published well in advance), why should the passengers foot the difference? By all means NCL should be offering a transfer but not charging for it! :mad:

 

Otherwise glad you enjoyed your cruise! :)

[mexico8]

My husband I did this exact same itinerary some years ago and it was nice to read all of these posts and it brought back some lovely memories. The pictures were great and I loved the pics of all the food on the ship. Thank you Nicole for all your posts that I so enjoyed.

 

I agree that NCL charging $49 pp. to get into town was outrageous - considering you should have been closer and they made the change. That was totally unfair.

[Nicole721]

I definitely did enjoy and finished reading every entry. Even though I initially had no interest in this itinerary I was captivated by your gorgeous pictures and narrative. Makes me want to consider a trip to the Baltics. Now I'm going to go back and read some of your other reviews. Thank you so much!!

 

 

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Aww thanks! So glad you've enjoyed it! :)

 

 

Thanks again for your review. I'm going to jump in on this point, as I'm afraid it's got my hackles up. I am on Breakaway doing this route in July, and I am under the impression we will be docking in Stockholm proper, per the below:

 

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY

2018-07-20 kl. 08:00

2018-07-20 kl. 16:00 S167 STADSGÅRDEN

http://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/

 

No matter the reason, if we can't make it into Stadsgarden and have to divert to Nynäsham, how on earth can NCL charge the outrageous price of $49 p.p. to bus us in, when we're supposed to be docking closer to town all along? If we can't make it due to another ship being in port (port schedules are published well in advance), why should the passengers foot the difference? By all means NCL should be offering a transfer but not charging for it! :mad:

 

Otherwise glad you enjoyed your cruise! :)

 

Yeah, we were pretty salty about it. I'm not sure why they would not have known we couldn't dock in Stockholm beforehand (they made an announcement a few days before our port day) since the MSC ship that was not a late add to the port schedule, but complaining to guest services wasn't going to get us anywhere (we talked to many people who said guest services offered nothing more than a we apologize for the inconvenience) so I just kind of framed it in my head as another reason to go back :)

[Nicole721]

My husband I did this exact same itinerary some years ago and it was nice to read all of these posts and it brought back some lovely memories. The pictures were great and I loved the pics of all the food on the ship. Thank you Nicole for all your posts that I so enjoyed.

 

I agree that NCL charging $49 pp. to get into town was outrageous - considering you should have been closer and they made the change. That was totally unfair.

 

I was a little surprised at the cost, too, but even more surprised at how many people booked it -- we saw the buses leave port (and come back) and they were all packed. Thankfully, we had internet access and a quick scan of these boards told us all we needed to know about taking the train :)

[alvin18]

Thank you Nicole for the great post and pics. We will be on this itinerary this May but will be on the Breakaway. We are looking forward to this vacation, we are pulling our kids out of school for this trip. Taking advantage of pass #3, #4 paying taxes only lol.. Also looking forward to our Mini suites with the fancier bathrooms!

[Captain-John]

Yeah, we were pretty salty about it. I'm not sure why they would not have known we couldn't dock in Stockholm beforehand (they made an announcement a few days before our port day) since the MSC ship that was not a late add to the port schedule, but complaining to guest services wasn't going to get us anywhere (we talked to many people who said guest services offered nothing more than a we apologize for the inconvenience) so I just kind of framed it in my head as another reason to go back :)

 

Yes, thanks to your review I'm going to start getting the train schedules from Nynäshamn, and put them up my sleeve with the hopes of not having to use the information, in case the same happens to us.

 

 

You have quite the positive mindset though, I couldn't promise I'd have quite the same outlook - I see it as a very cynical move by NCL - glad you didn't let it spoil your time there. :D

[TravelingAPor]

Hi Nicole, Sorry to see that you never reached the Vasa Museum & the Abba Museum. We went on the tour with Alla Tours, and saw the main attractions. This is your excuse to go back to the Baltics.

Your food photos are awesome and I keep thinking why didn't we eat that? It all looked so yummy.

Thank you for this journal. I'm seeing my cruise from another view and I love your trip, much better! :D

[K922]

Thanks for sharing. This cruise is on my list. I actually had it planned out in detail, but know I will get there some day.

[maryinFL]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos and descriptions. I'll be on this itinerary in September 2018 on the Breakaway. Someone shared a link to this on our private "other social media platform" group. I'm bookmarking it to review as we get a little closer. We are very concerned about jet lag so in addition to arriving in Copenhagen a few days early, we are spending a couple of days in Iceland pre-cruise. I'm hoping that helps us to gradually acclimate to the time differences. I feel like I need a nap now, lol.

[Nicole721]

Thank you Nicole for the great post and pics. We will be on this itinerary this May but will be on the Breakaway. We are looking forward to this vacation, we are pulling our kids out of school for this trip. Taking advantage of pass #3, #4 paying taxes only lol.. Also looking forward to our Mini suites with the fancier bathrooms!

 

I hope your cruise is as memorable as ours was! How wonderful that you're taking your kids -- we didn't travel much when we were younger and only really started going anywhere that wasn't Florida when Stephanie and I were in college. I like to think we're making up for lost time now :)

 

 

Yes, thanks to your review I'm going to start getting the train schedules from Nynäshamn, and put them up my sleeve with the hopes of not having to use the information, in case the same happens to us.

 

You have quite the positive mindset though, I couldn't promise I'd have quite the same outlook - I see it as a very cynical move by NCL - glad you didn't let it spoil your time there. :D

 

Oh I'm sure there were other motives from NCL, but you know. At this point, it was the end of our cruise, everything else had gone to plan, we had near perfect (if not slightly cold) weather and we still got into Stockholm so...I guess we're just going to have to do it again to cruise the archipelago ;)

[Nicole721]

Hi Nicole, Sorry to see that you never reached the Vasa Museum & the Abba Museum. We went on the tour with Alla Tours, and saw the main attractions. This is your excuse to go back to the Baltics.

Your food photos are awesome and I keep thinking why didn't we eat that? It all looked so yummy.

Thank you for this journal. I'm seeing my cruise from another view and I love your trip, much better! :D

 

That's exactly the mindset I took -- now we just have to go back to the Baltics ;) Mom and Stephanie are angling for a British Isles cruise next year (we're doing the Mediterranean this year) and I still want to do the Greek Isles and Morocco/the Canary Islands, but I wouldn't be surprised if we snuck it in sometime in the next few years :D

 

 

Thanks for sharing. This cruise is on my list. I actually had it planned out in detail, but know I will get there some day.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Nicole721]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos and descriptions. I'll be on this itinerary in September 2018 on the Breakaway. Someone shared a link to this on our private "other social media platform" group. I'm bookmarking it to review as we get a little closer. We are very concerned about jet lag so in addition to arriving in Copenhagen a few days early, we are spending a couple of days in Iceland pre-cruise. I'm hoping that helps us to gradually acclimate to the time differences. I feel like I need a nap now, lol.

 

Haha every time I think back to this cruise, I get a little sleepy ;) We added an extra day to our pre-cruise in Barcelona next month to help with the jet lag. It's hit Stephanie pretty hard the past two years and last year, it was pretty brutal for me, too (but I put some of that blame on the fact that we took a daytime flight instead of an overnight flight, which is a little easier to reset with).

[Nicole721]

Holy cannoli, I didn't mean to be away for so long! It's been a brutal few weeks at work. Thanks for hanging in there with me, guys!

 

Day 13: Sea Day

 

What do you do on a sea day that follows visits to six new countries over a span of nine days?

 

Nothing. You do nothing at all.

 

To be fair, too, the Freestyle Guide didn’t have a ton of activities for us to choose from anyways – a seminar with the captain, a trivia session, a wine and chocolate tasting – but after such a port intensive trip, with a week since our last sea day, we just wanted to relax.

 

And I had plans to do things. I did. I wanted to make a firm Paris itinerary so we didn’t spend four days gawking at the Eiffel Tower and roaming the aisles of Monoprix (which, if you know me well enough, you’d know that this was an entirely possible scenario). I wanted to read one of the books I’d brought with. I wanted to make a video of the public areas of the ship and maybe attempt the ropes course.

 

I did none of those things. Not one. In fact, I don’t even know where my day went. It’s amazing how you can spend a day doing nothing and how it becomes the quickest day ever.

 

To be fair, we didn’t do nothing. We just…didn’t do much. We were up early enough…8:30 am maybe. The high of the day was listed as 50 degrees on the Freestyle Guide, so I knew we were destined for a day of indoor fun. We ate breakfast every day in the Garden Café, so we figured with nothing else to do and no where else to be, we’d try something new and we had breakfast in the dining room at Savor. The quality of the food was generally on par with that of the buffet, but at the very least, we had different options to choose from.

 

Beverage Service

 

Pastries

 

Yogurt Parfait

 

Croque Madame

 

Traditional Buttermilk Pancakes

 

Omelet to Order with Hash Brown Potatoes

[Nicole721]

After breakfast, we headed towards the shops, where there was a big crowd hovering in the middle over watches and Russian souvenirs. I don’t know why people go crazy over watches on cruises. I never have. You can get better quality watches for cheaper at TJ Maxx or Nordstrom Rack, but every time there’s a watch sale, it may as well be Black Friday on a cruise ship. Oh, and can we talk about how they only had souvenirs from Russia on a cruise that visited six different countries? Royal Caribbean still carries the crown here – when we sailed the Med with them two years ago, they had different souvenirs from every country we visited.

 

 

 

 

We took the first of many siestas after our excursion to the shops. The television channels were limited (better than the selection on Royal Caribbean, worse than the selection on Carnival), with MSNBC, a couple of European news and sports channels, two kids channels and then two channels, one of US television favorites and one with US movie favorites, that cycled through the same movies and television episodes all cruise long.

 

Norwegian doesn’t have laundry facilities onboard the Getaway, a disappointment given how new the ship is, so the options for doing a little bit of laundry were limited to having it done by the ship or doing it Pinterest style – in a freezer bag with a small bottle of detergent that we had brought with us. It wasn’t ideal, but it got the job done.

[Nicole721]

The rest of the day passed by in a blur of packing, naps and random strolls around the Waterfront. And, speaking of the Waterfront, have we discussed the see through panels that allow you to look down over the side of the ship down to the water? I loved them.

 

 

 

 

When it came time for dinner, we only had one thing in mind: one last round of noodle soups at Shanghai’s, where the line stretched through the casino before the noodle bar even opened because the food was that good. We were seated up at the bar overlooking the kitchen, which provided ample entertainment as we waited for our spring rolls and fried rice.