Review of Baltic 12 night on Navigator, 6/15-6/27/18

[Legowife]

Sibelius Park isn't very big and the monument is really the only attraction. We were probably only here for about half an hour.

 

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[Legowife]

The bus had to park a couple blocks away from the church. It wasn't until we parked that the driver explained there was a special service and the church was closed for the next hour and the bus was leaving in an hour.

 

We did get the option to not rebiard the bus and just take the Royal Caribbean shuttle several blocks away. We decided to do that since the shuttle would be free with our tour stickers.

 

This meant we needed to find some lunch. Due to midsummer, options were very limited, so we ate at McDonald's. We also browsed the local mall, which was mostly closed except for a coffee shop and a convenience store. The scary seagull head belongs to a museum that we didn't even try to see if it was open.

 

Fun fact, save your McDonald's receipt if you plan to use the restroom. It contains a code that you need to unlock the door.

 

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[Legowife]

A few pictures from the church. It seemed small, probably because we'd been visiting so many cathedrals!

 

They also had prayer cards in many languages, so we picked one up for a quick souvenir.

 

Them we hiked over to the shuttle and went back to the ship.

 

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[Legowife]

Had a nice dinner at Izumi, not very crowded. We had a dinner package and made all of our reservations the first day of the cruise. At Chops they said reservations fill up fast, but I feel like the rest of the restaurants were more flexible.

 

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[Legowife]

Day 10 - Sea Day

 

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[Legowife]

We actually didn't eat dinner in the MDR all cruise, preferring to grab quick bites in the windjammer or using the specialty dining when we wanted to enjoy a slower meal.

 

However, we did have a couple of lunches in the dining room and they were excellent. Here's a menu and a pic of one of the tasty desserts (Oreo cheesecake).

 

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[Legowife]

If you check the cruise compasses, you'll notice that Royal Caribbean has a "Russian Bazaar" almost every day. That's basically a few tables of lacquer boxes, eggs, amber jewelry and matroyshka dolls in the promenade.

 

Not sure how the prices compare to what you could buy in Russia, since we weren't really shopping for souvenirs. However, I did grab one of their brochures.

 

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[Legowife]

We passed a few windfarms while relaxing on the balcony. Thanks to Google and GPS, we're pretty sure this is the EnBW Baltic 2 Wind Farm.

 

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[Legowife]

2nd formal night (yes, only 2 formal nights even though it was a 12 night cruise), so we went to Chops.

 

We did not try the seafood tower, it was an extra cost, but looked interesting.

 

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[Legowife]

Not sure if all of the ships are using these door magnets now? I like them better than the little cards we used to leave in the key slot.

 

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[Legowife]

We went back under the Great Belt bridge again. Not sure if I can link to a youtube video here?

 

 

[jenks&co]

Thanks so much for this review It has made my mind up this will be my next cruise to book in 2020 x On NOS n September this year for Africa and canneries and was on her for the Italian med So it was great to get this amount of info on the ports Fingers crossed NOS will still be doing this cruise in 2020 xx Thanks Again Terrie

[meadowlander]

Thank you for the review. Helpful information and nice photos.

[Legowife]

Thanks so much for this review It has made my mind up this will be my next cruise to book in 2020 x On NOS n September this year for Africa and canneries and was on her for the Italian med So it was great to get this amount of info on the ports Fingers crossed NOS will still be doing this cruise in 2020 xx Thanks Again Terrie

 

Glad this helps! I didn't find too many reviews out there when we were planning, so I tried to pay attention to the things we weren't sure about to mention them here.

[Legowife]

Day 11 - Skagen

 

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[Legowife]

There's not a lot to do in Skagen. Royal only offered 4 excursions at this port. We decided to do our own thing.

 

We carefully mapped out a bike shop and checked our GPS while still onboard using the wifi to map out our path. And wouldn't you know it, there was a group renting bikes right outside the pier for $10/each. There was a bit of a wait since they were just unloading bikes from their van and then driving back to the store to get more.

 

We hopped on our bikes and grabbed a free map and headed to Grenen (the northern tip of Denmark).

 

 

 

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[Legowife]

It was about a 3 mile ride to Grenen. Then we parked the bikes to walk along the beach to the very tip of the country. The walk was a bit longer than we expected - took us about half an hour.

 

There were some signs about the wildlife, but we didn't see any. There was also a sign that seemed to indicate it was dangerous to go in the water, but plenty of folks were in there. It's neat to see where the two seas meet, so there are waves coming from both directions.

 

You can opt to take a ride to/from the tip (instead of walking) in a Sandorman shuttle. We decided this would be a good idea for the way back. They don't take credit cards, but they did estimate what the cost was in us dollars and charged us that.

 

There's a small building back at the parking lot for snacks and souvenirs. We stopped for some ice cream to get energy to bike back to town.

 

 

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Edited July 31, 2018 by Legowife

[Legowife]

We got back into Skagen and still had some time before we had to be back on the ship. We decides to check out the local shops. We were surprised how many were just clothing store. We also found the Lego store! Then we stopped at a grocery store to buy some candy and mail a postcard (I was surprised that the ship's service desk did not sell postage, so we had to hunt for post offices in a couple ports this trip)

 

Back onboard, it was cake night in the windjammer - yum!

 

That night was the Rock Brittania Street Party in the Promenade (70s party was earlier in the week).

 

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[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Great review! Very interesting ports and awesome pictures! Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

 

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[Legowife]

Day 12 - Sea Day

 

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[Legowife]

The disembarkation instructions seemed to be pretty typical of what we were used to (see photos). We chose walk off, since we were taking a tour after and didn't know if it would be a long line off the ship.

 

We wouldn't have much to declare, at least, our souvenirs consisted mostly of chocolate purchased at each of the ports!

 

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Edited July 31, 2018 by Legowife

[Legowife]

I dont have a lot of comments on the casino, as we really didn't play much. I prefer blackjack and the low limit tables were all paying 6:5. You could get 3:2 for $25 and up. Shame, since it was a smoke free casino and it's usually the smoke that keeps us away on other cruises.

 

They do have the point requirements for rewards in the flyer, if you're interested.

 

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[Legowife]

We didn't get the drink package this cruise due to the number of port days and the deluxe package for two for 12 days would have been well over $1000.

 

We were on the lookout for the infamous 10 drink cards, but alas, they were never offered on our cruise. However, we did take advantage of the wine discount you can get with the dinner package. You can get 40% off wine by the bottle when you have dinner (for bottles under $100). We'd have some with dinner and either have leftovers or buy a bottle to take back to the room.

 

 

 

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[ubarpants]

Great review! Appreciate the level of detail and all the tips. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[Alcairns]

An excellent and informative review. We were on the same cruise and in fact we were on the same shore trip in St Petersburg. (I apologise that the back of my partners head seems to have found its way into some of your pictures. ) the shore trip packed so much into the two days that could not have been done with bigger groups. You have not commented on the entertainment side which we found to be mediocre with the exception of the ice show. If only the singers and dancers could make it look like they were enjoying themselves as much as this ice dancers did!

 

PS what did your husband think of the price of Lego in Skagen?

 

 

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