Live from eclipse 8/18 Baltic

[ghstudio]

C2 deck 10

 

 

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[gordylad]

thanks for all the updates

[ebslcc]

Notes from our final ports

 

18th Day 1 Amsterdam - 17:00

19th Day 2 At Sea - -

20th Day 3 Rostock 9:00 23:00

21st Day 4 At Sea -

22nd Day 5 Tallinn, Estonia 10:00 18:00

23rd Day 6 St. Petersburg 7:00 -

24th Day 7 St. Petersburg - 18:00

25th Day 8 Helsinki 8:00 17:00.

26th Day 9 Stockholm 9:00 16:00

27th Day 10 At Sea - -

28th Day 11 Copenhagen 10:00 18:00

29th Day 12 At Sea - -

30th Day 13 Amsterdam 6:00 -

 

Day 9 Stockholm 9:00 16:00

• For our itineary on the Eciplse we only had 7 hours in port :(!
  
• We were docked at the closest port to town at S167 STADSGÅRDEN right next to the Viking Line Terminal.
  
• Celebrity did not have a shuttle to town as originally suggested when we inquired at the Shore Excursion desk a few days before we were in Stockholm.
  
• It's a ~40 minutes / 2 miles walk from the S167 port to the edge of Old Town.
  
• #53 Bus goes from the Londonviadukten bus stop to Old Town in about 15 minutes however with the Stockholm transportaion system you have to have a ticket on hand to get on the bus and the tickets can only be purchased at Metro stations, ticket booths, newsagents, or 7-11 stores.
  
• There were many "recommended" taxis in the parking lot as we exited however the dispatcher kept rasing the price from 35 Euros to 45 Euros!
  
• We called for an Uber which got us to Old Town in ~10 minutes. We had booked a Stockholm City walking tour starting at the Old Town Metro Station.
  
• The City Marathon diverted our tour and we miss seeing the City Hall. The tour was pretty good but wasn't the best. This was the only time we got a little drizzle during our entire cruise!
  
• After the tour we went back to Old Town, saw parts of changing of the guards and walked around before heading back on #53 bus to the ship (we got a bus ticket at 7-11 in town).
  

Day 11 Copenhagen 10:00 18:00

• The Eclipse docked right along side the P&O Acadia at Langelinie, Langeliniekaj. It is an easy 10-15 minutes walk from the dock to the Little Mermaid Statue and around 20 minutes to the Metro.
  
• There ware NO taxi at or waiting outside walking down from the port area!
  
• Celebrity offer a shuttle however it does not go too far beyond the Nyhavn harbour for $20 round trip.
  
• We started walking with others on foot towards town and the metro station.
  
• We saw about a dozen people lined up for the #26 Bus. One fellow passenger said he read that we can paid with equivalent Euros per Rick Steves guidebook.
  
• We got 4 Euros ready. The bus came on time. When we gave the Euros the bus driver didn’t want to deal with it and just waved us through.
  
• We got to the City Hall Square in about 20 minutes, plenty of time before the Grand Tour of Copenhagen which was excellent.
  
• On the way we saw the Royal Guards in their red and gold uniforms riding near the bus towards the palace as pictured here: https://*******.com/ybaycj3j
  
• The tour ended at the Amalienborg Palace. The extra security was very visible. Our guide told us to keep our eyes out for the queen!
  
• From Amalienborg we walked to see Rosenburg Castle (15 minutes walk) then back to Nyhavn harbor.
  
• We took the Netto 1 hour canal ride. The canal ride was good: we recognize some of the same sights as we saw the walking tour and more including a preview of the Little Mermaid statue from the boat. We also saw the navy boats in the canals. We think that the canal tour was well worth the time and the 50 Krr (vs 90? From their competitor at the center of Nyhavn).
  

.

.. and the big finale 3x

• At the Nyhavn harbor there were police in motor cycles and a Rolls Royce just with the driver passing by after we got off the Netto. We walked along the narrow (1 1/2) feet sidewalk on the right side of the harbor. I was taking photos of the harbor and turned around and my backpack hit Macron’s wife as she squeeze by!!! I didn't realize it was Marcron until looking her up on Google.
  
• After checking out the store around Nyhavn we walked along the water front towards the Little Mermaid statue.
  
• At the Amalienborg Palace the fountain outside was now turned on! There we saw again Macron’s wife and now with the Dutch princess. They probably just picked up the princess at the Palace since we didn't see her at Nyhavn.
  
• We walked for another 15 minutes to the Little Mermaid. After another few minutes Macron and the princess shoes up to see the statue! It was around 5:10 PM. Security was not tight around them. We were just 3 feet from them!
  

• We were back on the ship right at 5:30 pm. We were not the last to board.
  
• It was a very fun memorable day!
  

Disembarkation today was pretty smooth. Thanks to Jane's tip on CC we walked right off the ship with our suitcases. It was definitely much faster than waiting for our number to be called. We had a little confusion as we got off the ship: where we get off the ship is actually in the terminal building NEXT to where we got on the ship! There is a "Meeting Point" just cross the drive into the Terminal embarkation building.

 

We are now on our 3 days Amsterdam post cruise adventure. As planned we went to Zaandam and Zaanse Schans (Windmill) today. See my previous posting on Cruise Critic https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56713937#post56713937 It is a very easy 15 minutes train ride from Amsterdam Central!. In Zaandam we walked the main street half way and then went one block over to the farmer's market. At the end of the street we turned down to the river and saw a big boat pushed by a tug boat through the locks on River Zaan. It was a beautiful day to visit Zaanse Schans. Thanks to a tip from our new friends on the cruise we found the only pancake restaurant in Zaanse Schans and had very tasty Dutch pancakes for lunch. We had many samples at the Cheese shop. Our luggage home is now a few pounds heavier! We walked to the last Windmill and found a small boat ferry that goes across to the other side of Zaanse Schans for 1 Euro. The boat is operated by not for profit volunteers. 1 Euros is a one way ride. Funds earned benefit local projects. The operator suggested walking along the streets on the other side of Zaanse Schans. It was a very pleasant surprise how nice and peaceful the old neighborhood is. It was a big contrast to the crowds just across the river. We stopped by the De Cacaoboom chocolate and ice cream shop for a break and struck up a good conversation with the very friendly owner. We ended up relaxing there until she closed her shop after 5.

 

Tomorrow's plan: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56713967#post56713967

[ghstudio]

Debarkation was perhaps the easiest of any of our cruises. We were in group 1 (early flight), we walked off, our bags were in the group 1 area and we just walked out to a waiting taxi. Less than 15 minutes from the time we left ship and got in our taxi.

 

OTOH, Schiphol Airport was far less organized. We were on American, but I suspect the confusion may have effected others as well. We printed out boarding pass on the ship...which confused them. We were priority and they sent us to the wrong line. We could check in one bag automatically, the other was rejected so get in another line (no idea why it was rejected, it was the smaller, lighter one) We wanted to check for extra legroom seats, they said there weren't any on this type of plane (wrong). When we got to the gate, I checked to see if there were any extra space seats...there were...and I moved us.Then, of course, American uses busses to get to the plane at schiphol...so you are going down and up stairs with your carry on bag....I have no idea how they get anyone in a wheelchair into that plane. I guess in another cost cutting move, American must save money if they keep the heat in the cabin low....I was wrapped in a sweater and two blankets still cold and had cold air blowing on me with no way to control it on this particular 767...one blower speed, one temperature serves all....well, of course the temperature depends on where you sit...it's not even.

 

But the important thing is that we had a great cruise...met some really nice folks...and returned safely.

[Mr Sea Gull]

I have asked on the Who's on board thread who the current CD is on the Eclipse but no replies. If possible and you have just returned from the Eclipse could you please update the main staff on the Who's on board thread please as it hasn't been updated in a while.

 

Thanks

[ghstudio]

I have asked on the Who's on board thread who the current CD is on the Eclipse but no replies. If possible and you have just returned from the Eclipse could you please update the main staff on the Who's on board thread please as it hasn't been updated in a while.

 

Thanks

 

CD is giuseppe

[Mr Sea Gull]

CD is giuseppe

 

Thank you