“LIVE” 12 Night Scandinavia & Russia Cruise on Reflection - August 25th, 2019

[Mercruiser]

9 hours ago, FirstTeacher said:

 

We’re doing this cruise next year at the same time (can’t wait!). How easy was it to get to this castle? I know the train station is right near the cruise port in Warnemunde, but is there a train that goes directly there? We were considering a simple trip to Rostock for the morning, then a return to Warnemunde for the afternoon. Is there anything else besides this castle at that train stop?

This is a two part trip by train .

1) Local train from Warnamunde to Rostock Hbf. About 30 minutes, leaves every 15 minutes.

2) Rostock Hbf to Schwerin Hbf. About 60 minutes, one train per hour.

 

From Schwerin Hbf, it's a 20 minute walk, or a 8 euro taxi, to the Castle. Once at the castle, you visit the beautiful grounds, visit the inside of the castle (signs in English), and take a 90 minute boat ride on the lake that surrounds the castle. You can also visit the town of Schwerin. It has many historic buildings and some other museums.

 

This is an easy and enjoyable  DIY excursion.

[Mercruiser]

You might want to read the descriptions of Schwerin and Rostock in the Lonely Planet Germany boom. They don't speak very highly of Rostock. We didn't go to Rostock, so I cannot say from personal experience.

[Mercruiser]

The boat company in Schwerin is https://weisseflotteschwerin.de/

[clj7181]

 

So the app is being temperamental on the ships WiFi but so it looks like I will be using the actual website to post.

As I catch up - I will start with the dailies

Here are the dailies and onboard booking offers that we got for Day 2.

 

[clj7181]

Here are the Dailies for Day 3 - where we were in port in Germany.

 

[clj7181]

Here is Day 4 - today - our 2nd sea day.

 

[OhioDogLover]

Enjoying your posts.  Thank you.  Have a great time.

 

Ohiodoglover

[karli_ratte]

Thank you so much for this review. We returned from this exact cruise only 2 weeks ago and I still miss the ship. We had such a wonderful time! Your review lets me relive it! 🙂

[clj7181]

Back to sea day #1 or Day 2.

 

we got up and walked for about 40 minutes on the track - it was a beautiful morning.

 

grabbed breakfast at the buffet - I haven’t taken any buffet pics - it’s a standard celebrity breakfast buffet.

 

headed to the cruise critic meet and great - there was a big crown and Frank said it was the most active one he has ever seen.  I will say this cruise does have an older demographic but so far a very active group - all the activities I have attended and seen seem to have more people then my prior Caribbean cruise.

 

I know I went to the Faberge talk - it was Boring and I took a nap.  The speaker even commented on the people dozing off.  He has no visual aids and keep repeating himself.

 

Next stop was the hot tub!  I took a spill getting out - my wet food hit the pool deck and down I went.  The waiter was there (I was getting out to grab my sea pass card) and almost immediately two more people who made sure I was fine and wanted to get a medic.  I did bruise a hip and slightly twist a knee - but survived and was able to bounce back.  About 20 minutes later another guy got out - also in his 30s and he fell down too (it made me feel a bit better).  So folks - be careful!!!  They need to put something down by the steps - it’s ridiculously slippery with wet feet coming off those steps.

 

Grab lunch at Mast Grill then showered then headed to the afternoon beyond the podium (I missed the morning one).  He talked about ports - honestly it was boring and got another nap.

 

 

Here are a few Amsterdam facts - I do want to know - what happens to all the lost bikes???

 

 

 

I dod grab a drink at the Martini bar before heading to dinner!

 

[clj7181]

Dinner we headed to the lawn club. 

 

Murano is my favorite - but lawn club feels the most like home.  I own these place mats (or something extremely similar) and the Libby mason jars with handles.

 

Here is the menu:

 

We did the BBQ chicken pizza and salad bar.

 

steak with vegetable kabob and Mac and cheese.  I was happy with my food.

 

 

Desert I got the blueberry cobbler (was a bit bland) and mom got the carrot cake - she liked it.

 

 

Overall we enjoyed lawn club and debated going back.

[clj7181]

Oops - forgot the pizza picture!  No Chicago style but still good.

 

The show was Vox Fortura - they were fantastic!

 

It was silent disco night and it looked to get a good crowd but this girl doesn’t dance and I closed my night out at world class bar.

[megfla]

Hope your spill doesn't impact the rest of your trip!

 

Glad to hear the talks are lending to your sleep schedule! 🤣

[megfla]

36 minutes ago, clj7181 said:

Dinner we headed to the lawn club. 

 

Murano is my favorite - but lawn club feels the most like home.  I own these place mats (or something extremely similar) and the Libby mason jars with handles.

 

Here is the menu:

 

We did the BBQ chicken pizza and salad bar.

 

steak with vegetable kabob and Mac and cheese.  I was happy with my food.

 

 

Desert I got the blueberry cobbler (was a bit bland) and mom got the carrot cake - she liked it.

 

 

Overall we enjoyed lawn club and debated going back.

I like their menu also...do they have heaters up there is it is cool?

[clj7181]

17 hours ago, megfla said:

I like their menu also...do they have heaters up there is it is cool?

 

It was nice when we’re up there so they didn’t have them on  - I did see some on the ceiling.

[clj7181]

Day -#3 - Warnemünde Germany

I debated about what to do for this port - I am a history nerd and knew I would want a couple days in Berlin - not hours.  The cost of the Berlin excursion via the ship were also pretty pricey and a long ways from port.  In the end - I decided to explore Warnemünde and Rocstock. For anyone else who has done Berlin or other excursion - please post all about them!  

 

Here was sailing in...

 

Building a cruise ship 

 

View from the ship

 

[clj7181]

First up was roaming around Warnemünde - it’s a pretty easy walk into town - I picked up a map for both towns with landmarks just past the train station that I used quite a bit.

 

First we walked out to the green lighthouse

 

Then we walked around the beach area - it was a pretty nice beach 

 

Then we walked around town a bit before heading to Rostock.  There were shops and restaurants along the street - it appears to be a beach resort area.

 

Next up - Rostock - For 6 euro you can get an all day train / bus / tram pass for the area.  I also paid $10 to activate my Verizon travel pass so I could use google / maps to get around.  It took about 20 minutes on the train then we transferred to a tram to get to city center.  Total trip with transfers from when we arrived at the train station to city center was about 40 minutes.

[megfla]

We did the ship's excursion to Berlin on our Baltic cruise a number of years ago.  It was a very long day with the 2.5 hour bus ride each way, but our guide was outstanding and we enjoyed it very much!

[clj7181]

We got off the tram at Neuer Markt and walked around a bit.  There was a big plaza with tents set up with vendors.

 

We went in and and saw St Mary’s Church.

 

We then walked up Kröpeliner - which is a pedestrian street with shops along it.

 

Next up was lunch - here is the exterior of the restaurant.

 

[clj7181]

Lunch - I was reading the port posts on cruise critic and Simone recommended this restaurant to someone else and though - what the heck - let’s go here. 

 

 

The waitress did hook us up with an English menu after we struggled to order beer - but we got it done! 

 

 

I ordered a breaded pork chop with a mushroom gravy and cheese then potatoes.  Mom ordered a pasta dish.  It was all really good and a ton of food - I couldn’t finish. 

 

 

 

We then walked over to look at the water before continuing our tour 

 

[clj7181]

We walked to the nearest tram station and took it back to Neuer Markt then walked to another church that was listed on our tourist map.

 

It was a scenic walk with cobblestone streets.  It’s a very quaint town.

 

 

 

here is the church’s exterior and what appears to be the renovated half and the un-renovated half.  There appears to be quite a bit of work going on in the church.

 

 

 

[clj7181]

 

We walked over to the next church - it was closed so here is an exterior shot.

 

Next we headed over to the university to see the city’s old exterior walls.

 

We were amused by the pay toilets - there were different Euro amounts listed - but neither of us speak German to figure it out.

 

There had been a few afternoon showers - but it was starting to look really ugly so we headed to the tram to get back to the train station.

 

It poured the whole way back and we got drenched getting to the ship - they did have towels when we got in.

 

Here is Warnemünde during a break during one of the storms.

 

We enjoyed our day wondering out the the two towns.  Next time I am in Germany I will try and make it to Berlin.

[clj7181]

We finished up our night with dinner in the Main Dining room - no food pics but I did get the menu.  We were at a table for 8 since it was just open seating due to no leaving port until 11 pm.

 

 

We got done another 9 so missed the 8:30 show - went up to Pub trivia and Karaoke started at 10 and decided to stay for that vs the the 10:30 show.  Vince was a rockstar - he even had a kazoos for the musical breaks and closed out with the activities staff.  I always thought I was a relatively smart person with a good knowledge of useless info - I have since learned I am awful at Celebrity Trivia.

 

After that headed back to world class for a night cap!  I love this bar!

[bikerunner]

My go to bar also.  Bullit infusion and there old fashion.  Will be enjoying them in nov on the reflection 

[H2OH!]

Great trip report!!  We are doing this itinerary August 2020....thank you for sharing.

 

amy

[hcat]

Great photos

Hope you are feeling better from your fall..how did food get near the hot tub?

 

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time!