Baltic Cruise Not Live Review--Voyager of the Seas June 15th-26th--with Pictures

[Danish]

1 hour ago, dritan said:

Enjoying the review so far - flying off to Stockholm to join the Voyager next weekend.  Really interested to hear about the options for transfer from ports to central town in Helsinki, Tallinn and Visby ( if you did those ones).

Interested in hear about the food and shows too 😉

For Visby and Tallinn you can either pay for for a transfer or take 10-15 minutes walk into town. Unfortunately, we did not went to Helsinki 😟

 

 

[ckmommy]

 

Day 4

Rønne Denmark

 

When we went to bed, we looked out the window and saw a beautiful bridge all lit up.  What a great way to fall asleep.  We were a little surprised about the route we were taking to Rønne.  We went north of Copenhagen then around the top of the island that Copenhagen is on.  It was a nice way to go, but far longer than needed.

We got up early this morning and went for a walk and then watched us park in the port.  What a cute little city that we could see on a hill just a little bit from port.  We went and got breakfast in the WJ—self serve.  Lots of choices.  Nothing that was a home run, but everything was good and filled us up for a day of exploring.

 

We did not have an excursion planned for today.  My sister heard about a museum that had Grandfather clocks in it.  So that was the plan.  We were not sure how long of a walk the town was from the ship.  Turned out that there were shuttle buses for free that dropped you off at a stop that was just a short walk up a hill to the town.

What a sweet little sleepy town.  Cute little homes, quaint shops and cobblestone streets.  We walked around the area with the homes, found some shops and then found the museum with the clocks.  It was a history museum and most of the information on the plaques was in Danish.  It was tough to figure out what was really happening.  We did find the clocks though.  I guess a boat had sunk with the clocks and the people of Rønne took the clocks apart and learned how they were made and started making there own clocks.  The company that made the clocks does not exist today though. Outside the museum there was an old WWII bunker that we found by accident.  There were bunk beds and a way to get outside air inside.  It pretty cool little find.

We went to the town center and found some ice cream and did a little more shopping own—there was a store on the corner of the town square that sold housewares.  It had the cutest ducks with boots on that were made in Denmark.  I wish I had bought one.  They were about $40.  We did a little more exploring then headed back to the ship.

Bus ride back was uneventful.  Headed to WJ for some snacks.  Walked around the Promenade and did a little shopping.  It was pretty cold today.  Breezy and temps in the 60’s.

 

Drinks in the Crowne Lounge followed by dinner.  Ate way too much, but, hey its vacation.  We did not go to the show, but my sister did.  She was not all that impressed.  We were exhausted and decided to listen to music in the Pig and whistle and then went to bed.

[ckmommy]

We walked to the town in Visby and Taillin.  We did the Hop on Hop off bus in Helsinki.  There are two companies that are right off the ship selling their service.  We got the City Sightseeing one.  It was terrible.  The other Hop on Hop off was much better.  Every time we hopped off our bus it was an hour before another would arrive.  Super frustrating and a waste of time.  The other bus company had more buses running.  If you do the Hop on buses beware!

[flamingos]

We found a  free tour in Visby, offered at 11 a.m. every day at the tourist information office. It looks like a reasonable walk from the pier.

 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, ckmommy said:

We were a little surprised about the route we were taking to Rønne.  We went north of Copenhagen then around the top of the island that Copenhagen is on.  It was a nice way to go, but far longer than needed.

 

You have to go that way due to bridge heights

[Saab4444]

9 hours ago, ckmommy said:

 

Day 4

Rønne Denmark

 

When we went to bed, we looked out the window and saw a beautiful bridge all lit up.  What a great way to fall asleep.  We were a little surprised about the route we were taking to Rønne.  We went north of Copenhagen then around the top of the island that Copenhagen is on.  It was a nice way to go, but far longer than needed.

We got up early this morning and went for a walk and then watched us park in the port.  What a cute little city that we could see on a hill just a little bit from port.  We went and got breakfast in the WJ—self serve.  Lots of choices.  Nothing that was a home run, but everything was good and filled us up for a day of exploring.

 

We did not have an excursion planned for today.  My sister heard about a museum that had Grandfather clocks in it.  So that was the plan.  We were not sure how long of a walk the town was from the ship.  Turned out that there were shuttle buses for free that dropped you off at a stop that was just a short walk up a hill to the town.

What a sweet little sleepy town.  Cute little homes, quaint shops and cobblestone streets.  We walked around the area with the homes, found some shops and then found the museum with the clocks.  It was a history museum and most of the information on the plaques was in Danish.  It was tough to figure out what was really happening.  We did find the clocks though.  I guess a boat had sunk with the clocks and the people of Rønne took the clocks apart and learned how they were made and started making there own clocks.  The company that made the clocks does not exist today though. Outside the museum there was an old WWII bunker that we found by accident.  There were bunk beds and a way to get outside air inside.  It pretty cool little find.

We went to the town center and found some ice cream and did a little more shopping own—there was a store on the corner of the town square that sold housewares.  It had the cutest ducks with boots on that were made in Denmark.  I wish I had bought one.  They were about $40.  We did a little more exploring then headed back to the ship.

Bus ride back was uneventful.  Headed to WJ for some snacks.  Walked around the Promenade and did a little shopping.  It was pretty cold today.  Breezy and temps in the 60’s.

 

Drinks in the Crowne Lounge followed by dinner.  Ate way too much, but, hey its vacation.  We did not go to the show, but my sister did.  She was not all that impressed.  We were exhausted and decided to listen to music in the Pig and whistle and then went to bed.

When you go South from Copenhagen the water east of Zealand is too shallow for such big ships so they all have to go North and then West around Zealand. 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

When you go South from Copenhagen the water east of Zealand is too shallow for such big ships so they all have to go North and then West around Zealand. 

 

Thanks, I always thought it was the Oresund bridge clearence

[dritan]

17 hours ago, Danish said:

For Visby and Tallinn you can either pay for for a transfer or take 10-15 minutes walk into town. Unfortunately, we did not went to Helsinki 😟

 

 

Great - walking it is then - good exercise for me and the kids 😉

[dritan]

12 hours ago, ckmommy said:

We walked to the town in Visby and Taillin.  We did the Hop on Hop off bus in Helsinki.  There are two companies that are right off the ship selling their service.  We got the City Sightseeing one.  It was terrible.  The other Hop on Hop off was much better.  Every time we hopped off our bus it was an hour before another would arrive.  Super frustrating and a waste of time.  The other bus company had more buses running.  If you do the Hop on buses beware!

THanks I'll look into this.  I went to Helsinki with work some years ago and went over to Suomenlinna island which was fun but will investigate that non City Sight Seeing bus as it sounds handy. 

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Thanks, I always thought it was the Oresund bridge clearence

Between Copenhagen and Peberholm there is no bridge but a tunnel. This part is too shallow for most ships. We once past there very carefully and slowly on Queen Victoria. Between Peberholm and Malmö there is the Öresundbridge that indeed has a lower clearance than the Storebeltbridge (Great Belt Bridge) and is not possible for big ships. 

[ckmommy]

Berlin/Warnemunde

 

It was an early morning wake up today.  We decided to book a tour on our own to Rostock.  My sister and her family did the ship tour to Berlin—they were meeting their tour at 7:30 am.

 

We did an early morning workout.  Just a little note about the workout room.  It was moved in the refurb.  The workout room is VERY small!!!  There is a small wall of portholes to look out while doing the elliptical or treadmill—I believe there were about 12 treadmills and 6 ellipticals—but don’t quote me on those numbers.  There so a small area with weight machines and free weights.  The still is a room for classes, but it is quite small.  The workout area is on deck 12 aft port side.

 

We grabbed breakfast in the WJ.  It was super crowded at 7 am.  At 7:20a the call came in that the gangway was open.  The WJ immediately cleared out.  There were only a handful of people left.  We went back to the room to shower and get ready for our day.

 

We met our guides right outside the port—about 100-yard walk.  We then walked to the train station—about 200 yds.  They got our tickets to Rostock.  It was about a 25 min ride on the train, then we transferred to a different train to get to the old city center.  Our guide, Dianna was from Russia and her husband grew up in Rostock.  He was 8 years old when the wall came down and saw a lot of history.  He said that he was well taken care of as a child and never wanted for anything.  But his parents had very few choices in Rostock and were forbidden from leaving the area.  He had great insight into what life was back in the 80’s.  A lifetime ago for him, but not really that long ago.

We had wonderful, sunny weather that day.  Dianna explained how a city was formed in the 1400’s—you needed a church, a wall, a city square and a town hall.  If you had all these things, you had a town.  She showed us the wall, the church the hall and the square for Rostock.  We walked around the town and saw a church that had apartments for anyone to rent in what is now the artist area of town.  We were told that the houses in this area (that are now very nice) were for sale in the 90’s for as little as $1000.  They were bought by the people in Eastern Germany and are now $500K. The people of Rostock did not have money to buy them in the 90’s.

A lot of the buildings in Rostock were built by the Russians and are very plain.  After the fall of Germany, the buildings have gotten facelifts—they have been painted and Gothic pieces have been added to the rooftops.

 

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a German Brewery.  Great beer and pretzels.  I made the wrong choice for my lunch (a French Pizza) but the rest of my family had better luck with their choices.

We walked through the college area of town.  Found a liquor store that sold a special bottle of Alcohol that my son wanted—then caught the first train back to the port.  While on the second train, Dianna explained that there are a ton of Ukraine refugees in Rostock.  There are whole apartment complexes set up for them.  It is really sad. She has tried to reach out to the refugees, but she cannot help them as much as they need.

When we got back to the train station in Warnemunde, Dianna gave us directions to the shops and the beach—which was just over the bridge.  We did some shopping, but nothing really stood out for us to buy.  The people in the shops did not speak English, so we made our shopping time short.  

Easy walk back to the ship.  We got back on board, got a drink in the Crowne Lounge and headed for dinner.  We knew my sister and her family were not going to make it back for dinner in the Main dining room.  We were all able to sit at one table tonight.  Enjoyed the cheese plate, escargots in rolls.  Our servers had all our drinks ready for us when we got there and did a great job taking care of our needs!

 

Met up with my sister and her family.  They had a great time in Berlin.  It was 3.5 hours there and 3.5 hours back.  The only had 3.5 hours in Berlin but loved it.  They were surprised by the size of Berlin and the how green (park like) it was.  It was a very long way to go for the day though.

 

Tonight was Bingo night in the Star Lounge.  We have never played Bingo on board a ship before.  So, tonight was a first for us.  My husband bought 15 cards—Yikes!!  Turns out that 10 cards is a lot for one person to keep track of.  Unfortunately, we did not win, nor did not husband find it fun to play—like I said, 15 cards was a lot…

 

After Bingo, we headed to the Royal Theatre to see the Barricade Boys.  They sang a bunch of broadway songs.  They were pretty good if you like that sort of music.

 

My husband and the boys decided that they wanted to go in the hot tub.  The wind had picked up and it was freezing outside.  They still wanted to go in.  They choose the hot tub closet to the ping pong table on the port side. They said the hot tub was not that warm—we would discover later that the hot tubs all varied in temps.  About midnight security came by and told the boys that the pools (including the hot tubs) were closed.  Oops, did not realize that.  We looked at the Cruise Compass and saw that they had closed at 9 pm.  So, a heads up to everyone on that.  

 

Just a couple of extra pictures of thins we saw:

My kids thought a vending machine with cigarettes was so weird.

Best things of the day:

 

Our Guide Dianna!

German Beer

Only a 30 min ride to Rostock

 

Worst things of the day:

 

15 Bingo Cards

Bad choice in lunch selection—my own fault!

[flamingos]

Thanks for the info. If you make it back to the gym, can you check on regular stationary bikes and recumbent bikes?  Thanks so much.

[red919]

Enjoying your review and loving all these great photos.

 

I have a few questions about the ship itself..

 

1.  Does Voyager provide electric kettles in your stateroom?

I've heard RCL provides them on cruises out of England and northern ports so am hoping to be able to make coffee/tea in my stateroom on my transatlantic in September.

 

2.  Do you know if they have reinstated traditional early and late seating?

We prefer traditional late seating where we are seated with fellow passengers for the duration of the cruise.  It's a great way to meet people and having the same waiters every night is a big plus.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[flamingos]

18 minutes ago, red919 said:

Enjoying your review and loving all these great photos.

 

 

 

2.  Do you know if they have reinstated traditional early and late seating?

We prefer traditional late seating where we are seated with fellow passengers for the duration of the cruise.  It's a great way to meet people and having the same waiters every night is a big plus.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

We have early seating, and it seems to be in dining room 3 and 4. Late seating, according to the app, is in Dining Room 4.  MyTime Dining is in Dining Room 3.

[red919]

Just now, flamingos said:

We have early seating, and it seems to be in dining room 3 and 4. Late seating, according to the app, is in Dining Room 4.  MyTime Dining is in Dining Room 3.

Thanks!...do you know if traditional seating includes being placed with other cruisers for the duration of the cruise or would you simply be assigned to your own table without other cruisers?

[flamingos]

5 minutes ago, red919 said:

Thanks!...do you know if traditional seating includes being placed with other cruisers for the duration of the cruise or would you simply be assigned to your own table without other cruisers?

I cannot answer, as we have travelled with friends since the restart and we had tables for our group.

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, red919 said:

do you know if traditional seating includes being placed with other cruisers for the duration of the cruise or would you simply be assigned to your own table without other cruisers?

That's up to you - you can request whatever you want (about 2-3 weeks out) via rcldining@rccl.com or on board.

[John&LaLa]

Guess our hostess is AWOL again😪

[red919]

7 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That's up to you - you can request whatever you want (about 2-3 weeks out) via rcldining@rccl.com or on board.

Good to know...Thanks!!

[KittyCruz]

On 7/1/2022 at 2:05 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Following along.  We do the 10-day cruise on July 31.

Same!!!

 

As Austinites we are loving the Texan perspective

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, KittyCruz said:

Same!!!

 

As Austinites we are loving the Texan perspective

 

The perspective of never finishing😉🤣🤣

[celticgirl]

I was enjoying this wee blog hope ck comes back to finish it 😊

[John&LaLa]

8 hours ago, celticgirl said:

I was enjoying this wee blog hope ck comes back to finish it 😊

 

I'd bet I finish my review for the Aug 10 sailing before that.