Northern Europe?

[SantaAna,CA]

Has anyone done the Seabourn cruise that goes to Denmark and Russia? I'm looking ahead for 2008. Expensive cruise, but it looks exotic. Experiences?

 

Jane :rolleyes:

[blackbird71]

Has anyone done the Seabourn cruise that goes to Denmark and Russia? I'm looking ahead for 2008. Expensive cruise, but it looks exotic. Experiences?

 

Jane :rolleyes:

I have done the Baltic on HAL Statendam in 93. GREAT cruise. Save your pennies and do the flight into Moscow. LOL everybody needs to fly Aeroflot one time...

 

I did London -> Oslo Norway -> Stockhom , Sweden -> Helsinki, Finland -> St Petersburg Russia -> Rostock German (I think), -> Copenhagen, Denmark -> Amsterdam, Netherlands...

 

In Rostock we did a train day trip into Berlin. One of the two days in St. Petersburg we did a flight :eek: into Moscow...flying Soviet era airplanes is ya ya different. :D BB who has an inactive Multi-Engine Pilot's license will say the outside of the plane looked good. Inside was, however, cheap Mexican bus. No flight attendant, no need for silly safety briefing on silly yellow masks that would fall from the overhead...there were none... Something about an escape rope you had to find... Most ppl had seatbelts. The 6 foot something ACD and the 4'10" nurse didn't and he ended up on top of her on takeoff from Moscow. One passenger missed the only communication we had with the crew, the No Smoking sign, and was in the bathroom when we landed in Moscow.

 

We will not go into Russian bathrooms... But in 93 the thing I will always remember is the drink machine in the St. Petersburg airport. You have seen coffee machines where the paper cup falls down and into it goes your coffee. Well it is a little different in Russia. It is a metal can on a chain, you pick you drink and out it comes to the metal can and you drink it standing at the machine. When done, you put the metal can back in the hole and hit a button and out comes water to clean the can. NEXT.....

[SantaAna,CA]

Blackbird, that was quite a trip report! The coffee vending machine had me falling off my chair laughing.....

 

Jane :p

[blackbird71]

The drink machine is real and I watched a local use it. More info from my Russian Adventure.

 

This is from 93 and others may update changes.

 

Things to bring into Russia

 

A sense of humor You have to go with the flow and expect things not to work out smoothly. Example, at 10PM six+ buses sat ~ one mile from the Statendam, after our long trip into Moscow, for around an hour while a train crew sat and ate dinner. It was dinner time and they stopped their train blocking the only road to the port and the Statendam. Once back onboard the Statendam had their "Veranda Restaurant" open cooking steaks and things for a LATE dinner. We had last ate lunch in a hotel in Moscow. And yes Virginia there is really a Russian Mystery Meat. After one bite everybody stopped eating it. The wine and black bread was very good.

 

Expect not to find any TP in any Russian bathroom. It is very optional..

 

If you want milk/cream in your coffee bring it with you, International Coffee thingys. Standard saying was "This is Russia No Milk" including the hotel we had lunch in. :rolleyes:

 

Shots up todate, I just checked the CDC and Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis is still needed for Russia. In 93 you could not get off the ship without it and the Statendam doctor was giving them but not cheap.

 

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg is the world's third largest art museum and a must see.

 

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html

 

As for the other wonderful countries, this cruise is second only to my Amazon cruise for being my top ports of call cruise.

 

Outside of Russia everybody speaks English. In Sweden we ate lunch at the old Mickey Dees and as soon as we said something in English our the counter clerk started talking in English. OK this is a male thing but Mickey Dees has a restroom cleaning lady that you "tip" and while using a urinal she may be cleaning the one next to you :eek:

 

And if male do NOT plan to stay extra days in Amsterdam with two females (sister and mother) or they may drag you to every diamond store in town. :p We did do a local train to Rotterdam to visit an Ship's Museum to trace my mothers roots of the ship that brought her relatives to the US. Diamond stores, Rotterdam I saw BUT NOOOOO Red Light District ... :( But but I only want to look...

[bgood]

Hi SantaAna,

 

I sailed around up there for a whole glorious summer--but like BlackBird it's been awhile. I think you'll find big changes in St Petersburg in the decade-plus past. (When I went it was still Leningrad!)

 

Some memories of places:

 

Tallinn, Estonia is about the cutest town you'll want to see. Looks like something ourt of a fairytale, with turrets and towers, swallows spiraling around overhead and medieval old town center. You can walk the walls easily. There are crafts shops in the center( Handbound leather books are a local tradition) and a sprightly local citizenry. The towers have names, like "Fat Margaret" and "Peek-in-th-Kitchen." The Estonians are great music lovers and have huge choir festivals in season.

 

St. Petersburg is amazing and well worth the three days there. I finally realized a dream of childhood when I went to the Natural History Museum and saw the infant wooly mammoth they have in a glass case there--it was excavated out of Siberian ice and still had flowers in its mouth from the day it fell into a crevasse thousands of years ago. Most of the fur is even preserved.

 

Helsinki is a great town for shopping. The Esplanadi is a double street lined with the best Finnish designers--everything from clothing to furniture to jewelry--even if you don't buy it's awesome window-shopping.

 

Stockholm is gorgeous and again easy to get around. Seabourn stays overnight. The sail in through the archipelago is beautiful, too-with lots of sailboats and families hanging out at their island cabins. Great museums, palaces and parks, good shopping, too.

 

Warnemunde is the jumping off place for Berlin--where I've not been but everyone says one of Europe's hippest, smartest cities now. They also offer a flight to Prague from there.

 

Ronne is on the little island of Bornholm (Danish) which is a summer vacation spot for Scandinavians. They have lovely white, round churches and old castle ruins, fields of flowers and lots of bikes and backpacks. Their local specialty is smoked herring which is wicked good, they serve it with a raw egg--like the summer sun.

 

In short, the cruise is great for any number of tastes, or a combination--churches and museums, nature, folk culture, shopping, history, people-watching--it's all there.

 

bgood

[blackbird71]

Bgood I will not say how much money you cost me :eek: I will email you about something I did :)

 

Jane, also in Finland you will see one or more of The Other Company's mega ships being built.

 

As a sidenote: in theory BB can not go to China or Cuba due to a security clearance he had a zillion years ago. Also I can not go to the Soviet Union but Russia is OK :D Leningrad a no no St. Petersburg OK....

 

As for diving think DRY SUIT.....

[SantaAna,CA]

I am chomping at the bit....thank you both for the motivation to take this cruise. When I sail on the Pride in November, perhaps they will have the late 2008 itineraries by then. BB....I guess I'd be leaving my dive equipment home on this one!

 

Sounds heavenly!

 

Jane :)

[blackbird71]

But But Jane

 

 

http://scuba.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=scuba&cdn=sports&tm=10&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.osi.uio.no/dykking/

[bgood]

Actually, the Baltic's pretty warm in the summer---and if it was soup you'd add salt!

 

bgood

[PeaSea8ch]

I am chomping at the bit....thank you both for the motivation to take this cruise. When I sail on the Pride in November, perhaps they will have the late 2008 itineraries by then.

If history repeats itself, on or about March 30, 2007, all Seabourn itineraries through March 2009 departures will be available for booking. Last year I had my TA poised to pounce and book my 125% Single Run Of Ship Nov. Legend crossing and even though I will be on the Pride on March 30, my TA will be ready to book the Legend Nov. 2008 crossing for me to get the best fare.

 

I agree with blackbird and bgood that the Baltic was the best port-intensive cruise I have ever taken. In '95 I was on the Royal Viking Sun and we sailed from Copenhagen to Helsinki, St. Petersburg (3 full days there), Stockholm (overnighted there as well), Warnemunde, Gdansk, Poland, Kiel and the Keil Canal, Amsterdam and finally disembarking at Tilbury (London).

 

Every port was special but the standouts were: spending the better part of a day at the Hermitage (I was horrified while touring the museum they had the windows and drapes open with direct sunlight and the smog in the air on Rembrandts that were hunderds of years old :eek: :mad: ) , a special nighttime balet performance at the Hermitage Theater (the tour with flight to Moscow was not offered as I believe there were airworthiness issues with the domestic Aeroflot jets; also see Blackbird's comments earlier this thread).

 

Saw in Stockholm The Water Festival (an ecology conference) fireworks display at the conclusion of the event where the sponsoring country floated a barge to the middle of the harbor and electronically shot off about 1 million 1995 dollars of fireworks (we had a front row seat) for an awesome display! Riding the train into East Berlin and seeing the Brandenburg Gate, where "The Wall" and Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint Charlie had already been purchased by an American and delivered to him) used to be. Seeing the smiling faces in Gdansk where I was able to purchase some good amber stones. Sailing through the Kiel Canal where cars would stop and the people would get out and also school children along the way waving to us and saying "Halo, Halo."

 

While in Amsterdam thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Rijksmuseum (Seabourn-nail please correct my spelling) and in stark contrast to what I witnessed at The Hermitage, you could definitely tell by walking through the different areas, I could detect changes in temperature and relative humidity based on what was being displayed in each room (textiles versus paintings).

 

IMHO, booking a Baltic cruise is a wise and good travel and vacation investment! :) :D

[SantaAna,CA]

These boards are so great. Where else can you get such helpful feedback? I've been looking at the Panama Canal trip too....there is a 14 day cruise where, if you tack on a Mexican Riviera cruise before or after, I could actually either leave or depart from Long Beach. That would be convenient. The Baltic cruise is very expensive....so I'll have to think it over.

 

But thanks for the great reviews of the ports, etc. and BB...where DO you get these pictures?

 

Jane ;)

[T&T Vikings]

:) I can highly recommend the Norwegian fjords and the Baltic, both starting of in Copenhagen, we did it last year in July, by the way -the hottest summer in 100 years.

 

The Norwegian Fjords was indeed the best and most spectacular and you will see fantastic nature both in and out of the fjords.

But it was also interesting to see the Baltic and Russia it has indeed changed over the last 10 years since we was there.

Be very carefull while in St.Petersborg, dont walk alone but with a group.

 

You will start your trip by arriving and probably also leave ( unless you swim :eek: ) from one of the best airports in the world, take a look on the www.cph.dk hit the English button.

 

Pride is only 30 minutes away by taxi from the airport and normally anchored at " Nordre Toldbod " opposite the Royal Yachts anchoring place at the very near center within walking distance from the Royal Palace and " Nyhavn " ( translated the New harbour, in fact it is from 1460) it is the very lively part of Copenhagen with a lot of outdoor restaurants, also near is "Stroeget" a very long shopping-pedestrian street ending up in the Town hall square and near Tivoli garden.

 

I suggest You take a look at the webcams in Norway,Sweden etc. at www.abcwebcam.com

 

Good luck.;)

T&T

[blackbird71]

and BB...where DO you get these pictures?

 

Jane ;)

 

Google Scuba Diving Norway :)

 

PeaSea8ch reminded me of Checkpoint Charlie. :) BB is a military brat and my mother had a lot of military friends in Tampa. Normally we did not bring back gifts from our vacations but this time we did. We brought as I remember 9 pieces of The Wall in a plexiglass holder marked from around Checkpoint Charlie. BB also brought back for himself a little statue of the "Little Mermaid" from Denmark.

 

On the Hermitage, at the end of the tour the tour guide said, there are 13 miles of art on display of which you all have seen 3 miles. :cool:

[Seabourn-nail]

To Paul!

As usual your Dutch is perfect! It is indeed the Rijksmuseum. And it´s about time that I visit it myself after so many years!

[Early Retiree]

Last summer we did 21 days on the Seabourn Pride on a back-to-back; first Norway and then the Baltic. It was our best cruise ever. We had fantastic weather, which is just lucky, but really added to the cruise. Being on Seabourn meant we could dock close to the city centers. In St. Petersburg we docked right in the city next to a Silversea ship with the Seven Seas Voyager across the river, while the larger ships were about an hour away.

We took a lot of ship tours and loved them.

[marazul]

I really recommend ariver cruise from Moscow to St.P (or viceversa). You will go to amazing places (like Kizhi) that are otherwise inaccesible. we went on Viking River Cruises a couple of years ago and were really impresed by the quality of the excursions and the seamless organization of the tours. Yes, it was not Seabourn, but it was worth every second.

Don't miss it.