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Baltic cruise review


SueMo

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Here’s a review of our Baltic cruise aboard the Constellation which sailed from Dover on June 5th, 2004:

DOVER: Arrived early, around 10 am. Husband & I decided to walk into town…a good ½ hour brisk walk along busy roads. Town had a nice pedestrian street with a beautiful old church. Shops did not particularly appeal to me, but we had a nice time nonetheless. Another ½ hour walk back and we’re ready to cruise! The best view of the white cliffs is right from the deck of the ship...

OSLO: Purchased an Oslo card online ahead of time. Arriving at 7:00 am, the only thing open was Vigeland Park. We took tram #15 there and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly mimicking the sculpture poses and taking tons of pictures. Walked several blocks to Majorstuen station and took the T up to Holmenkollen ski jump. It’s a tough 15 minute uphill climb from the drop off point followed by approximately 100 steps up to the observation tower. I wouldn’t recommend doing this unless you’re physically fit. But if you make it, the view is fantastic! On the train ride back into town, a beautiful blonde woman with a baby and 4 year old girl sat across from us. The little yellow-mopped girl began to expressively converse with my husband, who tried to explain to the girl that he didn’t speak Norwegian. Luckily, the mom spoke perfect English and translated. We had so much fun talking to them! Transferred trains at Majorstuen into town & took bus 30 to Bygdoy. First stop was the Norwegian outdoor museum—lots of historic old farm houses, a stave church, etc. On to Viking Ship Museum—way too crowded to enjoy. Back on bus 30 to Fram & Kon Tiki. Both very enjoyable. Took the ferry back to town. Took a quick peek into City Hall, which was beautiful. Time was running out, so we began to walk to the pier side shops via Akershus Castle. We must have just missed the changing of the guards, and watched the military parade complete with band marching back into town. The inside of the castle was mildly interesting with dungeons, a small chapel, and some meager living areas. From there we walked down the hill toward the water to the shops where we caught a free shuttle back to the ship.

ST. PETERSBURG: Six of us toured with Red October. Our guide was Irina and driver was Igor. This tour was A+! We first did an orientation city tour which included stops at the statues of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. We walked along the Neva River and watched a huge brown bear on a leash and an old woman sweeping the sidewalk with a broom made from twigs. We then toured Peter & Paul Fortress where we saw the tombs of Czar Nicholas and family (including Anastasia). I couldn’t believe how ornate the churches were! On to the Hermitage...what a thrill to see the paintings of so many masters! Again, the lavish, gilded decor with the murals covering ceilings and walls really makes you think of how the czars indulged themselves in such riches while the peasants lived in such poverty. We then saw the palace where Rasputin was murdered. After seeing the Hermitage, this was not so impressive, but I enjoyed hearing the guide explain the circumstances surrounding his death. In the afternoon we visited Peterhof where we toured both Monplaiser and the Grand Palace. Monplaiser was just an appetizer...the Grand Palace and its fountains the main course. On day 2, we headed out to Pushkin to see Catherine’s Palace. Apparently not satisfied with having the Hermitage and the palaces at Peterhof at her disposal, Catherine decided she needed yet another huge and lavish summer residence. The Amber room was really impressive. On the way back to the city, we stopped at a typical Russian church and Alexander’s Palace. In the afternoon, we saw the WWII memorial, visited the RO store, and took a stroll down Nevsky Prospekt where we visited St. Petersburg’s first grocery store and a typical Russian neighborhood. We also visited St. Isaacs and the Church of the Spilled Blood, both spectacular! (Note: You have to pay approximately $5 each time you take a camera into a site. I recommend you take your camera into the Hermitage, Peterhof, St. Isaac’s and the Church of the Spilled Blood.) We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and would highly recommend RO to future cruisers.

HELSINKI: Rain, rain, and more rain! Our time here would have been so much more enjoyable if the weather had only cooperated! We took the ship’s free bus into town. First stop was the market. Our farmer’s markets in Pennsylvania are pitiful compared to the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables here! And the Finns we met there were so friendly and spoke such accent free English that I could have wandered around sampling fruit all day! The day we visited was Helsinki Day, and the city was offering 4 Euro bus tours of the city. This tour was boring, boring, boring! We didn’t see a whole lot and there were a bunch of wet, smelly people on the bus. We couldn’t wait to get off! After our escape, we wandered the main shopping areas. Because of the holiday, there were mimes, dancers, and singers located throughout the city. We did manage to see the Lutheran and Russian Orthodox churches before returning to the ship.

GDANSK: Took a ship’s tour into the old town. It is amazing that 90% of the town had been destroyed by the Germans during WWII, but it has been painstakingly rebuilt to its original design. We walked down Long Street, viewing the beautiful old buildings and city gates, and circled around to St. Mary’s Street where we visited the huge church with its astronomical clock. We shopped for Amber on St. Mary’s and were impressed with the English spoken by the young women who worked at the shops. My husband’s grandparents were born in Poland, so he enjoyed speaking a few Polish phrases, which were met with great appreciation by the Polish people. We walked along the river to see the Old Crane before returning to our bus. On the way back to the ship we passed the Solidarity monument and Lech Walesa’s house. We loved Poland!

WARNEMUNDE: We had prearranged renting a van online from Sixt in nearby Luten Klein. We took the train (about 3-4 stops) to Luten Klein, exited and followed the underpass to stairs leading up to the left. The car dealership was less than a 5 minute walk from the station. We first drove to Bad Doberan, where we saw an old abby and walked around its grounds. Then on to Wismar, which had a beautiful town square with an old water pump and market place, where we had the most delicious brat sandwich. We then visited the Castle and its beautiful grounds and shopped a little in the state capital of Schwerin. We then stopped at Rostock and saw the town square and some of the beautiful buildings before returning via the Autobahn to Luten Klein to return our van and catch the train back to Warnemunde. After dinner on the ship, we walked into the town of Warnemunde, but many of the shops had closed so we had a stein of beer on the pier before heading back to the ship.

STOCKHOLM: Again, we had purchased the Stockholm card ahead of time online so that we could use public transportation and get into the sites without having to exchange cash. Our ship was supposed to dock right in Gamla Stan, but because of high winds, we had to anchor about an hour’s drive from the city and tender to a pier. Luckily, Celebrity is a first class operation and offered FREE shuttle service to Stockholm and extended our time in port to make up for the travel to and from the city. Our first stop was the Royal Canal tours...the first tour of the day are free with the Stockholm Card. The tour was nothing spectacular, but did give a nice overview and helped us get our bearings. We then took a city bus to the Vasa museum, which was very impressive. A city bus took us back to the bridge which led us to the Royal Palace, where we saw the changing of the guard. We also toured the armory in the basement of the palace. We then followed a tour of Gamla Stan which we found in Rick Steve’s Scandinavia guide. We found the “littlest statue” off of the Stortorget and the cathedral with St. George and the Dragon. I loved the narrow streets and cute shops. Too soon it was time to return to the bus that would take us back to the ship.

COPENHAGEN: We took the ship’s shuttle into the town and walked from the drop off point to Nyhavn. There we took a Netto-Badene canal boat tour for about $4 that took us past the Little Mermaid, Christiansborg Palace, and through Christianshavn, passing under bridges so low that we had to duck our heads! I highly recommend this canal tour, but be careful of the Nyhavn area, as a friend of ours was accosted there. We exited the canal tour at Holmens Bridge and went to the National Museum, which was free the day we visited (Wednesday). After visiting some of the Viking exhibits and rune stones there, we walked to the Radhus, where a dance troupe was performing in the square. From there we shopped our way down the Stroget, enjoying the street performers (a troupe of young Danes dressed as anatomically correct pigs were particularly memorable), statues, and fountains along the way. We caught the shuttle back to the ship where we ate dinner and got ready for our nighttime outing to Tivoli. We took the ship’s $5 shuttle to Tivoli. Before entering the park, we took our pictures posing next to the stature of Hans Christian Anderson. Tivoli is not at all like amusement parks we are used to...mimes, ballet performances, shops, food, lights take precedence to the rides. We had a great time, but it was quite chilly and we left right after a laser show on the pond. The next morning, we walked into town, passing the Little Mermaid again, and passing through the Kastellet, Amalienborg Castle, and on to Rosenborg Castle. We caught the ship’s shuttle back for our early afternoon sailaway.

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Sue, thanks for the review, we are going in July with RCL. My initial plans are to use the hop-on-hop-off buses in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Did you happen to hear from fellow passengers if this in a good way to see these 2 cities?

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Again thank you for your review, we are on the constellation this year with most of the same stops. Did you find there was something you wish you had done with Red October that you did not do, or something you would have eliminated. Again Many thanks

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Don M.--I didn't talk to anybody from our ship who used the hop-on hop-off buses in those two ports. They wouldn't be a bad idea in Copenhagen (as the tourist sites are more spread out), but buses run from 9 am to 5 pm, and we were in port from noon on day one to noon on day two, so we felt that by the time we found the bus, we would only have a few hours the first day and a couple the second to use the service. We talked to a couple (not on our ship) who were using the bus and seemed to be pleased with the service and the great maps provided. In Stockholm, a major tourist area is the Gamla Stan (old town), where the roads are too narrow for cars or buses. The only place that we wanted to visit outside Gamla Stan was the Vasa museum, and this was easily accessable through the public bus or ferry.

 

jezzdog--We were pretty happy with the places we visited. For the most part, we used the itinerary provided by Red October, but added the inside of Peterhof for an extra fee. They try to substitute Monplaiser Palace for Peterhof, but it is nowhere near as impressive or interesting. Also, Yusopov Palace is just ok...after visiting the Hermitage, it was pretty much a yawn. The Rasputin story behind it was interesting, though, so I'd probably do it again. The only thing I might have liked to do was an evening event such as the ballet, folk show, or white night cruise, but after a 9 hour tour during the day, it seemed like it might have been too much. Also, they ask you before entering each attraction whether you want to pay the camera fee, and we opted not to take pix in St. Isaacs and Church of the Spilled Blood...big mistake!

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