Brandy14

15 minutes ago, chuckhendo2 said:

One hour and ten minutes since we ordered our 2 pizzas and cheesecake. Who wants to take bets that it'll arrive room temp like my lunch did? 

If it’s any consolation I just got off the Escape and my food in the main dining room was often room temperature this time…including the cheesecake lol. Hang in there!

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Not everyone who has had a booster has escaped Covid.

 

My brother in law 6 days after his booster ended up in the ICU. And another few days later needed to be intubated. Now, fortunately, he is off intubation and seems to be on his way back. The doctors have called it a miracle they usually do not see, and they credit his full vaccinations including the booster shot for his recovery. I do not know if it was omicron or delta.

Definitely wasn’t saying it’s not possible but it does help. I’m sorry that happened to your BIL and glad he’s ok but just like the original vaccines it does take time to take full effect. I would like to see the stats of fully boosted people (2 weeks after the booster is still what they think) getting Covid. 

I wish they would start reporting on vaccinated with a booster. Everyone I know that has Covid right now has not had their booster. I, along with a couple of other friends, have had our boosters, been exposed to someone and not gotten it while those without a booster did get it. I think the booster is playing a big part but no one seems to report on it. 
For what it’s worth I’m on the Escape right now (since the 23rd) and would definitely I do it again. I feel like it’s just like anywhere else….if you take precautions it’s fine. We wear our masks and don’t cram into elevators with a lot of people and if someone is not wearing a mask we wait for the next one. We have avoided the pool though, and I know some people might not want to do that, but it was too many unmasked people too close together for us. We have a balcony so have enjoyed it instead. 

8 minutes ago, bassmaster150 said:

Tomorrow is our last port of call and it is Harvest Cay. 

We are actually in Great Stirrup Caye tomorrow. 🙂 Too many ports to keep straight!

I’ll agree that everything has been wonderful. We did different excursions that were mostly island tours and all were good except in DR. 
Unfortunately the After Midnight show was also canceled. We had both shows booked toward the end of the cruise and missed both because they were canceled.  So if you can book them at the beginning I would do so! The did replace one of the canceled shows with another showing of the comedian/magician. And then added another one with the various bands from the shows. We weren’t too disappointed as we don’t cruise for the shows! And we are more than happy with the attentive staff! I may hate cruising at 100% capacity again…I’ve been spoiled!

Just as an FYI, I would never count on the ropes course being open regardless of COVID.  The ropes course closes all the time due to high wind. On a previous cruise pre-covid I think it was open one day out of the 10 we were onboard. 

2 hours ago, bassmaster150 said:

Did not know Choir of Man was cancelled

We got a notice in our stateroom. We had it booked for 7pm Saturday and there were no other times offered. It shows sold out on the app but someone else said they canceled them all. They mentioned another show called something else at 9pm that same night. 

1 hour ago, Analog187 said:

I assume you haven't heard anything about entertainment being canceled?

The Choir of Man has been cancelled for the rest of this sailing. As of right now After Midnight is still on as well as the various other performers and comedy shows. 
i would say the biggest piece of advise i would give anyone on the next cruise is be prepared to just go with the flow. Things have been cancelled, times have been changed. It’s still a great cruise!

Just off the Bliss for a Pacific Coastal cruise. It was too cold & windy for the Waterfront seating so I never saw anyone out there. Because it was cold & windy the observation lounge was packed. We were there early one morning & it was nice. The rest of the time we could never find seating for the two of us together. And there were kids running through a lot of the time but maybe your cruise won’t have as many kids.

And yes, there were many people sleeping on the couches and in the chairs. I understand if you are relaxing and doze off, but the second time we could find seating a couple came down, took their shoes off, and cuddled up for a nap on the together on the couch behind us. Why not just nap in your room? 

Anyway, for quiet you would need to get there early and like someone else mentioned stay on the sides towards the back as the front gets quite loud. You could also try Spice H2O which is over 18 for the majority of the day, however that can be cold & windy as well so would depend on the weather. 

Thanks for sharing! I’m using your spreadsheet for my upcoming South America cruise. It was so much easier since I only had to edit instead of start from scratch!

10 hours ago, AryMay said:

Not sure what price you were quoted. We just paid the same price we had negotiated with Ruben and it was a lot cheaper than any of our other tours on the cruise. He quoted us a price per car. The entry fee for Tierra del Fuego was NOT included in the tour...we paid it ourselves via credit card. The price was about $13/person.

Thank you! I contacted Ruben last night and he already got back to me. The price he quoted per car was the same price Frederico gave me per person so I’m wondering if they just mistyped the price in the email and meant to say by car instead of per person. Either way I appreciate you sharing your information! It looks like a great tour and I’m excited to read the rest of your blog posts!

On 3/2/2019 at 12:02 PM, AryMay said:

Ushuaia – I had found a driver (Ruben M.) on TA and made arrangements to have him pick us up at the dock for a private tour for just the 4 of us. Instead, we were met by a different guy (Frederico) who said he was filling in for Ruben because he was having car trouble. I had been very impressed with my correspondence with Ruben so was disappointed that plans had changed. Frederico called Ruben and let me talk to him and we agreed to go ahead and have Frederico for our guide. Ruben had also emailed to let me know of the change, but I wasn’t able to check my email on the ship.

 

I am happy to say that our tour in Ushuaia turned out to be the favorite day for all four of us!! We felt like we spent the day with a friend and saw much more than others I talked to on the ship later. We went to Tierra del Fuego and paid the entry fee by credit card. The cost was $25.19 for the two of us. The park was very crowded, but Frederico managed to find quiet spots away from all of the others where we could walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery. He also gave us a tour of the city and then drove north of Ushuaia where words can’t even describe what we saw. So beautiful.

 

Frederico and his wife are in the process of starting their own tour company and hope to get a tour bus that can accommodate handicapped people. 

 

Do you remembr how long your tour was? I reached out to them via email and the price was quite a bit higher than the other group everyone else on my cruise is using. I prefer smaller because I think you get to see more but just trying to justify the cost difference! 

Oops! Just realized I had seen may 24th on the getaway.... Its the iceland itinerary- the baltics is the following sailing. Sorry!

 

 

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Thanks anyway!! If I actually book I’ll just start one but just haven’t quite made the decision yet.

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I am considering the NCL 14 day Scandinavia & Russia: Ultimate Baltic on May 25. I can’t find a roll call for it yet which seems a little odd since I feel like people start planning for the Baltic’s early. I’ve done a Baltic cruise before but this one has more destinations.

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I have started only taking my iPhone & have not regretted it. I was once on a cruise with a family & the mom was taking hundreds of photos & only seemed to care about getting the perfect shot & not at all about enjoying the moments with her family. I decided then that I would rather live the experience than to have photos to look at after. (And let’s be honest how many times do you really get those photos out & look at them?) so now I just take a few pics with my phone & really pay attention to what’s going on around me.

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We used Lentina Travel & they were wonderful. We ended up with 6 but they would have just taken the 2 of us if we had not had others that wanted to join.

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We got off Getaway today.

 

 

 

THERE WERE NO TAXIS!

 

 

 

The line was very long.

 

 

 

We ended up crossing the road and getting the bus to Norreport and then the train.

 

 

 

Luckily we had plenty of time but it would have been stressful otherwise.

I wondered if it depends on the day and if other ships are in port. I never checked since we had already made plans to take the shuttle. The bus line was really long when we left. Hope you had a good trip otherwise!

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Thanks for the tip about backpacks needing to be checked at some sites. My husband has a nice camera that he takes around in a small knapsack, can he just take it out of knapsack and carry it with him to avoid issues and delays with checking things in?

One of the guys in our group did carry a camera. However in Peterhof there were no pictures allowed inside. He did snap one at the very beginning because he didn't hear that he couldn't and someone came out of thin air to tell him to stop. But you can take them outside!

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:Thank you for your review, we are planning the same cruise in May of next year and was wondering what temperatures to expect throughout the cruise? Also maybe I missed it but what was the name of the tour company that you contacted for St. Petersburg? Thank You

It varied a lot so layers were very necessary! Some days it would start off in the upper 50's and get to mid 70's by early afternoon. In St. Petersburg it was in the 60's so in the shade it was quite cool but if you were in the sun it was fine. It was also very windy on sea days so cold if you were outside on the decks. I only had a lightweight rain jacket and would layer underneath. Jeans and closed toed shoes everyday. I hope that sort of helps!

We used Lentina Travel in St. Petersburg & they were absolutely wonderful!

You are going to have a great time!

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Great review, Brandy. I have to say that our day in Helskini was really one of my favorites. I enjoyed everything about it and, like you, wish we would have had more time (even the rain didn't put a damper on it!). It is a city that I would like to go back and spend more time...maybe I need to combine it with another trip to Copenhagen and throw in Riga for good measure.

 

 

 

Sorry to hear about your experience in Gothenburg (did I not see you after this port?). I enjoyed just wandering around this city too. I had a light lunch at Saluhullen (couldn't decide between this spot or the fish market but it was closer to where I was), did some antique store browsing on Haga Nygata, and soaked up the atmosphere. I saw a few fellow cruisers who did this little tram/train around the city...it looked like fun. Went back to the ship somewhat early to finish packing (barely got under the 44 lbs limit...glad they didn't weigh my new Marimekko bag!).;)

 

 

 

Still in the process of unpacking/laundry...no jet lag for me at all! Hope we get a chance to cruise together again. Take care.

 

 

 

Deb

Glad you had a better day in Gothenburg! Let me know if you want to plan a trip back to Helsinki! I'm definitely doing that again sometime!

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Thanks again - enjoyed the review - just finished it. Also thanks for the extra info about Riga.

 

 

 

I booked both of those shows you mentioned the morning they became available.

 

 

 

Would you happen to have copies of the dailies to share with us?

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Travel R

I don't have the dailies. Sorry! We honestly didn't participate in too many activities on the ship because we were tired and also felt like they were a little lacking in this cruise.

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How much was the Helsinki ship shuttle per person? Thanks for all of your info.

$15

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Hello, thanks so much for this information, I will definitely keep this in mind if I dont manage to find something while on tour. We will be on a group tour with other people but I will ask the guide about this as it is my preference to buy when on a trip as a good memento.

If you have a souvenir stop planned on your tour my guess is that it will be the same or similar to the one we went to. I too was on the lookout for a very nice set and buying them anywhere but Russia seems odd. I told my guide what I was looking for and she made sure to point them out and tell me the differences. The ones I purchased were hand painted with a lot of detail but also the most expensive. I knew that the really nice ones can run hundreds of dollars in price. Once I saw the ones I purchased I could easily tell the difference in some of the others that were lower quality and less expensive. They have them in every price range so just ask your guide and I'm sure they can help you find exactly what you are looking for.

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Helsinki- a lot of people on our roll call weren't that excited about Helsinki and were afraid they would be tired because of 2 long days in St. Petersburg but this is a port I was looking really forward to. I love art & design so Helsinki was right up my alley. However, it was rainy when we arrived so that put a bit of a damper on things. I didn't have any specific plans but wanted to check out several stores and had mapped out a route around that. Originally I was going to take the tram from port but then I read something in a previous roll call about construction & it being difficult so we ended up buying the ship shuttle. It was fine but there was no need as the walk to the tram was fine. The Hoho bus also stops right at the port but we didn't want to do that here. The shuttle dropped us off near market square and we walked up a little ways to see Uspenski Cathedral. We didn't go inside as we were a little "churched" out from the previous 2 days. We then walked around to a few of the little shops, up to Helsinki Cathedral, & to the Hard Rock Cafe as someone with us wanted a t-shirt. After that we set off for the famous cinnamon rolls we had heard so much about. We stopped at Cafe Esplanad and my mom and I split the traditional cinnamon roll (the one that looks like it has salt on top but is actually sugar) and our friend that was with us got one that looked more like a muffin with cream cheese icing on top. Her's was better because of the icing. I could have eaten a tub of that icing...so good! I did have probably the best chai latte ever here so that was a plus! After our quick break we headed to the Marimekko flagship store. If you like Marimekko then it's a must stop. We all bought some things then walked around a little more before heading back to Market Square. Helsinki is pretty easy to walk around and we just made one big loop. Originally I had some other things such as the church in the rock on my list but we slept in and as I said we were a little churched out so we just focused on shopping and walking around. Market square has a bunch of stands set up with the most incredible looking fruit I've ever seen, various souvenirs, and food. I purchase a print from every city I visit and like to get one from an actual artist that's signed if possible. I lucked out and met a really nice woman who drew some beautiful things and who signed everything as well. We hit the food stands before going back to the ship even though it was wet & rainy & I'm so glad we did. I had the most amazing salmon plate! It was a huge portion with potatoes and vegetables & was inexpensive for what you got! My mom tried the pulled moose which was really good. It was smokey flavored and was really lean. We all tried it and really liked it. Our friend got the salmon soup. After lunch we headed back to the shuttle. It was a short day because we had slept in a little but I will definitely be going back to Helsinki to give it some more time.

One note, we did talk to someone who had done the hoho bus and they didn't like it very much. It was closed up since it was raining and they said the windows were all fogged up so they couldn't really see anything. Just something to think about if it's raining and you are planning on riding it just for a tour.

Gothenburg-this was the only (or one of the only) NCL sailings that goes there this year. We ended up getting in to Gothenburg later than planned. We were originally going to be in port from 10-7 but were told on the first day of our cruise we wouldn't arrive until 12 but we would not leave until 9. NCL did a great job of letting us know that right away so that people could alter any tours they may have had scheduled. We had only planned to do the hoho bus here so no big deal for us. We did have to take the ship's shuttle into the city as it was far from port & they did not allow walking around the port. There was a separate bus to take you to just outside of the port which is maybe where people were picked up for private tours? Not really sure about that as I never talked to anyone that used it. It was a little chaotic because of course people didn't pay attention to any of the announcements that you would need to do one or the other and that if you're doing the shuttle you would need to purchase the sticker in advance. It was in our Freestyle Daily, on the port information on the cabin TV, posted at the service desk etc so we knew several days in advance that we needed to do it but people still missed it. We got in line and the shuttles came quick and off we went. We were dropped off in the little town square where you can catch the hoho bus or boat. We had made reservations for lunch at a restaurant nearby that we wanted to try so we walked to that before doing anything else. The food scene in Gothenburg is one of the best and I am very into the food scene so I was excited for the food in this port. Our lunch was amazing but the rest of our day went pretty downhill. We left the restaurant and walked toward the hoho bus stop that was nearby but saw the bus leaving just as we got close. The sign on the pole said it stopped every 30 minutes. Instead of waiting we decided to just walk back to where the shuttle had let us off to catch the next one from there instead. On the way we saw that one of the padden boats was pulling in and the line wasn't bad to get on so we decided to do that first instead. I'm sure the boat ride would've been really nice, however a very large family of about 15-20 people got on and had to spread out throughout the boat because there weren't that many seats together. They talked and screamed to each other across the boat the entire ride causing any of us that were sitting anywhere close to them to not be able to hear anything the guide was saying. The guide had to tell them numerous times to sit down and to not touch the bridges because they seemed to think the rules didn't apply to them. Unfortunately this was not a hop on hop off boat or I would've gotten off at the next stop. So we endured our hour long boat ride with them. Everyone around us was just as miserable as we were and people kept shhing them and they didn't even notice. It was so distracting that I can't even tell you what we saw because I couldn't hear. Our plan was to then get on the bus and ride it around after the boat but as we were walking over we saw that they were all getting on the bus so we nixed that idea and just walked around a little on our own. We never did end up taking the bus because we got tired and just decided to head back to the ship. From what I've heard we didn't miss all that much but it's a shame that our day was disrupted because of people that had absolutely no respect for others.

Copenhagen/Disembarkation-we had to say goodbye to our amazing ship early in the morning. We were flying to Riga, Latvia for a few days post cruise and had decided to book the ship's shuttle to the airport. I have never taken the ship's shuttle but had read so many things about taxis not being available on these boards that I think I panicked one day and just booked it. I had even previously taken a taxi from there on a different cruise but I thought maybe something had changed. Nope. There were plenty of taxis waiting there. The only thing I can think of is that maybe there are times when several ships are in port that it may become difficult but I had never looked to see if that would be the case for our day. It was kind of nice to not have to wait on our luggage at the port and everything went smoothly with the shuttle so no big deal! I would've just gotten off the ship a little later so we didn't have so much time at the airport.

Our check in went smoothly but luckily we knew about the weight restrictions on European airlines being only 44 lbs for checked bags and 17 lbs for carry on. There were a lot of people unpacking and shifting their carry ons in the checkout line!

Even though Riga was not a stop on our cruise I'm going to include a few things about our time there because I think it's a beautiful city and completely worth visiting if you have some time! I know some other cruise lines do stop there as well.

We flew Air Baltic from Copenhagen to Riga. It's about a 2.5 hour flight and they have several a day. We arrived late afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel. We had the hotel arrange this before for us which was probably good as our driver did not speak much English but he tried! We stayed at the Wellton Centrum Hotel & Spa in Old Town which was a great location. The first night we knew we would be tired so we had just planned on walking around a little and finding somewhere to eat dinner. The next day we had scheduled an art nouveau walking tour at 9 am. We joined the public tour through EAT Riga tours. They have these tours several days of the week & they are only 10 euro so we weren't sure what to expect since it seemed so cheap. You can also book private tours through them as well. It was probably one of the best walking tours I've ever done. We walked all around the city to see the gorgeous building with our guide. It lasted about 3 hours and we saw & heard so much! If you ever go to Riga be sure and use them. They offer a lot of different tours as well. After our tour we walked through the park (I never thought Latvia would be so green!) and around old town. The next day we toured the KGB Building and holding cells then did an old soviet tour where we got to see and hear about life in the past. It was very interesting. Riga has a lot of history and it's beautiful. They also have excellent food! If you ever get a chance to visit I would highly recommend it. It might be my favorite place of the whole trip!

We really enjoyed this trip! The ship was amazing and we met some of the best people. We would do it again in a heartbeat (and I never want to go to the same place twice.) If you have any questions about anything feel free to post and I'll try to answer! If you have a future cruise booked-enjoy!!

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St. Petersburg Day 2- we again started our tour at 9 am and since we weren't sure what the lines would be like to get out, my group met at 8:30. No need to do that because we went right through passport control this time. We had to wait for our guide since we were so early but not for too long. We jumped in the van and were off for a quick city tour. We had seen a lot of the city the day before but we drove around and made a couple of photo stops while our guide gave us some more detailed information about each one. Around 10 am we headed to Peter & Paul's Fortress. There we walked around to take pictures and toured the Cathedral. There was also some type of military exercise going on while we were there and lucky for my group I had to go to the bathroom which allowed them to stop & take pictures for a bit. :-)

Our driver then picked us up and we headed to the Hermitage. Again we saw the line and panicked a little but never fear our wonderful guide Anastasia pulled some strings and got us in right away. The Hermitage is beautiful but a bit overwhelming and really, really crowded. We were so glad we had a guide that could take us to see the important things and tell us about them in more detail. At some point a few of us (myself included) got tired of dealing with all the rude people, and hearing about everything, that we asked Anastasia if we could just move on. None of us were particularly art lovers and I think we were all just tired of getting pushed and shoved and cut in front of. Anastasia did not miss a beat and led us out of there quickly. She completely understood and we were so glad to just get away from all the people.

We had a scheduled lunch for the second day and it did not disappoint. She took us to a very nice restaurant called Tsar. The restaurant itself was very pretty and there seemed to be a lot of locals dining there. (If you ever go do not miss the bathrooms!) I tried a Russian dish called Pelmini which were dumplings stuffed with crab & fish. They were delicious. We also got a chance to try borscht which we all decided tasted much less like beets and more like vegetable soup. When we were done with lunch, and contemplating dessert, Anastasia proposed going to a bakery where we could try Russian sweets instead. Our tour originally had a stop at a local farmers market but she thought we might like the bakery instead and we all agreed. She walked us around and told us about the various items and were able to purchase and try several things with her help. We were so glad to have made the stop!

After filling ourselves with sugar, we set off for Church of the Savior on Spilt Blood. We took some time to get some good pictures of the outside and then went inside where we were all completely blown away. Again we had a lot of time to get photos and then it was time for us to head back to the ship.

Overall we had a great time in St. Petersburg. I'm going to include a couple of thoughts/tips that might help.

If you are wearing a jacket or have a backpack you do have to check it at Peterhof & at the Hermitage. I would recommend leaving them in your tour van if at all possible. We only did this at Peterhof and learned our lesson because the line to get your things back was a mess. People were pushing & shoving & just generally being very rude. There were only 2 ladies getting your things and they were working as fast as they could but people were cutting the line so it took forever. We left our stuff in the van after that.

Be prepared for large crowds everywhere you go. That's probably a given but by the second afternoon we were just so over it that we weren't even enjoying ourselves anymore.

The museums have people that will come out of no where if you touch anything or talk too loudly! One member of our group got scolded after touching a door we were going through in the Hermitage and another member of our group & I were talking in the Church and got scolded for that as well. We were not loud at all and everyone in there was talking! It was a little intense.

I know there is always a lot of discussion around currency on these boards so here is what we experienced. 4 out of 6 of us had gotten rubles before the trip. The other couple had planned on getting some at an ATM, however we had not found one by lunchtime on Day 1. Because we had a sit down lunch we had to split up the bill. The 4 of us with rubles paid cash and then the other couple just put the whole meal on their card & took our rubles so they would have some so that worked out. I don't think it's quite as customary in Russia (or a lot of other countries) to split bills so if we had all had cards that may have become an issue. I also need rubles for a couple of bathroom stops I made. Most of the places on the tour did have free restrooms but because I had to make a couple of extra stops I needed to pay. Anastasia offered up money for me but I had some so it was not a big deal. None of us bought anything from the street vendors so I can't speak to that but the souvenir store we went to did take dollars or euros and credit cards. We all paid in rubles at the bakery and I don't think they took other currency but most likely would've taken a credit card. I guess my opinion would be to get rubles before if you can.

I can't stress enough how glad we were to be with a small group where we could hear & see our guide at all times. We didn't even use the headphone sets she gave us for part of the time because we could hear her just fine without them.

We were so happy that she was flexible with any of our requests. When we were talking to some other people later that night they said they felt rushed at a lot of the places and were not allowed to alter their schedule even if it was to just cross the street to get a better picture of a building.

I would definitely go back to St. Petersburg and I would 100% tour with Lentina but I would opt to do more off the beaten path stuff to avoid the large crowds. It was great to see what we saw but I would've enjoyed it more if it were less crowded. (We were also in the early part of the season so I can't even imagine what it would be like in the dead of summer.)

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Did you ride the hydrofoil to Peterhof? I'm wondering what that is like.

 

Also, the canal cruise is said to be an hour long (?). Or perhaps that's just in the shore excursion itself. Was your ride that long? And were there restrooms on the boat?

We did not do the hydrofoil. We just drove the van straight there.

The canal cruise was probably about an hour. I'm not sure if there were restrooms on the boat as I never went inside. Hopefully someone else can speak to that for you. Sorry.

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