Hezu

9 hours ago, sofienummer said:

I'm going on a Norse Legends tour with HAL msRotterdam in 8 days!! 😄 

We will be visiting: Eidfjord, Alesund, Geiranger and Bergen.

It also says: scenic cruising Hardangerfjord and cruising Geirangerfjord. Since it's october and it's still dark before we arrive, I assume we can only see/experience scenic cruising once we leave a port of call? I'm in a starboard aft balcony; will I be able to see things well? 

And is there any chance at seeing the Northern Lights from any of these destinations when it's dark?

If you are lucky, there is a small chance to see northern lights, but since these locations are still in quite southern latitudes, suitably strong auroras occur only occasionally and the colours can be more faint than further north. And of course, there still the premise that you don't have too many clouds in the sky when the phenomenon occurs as clouds sure will cover even the brightest auroras.

37 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Quite low. The sky will be too light. According to this site, between late September and late March it is dark enough for possible viewing.

https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/nature-attractions/northern-lights/

I would say non-existent given that the midnight sun phenomenon lasts pretty much whole July on those latitudes and dark clear skies is the first requirement for seeing auroras. I would say the first times, when you might see any northern lights is in latter half of August and even then the better observation points might be slightly more southern locations than Honningsvåg.

Although you are already eyeing the cheaper alternatives, I have to mention that Sony RX10 IV has few tricks that makes it superior to the competing models and worth the premium. First, the phase detect autofocus is much faster and more reliable than the contrast detect systems used by the others. Also RX10 IV trumps in burst rates and you can shoot up to 24 frames/second. So if you want to capture action (eg. flying birds) RX10 IV might be still the best choice despite the high price.

Also worth checking if there would be any cameras available on the second hand market, that could shave off some of the price.

On 8/25/2022 at 2:59 PM, hallasm said:

No need for excursions - maybe a shuttle or public transpor.
Helsinki is in an industrial area - shuttle for a fee to center - then walkable

That industrial area feel only applies to Hernesaari, which is common docking site for cruise ships (especially the larger ones), but it is not the only location for cruise ships in Helsinki, some ships do use also Eteläsatama (South Harbour), especially Katajanokka side, which is much closer to the city centre, especially the older empire style parts around the Market Square and Senate Square. 

Also worth a mention that the industrial feel of Hernesaari may some day disappear as there plans to renovate the area, build mainly residential building on the lots that were earlier occupied by cargo harbour related businesses. There has been also plans for a proper cruise terminal. Although these building projects probably won't get into full swing in the next few years as there has been some setbacks on city planning process for the area.

On 7/30/2022 at 11:01 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

OK, the server seems to be working tonight so I will go back and post some pictures from the boat tour.  

 

There were lots of other boats of all sizes in the harbor and the canals.  I thought they sometimes came pretty close to one another.  You had 2 cruise lines:  Viking and Mein Schiff. 

 

 

Then you had all the ferries going back and forth all day. 

I'm late in commenting, but I have to note that Viking Line ship in your picture might not be true cruise ship since it is one of these cruise ferries that shuttle between Finland and Sweden.

On 8/14/2022 at 10:21 PM, wcook said:

Chip and pin will be universally adapted in the US right about the time the rest of the world has abandoned it and gone fully contactless. 

Actually going fully contactless may never happen, already now Finnish legislation (and that might be derived from EU regulations) allows contactless payment only up to 50 euros and then requires that occasionally you have to enter the pin code even if the purchase would fall into category that could be paid also via contactless method. These restictions are of course there to make it less easy for thieves to use stolen cards.

20 minutes ago, kaisatsu said:

And if your venturing into questionable fish products, pick up a tin of «makrell i tomat»

It’s a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. It took me years to try it because it smells very fishy and looks disturbing (people affectionately nicknamed it “plane crash”) but I actually think it tastes pretty good.

Since I don't eat fish, I won't comment the taste, but when questionable fish products are mentioned, one of the first things that pops into my mind is the Icelandic national dish Hákarl. And then another classic in that category is of course the Swedish delicacy of surströmming, although Sweden was not on original poster's itinerary, but I suppose it would be possible to hop on a train in Copenhagen and make a short visit to Southern Sweden (eg. Malmö).

On 8/10/2022 at 10:31 PM, em-sk said:

I think the key difference between a network carrier and a LCC is the network.  

 

The Legacy carriers have interline agreement with other airlines and are setup to do connections.  The LCC care islands on to themselves.  Many are just point to point and if they do support connections it is limited to their own flights.

 

It is possible to buy a ticket that include a flight by Air Canada connecting in Heathrow with a BA where if something is delayed the airlines are responsible for rerouting.

 

For LCC carries that is just not possible.  They just don't run the computer systems able to handle these types of connections and don't have the agreements in place to make them work.  That removes a lot of cost from their operation.   

 

Being a LCC is not about being lower cost for the consumer, it is about reducing your operating cost to be bare minimum.

Actually, some of the LCCs belong to airline groups that also include well-known legacy carriers, eg. IAG may be best known for BA and Iberia, but it also owns Vueling, KLM/AF has Transavia and Lufthansa Group includes Eurowings and Eurowings Discover. This means that on some routes there could be codeshares for these LCC flights and you could combine these with flights from the legacy carriers on single ticket. Of course, mainly these LCCs still offer point-to-point service (and often on routes that can be described as holiday oriented) and the on board experience makes some sacrifies to allow the lower prices.

On 8/2/2022 at 4:13 PM, Maria63 said:

As for Helsinki, I would skip Porvoo. It's nice enough, but a long and very uninteresting drive to get there.

I think if you choose the smaller roads rather than the motorway route to Porvoo, that might be slightly more interesting, but probably not significantly more interesting and obviously the smaller roads have lower speed limits which mean the travel time is longer. And yes, the historical centre of Porvoo may not be that interesting for the younger visitors. Traditional point of interest in Porvoo for kids is Brunberg factory outlet, which sells variety of sweets. But that is slightly off from the city centre and I doubt cruise lines offer tours that include stop at that candy store.

And if you want to spoil kids with products that can harm ones teeth, there is one alternative closer to Helsinki, Fazer Experience in Vantaa offers also brief exhibition tours with a chance to taste some of the products made there.

On 7/21/2022 at 10:27 PM, Desdichado62 said:

Bergrummet toy museum is nice but small, but could be worth a visit.
It's located at Skeppsholmen though a bit off location compared to Vasa/Old town.

 

Tekniska museet (The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology) is something I think kids would enjoym but is also quite far from Vasa/Old own.

These suggestions made me to remember that there is similar museums also in Helsinki region:

- There is a toy museum at Suomenlinna, albeit it is quite small and since it is mainly old toys in cabinets it may not interest all kids.

- Museum of Technology is located in quite interesting location on a island between two branches of river Vantaa little further away from Helsinki city centre. And the exhibits there can be quite interesting too and include some interactivity (eg. you could test using old phone centre). And near by there is also some interesting nature at Vanhankaupunginlahti area.

- The Finnish science centre Heureka is further away from Helsinki at Tikkurila in Vantaa, but fairly easily reached by train as it is near the Tikkurila railway station and the train ride from Helsinki Central Railway Station takes roughly 20-30 minutes depending on which train you take (some skip some minor stations on the route). The main attraction there is various interactive demonstrations of scientific phenomena.

5 hours ago, hal2008 said:

It seems given the chaos at the larger airports using something like Bergen or Warsaw for the TA part might be preferable even if increases travel time (and extra connection).  Most European airports have issues with staff shortages at check-in and security.  Transfers at smaller airports is not chaotic.

Note that transatlantic flights to/from Bergen are quite limited, for non-stops there is just United Airlines flights from Newark three times a week and alternatively one-stop approach on Icelandair, although Keflavik<->Bergen flights are not daily either and on some days the equipment seems to be small Dash 8 turboprop.

50 minutes ago, dreamercruise said:

I have a flight on July 11. So far, the website says flights until July 10 are likely to be cancelled.  No status change yet for flights starting July 11.  What can and should I do?

I checked United Airlines website.  There are alternate flights (all with stops and many times more expensive of course).  These flights are partner flights with Brussels Air or Lufthansa. Are these flights safe from strike now?  Should I check with Delta or AA?  Which is best?

I don't know what would be the best action, but at least you probably can't change anything regarding your existing ticket until the flight(s) are cancelled. SAS pilots' strike obviously affects only SAS flights (and not necessarily even all of those, since some flights are operated by separate subsidiaries and partner airlines and their pilots are not on strike), so if you fly other airlines then the strike should not be a problem. However, many other airlines have had various other problems lately that has lead into significant delays and cancellations, which may lead into misconnects if your itinerary includes changing planes somewhere.

2 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

I would have other arrangements in place to get from Munich to Stockholm. I travelled through Munich Airport last week and the place was a disaster. Very different to the normal German efficiency pre-pandemic.

 

Fingers crossed your flights run smoothly and you have an amazing trip. We are also going on a Baltic Cruisein July and leave from Amsterdam. Schipol Airport also in a mess by all accounts……

Actually I think nearly all of the larger airports especially in Europe have recently had this sort of trouble. The main reason being staff shortage: during the worst days of pandemic when travel was more or less halted, the airport operators (and related companies) dismissed significant portion of their work force and now they are struggling to recruit enough people. 

6 hours ago, nansi said:

I don't think a taxi would even be that expensive! They charge by the mile....how much could 3 miles possibly cost?

Actually, I think the charge is based on kilometres. 😉

In most of Europe (British isles might be the exception), you rarely encounter anything measured in miles.

Found an article describing the best places to see puffins in Iceland and I think that Akurey in front of Reykjavík might be the only spot that might be near any cruise ship route, although still at least few hundred meters away.

1 hour ago, Desdichado62 said:

 

A quick check tells that both Lufthansa and United uses T2.  Lufthansa's Stockholm flights seems to be using G and K gates while United seems to be using the H gates.

Never been in Munich myself, but I presume H gates are for flights from/to non-Schengen countries (like USA), while G and K are gates for intra-Schengen area flights. And passport control will occur when you move from non-Schengen side to Schengen side of the airport (or vice versa).

And remember that if it is airlines that mess up your flight schedule, they have to arrange you new transportation to your destination if the original connection does not work. And given that both Lufthansa and SAS offer several flights between Munich and Stockholm, you will most likely accomodated on a later flight if your flight to Munich arrives significantly late. And if there is a delay you may be eligible for compensation or at least for duty of care (food, communitions, possibly accomodation if there is need to wait overnight). The magic word here is EC261. But if your first flight arrives on time (or possibly even bit early), you don't have to worry about these things.

18 hours ago, Stuart Suss said:

Hello Hezu,

 

I would like to learn about the Winter War of 1939-1940 between Finland and the Soviet Union.  Our cruise ship visits Helsinki on Saturday, August 6. Is there a museum to visit that has information about this war?

Military museum in Suomenlinna offers information about Finnish military history and that certainly includes Winter war (and the related Continuation war). The sea fortress Suomenlinna is worth a visit even if one does not visit the museums there. However, worth a note that since most people have Saturdays off from work, that might lure also quite many locals there, although perhaps not into museums.

18 hours ago, KittyCruz said:

@hezu many thanks!  I want to see the Sibelius monument but other than that we really don't have an agenda (unless you know if there are any museums in Helsinki that might have work of  Kyllikki Salmenhaara)

That name didn't ring a bell for me outright, but after little googling I learned what she has done and apparently she designed some items for Arabia, which means that Iittala & Arabia Design Centre and its Design Museum Arabia might have some, but I cannot be absolutely sure about that. At least there is ceramic and glass items designed by many well-known Finnish designers.

4 hours ago, KittyCruz said:

Helsinki - is a trip into old town the way to go,  are there any things to not miss or are we better off booking something?  If we venture on our own how readily is English spoken?  

There is no true old town in Helsinki, at least in same sense as there is in Stockholm and Tallinn for example. There is city district called Vanhakaupunki (Old Town) on the west side of the mouth of river Vantaa where Helsinki was originally founded in 1550. In its current form, there is barely any signs of history from those early days of Helsinki. The city was later moved further south into the area where there is the current city centre, although for long Helsinki was tiny city and only started to grow in late 18th century and the majority of the buildings in central Helsinki date from 19th century or later.

Since I reside in Helsinki, I have only vague ideas on what sort of tours the cruise companies offer, but if you prefer to wander around by yourself rather than go with a tour group, it is quite viable choice to skip tours. There is quite extensive network of public transportation (see HSL website for more information) and nearly all people understand English, although some random persons stopped on a street might be slightly hesitant with their foreign language skills.

33 minutes ago, ClayHillHouse said:

Hezu: Thank you for all the info on Helsinki. I checked out Laguuni and Lappis, both look so fun, especially if its a hot day. It looks like Laguuni might be easier to get to from the cruise terminal using public transport?

Both of these waterparks are near metro stations, although from the city centre Keilaniemi is closer and it is slightly easier to travel there as you can pick any westbound metro train, whereas to go to Rastila you must ensure that the eastbound train heads to Vuosaari rather than Mellunmäki, which is the terminus for every other eastbound train.

2 hours ago, ClayHillHouse said:

They're adventurous kids.  My 10 year old would like to try new foods (especially new desserts). My 12 year old is a passionate about soccer and loves to climb anything. Honestly they're currently most excited about the waterslides, flowrider, and rock wall on the ship. We're traveling with my sister and brother-in-law but don't need to do everything together if we have different interests. Also happy to hire a guide at a port or two, or take an excursion. 

I have the Rick Steve's book (big fan pre children, but we haven't been back to Europe since) thanks for the tips so far. This is our rough plan:

 

Helsinki: Suomenlinna fortress then Sauna? Maybe part of RS walking tour? The speed boat ride sounds like something my kids would love....wasn't aware of that at all- thanks! Lunch ideas, Snacks?

Suomenlinna is certainly a good option, bring a flash light and you can explore the dark corridors within fortress walls. Classic sights for kids in Helsinki are of course amusement park Linnanmäki and Korkeasaari zoo, for the latter there is possibility to take a boat from the Market Square. But I guess these are not that superspecial compared to other amusement parks or zoos elsewhere.

Now, if climbing interests you, Adventure park(s) Korkee might be good choice as it offers adventure courses on trees. There are two locations of these parks, Mustikkamaa might be more child friendly choice and it is located on the island next to Korkeasaari, so it could be possible to combine the two. Other location is at Paloheinä in northern Helsinki and there is only a treetop course that accepts customers that are 110 cm or longer. Sadly the website of Korkee appears to be only in Finnish, but the images there at least give some idea what sort of activity these parks offer.

If it is warm (or even hot) weather, I guess water activities would be perfect choice to spend some time. For more than just basic swimming next to a beach there are few waterparks in Helsinki region: Laguuni and especially its Keilaniemi (Keilis) venue in Espoo might offer most, although they have some activity also next to the beach at Hietaniemi (Hietsu). Another floating water park is located at Rastila beach in eastern Helsinki, sadly Lappis water parks has only Finnish language website at the moment. Then there is also the classic waterpark Serena in Espoo, but the location is somewhat remote. And Flamingo spa waterpark in Vantaa offers also water activities, but it is entirely indoor facility. If you don't necessarily want fancy water activities, I think one worthy contender is Swimming Stadium, which was the venue for 1952 Olympics swimming and diving contests and these days is open for the general public for a modest fee. And most (if not all) these places do have a sauna if you are looking for one.

To continue the theme of Olympics, the Helsinki Olympic Stadium might interest you, the stadium tower offers nice views over the city and there is also a sports museum. And as you mention soccer, I think it is worth mentioning that July 11th to 16th there is the big youth football tournament Helsinki Cup. It might not be possible to join the teams participating in that competition for one day, but at least it would be possible watch the matches on various football fields around the city. Friday and Saturday will be the days for the finals, which are going to be played in Töölö near the Olympic Stadium.

I guess the above is more than you can cram into a single day cruise visit, but I hope I gave some plausible alternatives to spend some time in Helsinki (and possibly neighbouring cities).

And regarding snacks, I think simple and fairly healthy options would be picking up some fresh fruits and/or vegetables from a market vendor. July is the prime season for strawberries in Finland and peas (sold in pods) are a popular choice. And if you pick anything to eat from the Market Square, be aware the local gulls have became quite talented in stealing food.

26 minutes ago, hallasm said:

Good news no passport control or customs when arriving from Dublin.

When I last checked, Ireland was outside of Schengen area and Denmark part of it, thus there will be passport control when travelling between these two countries.

On 5/12/2022 at 3:47 PM, TheOldBear said:

The only 'must have' accessory I can think of is a spare battery

If the camera does not come with a battery charger and the battery can be charged in the camera then it is a good idea to get also a separate battery charger, so you can charge the spare battery while using the other battery in camera.

I do also think a bridge camera could be the best bet for this sort of trip, a long reaching zoom would be especially very useful if you want to take pictures of wildlife. My first choice suggestion in this category would be Sony RX10 IV, but it is rather expensive camera model, although then that camera provides quite a lot features that competing cameras do not offer, most importantly very fast and accurate autofocus.

Assuming we are not talking about some truely specialized medicide, it should be possible to get medicines also in most foreign countries if your supplies run out. Sure, your insurance may not cover the costs and there might be few steps to get your prescription accepted (eg. consulation with a local medical professional), but if you have a doctor's note on your medical condition and prescribed medicines (preferably using the generic substance names rather than the brand names since these may differ in different countries), there is a good chance that you can get enough medications needed to cover the time before your delayed return home.

For Helsinki I can think one place ticks several of your preferences: Suomenlinna sea fortress has lots of history (it's an UNESCO world heritage site!), museums (Suomenlinna museum, war museum, toy museum, customs museum, Ehrensvärd museum and museum submarine Vesikko) and a small brewery! There is regular ferry connection from the Market Square to Suomenlinna (takes 15 minutes/direction). Depending on the time of day and weekday (weekends have more frequent traffic) there is 2-4 ferry departures in a hour, so keep that in mind when planning your schedule. Also worth a mention, that within the islands there is no public transportation, so you have to walk where ever you want to go within Suomenlinna. The brewery happens to be next to the ferry pier, so that you can visit easily even if you don't want to venture further away parts of the islands.

Also on the mainland Helsinki there is quite a few more museums. For history buffs, perhaps Finnish National Museum and Seurasaari open air museum with its collection of old houses from different areas of Finland could be interesting options. Note that Seurasaari is little off from the city centre, albeit easily reachable by a bus.