mj_holiday

We are taking Scenic Rhine river cruise this summer. On one Itinerary I have printed there is a scenic free choice every day of the cruise. But our tour personaliser only has selections to choose for three of the days. Will there be a time on board to select the other excursions? Did I miss something?

A question regarding the all-inclusive on Scenic. I read where tips of the port guides are included, does that include drivers?

We stayed at the Admiral which is a good location and a nice hotel. Very easy walk to Nyhavn area.

Yes that should be no problem. Book one of the museums in the morning, visit flowermarket around lunchtime and book the other museum after that.

 

Besides the A Frank house do you need to book reservations at the other museums such as Van Gogh?

We purchased our tickets on line and we got to there a couple hours before our scheduled time, but they let us in anyway. So I recommend buying tickets for a time you know you will make, but if you get there early, don't hesitate asking if you can go on in.

We did the train from Budapest to Prague about 3 years ago. I asked the hotel we were going to stay at to get our tickets for us. I am sure this cost more, but this was our first train travel independently. I would recommend getting reserved seats as a must. But because the train got so crowded our reserved seats just barely gave us a place to sit down. All of our future train rides are first class with reserved seats.
At the Czech border the train stopped and the crew changed.

I usually contact our hotel for a transfer, even if not free, it will be a good one. In Copenhagen, we went to the taxi queue at the airport. From our hotel to the ship, we checked with the reception the day before and they said they would call a taxi when we were ready.

Thanks for the fact check. I didn't check what we were told; I must have missed a clarifier about SPB latitude.

We had an excellent cruise. I have posted reviews of excursions under the ports.

We embarked in Amsterdam. Showed up at the ship before noon and waited about 10 minutes before we got checked in and on our way to lunch which was nice and relaxed. Wanting to make room for others, we went out to the pool area and had a couple more beers until our cabins were ready. We got to our cabins, and our luggage was already there and so were our excursion tickets. Our room steward came by to meet us, Ranta. We told her what we would like in our room, liquor, beer, soda etc which showed up the next day.

We then had the emergency drill which started in the theater and ended up under the life boat we would need to take.

After that we walked around the ship, signed up for a bridge tour at reception and had an early dinner. I had a new kind of fish (to me) and later learned it was a Baltic Sea Bass. We ended our night in the Observation lounge and then made it an early night.

The block party was on the third afternoon and was enjoyable meeting neighbors.

The enrichment lectures were very informative and I was able to go to one boutique lecture on lacquer boxes. I am sorry I missed the one on amber. The enrichment lectures are also shown on TV but not the boutique lectures.

For the entire cruise we had both excellent service and food. We would start the day with room service of coffee and something to take meds with. And because of excursion schedules we would do breakfast in la Veranda. Many times we did lunch at the pool grill and I think ordering a made to order sandwich that gets delivered to your table seemed to be the least hassle rather than working our way through the buffet line outside. There was a nice variety of sandwiches. Our dinners in Signatures and Prime 7 were very nice. Our other dinners were in CR and the food and service was great, we sat in different areas all the time and all servers were just great. I enjoyed the variety of the menus. We prefer the CR to Setti Mar.

We did not make it to the entertainment since our days were so full we headed to bed early.

We were able to do the bridge tour without interfering with our excursion schedule. The tour was very interesting. We also were able to do a galley tour with Virtuoso Voyager club, set up by our TA.

Getting everyone to their excursions was well done. All of our guides were very informative.

We were sorry to see the cruise end and getting off of the ship was relatively painless.

Port Review

Copenhagen

Our flight from DFW to Copenhagen included changing planes at Heathrow. First off, I do not recommend buying anything liquid duty free that you have to carry through Heathrow. Even though it is sealed by duty free people, security at Heathrow held us back to test for explosives and finally made us take it out of the duty free bag (we had nothing sharp to cut the bag with ! ! !) and put it in a quart bag ???? Allow plenty of time in Heathrow. (we did get to leave our shoes on) I do not like the practice of not letting you know your departure gate until about 30 minutes before boarding, this just doesn’t fit my practice of finding the gate first before I go get something to drink or look around.

We started our trip with 3 nights in Copenhagen. First, to get over jet lag (do not want to sleep on board ship the first 2 days) and to see the city. We stayed at the Admiral Hotel which backs up to a canal. Our first thing after we got settled was to walk down to the Nyhavn Canal to look for something to eat and drink. We found a really nice area on a canal with people sitting both at restaurant tables and along the edge of the canal drinking take away beer. There were different prices for beer depending on if you “take away” or sit at a table. This first evening we were rather slow and just had a couple of beers and some soup as we got into the time change and over the flight. The next day we found we were with in easy walking distance for a Canal boat tour and the Hop on hop off tour. So we first took a canal tour which was very interesting. We saw different neighborhoods and ocean access. Then that afternoon we took the Hop on Hop off bus (got a ticket good for 24 hours) and rode around the route listening to the narration through the head phones. I had on my list to go to the Tele and Communications Museum and the restaurant on top for lunch. We took the HOHO bus to the closest stop and found our way walking through the streets to the Museum. The museum was free and we first saw an exhibit of sheep made out of old telephones (we had seen an exhibit like this in Frankfurt). The museum was nicely laid out and had most explanations in English for us. This museum is a nice must see.

After the museum we took the elevator to the top floor for a late lunch. We first took a seat outside but with the breeze, it was too cold for us. We sat inside and split a lunch plate which was more than enough for the two of us. It contained – Pickled herring, fried fish, grilled beef pieces, chicken salad, some great bread. And in a small side dish was something that looked and tasted like lard/bacon fat with crumbled bacon on top. I only took a small taste of this. (bet this is used on bread like butter would be)

Tallin, Estomia

As we approach Estonia, we are told to take our passports with us on shore. It is also 54F. Our room service coffee was on the early side, which was OK with us as long at the server doesn’t mind seeing my husband in bed as he brings in the tray.

Our tour first stop was a maritime museum that had a Soviet submarine. I went into it, and only went half way back because I didn’t want to need help getting out. This sub was made in England and sold to the Russians when they were still allies. The Russians used the sub as a model to build their own. The space inside was really small. This museum also had a working ice breaker. This port freezes in the winter, but they use ice breakers to continue life. We went by the TV Tower that was in the news at the beginning of the breakup of Soviet Russia. This was also where the Baltic chain went through (of people holding hands through the Baltic states)

Estonia wants to be the greenest nation. A permit is needed to cut a tree and if you cut one you are obligated to plant some trees. Their language is related to Finnish and Hungarian (also heard this in Finland)

We learned the compressed history of Estonia. They were part of Russia after Peter the Great took them from Sweden until after WWI. They were free then and tried to be neutral at the start of WWII. But Russia said that since there was a Polish ship sitting off of their shore they were not neutral and invaded them (for one year) then Germany took them from Russia; then Russia took them back and with the end of WWII, Estonia was given to Russia. They got their independence from Russia in 1991. They called this their second Independence.

We then visited the Museum of Occupation. A lady talked with us about her arrest by the KGB in 1988 and smuggling a letter to Reagan when he was negotiating with Gorbachev.

 

St. Petersburg, Russia (latitude 59.56)

Three days in St. Petersburg. We are given directions on getting through Russian immigration, which we would have to go through every time we got off the ship. St. Petersburg is the northernmost city on earth. This city was built by Peter the Great after he took the area from Sweden in war. Our first excursion was to the Hermitage. (Reading Catherine the Great I knew some of the history of the Hermitage). Getting to the Hermitage was not easy this morning. The draw bridges throughout the city were raised because the Aurora military ship (signaled the Bolshevik Revolution) was going to dry dock for repairs and it seemed like the entire city was out to watch it go up the river).

It was very crowded in the Hermitage. Don’t know if this is always the case or because it was Sunday or what. It is a very interesting place, but our guide went fast and I didn’t want to get lost in the humanity. There are paintings by many greats such as Rembrandt and Renoir but it was very hard to get a good look. We saw a throne room and a “Peacock clock” that moves when it chimes. We wore receivers so we could hear our guide, which was very good to have. Flash photography was not allowed. Right before the Seize of St. Petersburg during WWII much of the Hermitage art works were packaged and transported by rail to Siberia for safe keeping. On our drive back, property ownership was explained and also that with the Soviet era the churches became nationalized and became things such as museums, one became an ice rink. There was no time to shop on this excursion. At the port both before and after immigration there were some shops.

Our next excursion was to Peterhof, a formal palace. There was a private palace a couple miles away for the Tsar. As we went in, we saw a display of information (in Russian) that was explained that Lenin understood the importance/worth of the palaces throughout Russia. However, after the revolution, the palaces were opened to the “workers” and there was much looting. Also, many palaces were destroyed by the ****s and are now total restorations. WE could not take any pictures in Peterhof. One interesting room was a dining room all set up. Each dinner place was elevated by some kind of dish about 3 inches deep. We were told that hot water was poured into these dishes before the plate is put down, to keep the food on the plate warm. The gardens were just beautiful. The fountains go on with a ceremony at 11am every day with a band announcing it. The gardens also contained a separate greenhouse for flowers for the house.

That evening we went to a Music/folkdance performance given by a part of the Russian Army. It was a very enjoyable performance. The only issue many of us had was that people were allowed to take pictures during the performance, and that was very distracting. There was a chorus of male singers and some individual singers. They also did traditional dance that we think of when we hear about Cossacks.

We visited Catherine’s Palace and took a canal ride through some of the canals in St. Petersburg. It was rainy which is considered normal weather for September. We could see the Church of the Spilled Blood and Peter and Paul Fortress. Many canals were filled in after Peter the Great died. We then went shopping which was a stop at a very large souvenir shop.

Helsinki, Finland

We had an excursion with a Virtuoso Voyager club though our travel agent. We did the usual of going to see the Rock Church and then we headed to the home (Hvittrask) of 3 architects, they designed and built the property so all 3 families had a wing, and the architects had their own studio. This was a very interesting place to visit.

We then had lunch at a Casino – not gambling, but casino is a name for a fancy restaurant. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water and started off with a herring and potato salad which was very good. The rest of the meal, chicken breast, roast potatoes, zucchini etc, and cream desert with currants and strawberries. All road sign in Finland are in two languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Finnish people really do do saunas to start the weekend or start a party or whenever they visit or want to relax.

Stockholm, Sweden

It was a rainy day, our tour took us to the Royal Castle. In Sweden, the king is just a figure head, no power. We could take no photos in the castle. The castle was modeled after stuff in France, especially Versailles. We then went to the Old Town of Stockholm. It is German in style because of the Hanseatic league of the Middle Ages. This area was also ruled by Vikings and they were the one that established a succession plan for the king. There was plenty of shopping in the old town. The shuttle stop seemed “far” away for a return to the ship so we went back with the excursion.

Lithuania

Our tour was to an Amber Museum. On the way we got the history. At the end of WWII, when the people of Klaipeda realized they were to be occupied by the Soviets, they blew everything up in town, so there is nothing old, churches etc. On the outskirts of town we past many newer homes and were told these were built after the Soviets left and since they could, they built large homes, but it was explained that now people couldn’t afford to maintain/heat them.

The Amber museum was undergoing some renovation so we didn’t get to see much but had some explanations about how amber is found and how to tell if amber is real or fake. There was a nice shop that we could buy amber at. We then walked to a beautiful beach behind the mansion and then went into Palanga promenade. Had a beer at a local bar. The area was really nice.

Stopped in town on the way back and walked back to the ship. The town is really nice looking with restaurants etc.

Gdansk, Poland

Gdansk was totally destroyed during WWII. The “Old Town” that we went to was a total restoration to reflect what it looked like in the middle ages. There were lots of vendors selling amber. We went through the largest brick church in Europe , St. Mary’s. Much of the interior had been painted over. Pope Paul II had visited here.

After WWII a lot of housing was needed. We drove by an apt building that was 1 kilometer long, held 7000 apts with each apartment being 30 sq meters. The form of the entire building made curves as it went along, kind of to break up the long stretch of the building.

Helsingborg, Sweden

This was a new port for our cruise line. We took an excursion that took a ferry over to Demark to the castle that was part of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The Castle was in very good shape. We crossed three motes on the way in. The entrance itself was not a straight entrance which was part of the defense also. The king in this castle got a lot of money from collecting from ships that went through the narrow sea pass. The castle sat on the sea. After the castle, we went through the old town which has quite a lot of half timber homes dating from the 1800s. There were good examples of what the small cobblestone streets were like with a gutter in the middle. They were very narrow. The guide pointed out the mirrors attached to the second floor for people to look at to see who was walking down the path.

Amsterdam

Getting off the ship was very easy and we got in line for a taxi to go to our hotel. We were spending the night here to see some of the sites. The taxi we took to our hotel, we found out, did not take a credit card, but we had enough USD to pay him. This surprised me since someone from the port was handling the taxi line.

We stayed at the Mercure Hotel – Arthur Frommer. It was in walking distance to many sites. We were able to check in around 10 which was nice. We then headed out making our way to the Anne Frank House. I had made bought tickets on line which was good, since the line for those waiting for tickets seemed to be about 2 hours long. We were able to get in earlier than our ticket said. This is a must see for any one. This was the quietest place we had been to all trip. After this we found a place for lunch and took a canal ride. Heading back to our hotel we found a nice bar/restaurant about a block from our hotel which was very nice.

We sailed out of Copenhagen in Sept this year. It was very easy getting out of the airport and getting a cab to take us to our hotel. No problems getting a cab to the pier.

What cruise terminal are you departing from? We recently stayed at the Admiral which seemed to be just down the street (still needed taxi) from the terminal we needed to be at. I would pick a hotel close to the terminal so you get some chance to see Copenhagen.

We did Le Boreal to Antarctica (not with a group like Tauck, A & K) Even though there were a couple tour groups on board (including Tauck) the naturalist, etc were all Le Boreal crew. It was a great cruise and we got several landings and still had a luxury cruise experience when we got back on board. I have written a member review on cruise critic. I believe we were the only English speaking people on board that were not with Tauck but we had no difficulties and all the naturalists spoke English (for several this was their first language)

Hope you have a great trip. Thank you for posting your trip, I am looking forward to more details of your journey.

I want to select a different excursion than the one I have reserved already. I have been unable to cancel the one I had previously reserved. Is there a certain web page or something needed to be done to cancel a booked excursion?

What a great blog. I will be looking forward to reading every day! We have a river cruise on our bucket list and your blog is just great.

Two years ago we stayed in the Park Inn Alexanderplatz, which was nice, close to tram stops and within walking distance of Museum Island. If going back, I would stay here again.

And thank you for spending the time to review your cruise. I enjoyed reading it and there is a river cruise in our future. I have a couple questions regarding room service, is there anything in the mornings and in place of dinner in case you just don't want to have a large dinner?

Also, do you know what they do for Non Alcoholic beers? NA beers I much more prevalent in Europe, so wondering if they are included in the included beer?

Again thanks for the review.

When I was on the voyager they served Ariel non-alcoholic wine in the dining rooms, red and white. They also had 2 varieties of non-alcoholic beer.

 

Non-alcoholic wine is wine (after the fermentation) where the alcohol has been removed by some process.

 

It still wouldn't hurt to have you TA make sure they have some; but I wasn't the only person requesting these on our last couple of cruises.

We are on a cruise this fall. Can we deviate to arrive 3 days early and book our own transfer and hotel but still take advantage of the business air with Regent?

We spent 4 days in Rio prior to our Antarctica cruise. Had a great time. Had a tour guide Gus for our tour throughout the city, Cristo and Sugarloaf. We were connected with Gus through the arrangements our Travel Agent had made. As we were getting settled into our hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Gus called to go over the tour we had reserved and made some suggestions for changes that would make the tour better, which we agreed to. Gus also talked with me for a while about the area we were staying in to let me know things to see and suggested some restaurants. Our tour with Gus was fantastic. We had an overall city tour that included several churches, the cog railroad and Cristo, the cable cars and Sugarloaf Mountain, Ipanema, Copacabana and Lebron beaches, lunch at an Argentina steakhouse and drives into many other areas of the city to give us a great overview of the city. Gus spoke English very well and we felt very comfortable asking him questions throughout the tour. I would not hesitate to recommend the tour services that Gus offers and would hire him again if or I should say when we get to return to Rio de Janeiro. tourguidegus.com.

Just got back from a 10 day cruise to the Antarctica and had a fantastic time. I have submitted a member review that should eventually get posted. I will also do a more day to day review here after I get some order to our pictures. We had a great time and will have great memories of all we did during this trip.

We leave in three weeks for Le Boreal for the Antarctica. I have a question for Mike 2131 or editor@cruisecritic. The info I have says there will be two formal dinners. How formal are these on this type of trip?

Thank you for doing this. We are on Le Boreal in January and while I know it will be great would have liked to have found more info on the cruise line and ship. Would be interested to know of any unique things that this cruise line does. It seems that dinner on the ships start around 7pm (which is late for us) so would like to know what room service is like for evenings and morning coffee.

We stayed at Park Inn in 2012. It is in what was East Berlin, near the TV tower, near tram stations and within walking distance of many sites.