nydiana

I don't like the sales because they won't let you use the Royal points to pay for your cruise if you booked with the special pricing, especially the ones were the second person gets a discounted price :mad:. I usually take $500 or more off each cruise. I also tend to book a year out and get a better price then those sale prices.

Diana

I just noticed your reply. We were lucky, they pulled the pick slips before he was out the door. We have enjoyed several cruises since. We have an 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise planned for January 2015. The PEF contract expires in April 2015. We hope the governor doesn't put employees' jobs in jeopardy, over that contract negotiation.

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Thanks we go with the flow and love meeting all the friendly cruisers and staff. I think the people you interact with make the vacation.

 

Hope to meet you someday. :) We are looking at our next cruise in Sept or Oct 2012. Quebec or the Greek Isles looks interesting to us.

 

Unfortunately, our Governor says he is going ahead with 9,800 state worker layoffs. :mad: That would devastate the Capital district of NY. My DH does not have much seniority so he is at risk. :eek: So we are holding tight to see if the other shoe drops.

 

Diana

Our union voted down a contract. Then the NY State Governor carried out his treat and sent out almost 3,500 layoff notices. My DH was one of the unlucky ones. We had a rough month with his job in balance while they worked out another contract for union member to vote on. We put our cruise plans on hold. My DH, Jon started looking for another job. I was so bummed out and worried about Jon losing his job I stopped reading the cruise boards.

Well it came down to the wire. Jon’s last day was expected to be 11/4/11. Great news the union contract was passed. :D:D The Governor rescinded the layoff notices on 11/3/11.

We went out and booked our next cruise the next day. We had been looking at the 10-night cruise of Canada. So we are going back on Brilliance of the Seas, Oct 12, 2012. I can’t wait, only 48 weeks.

Diana

After partaking one final time of the Hotel’s free breakfast, we headed off to the airport. We arrived at about 9:30 AM. The first place we reported was the airport’s information desk. The attendant looked at our boarding passes and giggled. Then she said that she had no definitive information about our flight and we would have to deal with the airline directly. She told us that our airline did not have ticket counters of its own but used certain counters belonging to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) which took up a large percentage of terminal 3.

Talking to an SAS agent revealed the following info:

1) No decisions had yet been made and none would be made until 11 AM.

2) At 11 AM, I should get in line at a particular SAS counter (a different counter than the one information booth had given).

3) Since I was going through to NY and not visiting Iceland, the airline would work on finding an alternate route that would NOT go through Iceland.

At 11, went to the line that the agent had mentioned. While I was talking to the airline employee who was directing traffic at that line (she confirmed that all flights headed for Iceland that day were cancelled), the original agent that to whom I had spoken at 9:30 came walking up to us. He recognized me from earlier that morning. He said, “You’re going to NY right? After I answered, “yes” he said that the airline had an alternate flight for me and that I should stand in a different line. After 10 minutes, the new line had not moved an inch. The agent came and got me again. He personally escorted me to the front of a different line. The agent at that window took our luggage (without weighing them), handed us boarding passes and told us that we should hurry as the flight was already boarding. This was not entirely accurate. When we arrived at the gate, boarding had not yet, in fact, started. However, it did so within the next few minutes.

It was only now that we realized the final curveball that we had been thrown. Looking at our boarding passes, we realized that the plane was not going into New York City itself, but rather to Newark, NJ. Newark is considered a regional airport for New York, so as far as the Danes were concerned they had arranged for us to get to “New York.” Ordinarily, it would not have mattered much to us either. It is generally easier for us to get home from Newark than from Queens. Moreover, the flight to which we had been switched was direct, so we would be landing 4.5 hours earlier than we otherwise would have. The problem was that we had parked our car at JFK. After a quick discussion, we decided that on balance it was better to be stranded in NJ then Denmark. We boarded the flight.

After an uneventful flight - which was made longer because we had to fly around the ash cloud hanging over Iceland – we arrived back in the States. We discovered that there is a shuttle running between the NY airports. We purchased ticket for this shuttle, which was supposed to run once per hour. It actually took close to 2 hours before we boarded a shuttle for JFK. Eventually we arrived at JFK an hour earlier than our original flight was scheduled to land.

My DH Jon

As planned, we disembarked and took the “castle” tour provided by the ship. Christiansborg Slot is a reasonably nice, fancy palace. Don’t tell the Danes this but the Swedish castle is fancier. Rosenborg Slot is not nearly as fancy a castle, but it has a nice garden and the crown jewels, which were interesting to see. This was also the day of the Copenhagen marathon, so the bus had to dodge and weave around streets which were closed for the marathon (actually the clever Danes would force the marathon runners to divert one block every once in a while to allow traffic to move). The tour ended at the central train station which was about 6 block from the hotel. It was hot and humid and they were a long six blocks. It also did not help that the sidewalks are cobblestone. Suitcases do not roll well over cobblestone. With the help of a very nice local, we got the luggage to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, we learned that the elevator was not functioning. We were lucky enough to grab the one and only available first floor room. Still, this involved dragging the luggage up a flight of stairs, after bringing it the 6 blocks to the hotel. Also, the hotel clerk was amused when I asked him where I could get a bottle of Danish wine. “I don’t think we grow grapes in this county,” he told me. Our initial couple of days in Copenhagen had taught how to spot restaurants where we might be able to afford to eat. So we wandered around and found a small café. Lunch only cost us $40 – see a vast improvement. After lunch we went to the Copenhagen City museum. This turned out not to be an art (or even natural history) museum located in Copenhagen, but rather a museum dedicated to the city itself, its cultural diversity, and its vast immigrant population. As Americans we were not really impressed by this diversity and would not recommend this museum to other Americans.

It was now near 5 PM on a Sunday and most of the attractions were shutting down. We headed back to the hotel to rest. On the way we past a 7-11 (actually there are 7-11’s all over Copenhagen). A billboard in the window advertized a “wine-drink” made in Denmark. It really seems something like a wine cooler. As this is the closest I was going to find to local wine, I purchased a bottle. I also exchanged another $50 into Danish money to use for dinner. The women at the exchange window actually told me that you could not possibly get a decent meal for less than 400 DKK ($80) per person. After another rest at the hotel (during which it poured again) we found dinner in another small café. This time we managed two bowls of soup for only $16.

We now headed back to the hotel and flipped on CNN. We learned that indeed another Volcano was erupting in Iceland and that Icelandic airspace was already closed. We looked at our tickets – heading back to NY via Reykjavik and cried. Visions of the Spanish airline strike and our night in Madrid danced in our heads. Also, thoughts of European travel being shut down for a week due to last year’s volcano occurred to us. We looked at our airline’s website and discovered that ALL flight on Icelandic air funnel through Iceland. If Iceland’s airspace was already closed we might be in trouble. The website also advised us that there would be no way to contact the airline until the morning. We decided that there was nothing we could do at this point and that our best strategy would be to get the airport early the next day and see how things played out …

My DH Jon

You guys sound like great sports. Hope I get to sail with you one day.

Thanks we go with the flow and love meeting all the friendly cruisers and staff. I think the people you interact with make the vacation.

Hope to meet you someday. :) We are looking at our next cruise in Sept or Oct 2012. Quebec or the Greek Isles looks interesting to us.

Unfortunately, our Governor says he is going ahead with 9,800 state worker layoffs. :mad: That would devastate the Capital district of NY. My DH does not have much seniority so he is at risk. :eek: So we are holding tight to see if the other shoe drops.

Diana

It was very kind of your husband to volunteer to be the designated drinker.;)

We were sitting in the front row. I think Jon was the only man up front. They had Jon stand up on the stage behind the decorating activities. Every few minutes the Chef stopped to have another toast. If you could have seen the look on my husbands face with each toast. The drink was very strong and I don't think he like the taste. :p CD Sol was clowning around. It was all good fun. We all laughed.

Diana

The morning of the final day was spent buying pictures, souvenirs and otherwise tying up loose ends (i.e. using those free spins in the casino that you find in the coupon book and that always produce exactly 1 key chain in winnings). Our wrap up left is around the Centrum for the towel folding demo. It was amusing, as always. Following the towel folding was the cake decorating demo. I should point out that for the last 10 years or so we have decorated cakes together as a hobby (and occasionally sold one). So, we were moderately interested in the professional’s methods. As part of the demo, three people were to decorate – Mark (I think his name was Mark, the chef), Sol (the cruise director), and Alma (an audience volunteer from Puerto Rico). The dessert itself was a black forest cake which had kirshwasser in the recipe. If you are unfamiliar with kirshwasser, it is a clear flavored liquor about 35% alcohol. Part of the gag was for Mark and Sol to propose toasts at regular intervals. I am fairly certain that that their bottle contained water, while only Alma’s had liquor. After one taste, poor Alma refused to play the drinking game anymore. Accordingly, Mark called for a “volunteer” to be “designated drinker.” I was the lucky volunteer. After about a half a bottle of alcohol, the cake and I were finished. As DW put it, “His mother would be so proud …” :rolleyes:

The final show of the cruise featured Sol and one of the Ship’s singers performing a duet. We learned, to our surprise, that Sol had the by far the best singing voice among anyone employed by the ship. After that and the obligatory magic act (I think there is one during every cruise), came the parade of nations. We learned something new and interesting during the parade. Before the parade, RCCL hands out small flags with the RCCL logo to anyone who wants them. We discovered that if, during the parade, you wave your flag you will cause amusement among the marching crew members.

Sometime during this day we heard vague rumors about a new volcano eruption in Iceland and reminders about what happened last year when Icelandic volcanoes erupted …:eek:

My DH Jon

Do you have any good Bottles of Swedish Table Wine?

I have to admit, it has been many years since we cruised an itinerary which included four straight port days. By the time we got to Stockholm, we were fairly tired. This was made worse because I had trouble sleeping the night between Finland and Sweden. The good part was that I was up on deck at sunrise as we pulled into Stockholm. It is a beautiful trip. We decided (rightly as it turns out) that after the main palace and the cathedral (which are conveniently located close together) we would probably be wiped out. This proved to be a correct assessment. After these attractions and a local lunch, we were ready to head back to the ship. But first I had to make a futile search. There is one friend who we always bring back a bottle of wine local to wherever in the world we travel. Having not had the opportunity to look for a local wine up to this point in the trip, I thought I should try. After twenty minutes of searching, I found a fairly large wine/liquor store (Sven’s wine emporium?). My Inquiry about a bottle of Swedish wine merely provoked laughter on the part of the clerk. She thought that if I gave her a week, she might be able to special order something Finnish, but they did not carry anything like that on hand.

This was the night of the second and final production show. Once again the band’s volume was increased. Once again the volume failed to hide inadequate voices of the production crew. However, this show was followed by the 70’s party/show hosted by the entertainment staff, in the Centrum. This was fun and well worth the price of admission. Once again on this night, the late night activity (I think it was the finish the lyric game) started before our dinner seating could possibly finish. RCCL clearly needs to think about this scheduling.

My DH Jon

I love reading your reviews Diana. I anxiously await the next "episode".

Hi Millie and Dan,

How are you two doing?

Most of this review is Jon's writing. I have been posting his review and signing it "My DH Jon". Jon also wrote most of the review on the Brilliance cruise. When I add my comments I just sign it "Diana".

Diana

The Ice Bar sounds really interesting! I'd like to try that.:D:D:D

Thanks we really enjoyed that day. I thought I had posted my DH's review for that day but I guess I had not. So I posted it tonight.

Diana

This, being my birthday, we decided to splurge on the type of excursion that we never take. We went to the ice bar and winter wonderland fun park. It was a lot of fun. It probably would have been fun, even without the free vodka shots; however, they did not hurt. Being at an indoor attraction proved to be a good idea as there was a steady drizzle all day. The show that evening (which was the second formal night BTW) was a rat pack retrospective. The performers were entertaining enough, but what we noticed most was that the volume of the band was reasonable as compared to the volume of the singers. It was only now that we realized that the problem we had noticed on the first two nights was not a problem with the sound system, but an intentional decision by ship’s personnel.

My DH Jon

We book the Ice Bar and Winter Wonderland excursion with RCI. My DH is one rarely says something is good. Everything is just “O.K.” Well, I want to point out after this excursion he said, ‘that was fun!” They limited you to only one hour there including time to get a snow mobile suit, put it on, explore winter park, take it off and return the suit.

We had a lot of fun in the time allowed. We toasted to Jon’s birthday with shots of Finnish Vodka in shot glasses made of ice. Jon took a dog sled ride and went tobogganing. They also had snowshoes and cross-country skiing. They also had Igloos with animal skins doors and ice sculpture and beds ;). Afterwards we took off the snowmobile suits and returned to the bus for a ride back to town.

The guide gave us info about living in Finland and some of the sight along the way. Then they dropped us off in the center of town for one hour of shopping. Jon and I both wished they had giving us the extra time at the winter park. They made a point of saying if you wanted to stay in town longer you could take the shuttle back, so those who wanted to shop could have, without wasting tour time.

In summary we both thought it was worth the price. We had a good time and it was something really different. I wanted to add a few pictures of the Winter Park but all but two fail.

Diana

Is it wetter under water if you’re there when it rains?

This was one of the major highlight cities of the trip. We had arranged a tour with a CC contingent for the day (thank you Karen for doing all of the work). We had been worried that there would be trouble disembarking, but neither the ship nor the Russian authorities caused any trouble in this regard. There were plenty of lines open at 7 AM to have passports stamped. The weather forecast was clear, so we left our umbrella on the ship - - big mistake. The rain started almost as soon as our bus made it form the port to the city. The first part of our tour consisted of photo stops at some major attractions (St Isaac’s, the sphinxes, the lighthouses, etc.) It rained through each of these stops. Part of my job involves appraising houses and farms. As part of that process I have to get out of my car to measure and photograph buildings, frequently doing so in the rain. Therefore, exiting a bus in the rain to photograph a building seemed perfectly normal to me. Next, we rode the subway for one stop. I am not really sure why we did this. It was just something that the tour organizer wanted to do.

Finally, we reached Katherine’s Palace. It was pouring. There was a long walk between the lot where the bus dropped us and the entrance. During this walk, we got drenched. Because it was raining so hard, the authorities decided to let everyone in the museum at once (instead of having them wander in the garden outside). This meant that it was a crowded madhouse. The palace itself is a wonder to behold. Each room is more ornately decorated than the next. The idea, I think was to overawe people with the wealth and power of the czar (actually a lot of it just comes across as gaudy). After a quick lunch, we spent most of the afternoon at the Hermitage museum. If you are an art lover, you could spend weeks in this museum. We finished the day at the Peter and Paul Cathedral. By European standards, this is not a very fancy cathedral, but it is the burial place of numerous czars.

There was an evening portion of the tour out of which we opted. Instead we returned to the ship. This proved to be no easy task. Whereas leaving the ship, there had been at least 10 passport lines open. Returning to the ship only three were open. Additionally, just as we reached the front of the line the worker in the booth whose line we were in slammed down a metal door and left. It took a good hour of standing in line to get through the port and re-board the ship. We changed out of our still damp clothes and went to theater where the entertainment – a Russian folk troupe was performing. Because the ship was scheduled in port until 11 PM, the ship had only scheduled one performance of this. It was literally standing room only. I had never remembered finding the theaters on vision class ship to be inadequate, but it did not have nearly the capacity for this show.

RCCL made one other odd decision on this day. Late seating dinner was 8:45 PM. The ship was scheduled to be in port until 11 PM (and probably 40% of the passengers were on tours that included evening activities). Yet RCCL decided to hold the quest on this night and to start it at 9:30 PM. Now I am not a big fan of the quest (seeing it once or twice is enough for me), but I acknowledge that it is a fairly popular RCCL activity. Why, in this case, would you schedule this activity on an evening where a large percentage of passengers are off the ship and schedule it at a time when late seating guests are unlikely to make it? After dinner, I wandered down to the lounge to see if they actually held it as advertised and I discovered that it was, indeed, in progress. The crowd seemed much smaller than it usually is for this event.

My DH Jon

Now that would be an interesting read!!!;)

I would loved to have been a fly on the wall during Captain Eric's debriefing. ;) I too would like to read that report on the incident. I guess we will never know for sure if it should and could have been avoided. :eek: At least we know the crew worked very hard to return things back to normal as quickly as possible. :)

Diana

I'm enjoying your review. Not all JS's have a walk-in closet (which I use as a "dressing room" so I don't have to keep closing the drapes...wish they did. I love having a tub but I agree that the sides are so high it become dangerous entering and exiting:o

Thanks for the info. I have to say I never think to close the curtains. I was startled by a man on a moving scaffold going pass our balcony. This was the first time I have notice this happening.

Diana

We hiked up Toompea Hill. You have a nice view of the town. We walked around the grounds of the Broque Toompea Castle which is now the Estonia Parliament. Across the street is the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevski Cathedral. This is a nice Cathedral but no pictures are allowed.

We make a habit of finding a local restaurant in each port and trying the local food. In Tallinn we found a nice restaurant, V. Tooma on the State Square. I had a good lamb dish with au gratin potatoes, a tomato and veggie side.

I am including some pictures of these places and my lunch.

That evening there was “Mission Blue classic song from Motown” which we skipped. They also had the Crown and Anchor Welcome back party. At this party they had mixed drinks, champagne, and appetizers. I always enjoy these parties. I like mixing with others that love cruising and dancing to the live music.

Diana

Tallinn is one of those European cities that still retain much of their medieval character. The main attractions are also located fairly close together and relatively near the port. Accordingly we down loaded a suggested walking tour from the internet. Unfortunately, we left this paperwork on the ship as we disembarked. To save our poor knees, we decided to use the ship’s provided shuttle to town rather than walking.

I have to suggestions for RCCL at this juncture:

1) If you are going to provide a generalized street map of these towns in your daily planner, could you at least include a useful one? The maps they provide do not provided nearly enough detail for you to orient yourself if you are unfamiliar with the city. They also leave off so many streets that you cannot really tell the distance between the listed attractions.

2) If you are going to provide both a map of attractions and a shuttle service, would it not make sense to include the shuttle service pick up location as one of the marked locations?

After an hour of wandering the town, we stumbled along a tourist information office. Here I was able to get a complete street map. On this, we marked to intersection where the shuttle bus stop was located. (We had written the street names down, hoping we could ask directions to them later). Using the ship’s suggestions as a guide, we created our own walking tour of the old section of Tallinn. My one comment is this: Tallinn was a pleasant enough European city, but having been in both Rhodes and Valetta recently, I can say that those locations have similar charms and are just better laid out than Tallinn.

My DH Jon

I can't wait to find out what the "designated drinker' is:confused::eek:

That happened on the last sea day so we have a ways to go. It was a special event with the Cruise Director Sol. So hold tight.

Diana

This was a true honor. I was excited to receive the formal invitation for Dinner with our Captain Magne Johansen. My husband rents a Tux & I had my gown so we were all set for the special dinner. We went to the "Meet the Captain" party. I always enjoy hearing the Captain’s talk where he tells of new things coming to RCI. As Jon mentioned this party only had drinks. I thought in the past we have been served hors d’oeuvres. Perhaps I am confusing it with one of the other parties we get invited to each cruise (Welcome Back C&A Party and Top Tier Event.).

We then had to rush off to the meeting place in the Champaign Bar for our VIP dinner. While we waited to be escorted to the dinning room we chatted with the other lucky invitees. The served us complementary drinks. There was one other couple and two groups of ladies. They were all so nice. We enjoyed breakfast with some of them several times later that week. Then the Maitre d’ came an escorted us to the Captain’s table.

The table was set with a beautiful centerpiece of orchids. They had name place cards. I couldn’t believe it when I saw I was to be seated next to the Captain. The service was impeccable. They offered both red and wine with each course. They took a group photo. The waiter took our orders from a special menu. I had the “Captain’s Surf and Turf”. It was a very large Filet Mignon and broiled Shrimps with veggies and Béarnaise Sauce. The meat was so tender and delicious. The dessert was a pretty Almond crusted bowl with berries and ice cream. It was decorated with chocolate.

The Captain was so friendly. It was so easy chatting with him. He has a very interesting life story. We even had a conversation about our harrowing adventures on Brilliance of the Seas. He said there was a very comprehensive report written on that cruise that all the Captains read.

We were given a souvenir menu autographed by our Captain and the group table photo.

I am including some pictures, but I have never figured how to get more than the thumb print size. Sorry.

Diana

This was one of the best timed days we have ever managed on Board a ship. We slept late – I think we may have finally caught up with the jet lag here. We stayed in bed until after 10 AM. The CC "Meet and Mingle" was scheduled for 10:45 AM. This proved to be a real meet and mingle. The meet and mingle on our previous cruise had broken up shortly after the ship stopped giving out the toys. I had also heard that more recent meet and mingles had turned into market gimmicks featuring a group photo and pressuring everyone to buy it. None of that occurred here. There was no group photo. The prizes were given out in the first 10 minutes. What followed was an hour and a half of true meeting and mingling. In various groups, we stood and chatted for a long time. One couple even brought copious amounts of German chocolate, which they shared with all. Thank you!

After the M & M, we went to lunch. This lunch took over an hour – it is not clear why. There had been rumors on CC that service on this ship was particularly slow and this was the one meal where we truly felt it. Lunch led right up to afternoon of ship sponsored informal bridge. On previous, cruises, this activity had been in the cruise compass, but virtually no one showed up for it. As a pleasant surprise, at least 12 people showed up for it. We sat down to play against a Danish couple who brought their own cards, Danish cards. If you have never seen a Danish deck of cards, Jacks are “B”, queens are “D” and aces are “Es”. If you are unfamiliar with bridge, the game requires you to hold (fan) 13 cards in front of you at once. This means you cannot hold them far enough apart to look at the pictures. We got our revenge though. We made them bid (name a trump suit and set a contract) in English. All and all it was an enjoyable afternoon.

On returning to our cabin we were surprised to find a formal invitation to have dinner with the captain that night. :D:D On previous cruises we had sat near the captain’s table and found it to be empty most of the time. I had thought that dining with the captain was a myth precipitated by the “Love Boat”. After dressing for dinner (this was formal night) we went to the captain’s cocktail party. The free drinks were there as always, but there were no hors d’oeuvres to be found. After the party, we met the Hotel director in the Champaign Bar for our VIP dinner. Dinner was quite good. The wine was free. The menu was special (a large Filet Mignon and seafood with a special dessert). The down side of this meal was that the regular menu would have featured escargot and duck – a meal towards which I always look forward. The Captain himself is a charming man. He considers this sort of thing part of his PR job as Captain. He was both affable and entertaining.

After dinner was the first production show. Here was where we learned why the volume of the band was louder than the volume of the singers - - they can’t sing. Actually one or two of them could perform a solo tolerably, but they would lose their key or their voice once they started dancing. The sound crew had apparently decided to try to drown out their voices with the music.

My DH Jon

As our Copenhagen card (which is good for 24 hours rather than a particular calendar day) still had some time left on it, we toyed with taking in one more attraction this morning. We decided, however to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, pack and get to the ship relatively early. Accordingly, we got to the port at about noon. The port facility in Copenhagen leaves something to be desired. Really it is a large circus tent set up at the far end of the pier. Due to some delay with the debarkation of the previous week’s cruise, boarding had not yet started when we arrived. There was about a 15 minute line for processing and people who had already checked in were waiting to board. Juice and cookies were provided to make the wait easier. By the time we had finished checking in, the ship was ready for boarding. We were sent straight to the line for boarding.

Some general observations on Vision of the Seas: She is beginning to look her age. Both inside and outside are in need of paint. We had a junior suite (our first suite). This was somewhat disappointing. While the room was bigger than our normal balcony cabin, the difference was not so great as to make me pay the premium for it. The balcony was bigger than the balcony cabin’s but again I do not think that it is enough to justify paying for a JR suite. I thought it was supposed to have some sort of walk-in closet. It doesn’t. The bathroom is bigger than a balcony cabin’s and has a real bath tub. While this seems like a huge plus, it is at best double edged. The sides of the tub are extraordinarily high (2 feet?). If you have knee issues (and we do) it is extremely difficult to get into and out of this tub. There is also no shower seat. While I suppose I was not really expecting one, it would have been nice; especially given the height and slipperiness of the tub. During rough seas, this would help a lot. Finally, the tub was too short. We are 5’10’’ and 6’ respectively. The clearance on the shower was roughly 6’2’’. If either of us were any taller, this could have been a real issue. On the positive side, the cabin had a lot more closet and storage space than I am used to. If room for your “stuff” is an issue, the junior suite helps. Once under way, we noticed that the ship had a strange shudder. I do not know whether it was due to the stabilizers, the engines or something else but every once in while you could feel the ship sort of vibrate for a few seconds.

That evening featured the first production show in the main theater. It has been several years since we were on a vision class ship and we had forgotten some of the quirks. For instance, there is an overhang where the balcony (from deck 6) overhangs the lower section (deck 5) of the theater. Since we were in the back of the lower deck and the show featured aerial performers we could not see part of the performance (as it was blocked by the overhang.) The aerial performers must have been late, as they only performed two numbers. First, some of the ship’s singers performed two songs. We noticed a curiosity about this. The sound system had the level of the band higher than that of the singers. This had the affect of having the singing drowned out by the band. (I will expand on this later).

We always request the late seating and request a large and full table. Therefore, our first dinner was after the “welcome aboard” show. The emergence of my time dining and specialty restaurants has led, in recent years, to half empty tables. On this cruise we were greeted to a full, English speaking table. Our waitress and assistant waitress came by to introduce themselves. Each of them made it a point to emphasize that they were new to both their jobs and to each other. The head waitress (yes another woman – In fact our cabin stewardess was also female, making this the first cruise in which we had been attended by an all female team) probably introduced herself next. I say probably because we saw her sporadically during the trip. Given that the wait staff was new, I would have wished for much closer supervision of them by the head waitress. Dinner was decent enough. The prime rib was properly cooked but under seasoned. I think the assistant waitress was supposed to offer us sauces or horseradish, but this did not occur. She was also slow (at least early in the cruise) about getting and refilling drinks. One of our table mates is probably still waiting for his coffee. I had the feeling that if the head waiter was paying attention these issues could have been easily resolved…

I was originally going to end my review of day 1 here. I did not remember going to the after dinner entertainment and thought that we had just skipped it and went to bed early. Looking at the day one cruise compass now, I realize that the entertainment “Rock-a-rookie” was scheduled for 9:30 PM. This was a continuing problem on this cruise. Late seating for dinner was 8:45 PM. On at least 4 nights, the ship’s “late evening” entertainment was scheduled to begin at either 9:15 or 9:30. Anyone enjoying a leisurely late seating dinner could not possible attend these activities. I have never seen scheduling like this and I find it odd and disappointing.

My DH Jon

Anxiously awaiting for more of your review . . . :D :D

Dear debhomespun,

I noticed in your tag you are doing both Oasis and Allure in the fall. It looks like one right after the other, both Western. Why not try one western and the other eastern?

Diana

I do, that is for sure! I still had a wonderful time on the cruise; loved the people I met, and I even enjoyed England, though I was in A LOT of pain. I'm getting there - my right arm is still weaker - but one day I'll be back to doing one-armed push-ups on it! ;)

Carol we thought of you when as we were getting off the ship we herd about the volcano. We remembered last year when the volcano took out flights from Europe for a week. Jon and I were afraid we would be spending a week in Copenhagen. Of course we were not in pain. The pain would have been in our wallets. It is so expensive in Copenhagen.

Your comments about exercise make us feel guilty. :o We have yet to get back into our daily exercise routine since coming home from the Baltic. I had Jon put the exercise bike back in the living room. So no more excuses.

Diana

This was going to be our major sightseeing day in Copenhagen. Looking at the options, we decided that it was best to see a collection of downtown attractions on this day and then to pay for the ship’s tour of the palaces at the end of the cruise. While these tours are frequently overpriced, it would save us the trouble of travelling to the palaces involved (both of which were in other parts if the city from where we were) and serve as our cab ride back to town. (The ship’s tour ended at the main train station which was only a few blocks from the hotel.)

After breakfast (free at the hotel), we made the four block walk to the tourist information office. This was one of the important places we had located on the previous evening’s walking tour. The importance of this location is that it was here we picked up our “Copenhagen Card”. This card, which can also be purchased at the airport (if you can find the right desk) or ordered ahead of time on-line, provided free entry in to a number of attractions and free access to the public transportation system. Bear in mind, it provided a discount to the hop on- hop off busses, but not free use of them. We learned this lesson the hard way …

City hall, which was converted from a church, is a nice building but if you are pressed for time can be skipped. The square outside city hall included some impressive statues and the famous (though less than impressive) statue of Hans Christian Anderson. The next stop was the National Museum. This museum features pieces from Danish history as well as pieces from ancient cultures including an extensive Egyptian collection. If you are an art lover, you will be more interested in the State Museum of Kunst (where we did not go) which has a larger collection of artwork. Our next stop was a boat ride along the canals. If you have the time, this is well worth the experience. After this we hit the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. This is a decent (if somewhat mall) art museum. Of the museums we visited, this was by far the best. It was now late afternoon and we decided to return to the hotel and rest. No sooner did we reach the hotel than the skies opened up.

After a rest and after the storm, we went to Tivoli. If you are unfamiliar with it, Tivoli is a combination garden/amusement park located in the center of Copenhagen. The gardens are nice in the light, but the whole park sparkles more impressively at night. Bear in mind that the ticket price to enter Tivoli (included on the Copenhagen Card) does not include food, rides or any other attractions within the park. The food options within the park include everything from hot dog venders to gourmet. We chose a fairly modest restaurant and spent another $50. We looked at the rides, but decided that they were not worth the expense. (Each ride costs at least three tickets, each ticket is 25 DKK) We also stopped by an ice cream stand before leaving the park. On the whole, this was a good, and full, day.

My DH Jon