Brilliance Cruise to Scandinavia and Russia, planning, cruising and LOT of photos

[Kevin's girl]

Subway continued (sorry if anyone finds it boring)

 

 

 

 

We did actually ride the subway. This train actually goes under the Neva River, and it was very exciting. I did take a secret video on the train, but I will tell you, my camera made a lot of people nervous including Irina. It seems that public transportation and recording devices are just not a comfortable combination.

[Kevin's girl]

In looking at my photos and then back at my review it seems that I have totally forgotten to mention my DH’s quest. Irina and Gennady both got a laugh out of what we needed to do next. It would be the last thing we got to do in Saint Petersburg. We needed to go to McDonald’s. You see, Kevin has for years been on a search for the best McDonald’s burger. To keep this search equal he always orders a quarter pounder (a Royal in countries with the Metric system). We have checked this our in countries as far as Tahiti. Our two TJ friends were more than happy to assist in this quest.

 

Irina and Kevin discussed the order being sure to understand the translation

 

They walked up to the walk up window and ordered

 

Triumphant, they walked away with the burger. As far as which country has the best McDonald’s burger? Estonia and St Petersburg tie for the best. Really, they totally beat the US burger.

[Kevin's girl]

Following our taste testing, Irina and Gennady drove us back to the port. I was very sad to be leaving our TJ friends. They had made our time here in Russia so very comfortable. I really felt like I was saying good bye to dear friends not just a tour guide and driver.

 

 

If any of you are lucky enough to book with TJ Travel and get either one of these two or even both, you will have the best time in Russia possible.

[Kevin's girl]

Feeling very tired, we got back on board ship and stopped off on deck five (you guessed it) for a breathing treatment. And of course to catch up on what some of the nicest people on the ship had done during their last day in Russia.

A hydrofoil speeding past as we made our way through the shipping lanes.

 

After catching up with everyone we headed up to watch from our balcony. Once I got outside again, I could see that it was raining again. I stepped out with my camera and saw the prettiest double rainbow.

 

Here are some of the sights on our way out to the Gulf of Finland

 

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

 

With the rain very short lived, I was enjoying the sail away on the balcony. I knew I was tired but just couldn’t figure out what I was seeing. I was looking out a what was obviously a highway, but the cars were coming straight at the side of the ship. I looked out around the wraparound portion of the balcony, on bridge. Where were the cars going? As we sailed closer I saw what turned out to be Saint Petersburg Ring Road. This road with a combination of bridges, trestles, man made islands and a tunnel under the main shipping lane encircles all of Saint Petersburg. I took photos like a fiend.

 

 

 

[roseshayit]

Such an incredible review! I've greatly enjoyed hearing about your ports of call. This cruise (or something similar) is on my bucket list as well. Very excited to meet Brilliance next month, albeit in the Caribbean. I can only imagine the views from the ship on your cruise. Looking forward to hearing the rest!

[Kevin's girl]

After this it was off to the Diamond Lounge for a drink, followed by dinner

 

 

Then deck five for a …. And very pretty sunset

 

 

Then off to bed.

 

Goodnight everyone, sweet dreams.

[Kevin's girl]

Such an incredible review! I've greatly enjoyed hearing about your ports of call. This cruise (or something similar) is on my bucket list as well. Very excited to meet Brilliance next month, albeit in the Caribbean. I can only imagine the views from the ship on your cruise. Looking forward to hearing the rest!

Thank you so much. Our first Brilliance cruise was the Caribbean. She is a beautiful ship. And you will really enjoy your time on her.

[Kevin's girl]

Day Eight: Helsinki, Finland

When planning for this port, I realized (thanks to all of the CC’ers who went before me) that we were going to be exhausted on arrival here. I also, was a bit afraid that Helsinki would be more akin to Chicago in a “it’s a city” kind of way. I wanted to see a part of Finland that was far from “city” and full of charm and history. I also did not feel like doing a DIY tour. I browsed the RCCI shore excursions and found the Glimpse of Old Town Porvoo – HE10 tour. It did not start until 12:15 I figured this would give us time to DIY something in the morning if we had the energy and would then allow us to be shuttled to a quaint town where we could explore and enjoy the culture. The price was $62/pp and included tea and dessert in a restaurant in Porvoo.

 

As you can see there was no hopping off the ship for a quick look around town before our excursion. It was a total construction site. Just not what I was expecting.

 

We enjoyed our slow start this morning and feeling well rested we headed out to meet our new tour guide and get on our way. We had the one of the worst tour guides for this tour and our bus was nearly in an accident trying to turn a corner in the city. It made for an interesting start for our time in Finland.

 

Helsinki’s Market Square

 

Sculpture named Bad Bad Boy by Tommi Toijan being shown during an art festival.

 

Helsinki, The Senate Square

Edited November 8, 2014 by Kevin's girl

[Kevin's girl]

Crossing the bridge into Porvoo.

 

Porvoo was very charming and we really wished this excursion was longer so there could have been more opportunity to really explore.

 

 

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

Yep, you guessed it – “It’s a chuuurrch” This was the one place that our tour guide felt we all needed to see. It was nice, but nothing special. And yes, after this we found the local brew. Remember the Church : beer ratio?

 

 

 

The hill you seemed to have to climb no matter where you were going in town.

 

 

A nice little place for tea and dessert

[Kevin's girl]

Leaving Porvoo

 

Back to deck five for sail away. It was an interesting view :-)

[jellybean12]

Thank you so much for this review - we are doing this cruise next May on Brilliance - it has been on my list of places to visit for decades. Cannot wait, having seen all your photos and excellent write up's confirms it will be one of the most amazing cruises we will complete.

Thank you again - looking forward to your review of Visby - we are thinking of staying on board and giving it a miss, unless of course your review changes our minds ;-)

Edited November 9, 2014 by jellybean12

[Kevin's girl]

Thank you so much for this review - we are doing this cruise next May on Brilliance - it has been on my list of places to visit for decades. Cannot wait, having seen all your photos and excellent write up's confirms it will be one of the most amazing cruises we will complete.

Thank you again - looking forward to your review of Visby - we are thinking of staying on board and giving it a miss, unless of course your review changes our minds ;-)

You are going to love this cruise. As I have said, it was a bucket list trip for us too. As for Visby, it was truly an unexpected gem in this cruise. We had a great day there. I will do my best to show you why you might want to get off the ship and not miss out on this port. I'll try to get to it today.

[Kevin's girl]

Day Nine: Good morning Sweden!

 

Before the cruise, I had read that Sweden’s archipelago was not to be missed. We had decided to be up early and see what all the talk was about. So up at 05:15, and out to my balcony this is what I saw –

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

Coming into the city of Stockholm

 

My MIL’s family had come from Sweden and my DH had always had an interest in seeing Sweden because of that. I wanted to do something that would allow us the get the feel of Sweden, not just the city of Stockholm. I decided to book an excursion through the cruise line. I chose the most jammed packed excursion I could find. It included a bus ride through the city and out to a little Viking town called Sigtuna, then to Old Town (Gamla Stan), from there to see the Vasa museum and back to port. The excursion was Historic Stockholm & Sigtuna – WS05 on RCI excursions website.

We were off the ship early and on the bus as soon as possible. The bus was off on time and we were driving through the city.

 

 

One of the buildings from Stockholm’s Olympic City from the Summer Olympics in 1912

 

Our walking tour of Sigtuna. Our guide was very knowledgeable, but more free time would have been nice.

 

 

A book borrowing kiosk.

[Kevin's girl]

Sigtuna was Sweden’s first town. It was founded in 980 by King Eric the Victorious.

 

 

Children’s park

 

One of the many Rune (Runic) Stones in Sigtuna, These stones are monuments to Vikings that went our on expeditions.

 

Edited November 9, 2014 by Kevin's girl

[Kevin's girl]

After we left Sigtuna, we made our way back to Stockholm and stopped for a photo op of the city. This area was really cramped and crowded, but the views were great.

 

 

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

Hello everyone. I’m afraid time has really gotten away from me. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday. I will try my best to get this review back on track and completed so that those of you going on this or similar itinerary can get a feel for the ports of call. On with Sweden.

Following our brief photo stop it was on to Old Town or Gamla Stan.

 

 

 

 

Home of the Nobel Prize

 

 

The Palace

[Kevin's girl]

A quick changing of the guard.

Just a word of advise, be sure you keep your feet on your own side of the cobbled box. You will see a box pattern on the ground around the guard box. I made the mistake of allowing my heel to get just on his side and was immediately made aware of my mistake. Oops, sorry.

[Kevin's girl]

Following our visit to Gamla Stan, we were off to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is a beautiful that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. She capsized on her launch and was salvaged in 1961. She is in beautiful shape today having undergone a loving restoration. I will post photos of the ship as well as the scale model which shows her as she looked on the day she sank.

 

Coming up to the Vasa Museum area. The museum is on the far right of this photo.

The museum.

 

Our first look.

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

Her stern

 

Looking across her main deck.

 

 

The scale model with the ship in the background.

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

 

A mock up of the Captain’s quarters

 

and the gun room

 

Following our visit to the Vasa we were back to port. It had been a very busy day and we had seen so much. We had mixed feelings about the way our time was managed during our various stops. We would have liked to have had the option of leaving the group and going on our own with a specific meeting time to rejoin the tour. Our guide was very nice and knowledgeable, but we both would have like to have explored more and listened less.

 

Back at the port.

[Kevin's girl]

Day Ten: Visby on the island of Gotland in Sweden

 

Visby was our only tender port. There was no problem with getting a tender when we wanted to get off the ship. We had booked no excursion for this port. I had read that it is a great port for DIY and was not disappointed. We spent the day just wandering around, shopping, eating and drinking. Naturally we tasted the local brew and breaking the rule, we didn’t even go into any churches. It was a bonus stop for Kevin. It was an amazing day. FYI, they say that Visby is the birthplace of Pippy Longstockings.

 

Here you go jellybean12. If you are still hanging in here with me, this is why you want to get off the ship in Visby.

 

Our first look at Visby from our balcony

 

 

The tenders had already started. We were off to grab a bite for breakfast and were off to explore.

All loaded up on the tender

 

Here we go

 

[Kevin's girl]

One of the first things Kevin noticed as we came around the corner was the McDonald’s sign. If you were reading back when we were in Russia, I had told you about the taste testing we did alone the way, so you will understand that the initial sightseeing we did was on the was to finding this McDonald’s.

 

 

 

 

Along the city wall