Regal Princess Review - Baltic 6/14 - 6/25

[FraudBroad]

Here’s my review of our Baltic sailing on the Regal from June 14 thru 25th. Please know that what I write is from my perspective. I understand some have a different perspective and that’s great. This is what I thought of our journey. I’ll be writing this in different sections as we did a lot and saw a lot during our journey!

 

Traveling is a group of 6; myself, 50, widowed, my two teenage daughters (17 & 19) my parents (77 & 75) and my aunt (71). We left from Chicago on SAS (Direct flight ORD-CPH) on Saturday July 11th so we’d have a day in Copenhagen pre-cruise to explore. We were booked in obstructed balconies on deck 8, cabins 610, 612 & 624. We booked this cruise in September of last year and received pre-paid gratuities and some OBC.

 

Our flight from ORD to CPH was uneventful (the best kind) we arrived at O’Hare super early (in the weeks prior to our trip TSA had become a nightmare at O’Hare and we had no idea what we’d be up against. When checking in at SAS we learned that we could upgrade to “SAS Plus” for $117 per person. SAS Plus gave us larger seats, free inflight wifi and use of the lounge while waiting. I made the executive decision to upgrade all of us and once we were all checked in we made our way to the lounge. Which, btw…made me the best “daughter, niece, mother ever…”

 

The lounge was used by other airlines (not just SAS) so was a bit crowded. This was made up for by the food and free drinks. As we were there for 3 hours it was rather nice!

 

As I said, flight over was a breeze and when we arrived, although a bit tired, we were ready to see Copenhagen. One by one our luggage arrived….1….2…3…4…5……where’s 6? Where’s MY BAG???? We stood at the carousel and watched the luggage go round and round and my bag never arrived. How the heck can they lose a piece of luggage when all 6 were checked in at the same time and it was a DIRECT FLIGHT?????

 

I waited in line 40 minutes to let them know it was lost. The woman at the SAS counter was super generous and offered me some toothpaste for my inconvenience. Seriously? I’m getting ready for an 11 day cruise and all you can offer me is toothpaste???? She gave me my paperwork and told me she didn’t think the bag ever left Chicago and that hopefully it would be on the flight later that day.

 

Our original intention was to take the metro from the airport to the hotel but after I saw the amount of luggage we had I knew that there was no way in heck we were going to be able to lug everything from the metro station to the hotel, even though it was a 7 minute walk. My aunt couldn’t handle moving the two bags she had from my living room to the entryway, let alone a few city blocks.

 

We went to the taxi area right outside of baggage claim and were able to score a minivan that held all 6 people and all 12 pieces of luggage. We had one of the best taxi drivers I’ve ever had in my life….super nice guy, spoke flawless English and pointed out the sights on the way to our hotel. It was $60 for the taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. The metro would have been $5 each and for the convenience I’d take the taxi again. He also pointed out that in Copenhagen no tipping is expected…you pay what you owe and aren’t expected to leave anything above and beyond.

 

We stayed at the WakeUp Copenhagen Borgergade hotel. Centrally located, within walking distance of both Nyhavn and Stroget. The hotel room was smaller than our cabin on the ship. Very modern décor and well laid out. Once you bring in a couple of suitcases there isn’t a lot of room to move around, but it was clean and efficient. For the amount of time we’d be there, it wasn’t a deal breaker and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. We’d booked the hotel through Orbitz and paid for it upfront so we didn’t have to pay the 3% the hotels charges for using a credit card. For myself and my girls I booked connecting rooms (2 beds, 2 baths) and paid $390 for the two nights. Pretty cheap for Copenhagen.

 

Check in was quick and easy and we were ready to drop our bags in the room, change and head over to Tivoli Gardens. We were finally in Copenhagen and were ready to start our vacation. Or at least I could say all six of us made it and 5 of us were really excited to get going…I was trying not to let the thought of an 11 day cruise with nothing to wear ruin my mood!

 

We had the front desk call a taxi and it was there in less than 5 minutes. It was $12 for the ride from the hotel to Tivoli. We’d arranged in advance to meet another couple from our cruise at the entrance and they were there a few minutes after we arrived.

 

We’d all pre-purchased our tickets online and were able to show the passes and walk right in. We all loved Tivoli. Old and young alike we each had a great time. I’d gotten my girls the ride passes and they had a great time trying all of the rides. The adults enjoyed just walking around and seeing all that Tivoli had to offer.

 

We opted to get “fast food” for dinner as the sit down restaurants inside Tivoli are expensive. In fact everything in Copenhagen is expensive. There’s a 25% tax on everything….food, hotel, clothing, tours….everything. I got a Danish hot-dog that was served in a baguette and was probably the best I’ve ever had!

 

The adults chose to go back to the hotel around 8 and I stayed with the girls so they could finish up the rides. We made it back to the hotel by 9:30 and were all exhausted and ready for a good night’s sleep!

 

Monday morning I woke early and promptly called the airline. No news on my bag….they still had no idea where it was. I realized then and there I needed to go buy some new clothes or I’d be sailing the Baltic in flip flops. As the weather wasn’t looking promising I knew the flip flops wouldn’t cut it. The airline was feeling generous and said they’d reimburse me $200. For sure I’d be able to get a new pair of sneakers and some jeans…or so I thought….

 

While the rest of the group headed off for a tour of Rosenborg Castle, I headed to Stroget to shop. It was only a five minute walk from my hotel and I thought I’d be done within the hour and be able to re-join the group to see all that Copenhagen had to offer! Little did I know that wasn’t to be…

In a nut shell, all Danish women are 6 feet tall and wear a size two. I’m five feet nothing and I haven’t seen a size two since I can’t remember. I went to store after store being told “Oh, we don’t have anything THAT large…” Humiliating at best and all I wanted to do was cry! I finally spoke with two sales girls at one store that gave me directions to a store that “should” have a pair of jeans in my size.

 

Thankfully I was able to find a pair of tennis shoes and sneakers that both fit. Not that I particularly cared for either, but they’d keep me warm and dry. Total bill was $237. Just freaking insane….welcome to Copenhagen….

 

After returning to the hotel to change I walked to Nyhavn to meet my family for an afternoon of touring. They finally got off the Hop on Hop off bus at 12:30. Everyone was starving and we decided to stay in Nyhavn to eat. After walking up and down, back and forth we finally sat down (outside) and had lunch. It was nothing to write home about and it cost $150. When my dad went to pay the bill the waitress asked if he wanted to leave a tip…at that point he looked at me and said “what do I do?” No offence, but I wasn’t going to be the one to say in front of the waitress “You don’t have to tip in Copenhagen!”

 

My Dad ended up tipping 10% then yelling at me for the rest of the day that I should have said something about tipping not being required….yep, this is going to be a long trip…

 

After lunch we went to pick up a canal tour when my mother realized that my Dad had left her tote bag on the HoHo bus. Don’t ask me how it was my Dad’s fault for losing my Mom’s tote bag but it was. While they proceeded to yell at each other I walked over to the HoHo kiosk and gave them my phone number and asked them to look for the bag. I really felt that my mom would be able to find another umbrella in Copenhagen and it would take her 3 hours like it did me to find a pair of jeans.

 

We enjoyed the canal tour and got great views of Amlienborg Palace, the Theater, beautiful bridges, cathedrals and of course the Little Mermaid. When you see her from a canal tour all you see is the back of her. She really is out in the middle of nowhere. I'm glad we saw her by canal and didn't take the bus out there...there isn't anything else around!

 

Right before getting off of the canal tour the HoHo company called me to say they'd found the bag. They gave me directions on where to pick it up and we'd head there are soon as the canal tour was over.

 

After we picked up the bag we hopped on the bus to head over the Christiania. Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of about 850 residents. This was the one place my 19 year old insisted that we see in Copenhagen. The big draw….they legally sell pot on the street there. There are signs throughout warning you not to take pictures and we didn’t. Our cabbie on day one had told us that you might inadvertently take a photo of a drug deal going down and someone might just beat the living daylights out of you. But being the adventurous types, we thought a stroll through the area would be fun.

 

Sure enough, there are booths lining the main drag selling marijuana. The scent throughout is quite distinctive I might add…no surprises there. We just walked the main drag and out we went to head to meet a group of Cruise Critic folks for dinner.

 

Several months ago I’d seen the TV show “Rev Runs Around the World” and they’d been in Copenhagen. Okay, stop laughing, I never said I had great taste in TV. When I saw they’d be in Copenhagen I had to record it for trip planning purposes. I swear it was the only episode I watched!

 

Anyway, in the show they ate at “Copenhagen Street Food.” It’s an old paper warehouse that now contains street food vendors. I’d arranged a group of 20 of us to meet there for dinner. It was the PERFECT place to meet. Open seating, all different types of food, and everyone could get whatever they wanted and pay for themselves.

 

Everyone is the group made it on time and we had a fantastic evening. We sat outside on the waterfront and everyone had different food for dinner. The duck fat fries were a big huge hit as were the crepes. Best of all we had a great time getting to know everyone. Many of us would be touring together over the next 11 days. We all agreed to meet the next day at sail away at Outriggers for a sail away cocktail. I made sure to tell everyone they’d be sure to recognize me the next day because I’d still be wearing the same clothes!

 

We walked a bit and my group took a cab back to the hotel to call it a night. I’d spend 3 minutes packing my carry-on and the rest of the night praying that the luggage Gods would smile upon me and I’d wake up with my bag waiting for me.

 

End of day two thoughts on Copenhagen...

 

Even though you've told your kids for four months that there's no way in heck you are paying for them to have international phone plans, the minute you find out that you will be separated from them for two hours (and even though they'll be with your parents) the first thing you do is order and international package for them.

 

When your mother loses the tote bag you told her not to bring it's automatically your dad's fault. I called the hop on hop off company immediately, they found the bag and I saved a marriage.

 

When your mother loses said bag she will complain in front of you (the person who has no clothes, shoes, jewelry, shampoo, conditioner, purse or various other items because they were packed in the lost suitcase)...like really...complain...in front of said potentially living life naked for the next 11 days person....

 

Lunch for six will cost you $150 and it won't be anything to write home about.

 

There are are no Danish women who are short, fat or wear a size 9 tennis shoe. 99% of all stores only sell pants smaller than a size 10 and no shoes larger than a size 8. And when you do find them, they will cost you a freaking fortune.

 

When you go to see the Little Mermaid statue on a canal boat ride you only see her backside....and she's very little...she'd have NO problem finding clothes and shoes...yet she spends her life naked.

 

And after 36 hours the airline will still tell you they have NO FREAKING IDEA where your luggage is.

 

But in all honesty I do love Copenhagen. I would truly love to come back to the city and spend more time. Enchanting seems to be the word that best fits. The Danish people are truly some of the kindest I've ever met!

 

 

Coming up next….continued luggage drama and we finally board Regal Princess!

[s2c4r5a4p]

This is downright entertaining. I was glued to your review. I truly can't wait for more and of course more laughter. My husband and I will be traveling to Copenhagen in September for a TA with my Father who is 91, his fiancee who is 78 (who moves instead of packs) and a friend of ours who is somewhere in his 80's. I expect to have similar experiences and be the ones who are the pack horses for the group. Love your humor and your ability to not "loose your cool". Can't wait for more.

[jasbo49]

Really fantastic review so far. Thanks. I'm crossing my fingers for a happy ending with the luggage.

 

Jim

[DougH]

Looking forward to the rest of your review, I sailed on the Regal mid May. Spent three days in Copenhagen and loved it, wish I had gone in even a day or two earlier. I stayed at the Princess hotel the Scandic Copenhagen and was very happy. I survived on the breakfast buffet and cheap Burger King hamburgers for a couple of days to avoid the high prices . LOL

[TinaLee]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your tale... you are living my nightmare so far! As a seriously fluffy female I live in fear of my luggage being lost and seriously NOT being able to find anything to replace the lost clothing. Sounds like that will be the case in Copenhagen next year for sure! :)

[SeeingTheWorldBySea]

Loving your review so far, can't wait to read more. I always fear losing my luggage and try to book direct whenever possible, but I guess that doesn't always leave out the margin of error. We will on the Regal in November. Maybe I will consider my own advise for once and pack some stuff in my husbands suitcase and vice versa just in case.

Thank you for taking the time to share.

[FraudBroad]

This is downright entertaining. I was glued to your review. I truly can't wait for more and of course more laughter. My husband and I will be traveling to Copenhagen in September for a TA with my Father who is 91, his fiancee who is 78 (who moves instead of packs) and a friend of ours who is somewhere in his 80's. I expect to have similar experiences and be the ones who are the pack horses for the group. Love your humor and your ability to not "loose your cool". Can't wait for more.

 

Awwww..thanks so much...you made my day! Good luck with your voyage. Personally I felt like I was herding cats for 14 days :cool:

[FraudBroad]

Really fantastic review so far. Thanks. I'm crossing my fingers for a happy ending with the luggage.

 

Jim

 

Thanks so much Jim! More to come!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review, I sailed on the Regal mid May. Spent three days in Copenhagen and loved it, wish I had gone in even a day or two earlier. I stayed at the Princess hotel the Scandic Copenhagen and was very happy. I survived on the breakfast buffet and cheap Burger King hamburgers for a couple of days to avoid the high prices . LOL

 

Isn't Copenhagen just charming? I just love that city! Really feel like I was totally ripped off by not getting to see everything I wanted to! We should have been looking for cheap Burger King!!! Would have been a lot easier. European food with teenagers isn't fun :(

[FraudBroad]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your tale... you are living my nightmare so far! As a seriously fluffy female I live in fear of my luggage being lost and seriously NOT being able to find anything to replace the lost clothing. Sounds like that will be the case in Copenhagen next year for sure! :)

 

If you're a size 2 and 6 feet tall you'd have NO problem finding clothing in Copenhagen!!! Seriously, a total nightmare. I've learned from my mistake and it won't be repeated! Next time I'll have four days of clothing packed in my carry-on. The other stuff is easy to find!

 

Loving your review so far, can't wait to read more. I always fear losing my luggage and try to book direct whenever possible, but I guess that doesn't always leave out the margin of error. We will on the Regal in November. Maybe I will consider my own advise for once and pack some stuff in my husbands suitcase and vice versa just in case.

Thank you for taking the time to share.

 

I lived my own biggest nightmare! I NEVER thought it was even POSSIBLE to lose luggage on a direct flight....SAS proved me wrong!!! Thanks so much for following along!

[FraudBroad]

Thanks all for your nice comments….just a tip…if you’re flying don’t ever pack the way I did. We had a strict 18lb limit on our carry on suitcases. Up until the last minute I was moving stuff around so much that I ended up with my carryon containing the following: all of my makeup (my mom raised me to believe that you’d die a quick death if you reached your destination and your makeup did not), 4 blouses, 5 pair of underwear, two bras, jewelry and all of the electronic chargers one needs these days. Hindsight is always 20/20….when shopping I came across the largest Sephora store I’ve ever seen in my life. Had I put my makeup in my large suitcase, I could have replaced every freaking bit of makeup I owned in less than 10 minutes. Next time I’ll make sure I have at least 4 days’ worth of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, a waterproof jacket and the makeup will go in the big suitcase!!! Luckily, my carryon did contain ALL of the paperwork (cruise docs, tour tickets, etc…). When I arrived in Copenhagen I was afraid I’d moved that to my big case and would have to spend a small fortune and at least an hour re-printing everything….big sigh of relief!!!

 

On with the review…..

 

I did forget to mention that we did have breakfast each morning in the hotel. The cost was around $10 each and was a “European” continental breakfast. Mostly breads, jams, meats, coffee and juice. No eggs, no waffles, nothing to make the typical teen happy in the morning. Oh well, there was always the 7-11 down the street that had beautiful pastries….no seriously, there was…they were delicious!

 

Day three of our adventure dawned with a very cool, rainy Copenhagen. After breakfast I called the airline and sure enough, not a clue as to where my bag was. All I wanted to do was cry. The man from the airline told me that I was more than welcome to come to the airport and look through their luggage room and see if I could find it. I was all over that. I had to take my youngest with me as she’s only 17 and no one else could check her in on the ship. We had the front desk call a cab and after a 30 minute ride and $60 we were back at the scene or the crime…I mean the airport.

 

We were told to go to the ticketing window where there was a short wait. Once I got to the window I told the gentleman why I was there. First words out of his mouth “Do you have an appointment?”

 

Are you freaking kidding me?

 

“No, I don’t have an appointment, I was told I could come down and look through the lost luggage room for my bag…”

 

Man behind window: “You can’t do that without an appointment.”

 

Me: “Seriously? Are you kidding me?”

 

Man behind window: “We are very busy here. You can’t just come when you want.”

 

At that point I started to lose it. I explained to the man that I was boarding a ship in a couple of hours, my bag had been missing for almost 48 hours, they’d told me on the phone I could come whenever I wanted and that I needed desperately to FIND MY BAG!!!!

 

Man behind window: “Go stand there” pointing to the corner

 

Like small children my daughter and I shuffled over to the corner. I just knew he was going to tell me to put my nose up against the wall and that I was in a timeout. That’s when the tears began to fall, and my beautiful baby girl looked at me with her big eyes and said “SUCK IT UP MOM.”

 

I obviously wasn’t winning any sympathy from anyone on this trip…

 

After 45 minutes in the corner a man came out and asked if I was “Collette.” He said she had an appointment to look through the lost luggage room. Now, I don’t normally condone lying but in this instance I certainly wasn’t above it….If I had to be “Collette” to get into that room I was game….then it dawned on my they’d probably ask for ID if I actually FOUND my bag…so I told the truth, told him I was there to look through the luggage and since “Collette” wasn’t polite enough to show up on time could I pretty please with a cherry on top take her appointment? Bingo, the man likes cherries and we were IN!!!!

 

Within minutes we were behind the scenes of baggage claim in a small room brimming with lost luggage. We looked through each and every single rack….no bag….I was heartbroken….and my daughter was there with all of the support she could muster telling me…”Get over it mom, the bag is gone and you’re probably never going to see it again…” Not one ounce of support in that tiny sized two (yes….SHE could find clothing in Copenhagen) body. This kid obviously skipped the line for “sensitivity chips” when they were being handed out…

 

I asked how in the world they had NO idea where the case was. After all, luggage tags all contain bar codes. Don’t they use those to track the luggage???? Guess what, SAS DOESN’T DO THAT!!!! That bar code is only for the people loading the luggage on the planes so that they know they belong on a particular plane. SAS is making United and American look better at each and every turn. At this point they are making SPIRIT AIRLINES look good….I don’t understand inefficiency…here you have a perfectly reasonable way to track all luggage and you chose NOT TO DO IT??? Seriously?

 

They took a full report of what was inside the bag in case they found it with no tags. I had to pretty much list the entire contents of the case being specific about clothing brands, perfume brands, etc…When the woman walked us out she told me she really felt that the bag would arrive that day and that it normally took 48 hours for a bag to be found.

 

Dejected, we left the baggage room and headed out….not before spending $25 on a Grande No Fat Mocha Chip Frappuccino and breakfast sandwich for my lovingly supportive daughter. Doesn’t matter where in the world you are, there’s always a Starbucks. We hailed a cab and $75 later were at the port and ready to board Regal Princess.

 

My family had left the hotel in the cab I’d arranged at 10:30. They arrived at the port a few minutes after 11 and after checking their bags pretty much walked right on the ship. They were sitting in the dining room having lunch as we made our way to the port.

 

We finally arrived around a bit before 1:00. While there was a huge line of people dropping off their luggage (obviously we SKIPPED that line). Only time in my life I’d wished I could wait in line. We walked right up to check in and were on the ship immediately.

 

When we entered the elevator once we boarded the ship I’d pressed “6” so that we could go straight to Alfredo’s. They were announcing that cabins were not quite ready and once more people had gotten on the elevator an employee, who’d been holding open the door, inserted a card, which erased the “6” that was lite up, and told everyone to head to deck 16 to the buffet. Not so fast….I quickly pressed 6 again and we were well on our way. I don’t know why they won’t tell anyone that they have other venues open for food. As a personal preference, I HATE eating in the buffet on embarkation day. It’s just a mass of humanity and I’m not one for crowds!!!

 

We headed to Alfredo’s for pizza (my favorite place to go to eat when first boarding the ship. People don’t realize that it’s open and don’t realize that it’s free.) We both ordered the “Regal Princess” pizza, my personal favorite at Alfredo’s! Just as we were finishing our lunch, the rest of the family arrived and everyone was ready to explore the ship.

 

After lunch I headed down to Guest Services on Deck 5 to let Princess know that SAS had lost my luggage. They lady there was so sweet, very understanding and sympathetic. Of course the teenager wasn’t there to witness any of it…She let me know that I’d have unlimited express laundry service free of charge. Somehow that gave me a much more warm/fuzzy feeling than the lady at SAS that offered me toothpaste…just saying….

 

I headed up to the cabin where my aunt was already unpacking. Bless her heart, she was pulling all of these clothes out of her suitcase that she thought I could wear. Now, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I’m not in my 70’s nor do I care to dress like I am! She really was being so sweet but watching all of the clothes come out of that suitcase just made me want to cry even more!!!

 

I stopped at the teens cabin and they too were unpacking…it was just too much, I couldn’t take seeing all of those CLOTHES that everyone else had to wear! So I walked a few cabins down to my parents and, you guessed it, they too had suitcases and clothing….I just wasn’t going to win….

 

I wandered the ship for a while spending time in front of the shops picking out everything I planned on buying and CHARGING BACK TO SAS. Let me tell you, I was eyeing sweatshirts, t-shirts, jackets, and perfume…they were going to have to pay BIG TIME….

 

Around 4:00 I stopped in Churchill’s. While sitting there licking my wounds and trying to figure out whether or not I could enter the dining room wearing jeans and flip flops my phone rang….

 

At that moment in time the heavens opened and the angels sang…it was the nice lady from the SAS luggage room. My bag had just arrived from Chicago, she’d given it to the Princess port agent and he was bringing it to the ship. If I could have gone through the phone and kissed that woman I would have!!! My hard planned vacation could finally BEGIN!!!! Just in the nick of time…an hour later and the Princess airport agent would have been long gone and it would have been days before my bag found me.

 

Giddy with happiness I skipped all of the way back to my cabin…okay, not really, but that’s what it felt like in my head. It was time to head down to the WheelHouse Bar from muster.

 

Could someone please tell me when Princess is going to stop making you bring the life jackets to muster? Why can’t it be part of the Platinum/Elite Loyalty level that when you’ve cruise XX amount you no longer have to bring the stupid life jacket. I’m forever dragging the stupid belt all over the place and I’m sure at some point I’m going to trip either myself or someone else!

 

I have to say that this was the first sailing I’ve ever been on when I saw people taking pictures like CRAZY during MUSTER….just insane….the Princess employees were forever asking people to put away their phones and LISTEN to the instructions so that we could PUT ON THE STUPID LIFE JACKETS AND GET ON WITH VACATION!!!! My suitcase was going to be arriving any minute and I wanted to be there to welcome it with open arms!!!!

 

As soon as muster was finished I once again gleefully skipped back to my room (okay, not really, it’s a total mass of humanity trying to get out of muster, through the hallway and up the stairs, but you get the idea I’m still riding high). Before I even reached the room I had a text from my youngest saying her sister was sick and to come BACK to the WheelHouse ASAP.

 

I ran through the hall, down the stairs, and pushed people who were waiting for the elevators out of my way in order to get back to the Wheel House. I was literally a salmon swimming upstream trying to make it back to the bar. I found my oldest looking like she could pass out at any moment, drooping in the chair. I went to the bar and asked for some ice when I was told “I’m sorry, we are closed.”

 

Seriously?

 

Uggg…I explained my daughter was ill and right away they had someone get some ice. I sent the youngest down to the Princess Live bar from some orange juice. I was pretty sure my oldest just had some low blood sugar and I was right. Once we gave her the juice and cooled her down with some ice she was good to go.

 

I once again headed back to my cabin (maybe not so full of glee this time and forget the skipping) but when I got there boy oh boy was I happy!!! Right there in the hallway, right outside my door stood the love of my life…I mean my suitcase….

 

I’ve never been so excited to unpack in my entire life!!! I immediately pulled off those $120 Danish jeans that didn’t make me look like a size 2 but should have for that price and pulled on my favorite jeans, got into my closed toed shoes and a warm shirt and was ready to head up to Outriggers for cocktails with our Cruise Critic group!

 

Sure enough when I got there nobody knew who I was because I wasn’t wearing the same clothes! Not really but they did tease me about it! Turns out that one of our fellow travelers, a solo sailor from Australia named Trevor, lost his passport his very first day in Copenhagen. Lucky for Trevor he was able to get an emergency passport at the Australian Embassy in Copenhagen and once again all was right with the world. As a note, the passport wouldn’t be all that Trevor was going to lose over the next 11 days…

 

We ended up heading down to deck 5 in the piazza for sail away because the open deck was just too cold. After a few drinks, exchanging contact info on the Princess App and a lot of lively chatter we all went our separate ways for the evening. I was headed back to the cabin to joyfully finish my unpacking!

 

Before I knew it it was 6:00 and time for Platinum/Elite cocktail hour held in Club Six on deck six forward. A few others from our cruise critic group were present and we enjoyed some drinks and snacks. The first night the cocktail hour is held from 6:00-8:00 and the remaining evening it’s from 5:00 until 7:00. There is no cocktail party the night of the Platinum/Elite Captain’s Circle Party (Helsinki night).

 

It was 8:00 and time to head to the dining room. We had late seating (8:00) in the Allegro dining room. Svetlana was our waitress and Dragon our assistant waiter. I should have made notes, or taken pictures…but neither happened. I have no clue what we ate but I remember we enjoyed dinner and Svetlana and Dragon were excellent!

 

Once dinner was done it was time to make what would become our daily donation to the casino. The slots were not kind, I was still getting over jet lag, and my belly was full. Best part was I’d have no more nightmares about cruising naked….seriously….that happened….It was time to call it a night and head to bed.

 

Coming up….our day in Oslo!

[DougH]

Thanks so much Jim! More to come!

 

 

 

Isn't Copenhagen just charming? I just love that city! Really feel like I was totally ripped off by not getting to see everything I wanted to! We should have been looking for cheap Burger King!!! Would have been a lot easier. European food with teenagers isn't fun :(

 

They seemed to be all over the city. LOL There was one almost across from the entrance to Trivoli and one about two blocks away on the other side of the main downtown square.

 

I loved walking around the city and taking the canal tour. Also spent a day touring the castles outside the city. My weather was perfect mid 70's and sunny

[Clarea]

Very enjoyable so far, thanks!

[JimmyVWine]

Great storytelling so far. Love it.

 

Time for a public service announcement....

When packing for a trip that involves handing your luggage over where it could get lost/delayed, always split you clothes up so that some of each person's clothing is in each bag. Even if it is just one day's worth. That way, if a bag gets lost, everyone loses a little something, but everyone has a little something in the remaining bags. Just as one should never put all one's eggs in one basket, one should never put all one's clothes in one suitcase. And place a business card or some other ID info inside the bag. Tags on the outside can get torn off. And take a picture of your luggage and store it on your phone so that the "can you describe your bag" question can be answered in any language with a quick point to the picture. That is all.

[lstone19]

Such great writing I feel as if I actually was there. Oh, wait a minute, I was. [emoji3]

 

 

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[Working 2 Cruise]

This is great, thank you!

[gowensricks]

I am so happy that they found your luggage in time!

[mamaw58]

Great review

 

 

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[mya603]

I am loving your trip so far. Glad you got your luggage back. You sound like a fun person.

[lstone19]

You sound like a fun person.

 

FraudBroad is a very fun person. My wife and I are the couple she mentioned that met up with her and her family at Tivoli Gardens. Then at the Monday dinner she organized, we ended up with a group of about 14 of us who did a lot of stuff together on this ship. For my wife and I, this ended up being our best cruise ever and a lot of that was due to being with fun people.

 

But, just so FraudBroad doesn't feel singled out by airlines (although she already knows this), KLM mishandled my wife's bag on the way home (no where near as serious as heading to a cruise). But at least they knew where it was. Made it to O'Hare the next day but then took them another 24 hours to get it delivered.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[luvs2beachit]

Loving your review! Looking forward to reading the rest of it.

[moresun]

Thanks for such a great review,can't wait for more!!

[TLC535]

Very entertaining review so far & looking forward to the rest :D

[FraudBroad]

Very enjoyable so far, thanks!

 

Thank you for following along!

 

Great storytelling so far. Love it.

 

Time for a public service announcement....

When packing for a trip that involves handing your luggage over where it could get lost/delayed, always split you clothes up so that some of each person's clothing is in each bag. Even if it is just one day's worth. That way, if a bag gets lost, everyone loses a little something, but everyone has a little something in the remaining bags. Just as one should never put all one's eggs in one basket, one should never put all one's clothes in one suitcase. And place a business card or some other ID info inside the bag. Tags on the outside can get torn off. And take a picture of your luggage and store it on your phone so that the "can you describe your bag" question can be answered in any language with a quick point to the picture. That is all.

 

Wish you would have posted this on like say the 10th of June :)