Live from the Getaway June 5-14, Baltic

[insidecabin]

16 hours ago, majmaj4 said:

Did you find Balti Jaama Turg interesting?

We like to check out local markets and supermarkets, there is a lot of local produce at local prices.

Some decent food stalls

 

The area used to be really runs down with a flee market selling lots of junk, recycle culture back then.

 

First visit  to Tallin old town is the place to go.

[argyll1881]

Any sign of any comedians yet or is it just Howl at the Moon every night ?

[Happycrafter123]

@argyll1881i have not found a comedy show

tonight there was something described  as comedy and music but it was just a mishmash of music and chatter not what I consider comedy.  Entertainment has been very limited and disappointing, mostly based on music.

[Kierste]

Hi! I know the Getaway is a more “kid friendly” ship. But, any idea of how many kiddos were on board for this cruise? We are sailing on the Dawn next month in the Baltic region, and I am guessing the age of passengers on board will trend higher, just not much for kids to do and maybe a less kid-friendly cruise in general? We have an older teen, but I was reading some speculation about higher Covid numbers when the kids get out of school and start cruising. TIA!

[majmaj4]

7 hours ago, Happycrafter123 said:

Tallin- the best of medieval Tallin tour through NCL

 

good tour.  We left at 845 and returned at 2:45

 

they drove us close to the top of the old upper village then Walked down to the lower village.  Walking tour was interesting with history of the different regimes the country has endured.

 

it was interesting to hear about the city’s past as a member of the merchant hanseatic league and the role of the merchant groups and traditional  power during prior times despite political ownership of the country 

 

we went into the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as another more simple Estonian church.  Enjoyed a 20 minute concert of medieval music featuring a lute, fiddle and hurdy gurdy.  Lunch was included in the square and about 45 minutes for self exploration.  At the end of the day we took a drive to look at residential areas and the song grounds, and learned about the economy and lifestyles. 
 

i would also recommend this tour.

Thank you, did they give you the option to spend more time and get back to the ship on your own.

[Happycrafter123]

5 hours ago, majmaj4 said:

Thank you, did they give you the option to spend more time and get back to the ship on your own.

@majmaj4it was not offered but we did not ask.  Our group was 28 people and all stuck with the tour from beginning to end and return to ship. 

For those who may shop—sweaters and textiles were relatively inexpensive in Tallin.  Of all the port stops the best price wise for shopping I expect.

I would note that the store at the port when we got off the bus before boarding ship had better prices for sweaters etc than the shops in the old town.  

[Happycrafter123]

8 hours ago, Kierste said:

Hi! I know the Getaway is a more “kid friendly” ship. But, any idea of how many kiddos were on board for this cruise? We are sailing on the Dawn next month in the Baltic region, and I am guessing the age of passengers on board will trend higher, just not much for kids to do and maybe a less kid-friendly cruise in general? We have an older teen, but I was reading some speculation about higher Covid numbers when the kids get out of school and start cruising. TIA!

@Kierstethere are not many kids on board, some teenagers but not many.  

[jimbri]

Great photos!

[Happycrafter123]

Stockholm yesterday

sorry for the lag the internet has been punitively slow.

There was a time change yesterday and then today again.
 

 Had a good breakfast at the buffet, eating the same items as the prior day, however After breakfast I had a rash suddenly appear on my neck—I’ve never had food allergies but we all know these can develop later in life.  I immediately took two Benadryl’s (my suitcase is like a small pharmacy).  As it was also puffy we decided to go to the onboard clinic.   We went down to the 5th floor but they are not open to guests without an appointment.  Following instructions on the door to the clinic we called 911 from the phone on the wall.  I advised I was having a food reaction and so they said they would send someone.  It took a full 5 minutes for someone to arrive.  She advised it would take more than an hour for the doctor to assess, and do the paperwork.  Despite my having the ncl platinum insurance she advised I’d have to pay a doctor fee and then submit a claim to get reimbursed.  As we had an excursion leaving in a half hour I was unsure—staying to see the doctor would be expensive and I’d miss my excursion, but if it got worst I could be dealing with anaphylaxis on a bus on the one hour journey to Stockholm.  The nurse suggested I wait a few minutes and then decide, so we did that.  After a 1/2 hour it had not gotten worst, so I left for the excursion.  The clinic made me sign many disclaimers of liability.  Today I see a charge of $108 on my onboard account despite my declining service and not seeing a doctor.

 here are a couple pics from the port as well as the daily newsletter , I’ll make another post for the excursion and dinner

[Happycrafter123]

Ncl land and sea excursion 

 

this excursion was an eight hour one.  It was a one hour drive each way to Stockholm.  We went in a small boat through the city waterways which was very pleasant in the sunshine as the tour guide advised her various buildings were, then a stop at vasa museum.  After that to the city centre for a very short walking tour and a long time for shopping in a tourist area.   
 

i did not enjoy this excursion as it was pretty boring, there was a lot of time driving and shopping, which was all tourist stores Of things like magnets and cups etc.  The tour guide provided boring factual items without much “heart”. Perhaps with a better tour guide this would have been better.

[Happycrafter123]

Dinner at Cagneys

 

an excellent dinner again.  Overall we have been enjoying the a la carte dinning and have eaten at le bistro, ocean blue, teppanyaki and Cagneys.

 

at Cagneys we had the fillet, excellent, as well as onion soup (good but not as good as onion soup at le bistro), and ahi tuna (good but not as good as ocean blue).  Overall food and dining experience has been the best here.  Service is top notch.

 

also any tips from anyone on how to make photos I upload not be sideways??

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Happycrafter123

[Happycrafter123]

The Baltic Sea, in most of the areas except Denmark, has no tides.  It has been so calm.  This is what it looks like at 10pm

[Happycrafter123]

Excursion review:  NCL SUOMENLINNA ISLAND FORTRESS

 

this was an ncl excursion, $89 which we thought was very poor value and would not recommend.

 

the tour guide did not speak fluent English and more importantly was not familiar with the history of the island.  She was unable to answer questions such as « what was this building used for » and « when was it built ».  On the 20 minute bus ride she spoke for about 5 minutes and that was it.  Overall she spoke very little and when she did it was very quiet so most people could not hear.  Several people asked her to speak up but she ignored them.  
the excursion did not include the entrance fee to the museum on the island nor the submarine, which was also disappointing. 
 

i saw there was a bus from the port by the ship for 6euros that went to the main market where the ferry to the island was, the ferry was 3 euro.  And a guided walking tour by the staff of the island (who surely know more history and would do a better job) was offered for 12 euros.   Going in the small museum and submarine would have greatly improved the experience.  
 

also we were in port for about 7 hours and this excursion was very short about 4 hours we got back to the boat a good 2 1/2 hours before we needed to.  It would have been nice to have a bit more time in the market and on the island as it felt very rushed.
 

Doing this excursion on our own would have provided a MUCH better experience and been a fraction of the cost.  I don’t mind paying a premium for a ship excursion but when they are this bad it is upsetting.

 

i would recommend a non-ncl excursion or to do Helsinki on your own.

 

hopefully the remaining excursions are better.  So far we had two excellent ones, one bad one, and one aweful one.   

[Happycrafter123]

Excellent day today, Visby is a surprising gem in this itinerary.  A place to add to my list of places to return to.  I’ll add a more detailed excursion review separately.

 

Sunny and warm and hung out in the pool deck in the hot tub this morning before we left and then when we got back.  

dinner at ocean blue was good, I tried the kale side dish with my steak and it was very refreshing.  Ice cream dessert was too.

 

Million dollar quartet is by far the best entertainment on this ship, it was super fun!

 

 

 

 

[Happycrafter123]

Excursion review:  Medieval Visby by NCL

 

this was a lovely day, interesting history, easygoing and such a quaint and pretty place to visit.  We had a very good guide who spoke English well, was well travelled and also knew the history of the area well.  She ensured we knew where bathrooms were and she also had those individual sound and headset units for each person which really improves the experience.

this lovely seaside medieval city was once part of the Hanseatic league.  Despite wars in medieval time they have been at peace for quite a while now and many building from medieval times are still in tact.  We enjoyed the walking tour then stayed behind to sample local food and then walked back to ship (a 25 minute walk from the port for large boats to the medieval city centre 

the region hosts over a million visitors a year and would be a great place to spend a relaxing week of vacation with great views, cute restaurants, and nearby 6 golf courses.

i would recommend this tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Happycrafter123

[bmwman]

On 6/8/2022 at 7:40 PM, Kierste said:

Hi! I know the Getaway is a more “kid friendly” ship. But, any idea of how many kiddos were on board for this cruise? We are sailing on the Dawn next month in the Baltic region, and I am guessing the age of passengers on board will trend higher, just not much for kids to do and maybe a less kid-friendly cruise in general? We have an older teen, but I was reading some speculation about higher Covid numbers when the kids get out of school and start cruising. TIA!

Disagree the ship is good for adults and kids alike 

[Happycrafter123]

The visit to Gdańsk was another unexpected jewel in this itinerary.  It is another of the replacement cities in the schedule to fill the gap left by removal of St. Petersburg.  It was an excellent stop and I hope it is part of the permanent itinerary as I would like to redo this same cruise and itinerary again in the future.

 

i chose the Highlights of Gdańsk tour option offered by NCL.  It was 5 1/4 hours which was the perfect length of time.

 

taking a tour here is a good choice rather than just getting out of they boat and walking around.  This is because the ship moors in an industrial area, and the two cities close by while interesting are not really great for tourists—you do want to get over to Gdańsk which is about a 20-30m drive.

 

like the day before the tour guide had the individual headset and earpiece options for us which made it much much more enjoyable to be able to listen.

 

 He was also a very experienced and excellent guide, fully fluent in English and knowledgeable about history as well as architecture and was able to describe the difference architectural elements very well, as well as historical elements and highlights.  He spoke to the heart of the people.  As another previous communist block country as well as one significantly impacted by WW1 and WW2 there was a lot to learn.  And this was the grandest of all our stops for the medieval architecture.  

 

the tour guide gave us about an hour of free time, so we sat at an outdoor deck and had breakfast.  Very good prices here.

One of the best stops of this trip, highly recommend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Happycrafter123

[Kealy]

Enjoying your review -- thank you for sharing your cruise.

 

[Nikonguy33]

Does anyone know if you can use the ship's WIFI to make free WIFI calls back to the US? I'm with T-Mobile.

[Pat.D]

6 hours ago, Nikonguy33 said:

Does anyone know if you can use the ship's WIFI to make free WIFI calls back to the US? I'm with T-Mobile.

 

It's unlikely you'll be able to make usable wifi calls or facetime on the ship.  The ship's wifi is painfully slow (speeds barely abode dialup).  It uses an older technology of satellite internet which has very limited bandwidth, slow speeds and extremely long lag (don't bother paying for "premium" internet, it's not really faster)­.

The ship also has a proper cell tower which uses "satellite phone at sea" service which is usable, but is extremely expensive (around $5 a minute and insane data rates) and is not included in 99% of mobile phone plans.

[Kierste]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:56 AM, bmwman said:

Disagree the ship is good for adults and kids alike 

sorry… not hijaking… but just comparing any of the smaller NCL ships with the big ones… the Pearl had a climbing wall and bowling which does attract families. But when we were on the spirit there were obviously less teens and kiddos because a port intensive European cruise on a ship without “things to do” even during school break means an older crowd. If the getaway didn’t attract many families with kids with lots of amenities, I am likely correct the dawn will have even less kids. That was why I asked my question. Families tend to seek out ships with sea days, fun amenities like water slides, climbing walls, ropes courses etc (the kids clubs are barely open again post Covid), and less intensive cruises. I’m just managing my expectations that there likely won’t be many teens my daughter’s age on board the dawn in a few weeks.

[Kierste]

Gdansk looks lovely! I was hoping there would be a shuttle provided into town? Did you see anything for those that don’t want a formal tour?

[Happycrafter123]

@Kierste Gdańsk was great but far from the port,  there are two small cities between the port and Gdańsk which do not look great for visitors.  Folks who just walked off and just walked around did not have great things to say.  You definitely want to go to Gdańsk, in this case the tour options from NCL to go there were $49 and $59 pp, so some of the least expensive.  possibly you could take a train or a taxi in your own.

[Happycrafter123]

Last port day - Kiel 

 

NCL excursion Lubecks Hanseatic History and Story $229 pp

 

This was an incredibly disappointing last day for our trip and the worst organized tour I have ever been on in my life.  I would suggest skipping this or going with a non-NCL option.

 

it was 1 1/2 to 2 hours commute on a bus each way with no tour guide on the bus.  So of the 6 hour tour you spent half of that time sitting bored in a bus.  If NCL had provided a guide for that time it would have greatly improved the experience.

 

when we got to Lubeck the tour guide met the bus and argued with the driver for about 20 minutes while people lined up and used the dirty bathrooms.  Apparently she thought he would bring headphones and listening system and he did not — NCL had not arranged for this, and she did not have one.  She was a soft spoken older lady and we were close to 40 people in loud high traffic areas—only the 5 closest people to her heard anything she said.  
 

she seemed to give up on talking to us and just walked and we followed With  little explanation of what we saw.

 

when we arrived at the museum she spent another 20 minutes talking to the person at the counter and then told us we were too large of a group so we would have to take turns.  So she pointed to benches and we all just sat with more waiting, most people about 20 minutes before or after, while the others went through.  She could have taken this time to talk to those remaining about the city or other matters but she did not.

 

absolute waste of money and time. 
 

i would suggest just staying close to the ship, others who did that mentioned nice walking areas in Kiel.

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Happycrafter123