SoD - Contrasts of Scandinavia

[SaraSailing]

Visby. What a lovely place. I think I could live here. 

 

Toooooooooo many photos:

 

And someone singing from an open window...

 

Back for a quick burger on the Verandah. Sideways cos I got my camera the wrong way up.

 

Then we hopped over the road to the little local museum and art gallery (mostly shut for renovations), with a little cafe run by volunteers. They only took payment in swish (the swedish rapid transfer system) or cash. Luckily they were happy with my euros. We had a couple of very tasty chocolate truffle balls and lots of swedish coffee, sitting in a sunny garden.

 

Back on the ship, the view of the grand staircase from deck 7, the view into the dining room from the club, and some random cabin photos and views from the balcony...

 

[Windsurfboy]

Thanks for picture of books in Library. 😁😁😁😁😁

 

Visby is our perfect port ,nice walk into town , it may not be grand but is beautiful 

[lincslady]

That was a LOT of photos, but they were lovely.

[SaraSailing]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

That was a LOT of photos, but they were lovely.

And you got the edited highlights! It reminded me a bit of Skagen in Denmark. Looking forward to going there on our way home.

[SaraSailing]

16 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Thanks for picture of books in Library. 😁😁😁😁😁

 

Visby is our perfect port ,nice walk into town , it may not be grand but is beautiful 

If you go back on a sunny day, I can recommend the Langska föreningen, just 3 minutes from the pier, and a lovely garden to sit in while you enjoy fika.

[beaujolais]

SaraSailing

 

 If you like Visby, try the crime fiction series by Mari Jungstedt all set on the island of Gotland

Edited May 27, 2023 by beaujolais
edit

[twotravellersLondon]

On 5/25/2023 at 5:44 PM, SaraSailing said:

Toooooooooo many photos:

 The photos of places have been a delight... looking forward to more.

[SaraSailing]

So, Thursday evening we went the "The Club". For those that don't know, both of the Saga ships have three bookable (but free) speciality restaurants. These are slightly different between ships. SoD has The Club (steakhouse) wrapped around the atrium of the Dining Room, plus East to West (mixed asian) and Coast to Coast (fish).

The Club. Spotted this super cute sparrow sculpture on the light fitting over the dining room. The pretzel bread rolls were extra tasty. The steak was really overcooked, but this was the same on SoA, and on other cruise ships (probably why I love Silversea's "hot rocks", where I can cook my own). The chips were more like half roasted potatoes, with no crunch. I could have been less ambitious with what I ordered, I guess. 

Evening slightly soured by a guest being incredibly rude to a member of waiting staff, then pretty rude to a fellow guest who intervened. The (one-sided) argument continued for quite some time, with a lot of finger pointing and hand waving (by the guest) that occasionally turned into jabbing. How the staff member stayed calm and pleasant, I don't know, It really doesn't matter what had gone wrong, it's unacceptable to be that personally rude to anyone. I hope guest relations were able to have a word with the gentleman and help him find a more civilised way of interacting.

[SaraSailing]

Friday was Stockholm. I've been here a few times, so decided to mostly rest my dodgy ankle. 

 

Pleased to finally suss how to get a crema from my new portable espresso maker. (Yes, I know there is coffee on the ship, but it's not the best.) 

 

Eventually the tiny gazebo on the cliff above the skip was too enticing. It's only a stiff 10 minute vertical climb and a slightly longer wind down the other side back to the ship.

 

It's a long run out of Stockholm with the ship moving at speed between tiny islands.

 

Dinner was East to West. A lovely meal, some real spice, and a well run restaurant. Slight mistake with me being served green beans (which I'm pretty allergic to), but luckily I spotted it and no harm done. Everyone was very apologetic, and apparently that dish never normally has beans in it.

 

Gorgeous sunset and night sky. I watched the pilot wave goodbye. I love listening to the sound of the water as it gets dark.

 

There may be some duplicate photos below here, CC automatically adds any uploaded but not used.

[LondonLad60]

To me, the sail out from Stockholm is one of the highlights of any Baltic cruise.

[SaraSailing]

Saturday we hopped over to Estonia to visit Tallinn.

 

Good news today was the shuttle bus was a low level bus with wheelchair space (as was Stockholm, I'm told). Make a fantastic difference in terms of how safe many of the guests are getting on and off. To city centre is very cobbled, and I did find my body got quite sore (recovering from spinal surgery). Still nice to have a quick look around - and I'm sure I'd have spent more time here if I hadn't been in pain. (An afternoon lying flat helped a lot!)

 

Bad news, Explore Ashore handed out maps with completely the wrong terminal marked as where the shuttle would return to. We decided to walk from town based on the map, and ended up with an extra 10 minutes navigating car parks to get back. (I had dropped a pin on my map with the correct place, but everyone trusted Explore Ashore more than me and Google!)  The cruise terminal itself was a work of art, with intriguing toilet signs.

Here's a quick view of my cabin from the pier

 

And a view across the dining room before dinner

 

There are a couple of free laundrettes on the ship. There's usually a crowd, because the dryers take 2 hours and the washers 30 minutes. But I did manage to wash some t-shirts ready for week two.

 

And, just because in this modern world we're so connected... after the death of my lovely cat earlier in the week, my friend found a lost feral kitten in her garden. We've been trying to capture and rehome the colony, but it's not easy. This teeny lady is about 7 weeks old, and the spitting image (other than her mother's nose) of her not yet 4 year old grandfather (who is now off the baby making market and living with me for the last 18 months). As my friend has also lost a young cat this year (this one's uncle, as best we can tell), the little one is a breathe of fresh energy. When I get back we will try to find the other two kits that we've heard of, and then trap mum and dad too. There's a rescue willing to take them, so they all have a chance of a much better life.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by SaraSailing

[LondonLad60]

I've been to Tallinn three times, and I've never seen it as quiet as it looks in your photos. On one occasion there were eight (yes, EIGHT!) cruise ships in, and the city was absolutely heaving. The reason was, in 2018 Trump and Putin held a summit in Helsinki. We were supposed to stop in Helsinki but that clashed with the summit, so ships that should have gone to Helsinki went to Tallinn instead.

[SaraSailing]

37 minutes ago, LondonLad60 said:

I've been to Tallinn three times, and I've never seen it as quiet as it looks in your photos. On one occasion there were eight (yes, EIGHT!) cruise ships in, and the city was absolutely heaving. The reason was, in 2018 Trump and Putin held a summit in Helsinki. We were supposed to stop in Helsinki but that clashed with the summit, so ships that should have gone to Helsinki went to Tallinn instead.

Oh goodness. We were the only cruise ship, apart from an old Aida? one that is apparently being sold and is docked there for now. I think it was going to get busier later on in the day, but not to the level of all those ships avoiding the summit.

[LondonLad60]

9 minutes ago, SaraSailing said:

Oh goodness. We were the only cruise ship, apart from an old Aida? one that is apparently being sold and is docked there for now. I think it was going to get busier later on in the day, but not to the level of all those ships avoiding the summit.

That Aida ship was there when we were in Tallinn last June. One of the crew told us that it was abandoned there at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

[lincslady]

Lovely reminders of Stockholm and the gorgeous archipelago, and Tallinn, and that kitten is completely adorable.   Thank you.

[SaraSailing]

Sunday in Kotka. Originally we were meant to dock in the old town area, and this showed up on cruise port websites until pretty late. Shipboard "Today" also came out a bit late as well. Captain did say something about wanting to leave later, rather than going slowly to Helsinki, but don't think the proximity of Helsinki was a surprise. So not sure if it was money. pilot or mechanical reasons for move to a neighbouring island which is 50% industrial port, 11km out of Kotka old town. I was disappointed, as I really wanted a brief mooch, and not 20 or so minutes on a shuttle bus each way. It also meant formal dinner was in the industrial dock, rather than sailing between islands.

 

I'm told the gardens of Kotka are beautiful, and saw a few photos which were nice.

We were greeted by a troupe of pompom wavers and an accordion.

 

 

Of course, the kitchen will make me sauces without the gluten-free flour, if I ask well in advance. And I do this with dinner (not that it always works). But I struggle to plan ahead with lunch, and we don't always know what time we'll get to the buffet. So, I really missed out on gravy at lunchtime. 

 

Formal dinner. One thing about formals: if you are near an officer hosted table, all the service will be focused on that. And this means less for the remaining tables. Even with our intrepid wine waiter pitching in, more mistakes were made. The big one being my parents sitting with starters in front of them for about 20 minutes until mine made it out of the kitchen. Mistakes do happen, and it's how they are handled that matters. But no one seemed to be bothered at all, and no senior staff noticed these uneaten meals in all that time - and our waiter didn't escalate it. He's great when everything is working right, but I don't think he knew how to handle the situation, so he acted like it hadn't gone wrong.

 

Nice sunset though.

[Windsurfboy]

We didn't  have officer hosted tables last year , I  think I may go for speciality dining on formal nights.

[LondonLad60]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

We didn't  have officer hosted tables last year , I  think I may go for speciality dining on formal nights.

I'll go for The Grill - saves getting dressed up...

[Jammy Bun]

2 hours ago, SaraSailing said:

 

Formal dinner. One thing about formals: if you are near an officer hosted table, all the service will be focused on that. And this means less for the remaining tables. Even with our intrepid wine waiter pitching in, more mistakes were made. The big one being my parents sitting with starters in front of them for about 20 minutes until mine made it out of the kitchen. Mistakes do happen, and it's how they are handled that matters. But no one seemed to be bothered at all, and no senior staff noticed these uneaten meals in all that time - and our waiter didn't escalate it. He's great when everything is working right, but I don't think he knew how to handle the situation, so he acted like it hadn't gone wrong.

 

 

 

We had very similar experience in February - chose to dine in The Grill one night, but there were at least three tables hosted by officers, including one table nearby which had the Captain and AN Other officer.  Service (to us and our companions) was abysmal, though to be honest the service throughout our cruise wasn't great.

 

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, LondonLad60 said:

I'll go for The Grill - saves getting dressed up...

 

I like dressing up.

[LondonLad60]

22 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I like dressing up.

I don't mind dressing up per se, but there are some nights when I just can't be bothered. On a P&O Caribbean cruise (I think it was in 2019) there were three formal nights in the space of five nights - that was too many. At least on Saga, The Grill offers the same menu as the Grand Dining Room on formal nights; in fact, one of the best meals we had on our last cruise was in The Grill on a formal night.

[SaraSailing]

Monday was Helsinki. And goodness, I'm bored of shuttle buses. The balance is just off on this cruise, too many industrial docks, not enough hop into town. To be fair, if I weren't nursing two injuries, the mile or so into town wouldn't matter. But as it is, buses every 30 minutes in most places makes it feel more regimented than I'd choose.

 

The harbour area was lovely, with a market selling nicer souvenirs, and a street food market too. Two of the cathedrals have a lot lot of steps up to the front door. We didn't make it across to the rock cathedral, though the photos online look rather cool. I was pretty pleased that my slow study of Japanese helped me read the front of a coach for Japanese tourists.

 

 

Loved the security cameras!

 

 

Handmade bracelet from the market

 

We went to the Coast to Coast (seafood) restaurant for dinner. Apart from the usual confusion of being given gluten-free bread because they misread my allergy information, it was very pleasant. Service was certainly attentive, and a much more relaxed environment than the big dining rooms. I was starting to get bored of the routine mistakes of giving me food I'm allergic to, but I'm pretty alert to it now.

 

Stopped off in the South Cape bar for a drink afterwards. What I like is that it looks fresh and open. But the living room piano (which sounds like it might need tuning) is so loud, it's hard to hear anything. And the service was lacking in lustre. Possibly if we'd been drinking there since the start of the cruise, we'd be finding the waiting style ironic and entertaining.

 

I did find the major print clash of the chaise in the corner of the library...

 

And another view of the library

 

More gorgeous sunset skies, that make everything else worthwhile. 

 

[SaraSailing]

Day at sea. Much rest. Sunsets and some cabin snippets.

[SaraSailing]

Wednesday. Warnemunde. A small seaside holiday town just north of Rostock.

 

A reminder to check outside your window before flinging the curtains open...

 

Conversation with chef and restaurant manager about why people keep giving me food I'm allergic to. Both agreed I'd fully informed them and kept reporting issues - but escalation process doesn't always seem to work. It's a bit embarrassing to have to sit down with two of the busiest people on the ship, just to ask for the agreed preferences to be met, so that I don't get sick. But there you have it. At least I didn't cry, but it was close. 

 

Oh, and Ecclefechan tart for dinner...

 

 

Sea, sand, sand art, nice coffee and cake, currywurst, basket chairs, interesting art, very tidy train station, huge barn of a cruise terminal...

[SaraSailing]

Thursday in Copenhagen.

Much rebuilding going on, so we were docked at the new "big ship" cruise port, about 7km out of the city centre. So another 20ish minute coach ride in.

 

There is so much to see and do here, and it's impossible to do everything. But we had a stroll around, went to the palace square, and bought liquorice. 

 

 

 

A bottle of champagne from the F&B Director arrived in my cabin while I was at lunch. We drank it while watching the seagulls.

 

There was a "viking" themed buffet up in the Grill, I'm told with fancy dress and battle cries. We were given a copy of the menu, and someone had clearly done their research for good generic scandi dishes.

 

We passed Hamlet's castle, and my seat in the Dining Room was in prime position for photos - so I spent a bit of time standing up to let everyone take a turn to have a look.