Russian around the Baltic with some spice to finish off!

[Pushka]

It's nearing the end of the June which means - a frantic dash to end of financial year stuff for our business then off again for a summer break to the warmer climes (although Adelaide being 20C and dry today rather makes that statement a little redundant)

The Plan, which, as all good plans do, has come unstuck a few times.

12 months ago I booked a cruise to Alaska. Well, as soon as one group of friends mentioned Italy, MrP gave it all of two seconds thought and said, let's do it. So cruise cancelled (there is a pattern of cancellation with our Alaskan cruise - its on my bucket list to do and clearly it falls through the hole in MrP's bucket ). We booked award flights to Europe and booked with a stay with the friends in a villa in Tuscany. Right, sorted. But then, those friends are also very good friends with another group of acquaintances and lets just say that after an evening with them we find their constant references to their place in "The Hamptons" etc etc a little sickening and it seemed likely that we would be the only couple from our circle going. Simply put we could not last a day with them, let alone a week.

So we let that slide. We were in Bali for a quick trip in late September and received an email from a couple we had met on one of our cruises in Europe and we had kept in touch for four years. They are Canadian, and had travelled with another couple. Needless to say we all clicked instantly, although MrP had to get used to all the man hugs during that trip, and I as the only female, was treated like a Princess. They mentioned that they were going on a cruise to the Baltics on the fabulous (to us) Celebrity Silhouette. It took all of five minutes for me to search availability and within the hour we were booked.

So while in Bali I contacted Qantas and managed to snag award flights to Stockholm. The taxes were an eye watering $1600 and I can't remember the points - I let such details slide these days. The flights:

ADL - MEL - DXB - DOH - ARN. All in one go and over 33 hours. The leg DXB - DOH being in Y and the rest in J. I was looking forward to experiencing Qatar J class and also the rather wonderful lounge in Qatar which, with the conclusion of Ramadan will be a nice place to visit for the four hours gap between flights.

 

[Pushka]

The Cruise.

Now we are pretty much, to the disgust of drron, big ship people and we are great fans of Celebrity, whose phrase is Modern Luxury. While there is a large number of passengers, the only time we feel that on Celebrity is during muster on the first afternoon. Our first experience of Celebrity was a Med cruise from Venice to Istanbul, a fabulous itinerary which now has pretty much been abandoned. We then followed up the next year on the same ship from Barcelona to Rome and which went as far south as Malta, again a fabulous itinerary.

We have never been to the Baltic region and has been something on MrP's radar a while, apparently. We devoured drron's trip report of late last year (Of Wings and Whispers) and worked out the tours we needed to do - we rarely do ship excursions - just awful

The places we will visit:

 

[Pushka]

The itinerary was shaping up as follows: ADL - ARN - Stockhom, where we stay for 3 nights; on the Cruise where we go to Helsinki, St Petersburg overnight; Tallin (Estonia); Warnemunde (Germany) Copenhagen (overnight); Oslo, and then into Amsterdam. Never been to any of these places before so eyes wide open and we expect to be Wowed like we were on every other cruise in Europe.
But then, where to go next? And how to get back home. A quick post on AFF about suggestions worked a treat. We decided (well, I do) to train it back from Amsterdam to London, overnight, then a UL flight from LHR to Sri Lanka for a few nights. Sri Lanka is rather special to us as we adopted our first child (now a hulking 32 year old!) from SL way back in 1985 in the midst of their Civil War. We had not been back there as a couple although MrP returned with son on his 21st birthday and love_the_life and I visited for a day in April when we were on the QM2.

We again snagged award seats in J on UL and which were a great find as the UL flight features the same type of seating arrangement as CX (herringbone) and as this was an overnight flight of 12 hours, this sounds perfect. So then we are on the lookout for flights back to OZ. This was before the recent announcement of the COL flights direct to Melbourne. We found the cost of J seats on UL to be very reasonable and originally booked Colombo - (BKK) - HK then on CX through to Adelaide for a cost of $2600 for 2, all in J. The touch down in BKK was a bit of a nuisance but to be able to fly direct to Adelaide from HK with minimal layover and all booked through UL was excellent. About 2 months ago UL changed their plane so they advised we now flew direct into HK from Colombo so this was great news. As WP we will get to briefly experience the wonderful F lounge in HK again.

My concerns about the flights we had chosen on the way over was multiple connections = missed luggage; and the length of the trip to get there - 33 hours. MrP works flat out right to departure day and this also means very last minute packing. Well, I needn't have worried, need I? After 6 months of worry and just last week, the great QATAR issue raised its head and suddenly we had no way out of Dubai.

Thank goodness for the alert people on AFF. I contacted Qantas immediately and they knew - NADA. Hung up and twiddled my thumbs. Then I received a call back from the premium desk apologising that I did not receive the service that I should have but they still could not help me change flights as "they had not been notified". I could see on Q website that there was a direct flight DXB - ARN on the days we would be there but couldnt change this online. So like a good AFF'er I HUACA. This time the operator was able to rebook us on an award flight direct to ARN from Dubai with 2 caveats - it was in Y (a day flight of 6 hours) and we would need to stay over in DXB that night as the connections were too tight on the same day - only 1 direct flight a day.

The good news - the lengthy 33 hours flights were broken down significantly and less connections means less risk of lost luggage. Plus a refund of $500 taxes and 50,000 FF points. The bad news - one less day in Stockholm. Having been to Dubai in July the weather will be disgusting (45C) but at least this time Ramadan was done with so can eat and drink as required.

 

[love_the_life]

I wondered when you were going to start the TR - sounds great and can't wait to hear all about it

 

[Pushka]

As a consolation to missing a day in Stockholm (really just 18 hours and that would be after 33 hours flying so maybe not quite so bad) we decided as we arrive into Dubai at 7am we have found that booking an Executive room tends to get preferential treatment to accessing your room - or at least early breakfast and then access to full club facilities. As there was no plans for touring (have both been to Dubai multiple times) our only requirement was for a great pool. Being searingly hot at that time we would either be there or inside. Our flight the next day leaves at 8.15am so keeping to our current schedule probably means that at the end of the coughtail hour at 8pm we will simply go to sleep to be awake for the early call.

So,,,,, this is where I booked to stay in Dubai:



We figure that as this includes chauffeur to and from the airport, plus all our food and drink requirements then we have covered our costs with the tax refund. Really looking forward to this view in the afternoon:



Look familiar love_the_life?

 

[love_the_life]

Not over at Al Arab? Though this may be better! Right on the beach.

 

[Pushka]

Not over at Al Arab?

$3000 a pop. but but but - we can use those buggies for free

 

[LadyC]

Sounds fantastic! I will be able to wave to you in Amsterdam also. Look forward to reading more.

 

[drron]

My dear Pushka.In no way am I disgusted with people who love to cruise on large ships.Just means less competition for our desired suites when cruising on our beloved small ships.
We loved our Baltic cruise.Hope you have just as good a time.

 

[Pushka]

My dear Pushka.In no way am I disgusted with people who love to cruise on large ships.Just means less competition for our desired suites when cruising on our beloved small ships.
We loved our Baltic cruise.Hope you have just as good a time.

Classic back hand there drron.

So your thoughts. We have just one miserable day in Stockholm now. And a morning I guess and a lunch time arrival. Is there anything doable from say 4pm arrival day. Thought the full day would be the ferry and Vasa Museum and I'd like to see ABBA one. Then there's the old town. We are staying at Radisson Blu waterfront.

Thoughts?

 

[RooFlyer]

Definitely put Vasa museum on the list; a walk round the waterfront in there area and Skansen park is very pleasant.

'Gamla Stan' - old town - (including Royal Palace and Nobel Museum), on its own little island is good too, although may be a bit over-run in summer compared to when I was there in winter.

Good choice with the Radisson Blu - right at the train station, where you alight from the high speed Arlandia Express train from the airport.

 

[Pushka]

Definitely put Vasa museum on the list; a walk round the waterfront in there area and Skansen park is very pleasant.

'Gamla Stan' - old town - (including Royal Palace and Nobel Museum), on its own little island is good too, although may be a bit over-run in summer compared to when I was there in winter.

Good choice with the Radisson Blu - right at the train station, where you alight from the high speed Arlandia Express train from the airport.

Yes - I figured it was pretty close. Have you done it? Seems too easy.

 

[RooFlyer]

I stayed at the Sheraton, which is a short block away from the station exit, but looked at the Radisson for another trip now I have status there. I thought I was being clever, being able to walk from the station and drag my suitcase and carry-on down the footpath. However I didn't count on the 1" of snow on the ground at the time, so it ended up being a bit more challenging!

The train I recall was very high speed, with excellent wi-fi.

What are your plans for St Petersburg? Possibly my absolute #1 favourite city, anywhere.

 

[Austman]

The hotel is almost beside Stockholm Central station. I know where the Arlanda Express platforms are (I've caught the train dozens of times) and I think you'll have a bit of a walk (only about the length of the Central Station) and so might need to follow some signs (or just ask virtually anyone). It's should be pretty easy.

The trains are express and take 20 minutes, once going, to do the 40km journey. So they are not super high speed but they are pretty fast.

The hotel is right beside the centre of the city and you could even walk over to Gamla Stan. From Gamla Stan (or Slussen) there are local ferries that go over to Djurgården where the ABBA museum is - and the Vasa is over that way too. You could just get the ferry to eg Gröna Lund (the sea-side amusement park) on Djurgården and walk from there.

https://www.gronalund.com/en/plan-your-visit/how-to-get-here/

 

[Pushka]

I stayed at the Sheraton, which is a short block away from the station exit, but looked at the Radisson for another trip now I have status there. I thought I was being clever, being able to walk from the station and drag my suitcase and carry-on down the footpath. However I didn't count on the 1" of snow on the ground at the time, so it ended up being a bit more challenging!

The train I recall was very high speed, with excellent wi-fi.

What are your plans for St Petersburg? Possibly my absolute #1 favourite city, anywhere.

SPB - we are on the ship for that one but overnight. We are using drron's tour company SPB tours but not on the private excursion but a 16 coach person and that will also include Faberge Museum plus the usual. The itinerary for these two days is:
[TABLE="class: table tour-detail-table, width: 484"][TR][TD]08:30 : 09:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Meet and greet at the ship. Settle payment (if not prepaid).[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]09:00 : 10:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Travel to Pushkin. Short metro ride to see a couple of beautiful stations (time permitting).[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]10:30 : 12:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]A guided visit to Catherine’s Palace with the Amber Room and a walk in the park in the Tsars’ Village (ca. 1.5 hr)[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]12:30 : 13:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Optional lunch/snack stop (please have Rubles!)[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]14:00 : 15:30[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]A guided walk through the unique Peterhof Lower fountain park and the upper gardens (ca. 1.5 hr)[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]16:30 : 17:30[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]A visit to Peter and Paul’s Fortress and Cathedral [/TD][/TR][TR][TD]18:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Return to the ship.


[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]
Day 2:
[TABLE="class: table tour-detail-table, width: 484"][TR][TD]8.30am



10:00 : 12:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Meet at the ship. Time for souvenir shopping. City sightseeing tour with photo stops.


Visit and guided tour to the Hermitage Museum (Pre-booked entry time*)
*The exact entrance time can vary and is determined solery by the management of the Hermitage museum.[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]12:30 : 13:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Optional lunch/snack stop[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]13:30 : 14:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Guided excursion inside the Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]14:00 : 15:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]A visit to the Fabergé Museum: the world's largest collection of Fabergé works, located in the beautiful Shuvalov Palace (for this portion of the tour, you will join a group of up to 18 people.)[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]15:00 : 16:30[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Feel like a Russian**: after two days of visiting the most important and interesting cultural and historical spots of the city, time to slow down and sit in a downtown open-air cafe, drink a local beer while people watching in the main shopping district. Stroll along Nevsky Prospekt (the Main Street of St. Petersburg). The exact amount of free time will vary depending on local traffic conditions and crowding at the venues. The tour guide will be accompanying you during this time. (You will need Rubles for any purchases you make).
**Time permitting[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]17:00[/TD][TD="class: column-bordered"]Return to the ship.[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]
[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

 

[henleybeach]

Looking forward to the trip report , we have just booked a Baltic Sea cruise for this time next year , on NCL for 9 nights leaving from Copenhagen.
Hopefully I'll pick up some tips for the ports you'll be in

 

[Mattg]

Love the title!

Looking forward to reading about your adventures.

 

[Pushka]

Like many on AFF I am also a member of Cruise Critic. Cruise critic has 'roll calls' for every cruiseline and cruise date. Our roll call has been extremely active which is a bit of a novelty. The member that creates the first post has kind of 'owned' it. Each month or so we receive an email with up to date info on each privately arranged excursion, plus a dinner has been organised for the last night before the cruise and a sailaway party for the first sail out at the sunset bar on the aft of the ship. It is one deck above our very favourite sail out location which is the rear of the buffet and is open deck. There is nothing better in life than after a busy port day, to grab a snack of Indian curry for me and some sushi for MrP, collect a glass of crisp or or sparkly, and sit in the sun watching the last port recede into the distance. Heaven. Oh, back to cruise critic. I enjoy reading all the tips etc on the roll call but will not be attending the dinner or sailaway. I think someone mentioned mardi gras beads! :shock:

For booking the cruise we also received $400 USD onboard credit. Normally this can only be spent when you board but a few months ago Celebrity changed the policy so that we can use it to book things in advance, like excursions and extra restaurants. On some cruises you can also purchase an 'extend your stay' allowing you use of the ship facilities until 2 hours before the next cruise sails out. Given that when a cruise ends it is about 7am. Kinda kills the last night as your main luggage goes out the night before. Then its the fight for taxis with 2000 odd passengers assuming you are the only ship. We have done extend your stay previously - its only offered in Europe, and it is fabulous. Given you can rarely check in to the hotel before 2pm, there is a full on rush to ditch the luggage and get on with touring. As we are staying in Amsterdam for a few days after there is no rush. Last time we had to vacate cabins at 8.30 but we then went to the buffet to enjoy a non rush breakfast, then I went to the Pools and MrP off to a deserted gym. Then later in the morning back to the pool, a few drinks, snack for lunch and then off to shower in the gym. Then at 2pm as the taxis for the new cruisers were pulling up to drop them off, we simply walk off to hail a taxi straightaway, check in and are really relaxed.

With our OBC we booked the extend your stay, and two extra charge restaurants and a kayak excursion in Helsinki for MrP. We have pre paid tips, have a full drink package and we have no need to shell out any more money on the ship.

 

[love_the_life]

Sigh.....seriously green with envy

​ahhhh

 

[Pushka]

Oh dear. Every time we see the news there's been another terrorist issue in one of the places we are going to. That's the way it is. But last nights attack was one that is causing me to rethink one of our legs. We had planned to catch the train Amsterdam - Brussels - London. The security levels on trains are pretty much non existent. We pass through the station attacked last night. I had posted in another thread I was re thinking security on trains and this attack has ramped it.

We aren't able to extend our stay in Amsterdam as Hotel is full. We had planned the train into London then a night near St Pancras station and head into LHR later the next day for an evening flight. Now I'm thinking we might fly to LHR and stay near the airport and tube it to London if we want to venture out the day of the flight. Thank goodness for Booking.com and cancellable bookings.

Be curious to hear others thoughts about the trains and transiting through Brussels.