Wansbrough's Cruise Blog

I was too tired to watch the entertainment last night so I retired to bed at 10:20. The ladies on the other hand did go and thoroughly enjoyed Pete Mathews the juggler. Had I not felt so exhausted I would have gone too as I remember seeing him on the Constellation a few years back and he was very good then.
This morning we awoke to brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies as we sailed into our next port which was Helsinki. The weather has been so changeable on this cruise but so far on the whole it has always remained warm. Our arrival was an hour early this morning and our berth was right next to and large area where there were lots of digger’s and lorry’s moving hardcore from one area to another. In fact the whole area next to the port seemed to be one large building site with lots of new apartment blocks going up around it.

After some breakfast in the Tuscan Grille we made our way off the ship to explore, the fact that the ship didn’t seem to be offering too much in the way of tours did suggest there might not be a great to see.
So willing to give Helsinki the chance to prove us wrong the sprightly and the less sprightly purchased some HoHo bus tickets just outside the terminal shed for €25 each and set off to explore.
Helsinki is a very busy little city but seems to lack much of historic interest with the exception of things built for the 1952 summer Olympics.
After ⅔ of a circuit we got off at Senate Square for a wander, having seen many churches and cathedrals over the last week we decided to give the inside of Helsinki Cathedral a miss.

We did walk up to the Uspenski Russian Orthodox Cathedral which sits on a slight incline in the hope of a view but even that failed to provide anything worthwhile, it is also shut on Monday’s!

One of the HoHo bus stops was at the Olympic Stadium but even that was closed for refurbishment. So if you take away the Olympic items and religious buildings there isn’t really a great deal on offer.
Last resort was to find somewhere for a beer & coffees which is what we did and found a nice little bar overlooking the north harbour.

Eventually we decided to head back to the ship but not before having a stroll through the market square which was full of stalls selling a combination, vegetables and Helsinki souvenirs and mementos. Bit of a strange mix it you are a local out for your greens.
Sadly, Helsinki provided little for me to photograph today and what I have posted is not far from all of it.

We found ourselves back on board at 2:20 with seemingly most of the ship too so after a spot of lunch headed back to the cabin for a quick nap. All still feeling a little tired after the last couple of days activities.

Day 2 in St. Petersburg itinerary.

8:30 – Meet at the Cruise terminal
8:30-10:00 – City highlights drive tour through the historical down-town with the nice views on the bridges, squares; palaces and the Neva river embankments. Short walks and picture  & Visit to Kazan Cathedralstops
10:00-13:00 – Excursion in Hermitage museum (early entry)
13:00-14:30 – Lunch in a restaurant to sample Stolle pies
14:30-15:30 – Walking on Nevsky prospect
15:30-16:30 – Boat ride: City tour from the water angle
17:00 – Onboard
18:00 – Sailing off

Yet another busy day today and another early start, no room service this morning as although it was prompt it wasn’t the best. So we gave the express breakfast in the dining room a go instead. Express it was too! We had a plate in front of us within a minute of sitting down.

Having just returned to the ship and after experiencing yet another amazing day I am going to do the same as yesterday and let the photos tell the story.
Our guide from Alla, Polina G was outstanding and made the whole experience totally unforgettable. Such knowledge and passion for her country and of course St. Petersburg.
I think the best thing for me to do right now is go and exchange some vouchers and select some photos to share…….

 

We have a busy couple of days so I’m not sure how time I will get to do any writing so we may just end up with lots of photos. This was pre written to try and make it easier later.
The tour itinerary for day 1 with Alla Tours is as follows and I will try and post photos to follow the same order.

8:30 – Meet at the Cruise terminal
8:30-10:00 – Travel to Peterhof summer estate with a stop for a subway ride (optional)
10:00-11:00 – Excursion in Grand Peterhof palace.
11:00-12:30 – Tour of the Lower Fountain Park and Upper gardens.
12:30-13:30 – Travel back to the city
13:30-14:30 – Lunch in a local restaurant
14:30-16:30 – Excursion in Church on the Blood
17:00 – Back Onboard

Because we had an early start this morning we ordered room service for breakfast. This was delivered at 6:30 so we would have plenty of time. You get a quick phone call to tell you is on its way then shortly after it arrived.
We also found two other ships in port as we sailed in, Mein Schiff 5 & Fred Olsen’s Balmoral.

Just got back to the ship. Wow! What a day. Too tired and don’t really have time or energy to write anything so will let the photos tell the story…..

What a stunning port of call, and we haven’t finished yet either.

Round two tomorrow……….

I did indeed grab an earlier night and hopefully will see the benefits of it over the next three days which are going to be pretty busy. So after dinner I retired to the cabin while the ladies went off in search of some retail therapy, I must have been tired as I never heard them come in later (and it had absolutely nothing to do with the wine consumption…..)
Now we are further north the evenings are noticeably lighter and considering we are two hours ahead of UK time my body clock is still waking me at my usual time, how does that work?

It was my turn to fetch the coffee this morning so at 8:00 I climbed the stairs to the Oceanview Café and collected two mugs but also the cardboard cups too. The reason for this is the cardboard ones hold a mug and a half so if you fill it up then sit it in the proper mug it also makes it easier to carry. All we then do is decant it into the mugs when we get back to the cabin. We do occasionally use room service but sometimes you don’t want the intrusion that early in the morning and it’s not really too much hassle to go and get your own.

The pilot arrived onboard just before 9:00 as we made our way into the port of Tallinn. Wanting to avoid the bun fight in the buffet this morning we ate our breakfast in the Tuscan Grille where as Elite status we can have a continental breakfast between 8:00 & 10:00. It was nice and quiet and far more civilised than what I imagine was going on in the Oceanview Cafe.

Clearance to go ashore was really quick today and we were ashore before 10:20 and making our way to the shuttle bus ($10 each return), under normal circumstances we would have walked but as we have less sprightly companions we decided the bus was the best solution.

From where the bus dropped us off we made our way to the Town Hall Square before climbing the slight incline up to the Alexander Nevski orthodox cathedral.

From there we partially walked back down to the square where we stopped for some liquid refreshments at Olde Hansa which is a medieval restaurant and bar just off the square.

 

From there we made our way back to Pikk Street and carried on down the hill before eventually meandering back to the shuttle bus stop. It was all aboard at 4:30 but we were back for 3:00 and immediately went for a quick bite to eat in the buffet. It is yet another short stop for Celebrity and had there been just the two of us we would have covered more ground in the 6½ hours available. Quite a bit is achievable but it would be nice not to have to keep one eye on the clock.
We like Tallinn a lot and found the place really picturesque and the people extremely friendly. We will have to come back for another visit some day.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with our feet up and mentally preparing for the next two days which will be in St. Petersburg.

Our little session in the Sky Lounge was a little different last night because we were joined by a local Oom-Pah Brass Band, they played for around 45 minutes and made a nice change. It certainly made the lounge a lot busier than usual. We found them playing a second set a bit later on in the Grand Foyer on deck 3 while on our way to eat and they were again drawing the crowds in as people were coming and going to dinner.

Talking of dinner, last night we dined in Qsine which was every bit as good as our first experience. I learnt a lot from our first trip in January and the main one was to pace yourself but despite that knowledge we all came away totally stuffed and were still paying the price this morning.
The whole experience was made all the more special by the fact all six from table 345 were able still dine together. We were there for over 3 hours and consequently missed our trip to see Freddie Larkins in the theatre.
There is practically nothing on the menu which I don’t like but I have to say I am very partial to the lamb chops with the mustard mayonnaise and also the Disco Shrimp.

As a result of last night’s feast, breakfast was skipped this morning because we were all still feeling so full.
In contrast to yesterdays rain, today’s weather has once again been fantastic so we spent the morning just sat out on the balcony. The only break was to attend the Captain’s Club Celebration in the Sky Lounge at 12:00 pm. As it’s Judy’s first cruise and she wanted to go we accompanied her to the function where we were all thanked by Captain Leonardos Palaiokrassas for choosing a Celebrity cruise. A couple of free glasses of wine certainly didn’t go amiss.

Just to further break the day up and to help with our food intake we took lunch in the Moonlight Sonata Dining Room, I have found that having someone else fill my plate often stops me making a complete pig of myself.
Then with the sun still out we retired to the cabin to sit out on the balcony in the glorious sunshine that we never expected to have, its been an absolute bonus for us. There is very little else to add today so I will keep it brief.
Normal dining will be resumed tonight and maybe the show which is Rock City, we’ve seen it before and thought it was OK but I may potentially give it a miss myself and have an early night so I am nice and fresh to visit our next port which is Tallin, Estonia tomorrow.

Yesterday evening was the first of three Evening Chic nights and I was surprised to see how many of the gents were still wearing dinner suits. There were certainly a lot more on the this cruise than the one earlier in the year. I wonder if the location and embarkation port has anything to do with it? Regardless of who wore what, just about everyone still made an extra effort to look smart for the evening.
I had every intention to photograph the menu in the dining room last night but the use of the vouchers in the Sky Lounge must have done something to my memory. It won’t be tonight as we are off to Qsine having bagged a deal for the whole table at $25 person.

Last night’s show was good fun and it was a new face for us, Mel Mellers who is a comedy magician. No high end magic but more of a children’s entertainer type of show but with the witty banter and audience interaction made him very watchable. He certainly made us laugh and that can’t be a bad thing.

We arrived at Warnemünde just after 7:00 this morning with the weather looking a bit overcast. When we first booked this cruise we had the intention to go to Berlin but spending two hours driving to get there then doing pretty much the whole tour driving round when you got there with another two on the way back eventually persuaded us not to go. Berlin will have to wait.
Our back up plan involved a walk in and around Warnemünde but the weather decided not to play ball. Around 8:45 the weather did as forecasted and we had rain so delayed our walking.
We waited until around 11:00 when it eased off a bit before making our move. We got no further than the front end of the Serenade of the Seas before it started to rain again. Not heavy rain but enough for everyone to put hoods and brolly’s up.

We carried on regardless and eventually found ourselves at the beach by the lighthouse. The weather being really miserable but we weren’t going to let it beat us. There were periods of heavier rain and we took shelter under canopies and trees. Because of the weather much of today’s photos were taken on my phone so they won’t be as sharp as usual.

Warnemünde is a pretty little place and I bet it’s a whole lot more fun when the sun shines.
Eventually we stopped for a beer and coffee and waited to see if it would ease of which it did so we made our way back to the ship for a late lunch.

It didn’t rain again after and we got our timing all wrong but never mind, some you win……A completely contrasting set of weather from yesterday.

After an afternoon nap I finished writing this with the aim of going to exchange some of my vouchers in the Sky Lounge.
We are dining at Qsine tonight and I will try and get a few photos to post here tomorrow. Ah and the act on in the theatre is a Freddie Mercury tribute by the name of Steve Larkins who we will give a go later on.

OK, some more about yesterday first picking up where I left off. Having now received out drinks vouchers we set off to exchange them up in the Sky Observation Lounge for pre dinner drinks. We spent about 2½ hours there just chatting and enjoying the sea view. It wasn’t as busy as it was in January but still enough there to justify using that venue. Below are a couple of photos of the menu for the drinks that are available using the vouchers.

Dinner was at 8:15 and the two adjacent tables were both half empty last night, I suspect there may have been some not happy with the table arrangements. We have a great set up and Oscar is doing us proud. One thing I have noticed, the menu is now laid out in such a way it suggests two courses and not three. Another cost cutting exercise in effect! Needless to say it hasn’t prevented me from carrying on as before.

After dinner I followed the others to the theatre to endure the ships production of The Chandelier for a second time and despite several cast changes from January it wasn’t any better and in fact in our opinion slightly worse. I came very close to nodding off in there a couple of times but managed to stay the distance by sitting more upright then usual.

I am also having all sorts of issues with the WordPress App, ships WiFi and also my ageing tablet and apologise if posts are getting duplicated then deleted. I was hoping to add some photos to the Flickr album but the internet is nowhere near good enough and actually worse than it was in January.

This morning we awoke to beautiful clear blue skies and calm seas. What a wonderful way to start the morning. After breakfast (again in the Oceanview Cafe) we went back to spend the morning sat out on the balcony where we were sheltered from the wind while still able to enjoy the sunshine. We had the best of the sunshine on our side of the ship which was a real bonus.

We were so distracted by sitting out in the sun we missed the dinner session the dining room and when we did a circuit of the buffet and failed to find a seat we decided to go to the Mast Grille and have burger and fries instead.

At 3:00 we accompanied Judy up to the Lawn Club so she could watch the Hot Glass Show while we laid out on blankets in the sun. I just can’t believe the weather are having so far..
Because of this Nicole & I decided to go up to the Solstice Deck to finish the afternoon off in the sun.

Token swapping session impending and its Evening Chic Night tonight so it’s smarter dress than normal.

I will pick up from where I left off which was pre show and pre dinner, the entertainment in the Eclipse Theatre was called Andante, four British guys who I have to say could sing really well but I can’t put my finger on it but just seem to lack something. Still it wasn’t a bad way to spend 40 minutes before dinner.
We also got our first glimpse of cruise director Daniel who is from Newcastle, I’m not quite sure what to make of him at the moment. Not that I take too much notice of cruise directors as most of them end up irritating me any way.

During his introductory chat he revealed we have 3114 passengers onboard this cruise which considering we are now in school holiday time was more or less the amount I was expecting the figure to be.
We are on second sitting in the dining room and it was great to meet up with our old fellow diners from January. We have a corner table in between two tables of 10, ours is a table of 6 and not 8 as I was expecting. Nice and cosy but perhaps a little too far from the middle of the room. Our two adjacent tables seemed very quiet last night and didn’t appear to be that happy.
We are being served by Oscar, his assistant Susana and Sommelier Vemba.
Good start and hopefully more of the same to follow, when we return for round 2 in the Moonlight Sonata dining room.

So to today, well this is a bit of a strange one for us as we decided not to go ashore, there are a couple of contributing factors, the main one being the time we are here in Zeebrugge. 7:00am to 3:00pm which for Celebrity is a real surprise. And it was 8:00 before we had clearance to go ashore combined with all aboard at 2:30pm it doesn’t really give you time to do a great deal unless you take a ship tour which is not really our style. We also factored in the time change too which meant getting up an hour earlier than our bodies were used to.
There does seem to be a bit of a push to get you to take the ship tours as I have noticed a couple of items in the daily programme where they have made a point of the fact if you take a ship tour it won’t sail without you if you are delayed. They also keen to stress you are first off the ship and have a hassle free cancellation policy. The last point they make is “Discover the heart of the destinations with our knowledgeable and experienced guides”. It would appear they are at war with the locals when it comes to excursions.
I had toyed with taking the tram to Blankenberge but I couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm from any of the others. We have been there before and I think it’s a lovely little seaside town and given the right weather would have been a nice little trip. I think we will do Bruges when we have more time than we have been allocated today and also when it’s just the two of us.

Docked behind us today was Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth.

So what did we do with our day instead? Well after a leisurely breakfast in a virtually deserted Oceanview Café we started to show Judy round the ship. But in doing so we noticed the weather had improved giving some very warm sunny intervals so we found a couple of sunbeds up on the Solstice Deck and just spent the rest of the morning relaxing.
At 1:00 we made our way to the Oceanview Café for lunch, timing it perfectly so as to get there before all the excursions returned.
From then until sailaway it was back up there to carry on where we left off.

Our departure was delayed by 25 minutes due to some tours not getting back to the ship on time, we could see the traffic all queued up in front of the port gates but not sure what was causing it.
I am doing this early again tonight as we now have our drinks vouchers which need to be used between 5:00 & 7:00. So it will be off to the Sky Lounge for a spot of imbibing before dinner.

 

Having never sailed from the UK in our first ten years of cruising we now find ourselves having done it twice on the trot and today saw us return to Southampton for our second experience of sailing out of the UK.
We arrived at Southampton from an easterly direction coming in along the M27 and this was because we had to collect our two senior companions who both live in Eastbourne. After dropping the car off at the Yellow car park we made the short walk to the cruise terminal to check in and embark. Three of us hold Celebrity Captain’s Club Elite status so we were able to pass through a little quicker than some of the others, but only just as all the queues seemed to me to be the same length and am moving equally as quick. It’s nice when a perk works in your favour and this is one such example where it has in the past but today it wasn’t really any benefit.
Cabins weren’t ready at the time we boarded so it was up to the Oceanview Cafe for a bite to eat. By the time we had finished our lunch we noticed the buffet was not busy at all so it indicated to us the cabins were now ready so it was off to find our accommodation for the next 14 nights.

 

We are very familiar with the cabin layout having sailed on this class of ship 5 times previously a first for us on this cruise is a kettle in the cabin. I’m not sure if we will actually make use of it at this stage so we’ll have to wait and find out if it’s something we might need to get taken out to give us a bit more space on the worktop.

Our cases arrived at 2:30 and we were completely unpacked by 3:00, for some strange reason it felt like we had a surplus of time today, in the past the first afternoon has always seemed a bit of a rush.
Our steward Hamilton and his assistant Jayesh made brief introductions and welcomed us aboard.
I have also been a little extravagant and purchased the unlimited internet package for the whole cruise, Elite membership providing 30% discount on the advertised price. My excuse…….the $900 OBC was burning a big whole in my pocket.
As we have adjoining cabins we have been able to open the balconies into one one big one which makes the space seem that much bigger.

Muster was at 3:45 with departure swiftly after at 4:30. We had some really lovely weather for our sail out and not at all what I was expecting.

This evening the act in the Eclipse Theatre is called Andante and they are are four guys described as having four great solo voices which come together to produce spine tingling harmonies. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

We have been allocated table 345 on deck 3 and will be joined by an American couple from our table on our list Eclipse cruise. After discovering they were on the same Baltic cruise we got their TA to arrange for us to be on the same table again. I’ve already bumped into him in the buffet……of all places!

Right, I’m posting early tonight so will report on the evenings activities in tomorrow’s post.
Bye for now.

For some time we have considered heading north on a cruise but there has always been somewhere southerly that has been more appealing to us and therefore taken precedence. We much prefer the warmer climates and because of this its always swayed our decision making, so when Nicole’s mum (Maria) suggested doing a Baltic cruise with her we thought well maybe its now time to go for it. As none of us had ever cruised in that area it sounded like a great idea that we should do it together and when one of Maria’s friends (Judy) expressed an interest in joining us and making our group up to four it was all systems go.
We sent out the enquiries to the various agents we have used previously and we quickly decided the best offer was the one from Cruise Club UK. Lots of OBC and hump cabin on deck 8 for the same price as one on deck 7, well done Natalie for spotting that one. We also were able to use up a future cruise credit which provided us with $900 OBC for each of the  cabins. Very nice indeed!

So with the cruise booked and the cabin sorted we started to investigate what we should do at the ports. We needed to bear in mind the 2 senior members of our party aren’t quite as sprightly as Nicole & me and because of that I think this cruise will be very different to those we have taken in the past.

The big attraction for us on this cruise is St. Petersburg where we will overnight and therefore have 2 full days. For this port we have booked a 2 day tour with Alla Tours which they call their comfort tour. They advise it is an ideal tour for those who want to see the highlights of St Petersburg in leisurely style which sounds just the ticket for our senior cruisers.

For the other ports we will try and make use of the local transport such as the HoHo buses.

Other Ships in Port

DATE	LOCATION	ARRIVAL	DEPARTURE
Sunday, July 31, 2016	Southampton, England		04:30 PM
Monday, August 1, 2016	Zeebrugge, Belgium	07:00 AM	03:00 PM
Tuesday, August 2, 2016	At Sea
Wednesday, August 3, 2016	Warnemunde, Germany	09:30 AM	11:59 PM
Thursday, August 4, 2016	At Sea
Friday, August 5, 2016	Muuga, Tallinn, Estonia	10:00 AM	05:00 PM
Saturday, August 6, 2016	St Petersburg, Russia	07:00 AM
Sunday, August 7, 2016	St Petersburg, Russia		06:00 PM
Monday, August 8, 2016	Helsinki, Finland	08:00 AM	05:00 PM
Tuesday, August 9, 2016	Stockholm, Sweden	09:00 AM	05:00 PM
Wednesday, August 10, 2016	At Sea
Thursday, August 11, 2016	Copenhagen, Denmark	11:00 AM	11:59 PM
Friday, August 12, 2016	At Sea
Saturday, August 13, 2016	At Sea
Sunday, August 14, 2016	Southampton, England	05:30 AM

And taking a look at the other ships we may catch a glimpse of during the cruise.

DATE	LOCATION	SHIPS IN PORT
Sunday, July 31, 2016	Southampton, England	Caribbean Princess 5:00 AM – 5:00 PM Arcadia 6:30 AM – 4:30 PM Celebrity Eclipse Depart: 04:30 PM
Monday, August 1, 2016	Brussels (Zeebrugge), Belgium	Viking Eir Queen Elizabeth 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Celebrity Eclipse 07:00 AM – 03:00 PM
Tuesday, August 2, 2016	At Sea
Wednesday, August 3, 2016	Warnemunde, Germany	Viking Jarl Serenade Of The Seas 7:00 AM – 9:30 PM (Dock) Celebrity Eclipse 09:30 AM – 11:59 PM
Thursday, August 4, 2016	At Sea
Friday, August 5, 2016	Tallinn, Estonia	Celebrity Eclipse 10:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Saturday, August 6, 2016	St Petersburg, Russia	Seven Seas Voyager Depart: 6:00 PM Celebrity Eclipse Arrive: 07:00 AM
Sunday, August 7, 2016	St Petersburg, Russia	Viking Kirov Viking Truvor Monarch Arrive: 11:00 AM (Dock) Silver Whisper Arrive: 8:00 AM Celebrity Eclipse Depart: 06:00 PM
Monday, August 8, 2016	Helsinki, Finland	Costa Luminosa 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Wind Surf 7:00 AM – 1:00 PM Celebrity Eclipse 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Tuesday, August 9, 2016	Stockholm, Sweden	Celebrity Eclipse 09:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Wednesday, August 10, 2016	At Sea
Thursday, August 11, 2016	Copenhagen, Denmark	Celebrity Eclipse 11:00 AM – 11:59 PM
Friday, August 12, 2016	At Sea
Saturday, August 13, 2016	At Sea
Sunday, August 14, 2016	Southampton, England	Seven Seas Voyager 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM Celebrity Eclipse Arrive: 05:30 AM