Baltic Cruise to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn and St. Petersburg
Posted On May 15, 2016
We are home!! Wow, what a wonderful week we have had! We got to experience our first cruise and four new countries. It was a whirlwind, but overall a very relaxing vacation. I have finally organized all of my photos and finished drafting this post, so here we go!
Our cruise through MSC was to set sail on May 7th from Kiel, Germany, about a six hour drive from our home. We decided to arrive the day before and stay at a hotel so we wouldn’t be rushed the next day. We got a room at the Comfort Inn, which is in a great location and was quite comfortable. We went to dinner at an AMAZING Thai restaurant right across the street from the hotel and then walked around the city afterward searching for ice cream. The shops that lined the main street we walked along ranged from clothing to convenience stores.
The next day we did not have to be at the ship until 3:00, so we slept in a bit then drove close to the port to find some lunch. We ate at a little café that looked out over a small harbor. The boys got waffles with tons of sugar slathered all over them because…vacay.
There were various options for parking for the cruise. We opted for the outside parking, which was in a separate area that shuttled you to the ship. I guess my expectations for such a parking area were way too high, because after driving about 15 minutes outside the city we came to what looked like an old shipyard with tons of rusted old beams and boats scattered throughout. We double-checked the directions but the crowds of people and the workers flagging us into the lot helped us realize we were definitely in the right spot. We were led into an old metal boat hanger (see pic below) where we were to leave our car for the next week. Lines of cars coming in to do the same came in behind us. There was only one way in and out of the lot, which made it quite congested. The sun began to beat down as we waited for about 20 minutes for a shuttle bus to pick us up and take us to the ship.
Madness.
When we finally arrived to the port it was a tad chaotic. There were so many people and they had started calling people in groups by number, which they gave you as you entered the port area. After finding some of our friends, we sat and waited in the sun some more for our group to be called. Finally we got to get in line to check in, which took another 20 minutes or so. But we finally got all checked in and made it onto the boat.
MSC is an Italian cruise line, but since it ports all over Europe, it is very international. Every announcement, whether made over the speaker or at a show, is spoken in five languages: English, Italian, French, German and Spanish. Sometimes it would take ten minutes just to get one announcement made! But, I have to admit, it was pretty cool hearing so many different languages spoken all throughout our time on the cruise. But you must keep this fact in mind as I describe some of what happened on the boat. ‘Cause some of this stuff would never fly in America!
The MSC Musica is a beautiful ship, but again, I have nothing to compare it to, so I thought it was pretty amazing.
We did an interior state room because it was much cheaper than the rooms with a view, and those “view” rooms with portholes did not guarantee an actual view. We saw someone come out of a room and their “view” was one of the rescue boats. Not paying for an uncertain view when we wouldn’t be in our room that much anyway. It was a tight squeeze, but it worked out for us.
Our cruise didn’t leave port until 6:00 in the evening, so we all got settled and then brought the kids with us to dinner before letting them go explore the kids club for the first time. The kids LOVED the club. Can you tell how excited they were???
We decided to go to the first entertainment show with them to see what it was like. Prior to the show starting the director of the cruise came on the stage to give a general welcome. He introduced all of the language liaisons one by one. When it came time to introduce the Chinese liaison, he looked at the Chinese family sitting on the first row and said, “And now, the liaison for our Chinese guests.” Immediately after saying this he bobbed his head side to side twice and said, “Ching! Ching!” There was an audible gasp among the crowd in total disbelief that this dude just openly offended the Chinese guestswithout any awareness or care whatsoever. The Chinese liaison on the stage next to him seemed none too pleased! I know this is generalizing, but from my experience Italians and ‘politically correct’ don’t really go together.
The show began and it was an eclectic mix of song and dance. And when I say eclectic, I mean a song sung in French here, a ballroom dance duo there, and a man dressed up as a big Spanish lady whose boobs pop out of her dress on purpose during the show right smack dab in front of you. Yes, the boobies pop out and the dude in the costume shoots them out with his arms in different directions. I don’t know how else to describe it, you guys. I tried to whip out my camera in time to get a picture, but this is the best I could do:
Yup, those arms stretched out are the boobies. With nips and everything. Right in front of all the kids of the kids club that were sitting in the front row. Lord in Heaven, you should’ve seen and heard their section of the theater. I was in tears from laughing so hard because it was so unexpected and so completely random to the entire show that it took me a few minutes to process what was going on. Oh, we heard about the ‘boobies’ incident for days, y’all. And I’m sure we will for a long time.
Let it also be known that women sunbathe topless on the top deck of the boat. This doesn’t bother me at all, and neither did the ‘boobie incident’ in the show, but I couldn’t help but think how different the tolerance is for things like this in the states.
Copenhagen
At each port the cruise provided continuous shuttle busses from the ship to the city center for a fee. Of course, we did not know about this prior to the cruise, so it was one of the many added costs that we used for a few of the cities we visited. We actually ended up porting a little farther out in Copenhagen than originally planned, so it was just faster for us to use the shuttle since we only had about 4-5 hours there.
After we were dropped off we made our way through the city center and toward Street Food, an indoor food truck warehouse that sits next to the water. We got there a little early, but right next door was a children’s science museum called Experimental City, so we hung out there until lunch. What a cool place! There is an entire section devoted to movement where you work in teams/families to complete the obstacles/challenges. The rest of the museum is hands-on and exploratory. It was a fantastic place to stop and I highly recommend it for anyone with kids wanting to hit up Street Food.
This is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon!
And here’s this gem that was in the technology section of the children’s science museum:
Street Food is a foodie’s dream. There is something for everyone, from pulled pork to bulgogi to pancakes to sushi to fried chicken to bacon burgers. I wanted to try everything, but opted for the pulled pork sandwich (mainly because it didn’t have as many people in line). I shared my husband’s bulgogi and we ordered two different beers to try out. It was all so good!
My beautiful friend, Leslie, enjoying her panini!
We moseyed on back toward the city center, admiring the canals and boats along the way. Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine and relaxing. It was hot!
The next day was a sailing day, so we ate breakfast and sent the kids to the kids club. My husband and I sat at the cafeteria for about two hours just reading and drinking coffee. It was DIVINE. We don’t get to do that often, so we soaked it up as much as possible with multiple cappuccinos. We then ate lunch with the kids before working out at the gym onboard. That night was gala night, so we all got dressed up (I’m using this term loosely) and went to dinner. We decided to go to the “Catwoman” show at the theater. The kids club took all the kids to see it, and we weren’t sure how our 3 year old would do, so we sat behind the kids and watched with them. We came to realize there really is no storyline with the shows. With this show in particular, Penguin and Joker both showed up, Penguin sang a love ballad with the one singer, there were three contortionists that did a little bit and then a group of acrobatic guys dressed as policemen and did their thing. There were about 10 catwomen dancing around the entire time. It was fun, but there was no story going on, just a bunch of Batman-themed acts. The finale was quite loud and overwhelming and that is when our 3 year old lost it. He got very upset, and I had to go get him from the front row. But the rest of the time he did just fine!
Stockholm
I really wish we had had more time in Stockholm. Again, we only had about 5 hours, so we took the bus into the city center and then headed to Skansen, which is described as an “outdoor museum”. From our research online it seemed kind of like Williamsburg, in that it was supposed to show what life was like in Scandanavia a long time ago, including original-style buildings that you could explore and people dressed up in old clothing showing you how they lived and worked. We figured it would be a good learning experience for all of us, especially the kids. Well, I don’t know if it is because we went on a weekday or what (although we saw multiple schools there on field trips), but pretty much all of the buildings were locked so you couldn’t explore them and there was no one out. It was really disappointing, and if I had known that going in, I would’ve opted to just go to Gamla Stan (the Old Town of Stockholm) and walk around there. Skansen did have a zoo and an area to observe animals that the kids really enjoyed, and the atmosphere was very nice, but I wish we would’ve done something different.
After we left Skansen we began walking toward the Vasa Museum. Of course, I HAD to take a pic in front of the ABBA Museum for my mom (and for me, who are we kidding). If we had more time I would’ve totally gone inside.
The Vasa Museum is about a 10-15 minute walk from Skansen and is an absolute must see if you are planning on visiting Stockholm! The Vasa is a Viking ship that sank in 1628 and spent 333 years underwater before being excavated. It is in pristine condition and on display for all to see. In addition to the boat itself is a museum full of information about the Vasa, life on the ship and the people on board. It was a wonderful learning experience for all of us. And since I just got done talking about Vikings with my son in homeschool, it was a perfect tie-in!
The museum is along the left side and includes about 4 floors of exhibits. You can really gauge how big the ship is from this picture!
After Vasa we headed toward the city center for lunch and happened upon the area dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest, which is a huge event in Europe and one of the longest running television shows in the world. It is held in a different European city every year, and this year just happened to be in Stockholm! All day they were doing activities on the stage and in the area surrounding in lead up to the finale that was happening the following Saturday. We ate some amazing sliders and strips of beef in chimichurri sauce before getting some ice cream and heading to the observation tower. The observation tower allowed us to get 360 views of the entire city, which was pretty beautiful!
That evening we took the kids to the club onboard and I headed up on the top deck to read and drink a mojito. It was pretty great, I must admit.
Tallinn
My husband and I decided that Tallinn would be the one place we would go on our own sans kids. They wanted so badly to stay at kids club, and since there was nothing really in particular we wanted to see in Tallinn, we decided to let them stay on the boat. And I’m really glad we made that decision (and so are the kids)! My husband and I stayed in the Old Town part of Tallinn, which is this beautiful walled city with cobble-stoned streets and small shops lining the roads leading up to the church at the top of a winding hill. It is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe. We took a little cycle rickshaw from the port to the city center, which was fun and a little romantic!
There was a large market set up in the town square. We looked around a bit and began walking up the hill that led to the church. We hit many antique stores along the way and wound up buying an old wooden stein that we thought was pretty unique. I could roam antique stores all day, and Tallinn has many of them!
Our cool stein:
I was enamored with all of the beautifully painted and carved doors throughout the city. I want them all:
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral sits at the top of Old Town with its pristine onion domes and clean lines. Close to it are gorgeous views of the city below.
We arrived in St. Petersburg on Thursday. Since our excursion didn’t leave until 1:00, we had a leisurely morning. The boat was virtually empty, which made the normal, overcrowded breakfast time very enjoyable.
That afternoon we got on our tour bus and were dropped off at the city square. We walked through the Alexander Gardens and got to see some very prominent landmarks of the city including the gold-domed Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, the Admiralty Spire and The Bronze Horseman Monument. These pictures do not do them justice.
The Bronze Horseman Monument is dedicated to Peter the Great and was commissioned by Catherine the Great. It took 12 years to complete and depicts Peter the Great on his horse pointing toward the River Neva and trampling a serpent, which is said to represent evil or the treacheries against Peter. There was even a guy outside the monument with a real boa constrictor around his neck. My youngest thought that was pretty rad.
We stopped at the Winter Palace located in Palace Square, which served as the official residence for Russia’s monarchy from 1732-1917. Apparently, this palace contains 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases! Today the palace serves as the Hermitage Museum.
Palace Square was filled with people just sitting on the ground enjoying the sunshine. In the middle of the square is an immense pillar called the Alexander Column. It was constructed in 1834 and weighs 661 tons. Standing at an impressive 47.5 meters (155.8ft) tall, it is the world’s largest piece of solid granite. It is not anchored to anything; it sits unmoved by its own weight. You can tell how large it is by comparing it to the people standing on the ground!
We got back on the bus after the city tour and drove to The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, which is now considered a museum and no longer used for religious purposes. The once Catholic Orthodox church is a stunning piece of architecture, with its bulbous onion domes painted in gold and brightly-colored enamel. It is a sight to behold.
The church contains over 7,500 square meters of mosaics in the inside. I can’t figure out which is more beautiful: the inside or the out.
A few very interesting facts we learned about the church:
It was shut down by the Soviets in the 1930s. They debated for a long time over how to destroy the church without harming the buildings around it. Finally they decided not to destroy it and locked it up instead.
It served as a morgue in WWII and then afterward as a storage space for vegetables and then theatrical props up until the 70s.
The ceiling has a huge mosaic of Jesus lifting his hands. During renovation, they found an unexploded bomb above Jesus’ right hand. During the war it was not destroyed and the only real renovations the church needed was a new floor and the walls to be washed with soap and water.
The new floor of the church is made out of 12 different types of stone from countries all over the world. I wish I would’ve gotten a picture of it!
The church reopened as a museum in 1997.
We got back on the bus and were taken to a small market with many different Russian-made souvenirs to buy. We only had about half an hour and multiple tours were there trying to do the same thing. The main thing I wanted from Russia were Matryoshka dolls (nesting dolls) and they had so many to choose from! This one was about as tall as my forearm and had 20 dolls included that were intricately hand-painted. It was also almost 3,000 Euros. Sooo we opted for a smaller version!
I saw these beauties on the side of the road walking back to the bus. Thought they were pretty funny!
Our Matryoshka doll!
Some interesting facts about St. Petersburg:
St. Petersburg used to be a bunch of canals. Peter the Great wanted the city to resemble Amsterdam and Venice, so many of the main streets were turned into waterways. I found that fascinating!
St. Petersburg was the Imperial Capital of Russia from 1713-1918.
It is known as the “cultural capital” of Russia because of its many art and history museums.
St. Petersburg’s name was changed in 1914 to Petrograd, then to Leningrad in 1924 and finally back to St. Petersburg in 1991. It was first changed during WWI when the Russians felt the name Sankt Peterburg sounded too German, so they switched it to Petrograd, the Russian version of the words Saint Petersburg. It was then changed to Leningrad five days after Lenin’s death. Then in 1991 the people voted 54% in favor of changing the name back to Saint Petersburg, as it remains today.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to visit this unique country. I wish we would’ve had more than just 3.5 hours, but I felt we were able to see and learn a lot in that amount of time.
We jumped back on the bus and high-tailed it back to the ship. The formal dinner had already started, so we tried to get to the sushi restaurant instead, but they had suffered a power issue and had no lighting! So we went to the cafeteria and had pizza instead. The girls and I hung out at the Crystal Lounge afterward watching people dance while chatting the night away.
We sailed the entire next day back to Kiel. It was very nice to have a leisurely day before having to disembark and then drive the six hours home. We packed up our stuff and let the kids play one last day at the kids club while the adults finally got to eat at the sushi restaurant, which was SO good!
We are so thankful for those that worked with our kids all week. They were wonderful and the kids truly did love it. They made pizzas, had dance parties and even performed a talent show in the theater! It really made everyone’s experience that much more enjoyable!
We went to the finale show that evening, which was called the “Ninja Turtles Show” but again, had little to do with Ninja Turtles. But it was fun and my oldest really enjoyed it. I hung out with everyone until 11:00 and then picked up my oldest from kids club and got a good night’s rest before getting ready to head out the next morning. We ported around 10:00 and disembarked 45 minutes later. We got to our car much quicker than I anticipated. They had all of the cars out and ready to go for us, so we just drove off and headed home. We stopped to grab pizza since we didn’t have anything prepared for dinner and got home around 8:00 that evening. It was so nice to sleep in my own bed again, but I swear I still feel like I’m swaying sometimes!
I think my only regret was not getting more pictures with our friends! I’m so glad we all got to go together. It made it all the more fun!
A few random tips from our trip:
MSC’s initial prices do not include the 15% service tax that is added to EVERYTHING. On top of that you pay a daily tip rate, which is completely separate from the service charges. We even got charged a full day of gratuity for the day we left, in which we had to be out of our room at 9am. At the end of the cruise we got a bill for about 500 Euros, which included these service charges and the drink package we purchased right before getting on the boat. We were expecting this, but I still would rather them just include all of the service fees flat out rather than at the end.
Do the math on the drink packages. We did not get a package because that would mean spending about $74 a day on drinks for our family, and we did not nearly use that much. We don’t drink soda or anything, so we would’ve had to drink quite a bit to make up for that amount. We did purchase drink tickets, though, which was a set number of coffee and alcoholic drinks for a little less. That worked out for us nicely, but these options are NOT listed on the website when you are purchasing your tickets. So, if you do not drink tons of soda or just don’t drink a ton in general, I would advise not getting a drink package and just purchasing drink tickets when you arrive.
Download city apps for areas that you are not going to have internet service in. This helped us to visit places efficiently when walking throughout the city in a very limited period of time. Tallinn had free wifi throughout the entire city, but we had no way of knowing this when planning.
Most of the ports have money exchanging places. Many places took Euros, but some did not, especially the little stores or food vendors. It was a little difficult to figure out how much to get out at first, so knowing the exchange rate for the different areas you are going to is very helpful.
I would definitely classify our first cruise as a success and are already looking into doing another one! It was so nice to not have to worry about anything and just relax on the ship. We are so thankful for the opportunity to take adventures like this, and are trying our very best to take advantage as much as we possibly can!
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