Conference abbott::cruise_travel

232.0. "Baltic capitols and an Atlantic crossing" by VINO::FLEMMING (No eraser? Its not fault tolerant) Tue Sep 25 1990 10:46

I recently returned from a trip to the Baltic capitols (Leningrad, Helsinki,
Stockholm, Visby, Copenhagen, and Oslo) on RCCL's Sun Viking. We sailed from
London and the first night out crossing the North Sea was very rough. Rumor
had it that there were waves above the bridge but I didn't go outside to see.
We sailed through the Keil Canal (unfortunately at night so very little could
be seen) and at the end of four days at sea, we arrived at Leningrad. There
we took tours to the Peter the Great's summer palace (the European influence
there was very evident. The gardens looked exactly like Versailles) and the
Hermitage (only the Louvre - that I've seen - was more impressive in terms
of the art on display). Earlier in the season, RCCL had also offered a tour
to Moscow which included some Leningrad sightseeing but I suspect that this
would have wound up amounting to not seeing much of anything. In any event,
it wasn't offered on this the last cruise of the season. We did some shopping
and the two most common items for sale were the dolls where if you open them
up there is a smaller one inside, etc., down to a very small doll and laquered
boxes. They were asking about $30 (virtually any hard currency was accepted
without question) for one of the doll sets where the biggest doll was about
18 inches tall and there were about 9 nested dolls. Amazingly, we discovered
that you could by two of them for a package of Marlboros. The people seemed
dour and unhappy and the customs officials were downright nasty but everyone
was willing to talk about the situation and changes that were happening in
the Soviet Union - somewhat of a suprise.

Leningrad was the only place on the trip where we even needed passports.
There weren't even customs offices at the docks in the other countries.
However, in Leningrad (the boat had a group visa for anyone taking the
shore excursions), they took out passports and gave up little red books
for documentation in exchange.

Wasn't much - at least that we got to see - to Helsinki. I suspect this is
really a place you have to stay to really enjoy. We did see the Fantasy's?
sister ship nearly complete in dry dock there. Don't know what is being done
about the bankruptcy and getting it finished and into service.

Next was Stockholm. Very beautiful - easy to see why its called the Venice
of the North. Millions of islands, canals, and waterways everywhere. My SO
bought about $900 worth of crystal there which she of course claimed would
have cost 3 times that much here. BTW, RCCL had setup shuttle buses in
Leningrad, Stockholm, and Visby between the ship and shopping/general
interest areas so if you were'nt interested in the shore excursions, you
could get around without resorting to taxis (which you couldn't get in
Leningrad and which were very expensive in the Scandinavian countries).

Next was Visby. This is a town on a large island which belongs to Sweden?.
Sure wish we had had two days in Copenhagen instead.

Copenhagen was next. We docked near the "Littlest Mermaid". Did a lot of
walking there even though things are reasonably far apart. Finally wound
up taking a taxi to the Tivioli Gardens. Wasn't really as great as I had
remembered it but then it was a weekday during the afternoon. The lights are
spectacular but we weren't there late enough to see them. If you've never
been to Copenhagen - my SO hadn't - and you only have one day there, its
kind of like going to a striptease - you know you're missing a lot.

Finally, there was Olso. Again, I had been there before and we had a friend
there who picked us up at the dock. Disappointing thing about this was we
arrived about 4 hours early. I decided I'd sleep in and wouldn't you know
it, our pilot gave about an hours running commentary on everything we passed
in the Oslo fjord as we approached the city. I was sleeping and in the shower
rather than video taping with the dialogue. Of course since we couldn't get
ahold of our friend, we missed two or three hours that we could have spent
with her. Since I had been there before, I asked our friend just to take us
to the places that had impressed me. This included the sculpture park
featuring the cycles of life (lots of people think its obscene). We then
went to her house and spent the rest of the day talking. She sent out for
a pizza and what arrived was about the equivalent of a Pizza Hut medium
pizza. It cost $40 - $5 a slice. I don't know how they afford to live there.
Actually, this was true of all of the Scandinavian capitols. Everything was
outrageously expensive. Sure was glad I was on a boat.

An amusing aside - many people expected it to be cold and wound up packing
only fall/winter clothes. We never had a day when it was below 70 and we
never saw a cloud. Lots of uncomfortable people.

The Sun Viking was a very pleasant ship - about the size I like; I'm not
into the big ones. Food, service, entertainment, and shore excursions were
great. My SO didn't feel well several times so we used room service quite
a bit and it seemed like they were knocking on your stateroom door ten
seconds after you placed an order. I guess the only complaint I had was
they had three channels of music each of which played about one hour worth
of tape and then repeated. Music got pretty boring in 13 days. In any event,
I'd highly recommend the Sun Viking for either a European cruise or a cruise
in the Carribean.

Finally, we docked in London. Spent a couple of days there. Saw the play
Shirley Valentine and spent a day at the zoo. London was expensive too and
there's a bit of culture shock getting off a boat where all of your meals
are free and having to pay $20 for breakfast.

Next it was off to South Hampton where we boarded the Crown Odyssey for
the trip to New York. This trip was called High Society but it was basically
a yawn. There were several celebrities on board who both performed and were
interviewed. They included June Allison, Gloria de Haven, Ester Williams,
Helen O'Connell, and Anne Jeffries. Ester Williams did Love Letters with a
guy whose name I don't recall. That was very entertaining but otherwise it
was very dull. Again we had some rough weather in the North Atlantic and
the Crown Odyssey is a fairly large ship so instead of riding the waves, it
was sliding down them (truly a different kind of motion) and many many
people were out of it as a result of that. Just to give some idea of how
slow things were, in all of my cruising, I've never managed to see an entire
movie on board. On this cruise, I saw two. Things were expensive. Laundry
was twice what it was on the Sun Viking and they wanted $60 for a bottle of
Vodka. We had done the same cruise a couple of years before on the Royal
Odyssey and had really enjoyed it and that was the reason we decided to try
it again (also to avoid jet lag) but the only memorable thing which of course
we had seen before was the Statue of Liberty as we sailed into New York. The
ship was even several hours late getting in causing lots of grief for people
with their airline connections. All in all, I'd say the cruise and Royal
Cruise Lines were pretty underwhelming.

    Glad to hear your favorable comments on the Sun Viking. Four
    of us are booked on its St. Patrick's Day Caribbean cruise. You
    are the first person in this file who has specifically mentioned 
    this ship.
    
    Linda