Finally; B2B Norway & Northern Europe - June 2015 - Loads of Photos

[Dizney73]

So we are using rodne.no for Stavenger and Bergen, and then I used geirangerfjord.no in Geirenger. We are sticking with DCL in Alesund.

Thank you. I will look into them for our 2017 trip with NCL.

 

[hygienist999]

Day 2 - Sunday, June 14, 2015 - Day at Sea - Overcast with high of 72 degrees.

Our Disney Vacation Club Member Celebration was held at 8:30am in Fathoms, just like it was on our previous cruise. Thank goodness we were not experiencing jet lag like last cruise. Snitch was there for photo’s and we received a tumbler and hat again.

We went to the Castaway Club for Gold and Platinum members get together which was held in Fathoms again. We received our Mickey Ears Rice Krispy Treat.

We rested most the afternoon before going to the Captains Celebration for Formal Night. Dinner for us this night was in Animator’s Palate. One of the couples at our table was having an anniversary so they received a treat.

 

[hygienist999]

Monday - June 15, 2015 - Tallen, Estonia.

We took one of the Disney tours, which read.
Old Town and Lahemaa National Park - 6.5 to 7 hours - $74 each.
Scenic Travel along the 13th Century town wall to the Tall Hermann Tower to start your walking tour. Walk to Palace Square and St. Mary's Cathedral. Reboard your coach and head to Lahemaa National Park for a tour of Palmse Manor House (approx. 75 min.). Eat a 3-course lunch of traditional Estonia dishes and free time (approx. 20min.) before heading back to the pier (approx. 75)

We left the ship early. The sky threatened rain most of the day but held off. Tallen was a gem of a city. We really loved it.
We boarded a bus and took off for the downtown area where we did not have enough time, in my opinion, to walk around.
You can get an idea of the city from the following photos.

 

[hygienist999]

We boarded the bus again to drive out to the country for our 3 course lunch. The scenery was very pretty. We enjoyed the lunch as well. The potatoes was my favorite.

I'm going to post some photo's of things we passed in the bus along the way as well.

 

[hygienist999]

Our next and final stop for the day was the gorgeous Palmse Manor House.

Palmse Manor is one of the grandest baroque mansions in Estonia. The mansion and open-air museum were the first fully restored manor complex in the country. They are surrounded by the beautiful natural environment of Lahemaa National Park and provide an overview of Estonian manor life and architecture throughout the ages. The open-air museum boasts parks, gardens and historical buildings and features exhibitions, workshops, a training centre, a Palm House, a wine cellar, a romantic café and a tavern serving national dishes.

We were given a ticket and toured the home on our own. This was basically free time by ourselves until time to leave for the port.

 

[hygienist999]

This is a photo from the bus as we were approaching the port area.

Of course we had to take as many photo's of The Magic as we approached her. Such a beautiful ship. Puts all other cruise ships to shame, in my opinion.

We went straight to our cabin when we returned. We rested and got ready for dinner, which was in Animator's, my favorite restaurant.

I'm not sure what we did afterwards. But I bet we visited the shops, rested on Deck 5 Atrium area to people watch, and got ice cream before bed.

 

[hygienist999]

June 16, 2015 - St. Petersburg, Russia
Overcast with high of 62

Our excursion today was:
Catherine's Palace & Hermitage Museum - 8.5 to 9 hours - $120 per person - Travel to Pushkin (approx. 60min.) to start your walking tour at Catherines Palace, including some of the 1,400 acres of palace grounds. Return to St. Petersburg for a typical Russian lunch. Continue your tour at the Hermitage Museum, including the Winter Palace and the works of the Italian Masters, and Dutch and Flemish artists (approx. 2.5 hours total). Return to ship.

We boarded our bus and started our journey to Pushkin. Here are a few photo's I took on the drive there.

We arrived at Catherine's Palace, which was magnificent.

The following photo's I took from the inside of the Palace.

 

[hygienist999]

When we left Catherine's Palace we drove back into St. Petersburg and had lunch at a great Restaurant. We really enjoyed it.

We boarded our bus and our next stop was Hermitage Museum along with the Winter Palace.

Then back to the ship.

And look who we saw when we boarded the ship.

And the people from Shutters were at Catherine's Palace taking photo's. Here is the one we bought.

We rested the rest of the night. We did go to the Dining room to eat, and we were loving our table mates. The bad thing about a Back to Back is everything is a repeat. We felt like we were living the movie Ground Hog day.

 

[JJsmama]

Those palaces-- WOW!

 

[JCinMN]

Such beautiful photos! What type of camera are you using? You have some really wonderful shots and it looks like you had much better viewing of the Troll Road than we did just a few weeks later. It was nice to see what we missed as we had fog and rain that day.

 

[hygienist999]

Such beautiful photos! What type of camera are you using? You have some really wonderful shots and it looks like you had much better viewing of the Troll Road than we did just a few weeks later. It was nice to see what we missed as we had fog and rain that day.

Thank you and I'm glad you have enjoyed the photo's. I have a Canon 6D and the "selfies" were made with my Iphone 6 plus.

 

[bksaffle]

Seeing all of your pictures makes us all excited. We have just booked all of our Excursions for Norway and the Baltic.

We are going to book with Anastasia Travel Group for St. Petersburg. I wasn't able to do everything with the various excursions on DCL. Our Tour with Anastasia is Catherine's Palace / Amber Room, Peterhoff Park, Hydrofoil trip, Hermitage, and the Saviour of Spilt Blood Church (12 hours).

Your pictures of Catherine's Palace sold us going there....Thank you.

 

[hygienist999]

Seeing all of your pictures makes us all excited. We have just booked all of our Excursions for Norway and the Baltic.

We are going to book with Anastasia Travel Group for St. Petersburg. I wasn't able to do everything with the various excursions on DCL. Our Tour with Anastasia is Catherine's Palace / Amber Room, Peterhoff Park, Hydrofoil trip, Hermitage, and the Saviour of Spilt Blood Church (12 hours).

Your pictures of Catherine's Palace sold us going there....Thank you.

Your so Welcome. You will LOVE IT! I hope you have a fabulous trip.

 

[hygienist999]

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - Partly Cloudy with a high of 64 Degrees.
Shore Excursion for the day - Disney - Helsinki From Land and Sea - 4 to 4.5 hours - $79 per person.
Transfer to the dock to board for a cruise through the Helsinki archipelago (approx.90 min). Pass the Suomenlinna fortification islands, the North harbor and other areas before arriving at Market Square for free time (approx. 40min). Drive around the city passing the Presidential Palace and Uspenski Cathedral, with a brief photo stop at Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral. Continue to Mannerheim Street passing the Parliament House, National Museum, Finlandia Hall, and the concert and convention center designed by the famous architect Alvar Aalto. Pass the new Opera House, completed in 1993, and the Olympic Stadium, before stopping at Sibelius Park for a photo stop. Return to the pier.

Our excursion for this port wasn't until about 1pm. We were able to book a Palo Brunch once we were back on the ship for this morning. We had never been to a Palo Brunch before and we LOVED IT! We are hoping to be able to book another Brunch when we board the Magic again this June for our British Isle's cruise. None were available to book online.

We boarded a bus from the Pier and they took us to a Marina area were we boarded a boating vessel. I will say we did not enjoy this part of the excursion. It was loud and to take photo's you had to make your way to the back of the boat to go outside. We felt we could have spent 90 minutes doing something better. Here are a few photo's from the boat ride.


This is the vessel we went in.

The beautiful Magic.

Suomenlinna Fortification island.

 

[hygienist999]

We spent about 30 minutes at the Market which was right there when we got off the boat. We mainly walked around. There were several vendors with their wares set up and also several food vendors.

We boarded our bus again for our next stop which was Senate Square.

After our brief stop at Senate Square we made our way to Sibelius Park.

We made it back to the ship and had just enough time to get ready for Dinner. I love seeing the characters around the ship and how they interact with the passengers, especially the little kids. Their little faces, and mine, would light up when a character showed up.

We didn't go to the show, which was Villians Tonight. We really did the same thing each evening, which was shops, hanging around Deck 5 Atrium, eating ice cream.

 

[linetbo]

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - Partly Cloudy with a high of 64 Degrees.
Shore Excursion for the day - Disney - Helsinki From Land and Sea - 4 to 4.5 hours - $79 per person.
Transfer to the dock to board for a cruise through the Helsinki archipelago (approx.90 min). Pass the Suomenlinna fortification islands, the North harbor and other areas before arriving at Market Square for free time (approx. 40min). Drive around the city passing the Presidential Palace and Uspenski Cathedral, with a brief photo stop at Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral. Continue to Mannerheim Street passing the Parliament House, National Museum, Finlandia Hall, and the concert and convention center designed by the famous architect Alvar Aalto. Pass the new Opera House, completed in 1993, and the Olympic Stadium, before stopping at Sibelius Park for a photo stop. Return to the pier.

Our excursion for this port wasn't until about 1pm. We were able to book a Palo Brunch once we were back on the ship for this morning. We had never been to a Palo Brunch before and we LOVED IT! We are hoping to be able to book another Brunch when we board the Magic again this June for our British Isle's cruise. None were available to book online.

We boarded a bus from the Pier and they took us to a Marina area were we boarded a boating vessel. I will say we did not enjoy this part of the excursion. It was loud and to take photo's you had to make your way to the back of the boat to go outside. We felt we could have spent 90 minutes doing something better. Here are a few photo's from the boat ride.


This is the vessel we went in.

The beautiful Magic.

Suomenlinna Fortification island.

You didn't like the tour? I was thinking on booking it.

 

[hygienist999]

You didn't like the tour? I was thinking on booking it.

We liked it well enough. But we won't book another tour that is like this. We felt the boat was too small for the number of people and you were on it for a long time. Our time could have been better spent.

 

[hygienist999]

I hope this post isn't too sloppy as I'm trying to post the last port for this cruise tonight. I'm getting on a cruise ship tomorrow am and will be gone for 8 nights and I didn't want to wait that long to make the post.

So, this post is for the Stockholm Port. We took a boat ride and saw a few sights then boarded a bus that took us to the Vasa Museum. This boat was more crowded than the previous boat ride for an excursion. Some people had to stand outside. Not very enjoyable at all.

We loved the Vasa Museum. I recommend seeing this beautiful ship. Very interesting information also.

 

[hygienist999]

Scenes from Bus.

Back on The Magic.

We ate at Animator's.

Scene's from the deck.

All ready for Freezing the Night Away.

 

[linetbo]

Disney Port Adventure?