Norwegian Getaway Review

Baltic Cruise Norwegian Getaway - July 2019

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Norwegian Getaway
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Justdesserts
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jul 2019
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony Stateroom

We cruised on the Norwegian Getaway in July 2019, embarking from Copenhagen to Warnemuende/Rostock, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm. There were four of us -- me, my husband, my mom (age 86), and my brother. We have cruised several times before but always on Princess Cruises. We chose Norwegian this time because the length of the cruise (9 days) fit our schedule.

Overall, I think the cruise was okay but there were a lot of things that could be improved. And, next time I would go back to Princess, mainly because Norwegian seems more focused on families with children. We are in our 50s and don't like to be around loud kids, especially tired kids throwing temper tantrums in the dining room after spending a long day on a boring (to them) shore excursion. Norwegian seems to cater to families, with water sides and children activities, but we don't need that. I'll try to list pros and cons and also discuss the cruise ports, as I typically appreciate finding reviews with a lot of details.

We embarked from Copenhagen. I have visited Copenhagen several times before. This time we stayed at the Skt. Annae Hotel, and I can recommend it -- good value for the price. It's a very nice location, close to palaces and restaurants. Copenhagen is a very safe and walkable city. If you are going to be there a few days, I recommend just exploring on your rather than booking a tour through the cruise ship. This time we bought a Red Buses Hop-on Hop-off ticket. I think it was about $35 per person, good for three days, and included a canal boat tour, which we really enjoyed. They even will drop off at the cruise port, but we had a lot of luggage and chose to take a taxi instead. The taxi-van from our hotel to Ocean Quai cruise port cost about 300 Danish kroner, which is around $48. We used Dantaxi with phone number +45 48 48 48 48.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony Stateroom

Port Reviews

Copenhagen

his time we stayed at the Skt. Annae Hotel, and I can recommend it -- good value for the price. It's a very nice location, close to palaces and restaurants. Copenhagen is a very safe and walkable city. If you are going to be there a few days, I recommend just exploring on your rather than booking a tour through the cruise ship. This time we bought a Red Buses Hop-on Hop-off ticket. I think it was about $35 per person, good for three days, and included a canal boat tour, which we really enjoyed. They even will drop off at the cruise port, but we had a lot of luggage and chose to take a taxi instead. The taxi-van from our hotel to Ocean Quai cruise port cost about 300 Danish kroner, which is around $48. We used Dantaxi with phone number +45 48 48 48 48.

Rostock (Warnemunde)

We wanted to book the Schwerin Castle tour, but when we tried it was no longer available -- probably filled up. Luckily, I looked online and discovered that there is a rental car lot right across the street from where the cruise ship docks. I pre-booked a car from Hertz and we drove to the castle ourselves, which saved a lot of money. It was 86 Euros for the car and 8.5 Euro/person for admission, compared to $139 per person for the Norwegian shore excursion. We just walked across the street to the car rental lot, got the car, used Google Maps on our phone to drive to Schwerin, which took about an hour on both freeway and quieter roads. So easy -- don't be worried about driving in Germany! There is a parking lot right across the bridge from the castle, and since we arrived early it was mostly empty. (By the time we left the lot was full.) The castle opens at 10, and we were there before it opened, ahead of the cruise ship tours. We were able to wander through a mostly-empty castle. And it was wonderful! It's beautiful inside and out. The gardens are small but lovely. We ate Sunday brunch at the cafe in the castle's Orangery, and it was delicious. An all-together lovely day.

Tallinn

In Tallinn we decided to do our own thing again, so didn't book a shore excursion. (My 86-year-old mom stayed on ship that day.) It was a 1-mile walk from the ship to old-town. A lot of it is up-hill over cobblestones, but if you are in halfway good shape you can do it. We enjoyed wandering through the little streets, looking in shops and churches. We especially enjoyed St. Mary's church, which was different in that it had coats of arms all over the inside. And we also discovered St. Nicholas's Church, which had a museum of Christian art inside. We stopped in the old apothecary that is mentioned in the shore excursions, but didn't think it was that big of a deal. The apothecary is one room where you can read a few things about its history and look at a few things like dried toads and specimens in jars. More interesting to us were the antique stores right next to the apothecary, which had some cool memorabilia from the soviet era. Cautions about Tallinn: Don't do it on your own if you have mobility issues. And be prepared for crowds: There were other cruises in port too, so lots of tour groups on the streets.

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