The Baltic

The Celebrity Constellation's time in the Baltic Sea has come to an end. I was only there for two cruises, which were each 12 days long. We embarked from Amsterdam, Holland, and went to Warnemünde, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Copenhagen, Denmark (not always in that order). My favorite of these ports were Stockholm, and Amsterdam, but Warnemünde, Tallinn, and Copenhagen were pretty great too. 

I had actually been to Stockholm and Amsterdam last year, so it was really nice to revisit those places. I was able to get off in Amsterdam both times and walk around the city a bit. Embarkation days we generally have to be back earlier because we have to take part in the boat drill so it was only ever a few hours. 

Amsterdam, Holland

Warnemünde was a small coastal German town that cruise ships dock in so the passengers can hop on a train to Berlin. I never got to Berlin because I had a jazz set in the afternoon, but it turned out that Warnemünde is an awesome town, so we were all happy to stay there.  It was also a late sail out time so we had plenty of time to hang. The first time I was there I was in training most of the day, so I only got out for a couple hours in the evening. The second time however I was able to walk around the town and see all of the sights. There was a long beach that was packed with these strange box chairs that I couldn't figure out how they worked.  They all seemed to be facing away from the water... I climbed a tower that gave me a Birdseye view of the town.  It really is a pretty place, nice and quaint. Eventually I ran into some of the cast, we found some wifi then went to the "Choo Choo Bar." I had actually heard of this bar the first time we were in port, and as I expected that was not it's actual name. It was near the train station and in the shape of a train engine, so the crew had named it the Choo Choo Bar. Non of us knew how long that names been around, but I would get as long as the Constellation has been doing the Warnemünde stop, which would be years. After I played the jazz set I went back out and met up with them at another bar called "The White Bar" and again that was not it's actual name. It was easy to find though, it was all white beds with high posts on the beach. After a few drinks there it was time to go back aboard and sail away. 

Warnemünde, Germany- Beach

Warnemünde, Germany- Choo Choo Bar

Warnemünde, Germany

Stockholm, Sweden of course is one of my favorite places I've ever been. Due to training I was only able to get off one of the days we were there and only for about 3 hours. I was with a couple friends and we just walked around Gamla Stan (the old town) and down a few other roads. It was great to be back there, I wish I would've had more time. Sorry, no pictures. 

Tallinn, Estonia was a bit of a surprise. I had never really thought about Estonia, but it was gorgeous. We spent the whole time in the old town, which was very similar to the old town in Stockholm. It was all cobble stone streets with little shops and big towers from palaces and churches. We ended up at the Beer House both times and had their honey beer, which I'd never had before bit it was quite good. If you're going to the Baltic, Tallinn is a destination to add to your list. 

Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn, Estonia- a friend rented a segue, they're kind of hard to ride...

I actually didn't ever get off the ship in St. Petersburg. I had heard from the other crew that it was hard to get around after you had paid for the shuttle to take you in, and there wasn't much to see unless you were on a tour. So I used that day to rest and go to the specialty restaurant on board called Tuscan Grille. It was an amazing meal!

I was able to get off in Helsinki for a small amount of time both times we visited, but had to get back to the ship early for training, so I didn't really get out of the downtown mall area which was too bad. 

Copenhagen I did get to walk around for a while. Two other musicians from the ship just wandered for a few hours and then took a really nice walk through a few parks back to the ship. I didn't find anything too special about it, though I would still like to go back there and spend some more time in the city. 

Copenhagen, Denmark

So now we're done with all of that and the Atlantis Charter in under way. We're making our way down to the Medeterreanian. More to come on what the Atlantis Charter is and where I'll be in the next few weeks!