SAtraveller

Welcome to my newest trip report!

We joined my family for a 12-day cruise of the Baltic starting in Copenhagen. Based in South Africa, we had to make the journey all the way across the world from the far south to the far north.

As we had never flown Swiss before, we decided to make them our primary carrier for our trip. The rest of the family opted for Emirates for other reasons. Although we left at similar times, we arrived about 4 hours before them.

1. JNB-CPH on Swiss A340-300 in business class (European flight not included)
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Some pictures of the Royal Princess
4. Oslo, Norway
5. Aarhus, Denmark
6. Tallinn, Estonia
7. St Petersburg, Russia
8. Helsinki, Finland
9. Stockholm, Sweden
10. CPH-JNB on Swiss A340-300 in business class (European flight included)

1. JNB-CPH on Swiss A340-300 in business class

Swiss Airlines
A340-300
F,J,Y all at 100% load.
Scheduled take-off 19:30
Actual take-off 20:15

After arriving at the airport, we hastily checked in, in order to get rid of our heavy luggage. Watching the bags disappear on the conveyer belt always makes me wonder whether I'll see them again, and if I do, if they'll be mangled or altered in some way. It happens to some unfortunate individuals.





Customs was a zoo, with thousands of people clamouring to board the hoard of evening flights leaving Johannesburg. With only my second photo of the holiday, I managed to catch an evil eye, which I will wear as a badge of honour for the rest of my days (unless I can get it with my first picture, but that will take immense skill).

Swiss allows access to the Shongololo lounge, along with a dozen other airlines. We sat there on our previous trip when we flew with Qatar, and the lounge is always full and mediocre at best.





As usual there were some great planes to see, and huge windows to photograph them from. After some coffee with our family, we bid them adieu and went off for some plane-spotting.









The new terminal was built to accommodate A380's and its right alongside the runway, allowing beautiful views of aircraft on their take-off rolls.



Eventually it was time for us to board, and like last time it was chaos. The gate attendant asked to see my passport and then asked for my Visa.

"I gave you my visa."
"No this is your passport."
"Its also inside."
"That's very unusual."
"It's very common...!"

This dear lady was hopelessly uneducated about travel, and I observed her harassing more than one Swiss national for their visa, much to their exasperation. Eventually we were asked to board... "First, business, honours circle, star alliance gold, pregnant women, people with children and people who need extra time."

With the minority of the plane left behind we walked down the gangway where we reached another bottleneck where they scanned our tickets. After the first passenger passed through she shouted to her colleague "okay, let economy through..." and we were hit from behind by a wave of people. After a good fifteen minutes we boarded the aircraft in a mishmash of people, but luckily it went well from there.

As a big fan of the middle eastern airlines, we paid more for these tickets, but got to cross Swiss off from our bucket list. We enjoyed the flight immensely. Swiss has a staggered business class set-up that allows aisle access for most passengers. You can be two people next to each other, or one seat by the window, or one seat with a throne like appearance with two large arm rests (for elite members).







After sitting down I thought the seat was very hard, but as your body heats it up, it becomes very comfortable. You can also soften and harden the seat with the seat control. The TV is too small for today's standards in business class but once again, once you get used to it, it becomes enjoyable. The seat reclines to various degrees with presets, customised settings, and a massage function. The bed is fully flat and very low... you're almost at the height of people's feet when they pass you, but its all good fun. After a welcome drink, the Captain announced that we would be arriving too early due to tailwinds, and would thus sit at the terminal for 30 minutes. Hilarious.

I forgot how quiet these A340's can be and after a fantastic take-off down 3L we started our ascent.



After 15 minutes the drink cart showed up, and the staff jumped into action. The staff were stellar on all our flights, being both friendly and professional, and also more than willing to go the extra mile.



MENU

First Course
- Herb marinated chicken breast, cucumber Baba Ghanoush - smoked aubergine puree.
- Grilled prawns with orange wedges, vegetable julienne and cherry tomatoes
- Seasonal salad with sun-dried tomato julienne and Parmesan

Main Course
- Grilled beef tenderloin, mushroom cream sauce, Spatzle, broccoli.
- Braised kingklip fillet with coconut sauce, Aloo Methi potatoes, carrots, pak choi
- Creamy Bramata - traditional Swiss polenta with porcini and button mushrooms, spinach.

Cheese selection.

Dessert
- Blueberry crumble with vanilla sauce
- Swiss chocolate

Coffee
- Espresso by Nespresso
- Teas by Sirocco

Dine and Recline
- The quicker option: a cold composition of starter, a cup of roaster pepper and leak soup, cheese and dessert to be enjoyed promptly after take-off, allowing you more time to sleep, work or simply relax and enjoy your flight.

Breakfast
- A selection of hot and cold breakfast items will be served approximately 90 minutes before landing. If you prefer to sleep longer, a continental breakfast can be ordered from your flight attendant up to 40 minutes before landing.

Wines...

- Duval-Leroy Brut Champagne
- Chassenote Blanche 2013 - Satigny Switzerland: chasselas, pinot blanc, chardonnay.
- Kung Fu Girl 2013 - Columbia Valley USA: Riesling
- Le Baron Rouge 2013 - Satigny Switzerland: Gamay
- Syrah 2011 - Columbia Valley USA: Syrah
- L'Hirondelle de Faugeres 2011 Grand Cru Classe - St Emilion, France: Merlot


Drink and snack


First course and cheeses... delicious.


I went for the fish which was tasty.


Coffee and dessert... the blueberry crumble was amazing and to add to the divinity of the situation, it was the same dessert on the way home.


The Swiss chocolates then made the rounds and I felt obligated to catch the flight attendant every time she passed me. Eventually all of the delicious chocolates were eaten, and I could settle back and watch a movie.



The movie selection isn't nearly in the class of other carriers such as Emirates or Qatar, but it is sufficient. It's got all the latest releases as well as a few older movies.

I fell asleep soon after the movie and had a great sleep, only to be woken briefly over central Africa due to the usual turbulence.

I never took pictures of the amenity kit on this flight, nor of the breakfast or the short flight to Copenhagen, but I made up for these inadequacies on the return flight.

Swiss proved to be an excellent airline in J and I would definitely recommend them.

hawklx

There is another Shongololo lounge back towards the immigration area, on the upper level next to the BA Galleries Club lounge. I never went in but it looked fairly decent from outside.
On a side note, the BA lounge is quite decent with good selection of food. It is small but we never felt crowded. I think if you fly QR J you would be able to access it.

nsolitude

I want to second the BA lounge. Of all the places I have been, that BA lounge probably has one of the best food!!

AhogZ

Encouraging mixture of flights and sails, subscribing

SAtraveller

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

After landing we booked in at our hotel, the Crowne Plaze, which turned out to be quite a nice place to spend one night. As our family was only arriving in about four hours, we decided to catch up on some sleep. While checking on their flight, I noticed that they were currently over Ukraine, a fact that would come to disturb me a few weeks later.

After everyone had arrived we decided to take the Metro into central Copenhagen.


A most unusual hotel and its wind generator






The intriguing happy wall



After walking along the harbourside we decided to take a boat tour around Copenhagen, which proved to be an excellent idea.




The Opera House


The Royal Palace


The famous Little Mermaid


If you can manage to climb all 300 steps, this cathedral offers you an unparalleled view of the city (so I heard)


A habitat exploring different types of living conditions.




Church spire made up of the tails of four dragons





After that we went for dinner. Copenhagen is probably the most expensive city I've ever been to - the price of food and drink is exorbitant. After a delicious mussel pot and some drinks, we walked for about an hour to Tivoli Gardens, another great decision. Packed with people, it was full of live entertainment, eateries and a large amusement park.







At about midnight we sauntered home and had a good sleep before the exciting day ahead.

SAtraveller

3. The Royal Princess

The next day we boarded our ship. Boarding a massive cruise ship is immensely exciting, and this one was really huge. At approximately 145,000 tons the Royal Princess is relatively new and accommodates about 3,500 passengers and 1,500 crew. Princess did a great job with the design of this ship. The rooms aren't bigger than other ships, but the deck layout is good and its quieter than other ships I have cruised on.

Here are a few pictures of the ship from throughout our journey...


Leaving Denmark


One of the many views from our balcony.


Side profile of the ship with the new concept Skywalk. It's much higher than it looks.


One of the pools on the top deck, with the giant screen that plays music concerts and movies all day.


The string quartet... one of a myriad musicians and entertainers on the ship.


The Atrium







We've sailed on Celebrity before, and Princess is similar in most ways. It was a great host for our tour of the Baltic. The accommodation was good and the food was supremely tasty.

SAtraveller

I didn't know that... thanks for the advice!

Yes we usually use the Slow lounge when flying BA Domestic, but thanks for the heads up!

Great!

injian

Ahhh finally get to read a cruise review. Thank you for the pix, hopefully you can post some more of the ship. Adding Royal Princess to my bucket list.

iluvcruising2

thanks for this. very cool. I've not sailed on Princess cruises before, mostly Royal Caribbean.

SAtraveller

Some more pictures of the Ship

We stayed in a balcony stateroom. There are a few smaller categories, and then some higher ones such as deluxe balcony stateroom, mini-suite and full suite. I must say, after visiting someone in a full suite, they are pretty nice, but I found that the suite perks were more limited than with other cruise lines and not worth the extra cost.








Water show

SAtraveller

4. Oslo, Norway

Oslo was my biggest disappointment on the cruise. It was perhaps not worthy of such a reprimand, but it was the only city that greeted us with horrendous weather, that started as a drizzle and progressed to a torrential downpour. That said, I found the city to be bland and wholly uninspiring compared to other cities on the cruise.





We visited the Nobel Peace Prize museum, but didn't spend much time there. Like many people, I feel like that prize has been greatly devalued over the past few years with some frivolous awards to certain individuals for small or no accomplishments.





Afterwards we all strolled around and did some sight seeing.











Soon after the heavens opened and we ran back to the ship. Luckily we didn't decide to wait it out because the rain continued for a solid 24 hours.

SAtraveller

5. Aarhus, Denmark

Aarhus was another unimpressive city, unfortunately. I do apologize because it seems like we don't take pleasure in anything, but it really isn't like that. The cruise began with the two most unimpressive cities, and luckily after Aarhus it became really enjoyable.

SAtraveller

Thank you for the kinds words... I added some pics of the ship. Royal Princess is a good line, and I'd travel with them again.

I don't think you'll go wrong with Princess

Andaman

Thank you for the report, interesting reading!

The sun was shining when I visited Oslo but I agree, Oslo felt uninspiring, my least favourite Nordic capital city.

SAtraveller

6. Tallinn, Estonia

As with our last cruise, it's the cities that you expect to be the least impressive that really stun you. Tallinn turned out to be a real treat. Not only was it beautiful and ancient, but the city felt vibrant with an active community, lively marketplaces and great sidewalk cafes.


Entering the city from the harbour... there's also a balloon to take you high up, if you're not faint of heart.



The modern city surrounds the ancient city, which is still surrounded by a medieval wall.

























As you walk up the small mountain, you come across the more beautiful buildings of Tallinn as well as some great views of the city and the ocean.











On the way down we encountered a medieval market that sold all kinds of various wares. We took part in an archery competition and watched some kids being equipped with combat skills in the form of jousting and dueling, which was really amusing.


Fox furs










Archery is definitely not as easy as it looks! My first few arrows received rubbish scores but as you can see I started to master it near the end

I would definitely recommend Tallinn as a pit stop on a cruise. It is a supremely beautiful city and you won't regret it.