oceania cruises, baltic

Nyhavn - The Old Port

After breakfast at the hotel the next morning we wandered the full length of the Stroget which ends at the Nyhavn.  Once the red light district for seaman from Copenhagen it’s now a fashionable, (though a bit touristy) area of sidewalk cafes & bars and the launching point for canal tours.  We opted for a canal tour, which was a very good value and a great way to see much of the city in a short time.  After returning to the hotel area, we opted for a quick email check at an Internet Café and then found a taxi to the cruise ship pier.  There appear to be several options for cruise ship boarding in Copenhagen, so make sure you have a detailed address of exactly where you’ll be boarding or you may be left walking the final portion of your journey.  One final note on the port of Copenhagen – it’s beautiful!  So many cruise ports are shared with commercial cargo, offering views of huge tanks, containers and shipping vessels.  Here, the cruise ships are tied up along side pedestrian walkways, parks and in some cases, very near the famous Little Mermaid statute of Copenhagen.

Once onboard the Insignia, we checked into our ocean view staterooms.  This is the smallest ship we’ve cruised on with the exception of the Viking riverboat experience.  Accommodating only about 700 guests, it is intimate, however still boasts what appear to be great facilities such as the spa, the pool deck, a beautiful grand dining room and three alternative dining venues, Tapas on the Terrace, Polo Grill and Toscana.  We enjoyed dinner at Tapas on the Terrace tonight, which isn’t exactly what you’d expect at a tapas restaurant, but instead more of a buffet with a huge variety of tapas-like selections.  Oceania could do more to promote the tapas feel by plating the selections on the more traditional small tapas plates.  However, the Terrace, which also doubles as an outdoor dining venue for the breakfast and lunch buffets, is a great location, and traditionally one of our favorites since it occupies the aft, “fantail” section of the ship on level 9. 

The big production show this evening was an introduction of much of the ship’s entertainment staff.  These aren’t huge, professional productions, and if you are looking for broadway class entertainment, it doesn’t appear that Oceania may your best selection – however, we’ve only seen one show – so more as the cruise progresses