If you have any grasp of geography, you know that Moscow isn’t a destination that ocean-going cruise ships can reach (river cruisers can, however). And yet on a Baltic cruise, 12 of us sailing on Silversea Cruises’ Silver Whisper, spent a full day exploring Red Square, the Kremlin and other Moscow attractions.

The shore excursion from St. Petersburg, where Whisper was docked, went for $999 per person, including the one-hour-plus flights to and from Moscow on a Boeing 737 (to) and Airbus 319 (from). Tour participants I spoke with said they felt the excursion was a good value. “When will I ever be an hour from Moscow again?” asked one.

See related story: Moscow, The Kremlin & Red Square On A Daylong Shore Excursion From St. Petersburg

Our host in Nuuk, Else Marie Jerimiassen, and her mother, Augusta.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. Nuuk is a cruise destination and a fascinating port of call.

The old Colonial Harbor is immensely historic. There, you’ll find the home of Hans Egede, the Danish-Norwegian founder of Nuuk. Nearby, you’ll also find The National Museum, where the Qilakitsoq mummies are eerily well-preserved. Dating from the 1400s, the mummies were found in a bog.

The Qilakitsoq mummies at Nuuk’s National Museum

But the highlight of my day in Nuuk was our guide Else Marie Jerimiassen and her mother Augusta. As you might gather from looking at their photo, the mother and daughter are delightful people. What has been particularly interesting for me since our visit is that the three of us have maintained our initial contact in a way that would not have been possible years ago, through Facebook.

In their home, the Jerimiassens speak Greenlandic, a dialect of the Inuit language, but they also speak Danish and English, making it easy for us to communicate.

On the day that we left Nuuk, Augusta told me she was going hunting with her husband the next day. About a week later, we “friended” one another on Facebook, and I asked how her hunting trip had gone.

She wrote: ”Oh we got 2 caribou, 10 trout, and 16 kilograms of blueberries. It was a wounderful trip. We left on Thursday and returned home Saturday. Sunday we were out again, and my husband got six tarmigans, and I got 3.5 kilograms blueberries. All of those blueberries to make smoothies and package and to eat.”

Reading her note, I was transported to a simpler life than we live in the busier parts of North America. I have always been intrigued with the Greenlandic people and their ability to survive in such harsh conditions. I asked Augusta if fishing and hunting for her and her husband was a bit like going to the grocery store for us.

“The sea is our big garden; the same with the nature. It is our garden too. You must have noticed when you were up here that we dont plant any salad or fruit or rice or other kinds of things that people plant in gardens. It is nearly impossible to raise any plant up here for our own consumption.”

Augusta and her husband often go to the sea and into the wild to catch what they will consume. Of course, they still visit the grocery store, but the sea and the wild provides the Jerimiassens with bountiful harvests, time and again.

Jacques Van Staden, vice president of culinary operations for Celebrity Cruises, says that the cornerstone of the Celebrity brand is the dining experience. ‘That is really what we are about: the food, the wine and the service. That’s why it’s so frustrating when people think we are downgrading the experience. We just don’t. It is quite the contrary. We do dining focus groups just to figure out how we can better serve our guests. We’re always asking, How do we deliver an experience that guests will treasure and that they will remember?’

There are accusations in the cruise community that Celebrity Cruises is downgrading the quality of cuisine in its main dining room in order to drive guests to speciality restaurants, where on ships like Celebrity Solstice, cover charges range from $5 per person to $35 per person.

On board Celebrity Solstice this week, I put the question to Jacques Van Staden, vice president of culinary operations.

“It’s a vicious rumor,” Van Staden told me during an interview in Silk Harvest, where the cover charge for dinner is $25 per person. “The specialty restaurants weren’t designed to drive up revenue. What people don’t realize is that the service charge goes 100 percent to our staff. That’s their gratuities.”

The notion of downgrading the quality of food runs contrary to Celebrity’s corporate philosophy,  Van Staden’s says. From President and CEO Dan Hanrahan on down the chain, the mandate is that any action taken on Celebrity’s behalf cannot adversely affect the guest experience. Sure, Celebrity seeks cost-savings like any company, but those cost-savings typically come from achieving greater efficiencies, not cutting back on quality.

“We are never allowed to cut back on the product,” Van Staden says. “I could literally pick up the phone and say cut all the steaks from six ounces to four ounces, and we could save, hypothetically, $15 million annually. But it doesn’t work like that. We work harder to find efficiencies so that we can save money and take that money and reinvest it in a better product.”

One noticeable example is a new program to procure seafood. Celebrity recently switched from procuring frozen fish to procuring “frozen at sea fish,” where the catch is frozen within 15 minutes after being caught. “Obviously it comes with a higher premium,” Van Staden says, “but it’s a better quality fish.”

Continually Improving

On my sailing, the specialty restaurants were booked to capacity by guests who desired an intimate dining experience outside the main dining room.

Some of the specialty restaurants offer opportunities to experience dining that would cost much more on land. Murano, for example, offers a near Michelin-star dining experience (to my knowledge, Michelin does not distribute stars to cruise ship restaurants) for $35 per person, allowing guests to enjoy an exquisite dining event in a beautiful setting.

While guests appreciate specialty restaurants, Van Staden says that cruise lines are not often rated by their specialty restaurants. “It’s about what the main restaurant and lido deliver,” he says. “Those are our two main focuses. We revamped our buffet experience. We increased the variety. We changed the menus. For the main restaurant, we invest a lot of money and a lot of time to continuously improve it. Our goal is to separate ourselves from the sea of sameness from the main restaurants on other cruise lines.”

Iron Chef Cat Cora performs a cooking demonstration during Celebrity Cruises’ first Food Network cruise. More than 150 people signed on to attend hands-on workshops and demonstrations and meet the celebrity chefs. All who I spoke with had high praise for Celebrity’s cuisine, in the main dining room and beyond.

Many guests never venture beyond the main dining room or the Oceanview (lido) Café. My own impression of these two dining venues during my sailing: the cuisine, presentation and execution is excellent. I can’t imagine anyone being disappointment in either restaurant, and I am traveling with 150 foodies who are participating in Celebrity’s first Food Network cruise. None have expressed disappointment. To the contrary, all who I have spoke with have expressed praise.

So put those rumors to rest: There’s no truth to them, and in fact, the truth appears to be quite the opposite. Celebrity is raising the bar in the main dining room instead of lowering it.

Stateroom design underscores what you find throughout Celebrity Solstice: taste & class. The company has since launched two additional Solstice-class vessels, Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Eclipse. Some say they are formidable competitors to the luxury lines.

How do Celebrity’s Solstice-class vessels compare to luxury cruise lines where the price point is at least twice as much? Read the Avid Cruiser’s report this week during a Caribbean voyage on Celebrity Solstice.

Back in November of 2008, I wrote Celebrity’s Newest Ship Breaks The Mold. Clearly, Celebrity Solstice left a good impression on me and many others.

This week, I’m back on Celebrity Solstice, taking a second look at what a friend of mine calls, “Crystal Light.” She’s referring not to the powdered sugar-free beverage but rather to Celebrity’s competitive positioning against luxury operator Crystal Cruises.

She posits that Celebrity is a formidable contender to Crystal in some areas, namely staterooms, cuisine and other ship-board offerings. That’s quite claim, especially considering that Celebrity’s price point is about half of Crystal’s.

Are Celebrity’s Solstice-class vessels nipping at the heels of their luxury competitors? I don’t plan to a blow-by-blow comparison, but this week, I will take a look at some of the good — and not-so-good, if warranted — on Celebrity Solstice.

Bathrooms are well-designed with one small, but well-publicized feature: a shower bar to assist women in shaving their legs. Such small touches characterize the well-thought-out design on Solstice-class vessels.

First impressions are the same as last time I was on board: Solstice is an exceptionally tasteful ship in both design and on-board offerings.

Public areas are gorgeous, restaurants are both numerous (with as many as 10 dining venues, depending on how you count – five have cover charges) and impressive. Staterooms are comfortable and well-designed. Mine, 8253, has a deep balcony, thanks to its positioning in the mid-ship curve.

Situated in the ship’s curve, stateroom 8253 features an ultra-deep balcony, which makes it inviting for in-room dining or relaxing.

How will Celebrity Solstice shake out by the end of the week? Of course, purists know that Celebrity can’t compete in several areas against the luxury players:

1. With a capacity of more than 2,800 guests, a single Solstice-class vessel has more capacity than the entire fleets of most, if not all, of the luxury players.
2. On the smaller luxury lines, staff frequently address guests by their names. Not so on larger vessels, such as those in the Solstice class.
3. With the exception of Crystal, luxury lines are all-inclusive, meaning that a check will not be shoved under your nose to sign for soft drinks, specialty coffees and alcoholic beverages. On Celebrity, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice your penmanship. Crystal skirts the all-inclusive issue by providing an As You Wish Credit. See More For Your Money? Crystal Cruises Onboard Credit: How Does It Compare To The All-Inclusive?

Stay tuned this week for more on Solstice. Meantime, I welcome your questions and comments.

Icebergs Everywhere: Cruising to Ilulissat, Greenland.

We had big plans on the morning that Discovery delivered us to Ilulissat. The Arctic town is the staging ground for one of the world’s most beautiful natural attractions, the iceberg-choked Disko Bay.

Ilulissat’s Icefjord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In fact, in the Greenlandic language, Ilulissat means icebergs. The spectacle is so beautiful and the region such a treasure that it was put on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2004.

Icebergs On the Horizon

We had planned to tender ashore to explore the town and make the 40-minute walk to the Sermermiut valley, an old Inuit settlement that in 1727 was Greenland’s largest, with 250 people. The valley leads the way to the icefjord, which we had planned to see on a sailing excursion.

Admiring Icebergs

Later, we’d have lunch at the Hotel Arctic, then visit the Knud Rasmussen Museum. We also wanted to see and photograph sled dogs, which are still an important mode of transport here in the north of Greenland (sled dogs are allowed only above the Arctic Circle in Greenland, by the way).

Iceberg floating on a calm sea

On the mid-August day that we were arrived, sunrise in Ilulissat was shortly after 4 a.m. (the sun had set the night before at 11 a.m.) We awoke to a thick fog, which we hoped would lift before the 8 a.m. tender departures.

At 4 p.m., we were still waiting for the fog to lift. You can imagine our disappointment. Since leaving Reykjavik six days ago, our feet had touched ground for fewer than eight hours, in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.

Defeated by fog: Leaving Disko Bay

We could see almost nothing from the ship except for the thick wall of fog. Defeated by Mother Nature, Discovery’s captain announced that it was “time to call it a day.” He would navigate the ship out of Disko Bay and back to the south of Greenland, as scheduled.

Discovery departs Disko Bay

As we were leaving, the fog began to lift, and so did my disappointment. Surrounding us was one of the most beautiful spectacles I’ve ever seen, icebergs everywhere.

Perfectly framed iceberg

The icebergs had been there all along, yet we were not able to see them. What a treat when the curtain was lifted.

Sunset sailing from Ilulissat.

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The AIDAblu – happiest ship at sea?

For non-German passengers, AIDA might be one of the cruise industry’s most well-kept secrets. Put on a smile and come on board the AIDAblu. — Contributed by Andreas Lundgren

It’s not always easy to say what’s behind a smile. But then it’s not always as difficult as with Mona Lisa, either.

Have a look at the AIDAblu’s hull painting. Take a moment and see if any words spring to mind. We’ll get back to those words later on in this story, after having a look at the latest of AIDA Cruises’ newest ship.

No matter how you see it, AIDA Cruises does stand out a bit. The ships in the fleet of this cruise line all feature small things that seem to set them apart from many other big ships out there.

Likely, an important part of the explanation is the fact that this is a product developed by Germans primarily for the German-speaking market (although there are signs that that could change over time).

The Theatrium during a late evening show

AIDA’s latest generation of ships have no theater, for example. Instead, the AIDAdiva, AIDAbella, AIDAluna and AIDAblu all feature a so-called Theatrium midships.

Combining the function of an atrium with that of an on-board theater, the Theatrium cannot be found on board any other cruise ship. Three decks high, the circular Theatrium gives passengers on decks 9 through 11 the possibility to watch the ongoing shows as – and if – they wish.

The Theatrium is in use through the day, which means passengers can either sit down for just a couple of minutes, or stay and watch an entire show. It’s even possible to watch the show rehearsals.

Glass structures let there be light in the Theatrium area

If you’ve seen one of the four ships mentioned earlier, while at berth or at sea, you might also have noticed the oval-shaped, slightly protruding glass walls midships. These glass structures are important in that they open up the Theatrium area to the sea, letting in daylight.

A number of bars are also to be found close to the Theatrium, plus the excursion desk, a flower shop (with real flowers) and the on board photo shop.

A couple of the 80 passenger bikes on board the AIDAblu

One of the trademarks of AIDA Cruises is the bicycle excursions that are on offer. The AIDAblu, for example, carries some 80 bikes. Bicycle excursions are not unusual for cruise ships, but there are not many other cruise ships with space for 2,200+ passengers that offer them.

These excursions are highly popular among guests, one bicycle guide told me. In fact, both the guide and other crewmembers that I met while on board said the typical AIDA passenger is very active – something that the well-used (and well equipped) on board gym seemed to confirm.

Only the mannequin was allowed to bring her dog on board

AIDA’s ships can also be somewhat surprising. This is not to say that most cruise ships look the same, but a feeling of familiarity can sometimes appear after a day or so on board. On board the AIDA ships, that’s the moment when the small details start to become visible.

If you’re in a stateroom with a balcony, for example, you will find a hammock tucked away in a corner of the balcony. Walk the top decks, and you might be able to see a very sedentary passenger sitting on one of the settees. Ah, a mannequin . . .

Water and wine – both free of charge

Unlike on most other big ships, passengers on board AIDA’s ships are offered free wine and beer for lunch and dinner in the three buffet restaurants (the Markt Restaurant, East Restaurant and Bella Donna Restaurant).

Another expense that AIDA passengers are able to avoid is tipping: There is no such thing on board (and no room service, either).

There are three restaurants that come with a surcharge, where guests also pay for wine and beer: the upscale Rossini Restaurant, the Buffalo Steak House, and the Sushi Bar. For a taste of typical German food, try the menu offered in the Brauhaus, where AIDAblu has its own on board brewery.

After experiencing the AIDAblu for two days and three nights, I came to think about a talk that I once had with a representative of a competing cruise line. Our talk brought us to the subject of the many new cruise ships on order, and I told the cruise line representative that I had recently been attending the christening of AIDA Cruises’ AIDAdiva.

“That’s the German line, right?” he said. I nodded in confirmation. “Well, that’s mostly sauerkraut and sausages, isn’t it.” I shook my head and told him that that was far from the truth.

I’ll take the opportunity to say now what I did not say then: Have a look at the smile. It could tell you almost everything about what AIDA Cruises is like.

If you say thoughtful, fun, and a tad special, I’ll reply: “You’re definitely on the right track.”

AIDA Cruises has seven ships in operation, with two more currently under construction. The majority of the passengers are from Germany, but you will also find passengers from Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands on board.

The Facts — The newly refurbished Sheraton Stockholm is a large downtown hotel in a convenient location for touring Stockholm and offering stunning views of Lake Mälaren.

Opposite the waterfront and not far from either the Central Station for the Metro or the Arlanda Express for transport to and from the airport, the Sheraton is only a short walk over a bridge to Gamla Stan (the Old Town) and numerous other city attractions.

Cozy Digs — The hotel employs warm contemporary colors, and a pleasant contemporary design gives its public spaces and each of its 465 guest rooms a distinctly Swedish look.

All rooms were renovated in 2007 and updated with the latest technology and modern amenities. The Sheraton offers the largest average room size in the city.

Room categories include Classic or Superior rooms, suites or rooms on the Club Floor, and all feature the celebrated Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed with its plush mattress, crisp white cotton sheets, and soft goose feather and down pillows.

Located on the 7th floor, Sheraton Club guest rooms offer upgraded amenities, free bottled water, and complimentary Club Lounge and fitness center access, as well as private check-in services and business amenities.

Final Word —For the reliable comfort of an international hotelier, the Sheraton Stockholm is a solid choice that provides excellent access to this beautiful city.

For dining and relaxing, the Threesixty serves both needs, and the property provides easy access to the delightful establishments of Stockholm.

The Facts — An inviting and historic 19th century boutique hotel situated in the heart of Stockholm, Hotel Stureplan is a classic European hotel that is set within the cityscape rather than dominating the neighborhood.

The Stureplan’s restaurant Per Lei (which translates to “For You”) provides classic Northern Italian cuisine in relaxed informal surroundings and serves a complimentary buffet breakfast daily. During the summer months, the restaurant extends to a terrace for al fresco dining.

Guests may use the next-door Sturebadet Spa at a reduced rate, including the pool, sauna, steam rooms and fitness equipment.

Cozy Digs —One of Stockholm’s newest hotels (opened during the summer of 2008), the elegant property has 101 rooms, with décor throughout that is light and warm, inspired by traditional Swedish craftsmanship with specially designed handmade furniture that combines nicely with the crystal chandeliers throughout the hotel, even in the guest rooms.

Some rooms overlook either bustling Birger Jarlsgatan, or a peaceful inner courtyard and can include a balcony, bay window or open fire.

Final Word — Hotel Stureplan is situated in the heart of Stockholm, close to the city’s central business district as well as shops, restaurants, theaters, galleries and museums, and nightlife. The Royal Opera House and Dramaten theater are nearby. This is an elegant and comfortable place to stay, that feels like having your own apartment, that’s convenient for visiting the attractions of Stockholm.

HOTEL AMENITIES

• Dry cleaning and express laundry service
• Irons, ironing board available upon request; safe in room
• Wireless Internet access throughout the hotel
• Bikes are not provided
• Air Conditioning
• Health Club with gym and treatments

SAMPLE RATE
Sample rate for September 24-26, 2010, (two nights, two people) US$226 per night for Small Room with breakfast included.

CATEGORY
**** 4 Stars

Be sure to dine at Per Lei, the excellent “on property” restaurant, or guests may also choose to have dinner directly across from the hotel at Pontus!, one of Stockholm’s most popular restaurants. You can even charge the meal to your room.