As Hilton Grand Vacations Owners, there are many ways we can leverage our ClubPoints. I’ve always wanted to visit Scandinavia, and a cruise on the Baltic Sea seemed like the perfect way to travel.
I used ClubPoints to book cabins for my children, father, brother and aunt on a Norwegian Cruise Line for a nine-day Baltic cruise. We were ready for the trip of a lifetime.
Our adventure started in Denmark. We leveraged our ClubPoints again to book a hotel for three nights to explore the city before boarding our cruise.
If you visit Copenhagen, take a boat tour to see the colorful Nyhavn area, the Little Mermaid statue and the Copenhagen Opera House. You can also plan an enchanting day to visit the famous Tivoli Gardens with their many pavilions.
We finally boarded our cruise, and I enjoyed all the perks and amenities my ClubPoints gave me. The ship was gorgeous, and the weather was lovely. We set out on our amazing adventure.
Our first stop took us to Warnemunde, Germany, a port town, and then headed inland to Berlin. We got to see the remnants of the Berlin Wall, now painted. Paved lines throughout the city identify where the wall used to be. We also saw the Reichstag Building, Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate and the book burning memorial at Bebelplatz, a window to an empty library symbolizing the loss of knowledge. Last but not least, we saw the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial is a series of gray blocks of various sizes. It’s difficult to explain the overwhelming feelings when walking through this monument. The architects, Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold, wanted to convey a sense of loss, of despair — and they succeeded.
The next stop on our cruise was Tallinn, Estonia. There are few cities as charming as Tallinn. It’s green with an old city charm. I was surprised to learn that Tallinn was the birthplace of new computer technologies like Skype. The city lives up to its technological heritage with free Wi-Fi across the city. We saw the incredible outdoor Nordea Concert Hall and the Kadriorg Palace, the summer castle of Empress Catherine the Great. We also saw the Old Town with the tower Fat Margaret. Tallinn is a great place to purchase silver and amber jewelry, so I highly recommend getting something gorgeous there.
Our next stop was in Helsinki, Finland. Lovely Orthodox churches grace the landscape with their golden domes. We saw the rock-carved Temppeliaukio Church, which is an impressive feat of architecture, and the Sibelius Monument, a sculpture that makes music as wind passes through it. We saw the fish market with its staggering variety of herring, salted fish and smoked fish.
Next, we stopped in Stockholm, Sweden. Our captain told us about a sunrise photo opportunity as we entered the thousands of islands of the Swedish Archipelago, so many of us got up early to take photos. It was magical. We took a walking tour through Stockholm but decided to go on our own and visit the Vasa Museum. This museum hosts a warship, which sank a few meters after it launched in 1628. It was recovered intact with its engravings and beautiful woodwork and now sits in a museum dedicated to it. You can take an automated guided tour in any language.
This cruise remains one of the nicest memories of vacationing with my family. I was so happy my ClubPoints and their benefits allowed us to enjoy this time together.
Where will my ClubPoints take me next? The possibilities are endless.
Read “We Asked 14 Hilton Grand Vacations Owners Why They Chose Hilton Grand Vacations Timeshare, And Here’s What They Said” for more reasons to love vacation ownership with HGV.