St Petersburg, well nothing like we expected! I know I am going to bore you with photos and text but so hard to condense what we saw in just two days! Opulence, opulence! Glitz, gold and oozing money but we know there are very poor people here too! Did not know how we would go, booked a small private tour with a company who said they get Visa waivers but all good. The ship said all guests who do their tours get a visa waiver but all others have to get their own private visa before leaving Australia, again Princess is Princess trying to rip us, their tour was $1200 for two for two full days in St Petersburg and Alla Tours were $740 for the same and more sights and the more tours you book ... read more

Don't know what this captain is up to but we have been late to a few ports, missed out on Colombo, and now not docking in Stockholm but at a small port outside called Nynashamn, 60 kms outside Stockholm - the boss not happy Jan - been down to customer relation desk but there is nothing we can do! Told that traffic congestion in Stockholm as well as fog forecast so that is why we are docking in Nynashamn - bullshitters hmmmm! Anyway docked in Nynashamn around 8.00 a.m., bright and sunny day!!! Fog??? Onto the provided shuttle buses into Stockholm by 9.00a.m. - quite a nice drive through a national park and were in Stockholm by 9.45a.m John has been here a couple of times when he was working for Sanvik in the late 80's ... read more

Wheewww! What a day we had in Rotterdam, lots of walking, around 19klms, cool but very pleasant when you are walking. Decided to walk down to the main shopping area, John been the Imelda of coffee machines we purchased another travelling one, then to supermarket to grab some things. As we have been here before did not venture into Amsterdam but kept local. Remembering that much of Rotterdam was wiped out in World War II we were not expecting too much but had a terrific day. Spent some time in the central plaza were there was lots going on, entertainment with curbside restaurants. Walked through a gorgeous park, there are lots of parks and trees in Rotterdam, and whilst walking there we had all these rev heads fly past us and blow me down if they ... read more

Arrived in Lisbon 9.00a.m. even though we were here in 2013 we were looking forward to our time here again, but took a while to dock as there was another cruise ship in port, eventually got out of the ship around 9.30 and then a few minutes walk to get out of the terminal, and there was beautiful Emanuel waiting for us, with his “I Hate Tourism Tours” sign, a gorgeous 34 year old Portuguese guy who was so passionate about his country, we love this, listening to people who just love their country so much. His Dad was an ambassador and diplomat and he has lived in France, Brussels and Portugal, so he has experienced living abroad. He whisked us away in the 9 seater van with 6 of us on board through the streets ... read more

What a lovely site, the southern most tip of Italy as we sailed in, Calabria! Then we had to board a pilot to go through the Messina Straight between Italy and Sicily, it is very narrow and you could clearly see all the beaches, homes and sites on either side, about 4.00p.m. in the afternoon then around 9.30p.m. we sailed passed Stromboli and no sight of the active volcano. Friday morning docked in Salerno, what a beautiful town this is, in fact all these towns are gorgeous burrowed into the edge of the mountains that surround the coast of Italy. Had a few jobs to do here, get sim cards, stock up in the supermarket, wine, beers etc. Chilled out with a fantastic coffee watching the world go by. Every corner you walk around are some ... read more