St. Petersburg. This vibrant city is said to be (arguably) one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is often referred to as the Venice of the North or the Paris of the East. This city has crammed a massive amount of history in to its paltry 300 years existence. From Peter I through to the Siege of Leningrad, the city has seen much drama, intrigue, treachery as well as glamour, over indulgence and the odd rich oligarch!! St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad then back to St. Petersburg, this city has had more name changes than P Diddy or Prince!! St. Petersburg is located on the Neva River and being a major city of the Russian Federation, this didn't come without restrictions. Not because it is located on the Neva or because it was a ... read more

No need for an early 'get up' today. So far the sailing and crossing the Baltic has been remarkably calm. The Captain's blog has not risen past ‘'smooth'. Today was a full day at sea. A chance to ‘join in' and see what activities there are and generally mooch around. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who once said: ‘Nothing in this world is certain, except death and taxes!' He obviously hadn't been on a cruise!! The quotation should say: ‘Nothing onboard is certain, except eating and…BINGO!!' The day was going to be based around our meal times and, to give it the correct European name, Lotto! We had a leisurely breakfast on Deck 11 – Tosca in the Cafeteria Le Vele while we studied the daily programme. Bingo started at noon so that was our ... read more

The quayside of the Langeline cruise terminal in Copenhagen was a hive of activity. Officials and staff were frantically trying to register all the passengers whilst stevedores supervised the loading of the rest of the provisions. I could imagine that this was similar to scenes at Southampton prior to boarding a certain ship in 1912!!!! I was told it is unlucky to mention said ship when about to board a cruise-ship for similar reasons that actors refer to Macbeth as 'the Scottish play'!!! Roisin and I were just 2 of the 1,500 or so passengers being processed. Not a full ship by any means as the MSC Opera holds just over 1,700 passengers Activity was frantic but well organised. I say frantic. I mean only when they actually started to direct us to the relevant counter. ... read more