A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 About This Page:

[SuperDave]

What a great meal that was at the Tuscan Grille! So cool to have your Caesar Salad prepared tableside, which makes your dining experience even better! I always like these added touches to a meal! It was Nena's fault as she forced the Limoncello's on you! How could you possibly say no to one of those as a perfect way to finish off a great meal?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

What a great meal that was at the Tuscan Grille! So cool to have your Caesar Salad prepared tableside, which makes your dining experience even better! I always like these added touches to a meal! It was Nena's fault as she forced the Limoncello's on you! How could you possibly say no to one of those as a perfect way to finish off a great meal?

Well exactly!

[KMB733]

So, John Kerry was the cause of all the fuss! Which is funny, because in 2004, President Bush (who campaigned against Kerry) was campaigning in Florida and cause all sorts of problems for everyone going to Epcot. Dinner looked delicious.

[pamcarey]

Looks like another great meal! I can imagine that you were ready for bed after topping that off with two limoncellos!

[Cam22]

Very nice dinner! I especially like the idea of having the Caesar salad made to your taste at the table.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by KMB733

So, John Kerry was the cause of all the fuss! Which is funny, because in 2004, President Bush (who campaigned against Kerry) was campaigning in Florida and cause all sorts of problems for everyone going to Epcot. Dinner looked delicious.

That must've been the year we saw Kerry then!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by pamcarey

Looks like another great meal! I can imagine that you were ready for bed after topping that off with two limoncellos!

Pretty much!

[chezp]

Saturday 18 June – part one: this is the worst we’ve had it all cruise!

I was woken up at about 6:30am by Mark who told me I was snoring violently again. I’m not surprised, given all the catarrh I’ve got in my throat. It seems whatever I try, it’s just not shifting. Let me give you an idea. I got up, used some Olbas oil to clear my sinuses, then took my first dose of ColdZyme for the day, which you take every two hours to ward off colds. I then took some vitamin C and Echinacea, followed by some Sudafed (and yes we can get it over here over the counter in a pharmacy, which I know always amazes my American friends) and some Ibruprofen. Well, one or a combination of those should surely help to make me feel better…

As a result, I got going slowly, having two cups of tea to sooth my throat, and then I grabbed a shower, which did make me feel better. Finally, we were ready to go and headed up to the Solarium a lot later than normal. I think by now it was about 8:30am. I was expecting to be sharing the hot tub, but it was pretty quiet up here.

We had two sessions in the hot tub, and as we did, we did notice more and more people starting to arrive here, and staking their claims for various loungers. I did find it really funny on this cruise to see people bagging their lounger for the day in T-shirts and crops, with no intention of going near the pool or the hot tub or stripping off any further. Usually, you tend to find people show up in their swimming gear, and may head into the water at some point, but not here.

Eventually, we felt we’d cooked ourselves enough, so we headed into the spa and the Persian Garden. We actually found people in there, which was a bit of a revelation after the last few days, but then again, we were a bit later. They left before too long, and we had the place to ourselves for a while, before we were joined by two other couples. Once again, I found it fascinating to see how most people were reading either magazines or paper books. It is so nice in this era of technology that a lot of people still rely on the old fashioned methods of things.

I went into the steam room, and my goodness that was exceptionally hot in there, but that helped me to clear sinuses even more, which was good. I managed two sessions in there, but I was drinking huge amounts of water when I came out both times, which tells you something.

I did also try the aromatic suite, but I didn’t find it any warmer than outside on the hot stone chairs. And talking of those, my goodness they were hot today! We lasted a fair while in there, then got changed and walked along deck 12, getting out into the fresh air, which was a pleasant change after cooking ourselves. We made our way up to the Oceanview Café on deck 14, and the whole world and his wife was up there as well. It was packed!

We ended up eating outside, as we could get a table out there. While it was a bit cold out there, it was pleasant enough to begin with, as we were still both hot, but it did get a bit too cold after a while. When I went back in for seconds, I found a table that had just become free, although by the time the woman had finished sanitising it, the chairs were soaking wet. That wasn’t fun.

When we were done with breakfast, we made our way back to the room for some down time. The sun was trying to peek out…



We set about packing the cases after a while, and two are now pretty much done, with a few items in the third one. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with any of them, although as Mark pointed out, if they were going to be going on a plane, I think they’d be overweight.

We noticed some blue sky in the distance, but sadly given it was nowhere near us, that didn’t help the fact that we were now pitching quite a bit. It was definitely the worst we’ve had it all cruise, and it’s the last day, so you know? It’s Ok. If it had started like that on day one, I’d have been worried about it being this way for the next fortnight. After all, this is the North Sea…

About 11:40am, Mark said “oh we’ve missed the sales in the shops”, and then he double checked, and realised they were going from 11:00am to midday, so we hadn’t. We headed down to deck four, and saw the Corning Museum Hot Glass team showing off their various creations that they’d shortly be auctioning off.



We made our way over to the shops, and it was like a jumble sale with T-shirts strewn everywhere. I joked it was like Primark, one of our high street stores, as sometimes you walk in there, and it’s exactly the same, as everyone’s been rooting through, trying to find the right size. They were all Baltic related T-shirts, some about the Baltic cruises generally, while others were specific to destinations, like St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Tallinn, and Germany. However, there were some that related to places we hadn’t even been to, like Helsinki, which was a bit odd.

I ended up getting a Baltic cruise T-shirt, which was grey. There was a bright pink different design as well, but I didn’t think it was my colour. It was funny how many people agreed it was bright and a “bit much” and yet they had those in their arms. I then got a lilac St. Petersburg T-shirt as well, as it was two for $20, yet one on its own was $17, so that was a great bargain.

We went into pay, and I also found a lovely black sweatshirt with pink lining, and it had an image of a Russian church on it, and I fell in love with it. That was $60, but with 25% off, so I got that. Somehow, the total charge came to $49, so I wasn’t about to argue with that, given it should’ve been $65. I guess the woman put the wrong stuff through…

While we were in there, we were all talking about how much we could feel the ship pitching, and the woman serving just looked at us like we had three heads. She said she couldn’t feel it moving at all. I guess the crew just get used to it…

We headed back past the glass auction, and they were auctioning off the bowl we’d seen them make at the start of the cruise. In the end, it went for $700, so there was no way we were going to be bidding for that.

We went back to the room, and decided that we’d watch another movie. Given the boat was rocking quite a bit, we were quite happy to stay put and not try walking around. We settled on McFarlane USA, as I remembered hearing nothing but good things about it, and as it wasn’t a pay-per-view movie, we wouldn’t be losing on giving it a go. The movies and the pay-per-view movies can both be stopped and started, rewound or fast forwarded just like you can on most of the Disney ships, which is nice, as sometimes you do need to do that.

I did need to, as I was starting to feel a little rumbly in my tummy, just like Winnie the Pooh, and I wanted to get some lunch at a reasonable hour. Mark told me he wasn’t hungry, but I said I’d pop up to the Oceanview Café and get some cheese and a glass of wine. However, when I saw them putting out sushi, that was it, I was sold! I thought I’d had the last of the sushi for this trip a couple of nights ago, as it’s not usually served at lunchtime, but maybe they had some to get rid of.



I headed back to the room and we watched a bit more of the movie, before I decided to have a shower and wash my hair. I don’t know what was going on, but they must have really overdosed the hot tub this morning, as my arms literally stank of chlorine. It was horrible, as I kept smelling it, and my hair seemed to have decided to do its own thing and have a party, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

We then watched the rest of McFarlan USA and all I can say is everyone who raved about how good it was was totally spot on. I found it inspiring, and a real feel good film. I especially loved the bit at the end, where you got to see the actual team and what happened to them. That was a lovely ending. I couldn’t help but think how happy that made me feel, compared to another movie I loved, A League of Their Own, where that ending always makes me feel very sad when you find out what happened to the people involved, and sadly some had died.

Next: the nightmare table?

[Tara O'Hara]

Sorry about the ship pitching. I have been on a couple of cruises like that and it does make it hard to get around! Your last Sea day sounds nice and leisurely so far!! Good score on the sushi!!

[disney_duke]

Quite the relaxing day! Ugh, your rough start with your sinuses though. Not fun! As you're explaining your time in the spa/hot tub/stone chairs, I remembered back to the beginning of your cruise about the gentleman who was snoring there!

We had some pretty bad pitching on the last night of our Disney cruise years ago as well, coming from Castaway Cay. It can be scary indeed, but I guess the crew does get used to such things.

Great deal on the shirts and sweatshirt! Despite the crowding, it's worth it for those prices!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great dinner you had! Glad you were able to get a dinner reservation for the next night with your friends. Sorry the ship is starting to rock. Sounds like a relaxing day at sea!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great dinner you had! Glad you were able to get a dinner reservation for the next night with your friends. Sorry the ship is starting to rock. Sounds like a relaxing day at sea!

[pamcarey]

Sounds like you got some great deals in the shops!

[cubfancolleen]

Good deals in the shops! It is funny to see end of the season sales, with offerings for places you didn't even see. Our last cruise (Northern Spain & France) had a fair number of Med & Caribbean shirts!
To comment on something you said yesterday about vodka & gin not having much flavor, only a burn, that's the way they're supposed to be. We learned in our mixology class that spirits (vodka & gin) are flavorless. Drinks made with them get their taste from the other things you mix in.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara

Sorry about the ship pitching. I have been on a couple of cruises like that and it does make it hard to get around!

That's my only worry whenever we take a cruise, as despite the fact we've done a number of them, neither of us are actually great sailors!