"Baltic Cruise with P&O"
'May-June 2018'
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This year we decided to have a change from the Leger coach holidays and go on a cruise with our friends Marion and Ed. The cruise we selected was with our favourite operator P & O to the Baltic Sea and Russia. For us this was our 4th sea cruise having been to Alaska, South East Asia and Spain in previous years; Marion and Ed were 'virgins' as this was their first ever sea cruise. The ship we sailed on was the Aurora which is one of their smaller ships and we felt this suited our needs better than the bigger ships we have previously been on. A blessing for me was that this cruise was out of school holidays and there were only a handful of children on board. I love kids (with 14 grandchildren you have to don't you?) but on holiday I like to have a quieter time and not have kids hogging the swimming pools - you can call me a grumpy old git if you want!
We were a little concerned that the recent troubles between us and Russia may have been a problem but we needn't have worried as the two days we spent in St Petersburg were fantastic and the people we dealt with (with the possible exception of the customs officers) were very friendly and the overall 2 day experience was superb. For a city devastated by the siege (of Leningrad as it was then) during WW11 the transformation of the historic buildings is nothing short of miraculous - they are absolutely stunning.
We didn't make use of any of the ship organised tours as we believe they are overpriced and there are other more beneficial ways of seeing the places we visited. This meant that we either walked into the towns we visited or alternatively took the inexpensive shuttle service. The exception to this approach was St Petersburg where on the recommendation of friends we booked a 2 day shore trip with Alla tours before leaving home. For anyone else wondering how to see St Petersburg I would thoroughly recommend Alla tours who offer several options for seeing all of or parts of the city and its attractions.
Another worry we had, as we were visiting many different places with different currencies was how to deal with paying for simple items such as coffee and lunch when we went ashore. Well, put simply, don't buy loads of different currencies which you then have to sell back at a loss on return to the UK or on board ship. Everywhere we went accepted card payments and of course on board you do not use cash.
Before leaving we had this impression that the weather would be generally colder than home and packing was a little difficult to decide what to take. We needn't have worried as we had 16 days of uninterrupted sun and temperatures in excess of 25degC. For once we were able to brag to our family back home that we were having better weather than they were - believe me a rare occurrence.
This was not our first cruise nor even our first with P&O but it was, I think, our best, so much so that we have all rebooked to go on the same ship next June when it will take us to the Mediterranean. So what made this cruise special for us?
Being on holiday with good friends is very important to us and Marion and Ed were excellent companions. This was their first cruise, i.e. they were cruise virgins, and I think they enjoyed it as much as we did. Next June we will also have our other good friends, Nick and Olwen, with us.....perfect!
We loved this ship which is a little smaller than some and therefore a bit more intimate. Next year it will become an adult only ship and this is more to our taste; we have a big family, and that's great, but when we are on holiday we leave them at home for a more peaceful time. Another bonus is that we don't have to compete for space in the pools.
The captain made a very funny quip (I thought) as we arrived in St Petersburg he said "I knew we had arrived in Russia when the pilot came on board, removed his cap and there was another pilot inside..LOL."
The food was fantastic from the breakfast buffet's in the morning to the set meals at night. We like to have our meals being waited on and chose the 8.30 sitting which gave us time to spend days ashore and not have to rush back to get ready for evening meals, time to have a pre-meal drink in the bar and also time then to catch the late performance in the theatre after we'd eaten.
The staff on board were absolutely first class and another advantage of the set meal times is that you get to know the waiters that serve you every evening. Rohan and Elvis were our waiters and I can't praise them highly enough. As well as the restaurant staff we also loved our favourite cocktail waitress Marai (I think that's correct spelling) who is the most happiest person in her job I've ever seen; she laughed and danced her way through every shift and is a great credit to herself and P&O.
A superb line-up of entertainers, especially an old time favourite of ours - Berni Flint - who we first saw last year (2017) on another P&O cruise ship. The variety of entertainment was excellent and we had comedians, a very funny magician Phillip Hitchcock, outstanding violinist Katarina Rossa, a fourpiece pop opera group IDA, and others, as well as of course the resident ship team the Headliners who, with compere Graham, glued it all together. My wife's favourite was acoustic vocalist Jonny Tristram who she still follows on Facebook and who appeared everywhere on ship it seemed, day and night. After much persuasion by Jane he has mastered one of her favourite songs 'Black Velvet' (Alannah Myles) and needed no prompting to sing it as soon as we came into the bar.
We love formal evenings and thought that the combination of 'Sea Days' with formal evenings worked very well by giving you plenty of time to prepare for the evening and go out feeling at your best. Also, during those days, there were some very interesting presentations given by a guest speaker John Mercer on events and people from the First and Second Wars; these are explained in a bit more detail on the Sea Days page. Other than relaxing and sun-bathing we didn't do much else on board which suited us just fine.
And so another holiday finishes and we have the long wait until next year's cruise when the 6 of us will join up in Southampton for the Mediterranean Cruise on the Aurora with P&O.
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