CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

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Dark Knight
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CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#1

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Day 1: all aboard Magellan
our allotted time boarding time was 2.15 from Newcastle and after a mostly uneventful drive up from Hull, we arrived at 2.05 into the car park at the port of Tyne( note we stick to the allotted time and don't feel entitled to try and jump the line) . We were met on arrival by a couple of chatty Geordie types who took our cases and loaded them into a crate for delivery to the ship.
the cruise terminal is well run and very clean and tidy and within 5 minutes of arriving we were in the terminal being checked in, after the usual bit and bobs we were through security and on board Magellan, this was by far the quickest and easiest check of any cruise we have done, staff were efficient, organised and very pleasant. by 2.30 we were on board, stress free and relaxed
we boarded on deck 5 which took us straight into reception and we were shown to our cabin by one of the staff.
Cabin 5075 is an outside plus cabin with a large picture window and configured for a double bed, first impressions were very good, the cabin was large, airy and very clean, the shower was by far the largest of any ship we have been on and had, should you wish, room for 2 people to get lathered up at one time. Storage space was excellent with 2 large double wardrobes, 5 shelves, 4further drawers and a dressing table.
After a quick look round and putting the valuables in the complimentary safe, we went off in search of offd and drink.
All of the bars and restaurants are situated on decks 8 through to 11, so we set off for deck 10 to find a meal and a bar. After a bit of wandering we found ourselves in the Eros bar deck 10 being served beer and Kir Royals by George the barman, of whom you will hear more later.
A quick look at the daily news told us were between lunch and afternoon tea for food but the pizzeria was open till 4.00 pm, so I was dispatched to find food, the pizzeria was situation at the end of the deck 10 Bistro buffet and manned by my new best friend Raj, 6 types of freshly made pizza were on offer plus garlic bread and various cheeses, oils etc, so a slice of each and 2 garlic breads was the order of the day.
first impression of the bistro buffet was it was a good size and well laid out with 2 stations of everything to cut down the scrum that is inevitable in a ship's buffet.
After being fed and watered we wandered off for a look round and to make sure that our drinks package was activated ( more about the drinks package later) on returning to the cabin we found our cases waiting outside, so we started the unpacking.
after about 20 mins an announcement came over the tannoy to say the mandatory life boat drill would take place in 30 mins and we needed to make our way to our muster station with our life jackets but that we MUST NOT WEAR THEM
anyone who has been on a cruise knows exactly what is coming next: hoards of people all trying to push and shove in the lift wearing life jackets trying to find their muster station, anyhow we arrived at Sinatra's bar for muster and were given our allotted space in the bar which was overseen by a crew member, you have to sit where you are told and we saw a few people being move about to be in the right place!
to say this was the longest drill I have done would be an understatement , it took almost an hour to do and included an walk up to our lifeboat and also an further briefing on deck, very comprehensive.
First moan of the cruise: stupid people who think that bringing a cocktail with them and taking selfies during the drill is clever,
After the drill we headed back to deck 8 to sort out our drinks and coffee package and then watch the sail out of Newcastle, after an hour or so we wandered back to finish off the unpacking and decide where to eat for dinner. As we were feeling a bit lazy we opted for the buffet on deck 10, on arriving we were bathed in anti bacterial gel by an ninja waiter who never missed anybody, all cruise
the buffet was normal ship's fare 4-5 starters, 2 soups, 4 mains, lots of salads, cheese, meats bread etc and 5-6 different puddings plus the obligatory ice cream.The food was hot, tasty and varied, which is all you can ask, after our meal we went back to the Captains bar to listen to the in house duo and have a look at just what our drinks package covered.
At around 11-ish we headed back to the cabin
initial impressions were very positive, inside décor was bright and modern, food good, cabin very good, waiters etc all seemed pleasant and attentive
A good start
Nihil Obstat

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barney
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#2

Post by barney »

.................. what does your drinks package cover ?????????

don't leave us hanging DK ! :lol:
Empty vessels .. and all that

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Jan Rosser
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#3

Post by Jan Rosser »

Sounds good so far - come on let's have the next episode :)
Janis

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#4

Post by sunseeker16 »

... please! :)

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#5

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Sounds good so far Batty

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#6

Post by Dark Knight »

Day 2: shortest sea day
next stop on our cruise was the port of Dundee, where 705 of the passengers got off and on. As it was all abit chaotic we decided to get off and have a walk into town, a shuttle bus was provided by the local sea scouts but we decided to walk into town. Dundee is famous for amongst other things, the Beano and the Dandy and it was fun to watch lots of people having pictures taken next to desperate Dan and Mini the minx etc
stopped for a coffee in the square and had a mooch round the market. Dundee was a pleasant surprise and some of the architecture is very impressive, it also gave us a chance to stock uop with a few bits and bobs we had forgot tom pack, like me e cig charger
We got back about 2 ish and settled in on deck 10 and watched the sail out of Dundee, as is usual dinner tonight was the buffet again and then a few drinks in the captains bar.
the drinks package is only £17 per day and is exceptional values for money,No doubt the temperance movement will make out you have to be a raging alkie to get your monies worth but I strongly disagree, a large beer is £3.30 and a Kir Royal about £4.00. mocktails £3-£5 and cocktails £3.50 upwards, soft drinks are £2.00 a go, so it doesn't take long to exceed the measly £17 per day target, in fact even on a "dry " day we exceded this by some margin
having walked around decks 8 and 9 tonight , it is obvious that the majority of the passengers are between 65 and 85 and anyone under 50 is in the minority, which given the dates and itinerary is no surprise but there are very few couples under 50.
the Carmen duo in the Captains bar are entertaining to say the least and I am not sure it is intentional, watching a Ukranian duo trying to sing songs from the 50's and 60's is an acquired taste but always worth a watch
One thing we have noticed is there is not 24 hr food and the meal times are oddly timed
Breakfast is 06.30 to 09.30 in the 2 MDR's and 06.00 to 10.00 am in the buffet, Lunch is 12.00 to 1.30 and the bistro 11.30 to 14.00 but the pizza place is open till 4.00pm ?
Evening meal times are also odd, with either sittings at 5.45 or 6.15 and late sittings at 8.15 and 8.30, so both are either too early for us or too late, I can see us haunting the buffet most of this one
tonight main show was a comedian Les Bryan,, so based on the theory that cruise ships don't employ current comedians we left this and went to a bar, turns out his jokes were older than me and we made the right choice, one good thing is that all late sitting guests are kindly ! told to go to the early show and vice versa, avoiding the scrum at the door and chair hogging we have seen on other cruise ships and it seemed to work well.
On a different topic, the shower is one of the most hot and powerful, I have ever seen and not just on a ship, the beds are comfy and the cabin nice and warm.
Nihil Obstat

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#7

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Day3: see day as in see I told you I was bored
so sea days love em or loathe them, they are an part of the cruise and you don't get very far without them, so today is the day for a good look round the old tub.
Breakfast was in the MDR for a change and again an odd thing, Breakfast was a mixture of waiter and buffet service with some things like eggs made to order but bacon and sausage out in the buffet bit? My downfall on cruises is breakfast and it takes a lot of will power not to make it a 4 course start to the day.
After gorging on bacon , pancakes and French cinnamon toast, we waddle off to have a good look round. The first thing we noticed was the internal stairs are almost vertical, many a red face seen after port days, when people said they would walk from deck 3 to deck 8
So Magellan, it has 12 decks , Decks 4/5/6/7 are accommodation, deck 8 has both MDR's plus some shops and a piano bar and the lower tier of the theatre, Deck 9 is from stern to bow, the spa, card room, nightclub, which was always well attended post midnight, Sinatra's bar, small Casino, Cyber centre, Captains club Photo gallery and top tier of the theatre, plus lots of tables and chairs on the Starboard inside to watch the waves go by.
Deck 10 is partly alfresco and has the Eros bar( remember George ?) the main pool and outside grill and the bistro, smokers corner is along the starboard side of the ship on deck 10 both by the main pool and on the stern deck as well.
Smoking is only permitted outside the ship, including e cigs, so we are in the smokers section on this one, now there is also an area outside the back of the Spa , called affectionately the Secret Garden and it is a well kept secret, so well kept in fact it took us a week to find it , despite having a map, the secret garden is a mini oasis on a busy ship and has a fountain surrounded by nice garden furniture and is well away from all and sundry, the main drawback, no waiter service but I can run up and down stairs for beer with the best of em, so not really and issue
the passengers are, as you would expect, predominantly "Northern folk" and of that mainly Scots and Geordies, with very few from south of the M62, the atmosphere is lively, noisy and convivial and everyone is happy to share table or ashtray and have a chat and a drink.
Lunch again is the buffet and the grill with today being steak, chicken and fish plus assorted sundries, we have worked out the buffet is best avoided for the first hour due to the plaque of pension age locusts that descends on the stroke of 11.30, looking like they haven't been fed for a month
Tonight is the first formal night , so we got all ponced up and regally wafted off to the MDR we had been allocated for our 8.30 gala dinner, on arrival it was obvious the place was half empty with lots of spare tables and lots of partly full tables, our allocated table was a table for 8 with only 6 of us present.
the food was a wonderfully prepared 5 course treat of soup, salad, fish course main course and dessert, plenty of choices and the usual stand by's of chicken or salmon for the fussy buggers. And that is where the interesting stuff stopped, we did the usual introductions and the lady to my left told us all ,very loudly,she lived in the Lake district and on finding out we hailed from Ull, promptly ignored us for the rest of the evening. suffice to say it confirmed our choice of eating in the buffet every night and further confirmed that the cruise snob is alive and well and lives in Cumbria
After that, it has to said we made a hasty departure and went up to the Captains lounge for a well needed drink and to laugh at the snob, we noticed an awful lot of very well dressed Scotsmen in full attire parading the decks, dress code take up was about 50% but a lot of folk on first sitting had gone and got changed after dinner and photos were done.
the Came duo tonight did country and western classics much to the delight of many a line dancer and I can absolutely confirm a true Scotsman does not wear anything under a Kilt
Nihil Obstat

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#8

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Day 4: Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen
now it must be said that this thrilling instalment is accompanied by a rather large hangover, on account of our new cruise besties, Scott and Sylvia and the cocktail menu challenge.
our arrival at Copenhage started at 07.00 and my hangover started shortly after that, after a long shower and a lot of breakfast and coffee, we decided to get of the ship and explore the sites.
the walk from the ship is around 15 minutes hungover stroll and one of the first sites to greet us was the large statue of a polar bear and cubs, which was unexpected? second site was the much vaunted Little Mermaid, well, underwhelming does not to it justice, its a tiny little thing perched on a rock, anyway after the obligatory picture we wandered on into town past a beautiful fountain and gothic inspired church
we were immediately struck by how clean Copehagen is and how modern the place is in parts, after a bit of a wander it was time for coffee and cake and we found ourselves in a very nice bar in Nyhavn, which is the canal side street with the painted houses, after getting suitable refreshed and hydrated we mooched off to the Amelienborg palce and square and watched the changing of the guard, more wandering brought us to the Kongens Nytorv which is a big square with lots of nice stuff built round it, after another hour or so's wandering we headed back to the ship for food and a sunbed, yes a sunbed as it was a rather unexpected 24 degrees outside with not a cloud in the sky. our 5 hr walkabout was just under 10 kilometres and surprisingly enough a good cure for a hangover.
As was becoming the norm we headed up to deck 10 for a hair of the dog and a pizza and found the pool deck and upper deck awash with pasty white northern folk, doing their very best to BBQ themselves.
Dinner was the buffet again and a couple of after dinner drinks then a bit of an early night.
no sign of our drinking partners from last night, was it something we said?
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#9

Post by Whynd1 »

Really enjoying your cruise report, we are off to the Baltic on Arcadia in July.

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

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Day 5: a true hidden gem....Warnemunde
after an early night and a decent sleep, we arrived bright tailed and bushy eyed in Germany, cue lots of don't mention the war jokes from the oldies and bad dad's army impressions( old folk eh )
Warnemunde is the gateway to Rostok and further afield Berlin but as we didn't fancy 6 hrs on a coach we gave Berlin a miss and went walkabout in port and we are so glad we did, the weather again was glorious and so we headed for the town, after passing the railway station we crossed the canal bridge and strolled down the shop side of the river down to the red mole and green mole( nautical mole, not Adrian Mole)
on our left we saw a glorious sandy beach complete with bathing huts and deck chairs, not what we were expecting, Lady D said we should have brought the beach gear, except we didn't pack it, as we thought it might be a bit chilly around the Baltics
After visiting the mole, we came back along and headed toward the light house just behind the beach, hoping to find a café for coffee and cake or beer and food, what we found was a fantastic long promenade , which went on for about a mile and was directly behind the beach, having stopped for a refuel of coffee, beer and cake, we set of on a stroll down the prom in warm sunshine after a 45 min stroll we reached the end of the prom and went into the town proper for a mooch, what a lovely little place.
as the sun was over the yard arm( nautical themes may follow) we set sail for the other side of the estuary in search of food
now yes, I know some of you go back to the ship for lunch and all that, but we don't, lunch out is as much a part of our cruise holiday as sea sickness tablets and norovirus
so we wandered down past the fisherman's huts, who were filleting the days catch and selling onto the restaurants across the road
now at this point dear reader, you have jumped ahead and already assumed that we would obviously be having fish for lunch, well no ,we found a great Italian restaurant and had pasta, pizza and wine and beer, coffee and 2 hrs of al fresco dining, told you lunch out was a big deal
after lunch we set off for another walkabout and after an hour or so, we found ourselves back in the first bar eating ice cream( lady D) and drinking beer( me)
at around 6 ish we set of back to the ship having spent a lovely relaxing day in a well kept secret.
A light buffet dinner followed around 7.30 and we ran into our drinking friends, who much to my satisfaction were as hungover as us in Copenhagen and at 8.30 pm had given up and gone to bed
we had a couple of drinks and we all headed off to the show lounge to listen to Carmen murder the 1970's which she did with great enthusiasm
Nihil Obstat

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#11

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Day 6...see day...see I am bored again:
after a long lie in and a late as possible breakfast, we headed off to the Captains lounge to read and have a laze about, when we got there it was quiz time and the place was packed, we managed to get a seat in a corner and whilst Lady D was reading self improving books and doing her needlework, I decided to pit my little grey cells against the combined wisdom of the rest of the ship, well blows me down( nautical reference) I came joint first ,on 19/20 points and myself and the 2 other joint winners were invited up to the stage to take part in a tension filled head to head for the prize of a CMV bookmark !!
now I don't know if my mind went blank or if the thought of such riches put me off, but I am fairly sure d**k Whittington was the first mayor of London, not Ken Livingstone ??
Anywho after such a crushing defeat ,to a Scotsman of all people, I shamefacedly went back to sit with Lady Dark, only to be greeted with " p***ock" and raised eyebrows.
after a lazy morning of hiding around the ship,so as not to be mistaken for the muppet who said d**k Whittington, we headed up for lunch and a meet up with our cruise squad, we are now a group of 6 and are known as the "naughty corner" or "those pissheads over there" Everybody waves to us and says hello but they seem reluctant to join in ? strange that
Now a another mention for George the Barman, who apart from, in the opinion of the 3 ladies in our group, being devilishly handsome and having a nice a*se, George also delivers exceptional Mojitos and beer and has an almost supernatural gift for appearing just as your glass empties, truly that man is a genius and I forgive his dashing good looks and his roughish charm
After several hours of drinking, we went off to the buffet again for food and played popmaster with the piped music in the buffet
let me explain: the average age on the cruise is 70 plus and the music appropriate to that era, so us youngsters spend a lot of time asking the philosophical question, " who's singing this crap" . Todays pop master champion was Deek who correctly guessed Al Martino, Joe Longthorn and Engelbet humpydinky.
Now at this point you may be thinking , what about the shows? , the dress code, the entertainment etc etc
well we haven't yet been to a show or a lecture or the cinema or the spa or.....you get the picture
After a couple more drinks, its an early ish night as one of my highlights is up next.......Tallin
Nihil Obstat

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Gill W
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#12

Post by Gill W »

I was just wondering last night how DK got on with Magellan.

Really enjoying the reports so far, will be looking forward to more
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

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Day 7 Half way there or nearly turning back: Tallin
this was one of the ports I was most looking forward to and despite a slight headache we set off after breakfast to explore this lovely town.
As we were getting off you could not fail to notice a huge balloon which was giving rides to unsuspecting tourists, the premise being you hand over 40 euros and go up in the balloon to a height of 120 meters and get a great view of whatever there is to see at 120 Meters up and then come down again. So as we were walking out ,the touts descended on the passengers flogging the Tallin balloon experience and as is normal Lady D got collared by one ,as I avoided all eye contact and carried on regardless, after 2-3 minutes I looked around to see Lady D in conversation with said tout , at this point fearing for Lady D's safety at the hands of these foreign types I went back to gallantly rescue her , at which point the tout tried to flog me 40 euros worth of balloon based enjoyment, now I don't what is Estonian for "give over you cheeky sod, 40 euros, you are having a laugh" is but the pan European phrase, "not a bloody chance" does serve you well.
After a 15 minute stroll over the roads and under the underpass and over the petrol satation, we arrived in the medieval city of Tallin
The old town is a world heratige site and rightly so, it is truly lovely and well worth the time to explore the place, after visiting the castle, the catherdral, the other catherdral, the town hall and the guildhall, it was time for food and drink, so we headed off to the main square which is a delightful spot to people watch and rest your feet. I must be honest and say I have never before seen bear meat on a restaurant menu and even before I got to it on the menu , Lady D looked at me and said " no, you are not having bear and I don't care how much you fancy trying it, the answer is no" which settled that one
so after a none bear burger, fries and some beer we set of in search of cheap duty free Vodka and ciggies for the folks back home
Tallin lived up to expectation and was one of the main highlights of the cruise. Not as dramatic as Dubrovnik but all the better for that
On our way back we are accosted again by the balloon man who has dropped his price from €40 to €20,but I referred him to my earlier comment and carried on walking
back on board and after a wash and brush up, its off to the naughty corner of deck 10 which is affectionately known by the staff as the beer garden now, can't think why?
tonight the Carmen duo were happily murdering show tunes much to the delight of the crowd, after a couple of drinks and a coffee and Tia Maria , its time for bed, as the next 2 days is St Petersburg...

to be continued
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#14

Post by towny44 »

Great stuff so far DK, re d**k W. I suspect you might find he was the first Lord Mayor, somewhat more dignified than Ken L's post.
John

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#15

Post by Kenmo1 »

Enjoying your review, DK. Lots of happy memories coming back as I read it.

Maureen.

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#16

Post by gfwgfw »

Dear Hull Best Friend

Enjoying your excellent Magellan sojourn

Almost as good as the other DK's masterfield missives

Lubbooo :wave:

Graham
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#17

Post by Silver_Shiney »

Fascinating read, sir, I eagerly await the next installment
Alan

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

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Day 8: St Petersburg or if a fan of Billy Joel, Leningrad

so we come to the jewel in the crown of our Baltic cruise, we have organised a 9 hour tour of the main sites, to include, St Issac's Cathedral, Peterhof Palace, Church on the Spilled blood and a few other odds and ends around town
Despite been given ample warning that Russian immigration is slow, laborious and an all round chore, Passengers still complained and moaned as to how long it took and why should we have to wait etc etc
Cruise moan number 2 : stupid people who can't follow basic instructions on how to wait patiently
Anywho after about 20 mins of tedium, we were through immigration and on the coach to St Pete's
Our guide is the lovely Julia, which it has to be said was not the Svettlana or Olga , I was hoping for
First stop is a church, then another one, then a Cathedral, then a light house thing, then another church, a palace is thrown in to break the monotony and then we are of to a bigger cathedral. Everything in St P's is something
this bridge was , this street was, this lamppost was, this rubbish bin was..etc etc etc
after lots of stops to take pictures and oo and aah at stuff ,we set off to Peterhof palace and lunch on the way
Lunch was set in a beautiful former chateau /palace, as almost every building in St P's is a place of some sort, even Maccie D's is the home of some bloke's former palace
now lunch was an education in why British people should not go abroad, the first course was a traditional red cabbage and beef soup, not to difficult you may think, but no, the number of cries of "what's the red stuff", "what kind of meat is it?", "it is proper meat like we have?", "what's the white stuff for?" ,kept our hosts entertained for minutes
second course ,was of course ,Chicken Kiev but done properly, much to the dismay of the " where's the breadcrumbs" and "it doesn't taste like the one from Asda does it Fred" people
Dessert was a Rhubarb and fruit crumble, now at this point we were waiting for the first person to put the sour cream for the soup on their dessert and we didn't have to wait long, this was accompanied by mutterings of " this creams off", "where's the custard" and "eugh this tastes awful". (Ahh brits abroad)
From here we journeyed on to Peterhof Palace, which was absolutely heaving with visitors, we were told in no uncertain terms that we MUST keep moving through the palace at all times and MUST not stop for anything
so we were herded like cattle through the whole of the Palace in less than 1 hr flat, I would like to tell you about the marvellous , ornate decoration or the works of art adorning the walls or the beautifully made tea and coffee sets..etc but due to not been able to stop and bloody look at them, I can only say, it was hot inside and don't for God's sake ask to stop and look at things
So after a "look" around it was back on the coach and to make our way back to St P's to conclude the day with the obligatory stop at the tat shop, to waste a few minutes and fill the coffers of the tour guides family, who just happen to own said emporium
after trying to separate 2 coach loads of weary travellers from their Euros/Dollars/Sterling and roubles, we were back off toward the ship only to grind to a halt in what our guide described as a mega,city wide gridlocky traffic jam, which we discovered later was caused by a 2 car prang on one of the cities bridges?
A 2 car prang brought the second largest city in Russia to a grinding halt !!! we were 90 minutes late back to the ship but as we were overnighting, it didn't really matter other than we were too late for the MDR , so had to reluctantly go to the buffet on deck 10
to sum up, St P has many , many wonderful sites and some truly impressive buildings but there is too much to see in one day and to try to organise a tour around it all, is too much, a lot of people were quite rightly tired and frustrated after such a long day, but I suppose you have to rush around to have any hope of seeing more than 2 things in one day
we adjourned to the beer garden to compare notes with our fellow travellers and to have a few beers
hopefully tomorrow will be better
Nihil Obstat

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#19

Post by qbman1 »

Hmmm - snobs, moaners, dress code, sea days. Sounds a bit like P&O to me ! Interesting report, though.

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#20

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Do I take it you're joining the Ten-Bob Millionaires Club now?

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#21

Post by Silver_Shiney »

He's running it!
Alan

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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

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Day 9 St P's easter egg hunt
Today we opted for an afternoon visit to the Faberge museum, which surprisingly enough is housed in some old palace , which used to belong to same famous ,nobby bloke before he got killed by revolting peasants
so after a lie in and a late breakfast its off the ship and back on the culture trail, immigration was a breeze and we were off the ship and on the coach within 10 minutes and off to find some eggs
to say that the museum is jaw- droppingly gorgeous is an understatement, the collection is simply stunning, there are a dozen eggs in the museum plus hundreds of other Faberge designed pieces, ranging from opera glasses to tea sets, to cutlery and beyond, this was a fantastic 31/2 hour trip but again there was just too little time to fully do it justice but a trip to the museum gives real depth to the phrase how the other half live
we were back on the ship by around 6.00 pm and after a wash and brush up we decided a few cocktails were in order in the show lounge and then a bite to eat in the buffet to follow.
The buffet ,it has to be said has not disappointed all holiday, the food is varied, hot and tasty with more than enough choice for even the fussiest eater, the buffet is always pleasantly busy at night and the staff are wonderful
Nihil Obstat

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qbman1
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#23

Post by qbman1 »

Silver_Shiney wrote:
He's running it!
In that case, Merv and me can expect to be blackballed any minute !

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david63
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#24

Post by david63 »

You should have done a "private" tour in St Petes - you see a lot more, can stop and look, no queuing - albeit a tad more expensive but worth every penny. Oh and you get through Russian immigration quicker.

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Dark Knight
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Re: CMV Magellan , Baltic cruise

#25

Post by Dark Knight »

Day 10 Hell's sinking
We arrived at Helsinki to a cold grey morning, which is a shame after such good weather on the outbound leg of the trip
Today we decided to do a highlights of Helsinki tour with a trip to an ice bar included, the highlights of Helsinki are a scaled down version of St P's with a Fortress, a square, a cathedral and another church forming the backbone of the highlights but no worse for it , after being herded round Russia, lots of time to take photos and look around.
After this we headed out of town to what can only be called an industrial estate, fearing the worst one passenger was heard to say" do we have hostage insurance Harold"
But no it was not a mass kidnapping of oldies but the gateway to the ice bar, which turned out to be damn good fun
on arrival you are required to don a proper arctic survival suit with gloves and boots as the temperature inside is a balmy -5 degrees and proceed into the ice bar, which is inside a huge industrial warehouse
as soon as we stepped in, we were greeted by 3 huskies all wanting a stroke and or a biscuit and a huge bar made of........Ice, so a couple of free vodkas, served in glasses made of ice, no less, later, we decided to try out the skis, the ice bikes, the sleds and have a look around the 4 igloos that had been made, what a great couple of hours, people sledging down mini hills, skiing about and there was even a full husky dog sled which people could have a go on around a large race circuit, all in all a great bit of fun and a good day out
Back to the beer garden and a rendezvous with the naughty corner for cocktails of the day, which were a rather retro Snowball which fitted nicely with out day and a buffet dinner, a very good madras curry
After dinner we set off for the show lounge to listen to the Carmen due massacre the 80's and cold bloodedly murder Elton John much to everyone's delight
Nihil Obstat

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