SURPRISE, SURPRISE OR NOT

Spent yesterday playing secret agent. We did not tell Michelle & company that we were also on the cruise with them. The plan was to send them an invitation from Carnival to get a complimentary drink in the bar at 5pm. We left the invitations on each of their cases outside their cabins. We spent all the time up to 5pm trying to avoid them, they were 15 feet from us the life boat muster & we were hiding behind bigger strangers. 5pm came & went, no one turned up at the bar. So we went searching for them and eventually found them. Neil had taken in the cases but failed to find our invitation. So all our Dick Tracey stuff was in vain. The funny thing is that Seb & Meg didn't recognise us standing in front of them, but Michelle thought she heard & recognised my trademark cough. Anyway we had a nice evening at dinner & the shows. We are here in Nassau, Bahamas. Its pretty much like all the other Caribbean islands we have been. Jack & Meg have done well, they won a free trip for 2 to a private beach & also a bottle of champagne.

USA DAY ONE

Well, we had a lovely, serene trip with Virgin & Alamo arriving on the Atlantic coast at 6pm. Michelle's group not so good. They went the day before us - took off nicely, got to Bristol and Sahara sand got in the engines and returned to Gatwick - passenger had a fit on the plane, welcome paramedics on to plane - finally got going again to have child medical emergency in the middle of the Atlantic - land in Bermuda for overnighter - still don't make good progress & finally land in Orlando after 10pm - check-in Universal resort around midnight.

Nice pictures of Beth and the latest 4 generations of family ladies. Michelle & co now in Hogwarts, probably exhausted. Lessons - go to Michelle's do's but don't travel with her.

OFF AGAIN?

Been off for years, but going again. Started on this old bus, but what will be next. Wait & watch this space.

WARNEMUNDE

Well, we are on our last leg. We are in Warnemunde on the Baltic sea coast of Germany. The weather has finally gone to pot and it's raining, but warm. We managed to get back on board before it really started. Warnemunde is very pretty with tiny streets, little cottages & a nice atmosphere. Mum got free bottle of champers for being married to me for so long - she actually deserves much more for such a punishment! Yesterday Celebrity launched their new ship, Edge and gave us all a cocktail. It was gin with a dropper to put in citrus juice mix to taste and was flavoured with chilli. Would that be one for Dan? We've now got 2 sea days to relax before arriving Southampton early Sunday morning. Then it's on to fishing planning and preparation for Wednesday.

STOCLHOLM

Weather still fantastic, Stockholm is very pleasant. We went under our own steam today - no tours. The area over the other side from the dock was little harbours, museums, funfair and parks. We spent 3 hours in the Vasa museum. This was a 1600's ship built for the King of Sweden to fight the Poles. When they launched it, it tipped over and sank just like the Mary Rose. It remained undiscovered until 1960. It was brought up and restored. 98% is still original as the water was so polluted that it did not decay. The ship itself and the things discovered in the ship were presented so well, we could have spent longer in the museum. On our way to Germany, but we have sea day first. Got an hour of our lives back last night, which was great.

HELLSINKI

Forgot to mention yesterday about the Hermitage palace & museum. We were just finishing up, going to the loos and ambling off, we just got outside and discovered we had 2 extras with us. Two women from the P&O Arcadia had left their tour & joined ours. Now they couldn't get back in to the Hermitage. Luckily our guide recognised the description of their guide & phoned him. Sergei was lucky to get them back!

Back to Helsinki, not much to say really. Pretty quiet, v windy, not too warm, but sunny. Don't like drones, Rock Church overrated, Sibelius music & park nice. Off to Stockholm now.

St PEE - LOTTA GOLD

2 long days here in St Petersburg, up at 6am and not back on ship 'till 6pm. Weather still fantastic. Ruski immigration nightmare, took one hour to get off boat. Zsars loved their gold - it's all over the place. Crowds of people, 5 ships in port, including a sister Celebrity boat. We left together to a great trumpeting of ships hooters. Been sampling the transport - the metro is very arty - hydrofoil boats were pretty quick, but look like they were built in the seventies. Had local food, beetroot, beef & tom soup, a sort of a shredded beef brawn, cold pickled herring, potatoes & onion and beetroot, alioli, egg & cheese salad. Old commy buildings are falling apart - older imperial stuff seems OK. The horses with the knights were real - dead and stuffed. The football Fed cup is here, so got tangled up in FanZone events, you know big screen areas where you can view matches in a mob. Lodda fountains, one of these is trick one where if you stand on certain cobbles, you get sprayed. There were a few of them, the Czars had a sense of humour. Saw Putin's place, not sure if he's got a sense of humour!