As mentioned previously, the Baltics was a long-awaited cruise for which we had high expectations, and surprisingly enough, those expectation were exceeded. To think that we have done ROAR and BLISS in the same year seems more like a dream that I don't want to wake up from.

We stayed overnight at a B&B in Dover the night prior to the sailing and it gave us time to mentally and physically relax and see the sights of Dover. We enjoyed our walk around the city; people watched and toured the castle of Dover and the secret tunnels of Dover where tunnels were dug to treat wounded military personnel in a MASH type hospital.

The next day we took a short cab ride to the pier where we came upon Fred & Pat, Frank and Kathy who were preparing to leave for the airport after their cruise and shortly thereafter, Ngaire and Ken arrived and we had a major hug-in. What a way to start a cruise!

Penny and I will be spending a couple of days with Fred in Pat in Sept.and while talking with Fred he advised us to be on the look out for friends of his...Ellen, Ed and Ed's sister Sharon. Oddly enough it was Pam & Tom who met Fred's friends at dinner the first night of the cruise and happened to mention the meeting to Penny and me so we looked them up. How fortunate we were because we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Ed obviously picked up on my personality and right away started some good natured teasing that was quite enjoyable. One night we were invited to dine with Ed & Ellen and we were joined by an Army General; an Air Force Lt. Colonel (both retired). Ed was a Navy seaman so they all picked on the only Marine, poor Ray. Well it bonded some friendships that we look forward to continuing.

Cruiserpk..Pam and Tom. The only thing that exceeds this handsome couple's looks is their genuine personality and warmth. We miss them already!

Pam and Tom were kind enough to host a birthday cocktail party in their suite to celebrate Ed's birthday and Ed, Ellen, Sharon, Tom, Pam, Penny and I were joined by Frankie (dahhhling :> -- Voyager Lounge guitarist) for dinner. Following dinner, Frankie was handed his guitar and he sang a solo "Happy Birthday" to Ed. How neat is that!

Penny, Ngaire, Ken and I also got to celebrate the birthday of Pam (Pammy) along with her husband, Jim, and it was a fun evening getting to know them.

Lee and her son, Michael. Unfortunately for Michael his tummy took a turn south and he chose not to dine for 3-4 days and while he recovered, we snatched his Mum away from him so we could enjoy her company. She dazzled us enough that we signed up for an Auckland to Los Angeles cruise in Dec. 2007 and we hope to see her again at that time. Michael too.

Ngaire & Ken. We intentionally steared away from them during ROAR as we knew that our shepherd of the bush would be extremely busy with their first land function and we were hopeful that we could spirit them away during BLISS. The plan worked beautifully as the four of us did a canal tour together, then lunch, and then dinner at Signatures on the last night of the cruise. How relaxing a time it was and it certainly afforded us an opportunity to get to know one-another better. We were most pleased.

The cruise: Hmmmmm. I have nothing but warm fuzzy thoughts concerning the accommodations, food, service and entertainment. If something wasn't right, it was righted in an efficient manner.

Weather: Astoundingly good!

Tours: Russia--Moscow. We couldn't wait to see the Kremlin (fortress in Russian) and Red Square...Red has two meanings in Russian. Red the color and beautiful. It is!! We walked around with our jaws drooping and visualized the May day parades of years past and the Soviet rulers of old standing in review above Lenin's tomb. It gave me the shivers.

GUM or GYN. Russian for State Dept. Store. Wow, has capitalism made it an upscale, expensive, cheery place.

St. Petersburg. I cannot imagine a 900 day siege by the Nazis during WWII and the death and devastation wreaked on that city during those years. The Nazis encamped their troops in the palaces outside the city where they pillaged and plundered those beautiful structures. We were told that the Soviets were anxious to restore them as "show" meant everything to that regime so they made it a priority to restore the palaces after the war as it was intended to convey a message that the Soviet Union was vibrant and strong. Well, we certainly benefited from their intentions.

The Churches. Absolutely mind-boggling beautiful. Can't say anything more. Am glad the Soviets left them alone.

Tallin. Loved that beautiful city and there were some nice crafts, sweaters and linens at reasonable prices.

Warnemunde. We enjoyed our stroll around the city and did take a boat trip to Rostock. The boat trip was quite boring really as there was no commentary in english.

Amsterdam. Only saw it during the day and the architecture was quite enjoyable during our canal cruise. We went back to the ship with Ngaire and Ken for a late lunch. Kenny Smiles was on the shuttle bus and when he and Ngaire were discussing Africa...Kenny intends to go...Ngaire mentioned that she had visited something like 42 camps. Kenny, with his accent asked her: "When did you have time to remove the bone from your nose, dear?" The diologue during the 45" bus ride was pretty much like this as Kenny also picked on his seat-mate Hal Fraser, the pianist.

Pam arranged for a private tour of Stockholm and Penny and I joined her and Tom. Our guide was a "knockout" to say the least....blonde of course....and was she ever intelligent, flexible and knowledgeable as well as very fluent in English. An interesting thing happened when we were near a large dept. store where our guide told us of the knife killing of the wife of the Prime Minister who was shopping some 5-6 years ago unprotected by security. Any way some mentally ill person heard voices and stabbed her. Right after relating the story, our guide said "What was that?" "Did you hear that?" "I heard gun shots" She immediately told the driver to divert as people were running from the store with hands over their heads. Pam, Tom, Penny and I were so enthralled by what we were seeing of the city we didn't realize what was going on around us. Anyway, three robbers held up a jewelry store, shots were fired and two of the three were caught right after the shooting.

Copenhagen. Frequent flyer rules dictated that we stay in Copenhagen overnight and I was kind of miffed as we'd been there before and didn't want to have the expense of a hotel and be out at 5a.m. to catch a 6:05a.m. flight to Amsterdam; layover for 2 1/2 hours and then fly to Birmingham, England for three nights before heading home.

Anyway, the maid of honor in our wedding has a sister who lives in Copenhagen and she gave us a personal tour of the city starting off with the first canal cruise of the day at 10a.m. There were only about 20 people on our boat and it was great as I could stand up and take photos without heads and the bow in the way. Our friend later took us out to the countryside to visit historical places and then to her home to visit with her husband and have dinner with them. What a treat that day turned out to be. (He is a geologist and does guest lecturing on trips to the Antarctic). Quite an interesting chap as you can imagine.

England. Visited Penny's Mum who lives 50-miles west of Birmingham. A cousin who lives in Birmingham stayed by our side during the visit and made sure we had everything we wanted/needed. The weather was warm and sunny, we got to see lots of family members and just plain relaxed. We stayed the last night at the cousin's home in Birmingham and had a quiet journey the next morning to catch a 12 noon flight. Since we left a day after the 4th on a Wed. the plane was threee quarters full and we had a three-chair row in the exit isle all to ourselves. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. How nice.

That's it. Some photos will be posted and I'll alert you when they are available should you desire to see them. As usual I took a lot of video. As info., it cost me $19 every time I took my camera ($5) and camcorder ($14) into many historical building but it certainly was worth it.

Cheers! Ray & Penny

Thanks for the great report, Ray. I'm glad you and Penny had such a great cruise. Can't wait to see the photos.

Great report, Ray. You have made my desire to visit this area even stronger.

Loved your report Ray - sounds like you had fantastic trip - you have perked my interest too! Joanna

Thanks for such an informative report, Ray. Fascinating. The historical perspective really interested me. - Michele

What a wonderful trip report Ray! We were originally signed up for BLISS but cancelled (turns out it was the right move since our Grandson was born during your cruise). That is such a GREAT part of the world, all relived from your wonderful report!! Thanks for sharing!

Excellent report, Ray. Glad you and Penny took the Moscow excursion. A day I'm sure you will never forget!

Wonderful report Ray, thanks for sharing! I loved the Baltics also.

Thanks Ray! We missed you and Penny but so glad the cruise met your high expectations. Glad to hear of Lee & Michael. I was concerned about him being ill when they visited before the cruise.

Welcome home!

What a wonderful report Ray. Thank you so much for sharing and I'm so glad that you and Penny had a great cruise.

Nancy

Loved the report, Ray!

Masaki

Ray,

I am still catching up with all the posts. It was wonderful to see you and Penny, and Ngaire and Ken shipside.

Loved your trip report. We'll have to chat sometime late in 2007 and see if we can't arrange a quick meet in LA before you head out of town.

Hi Kathy:

It was a chance meeting indeed. It was good thing that you guys were the last one off the ship or it wouldn't have happened.

I'll be posting some albums soon and you'll see the photos of us all together.

Cheers! Ray

Thanks for that great report. I can't believe you were in Birmingham - we live just 10 miles North of there. Hope you enjoyed the Midlands!You were certainly over here in the good weather!

Geranium:

We enjoyed Birmingham. Of course we had a pub meal at night....can't remember where but just prior to that we went to a hill top with a huge view of surrounding communities.

People were flying really big kites.

Penny's grandparents moved to Leintwardine during WWII from Birmingham to escape the bombings and settled in there quite nicely.

We liked the Birmingham airport and intend to use it the next time we're in. Perhaps we can share a "chip" sometime in the future.

Cheers! Ray