Day 12 – Kristiansand

Sailor, My Dear and Darling Sailor:

I’m on my way home!!!!  Can’t wait to resume our “great, big, long walks” and our important conversations (“sit” and “down”). 

Kristiansand was our final port of call and our luck finally ran out, weather-wise.  That was unfortunate because Kristiansand is primarily a beach resort town (the Norwegian Riviera) and other than moose & beaches there wasn’t a lot to see of historical importance.  As such, I had my picture taken with a moose. 

There were a couple of statues, but as we didn’t do a tour we didn’t know what importance they carried, I think towards the end of the cruise we’ve gotten a little jaded.  The ship’s information (which they put in your cabin the night before you get into port), mentioned several places outside Kristiansand that you can go to do things like hiking and white water rafting, or go to the zoo, but the weather didn’t make any of that appealing.  It was what the Irish describe as “soft weather”, which is not quite spitting rain but more than simply foggy.  Not good for any attempt at making your hair do anything other than what it wants to do. This photo of the ship kind of gives you an idea.

Now that the cruise is coming to a close I guess I could describe some of my likes and dislikes, these are just my opinions however and who knows, if I reflect back next week I may have a change of heart. 

The Ship: 

• The Queen Victoria is lovely and well maintained (I watched them sand and oil the teak in the Winter Garden – one of my favorite rooms – one night).   
• You do not want an interior room on the starboard side, midship because it’s under the Queen’s Court which is where the dancing to a live band is held every night.  
•  I loved the two story library and the comprehensive selection of books – I guess if you do round the world voyages a good selection of reading materials is important.   
• The “Gentlemen Hosts” are wonderful for women who love to dance but don’t have a dancing partner.  They seemed to put a smile on many a woman’s face and these guys just enjoy the heck out of ballroom dancing. I’m not sure if Cunard is the only ship to still have them, Holland America might … I’ll have to check.  
•  I don’t particularly care for the class system that is still adhered to on Cunard, but that may well be because I was not sailing in the exclusive Princess’ Grill or Queen’s Grill class.  They had better food, cushier chaise lounges and exclusive access to certain areas of the ship.   I would recommend to my clients who are interested in Cunard that they consider going in a Princess’ Grill or Queen’s Grill cabin.

The Ports:   

• Well anyone who has read my blogs knows that I was bewitched by Stockholm.  I’d like to go back for a week and still if it still held all its charms after more time there.  Watching the video of the cruise that is for sale I still see the enchantment of Stockholm.
• St. Petersburg was fascinating, a shame about the crowds.  I would recommend to anyone visiting  St. Petersburg at this time of year that they might want to consider a private tour.  Our best tour guide, by far, was Elena in St. Petersburg.  I got her e-mail address in case anyone wants to do a private tour with her.  She was funny though in that she kept addressing us as “Dear Guests”.  “Dear Guests welcome to St. Petersburg”, “Dear Guests we will be having lunch shortly”, “Dear Guests, please meet in the main lobby” it was cute.
• I would have liked to do some more exploring in Copenhagen, and visited some of the museums. I'm so glad, though that I finally had my picture taken with the little mermaid.
• Tallinn was an absolute gem, giving you many good examples of the Hanseatic period – and the festival they threw for my birthday was over the top!  
• I probably would have gotten more out of Helsinki if I’d done a more formalized tour, but the Hop On, Hop Off bus tour was a good compromise between budget and in-depth information.
• Warnemunde & Kristiansand – had the sun been shining and the weather hot I would have spent time at the beach, even though as a Floridian I have certainly had my share of beaches!

Sailor, I just am so excited to see you!!! I think I may have forgotten to post my blog about Tallinn, but if I did I'll post it when I get home, I definitely wrote it!

Keep calm and Sail on!!