Esprit

Side by side I see what you mean. Both geese are residents of the Baltic region too! Anyway, I am so looking forward to seeing your pictures and comments when you sail out into the Archipelago tomorrow in glorious weather 🤞

Bean Geese Ken! They look more like Barnacle Geese to me😉

On our two cruise visits to Stockholm in the summer the weather has been great. Helsinki and Tallinn too. Had it been bad I doubt I would have booked another Baltic cruise for 2025. I'm confident Ken you will get great weather shortly!🙏

That makes much more sense.

Well, my Sun cruise starting 10th August has been completely ruined with the closure of Park 19. I was going to spend at least an hour of my cruise on the glide roller. Perhaps more if I thought it annoyed those luxuriating in the Sanctuary below. Now what am I going to do instead? I'll use it going to customer services and demand compensation! 😉

Morning Ken I think your weather will continue to improve as you sail to Stockholm. The sail through the archipelago to Stockholm is on our list of the best things we did on a cruise. Enjoy Peter

I've just looked at the Santorini webcam this morning and there are currently seven cruise ships there. Blimey! OK, one of them is a smaller Windstar four master, but I've never witnessed so many there in a day.

Well ship lifts have worked fine for years despite ocean swells!

Entitled comes to mind!🙄

It’s great that there are so many restaurant choices. I'm not a fan of the buffet and will unlikely eat in the American diner on deck 8. We’ll hopefully enjoy traditional dining on deck 6 at 7.30 pm mixed in with a visit to Sabatini’s and the Teppanyaki venue. Might try Alfredo’s but with two visits to Naples I’d rather have the real Italian pizza at our favourite Pizzeria we found tucked away from the tourist tracks.

We are also doing the same cruise next year embarking 19 July. Never had a cruise booked so far in advance but it only required a £1 deposit per person. Not even told the wife yet!😉

It amazes me how that tiny mermaid statue attracts so much attention from tourists 😂 You can cross it off your bucket list now Ken!

My sentiments exactly.

Morning @Ken the cruiser I'm not sure if you remember but on our Regal Princess two years ago David Knight did the same thing. I was so impressed I bought his memory stick with a load of hypnosis for various sports, confidence, positivity and smoke addiction etc. I wanted it to improve my golf game, but after many listens I can't honestly say it made any difference. The memory stick did lighten my wallet by $115 however! 😂

We have Elite status but it isn’t in the slightest important to me. I swap between Princess and Celebrity. Itinerary, price and the next ship I want to be on is all that matters and I’m really excited to be on the Sun in 18 days time. Maybe I wil go on Star Princess next time or an Edge class ship. Loyalty will have nothing to do with my decision.

We introduced our two kids to cruising when they were young too. They loved them so much my DD worked up to Activities Manager with Celebrity and was even Cruise Director for a week whilst her boss was off to watch the Rolling Stones that he’d booked way before his ship assignment.

I was 11 on my first cruise and there was absolutely nothing for me and my brother to do. So yes we had great fun being little gits. The best bit was when we hit a storm in the Med’ and the adults couldn’t stomach it. Sick bags everywhere and we would joke and lark about. Other than Alpine skiing (my first passion) cruising has been fantastic ever since!

That’s our plan too. We are not foodies so I’m hoping it will be an entertaining experience with others sitting around watching the process.

Did you try the Umai Teppanyaki restaurant or Sabatini’s? How hot was the food in the MDR?

Thanks @Leo37 Great tips too. We are on the Sun in 18 days time and plan to use the Sea view terrace and bar often. Our cabin is on Deck 15 below it so perfectly positioned. We’ve done our itinerary many times so the ship is the real point of our holiday and to get away from the rubbish U.K. weather!

My Princess App is showing a scheduled stop on 13 August at 9 am, leaving at 10 pm. There are also 23 excursions available to book. Shame for those currently on the Sun as it's bound for Chania (Crete) on the ship webcam instead of Santorini.

On our last Baltic cruise I would get bread from the buffet and hand feed the lesser black backed gulls that followed the ship. One got stuck on the balcony below us trying to retrieve the bread it dropped! It just couldn't work out that if it flew onto the balcony chair it could then fly away from the balcony glass. Had to call the steward to have it rescued!

Hopefully the spacing of the ship arrivals and departures will ease the queue for the cable car. I've done the 588 steps up and down twice before. I'd do them again, but DW will definitely not! 🙄

Our Santorini stop is still scheduled for 13 August 2024. According to the port schedule there will be approx' 12,000 passengers able to disembark that day!😲

It's been said often about Norway. If it's not raining, then it's snowing! 😂 Superb pictures Ken