CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019

May - June 2019

We are heading to London; train to Southampton and board Oceania’s Marina for a Baltic Cruise.
It is a 12 day cruise visiting Russia, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Sweden, and Germany. Read more

79footprints
9countries
17days
408photos
0videos
19.9kkilometers
7.0kkilometers

Follow Calendar Share Bucket list

Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- May 30, 2019, 5:14pm
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 1,079 m
- Canada Alberta Beddington Calgary International Airport 51.129558, -114.00395851°7’46” N 114°0’14” W
Day 1
Leaving Calgary (we hope)
May 30, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Here we go! Or so we thought; slight problem no captain for the plane! He is stuck in Vancouver on a flight that went mechanical. Tom thinks he can fly it but they won’t let him because it is a 787!
So we are waiting....and waiting and waiting. Our Starbucks card is running out of money,
Stay tunedRead more
Traveler Don’t they know Tom can fly ANYTHING!!!!
5/30/19Reply
Traveler Have a great holiday!! Glenn & Dawn
5/31/19Reply
Traveler Have a great trip
5/31/19Reply
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- May 31, 2019, 4:07pm
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: 48 m
- England City of Westminster St John's Wood Lord's Cricket Ground 51.5298, -0.169251°31’47” N 0°10’9” W
Day 2
St John's Wood, London, UK
May 31, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
We made it! After a two hour delay, the pilot finally showed up. He had all the lame excuses covered, airplane went mechanical, slow ATC, sick passenger, you name it. I have used them all and could see right through it. Once Dave got on board we got moving pretty soon and we left the smoke filled skies of Calgary behind us.

Dianne and I sat beside each other and over the course of our conversation she discovered that within the last year, I had lost the universal power adapter we bought on a previous trip. No problem, we could buy a new on from the on board duty free, just like last time. We can buy one, but not without being reminded of all the things I have lost over the past 40 years of flying. The list is long and Dianne rememberers every shirt, sweater, underwear, shoes, glasses, earphones, book, etc. 40 years is a long time and there are going to be some casualties.

We spent the remainder of the day walking. St John’s Wood is a quaint English area. The buildings are old, many have the corner pub ( overflowing on a Friday evening). We walked through Regents Park ( one of Toms favourite walks). We walked down Oxford street sightseeing the high end stores. At the end of the day we had logged over 31,000 steps!

Ladies; as you can see Dianne lost no time finding the elliptical machine to do her workout!Read more
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 1, 2019, 8:51am
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Altitude: 48 m
- England City of Westminster St John's Wood Lord's Cricket Ground 51.529791, -0.16920151°31’47” N 0°10’9” W
Day 3
Morning coffee at Regents Park
June 1, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
We went for a walk this morning around St John’s Wood and Regents Park and found a newly erected prison. It is to house a head of state visitor from the U.S. It is a large area, but it is still designed to hold someone incarcerated. Ironically the prison is situated between the zoo and the Grande Mosque of Regents Parker.

Our next excursion is to Southampton via tube and train. Dianne doesn’t trust me to be able to gather all of our belongings before we check out so she is packing our stuff herself.Read more
Traveler You married a smart woman!
6/5/19Reply
0 likes
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 1, 2019, 10:58am
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 48 m
- England City of Westminster St John's Wood Lord's Cricket Ground 51.529812, -0.16923351°31’47” N 0°10’9” W
Day 3
Off to Southampton
June 1, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Schlepping all my precious possessions from London to Southampton makes me appreciate not being homeless. Dianne being my equal and not one of my possessions means I have a partner in this endeavour. We make our way over road and sidewalk, curb and cobblestone, up and down stairs, in elevators, subways, and trains to our new abode by the sea. I booked the place and I knew that Dianne would critique the “Polygon Villas” eventuality. She started on the train ride by checking online reviews. The news, it seemed was not good. There was several reviews of the Polygon Guest House that rated the place as worse than crap! “Wouldn’t book my cat here”! Well Polygon Guest House is close in proximity to Polygon Villas, but it is an inferior establishment for sure. We have no cats here, a bathroom close by, albeit not in our room, and they are upgrading everything even as we speak. It’s not large but it is centrally located. We have been able to walk everywhere. Still though, Dianne is not entirely happy. Her main complaint is that our closet at home is larger than our room.Read more
Traveler 🤣😂we can’t wait for the next chapter!!!!
6/1/19Reply
Traveler I just love reading about your adventures. Have fun!!
6/4/19Reply
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 2, 2019, 8:27am
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Altitude: 25 m
- England Southampton 50.909392, -1.40902650°54’34” N 1°24’32” W
Day 4
Morning in Southampton
June 2, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
We wake in our cozy little cubicle to the sounds of church bells close by and by party revellers of the night gone by. There of course is traffic noise that is somewhat soothing. We are sipping a cup of coffee preparing for the next adventure that befalls us.
As we ready ourselves the wonderful aroma of our breakfast being prepared finds its way upstairs. We are new people today. No longer itinerant travellers seeking shelter where we can find it. We are the sheltered, who will be entertained and waited upon. It is easier to write about hard times than a pampered life. Hard times are a more interesting story. We’ll see how this develops.
Our new status means we are taking a cab to the boat.Read more
Traveler Think you should leave the hotel bookings to Dianne!
6/5/19Reply
Traveler Cute picture!
6/8/19Reply
0 likes
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 2, 2019, 11:49am
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- England Southampton Southampton Cruise Port 50.900486, -1.41516950°54’2” N 1°24’55” W
1
Day 4
Ms Marina
June 2, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Our boarding was 12 noon. We came at 11 hoping to avoid some crowds. We did,however there were a couple hundred with the same thought. Everything went smooth, check in, security and finally boarding. We checked out the ship, pretty nice. Now we make our way to the restaurant for lunch.

Well it is 5pm and we are off....wait a minute we have gone back to dock!
In the mean time our room is lovely And we are settled in enjoying a beverage and cheese plate.

I like it when there are problems with an operation that isn’t my responsibility. According to the Captain, the wind is too strong to leave the dock, although he did try. We now wait for a tugboat to assist our departure. I guess the aviation equivalent would be getting towed back to the gate because the taxiway is too slippery. Oh well it will soon be time for supper.Read more
Traveler Wow!! Nice room!! Remember our rooms when we went cruising as a family!? 🤣
6/8/19Reply
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 3, 2019, 2:30pm UTC
- ⛅ 12 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- North Sea 54.740845, 5.12187854°44’27” N 5°7’19” E
Day 5
A day at sea
June 3, 2019, North Sea ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
A day at sea! What to do? The internet doesn’t work well and it is chilly outside. We enjoyed a lazy breakfast in our room and then made our way to the gym. For an exciting afternoon we did laundry (Tom actually did it and I watched)
We have watched many large ships pass us by, and could see the coast of The Netherlands in the distance.

Tonight we are going to Jacques; the French restaurant on board. So we are dressing up and first going to the Captains welcome gathering and then for dinner!

Tomorrow we are going to be in Kristiansand, Norway.Read more
Traveler Glad you have enjoyed jolly ole England. Too bad the weather is a bit chilly. It is lovely here today... but rain on Friday.
6/4/19Reply
Traveler Enjoy your cruise in he Baltics. Some of our favorite places on earth include anywhere in Norway, Tallinn Estonia and Stockholm Sweden. All entirely enchanting. And next time you will have to visit Denmark, a little jewel of a country.
6/4/19Reply
Traveler Great pictures Dianne and Tom.
6/7/19Reply
Traveler Thanks for taking us through the journey of your exciting travels.
6/7/19Reply
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 4, 2019, 9:36am
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 18 m
- Norway Vest-Agder Fylke Kristiansand Kristiansand Port 58.145939, 7.99686758°8’45” N 7°59’49” E
Day 6
Exploring Kristiansand, Norway
June 4, 2019 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
At 8am we had docked. We didn’t get ourselves off the boat until about 9:00 and the town centre is only a kilometre from our berth. Not much open early so we walked and saw the sights rather than shop. While looking at a map, a young lady approached and asked if we needed directions. We had no idea of even where we wanted to go but her accent sounded familiar and we asked where she was from. She is from Canada of course, and has lived here for the last 8 years. She gave us directions to the library where we could access free internet and also to a wool shop where we could get everything we needed to knit a sweater. Being courteous Canadians, we followed her to the wool shop.
The town centres around the Kristiansand Cathedral. There is a large town square with sculptures, fountains and monuments. There are also food trucks and kiosks for every trinket you may want.
Posebyen, Kristiansand’s Old Town is a residential area that has kept its charm intact. The homes are low, wooden houses characteristic of a past era.
We went back to the boat for lunch and Dianne found a new way to get free wine. She asked to see the sommelier who provided a list of wine choices. She informed him she had a package, referring to the bottles of wine she purchased from Oceania at the beginning of the cruise. I’m pretty sure she winked at him. There was a rose’ in her bottles of wine, and she ordered a rose’. The sommelier thought the package was the daily drink package for basically unlimited drinks and he poured her a glass of wine without even asking her name. I think it was the wink.Read more
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 4, 2019, 1:20pm
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Norway Vest-Agder Fylke Kristiansand Grim Duedalen 58.146866, 7.97476558°8’49” N 7°58’29” E
1
Day 6
More exploring...Kristiansand
June 4, 2019 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Here are a more pics. The first two are the wharf as we got off the boat.
An artist carving a sand block in the park, Tom enjoying ice cream( apparently a favourite Norwegian pastime.
And the nicest looking McDonalds we have ever seen!Read more
Traveler Lol, your favourite dad ahahah 🍦🍦
6/8/19Reply
1 like
Traveler CRUISING the BALTIC SEA 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Jun 4, 2019, 2:02pm
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- Norway Vest-Agder Fylke Kristiansand Kristiansand Port 58.146469, 7.99612258°8’47” N 7°59’46” E
Day 6
still exploring in Kristiansand
June 4, 2019 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
1 like