Roemin Aboat

Another day spent cruising back to Southampton with more entertainment, photos and DJ eating.

Final stop was Hamburg and the huge market with lots of beer and mulled wine being consumed. The main market is in front of the Rathaus or town hall but there are many more scattered around the city.

Next stop was Copenhagen with the little mermaid and a walk into town to the Tivoli gardens. We walked around a lot round the picturesque harbour area and then to the gardens where we bought some more Christmas decorations including a set of Willies.

We arrived in Sweden in snow. A fleet of busses delivered us into the square where we were treated to lots of Christmas marketry  including a British Cheese and Pickle stall.

We spent the first day gently cruising across the north sea to Gothenburg.

We boarded the Queen Vic in late afternoon as Camilla Parker Bowles was the ships mother and had been for her annual lunch with the captain to commemorate the launching. This worked out quite well cos there were extra decorations and a choir singing round the piano.

Queen Vic in Copenhagen We had a last minute bargain cruise around the north sea Christmas markets in December. The ship was the Cunard Queen Victoria and we visited markets in Gothenburg, Copenhagen and Hamburg.

Eurodam in Quebec This was a special birthday cruise from Quebec in Canada to New York City, on Eurodam, with Holland America. Just a little too early for the brilliant autumn colours but some unforgettable days cruising the St Lawrence river and the eastern seaboard of the USA. We sailed into New York at sunrise to meet Mark and Katie and spent an equally good weekend of site-seeing in NY, from an apartment in Brooklyn.

We boarded the Eurodam and made our way to the stern cabin 6181 on deck 6 looking up at the castle on the hill. Mark and Katie had arranged a bottle of champagne and chocolates to be on the balcony so we started the cruise in style.

After a quiet night in the Premier Inn we were dropped off at Teminal 3 where we joined the queue at check-in and found we were behind another couple who were on our cruise. We flew by Air Canada from Heathrow at 10:50am and arrived in Montreal  at about 1:00pm local time. Then after a couple of hours transfer time we boarded a small turbo prop aircraft for the 50 min flight to Quebec. We spent the night in the Marriot Courtyard Hotel near the port and after a meal in small a French restaurant we walked down to a point where we could see the Holland America cruise terminal and the Eurodam waiting. Quebec is french speaking and everything about the town looks very French.

Arrived back home at midnight to -3 degrees, it was +30 a few hours earlier. Celebration had to anchor in the harbour at Sharm al Sheik and we disembarked by tender. The Costa Europa cruise ship was tied up on the wall (left) after being damaged trying to dock last week.  3 crew members of the Europa sadly lost their lives in the accident -  see bbc news. It meant a lot of extra work by our already hard working crew After the other accident near Marseilles a few days later, cruising is getting a lot of attention. Elf and Safety and 'No win, no fee' lawyers will be rubbing their hands with glee no doubt! Checkout a selection of our photos  here.

River Nile at Luxor A night away from the boat in 5* luxury at the Nile Palace hotel for a visit to the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Not allowed to use a camera in the valley! How did I cope? - by taking sunset pictures of the Nile of course. Just as we imagined it would be. Maybe we will go back for a cruise on the upper Nile some day. 

Who would have thought that a trip to the hidden city at Petra in Jordan could be cancelled due to fog and snow! Well it happened - the road thru the mountains was closed so the 16 coaches were turned back by the police. Very disappointing so we spent the afternoon browsing around the old town instead. Apart from that - an enjoyable cruise so far. (original blog from boats internet 'cafe' - photo added later)

We are off cruisin on the Red Sea on the Thomson Celebration this Thursday. Its Rosemary's birthday in 1st March so its a good excuse to get away from the cold weather for a week every year. Well its what we did last year so it may become a habit. I may try and update the blog from the boat too.

River Nile at Luxor We booked the Thompson Celebration again to the Red Sea specifically to visit the ancient site at Petra. Believe it or not the road over the mountains in Jordan was blocked by a freak snow storm so the tour buses had to turn round and we never saw Petra. We did manage a tour to the Valley of the Kings later with an overnight stay in a hotel overlooking the Nile at Luxor .

Celebration in Tenerife We were looking for a long weekend in Paris for Rosemary's birthday but ended up booking a last minute Thompson Cruise to the Canary Islands instead. We had not cruised before nor been to the Canaries so it was an opportunity to tick them both off. We loved cruising on the old Celebration and the Canaries were not bad either.