Not a lot to write about today. I hate it when you wake up in your hotel room or ship cabin and realise that you are going home today. 🙁 We got up at 8.00am and got ready to go down for breakfast. The coach was not coming to collect us to take us to…
A Trip into the Countryside
Got up at half-past seven this morning, so we had plenty of time to have some breakfast before our excursion at 9.00am. Looking out of our window, we were dismayed to see that it was raining. When we arrived at the dining room and went to the juice counter, we saw that there was a…
Learning Latvian Lore
Got up at 7.30am after an excellent night’s sleep. We got washed and dressed and made our way to the hotel’s dining room for breakfast. There was quite an unusual array of foods for breakfast; as well as the usual bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, cereal and toast, there was also green salads, charcuterie, vegetables and…
En Route to Riga
When the alarm roused us from sleep this morning at 5.15am, we were momentarily confused that we were not in our own bed. Then it only took seconds to realise we were in the Russ Hill Hotel near Gatwick Airport, having travelled down from Durham last night. The reason we were here was because we…
Bye Bye Balmoral
Not a lot to write about today. We woke up in our lovely balcony cabin at eight o’clock and made our way up to the Avon restaurant for breakfast, enjoying bacon, egg, sausage and mushrooms washed down with orange juice and coffee. We didn’t have to be out of 9088 until 11.00am, so we had…
Roaming around Rhodes
Woke up just before sunrise at 7.15, to an orange glow in a strangely-clouded sky. Decided it was worth a photo and got out of bed and went outside onto the balcony. Afterwards, I went back to bed and snatched another 45 minutes’ sleep before rising once again. The Balmoral was making her way into…
A Port of Call in Crete
As we didn’t have any excursions booked today, it was around 8.00am when we got up this morning, shortly after the Balmoral docked in the port of Agios Nikolaos, Crete. We hadn’t visited this island before, so we looked forward to exploring, especially as it looked as if the weather was going to be warm…
Strolling around Santorini
Got up at seven o’clock and went out onto our spacious balcony, from where we were happy to report the weather was sunny and warm. If there was only one island visit where the weather absolutely had to be perfect, Santorini was it. 🙂 We went for our breakfast in the Avon restaurant once again…
Piraeus and Poseidon
When we got up this morning at 7.00am, we saw that we were docked in Piraeus, mainland Greece and gateway to Athens. It was still dark, but it looked so picturesque I had to take a photo. We had last been to Piraeus in 2022, to join the Azamara Pursuit for a fabulous 9-day Mediterranean…
Kicking Back in Kalamata
Got up at eight o’clock this morning as we didn’t have any excursions booked, preferring instead to explore on our own. Going out on our balcony, we were disappointed to see that it was still cloudy, but at least it was dry. We went up one deck to the Spey restaurant for our breakfast. The…










