Friday, November 30, 2018

Friday, November 30, 2018: Details

I still do not have any volunteers to travel with me on the Baltic cruise. The cost of the cruise would be minimal since I am paying almost twice the cost as a solo traveler. The major cost would be the flights.

We are getting flights finalized. The trip utilizes two tour companies, Tauck for the Switzerland tour and Seabourn for the subsequent Baltic cruise. We have booked the flights from and back to the US using the Seabourn packages. I will have separately booked a flight on Swiss Air from Zurich (where the Tauck tour ends) and Copenhagen (where the Seabourn cruise begins).

Zurich to Copenhagen
At the end of the Baltic cruise in Stockholm, I will fly United back to Newark and then on to Houston
Stockholm to Newark

Newark to Houston

Friday, November 2, 2018

Plans

Back in March of this year, I was considering a Viking river cruise of the northwestern Russia and Estonia. Maxine sort of steered me away from that and pointed me toward a Seabourn cruise that would start in Copenhagen and stop at Tallinn (Estonia), St. Petersburg, Helsinki and end in Stockholm. It is only a 7-day cruise, but T and I loved Seabourn and this seemed to be a good introduction to the Baltic area. I told Maxine that if she could get me the Owner's Suite, to go ahead and book it. She did!

Maxine told me that she would be willing to go with me, but today, she called to say she was not going to be able to make the trip. The trip was booked as a single back on March 20, 2018. If no one else is available, I'll go alone. I have never been to any of the cities on the itinerary, so it would have been nice to have Maxine along. She's been everywhere.



The on-line itinerary says Day 1 is July 22, but my confirmation says July 20. Probably will be neither date. I have not made any flight arrangements yet nor looked into any pre or post cruise excursions.

I will sale on the Seabourn Ovation. It has 300 suites with a passenger capacity of 604 and a crew of 450. It is a relatively new ship, being launched in September of 2017.

I have the Owner's cabin #901, Deck 9 on the starboard bow.