Cruising The Baltic Sea: The Good and The Bad

I just returned from a 10 day cruise from Stockholm to Dover, with stops in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn (Estonia) and St. Petersburg. In celebration of my mom's 90th birthday, we took the cruise together. It was memorable. We were on a Crystal Cruise, so it was automatically good. Crystal tends to every detail. They think of things to do for you before you can even think of them. For example, when returning from a day of excursions on shore, they have juice, tea or water available for you before returning to the ship. They also offer you a cold towel! Little touches such as these make cruising with Crystal a six star experience. After day one, every waiter that serves you knows your name and what you like. Joe, our breakfast waiter greeted us each day with a cheerful "Good morning Dorothy, good morning Susie," and two hot cups of decaf coffee. Samrat, our headwaiter for dinner, frequently ordered extra goodies for our table. The preparation of escargots was so good that we had them several times as an additional appetizer for dinner. And have you ever eaten Salzburger Nocherl? Neither had I, but after having it once I couldn't resist asking for it again. I'll explain it's deliciousness some other time, but take my word, it is pure heaven. The other very good thing about cruising in general, is the wonderful people you meet. We had the most fabulous table for dinner each night, everyone very different, but the mix made a group that was full of laughter. A talent agent from New York, a retired banker from Corona del Mar, a dance host who worked on Crystal, the Mayor of Corpus Christie, Texas, two wonderful widows from New York, and us. We had a grand time, and many at our table are already planning a reunion cruise together. The bad part of cruising is the weight gain. I made the unfortunate decision of weighing myself on day 6, and it showed a gain of about 6 pounds!!! Could that possibly be right, I wondered? I eased up on the eating for the last few days, and when all was said and done, I had a gain of about 3 pounds. That's bad, but it was worth it. The only other bad thing I could say about this cruise is the immigration process in Russia, but that is not the fault of Crystal, and everyone must deal with it. They need to personally inspect every passenger. Lucky our ship was small and only had about 950 passengers or we might still be standing in line. We went on shore excursions in Russia, as that is the only way to see St. Petersburg unless you get your own very expensive visa. We visited the Hermitage, Catherine's Palace, saw most of the city by bus, and as the grand finale, went to a performance of Swan Lake. What a treat. Now I'm home again, back to reality, back to eating well, and hoping that those extra pounds will soon be off. It's great to travel, but there's nothing like home. So happy to be home with Ron and Pepper. Oh, I almost forgot to put in a plug for Air New Zealand. They are awesome. If you're not using mileage to purchase your ticket, check out Air New Zealand. (they are United partners). Their price is much less than most other carriers, and their business is class is fantastic. I slept about 5 hours on the way home, thanks to a 180 degree bed, with mattress and quilt. A perfect way to start and end a European holiday.