The Baltic continued to be kind to us. After a calm night the day dawned with calm seas and virtually no swell.
Our Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora would take us to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
Day 11 was Tuesday 23rd May and we sailing from Riga to Travemunde on a calm Baltic Sea
A beautiful day at sea
Breakfast was again in the main dining room. We were placed on a table with another couple who also had been on a privately organised tour of St Petersburg. They had been with a different tour companythan us but had been to all the same places. They had not had a ride on a hydrofoil to get to the Peterhof Palace but had been driven there and back in a mini bus.
As this was a sea day I queued at the Cruise Desk to pickup the forms to purchase P&O Future Cruise deposits. Sadly I was told that this offer would be discontinued shortly.
Russian bazaar
In the covered swimming pool area on Deck 12 there was a Russian themed bazaar.
This was selling all the expensive goods that we’d seen on offer from Kirov Arts. Other items on sale ranged from place mats, cheaper Matryoshka dolls and Christmas decorations to hats. The bright red CCCP T -shirt I bought had to be returned later as it was wrongly sized.
Out on deck
Out on deck I watched as Aurora passed other ships. The sun was in a blue sky but the wind across the deck was quite chilly.
I spotted another group of birds flying in formation away to the side of the ship but unfortunately the didn’t come any closer.
Lunch was at the P&O Peninsular Club lunch in one of the dining rooms. This private event is organised for regular passengers who have sailed many times with the line. Each table was hosted by either a ship’s officer or a member of staff. It was a busy lunch as there were over 250 passengers attending. The host for our table was the manager of the Cruise Desk.
After the excellent lunch we completed 10 laps of the Deck 7 Promenade Deck. As one mile is equivalent to 3.2 circuits, this meant that we did manage at least 3 miles. The sea around Aurora was just as busy as earlier in the day…
… and we were passed by a ferry also heading away from the Baltic states.
Our evening meal was a celebration of P&O’s 180 years.
The evening continued with a comedian in the Curzon Theatre. He did notice the rows of empty seats. Given the way he picked on passengers brave enough to sit close to the stage I was surprised that even more rows weren’t empty.
From our balcony I watched red lights across the horizon on wind farms.
… Day 12 Travemunde