Cannes and Nice, France (Riviera)

I Spent the day in Cannes and Nice today. It was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was the hottest it’s been yet and I was so happy to have some beach and swimming time! My morning started off early as we had to tender into shore on boats from the ship at anchor. There was a big red carpet as you entered the port at Cannes, signifying their famous film festival. The drive to Nice was nice and once there we were given an hour of free time. Irene (tour dept) and I walked around the flower market, went to the famous English promenade and I had a coffee with our tour guide Franc, who showed us the newspaper saying that George Clooney and Cindy Crawford were visiting the French Riviera. We took a little train ride around town and then to the top of Castle Hill park where we had an amazing view of the coast! It was great! Later, once back in Cannes, Irene, Suzanna and I went to the beach and had a very nice swim! I spent my afternoon swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! I also had the best Panini Roma I have ever had! Today was a beautiful, beautiful day!

Gibraltar, UK

I wasn’t really sure what to expect in Gibraltar. It is a British ruled territory right next to Spain. The big attraction is “The Rock” which had absolutely fabulous views over Spain, and North Africa. I went on a tour in the morning that took me up the cable car right close to Gibraltar’s most famous inhabitants, the monkeys! They were everywhere, and there were so many of them! A little vicious, and apparently they will bite, so I kept a little distance. Later our tour took us through the Great Siege Tunnels inside the rock that were used during the big invasion “The Great Seige”. It was pretty neat and I definitely got a big dose of history lesson that day! Later went through the Gibraltar museum and then wandered through town on my own. I had a drink and a toasty bacon sandwich at a sidewalk café and people watched and wrote a couple postcards. It was great and so nice to just explore on my own a little bit. The town had a nice little square in the middle where I came with Alex later for ice tea with a short walk back to the pier.

Oslo, Norway

The last port of this cruise we stopped at today! I was scheduled for a tour called the Highlights of Oslo, but I slept too late, and almost missed it. We had a Big White Star staff party on the outer deck last night! There was a live band, free drinks, it was fantastic! I raced down to the Queens Room just in the nic of time this morning, and I was so tired! Our tour visited the oldest Ski Jump in the world, Holmenkollen, used for the Olympics in 1952. We then took a walking tour of the Vigeland Sculpture park! It wasn’t too sunny in Oslo, but the weather was mild and I had a nice time walking around! I came back for a rest, and then took a walk around Akershus Castle and fortress!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Today was amazing! It has even topped Stockholm, for being my favorite spot yet! I took a one hour canal cruise which was beautiful! Nikki and I were on the same open air boat, it was great! Copenhagen is made up of little islands and waterways, many people live in house boats. We saw the statue of the Little Mermaid, a landmark based on Hans Christiansen’s story. Nikki and I decided to walk from the boat through town and to Tivoli theme park. Today in total we walked over 4 hours straight. I was exhausted! There was so much to see and do! I got a Danish hot dog, very different but definitely the best hot dog I have ever had! We were really lucky because the admission to this park is over $40, however we were just wandering around and ended up inside (for free!), we have been so lucky I tell ya! On the way back we wandered though the shops, H&M, Zara, etc. and I picked up a couple postcards. Denmark has the highest taxes of anywhere in the world! A very expensive place to live! Very beautiful!

Stockholm, Sweden

So far this is my favorite city I have stopped in! When I looked out my window I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was! I went on a tour in the morning “The Best of Stockholm” which took us on a tour of the city via bus, stopped at a viewpoint, and visited city hall and the Vasa Museum. The Vasa Museum was unbelievable, all based on the wreckage of a great Boat the king had ordered built, which sunk while only 20 minutes into its journey. They recovered it from the ocean after over 300 years and house the original here. It was so interesting, I just could not believe my eyes really. Very cool! Later Nikki and I met up and went on a tour of the Absolut Ice Bar! They put us in furry winter coat like ponchos and gloves, and we were served vodka in a glass made of ice. I was wearing flip flops so my feet were freezing, but it was still really neat! Later we shopped around a bit, Sweden has some amazing shopping streets, and I had some Swedish Meat Balls! Yay! Sweden is absolutely gorgeous, a city made up of a bunch of islands. When we sailed away, passed the archipelagoes, it really reminded me of the Gulf Islands! If the tax wasn’t the highest in the world, I could definitely live here! Stunning!!!

Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki was very cool! We walked through a park where they had performers to the waterfront where we stopped at a market like place where I grabbed an excellent sandwich. The place reminded me a bit of Granville Island. We walked the steps that led up to a large white cathedral and Danette and I later left the group and enjoyed an ice coffee atop a boat café. It was lovely. Later we walked around the market where people were selling everything from grilled salmon and herring, to wooden bowls and silver jewelry. Helsinki I found very expensive! They use the Euro there but everything was very pricey!

St. Petersburg, Russia

The last two days have been spent in St. Petersburg, Russia! Wow! So amazing! The weather has been fantastic as well, in what is usually a really dark and gloomy city. The first day I took the Grand Tour of St. Petersburg (this tour includes everything and is worth a couple hundred dollars). So I jumped at the chance to go. I was the escort which meant I had make sure everyone got on the bus, didn’t get left behind etc. We saw Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Isaacs Cathedral, The Hermitage (former winter palace full of some of the most famous art work in the world), and the Church of Spilt Blood (which was amazing, the whole church was completely done in mosaics. I have never seen something so fascinating when it comes to art and architecture!) We had lunch in a Russian restaurant and were served Caviar and Vodka. Lastly, we took a Canal tour of St. Petersburg which they call “Venice of the North”. It was my favorite part of the day, we went under at least 20 bridges, and saw the most amazing sights! There was a little boy who ran to each bridge and waved to us from above. He must have run for an hour straight, it was really cute! Last night everyone went out to a club called Papanin in the city! It was really fun, they had a casino there and we were all given a free $5 chip, I turned mine into $30 playing Black Jack! It was really busy, lots of Russians of course, but there were so many crew from the ship!

When we left Russia today we sailed pass a huge, old Russian Navy base, and the view with the sun setting was amazing!

Ship Life

Life on board the Queen Victoria has been great! Here I am with the QV behind me on the right hand side. I am really enjoying the cruise, still doesn’t really feel like I am working, but when I am, it’s really fun!

Estonia and Poland

Yesterday went to Gdynia, Poland. It was a nice waterfront city, with a lot of ship history and museums. We took a walk through town along the sea side and went for lunch! Had some Polish beer and soup! I wanted to have perogies, but I did not see them on the menu, and when I asked our waitress she had no idea what I was talking about. Hmmm… none of the British people have ever heard of them either.

Today we went to Tallinn, Estonia, a country off the coast of Latvia and Russia. It was beautiful! I really enjoyed walking around the cobblestone streets of the old town taking in the old buildings and sidewalk cafes. We also found an amazing viewpoint of the city below! I would never have thought to come here, but it was really a sight to see!

First couple days on the ship!

Well I can honestly say everything is even greater on board than I expected! Sometimes I wonder how I get so lucky! My first two days have been great! The ship is beautiful, and very elegant, as well as all the passengers lucky enough to be spending their holiday here. There are 7 of us working with the teens, 3 Canadian, and 4 British.

I am sharing my room with Nicola from Northern England, she plays professional soccer and is about to become a police in London. She is so nice and fun! The best part about our room is we are in a passenger cabin! Not a small one either, when I saw it I could not believe my eyes! We have an OCEAN VIEW!!! It is amazing! Since we are the seasonal youth staff, and they ran out of crew cabins, we were placed here. So for the next 5 weeks I have room service, a wonderful big window looking out to sea, and a cozy white robe and slippers! Talk about luxury!

There are 6 of us working on the ship with the teens, but hardly any children! The teen center is filled with big screens, PS3's, Wii's, and Rock bands! We were told right away that we would never have to work a port day, which means I can see every city on the itinerary!!! We will also be working very minimal, if you even call it work!? Today, for example I started at 4pm, and held a one hour tennis tournament for the teens, at 9:30 we held a scavenger hunt around the ship, then we went to watch the show in the theater! We haven’t received our I.D. cards yet which meant we couldn’t get off the boat today in Belgium, which was a little disappointing, but I was so tired I slept in until 1:30.

So coming up…. Poland, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia! I found out we can sign up to go on any of the day tours for free! This is great because they need crew to report on the quality of the tour each time. I am stoked because some tours cost hundreds of dollars, I will be taking full advantage of this for sure!!!

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you xox