Azura's busy Baltic cruise....

Hi everyone!

Firstly, let me apologise for not posting a blog entry for the last week. As most of you know, we've just started Azura's first ever Baltic cruise, and to say that it's been busy in the Shore Excursions department is a huge understatement!

We've got a 2 day call to St Petersburg coming up this week and unless our passengers pre-organise a Russian visa in advance of joining the ship, nobody is allowed off of Azura's gangways unless they are on an organised excursion.

We've sold over 6,000 tour tickets just for these 2 Russian days alone (don't forget that we are visiting 6 other ports as well as this!), so we're working long days and enjoying absolutely no social life whatsoever. I missed the 'Welcome onboard cocktail party' AND the Portunus lunch this week and this is unheard of for me! (I always like to make time to socialise with passengers and find out how they're enjoying their cruise).

Russian authorities are very strict when it comes to people wandering into the country so we have a great deal of paperwork and administration to complete to ensure that everyone can embark on a hassle-free and enjoyable day ashore.

I've got SO much to tell you! (Jimmy James was onboard last cruise performing the most amazing shows as usual, we got heavily rained on in Kritiansand (our Norwegian forst port of call), I had 900 people in the theatre with me for my port presentation on St Petersburg (my highest recorded audience attendance to date - even beating my Panama Canal presentation in January 2010), and tomorrow we're in beautiful Tallinn in Estonia (the surprise port of call this cruise)!

I promise over the next couple of days I'll fill you in with all of the wonderful things happening on Azura. I haven't forgotten you!

Stay tuned!

Jo

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