The Band

We have continental breakfast delivered to our room and listen to the band outside on the quay while we get ready to go out on a four-hour tour of the city.

Morning Call in St Petersburg

I am half asleep yet can hear a band playing. Has someone switched on the TV? the bedside clock reads 7.00am. I draw back the curtains and peer through the porthole. We have arrived in Saint-Petersburg. We are being serenaded by a brass band on the dock.

All at sea

Wednesday is a full day at sea.

I attend three port-talks. These are quite informative but the young lady giving them has quite obviously no extensive knowledge of the ports and is reading a prepared script. The main emphasis is to push the organised shore excursions. She positively discourages people from making independent tours. In the case of St. Petersburg where independent touring is not really feasible, then fair enough. I do feel the difficulties at the other ports though are exaggerated.

I take the opportunity to do some washing. The ship has three laundry rooms with washers, dryers and ironing facilities. You only have to pay for the washing powder. This time I have brought my own.

Late in the evening there is a huge thunderstorm. We are in bed by then but the lightning flashes through the curtains. I hear later that many people watch the storm from the Crow's Nest and enjoy a spectacular show.

Down the Solent

Shortly after 5pm the ship pulls away and heads down the Solent towards the Isle of Wight and the English Channel.

Our evening meal is taken in the Medina Restaurant. As last year we are on the early sitting which suits us well. We share our table with some newbie cruisers, a couple from Prestwich only a few miles from us and a couple from Hampshire. Making up the eight are two women from Nottinghamshire. I'm not sure if they are mother and daughter or just friends who met through work. They've certainly been on several previous cruises together. The Hampshire lady is also in a wheelchair, but a manual lightweight folding one so she is able to access some of the excursions unavailable to Christine.

After dinner we go for a stroll around the ship. Christine buys a lovely sunhat. It proves to be a useful purchase as the sun shines for the majority of the cruise. We visit the Tours Office and find that, in addition to ones in St. Petersburg, wheelchair-accessible excursions are also available in Copenhagen and Helsinki. We get our names put down for them.

Before we go

Following our extremely enjoyable 2005 cruise we decide to take a new P&O cruise in 2006. As most of the stops in 2005 were at tender ports, Christine, confined to her wheelchair, was only able to enjoy a small time ashore. Other passengers on that cruise recommended we go on a Baltic cruise as most of the ports there are fairly accessible.

Discussing our plans with Accessible Travel and Leisure aka Cotswold Cruise Club, we learn that accessible excursions are possible in St. Petersburg. An email to P&O later confirms this. We are already familiar with the layout of the Aurora and this time choose an outside cabin.

We'd flown down to Southampton before but the times of the flights have changed. The Saturday return flight is too early for us to catch and the Sunday return flight is not until late afternoon.

Checking the railway timetable we find there is a direct train from Southampton to Stockport about 1.15pm on the day we return. We decide that the easiest option is to catch a Friday afternoon train down to Southampton and stay overnight ready to board the next day.

We select an overnight hotel and book it. Some of the ones we consider are already full.

One cannot book rail tickets more than three months in advance. When I come to contact Virgin Rail about booking, I'm first informed that they can't confirm the return train and suggest ringing again a few days later. When I do, I'm told that the selected train only has one wheelchair space on it and it is already booked. I'm offered a journey that involves changing trains twice!

We conclude that we'll be better off flying down after all. I book the flights online with British Airways. I phone their Mobility Centre who already have our flight details. We give them information about the wheelchair and they arrange for all the help we will need
for boarding the aircraft to be on hand.

It actually costs less to fly than go by rail, even though our Disabled Rail Card gives us a third off rail fares.

I phone the overnight hotel and move our booking from the 9th to the 24th June.

A month before we are due to depart I telephone Airport Carz only to find that they no longer accommodate electric wheelchairs!

Fortunately we get to hear about Roland Travel of Dukinfield and book the transfer with them.