The start of our trip was a little disconcerting as the reps at Gatwick had no idea that we had paid for seats on the coach...but after checking their computers we were allowed on.

The ship is lovely and very carefully decorated. I could not really improve on much except tea and coffee making facilities would have been nice in the cabins as on P&O. We had a cabin on deck 3 with an oceanview, it was all really very comfortable.

A little more thought could have gone into where we meet for tours as sometimes we had to walk half the length of the ship to get the sticker and then back to the middle again. My Mum is 91 and found this a bit tiresome. obviously eating in the Windjammer was a bit if a squash at times as the dining room did not open when in any port so we all converged up there 2,500 of us!!!!!!I suppose not simultaneously!!!!

The ports visited were I told really worth going to but I personally prefer scenery and nature and apart from 2 dead rats stuck together hanging from an overhead wire in the street in St. Petersburg we did not see much nature!!!!!Apparently my dead rat story was nothing compared to the week before when a dead man with a noose round his neck was in the water by the ship!!

We were lucky with the weather anyway...