At the end of my Black Sea cruise a couple of weeks ago, I was up at dawn for the cruise along the rather misty Bosphorus. As we docked, the sun was just breaking through the clouds to light up the minarets of Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, up on their hill, overlooking the [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Black Sea cruises’
October 4, 2010
In praise of small ships
Are you a big ship person or a small ship person? I’ve enjoyed fantastic cruises on anything from Queen Mary 2 (2,620 passengers) to Hebridean Princess (49 passengers) so can happily argue for both sides. But over the last nine days on Spirit of Adventure (352 passengers), I’ve definitely felt like a small ship person, [...]
October 1, 2010
Battlefields and (James) Bond in the Crimea
Sometimes, cruise ships’ shore excursions really do take you to places you’d never imagined in your wildest dreams. Our ‘Crimean Chronicles’ excursion from Sevastopol didn’t get off to a great start; in fact, it was a sharp realization that perestroika was really not that long ago.
September 27, 2010
Cruise chef leads market expedition in port
A lot of small cruise lines offer the opportunity to go shopping in the local market with the chef. But I’ve always found these visits a bit contrived, limited to certain ‘safe’ ports and run almost like an excursion. So when I asked Scott, the executive chef on Spirit of Adventure, if I could trail [...]
September 24, 2010
Postcard from Odessa
Spirit of Adventure is docked in Odessa today, along with Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Boreal. It’s a big day all round as the Ukranian Prime Minister is in town. We’ve seen his motorcade several times, along with crowds of photographers, heavy-duty security guards and one small, peaceful protest. Odessa is a revelation to all of [...]
September 21, 2010
Join us in the Black Sea!
Is the Black Sea one of the great undiscovered cruise areas? Or is it best suited to those interested in military history? I’m about to find out, hopefully, as I’m setting off on my own voyage of discovery today on the tiny Spirit of Adventure, which carries just 348 passengers. I’m flying to Bucharest and [...]
