This June, my wife Audrey and I went on the most wonderful twelve day cruise to the Baltic Sea. We found from Freedom Holidays that we could go cruising on the German cruise liner the Deutschland, which provides dialysis on board. We chose to go to the Baltic because it sounded interesting and it would be nice and cool. We were a bit apprehensive because we had never been on a cruise ship before, and certainly can’t speak German!
We arrived via Heathrow and Hamburg to board the ship at Kell in North Germany. Our worries were immediately evaporated by the very friendly welcome from the ships crew on the quayside, and the glass of champagne. The Deutschland is a very new vessel, beautifully internally decorated in the Art Nouveau style with lots of gold, mirror and burr walnut. Our cabin was superb.
On this cruise were 500 Germans, 6 English and 6 Americans. The ship has every facility you could ask for. The food and service was excellent and the crew kindness itself to us non-Germans.
The dialysis facility has six stations and was staffed by a Doctor and two lovely nurses; one of whom was Canadian. The dialysis was just as it is at home. The dialysis times were carefully arranged so as not to interfere with our trips ashore, the excellent musical entertainment on board, or the World Cup football matches.
We had brilliant sunshine every day with temperatures varying from the very hot to stinking hot. The sea was dead calm all the way. We visited in turn all the countries bordering the Baltic and explored their lovely historic cities. All we Americans and English did our sightseeing together with an English speaking guide.
The highlight of the cruise was the two days we spent in St Petersburg. On the first day we did a boat trip on the river Neva and through the canals, viewing the gorgeous palaces. On the second day we visited the world famous Hermitage Museum, formerly the palace of the Tsars. This is an immense series of palaces housing many thousands of priceless treasures and paintings. We were hurried through a seemingly endless string of opulently decorated rooms. We bought the DVD so that we can tour at our leisure at home. The heat was colossal and I was shattered by the time we got back to our air conditioned cabin.
All in all we had a most wonderful and memorable holiday. Quite the best we have ever had (except for our honeymoon in Venice). Would we do another cruise on board the Deutschland? Oh yes yes yes! Please send us the 2007 brochure, and quick!
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Page created: 14 November 2006
Last updated: 10 April 2008
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