The Princess schedule was a 4am arrival with a large team of Russian immigration officials boarding at 5am to process all passports, which the ship held, with an expectation that they would all be done and returned to all passengers between 7am and 9am. This seemed to go very well and we received our passports from our ever smiling room steward, Noel, at about 8am.
Ship berthed on the port side.
Our el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones worked - ‘Welcome to Russia’’ – but Paula’s outgoing text stalled.
As above, we had our stamped passports returned to the cabin.
The stamped passport had to be shown on leaving the ship, to the officials on board.
No sign of a HoHo bus.
Cruise cards checked on re-entering the port security area
On the final return to the ship, the passports had to be returned and all had to be accounted before the ship could leave.
Ship’s hand luggage scanning on return.
Last time we came to Vladivostok, we just walked the compact town and that was also our plan this time. I was still less than 100% but dosed with a Nurofen cold/flu tablet, I made it ashore OK. We’d left the ship around 10:15 and headed first of all for the adjacent railway station, and took a pic or two of the ornate ceilings. Way back at Arnold County High School, in 1961, I doubt that Mr Baynes, our Geography teacher, who was charged with teaching a class of disinterested lads and lasses, the route of the trans-Siberian railway, with exotic sounding names (to us) such as Omsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Vladivostok, would have ever thought that one of the least interested of his pupils, would have made it to Vladivostok not once, but twice - and also managed St Petersburg at the opposite end of the country, not to mention other countries he taught, such as New Zealand, Holland and Scandinavia. Mind you, I never thought that I’d travel either.
Anyway, we then headed for the square, where they were busy cleaning up after the previous night’s rock concert, and on to the submarine/war memorial, visible from the ship.
There was evidence of a parade of some sort, with a uniformed military band tuning up, a squad of soldiers and cadets and other uniformed personnel around. We stationed ourselves alongside the perpetual flame plinth and were shuffled back to the top step by a non-uniformed official. The hordes of Japanese tourists seemed to keep ignoring this ‘order’ and were constantly being moved back. On the dot of 11am, the band played a very sombre piece and the squad stood to attention, as the main parade participants approached, did a left wheel and three wreaths were placed on the monument, then, row by row, others placed their carnations. There was a 3 round gunfire salute from 3 cadets, then the band played 1 more piece, before marching away and then everything dispersed. No speeches of any sort. A couple of youngsters in traditional dress relived us of a dollar to have a pic taken. We would have given them more if he’d been able to play his balalaika, but that wasn’t going to happen as it only had two strings.
We retraced our steps, but explored a couple of other streets and shops, before heading to the pier on the other side of town, via a pedestrianised street, (with a fair bit of graffiti around) where many locals were enjoying the Sunday stroll, amongst market stalls and even a funfair/theme park. We turned around and headed back arriving at the dock about 1pm, where Paula’s negotiating skills for a couple of Russian music boxes, managed to get the two $40(US) items for no less than $80.
Back on board, we handed over our stamped passports, dumped our spoils in the cabin then headed up for a light bite. Over the tannoy throughout the day were reminders galore to make sure all passports were handed in, as we couldn’t leave until all had been accounted for.
We retired to the cabin, to rest our weary legs. On the balcony, it was surprisingly warm, whilst below us, on the railway, a gang of 5 were building wooden wedges to support the rolls of what we assume were sheet steel, to stop them from moving around in the rail wagons. There must be a better way.
As it was open dining, we ate well before the sailaway, which we thought would be about 7pm, as it was all aboard 6:30pm. Then the announcements started, “Would the following passengers please return their passports to the front desk” - followed by a list of about 20 names. Fifteen minutes later, yet another call, also repeated in Spanish for 4 passengers. Repeated again 10 minutes later. (We later found out that two of the people called were in the dining room…)
By this time, our sail-away group were getting a little chilly out on deck 11, but there were still several hundred people ashore waiting to wave us off at 8pm when we finally let go. A lot of people were very surprised that they enjoyed Vladivostok a lot more than they expected.
The 9:45 show in the Vista lounge was another Kiwi singer, Will Martin. He looks about 16, well presented in a nice suit, collar and tie and had a mix of recorded backing, the ship’s orchestra and his own piano playing. With a repertoire of light opera to Billy Joel and Elton John plus a two fingered version of a Bach Toccata (sp?) this was a brilliant performance, with a great sound quality and a well-deserved standing ovation. As Mark Turner commented afterwards, we don’t think we’ll see him on the cruise ships for very long, as he is so good. Paula bought his CD.
An 11:30 bedtime but clocks back an hour again tonight before another day at sea then Japan. Our last calls on the eastern coasts of the Pacific.
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