Catherine’s Palace is located twelve miles south of Saint Petersburg in Pushkin. Named for Peter the Great’s wife, Catherine I, the estate is now a museum housing art, furniture and weapons from the 16th-19th centuries.

The building’s white, blue and gold Baroque facade stretches nearly a thousand feet, topped by the chapel’s five golden domes. Although the Palace was destroyed after WWII, its restoration continues even today. The Palace’s world-famous Amber room, stolen in its entirety and lost at the end of WWII, has recently been restored in all it’s glory.

Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic will be calling upon St. Petersburg, Russia in the spring/summer of 2010. This week Disney Cruise Line invited a select group of journalists to preview their shore excursions in Tunis, Tunisia; Florence, Italy; and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Here is a tour of Catherine’s Palace where Disney will have a Signature Tour offering a “Princess Ball” in the palace’s ballroom. Imagine all the little girls dressed up in their Belle, Cinderella and Snow White costumes dancing in a real palace with Disney princess characters. How cute is that?!

Disney Cruise Line will be returning to Europe in the spring/summer of 2010. This week Disney invited a select group of journalists to preview their shore excursions in Tunis, Tunisia; Florence, Italy; and St. Petersburg, Russia. The winery/cooking school of Torre A Cenaia will be offered to guests when the Magic docks in La Spezia, Italy.

This shore excursion is more for adults and shows the other side of the cruise line, which caters to a large number of adults without children.

The best part about cooking school in Tuscany – eating what you’ve created.

In a few hours I’ll be taking off to Europe to test out shore excursions with Disney Cruise Line management. The Disney Magic returns to Europe next summer and is sailing the Mediterranean and and for the first time the Baltic region. Over the next eight days I’ll be visiting Tunis, Tunisia, Florence, Italy, and St. Petersburg, Russia. Disney has some amazing tours planned for guests next summer and I’ll be blogging about the experiences on the fly (literally).

What does Disney have in store? A lot! A princess ball in a real Russian palace, a treasure hunt in a Tunisian Souk, and for adults cooking school in Tuscany — these are just a few of the offerings. Stay tuned!

After the Disney trip I am staying in Italy for Costa Cruises dual inaugural of the Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica – it’s going to be a jammed packed two weeks. Post your thoughts or questions in the blog, I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Best,
Anita

Today construction crews at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany began work on the first of Disney Cruise Line’s two new ships.

The first steel cut was a piece of the retro scrollwork that will cover the bow of the ships (similar to the scrollwork on Disney’s existing Magic and Wonder ships, which the company says are designed to evoke memories of classic ocean liners from the 1930s).

“When we launched our business in 1998, we recognized a need in the marketplace for a cruise experience created just for families,” Karl Holz, president of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations, said in a prepared statement. “With these new ships, we are continuing to build upon that vision of providing more families with an unforgettable cruise vacation and the chance to explore new destinations with Disney.”

The unnamed new ships, which will each have 1,250 staterooms and weigh 128,000 tons, are scheduled to arrive in Port Canaveral in 2011 and 2012. They will carry 4,000 passengers each, about 1,300 more than the Magic and Wonder.