Day 71 – Warnemünde, Germany
- (The trips to Berlin were all 2.5-3 hours by van or bus, so we didn’t do any of the offered excursions.)
- During breakfast, we saw some odd ships: one had a giant tower that looked like it could be lowered into the water. It turned out to be a ferry with a giant smoke stack. Another boat had a giant triangular “arm” that looked like it folded out off the nose of the boat.
- The dock was very nice. It’s too bad it’s not a city with a major airport for taking cruises that launch from here.
- We walked by a small amusement park area with beer gardens, RV parking, and more.
- After a super nice train ride and then a much older one, we were at the “best zoo in Europe” in Rostock.
- The whole zoo is like a forest. The paths are all shaded and nice. The landscaping was lush and green. It’s easy to see why they won “best” for their category.
- The penguins were great. It was the best penguin exhibit we’ve ever seen. The Mouse House was really cool, but very stinky.
- At the cafe, we had celery-shaped French fries that were amazing. I want to know how they cut them. Our chicken tenders were okay, but they were flavored with something like Zatar which was unexpected. They were also pretty sugary, somehow. I will never understand putting sugar on chicken. The guy working there asked where we were from. When we told him, he said he didn’t think he’d met any guests from there. He even said, “What are you doing here?” We told him we were on a cruise and didn’t want to do the long excursions to Berlin. He confirmed that they were garbage. He used to give them. With the mandatory “rest” break, it’s 3 hours from the port to Berlin. Then you have a 2 hour tour and maybe 30 minutes of free time before you load up and head back. He confirmed our suspicions.
- We took the “reverse” version of our same trains back to the ship, walked through the small amusement area, and saw some cool California themed sand sculptures. As soon as we got back, we ordered room service.
- For dinner, the Grand Dining menu did not speak to me, so we went to the Terrace Cafe (buffet). The German wiener schnitzel was great. It should be. Our chef is German.
- For some reason, our push off was quite late. We may never understand cruise choices.
- Next, we got pretty good “evil-c-word” news from our family member. That’s a big relief.
- We went to Martini’s for drinks because Horizons had crap going on. This is a pattern I do not like.
Day 72 – the Kiel canal, Germany
- Our view upon waking and at breakfast was of the edges of the canal. We entered it at about 4am. There were a lot of “ship spotters” who had come out to see the big boat go through. They all had cameras and seemed to be recording video rather than taking pics. It’s a pretty route. We are both confused as to why we didn’t enter the canal later, so we could enjoy it more. We were half way through it by breakfast.
- We passed a few bridges and ferries. One place even had a ferry under a bridge. The ferries are cable-driven because that uses the least amount of power. So a cable is tightened to pull the ferry across, but then loosened so it can sink to the bottom so that ships can pass through.
- To get out of the room for cleaning, we grabbed our tech and headed to the almost-full card room. With everyone on board, “work” was going slowly. I could work on some photo stuff, but not any of our writings in that louder environment.
- We took a break in our state room before lunch and then had good timing to get a table, finally. It makes a giant difference when they open the actual Terrace.
- After lunch, we went through the Brunsbüttel locks. It took about 45 minutes and wasn’t very entertaining. The depth change is dependent on where the tides are and a pretty minor difference of only a couple of meters.
- Apparently, 9 hours of sleep wasn’t enough; we needed rest. After our naps, we got to see the pilot (way out here in the sea? There is a bit of traffic, but this pilot must have stayed on for a couple of hours.). His boat came to get him and then he got off ours and on to that one to go back home.
- After dinner, we went to Martini’s (because Horizons was having puzzle games) and it was louder than usual with the nearby movie night, the casino opening, and all the people avoiding Horizons.
Day 73 – with SaS at IJmuden, Netherlands
- We could feel us moving while docked, it seems that a tug boat was holding us in place. We were also docked next to Semester at Sea. Throughout the day, we saw people touring it and suspected they were the parents with their college-age kids.
- By the end of our breakfast, it was pouring rain. We were glad we opted out of the excursions from this port.
- We went to a quiet corner of Horizons to work on a small personal project for a friend. By the time we were done with that, it was time to go to lunch. It seemed that a lot of people went into town. We just hoped they were staying dry. Since we had plans to come back to Amsterdam, we skipped trying to get all the way to Amsterdam from IJmuden. It is an hour’s drive and 2 hours by public transportation. He found a couple of smaller closer things to do in case our second day had better weather.
- At lunch, we noticed another group of Travel Agents touring the ship.
- After lunch, we moved over to the card room to get some work done. I’ve been doing this in bigger batches when people are off the ship and the Wifi is faster.
- We were scheduled for a later dinner seating of 2030, so we grabbed snacks in Waves to try to bridge the food gap and then went up to Toscana to work. They leave a little group of tables unset so people can play bridge, but all the bridge players must have gone ashore. From there, we could watch the weather move in and out. We also watched about 30 kite boarders playing in the massive winds and big waves. The waves crashing into the sea walls was really cool (but way too far off for a video.) Then I realized that our snacks didn’t work. I was hungry by 1630.
- Back in our state room, we charged all our screens. We also saw the Semester at Sea “kids” going through their safety procedures and finding their Muster stations. He took a nap while I did some more work.
- After a quick drink at Martinis, we went to our final special seating at Polo Grill.
- As we were walking in, we could see out the windows the Semester At Sea students were all gathered on an upper deck for their sail away. What a fun fall they are all about to have!
- Our food was lovely, but the experience was awful. They seated us in the far back corner, which would have been fine normally; we don’t care about views and stuff. But two very loud tables (one was the Canadian Magats, and this time, she was being awful to her table mate) were near us. We couldn’t even talk.
- When our steaks came (his medium-well NY strip and my medium-rare prime rib) they gave us normal table knives instead of steak knives. I get the safety concerns, but it was literally painful to cut my otherwise-lovely prime rib. I considered sending it back to the kitchen for them to cut it into bitesize pieces.
- It was also very hot where we were sitting. I took off my scarf and sweater that made me dressed enough. I pushed my food away, gave the Somallier my card, turned down dessert and left as fast as I reasonably could. I hated leaving such good food, but why in 2026 do they have halogen lights? Why haven’t they converted to LEDs? I hope they told someone that I left half my food over the temps in there.
- I went back to Martini’s. He took my sweater and went back to the stateroom to change. I sat at the bar absolutely shaking from…I don’t know, anxiety? Carlos, ever the sweetest bartender, just poured me my wine and did busy work while I wrote notes on my phone. After a couple of sips and some deep breaths, I felt a little better. Soon, I was much better.
- Overheard: “I’d like a ‘country club membership” type cruise….it’s a better idea than the Waffle House cruises.” ROFL I mean, he’s not wrong, but nothing about this cruise is remotely Waffle House. Let’s just guess who he voted for.
- And then, we were greeted by some cruise magic. Mary came back to sing with Miguel again and it was so great! Her dad was a very proud papa and recorded most of their whole set.
- He went back to our state room before me. Maybe I had zapped his energy earlier. That would be understandable.
- Then, later in the night, I couldn’t get into our state room. Turns out, I had someone else’s card. The Sommelier at the restaurant had given me the wrong card and the bartenders at Martinis didn’t catch it because she and I had the same drink package.
- When I got back to the state room, I found he had ordered me a shrimp cocktail, so I would at least have something else to eat before bed. My hero. He also ordered us some cookies, but they were not chocolate chip. What sadistic kind of ship doesn’t have chocolate chip cookies?
Day 74 – docked at IJmuden, Netherlands
- After our usual breakfast in the cafe, and caffeine in our state room, we went to the card room to game and work. It felt like everyone got off the ship; it was nice and quiet and the wifi was strong.
- We looked at the gray skies, the options in Haarlem, and the 40-minute ride to town, and decided to stay on board. It was a productive and restful day. We did most of our packing and wrapped up a post and prepped most of another.
- We also got to see a bunch of wind farm workers coming back on specialized catamarans. The teams of ~15 men were repairing coating, refueling generators and doing general maintenance. I guess this is why you sometimes see a whole section not turning.
- Push off was so gentle we only knew we moved after we shifted into a forward motion and we saw the world moving past us.
- We got dressed early for dinner so we could see Miguel and Mary sing together one last time. It was great for the cruise director to work them in and let us all enjoy their shared talents. Also, they played some 80s stuff!
- In Horizons, the Sebastiani Cab Sav was back! Color me happy…for one glass.
- Once we got a bit out into the sea, there were a ton of boats and ships. It’s a busy area.
- Dinner in the restaurant was near one of the couples we had chatted with and we ran into another while there. On the other side of us, was a single woman. She was visibly horrified at how much pepper he put on his food. She was shocked when she thought it was salt, but somehow saw pepper as a worse thing. The thing is, the pepper shakers in the dining room are (pretty but) stingy. He also loves fresh pepper and they were a tad bit late at offering him some.
- After dinner, we had wine in Martini’s and got to chat with some other new friends.
- We got to have a “fall back” night before arriving in London. That’s a great way to help make debarkation easier.
