Cruise report, part 1
So last week I went on a cruise:) I had such an amazing trip, I can't believe it was only 8 days; I've seen so much, it felt like a couple of weeks worth of sightseeing! The ship left from Warnemünde in Germany then crossed the Baltic Sea to Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; with a stop in Copenhagen, Danmark on the way back.
I've made over 1600 pictures in total, so I'm dividing the picspams up in several parts. This first post is about the trip to Germany and the first day at sea. I'm also working on a separate post with all the food, because that deserves a spotlight on its own *grins*.
But first: Cruise picspam - part 1: exploring the ship
I had planned to take a train straight to Amersfoort (about 40 minutes) where I would get on a nightbus to Berlin, unfortunately right this weekend there was work being done on the tracks and there were no trains leaving from my town's station. It was really weird to walk through a completely empty station to get to the substitute busses.
So the bus took me to the closest station where trains were going from and all in all it took me about an hour now to get to Amersfoort where rain was pouring down, so I wrapped up my shoulder bag and backpack while I waited for the international nightbus to arrive.
It was supposed to leave at 00:20, but didn't show up until 00:35 which was quite nervewracking, pffff.
The nightbus arrived in Berlin on time though and I had little over an hour there to catch my connection. It then was another three hours on the bus to Warnemünde Werft. Pro-tip: bring one of those inflatable neckpillows, they may look silly, but your neck will be grateful:)
The Flixbus dropped me off at the Warnemünde Werft tramstop around 13:00, from there it was only a short walk to the wharf. (The ship is so big, you can actually see it from the tramstop:)
I had to cross the road through a tunnel and when I turned the corner, I got a great view of the ship, wahey!
LOOK HOW HUGE IT IS!! It has 16 decks for 3223 guests AND 1038 crew members, WOAH!
I didn't take any pictures during check in and registering. I brought my backpack on as carry on, but since the cabins wouldn't be accesible for another hour, I wanted to leave it at the temporary luggage area. I asked the handler if it was possible to freshen up somewhere and he was in the middle of pointing out the washroom to me but then said he was gonna check if my room was ready, because that would be so much better. He found out my room was already available, so I could take my bag up and actually chill \o/ Bless that man.
After I had freshened up and changed, I went out to explore the ship...
So fancy schmanzy, I was walking around like in a dream... until I got to the tigerbar, then I snorted back to reality, haha. Some areas were seriously too much;)
This is the beautiful hallway to my cabin and check out my double bed!
I went up to the buffet restaurant for a "welcome aboard" lunch Check out my special Cruise Food post here!
View of Warnemünde.
The bling elevators (there are 13 in total on the ship) and me chilling a bit more in my cabin.
I have the best room out of the restricted view selection; this window peeks right past the last of the rescueboats; other cabin windows are blocked by boats, but I can look outside, YAY! Thank you, lady at the travelagency who booked me this room.
At 17:15 all guests had to join the evacuation exercise, fun. And hey, look, it's right beneath my window, how convenient!
At 18:00 it was time for my first dinner on board; a la cart in the Quattro Venti restaurant (see food post for details;) As I never go out to eat, this felt like the height of luxury to me, so so good.
When I walked out of the restaurant, there was live music all over the ship. This was a classical group, but there is also a bar with pop music or easy listening.
Such a pretty backdrop with running water and changing colours.
I didn't care much for any of the music though, it was a bit too crowded for me inside, so instead I hung out on deck. <3
When I got back to my room, THEY HAD PREPARED MY BED FOR THE NIGHT, including romantic nightlights (even though it was still light outside;). I feel like a spoiled princess!
I did try a little nap before the theatre, but I was too excited;)
There were no pictures allowed during the show; it was called Sheherazade and it was a colourful performance with dance and acrobats, they were very impressive.
When I got back to my cabin it was dark outside, yet right outside my window was a blue nightlight, heh. The curtains blocked out all the light perfectly though, it was pitchblack in my cabin.
Haha! They were showing a video of the show on my tv to promote the cruise DVD, so I could at least take a picture of the acrobatics I saw!
The picture of the view is the next morning, 07:24, but we had had to move the clock forward an hour so it was 08:24 already:)
Today is a sea day, so I have lots of time to explore the ship even more. This is one of the pools, I didn't make use of that, as I'm more of a fan of actually swimming than hanging around poolside. Oh well.
I have breakfast with a great view! (See cruise food post for details)
There's a short meeting with explanations of life aboard the ship, I mostly take pictures of the sea *grins*
After that I'm going back to my cabin to enjoy the view.
My bednest is also very nice for reading (I'm rereading a J3 turned into original fic on my e-reader, it's my go-to comfort book).
Before lunch I hang out on deck for a while. Even though there are supposedly over 3000 guest on board, you can still find the decks completely empty!
I also read the rest of the afternoon, before I get dressed for dinner. It's a gala dinner, so I put on my best outfit (I was very worried that I wouldn't be allowed in the restaurant without a gala dress, but the atmosphere was very relaxed, pfew). No, I did NOT take a picture with the captain.
No theatre for me tonight (they put on a different show every night, but unlike the first evening, most of these are not my thing) instead I spent the evening reading. Gosh, this is the best vacation already and I haven't even done any sightseeing!
On the tv I can check where I am; in the middle of the baltic sea! Tomorrow morning the ship will arrive in Helsinki, Finland. For now it's goodnight:) *stares out the window some more*
To be continued....
J.
Part 2: FOOD! | Part 3: Cycling in Helsinki | Part 4: Art & History in St. Petersburg
Part 5: Cycling and strolling through Tallinn | Part 6: On my own in Copenhagen, Danmark
Crossposted from https://beelikej.dreamwidth.org/522344.html [
comments] Lurk or comment wherever you like:)
I've made over 1600 pictures in total, so I'm dividing the picspams up in several parts. This first post is about the trip to Germany and the first day at sea. I'm also working on a separate post with all the food, because that deserves a spotlight on its own *grins*.
But first: Cruise picspam - part 1: exploring the ship
I had planned to take a train straight to Amersfoort (about 40 minutes) where I would get on a nightbus to Berlin, unfortunately right this weekend there was work being done on the tracks and there were no trains leaving from my town's station. It was really weird to walk through a completely empty station to get to the substitute busses.
So the bus took me to the closest station where trains were going from and all in all it took me about an hour now to get to Amersfoort where rain was pouring down, so I wrapped up my shoulder bag and backpack while I waited for the international nightbus to arrive.
It was supposed to leave at 00:20, but didn't show up until 00:35 which was quite nervewracking, pffff.
The nightbus arrived in Berlin on time though and I had little over an hour there to catch my connection. It then was another three hours on the bus to Warnemünde Werft. Pro-tip: bring one of those inflatable neckpillows, they may look silly, but your neck will be grateful:)
The Flixbus dropped me off at the Warnemünde Werft tramstop around 13:00, from there it was only a short walk to the wharf. (The ship is so big, you can actually see it from the tramstop:)
I had to cross the road through a tunnel and when I turned the corner, I got a great view of the ship, wahey!
LOOK HOW HUGE IT IS!! It has 16 decks for 3223 guests AND 1038 crew members, WOAH!
I didn't take any pictures during check in and registering. I brought my backpack on as carry on, but since the cabins wouldn't be accesible for another hour, I wanted to leave it at the temporary luggage area. I asked the handler if it was possible to freshen up somewhere and he was in the middle of pointing out the washroom to me but then said he was gonna check if my room was ready, because that would be so much better. He found out my room was already available, so I could take my bag up and actually chill \o/ Bless that man.
After I had freshened up and changed, I went out to explore the ship...
So fancy schmanzy, I was walking around like in a dream... until I got to the tigerbar, then I snorted back to reality, haha. Some areas were seriously too much;)
This is the beautiful hallway to my cabin and check out my double bed!
I went up to the buffet restaurant for a "welcome aboard" lunch Check out my special Cruise Food post here!
View of Warnemünde.
The bling elevators (there are 13 in total on the ship) and me chilling a bit more in my cabin.
I have the best room out of the restricted view selection; this window peeks right past the last of the rescueboats; other cabin windows are blocked by boats, but I can look outside, YAY! Thank you, lady at the travelagency who booked me this room.
At 17:15 all guests had to join the evacuation exercise, fun. And hey, look, it's right beneath my window, how convenient!
At 18:00 it was time for my first dinner on board; a la cart in the Quattro Venti restaurant (see food post for details;) As I never go out to eat, this felt like the height of luxury to me, so so good.
When I walked out of the restaurant, there was live music all over the ship. This was a classical group, but there is also a bar with pop music or easy listening.
Such a pretty backdrop with running water and changing colours.
I didn't care much for any of the music though, it was a bit too crowded for me inside, so instead I hung out on deck. <3
When I got back to my room, THEY HAD PREPARED MY BED FOR THE NIGHT, including romantic nightlights (even though it was still light outside;). I feel like a spoiled princess!
I did try a little nap before the theatre, but I was too excited;)
There were no pictures allowed during the show; it was called Sheherazade and it was a colourful performance with dance and acrobats, they were very impressive.
When I got back to my cabin it was dark outside, yet right outside my window was a blue nightlight, heh. The curtains blocked out all the light perfectly though, it was pitchblack in my cabin.
Haha! They were showing a video of the show on my tv to promote the cruise DVD, so I could at least take a picture of the acrobatics I saw!
The picture of the view is the next morning, 07:24, but we had had to move the clock forward an hour so it was 08:24 already:)
Today is a sea day, so I have lots of time to explore the ship even more. This is one of the pools, I didn't make use of that, as I'm more of a fan of actually swimming than hanging around poolside. Oh well.
I have breakfast with a great view! (See cruise food post for details)
There's a short meeting with explanations of life aboard the ship, I mostly take pictures of the sea *grins*
After that I'm going back to my cabin to enjoy the view.
My bednest is also very nice for reading (I'm rereading a J3 turned into original fic on my e-reader, it's my go-to comfort book).
Before lunch I hang out on deck for a while. Even though there are supposedly over 3000 guest on board, you can still find the decks completely empty!
I also read the rest of the afternoon, before I get dressed for dinner. It's a gala dinner, so I put on my best outfit (I was very worried that I wouldn't be allowed in the restaurant without a gala dress, but the atmosphere was very relaxed, pfew). No, I did NOT take a picture with the captain.
No theatre for me tonight (they put on a different show every night, but unlike the first evening, most of these are not my thing) instead I spent the evening reading. Gosh, this is the best vacation already and I haven't even done any sightseeing!
On the tv I can check where I am; in the middle of the baltic sea! Tomorrow morning the ship will arrive in Helsinki, Finland. For now it's goodnight:) *stares out the window some more*
To be continued....
J.
Part 2: FOOD! | Part 3: Cycling in Helsinki | Part 4: Art & History in St. Petersburg
Part 5: Cycling and strolling through Tallinn | Part 6: On my own in Copenhagen, Danmark
Crossposted from https://beelikej.dreamwidth.org/522344.html [
comments] Lurk or comment wherever you like:)