It has been an exhausting but exhilarating day touring in St Petersburg, Russia, and we are preparing for a second day of touring tomorrow.   But for now I will briefly cover Rønne, Denmark; Gdansk, Poland; and our day at sea.  I will then be caught up to our current port.

Thursday, 28 August 2014

Rønne, Bornholm, Denmark

We arrive in the port of Rønne on the island of Borholm at 10am, about two hours behind schedule, because of yesterday’s delays.  But the Captain has decided to extend our stay two hours later and still get to the next port on time.  Bornholm is a large island in the Baltic Sea that has changed hands between Sweden and Denmark over the centuries, but today belongs to Denmark even though it is geographically closer to Sweden.  It takes about five hours, by a combination of hydrofoil and bus, to reach Copenhagen.

Rønne, the main city on the island, is home to about 16,000 people, and survives on fishing and tourism.  Our tour takes us out of the city and across the island to two small, picturesque fishing villages:  Gudhjem (the home of God), and Svanake.  The former is home to about 800 residents—our tour guide was born here but today makes his home in Copenhagen—the latter about 1,100.  Both villages overlook the sea and contain many well-maintained half-timbered houses and souvenir and craft shops.  Svaneke even has its own beer brewery.  This is a very low-key tour; our guide has a droll sense of humor about his native land, and we get to enjoy an hour in each town to explore and shop on our own.  There is an interesting pottery shop in Gudhjem (Cassiusclay) and a glass-blowing workshop in Svanake.  Both villages enjoy a mild climate and are popular with local tourists as well as visitors from cruise ships.

 Saling into Ronne Harbor

Traditional Round Church on Bornholm

Gudjheim Village

Svaneke Rooftops

Will at the Bus Stop in Svaneke

Friday, 29 August 2014

Gdynia/Gdansk, Poland

On Friday morning, the Prinsendam docks in Gdynia, part of the urban agglomeration of Gdansk, the largest port in Poland.  Although Gdansk has always been a cultural center, because of its military importance it was bombed to the smithereens by both the Germans and the Allies during WWII.  Close to 95% of the city was destroyed, but the old city center has been restored to its colorful and pristine condition (perhaps a little too perfect and pristine).  Gdansk is also the home of the Solidarity movement and there are many political monuments throughout the city.  The ride from Gdynia to Gdansk takes about 20 minutes.  A bus and walking tour takes us to the highlights of the city and we even have about an hour of free time for exploring on our own.

We are back on the ship in time for lunch in the Lido Buffet and a good power nap in the afternoon before another dinner.  For some reason, dinner service is very slow and sloppy tonight, quite unlike the usual on Holland America.

 Solidarity Memorial

Gdansk Old Town 

 Gdansk Old Town

 Gdansk Old Town 

Saturday, 30 August 2014

Sailing from Gdansk to St Petersburg:  Day at Sea 

Today is a welcome day at sea, with nothing much to do except eat and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We have a leisurely breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and then it’s time for the Mariner’s Champagne Brunch in the Main Dining Room.  The Mariner’s Club is Holland America’s repeat voyagers’ organization; the more days you accumulate, the more benefits you receive.  On this cruise I will achieve 4-star level, requiring the equivalent of 200 sea days (and/or money spent aboard the ships); Will is a two-star mariner, but should be close to three-star level.  Four-star used to be the highest level, but HAL has recently introduced a five-star benefit—but it takes 400 days to achieve (quite a jump from the 200-day four stars).

Tonight is the second scheduled formal night—you may recall that the first one was made optional—and there will be one more on the last night of the cruise.  Not too many people wear tuxedos or gowns, and we feel quite comfortable in dark blazers and ties.

Today is a sea day as we continue to sail from Gdansk to St Petersburg, where we will dock tomorrow morning at 7am.  But for now I will return to the narrative of

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Hamburg to the Baltic Sea via the Kiel Canal

We sail out of Hamburg at the scheduled time of 6am, heading to Bűttenbuhl at the western entrance to the Kiel Canal for a scheduled 10am entry.  But one of the locks is not working and thus traffic in both directions must alternate through the one available lock.  Because there are many other ships waiting for entry, the Captain announces we will be delayed four hours, but it is actually well over five hours before we enter the canal, and we must travel at reduced speed because of our excessive width.  But the weather is bright and warm so the waiting time is not unpleasant.  We enjoy a buffet of typical German food outdoors on the Lido Deck:  sauerbraten, sausage, sauerkraut, red cabbage, salads, and cold cuts.

 











 

We finally enter the locks after 3 pm and get some very good views of how tight the passage is.  Since the sun doesn’t set until almost 10 pm, we will still be able to see about half the canal’s 68 mile length in daylight.  Unlike the tropical scenery and large-ship traffic in the Panama Canal, there is not much going on in the water here.  After passing through the village of Bűttenbuhl, we see a series of petroleum refineries and heavy industry.  But very soon we pass under an automobile bridge and emerge into a pastoral landscape of quiet fields and farms, interspersed with small villages, each with its own ferry stop for crossing the canal.  The canal is bordered by a well-tended bike- and walkway, with many folks stopping to fish or walk their dogs.  We sail under a very long train bridge and watch trains pass over in both directions.

  

As the sky darkens it is time to get ready for dinner.  Tonight is supposed to be the first formal night, but because of the delays getting into the canal, the Captain has decided to make the dress code optional—and to offer complimentary champagne with dessert.  Will and I both start out with shrimp cocktail, followed by pistou for Will (a kind of French minestrone) and fois gras pate en croute for me.  The main course is NY strip steak with potato and vegetables (Will), and rack of lamb (Larry) that begs to be picked up and gnawed off the bone—so, of course, I oblige.  For dessert we both have deliciously creamy individual chocolate soufflés.

The Prinsendam entertainers—five singers and two dancers—present their first production show, “Bravo,” featuring songs that have made the transition from London’s West End to Broadway, and the reverse.  The cast is young and athletic and they favor songs more rock-and-roll than traditional Broadway (Mamma Mia, Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, etc.).   There is a five-piece band, the costumes are flashy, and the choreography is energetic.  The audience loves it and gives them a standing ovation—or is it for us as we head off for another night’s sleep prior to our next landing in Rønne, Denmark.

It is another beautiful day—and warm too—as we sail out of Gdynia, Poland, a suburb of Gdansk, and make for the open waters of the Baltic Sea.  Tomorrow is a sea day, with plenty of time for rest and relaxation after two days of heavy touring.  We are heading for St Petersburg, Russia, and will spend two days there in port.  So far, the weather has been beautiful and the sailing has been very smooth.

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Hamburg, Germany

Full-Day Excursion to Berlin

Because we have an early shore excursion today, we opt for room-service breakfast, which arrives on time, with hot coffee, cold cereals and milk, assorted pastries and muffins, and all the usual accompaniments.  There are three tour buses taking passengers from the Prinsendam to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, a very large train station with a traditional glass and steel train shed that floats over ten or twelve tracks.  It is also a very busy station, especially at rush hour in the morning.  But our tour guides are well-practiced and lead us to the right platform in time for the ICE (InterCity Express) which whisks us at high-speed non-stop (well, one brief stop in a Berlin suburb) from Hamburg to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, another glass-enclosed station, this one newly built after the reunification of Germany, with four levels, wide platforms, and tracks going both east-west and north-south.

                                                                                                                                                     Berlin

Hamburg

The German rail system (DB) is very modern and very busy.  High-speed trains run on dedicated tracks and achieve speeds over 120 miles per hour, smoothly and quietly.  There is a digital speed calculator in each car, which is the only way you can tell how quickly you are moving.  We have each been given a snack bag to enjoy on the train, with sandwiches, fruit drinks, water, cheese, and fruit.  It’s just 90 minutes from Hamburg to Berlin—when I first rode this route from Berlin to Hamburg in 1987, it took about 4 ½ hours!

I have been to Berlin many times, both before and after the demolition of the Berlin Wall, but this is Will’s first visit.  In 2012 I spent five days here before taking the train to Amsterdam to join a cruise.  Even though I know the city well and public transportation is efficient and easy to use, the limited time has convinced us that being on a tour is the best way to see the highlights of the city in one day.  Our tour bus and guide—a Welshman named Sean, who has lived most of his adult life in Berlin—is waiting as we exit the train station and we begin in the former eastern part of the city, driving past the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and Potsdamerplatz, the last three of which we will return to later for longer looks.  Our first stop is at Checkpoint Charlie, now just a kitschy tourist attraction, but formerly an important border crossing between East and West Berlin. 

We turn round and head back through the former eastern part of the city, passing the Gendarmenmarkt, with its two beautifully restored churches (now both museums) and concert hall—you can find pictures of this area on the blog entries from 2012.  We stop nearby at Bebelplatz, site of Humboldt University, St Hedwig’s circular church, and the site of Hitler’s infamous book burnings.  We drive through the former soviet sector’s Alexanderplatz, with a full-size advertisement for Return to Planet of the Apes and its famous TV tower, and Museum Island, with a matchless collection of art and history museums (again, check the blog from 2012).

From here we drive to the “Berlin Wall Gallery”—a long strip of street paintings on one of the few remaining pieces of the Wall— with a series of pictures of public feeling about the Wall.  This is also the site of the new O2 sports arena. 

We are all hungry again, so the three buses drop us at the Nolle Restaurant, under the railroad tracks that emerge from Friedrichstrasse Railway Station, which you probably know from the film Cabaret.

After an excellent lunch served family style with local beer, we take a short ride to Unter den Linden (Berlin’s answer to Parisian boulevards), to Pariserplatz and the Brandenburg Gate.  From here we walk to the quite-controversial Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, with over 2500 concrete stele and disorienting pathways.  A drive through the post-modern architecture of Potsdamerplatz, past the museums of former West Berlin and the Philharmonic Hall (pictures on earlier blog), brings us to Kurfurstendam and the final stop of the day, KaDaWe, Berlin’s finest and most famous department store, where we have one hour of free time to browse and shop, before busing back to the train station for the return trip to Hamburg (with another snack pack).

It’s after 9pm when we reboard the Prinsendam, after the 12 ½ hour excursion.  We have eaten so much all day that we just go back to our suite and call it a day.  The ship sails at 6am tomorrow morning, but we are not planning to get up for the sail away festivities.

The Prinsendam is anchored off the entrance to the Kiel Canal, which bisects Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany to connect the North and Baltic Seas, while we wait for the busy canal traffic to clear.  There is only one lock in operation, instead of two, so passage has slowed down significantly.  But it is a beautiful afternoon, with bright sunlight and warm temperatures, and there are views of the placid countryside along the banks of the Elbe River as well as the many cargo ships also waiting to enter the canal.  So while we are paused, I will continue with the narration I left off on Saturday night.

Sunday, 24 August 2014
Amsterdam

Our primary task this morning is to wait for the coach to take us the 45-minute drive from central Amsterdam to the cruise port at Ijmuiden on the North Sea Coast.  The three previous cruises I have taken from Amsterdam have left from the City Port, conveniently located within a short walk of Central  Station (in fact, I always stayed at the Mowenpick Hotel, only ten steps away from the port).  But for some reason, this year the Prinsendam is departing from and returning to Ijmuiden.  The ride to the port is pleasant enough—traffic moves easily and there are pleasant views of cows and windmills and canals, the typical sights of semi-rural Holland.  There is mixed drizzle and sunshine as we leave Amsterdam, but only bright sunshine and blue skies as we travel to the ship.

Because we have been upgraded to a concierge-level “Neptune” suite (about as far “up” as you can be “graded” ), we have special boarding privileges and head to the front of the line.  Our suite, named for Amerigo Vespucci, has lots of room, with separate living and sleeping areas, a very large veranda, a bathroom with tub and two sinks, a huge walk-in closet, two flat-screen televisions and many other amenities.  The best amenity is the private lounge just a short walk away, with snacks and beverages available all day and evening.

We have lunch in the Lido Buffet, conveniently on the same desk as our suite, and when we get back our bags have been delivered.  The Prinsendam sounds its whistle promptly at 4pm and we watch our departure into the North Sea from the Observation Deck. The primary sights as we sail are an incredibly large number of modern windmills both on shore and in the water, oil-drilling platforms, and tankers sailing the busy trade routes of the North Sea. 

We wake from short naps in time to dress for dinner and stop by the Ocean Bar for martinis.  We have a two-person table by a large window on the starboard side of the ship.  The dinner and wine steward introduce themselves and we are ready for the first of many memorable meals—tonight’s highlights include Serrano ham with chilled asparagus, smoked salmon salad, prime rib, and red velvet cake for dessert (Larry); and coconut scallops, chilled pear soup, grilled pork chop, and Viennese apple strudel (Will).

We take a short stroll around the deck, but it’s lights out pretty early.  After all this preliminary travelling, it’s nice to settle into our bunks for the next 14 days.

We were ultimately delayed five hours getting through the Kiel Canal yesterday because of congestion and technical difficulties at the lock.  Because the Prinsendam is wider than most ships going through the canal (very few cruise ships take this route), we were also forced to proceed at a slower speed.  Thus we will arrive about four hours late at Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm, but we will also leave later as well.  The Captain says this will not affect the time of our arrival in Gdynia/Gdansk, Poland, tomorrow morning, as we will make up the time as we sail overnight.  But for now it is back to

Monday, 25 August 2014
Morning:  Scenic Cruising on Elbe River  
Afternoon and Overnight:  Hamburg, Germany
We enter the Elbe River estuary about 8 am, while we are enjoying breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill.  The Pinnacle is a small specialty steak and seafood restaurant at lunch and dinner (with a small surcharge per passenger), but Neptune Suite guests are welcome here for breakfast as well.  There is a complete menu and very friendly and elegant service—rather than the push and shove in the Lido Buffet or the sharing of a large table in the La Fontaine dining room.  We have a small table by a large window and watch the quiet and bucolic countryside pass by as we enjoy our eggs Benedict and excellent coffee.

It takes about four hours to sail upriver to Hamburg, and while the scenery starts out as farm and pasture land, it soon becomes dotted with small towns and industry as we get nearer to the city, the second largest in Germany (after the unified Berlin).  As we pass through suburbs we can see in the distance a forest of cranes and machinery associated with the Port of Hamburg.  We pass more and more ships laden with cargo and ferries crossing the river with cars and passengers.  We even pass right close to the end of the runway at the Hamburg airport and watch as an American Airlines jet prepares for takeoff.

As we pass the suburb of Altona, we see the cruise port for larger ships, but we are heading even further upstream to a new cruise port where medium and small ships can dock—with an Underground station right across the street, and the newly-built HafenCity area, with its contemporary and post-modern architecture on display, only a few blocks away.  Since we are arriving two hours early (at noon instead of 2pm), we have a light lunch on board before heading off to explore Hamburg on our own.  I have been here many times before (throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s) and know the city quite well.  It is a first-time visit for Will, so I put on my tour guide hat and run him through the paces. 

We take the Undergraound (a recently opened new line) just one stop for Jungfernstieg, an elegant boulevard that is the heart of central Hamburg. There are lovely views of the Inner and Outer Lakes that bring fresh-water sailing and sports into the center of the city, as well as the 19th-century Rathaus (Town Hall), with its magnificent tower and pseudo-Renaissance architecture.  There are two churches nearby that are even older, St Petri and St Jakobi, both worth visiting.  Both churches are built in the dark red brick that epitomizes Hamburg, especially in the restored warehouse district, which is only a short walk away.  The buildings are massive  exemples of the brutal expressionist style of late nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture.  The ChileHaus, built to resemble the prow of a merchant ship, is its finest example. The buildings in this part of Hamburg are not very tall, but their uniform heft and massive brickwork give a sense of the solidity and stolidity of the city's history and heritage.

New Underground Line

Jungfernsteig

Rathaus (City Hall)

ChileHaus

We hop back on the Underground, this trip having to change trains to reach our destination, and head back to the ship.  As in most German cities, the transportation system is wholly unified (subways, suburban railways, buses, trams), inexpensive and easy to use.  You purchase a ticket from a machine (with instructions in German and English), and the rest is on the honor system.  There are no turnstiles or machines to put your ticket in, and nobody checks to see that you have paid your way.

Back on the Prinsendam we attend a special champagne reception—in the Captain’s private quarters, no less—for Neptune Suite guests.  We have a chance to mingle with other guests as well as members of the crew and drink champagne and nibble on fresh shrimp and other goodies as we stand on the Captain’s extra large veranda.  We head straight to dinner, without stopping for martinis in the Ocean Bar.  Tonight Will has a fruit cup appetizer, sautéed fresh rainbow trout, and a chocolate brownie sundae; I have crostini with tomato, basil, and prosciutto; Caesar salad; sliced flank steak over polenta cake with roasted shallot vinaigrette and raspberry sorbet.  Tomorrow is a full-day excursion to Berlin so we forego the entertainment on offer and dedicate the night to sleep.