Saturday, 4 pm

We are approaching the very end of our cruise tomorrow morning and have been spending today packing and checking all the expenses we have accumulated.  Luckily we have $500. in shipboard credit that will cover a good part of those expenses.  I have also signed up for my next cruise because I get special bonuses and only have to pay a $100. deposit that is fully refundable.  I will be sailing for 14 days in mid-January in a part of the world I have visited but never cruised in.  I will be visiting seven countries, including the embarkation and disembarkation ports, four of which I have never visited.  As soon as I check on airfares and make my final decision, I will tell you all the details.  But for now, I am catching up from where I left off, with our second port in Sweden.

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Kalmar, Sweden

Because we are not anchoring off Kalmar until noon, the crew has prepared a Scandinavian buffet on the Lido Deck, starting at 11am.  This is the only port at which we will be using tenders and it is a short ride into the harbor to join our walking tour.  Kalmar has its roots in the medieval era, but has been rebuilt many times since then, because of wars with neighboring Denmark.  It’s a small city, not really on the main tourist track—only five cruise ships visit each year.  Our tour guide is a local woman who has taken several hours off from her “real” job to guide the tour.  She is a native of Kalmar and knows all the local history and legends, as well as being the first tour guide to sing a capella on our visit to the cathedral.

The local sights include remnants of the old town wall, a beautifully restored seafront fortress, several beautiful parks, and a small city center with a variety of historical buildings, including the cathedral.  At the end of the tour we are taken to a local tea shop for pastries and coffee (or tea), before heading back to the pier and the tenders back to the ship.

We decide to have an early dinner in the Pinnacle Grill (the specialty steak and seafood restaurant) at 6pm and enjoy lobster bisque, prime steaks from Washington State, and the specialty three-flavored crème brule, with stripes of chocolate, vanilla, and coffee crème brule.  Tonight’s entertainment is a male-female duo who perform magic and dance routines based on famous films--a strange but interesting concept.

Friday, 5 September 2014

Copenhagen, Denmark

It’s a warm and beautiful day in Copenhagen, a city I have visited many times over the years.  In the blog from my last visit I described some of the incredible post-modern architecture that is going up all over the city.  This year we take a more traditional approach, with a bus tour that gives us a panorama of historical highlights, including stops at the “Little Mermaid” the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Amalienborg and the trendy Nynhavn district.  We also stop for a short walk through the marvelous grounds of the old Carlsburg breweries (one founded by the father, the other founded by the son).  Neither brewery is operating any more—Carlsburg has breweries all over the world—but the old buildings with their ornate exteriors and extravagant carved elephants (symbols of the royal family), provide many photo opportunities. 

The bus makes one more stop, in front of Tivoli Gardens, before heading back to the ship.  Will and I stay in town for the afternoon.  We enjoy a short walk from Tivoli (not much point in going in before dark) to the Town Hall and through the series of pedestrian-only shopping streets, known collectively as Stroget.  Although there are many tourist shops and American chains, Stroget is still home to one of the most interesting department stores in the world, Iliums Bolghuis, more a museum of contemporary Danish design than a store.  It contains extraordinary displays of the most beautiful Danish crafts—from ceramics to steel to silver to glass—shown with museum panache.  Right next door is the home of Royal Danish Porcelein and just beyond that Georg Jensen silver.  All these luxury goods stimulate our appetites and we stop for a typically Scandinavian lunch, open-faced cold sandwiches, at an outdoor café across the street.

 Too full to do much more walking, we take a taxi back to the Prinsendam.   Tonight is the third and final formal night, preceded by another reception in the Captain’s private quarters.  We decide to skip the reception, but we do dress up for dinner.   We find out later that I was supposed to be presented with my 4-star mariner pin at the reception, but find it waiting in our suite when we return from dinner.  Four stars is really good because, among other benefits, it gives me free laundry and dry-cleaning on all Holland America cruises, no matter how cheap a cabin I might book.  Dinner tonight is a litany of favorites:  escargot, duck pate, shrimp cocktail in orange sauce, and “Surf and Turf.”  Will and I both request “Surf and Surf” instead and get two large, plump and delicious lobster tails.  Dessert is also among our favorites; Will has Sicilian cassata and I have Burgundy cherry ice cream.