Stockholm, Sweden

            Tuesday, 14 May 2013 – We had sat our alarm for 6:00 AM, but Sally didn’t sleep well and woke up at 1:30 AM.  Still awake at 4:40 AM, she went to the top deck.  The sun was already up, the sky was clear, but the wind was cold.  We were passing small islands and buoys that marked the channel for ships passing through.  Houses, often fairly large, became more frequent as we came closer to Stockholm.  Later, we learned that Stockholm is built on 14 islands, and thousands of islands are part of Sweden.  We heard the exact number (a huge one) of islands help to form Sweden.  Since we were supposed to meet with our excursion group at 8:15, we hurried for breakfast at the La Paloma Buffet by 7:00 AM a little before it opened – but part of it opened early.


            By the time we boarded the bus, the weather had changed from sunny to rainy.  There weren’t enough English-speakers to fill a bus, so our bus consisted of English-speakers (with Gulda for our guide) and another group of Italian-speakers, with their tour guide.  While in the bus, the two guides took turns pointing out places of interest, but with rivulets of rain running down the windows, decent pictures were out of the question.  Following a drive around Stockholm, we stopped at the historic City Hall with its Golden Room decorated with 20 million pieces of gilded mosaic tile. (The Nobel Peace Prize is celebrated at the City Hall.)  Then we traveled to the center of town to visit the Royal Palace.  Afterwards, we continued on foot through the old town (not easy walking on the cobblestones) and were given 1.5 hours of free time for lunch and/or shopping.  By then, the sun was trying to shine and it was warmer.  Since we are prone to getting lost, we decided to join another couple and their daughter.  We ended up having lunch at Kaffegille I Gamla Stan AB, where we ordered Irish coffee, French onion soup and meatballs.  (Although the menus didn’t call them “Swedish” meat balls, of course they had to be.)  Except for the onion soup, which was disappointing, the rest of the food was excellent.  One of the others ordered reindeer meat; we were tempted to try it, but it sounded like too much food.  (We haven’t figured out just how much money that meal cost us, with the money conversion, etc.)


Stockholm Statue

            

 Lunch at Kaffegille

          Immediately after finishing lunch, we re-boarded our bus and continued on to the Vasa Ship Museum.  The Vasa, the pride of the King of Sweden, sank in 1628 in the harbor on its maiden voyage, and was only hauled out of the water and restored about 15 years ago.  It is remarkably preserved, though now also restored.  Very unique, even beautiful in its way, with ornate carving, it sits in the museum that was built around it.

            Although our dinner table for eight is half empty, we enjoy interesting conversation with York and Gabi.   Afterward, on our way to the Grand Bar Rhapsody for dancing, we ran into Susan and Chris (of Scotland) and talked for several minutes.  By the time we made it to the bar at 8:15, the band had already gone on break.  Since we were both extremely tired, we returned to our cabin for an early night.
 

Embarkation & At Sea Day

            Sunday, 12 May 2013 – After starting the day with the hotel’s German-style breakfast, packing up, and checking out right before noon, we walked to the bus stop with our luggage in tow.  According to the information we were given at the hotel and had found online, either bus numbers 41 or 42 would take us to the cruise terminal; however, everyone on the Internet insisted that it was only a short distance away and recommended that one walk the 1500 meters (a short distance for Germans!).  When bus 42 arrived, the driver spoke no English.  Although Sally tried to communicate with him, the only word that we could understand was “hier” (here), as he pointed down with his index finger.  We understood this to mean that this bus did not stop at the cruise terminal and we would have to wait here for another bus.  (Later, we wondered if he meant that we should board the bus.  However, he had not tried very hard to help us.)  After realizing that the next bus wouldn’t arrive for 45 minutes, we gave up and walked about 30 minutes to the [most distant] cruise terminal, where we checked our luggage about 1:15 PM and waited for our turn to board the ship.

By 3:15 PM, we were in our cabin.  Sally was ready for a nap, but there was no time.  Instead of waiting until the second day to conduct the life boat drill as Costa used to do, the drill was conducted 30 minutes prior to the ship’s departure at 4:30 PM.  Also, we were each given a bar coded “life boat drill” card, which the staff collected during the drill to ensure that EVERYONE received the training – a good policy after the Costa Concordia disaster!

Sally Relaxing after Embarkation

Although our requested early seating for dinner had never been confirmed, we were assigned a table at the 6:00 PM seating in the New York dining room.  On our way into the restaurant, we ran into Susan and Chris, from England/Scotland.  Sally had connected with Susan through the CruiseCritics.com website two weeks earlier, but they were assigned to a different table.  We sat at a table with York and Gabi, from San Francisco (but originally from Germany); Suzanne and Lois (Suzanne from Vermont, Lois from Washington, DC); Christine (from Melbourne, Australia), and Alan (from South Carolina).  Alan was with us only this night; he will be joining the rest of his family at another table.

Very soon we learned that Costa charges for coffee and tea with dinner, so everyone at our table drank tap water, which the waiter brought in a pitcher.  (By far the majority of passengers on this cruise are Europeans, and Europeans don’t drink tap water.  This waiter might have had an awakening.)   Most cruise lines do charge for alcoholic beverages, bottled water, soft drinks, cappuccino, etc, but Costa has gone a little overboard with charging for coffee and tea!  Complain, complain!

After dinner, we attended a 7:45 PM Mass (today was the day of Ascension) in the Amadeus Lounge.  (Our last Costa Cruise had a priest onboard, also.)  Although Mass was conducted in Italian, we were provided a handout with the readings written in English so that we could follow along.  Having grown up hearing Mass in Latin, Jesse thought it all seemed normal.

Then we danced to Katy’s Duo in the Grand Bar Rhapsody for a few songs.  (Only one other couple was dancing.)  When we returned to our cabin, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the Jimmy Fallon TV show was on CNBC – the “other” English TV Channel.  Sally was in bed by 10:00 PM, while Jesse stayed up and waited for the rest of our luggage.  We received a call from Guest Services around 10:30 PM.  Apparently, Costa had impounded two of our suitcases after finding a bottle of wine in each of them.  In our experience, both Princess and Carnival Cruise Lines have allowed one bottle of wine person to be brought onboard.  There were several other suitcases in Guest Services and lots of confiscated wine bottles on the shelves.  They promised to return our wine during debarkation.  But why did they wait until 10:30 to call us?  Enough complaining; we probably wouldn’t have had time to drink the wine anyway.  We’ll have it in Hamburg before we leave for home.

            Monday was an “at sea” day, as we cruised from Kiel to Stockholm, Sweden.  We awoke around 10:00 AM.  Going for a late breakfast, we were pleased to find “free” coffee and juice at the buffet.  Afterwards, we explored a few decks of the ship (the top deck was loaded with sun worshippers in lounge chairs) and registered our credit card for the ship’s account.  This was done prior to boarding on all of our previous cruises.  Then, we return to our cabin for an afternoon of relaxation and BBC TV.

            At 4:00 PM, we met at Rick’s Piano Bar for an “English Speaking Guests Let’s Get Together, where about 20 guests showed up.  One man named Mike was originally from northwest Iowa, but now lives in Greece with his wife Anastasia who is Greek; Peter and Karen from near London; Christine from Australia (who sat at our dinner table last night); a couple from Paris, France (she is originally from the UK and he is French); Mike and Sarah from Minneapolis, MN; Molly and her daughter Gabriella, also from Minneapolis, MN (Sarah and Molly are sisters and Molly is currently with the military and stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany; and others.  The group leader from Costa Cruises was not very organized, so the meeting could have gone a lot better.
 

            We were afraid that we might be eating dinner alone tonight.  The single women at the table last night have all moved to a table next to the window to get away from the noise.  Finally, Gabi and York showed up.  It turned out that they had forgotten our table number and had sat at the wrong table.  After dinner, we danced to the La Dee Dee Smith Band, who played very good ballroom dance music.  Unlike last night, the dance floor was crowded tonight.

Kiel, Germany

Thursday, 9 May 2013 – Yes, we have departed for ANOTHER cruise.  This time, we will sail on the Costa Pacifica.  The cruise is 11 nights, and sails out of (and back to) Kiel, Germany, with stops in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (where it is in port for 2 days), Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia),  Klaipeda (Lithuania), Gdynia (Poland), and Ronne/Bornholm (Denmark).  The stop in Poland is actually to sightsee in Gdansk, which is the only place on the cruise we have visited previously (in 1999).

After a very late night of final packing, we flew first from Moline to Detroit.  Then, during our long flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, we were sandwiched in the middle two seats of the four-seat center section of the plane.  A very friendly retired Wall Street stockbroker (a bachelor) sat on Jesse’s right; he was headed to Africa, where he will spend some of his month-long stay on a safari.  We look forward to seeing his photos on his FaceBook page.  Jesse sat glued to his small movie screen, where he watched three “action-packed” movies during the flight.  Sally tried (unsuccessfully) to nap.

Friday, 10 May 2013 – At about 6:00 AM we arrived in the Amsterdam airport, having lost six hours since leaving Moline.  (Those 6 hours were essentially our night’s sleep.)  Soon after loading onto a smaller plane headed to Hamburg, the pilot announced first in Dutch and then in heavily accented English that this plane had a communications problem.  After returning to the terminal, we were bussed to a different plane.  Since he “used to be an engineer,” Jesse wanted to offer his assistance, but they solved the problem without his input.  Amsterdam was chilly and raining, just like during our last visit there in 2010.

When we arrived at the Hamburg airport, after only a short wait we boarded an airport shuttle (bus) headed to the Central Station in Kiel. 

B&B Hotel Kiel

In Kiel, we were pleased to end up within walking distance of the “B&B Hotel Kiel.”  Arriving at the hotel at 12:00 PM, if we had not been totally exhausted, we might have danced with joy when we were allowed an early (immediate) check-in.  The one-hour delay in Amsterdam had kept us from having to wait for a room, showing that sometimes even delays work out for the best.  This hotel is newly constructed and has been open for only about four weeks so that the facilities look unused.   Dog-tired, we took showers and napped until about 4:00 PM.  Afterwards, we walked, surveying the immediate area of Kiel and found out that we should be able to walk to our ship with our luggage in tow.  Although the view from our hotel room is an ugly one of railroad tracks, the location is not far from the harbor.  At first, we could see another docked cruise ship; we heard its horn blow as it sailed away.  The weather here is much like May has been in Iowa: cool, but a very warm sun – and the tulips and dandelions are blooming profusely.

Dinner at Cabana Rodizio

We stopped for dinner at a German steakhouse, where we both ordered salads (one topped with steak and the other with chicken) and pilsner beer.  Afterward, we stopped in a store where we purchased two bottles of wine, which we hope will be allowed on the ship, and returned to our hotel for an early night.


We both woke up around 4:00 AM Saturday morning.  Since breakfast wasn’t scheduled to start until 7:30 AM, Sally spent a couple of hours on e-mail while Jesse searched through the TV channels looking for English programs.  As last night, he was only able to find BBC World News and Bloomberg European TV (similar to CNBC at home).  About 6:15, Sally went back to sleep, and about 8:45 we went downstairs for our breakfast.  It was definitely German style, with very strong coffee, soft-boiled egg, fresh (mostly whole grain) Brötchen, cut up fruit in juice, delicious jams, German style cereal and cream, and either mixed juice or pink grapefruit juice.

After while, we went out walking through stores, and out to the ships.  Several ships in a row were docked, but no Costa Pacifica yet.  We realized that the Pacifica might be more distant than we expected, perhaps 1.5 km or more from the hotel.  We walked through a park, where there were some memorials of historical events, and stopped in a grocery store for some fruit.  Afterward, we went back to the room to rest again before dinner.

1870 German War Memorial

Jesse with His New Friend

Dinner at Vapiano

At 7:00 PM we ate at the “Vapiano,” a pizza and pasta restaurant next to a walking bridge over the fiord.  The ordering method was different from any we had seen.  We were given “credit cards” to take to the cook and bartender to order our meals and drinks, and then a timer to wait for our order (calzones).  While waiting for the timer to vibrate, we sipped our 0.5 liters of Krombacher beer.  The bartender was a German woman who had grown up in Ohio.  Although Jesse left his umbrella at the table (for the 99th time), a young man who had been sitting near us ran up with it before we left.   A lot more German people seem to speak at least a little English than used to.  When we arrived back in our room at 9:00 PM, the sky was still light.

At Sea Day and Debarkation:

            After our late night dancing, we slept in on Friday morning.  According to the Carnival FUNTIMES, the Lido breakfast buffet was scheduled to close at 10:30 AM; however, it was still open when we arrived there after 11:00 AM.  Before long, we headed for lunch in the Imagination Dining Room for a very light lunch and to redeem our free drink coupons.   We both had Mai Tais, which were very good.   Since we needed to have our packed luggage in the hallway for pickup before dinner, we spent the rest of the afternoon taking turns packing and relaxing.  After dinner, we enjoyed the customary Baked Alaska for dessert, as well as a share of Verna and Earl’s anniversary cake.  Then we tried dancing to music provided by DJ Marius in the Jekyll & Hyde Dance Club, but the music was much too loud (deafening!) for Sally, so we danced only one song.

Tomorrow morning, we will be disembarking and taking the hotel shuttle to Quality Inn New Orleans Cruiseport to pick up our vehicle before heading home.  We’ll stay overnight somewhere along the way and arrive home sometime on Sunday.

Signing off at the end of another lovely cruise!

Cozumel, Mexico:

             Thursday, 13 Dec 2012 – We slept until 9:30 AM and headed for breakfast.  We were expecting an empty ship; however, the leaden sky promised to rain steadily most of the day, so that the majority of the passengers were still on board.  We had planned to go ashore and simply walk a bit in Cozumel, but decided to stay on board and keep dry instead.  By noon, it did clear up, we heard after the fact.  Having an interior cabin for the first time, we are usually in it, watching TV (Jesse) and reading (Sally).  At midday, we went for our usual late lunch, where we sat with family and friends; and at 4:00 PM we watched as the last few passengers hurried to the ship before its departure.
              As usual, we’ve been using the stairs in lieu of elevators on this cruise; but tonight was the first time that we took advantage of a dancing opportunity.  After dinner and beginning at 10:00 PM, we danced to the High Rise Band on the Lido deck; hopefully, this will help slightly with some extra pounds that we’ve been piling on.  (The two lobster dinners each that we devoured last evening and other rich food are to blame, of course!)

Progreso, Mexico:

Pit Stop

Pyramid of Kulkulcan

             We set our alarm clock for 6:00 AM, but luckily, we had requested a wake-up call as a backup, since the alarm clock didn’t go off until 6:30 AM.  After breakfast at the Lido Buffet, we disembarked and met our tour group on shore at 8:15 AM.  We had a 2-1/4 hour bus ride to the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins, with a brief stop along the way for necessities.  Chichen Itza is one of the most important archeological sites on the American continent and was once the home of the great Mayan Empire.  Replicas of the Pyramid of Kulkulcan have been seen in many movies, such as Mel Gibson’s Apocalypso.   Although the sun was very hot and we were tired, the scenery was spectacular.  Most of us enjoyed an afternoon siesta on the bus trip back to the ship. 

Earl and Verna

             After freshening up, we went to the ship’s restaurant for pizza before heading to Verna and Earl’s anniversary party.  The party became quite lively as Verna serenaded the group with Christmas carols.  After the party, we relaxed in our cabin until dinner.

5-day Western Caribbean Cruise

            Sunday, 9 Dec 2012 – Yes, we have departed for ANOTHER cruise.  This time, we’re sailing on the Carnival Elation, roundtrip from New Orleans, LA, with stops in Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico.  We left home late Saturday morning, stopping in West Memphis for the night; and then drove the rest of the way to New Orleans on Sunday.  We left our vehicle in the motel parking lot as part of their Hotel and Parking Package, which includes one night hotel accommodations, parking, and free round trip cruise port shuttle service.

On Monday, it was raining hard as we left the hotel in the shuttle.  In fact, New Orleans was under a tornado watch, and the temperature was much cooler than expected.  We boarded the ship around noon.  Since our ship cabin would not be ready until 12:30 PM, we went to the Lido Buffet for lunch.  We were unpacked in time for the 3:30 PM safety briefing; afterwards, Sally checked out some books from the library and we relaxed in our cabin until dinner.  Although we purchased our cruise tickets separately, Jesse’s sister’s tour agent managed to get us seated the rest of the group.  Our dinner table at 8:15 PM included Jesse’s sister, Verna, and her husband, Earl; Jesse's niece, Catherine, and her husband, Mario; one of Jesse’s high school classmates, Helen, and her husband Larry;  and Shelton and Fanny.   Jesse’s other sister, Catherine; his nieces, Melissa and Dolores; his sister-in law, Julia; and other friends were seated at two other nearby tables.  We looked for places to dance after dinner, but instead, returned to our cabin for an early night – not really that early anymore, as it was 10:00 PM.

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Lido Buffet for breakfast, and a few hours later for a late lunch.  The setup on the Carnival Elation is a lot different from the Princess cruise ships, which takes a little getting used to, but so far, the food has been great.  We’re also finding our way around more easily than usual.  Today the temperature on deck is more comfortable for shorts and sandals.  The pools and hot tubs are full of kids because lots of young families are on this cruise, totally opposite from the last two long Princess cruises we have taken.  Tonight is a formal night, which requires “Cruise Elegant” attire, so Sally will be wearing an evening gown and Jesse will be wearing his tuxedo.  We will be posing in a group photo with Verna’s cruise group at 10:30 PM; then heading back to our cabin.  Our excursion departs at 8:15 AM tomorrow morning.