washiotter

Day 2: at sea. At 2:30am the ship went under the Great Belt Bridge, which separates Zealand from the rest of Denmark. Inexplicably, Mr. Otter and Mr. 14 stayed up to watch?! The pictures are cool, but I’m still dubious. I woke up and read the newspaper with great interest over breakfast in the Lido. Spent some time staring aimlessly at the ocean, as I gather is proper for a sea day. I appreciated that there were two separate port talks this morning, one by the excursions dept (we skipped it) and the other by the cruise director. Claire gave an overview of each port, with a focus on Visby because there’s not an intro video for that one on the TVs. She gave practical details, interesting facts, and some of the major sights we might want to visit. The motion of the ship picked up quite a bit this afternoon, and I spent some time tending to Ms. 18, who was having dizzy spells. Meclizine eventually sorted her out. Mr. 14 and I played games in the Crow’s Nest for a while - it was very active up there, in a “pleasant hum” way. The kids and I went to afternoon tea. I asked if there were peanuts in any of the unlabeled treats. The waiter went to check. Two or three people came by to assure us that they were trying to find out. Much time passed. Eventually, a chef came out with two entirely different nut-free desserts?? “But do any of THESE have nuts?” He glanced casually at the tray. “No, those are all fine.” I think something must have gotten lost in translation! But we enjoyed the tea and treats. Mr. Otter and I attended a very popular round of Lightning Trivia and came in second. Tonight was the 150th anniversary gala. The food was excellent! Mr. Otter and I loved the lamb chops and the kids were very enthusiastic about the braised sole. I thought the service was disappointing - brusque and indifferent, a real contrast to how we’ve been treated by everyone else. But I forgive everything when I meditate on my Dutch 75, chaudfroid of duckling, glass of Malbec, rack of lamb ambassador, and warm flourless chocolate cake with coffee ice cream. Finished up the evening at BB King - the saxophonist was out, but that gave the trumpeter more of a chance to really strut his stuff. The woman singer has exceptional charisma! Really enjoyed her. I also had a wonderful cocktail with bourbon, pineapple juice, honey syrup, and cinnamon. Tomorrow: Visby!

I’m on the Nieuw Statendam right now and was surprised to see a Pike Brewing scotch ale in the Lido - it’s their “Kilt Lifter.” Affligem is on tap in the Dutch Cafe, looking forward to trying it.

Lest I be accused of being a HAL apologist: I tried to order a Last Word at the Ocean Bar and they didn’t have any chartreuse, so I had to order something else. WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO.

Day 1: Embarcation. I began the day brilliantly by dropping my suitcase on my toe, so the top third of the nail is now an interesting shade of purple. Stopped hurting quickly, though. We took a taxi to the port - long drive, heavy traffic - and HOLY COW the Nieuw Statendam is big! My kids: “Mom, I thought you said this was a mid-size ship.” Me: 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Long line to get in to the terminal, but once we were inside everything moved very quickly and we were on board just a little after noon. We explored the ship. First impressions: 1) Everything is spotless and seems organized for comfort. 2) The crew could not possibly be kinder. 3) Between when Analog187 got off this morning and I got on this afternoon, there was apparently a full-ship overhaul??? We spent part of the afternoon in the cozy seating area by the Sea View pool. Staff were very attentive - I went in to get lunch from the buffet, asked a waiter if I was allowed to just pour myself an iced tea, and wound up with him insisting on taking my plate, putting it on a tray with the tea and some silverware, and carrying it out to where we were sitting. The whole time we were sitting there, they kept coming by and offering us drinks. Ms. 18 doesn’t do well with crowds and noise, so we watched sailaway from the Crow’s Nest. It was SO EXCITING to see us leave the pier and head out to sea! We had reservations for Pinnacle tonight, having picked up good advice here to skip the MDR on embarkation day. Pinnacle was very quiet, less than half full. We all had the 8oz filet and it was perfectly cooked and very tender. I really enjoyed my sides, white asparagus and roasted beets with blue cheese. The chocolate soufflé with vanilla cream was outstanding. Mr. 14’s verdict: “This was worth dressing up for.” After dinner we went to the show: “The Pianist with the Hair,” a flashy virtuoso who did comic patter between classical pieces. It was great, we all enjoyed it. When we came out of the show at 10:20pm it was sunset! My photo doesn’t do justice to how luminously, radiantly pink the water was. The family split up - I think my husband is playing blackjack? I went to the BB King set and absolutely loved them. The woman singer is particularly great. Then I had a nightcap at the Ocean Bar (the sun had STILL not finished setting) and came upstairs to update you all before bed. Tomorrow is a sea day.

So I’ve heard! Stay safe.

Pre-cruise day 2: Copenhagen. This morning we had a fabulous encounter with Danish pastries and then went to Rosenborg Castle, favored residence of King Christian IV in the 17th century. We saw the Danish Crown Jewels, a lot of intricately carved ivory and amber, the pen used to sign the first Danish constitution, incredibly elaborate designs made with inlaid semiprecious stones, a throne made of narwhal horns… …and the king’s special prank chair, which shot out restraints to hold the victim in place and then squirted water on their behinds so they’d look like they’d wet their pants. It was a more elegant time! After relaxing at the hotel for a while, we went to Tivoli this evening. It’s the oldest amusement park in the world, but it seems like a lot more than that - there are rides, but also beautiful gardens and spaces to relax. Unlike any American amusement park I’ve been to, you didn’t at all get the feeling that every detail was designed to make you keep moving and spending money. We walked around and soaked up the ambiance for a few hours. It’s especially magical when they turn the lights on. I had smorrebrod for dinner, which I’ve really been wanting to try. (We went to the Tivoli food hall, so no one else had to have smorrebrod.)

Pre-cruise day 1: Copenhagen. We flew here coach on a red eye, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Bought 48-hour public transit passes at the airport and took the train to our hotel, a bare-bones budget place with a fantastic location, a short block from the central rail station, surrounded by cafes. I know you’re not supposed to nap when you’re trying to get over jet lag, but we simply HAD to nap for a couple of hours. Took the metro to Nyhavn, which is extremely touristy but that’s okay - we’re tourists. Had dinner at a dockside restaurant with outdoor seating under a canopy - everything was delicious. I had a smoked salmon plate and a Tuborg beer. Unsurprisingly, we all perked up after dinner. We let the kids go off on their own and enjoyed a stroll down the canal to a channel. Beautiful antique boats. The weather could not possibly be better, low 70s and sunny.

We are officially on our way!! We’ve got a red-eye flight on Icelandair - they emailed this morning to tell us that they’ve chartered some planes to meet extra demand, and the flight we’ll have from Keflavik to Copenhagen won’t have any in-flight entertainment or wifi. They plan to make it up to us with “a refreshment” but I’m guessing we’re all going to sleep through that flight anyway. Very!! Excited!!

Down to the nitty-gritty of trip preparations! I am checking the port websites to see exactly where we'll dock in each city, and I discovered that the out-of-the-way place we're docking in Helsinki happens to be very close to a beautiful public sauna! I have just booked myself a two-hour visit to an authentic Finnish sauna. MYSELF. No husband, no kids - they'll be taking the ferry out to the island military fortress. It's going to be so great!!

My final client will be over tomorrow at 4:30, and then I can turn my energy to laundry and packing. I have already completed the immense hurdle of helping Mr. 14 select some button-down dress shirts for our specialty dinners, and having done that I feel like I can do most things! in general we plan to bring 8 days worth of clothes and send out laundry in the middle. Only one pair of walking shoes and one pair of dress shoes!

Can you just visit the Tamarind Bar for a drink, or do you need to be dining in the restaurant? It does look like they have some really interesting craft cocktails!

I am definitely going to go into drill sergeant mode to get my family to the Vasa Museum right when it opens! We’re all excited about seeing it, but it’s apparently the most popular museum in all of Scandinavia. They can go back to bed AFTERWARDS.

Thank you!!

See you aboard! I'll keep an ear open for Scottish accents. 😉

Urgent: we leave Monday and I realized that I have no idea. Do you pronounce it LIE-doh or LEE-doh?

I don’t really understand “these people like to eat!” as a complaint. Are you yourself showing up at the Lido at that hour for a different reason? ”The buffet seems understaffed,” okay, that’s a reasonable argument to make, but “these people like to eat”? Don’t we all like to eat at dinner time?

Thank you!! So excited!!

Yeah, we read a bunch of reviews saying that Berlin is too far, and decided to ignore them. My husband and I couldn’t imagine being that close and not going! I found an amazing tour that goes underground to explore attempts to tunnel under the Berlin Wall, but alas, they changed their schedule for the summer and it no longer worked for our train back to Warnemunde. We’re doing a general underground tour instead (Ms. 18 is an engineering student), visiting the Berlin Wall Memorial, and maybe the DDR Museum.

Thanks! Our strategy is to pick one or two things to do in-depth in each port, rather than trying to get anything like a comprehensive overview. The only HAL tour we’re on is the chartered train to Berlin (using our HIA credits.) We have a few private tours planned: Food tasting tour of the Central Market in Riga KGB museum in Tallinn Walking tour of medieval Tallinn Berlin Underground tour (literally underground, bomb shelters etc.)

Wow, amazing pictures! Please keep them coming!

Hi! I’m incredibly excited to be one week out from our first-ever cruise. We’re flying to Copenhagen on Monday June 5 and boarding the Nieuw Statendam on the 8th for a 10-day Baltic Sea cruise. It looks like the cruise is fully sold out, so we’ll see what the crowds are like. We are a family of 4 from Maryland: Washiotter (me, 49, psychologist), Mr. Otter (56, accountant), and our two teens, Ms. 18 and Mr. 14. We are all history nerds and very excited about this itinerary. We appreciate good food and none of us are party people, so I think HAL will be a good match for our style. The closest any of us have ever been to a cruise ship is touring a navy vessel on its “open to the public” day, which is not very close at all! As the researcher in the family, I have been haunting this message board for months to pick up info. Feel free to regale me with first-time advice, Nieuw Statendam insider tips, and cocktail recommendations!

We're getting on when you get off, so please warm up the ship for me! Have a great time!!

I just want to make sure I’m not going to cause any offense or disappointment. Is it true that you don’t tip *anyone*? Waiters? Cab drivers? Bartenders? Someone who helps with your luggage? Tour guides for a paid tour? (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Estonia.)