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Links: to Copenhagen Baltic cruising :Day 1 - Copenhagen to Oslo Day 2 - Oslo Finale: Copenhagen encore |
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at sea, from Stockholm to Copenhagen 13 June, Friday Today, it was a special birthday. No, not one of ours, but of the ship we're travelling on. One year ago today, the Royal Princess was launched (by the Duchess of Cambridge). We're on our way back to our starting point, Copenhagen, Because of the size of this monster, we have to take a circuitous route. The direct route from Stockholm would be to pass under the Oresun Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo, in Sweden, to berth just west of the bridge in Copenhagen. But I assume the Oresun although it was built this century, does not have enough clearance for the Royal Princess and we have to take a long detour to the south, passing under the Great Belt Bridge, which has a higher road deck. |
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Here's how it looked as we approached the bridge (the captain assured us there was a clearance of more than four metres): And he was right. We did make it safely under the bridge, to the cheers of the watching passengers. |
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| The ship is showing some World Cup matches on the big screen, and despite the freezing conditions this evening, the diehards wrapped themselves up i blankets to watch Australia play Chile (I think that's who was playing, but I'm not sure) |
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He said that while Australian wines were very good, "they are too expensive". For this, he blames our high Australian dollar. It's likely he's right. The nationality mix of passengers is intriguing. Probably one third are Asians, half are Americans/Canadians, and the remainder Europeans with a scattering of Australians. I think there should be a quota on Americans for these trips. Quite often charming individually, but en masse, too too much. Loud and full of self importance Mind you, put a whole bunch of Australians together in the same situation, and we'd probably upset people too.. |
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The workers on board are also an interesting bunch. The ship's
newsletter told us today that there are nearly 500 working in food
preparation and dining areas - mostly Asian (Filipino and Indian)
plus eastern Europeans (Bulgaria, Serbia). As far as we can see,
no native English speakers among them, but their communication
skills are pretty good. I assume there are a similar  number
working behind the scenes in the service delivery areas such as
cleaning and laundry, probably with the same national mix. Then
there are those employed in the administration, retail and
entertainment areas, making the worker to passenger ratio probably
at least 1:1.
left: Service on board is good - this was one of the few occasions where we were allowed to do anything for ourselves! At times, the attention has been too much. We've had to reassure the waiters that we can pour our own water, or top up our own wine glasses, but they don't seem willing to believe us. From our point of view, the big shortcoming on board is the internet connection. It's a satellite one, and at peak times, it gets overloaded and consequently very slow. It's not bad if you're awake through the night and have nothing better to do at 3am. |
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It's the first birthday of the Royal Princess today - she was launched a year ago by the Duchess of Cambridge, and there are a few celebrations on board today. Singing "Happy Birthday" to a ship struck me as a bit bizarre, but nevertheless, that's what happened. right: balloons ready to be released on board for the 1st birthday of the Royal Princess |
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As we head south, we've noticed that the Baltic Sea is a very busy highway. Within the space of half an hour, I've seen a dozen ships, some tracking in our direction, others crossing our path. The other big thing off the coast of Denmark is the number of wind turbines. Mile after mile of them, lined up in rows of three or four at a time. There must be thousands of the things around here, and their energy production rate would be prodigious - the conditions here are very blustery, ideal for windmills. We expect to berth in Copenhagen about 5am, and we are scheduled to leave the ship at 8.30. We'll then have a long wait before our flight to London in the evening. Next: a chance to re-visit Copenhagen
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Today's
highlight was a wine tasting which didn't include any Australian
wines - just French, Italian and Californian. Never mind, they
were pretty good and we -plan to have one of the selections with
our dinner tonight. Our table companions for the tasting
included a man from Singapore and his son. The father has made
a few business trips to Australia, and on the last one, he
played golf in the Hunter Valley.