First off, leaving Zeebrugge and about 11 days into our cruise, the constant creaking in the ceiling of our cabin suddenly disappeared! Why was this? Did they take a body out of the ceiling or something? It wasn’t like the seas were suddenly smoother or the wind had abated. Regardless of how or why, the continuing, loud creaking in our cabin was gone… Our nightly slumber greatly improved.
Approaching Amsterdam on a cruise ship is a trip. There are locks that keep the Atlantic out and a very long inland passage through rolling countryside an industrial complexes to get to Amsterdam’s docks. According to the Captain, it took more than 3 hours to get from Sea to Dock and considering this is about what it took us when we left to get back to the Atlantic, I have no reason to disbelieve him since I wasn’t getting up at 3:30am to check our in-bound passage.
Amsterdam is one of our favorite cities - and we had a mission to accomplish while we there. The mission? Buy some seriously aged Gouda cheese. We got off the ship about 10:30 - our dock was at the Convention Center - great location from which to walk into town. The walk into downtown took about 15 minutes - weather was a bit breezy and cool but we’d bundled up and brought light gloves along.
To price things, we visited three separate cheese stores - letting us a set an upper range for the cheese we were looking for. The cheese stores were remarkably consistent - 11.99 Euro for a chunk of our aged Gouda. So with this in mind, we went looking for a local supermarket to actually buy the cheese. Location-wise, the supermarket was just off Dam Square where Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is located. By way of comparison, buying the same cheese in the supermarket was 8.99 Euro for each chunk of 2 year aged Gouda - so we bought all we thought we could get home in our bags, probably saving about 30% overall compared to the specialty cheese stores. With our cheese booty, it was time for the pirates to mosey back to the ship for lunch and meet up with Uncle Jack and Aunt Sarah. We chose to walk back a slightly different direction (which in Amsterdam means along a different canal). Found really small cross alleys here and there that offered interesting pictures before turning onto our target canal and “ladies on display”. Even at 11am or so, there were working girls in the windows but it looked like they were attracting more lookie loos than paying customers.
About 100 yards farther along, we were back to the place we’d started — once you’ve been to Amsterdam a few times, you stop getting lost within the first or second canal ring (this - canal ring) is my way of describing what you see on a map showing how things evolve from the Central Station which is directly adjacent to the Cruise Passenger Terminal (separated by about 400 yards along the water). All the streets and canals from the water front run generally parallel — about a mile or so from the Central Station to the first “Ring” Canal (the floating flower market is here). Then a bit further on, is a second “Ring” canal - and so forth.
Back on the ship with a night and sea day to reach Copenhagen, it was a chance to catch up on things aboard Zuiderdam. First off, WiFi in our room started getting flaky in the strangest way. We couldn’t log on in our cabin, but if I was willing to walk down to Guest Services on deck 1, I could get logged on immediately. Then I could walk back up to our cabin on deck 6, and everything was fine. Pretty random, right? Don’t have a clue why this was, perhaps the router closest to our cabin had some kind of login issue but once logged in, would route packets back and forth. Being an engineer type, I found that it didn’t matter what device or browser we used - because I tried them all. This was not how things started on our cruise, but it is how it turned out our last 5 or 6 days. We purchased the 1000 minute package for $250 which turned out to be enough for our 16 day cruise since we didn’t have internet for a couple of days — until I figured out the login trick.
Since we had an afternoon, and an entire sea day/night, we filled up our second Laundry bag to get clothes washed. Left this on our bed when we went down for dinner, expecting we’d see clean clothes in 24 hours. Well, perhaps not… There was an un-announced laundry cut-off so we now have a full bag of dirty garments. Holland America should have announced a Laundry “No Later than Date/Time” to prevent this. Perceptions are colored by little things - enough little things add up, and you move the dial to the good or to the not so good.
So how do you help leave a really bad taste in your mouth when you get off a cruise? Have a disembarkation process just as bad or worse than the Embarkation process… The waiting was fine, and we did get off the ship at our scheduled time, including the two wheel chairs for Auntie and Uncle. Our bags were waiting as expected and we did find a porter for Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jack’s bags. So far so good - smooth as silk. Then we saw a long, long, long (did I say it was LONG?) line - oh Crud, Customs must be really slow… Nope as it turns out. There are neither Immigration or Customs to clear when you get off in Copenhagen. The long, long, long (LONG) line is for a taxi - bloody hell…
So here’s a really importation TRAVEL TIP for Cruise ship arrivals in Copenhagen - find the number for a taxi or driver service and have a taxi or driver waiting for you when you get off. Then you walk straight out of the terminal with your bags and you are gone 2 minutes after picking up your bags. We waited for 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the front of the taxi line. We got a small Mercedes van for the the four of us and our bags - trip to our hotel along the waterfront downtown took about 20 minutes and cost $40.40 — all the cabs we used in Copenhagen took credit cards and we used our American Express Platinum for all of them.
Our hotel, Copenhagen Island, was directly adjacent to the Fisketorvit Copenhagen Mall - a 4 story mall with multiple retail stores, an Imax theater, a supermarket, and tons of restaurants. My first impression of Copenhagen Island was good - if our ship was a hotel on the water, our hotel was a ship on the water - surrounded on all four sides by water with small bridges to get to and fro. The hotel staff were super professional and managed to accommodate everything we needed or asked for and could give accurate directions to any place we were heading. Our room was clean, well laid out, and had a really nice patio opening out onto the water - what a great view…. Our bathroom was a single sink bathtub/shower combination.
Our room also included breakfast (served 0630 to 1000) which was really good. Excellent danish (my first Danish danish), yogurts, juices, cheeses, meats, scrambled eggs, bacon, and baked beans.
Over all, a very solid hotel choice, in a great location too since we were to find out that the walking distance to the Hop on Hop off bus was within 250 yards for the “Mermaid” Tour Bus and 50 yards for the “Christianshaven” Tour Bus - same company, different routes - but all included if you buy the “All Lines” card at a Tourist Office. The Tourist Office we used was just across the street from Tivoli Gardens - one of the most popular attractions in Copenhagen - kind of a combination kid rides, beautiful lush gardens, and restaurant place - approximately 2 city blocks by 2 city blocks in size. We didn’t go into Tivoli Gardens since we aren’t Disneyland kinda’ people anymore but if you are a family with kids, you shouldn’t miss it. The All Lines Bus card price was $31 US for a 48 hour pass - since we took all three tours over two days, we felt this was a good value and gave you a great overview of the main areas of Central Copenhagen and close in suburbs.
Copenhagen is a city renowned for its cuisine - Michelin Stars in abundance. My brother and sister in law visit Copenhagen often and love the city - and within the city, one restaurant in particular, “Geist” which is in Nyhaven (center of downtown). Our dining experience there was decidedly “interesting”… What else do you call an experience that features an incredibly eclectic menu with dishes/combinations you have never heard or even though about. The items on the left side of the menu are “appetizer sized”; the ones on the right are almost “main portioned sized”. The star? Shitaki mushrooms with a carmelized sauce including Arabica coffee beans - absolutely outstanding - innovative and tasty. The duds? Everything else… I chose to follow an asparagus theme - white asparagus with shaved black truffles for starter, green asparagus with jalapeno and grape leaves, and an asparagus crisps dessert. The dessert was interesting and tasted pretty good. They should have paid me to eat the other two dishes. What a major disappointment - at least it didn’t cost us what a 2 or 3 star would have cost but it was sure way more than we generally pay at a fine dining establishment back in the USA.
I guess while we are talking about prices, we should give you a general comparison between the three northern European cities we visited in sequence. Brugge was the most expensive of the three, Copenhagen was in the middle, Amsterdam the cheapest. Compared to home, even Amsterdam would be considered pricey, but we are talking about major cities and Value Added Taxes of 20-25%. But it seems like you are getting your money’s worth in Amsterdam and especially in Copenhagen. Lots of building on-going, fabulous architecture, bike lanes, great local transportation (which is pretty cheap). Prices in the supermarkets for food and wine in both Amsterdam and Copenhagen was pretty much in line with what we’d expect in Naples. The things that are expensive seem to be entertainment or clothing related.
A blurb on the Hop on Hop off bus.. First off, there are two different companies running Hop on Hop off. This is not readily apparent and wasn’t an issue until we got to stop #2 in Nyhavn and found out when we tried to board a “Red” Bus that our ticket wasn’t good for this “Red Bus”. I guess you are supposed to know the difference according to the tourist office lady who was indignant rather than helpful - only nasty person we met in Copenhagen and she didn’t work for our Red Bus line. There is a subtle difference in where the flags are located on the side of the bus - our flags (indicating the 10 or so languages the tour is given in) is on the second deck of the bus; the “other” company’s flags are on the street level of the bus.
So on our Red Bus Line - hereafter known as the “nice” bus line there are red (Mermaid), purple (Christianshavn), and green (Carlsburg) lines. Green turns into Purple; cross-lining from Red, Green or Purple is at stop 13 - 2 blocks from Stroget street. For reference, we got onto the Mermaid tour at stop 14 - Tivoli Hotel and Convention Center and stop 38 - Fisketorvet Mall - for the Christianshavn tour. The favorite area we saw on our tours was Fredericksburg - would live here in a heartbeat. Beautiful streets, restaurants, 3-4 story apartment buildings, looks so invitingly livable. On the green bus we met Alfio, our bus driver and of course, Valerie in her beautiful fashion found out right away that he has a cousin that works in a restaurant in downtown Naples that we frequent. So we are now carrying a message to Luca from his cousin Alfio. In the meantime, we had Alfio pointing out all the hard to see highlights along the way.
Other highlights of Copenhagen? Our second day in Copenhagen, the sun came out, and the people of Copenhagen, like a sun flower, turned to the sun to catch the rays. Everywhere you looked, people were sitting out on sidewalks looking up to the sun, pants legs and shirt sleeves rolled up. For us, the sun meant that the colors and refractions built into the buildings were in all their glory. Copenhagen is pretty in the gray; stunning in the sun with green blue water surrounding round and triangular office buildings in marble, granite, and glass.
We were sitting out on our hotel room’s patio looking across the water where small motor boats moved back and forth when we noticed a very large swan, swimming rapidly back and forth… You are now in the lair of the Killer Swan of Copenhagen… He doesn’t bother motor boats, but Poseidon help you if you are in a kayak - he’s going to attack and drive you away. We watched this happen a half dozen times with varying reactions by the kayakers. One guy didn’t know he was being attacked because he was paddling pretty fast to start with so the swan couldn’t keep up but once he fell behind by about 20 yards, he went into flight mode and dived on the guy who now understood what was going on and exited rapidly stage left.
The next victim came from left to right - once it was apparent the kayak was entering the patrolled zone, the Swan swam to intercept and the guy say him coming and could tell by the puffed up wings that he meant business. So he stopped - paddled a bit - splashed water at the swan with his paddle who back off about a yard. The the kayaker backed away - still splashing water with his paddle on opposite strokes. Kayaker #2 vanquished… #3 was a pair of girls - they got one look at our scary killer swan, and they hightailed it before he could give them the full Monty.
So why you ask? Was this swan abused by a kayaker when he was young? Or was there a more mundane reason - like a nest nearby? Turns out he was guarding his mate’s nest - built on a ramp into the river alongside a swimming facility. The nest appears to have started with a fishing net and was about 3 feet in diameter - big enough it turns out for Mom (who was sitting on eggs) and Dad (aka Killer Swan) to curl up in for the evenings. But once daylight comes, Dad is out patrolling his 100 or so yard stretch of water to keep them kayakers away.
We ate our second and third dinners in Copenhagen in more convention settings. Our second evening, we enjoyed a very nice and reasonably priced dinner on the Mall’s third floor at a table with a great view of the river that runs by our hotel and the Mall (and the one patrolled by none other than our Killer Swan) Food was reasonable, price was better, and once again, great service. In fact, service in all three restaurants we ate in for dinner was very good - efficient and professional.
On our last night, Valerie and I were on our own so we walked out into town to search up a place to eat. On a very nice side street about 3/4 a mile away from our hotel, we found Mama Lubda’s Italian restaurant. Great ambience and very good food. Best marinated olives we’ve ever had - we had to get a second portion of them and spent several minutes talking with the manager to learn about their home made marinade. Something we are going to do for ourselves at home… Our server was a really nice young lady from Bulgaria - she has clearly been schooled in the European tradition and undoubtedly has a degree in hotel and restaurant management. Two very nice pasta dishes accompanied by a great Italian Primitivo. The walk back to the hotel - with the late Danish Sun appearing once again - was wonderful - people in the streets meeting for dinner or drinks - bicycle riders everywhere - something we wish we’d see more of in the US - bikes and bike lanes that allow you to navigate downtown areas of major cities - keeping you fit and the air cleaner…
Checked out of our hotel, Copenhagen Island, this morning - a hotel we’d highly recommend - great location - reasonable rates, and very nice room. If you stay there, make sure to ask for a ground floor room with a patio; especially in summer - it is so nice to sit out in the sun and watch the world sail, walk, and fly (swans :)) by. The hotel called a taxi for us - took about 5 minutes to get there and the ride to the airport was about 20 minutes and $40 away. Everything was smooth until we got to the airport which brings us to our next cautionary tale.
Based on our experience, getting wheel chairs for Uncle Jack and Aunt Sarah was easy - but the wheel chairs don’t come with attendants - so how does this work with bags etc? Oh - did I say there weren’t any porters either? Now maybe this is because it was 0700 in the am and they don’t show up until 08 or 09 - but if you are flying early on a Monday - you ain’t gettin’ no help whether you need it or not. So we left our carry on bags and hoofed both wheel chairs and their bags over to the SAS Bag Check in. Once we had them where they needed to be, Val and I had to hustle to security and our flight which was about an hour later by this point. Security was a goat rope to say the least - we had all the appropriate sizes but in Copenhagen, they also really really care that what ever liquid you have in the appropriate size fits in a single 1 liter zip lock bag. Since Val had about a two liter bag’s worth of appropriately sized liquids, she had to cull a liter’s worth of expensive shampoo and makeup stuff - not a happy time to say the least.
Once through security, everything went well - flying in business class means you get a row of three seats with no one in the middle in the front of the cabin, free box food and free beer/wine. The flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik is about three hours and really smooth. We have just started descending so time to wrap things up to make room for our next episode which will cover our first ever visit to Reykjavik…
