Month: November 2023

We were able to sleep in but there was a morning disembarcation briefing before we arrived at the Kinderdijk area in the afternoon. One of us was required to attend.

I was happy to learn that we would be in the red tagged group. Suitcases had to be outside our door by 8:00 AM, we had to leave the room at 8:30, but we could get continental breakfast in the Aquavit lounge until 10:00. Our van would take us to the airport at 10:15, along with four other passengers.

We sailed to the open air nature reserve of Kinderdijk, as the rain and wind increased. People were putting on their sweaters and coats and scarves and hats .Viking prepared for docking and walking. I watched from the comfort of the library area.

I carefully climbed to the top deck and took a couple of photos.

Was I up for the challenge? No way.

We watched as others left the ship, bundled up with their red Viking umbrellas. There was to be a lecture about the working of the windmills, but from my perch I noticed many people returning after walking along the side of the road to get the pictures that I had already captured from the so called sun deck.

For me, it was Mission Accomplished, with minimal discomfort. We spent the afternoon getting organized and I tried a nice dessert with lunch.

After our time at the windmills, we set sail once again. The day passed quickly and we had our last meal and said good bye to friends we’d met on board.
Beatrice had her last dessert.

We watched from our veranda as we sailed past Rotterdam.

We enjoyed the first part of the trip, except for the confusion about getting on the ship in its new location. I mentioned that to Sue, our program director; she was appalled by the advice given to us by the employee on the Gymir and insisted that I write to customer services. I did, got an apology, the crew member was retrained, and we got a $250 each discount on the next cruise. Will we cruise again with Viking? I think not.

We made it to the airport with time to spare and have been home a week. The poor weather, ship change, the illness on board the ship and resulting lack of energy definitely colored our views. We don’t regret taking the cruise but the conditions could’ve been better. This was the result of circumstances, and not the fault of the company. I do think the crew on the second ship needed more training; the food wasn’t as good, the dining crew was understaffed and the wait between ordering and eating was once one hour. There were some outstanding servers, though,which made up for it.

We enjoyed our short stay in Budapest and enjoyed our time spent in Vienna. These were our two bucket list items and we were able to check them off the list!

The sun is shining and my cold is almost gone! Time to start a new day.

Will we travel again? Definitely. I already have an idea in mind for 2024…

Thanks for joining us for the good, the bad and the ugly.

We were fortunate enough to be able to dock fairly near the historical center of Cologne, this bustling city which mixes the old with the new. We were also fortunate that we didn’t have any rain, though my three layered outfit indicated that it was COLD.

We spent the morning with a leisurely guided walk around the area of Cologne cathedral, the 14 th century Gothic marvel and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A short ride took us through a lovely residential area on our way to the city center.

We strolled the area around the cathedral to see the shops. The bakery / café was very appealing even through the gingerbread men looked like aliens!

Our guide was very interesting and informative. He also was very solicitous of our various walking impairments and managed to guide us away from the tricky cobblestones. He mentioned that the cathedral managed to remain unscathed during the Allied bombings, because the structure was more useful to the pilots as a navigational device. It is gradually being cleaned without the use of components that might ruin its intricite details. We were given time to view the interior and the area, and given directions to return to the bus park.

After visiting the cathedral, we went through a few souvenir shops and slowly wended our way back to the parking area.

We found the bus parking area, we saw our friends from the ship and we found the bus which drove us back to the ship.

It was a long, cold morning and we were quite tired and more than ready to return to the warmth of the ship. As the temperatures plummeted, our cold symptoms became more elevated, and we coughed, sneezed and blew our noses the rest of the day. We were not alone; by now, most of our fellow passengers were victims. We looked at the lunch menu for the choice of hot soups.

There were shuttle buses to return us to the city center, but we just weren’t up for it. Some of the passengers enjoyed an evening excursion out to explore the Beer Culture & Dinner. We enjoyed the fabulous chateaubriand! We took dinner in our room, as did many other sickies who remained on the ship and didn’t want to embarrass themselves in the main dining room.

Tomorrow is packing day and in the afternoon we arrive at Kinderdijk, the outdoor museum of windmills. Will we be up for the challenge?

After that, it’s Amsterdam and home.