Copenhagen and Home

7/2012 Update:  a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling friends/family about my travels.

After we got off the ship, Internet access was somewhat hard to obtain, so I'm wrapping this up post-trip in sunny Minnesota.

We left the Rotterdam around 8 AM on the 24th.  The cruise line had all the passengers assigned numbers for departure so the whole complement of passengers weren't trying to leave the ship at once.  I have no doubt that the crew on the ship has some serious work on that day.  The Rotterdam sails for a Baltic cruise the same day so the majority of the rooms have to be cleaned and a million other tasks performed before the ship sails in the late afternoon.  Overall, we were all quite impressed with the level of service aboard.  I have absolutely no complaints with the customer service aspect of the trip.  I have no other cruise experience to compare this to, but I can't imagine it getting much better.  The food was pretty decent, for the most part.  The variety of food and the presentation of it were both excellent, even if the execution wasn't always spot on.  The ship itself was always clean and very comfortable:  truly a resort hotel on the water.  Most of you know that I've long had a fascination with the old ocean liners of the past, so this was pretty much the modern equivalent to the trans-Atlantic crossings of old.  The only thing closer would be a trip on the QM2.  The Rotterdam is run by a company that has a long history (although it's really just a nameplate for a corporate cruising conglomerate) and they had many reminders of the romantic ocean-going past throughout the ship, whether it was artwork from older vessels or pictures in the hallways of previous Holland-America liners.  That was nice.  And, even though the shipboard experience was very pleasant, I was ready to do something else after about 10 days.  YMMV.

After we got off the Rotterdam, we took taxis to our hotel in downtown Copenhagen.  We spent the rest of the day walking around the city and wondering what on Earth we were all going to do without all the on-board food!  That afternoon, Rob caught his flight home to NY.  On the 25th, we spent the day at Tivoli Gardens, which is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world (1843).  The place is quite lovely and has lots of interesting events as well as a good assortment of rides which amused the nephews. 

We had to make it an early night due to the fact that our flight was at 5:55 the next morning.  We left our hotel about the same time as the local bars were closing; 4 AM.  We flew to Amsterdam and then back to MN. 

So, it's good to be home.  I'm still fighting some jet lag, but adjusting to local time OK.  That's about all I've got for now.  If there's something anyone's curious about, be sure to ask.  Thanks for following along!