My 2024 European Escapade - Part 12: Cruise, Days 8-12 & Home!

Come along as I blog about my recent trip to Scotland, England, and beyond! If you're not sure how you got here, you can start from the very beginning!

 July 7th

It was the eighth day of the cruise, and I was now officially sick. I woke up after a very long, feverish night.

We were supposed to dock in Visby, Sweden, today, but by midmorning the captain had come over the PA and told us that due to weather conditions, it was not safe for us to go into port. I was a little disappointed, but I also didn't think I felt well enough to go out anyway.

By mid-afternoon I had some congestion. By evening I was feeling dizzy when I stood up. I ordered a room service dinner...

I played some 3DS...

^Hey, this lady's on my cruise!

And I watched the foggy bridge cam on the TV...

July 8th

Today we were set to dock in Klaipėda, Lithuania. I had put a "room service" card on my stateroom's outer doorknob, forgetting that there was a clock/time change in the night. I'd requested the food to come around 6:45am, but when they knocked, my clock said 5:45. 

Luckily (I guess) I was already awake. I was still feeling awful. I had dizziness and brain fuzzes, plus my fever symptoms kept coming and going. Happily, that pitcher^ was full of hot water, and it was enough for several cups of tea.

Around noon, I dragged myself out and went into Klaipėda. The more I walked around town, the better I felt. 

I wanted to find a pharmacy so I could get some cold/flu medicine. In a lot of European countries, they keep all meds behind a counter in a proper pharmacy; you can't buy aspirin or cough syrup at regular stores. I found a pharmacy. On my phone, I went on Google Translate and typed "Cold Flu and Cough," in case the pharmacist didn't speak English. She did not. She read my screen, turned around, and handed me a box of Lithuanian TheraFlu. She somehow managed to convey to me, in Lithuanian -- and by writing down numbers -- how often to take it.

Klaipėda is split by some waterways, and there are only a few bridges...

Below, I've put purple circles where the bridges are. The one on the lower left was a raising bridge, with its own schedule!

There were lots of boats around, all shapes and sizes and kinds...

Klaipėda's architecture was interesting. It reminded a little bit of what I saw when I visited Funchal, Madeira.

Of course, there were exceptions...

The public art was a delight...

After being out for about an hour and a half, I headed back to the ship. 

Some Klaipėda citizens came to watch us sail away a little while later...

The ship passed by what looked like a long jetty. This was the northern tip of the Curonian Spit. There were a ton of different birds. As we passed, many of them took off. It was a beautiful sight.

Look, you get a video!

Goodbye, Klaipėda! 

July 9th

Sea Day number... I've lost count. I spent most of the day in my room. I still had a lot of congestion, despite now taking my Lithuanian TheraFlu. I went upstairs a few times to grab food. I watched Cast Away on the stateroom TV, played on my 3DS, and even did a bit of writing.

One of my meals...

This was in the daily bulletin... 

Aha, so it's NOT just me! Ah, well, misery loves company and all.

Sometimes I would go on a walk around the ship and take photos. One day I made it all the way up to the very top of the ship to visit a lounge. It's not easy to get up there! Only 2 elevators on the whole ship will take you.

Wheee!

July 10th

Today we were supposed to dock in Kristiansand, Norway, but early that morning, I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. The ship had been rocking -- my stateroom's drawers all opened in the night! -- and the ship was currently tilting a few degrees. I turned on my stateroom TV to check out the bridge cam -- hello, fog!

You know it's bad when the empty swimming pools start sloshing...

A little after 8am, the captain came on the PA and confirmed my fear: we would not be docking in Kristiansand. This missed port stop was more disappointing for me than missing Visby, Sweden, because this would have been our only port in Norway, and I've never been to Norway! (And now I still haven't.)

Since we wouldn't be going into port, and would get refunded some port fees, I decided to splurge and buy 24 hours of wifi. (I had been able to use my phone in all the ports, and even on the ship's deck when we were near land, thanks to the T-Mobile International Plan. But without our stop in Norway, we were going to have three sea days in a row. I couldn't let my Duolingo streak die, darnit!)

By early this afternoon, I was feeling ready to get off the ship. Even as a place of R&R, at the moment, it was lacking. They kept blasting the ship's horn (thanks, fog!) Around the ship, ceilings were leaking. And my stateroom toilet was making some haunted sounds. 

Also, when the schedule changed from a Port Day to a Sea Day, they went and printed all new itineraries, and yet... there really wasn't anything NEW on them. Like, they'd say "10am: Board Games Available In The Library!" Great! Except board games are always available in the library. They're right there on the shelf. Or: "Ping Pong Available On Deck 12!" Yes, the ping pong table is bolted to the ground; it's never not there.

Honestly, the daily schedules were pretty meh on this cruise. Every day, you'd see the same things, over and over....

"Facials" (Literally one of the main things the spa offers. I don't know why they need to put it on the schedule like it's a one-time thing.)

"Baltic Treasures" (They want you to come buy troll-shaped tchotchkes and giant lollipops in the shops.)

Jackpot! (It costs money to enter; it's basically a casino thing.)

Art Auctions (An absolute joke.)

Guess The Height/Weight/Amount (Free to play, but ultimately they want to sell you something.)

Pedicure Consultation (Of course they then want you to buy a pedicure. It's never just consulting!)

Complimentary ___  (Run whenever you hear this word on a cruise. It means they're going to try to sell you something you don't want by offering you something silly (like "a piece of art" that is actually a postcard.))

Skin Care (Not the same as "Facials"! Nope, two separate activities!)

Bingo (Aside from the musical bingo game I played, most bingo on the ship cost money to play.)

De-Aging Seminars (Again with the "fix your body" push!)

Raffles (sometimes free, sometimes not... always trying to sell you something.)

Last Chance To Get Fun Photos! (Yes, the photos cost money. And it seemed like they used the 'last chance' gimmick on at least 3 consecutive days.)

Now, the one activity today I could get behind: Back To The Future showing on the top deck!

Even though the movie was available on-demand in the staterooms, could I pass up an opportunity to see it on a big screen?

The answer is no.

I wandered about the upper decks of the ship this evening, taking lots of photos...

Look at this nice weather, taunting us! Where were you this morning?!?

We may have missed our Norway port stop, but Princess was still determined to sell us some Norway-themed merch...

About the only thing that appealed to me in any of the shops was this puffin paperweight, but it was quite expensive....

Princess really isn't a high-end cruise line, but they have these high-end shops anyway... a fragrance store, a jewelry store, a wine & spirits store. Not much for your average joelle.

There was some kind of dance party going on in the piazza this evening...

I went out on deck...

July 11th

Today was the final full day of the cruise, which meant I had to start thinking about packing. 

I got a room service breakfast. In the early afternoon, I watched the Egg Drop Challenge in the piazza. I wore a mask and got there very early. I ended up sitting by the railing on the 7th floor (which looks down onto the 5th floor, where the eggs would supposedly go splat). The railing kind of curves out, so I wasn't in a walkway or anything.

As the event began, people began to stop and watch. Someone came and stood directly behind me and leaned over, resting his hands on the railing above me. ABOVE MY HEAD. SIR! Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well enough to jump to my feet and "accidentally" send him over the railing. Maybe next time.

Of the five participants, only one person's egg broke. The winner was the one whose unbroken egg landed closest to the yellow circle on the ground.

Afterwards I went up to the pool deck to watch the boat competition. I've seen this before on a cruise; people have to build floatable boats using only objects found around the ship. Today, only two people (kids) participated. They placed their boats in the pool to see if the boats could float while holding beverage cans. There was also a lone man in this shallow, tiny pool, swimming laps... and he kept doing laps throughout the boat event. Like, Hey, don't mind me, everybody! Just doin' a little swimming here! Boats? What boats? Olympics 2028 baby!

The people who just don't give a care on this ship, I swear....

Every day there was a different stack of crossword puzzles available in the ship's library. I enjoyed this until about Day 10, when they began to repeat puzzles from earlier in the cruise. Surely they could have had 12 different ones for a 12-night cruise?

That afternoon, I went to the finale of The Voice of the Ocean. The theater was kind of full, not packed. I wore a mask. Six singers each sang truncated versions of the songs they'd sung at the auditions (except for one, who I think sang something different.) We got to vote for our favorites using a little remote device. The person I voted for did not win.

^This picture was on the wall outside my stateroom. I know it's kind of blurry, but it was taken on Prince Edward Island, which made me happy.

In the piazza, there was another family fun fair going on (they'd had one on July 4th as well). There were crafts and guessing jars and games for kids...

That evening, the ship was entering the English Channel, and out on the promenade deck I could see the Cliffs of Dover to the north! France was barely visible to the south, but my phone did connect to a French cell tower!

I screencapped Google maps as we went. That little gray dot is us!

July 12th

Today was disembarkation day. Some people would be staying onboard for the next cruise (up and around the British Isles) but many of us had to say goodbye.

Ah, Southampton... just as you were when I left you...

I did the express walk-off, which meant carrying my own bags off the ship around 7:15am. I managed to do this without oversleeping/missing my alarm or anything!

Not knowing exactly when we'd be able to get off the ship, I'd reserved a taxi for 8:30am -- I had a 1:10pm flight, and the ride to London from Southampton can take 1 1/2 to 2 hours -- so I had a little while to wait. Princess does have airport transfer buses (which would've been a lot cheaper) but they would not have been able to get me to the airport in time. It was my fault for booking an early afternoon flight. I saved money on the flight... but it came back to bite me with the taxi cost. (I should add there's also a train, but it doesn't run every hour, and that wouldn't have gotten me to the airport in enough time either.)

My taxi arrived right on time. I had a nice, leisurely ride to the airport. When I arrived, I printed my boarding passes, went through security, bought some London souvenirs and snacks at a shop, and then proceeded to sit and wait for my flight.

My first flight, from London Heathrow to Reykjavik, was about 2 hours long. Unfortunately, I got a middle seat in the middle section -- and even more unfortunately, the person in front of me leaned their seat all the way back! I did manage to watch Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase on the back-of-the-seat screen that was now 2 inches from my face. Meanwhile, the flight attendants came down both aisles offering drinks -- except they skipped me! (I had a coughing attack a little while later, and I had to push the call button to ask for some water, so eventually they did have to notice me.)

Then we were in Reykjavik, with a pretty quick layover. Luckily, it was enough time for me to use the restroom and pay a quick visit to the shop I'd been to before -- way back in mid-June! I got some Icelandic chocolates to bring home to my family, plus a sandwich and beverage for the flight. 

If you ever travel Iceland Air, you'll want to know that they don't serve free meals -- you either need to order a meal in advance, or pick something from their on-board menu -- but everything costs money. Also, nothing on the menu really looked appealing to me. Knowing this, I made sure to have food with me on all my flights.

Flight #2 was the long one. I'd booked an aisle seat in an exit row. The two people next to me had apparently never flown in an exit row, because they kept clawing at the seats in front of them, trying to release the nonexistent tray tables. (I showed them how these trays come out of the armrest.) My entertainment screen was broken (all black) but I had plenty of other things to keep me entertained. I also managed to sleep a bit.

I arrived in Portland around 5pm. I had one hoop to jump through before I could return home -- I had to do my Global Entry interview (I'd applied back in January.) So even though I was running on very little sleep, and looked like a zombie, I managed to answer the TSA agent's questions well enough that they did, in fact, send me a Global Entry card in the mail, and now I can bypass some lines in the future. Yay!

So that's it! Well, no, not quite. Click here to read my final, final overview of the entire trip.