Arriving in Hamburg - 18th May 2019

We departed from Hamburg at 9 PM with the AIDAperla and took the tour along the coast of Norway - the first tour for the Perla, so all ports were first-time visits.

This was my 4th cruise (1x Cara, 2x Diva) and I was skeptical at first because I had read many negative comments about the ship.

One day before departure, we were worried because the ship stayed longer in Rotterdam due to a technical problem. So it only arrived in Hamburg on Saturday at 11:30 AM instead of the planned 8:00 AM. But better late than never. By the way, this trip was my compensation for the canceled preview trip of AIDAnova in November 2018.

We arrived relaxed by ICE from Berlin and were in Hamburg by 11:30 AM. Since we had booked the transfer from AIDA, we could drop off our heavy suitcases directly at the main train station. It took less than two minutes. After that, we strolled through the city and visited the harbor (we walked a lot). We walked to the bus station at 3 PM and the shuttle bus left less than five minutes later.

We arrived at the Cruise Terminal in Steinwerder 20 minutes later. And experienced a little inconvenience. Check-in took two hours. This happened because of the ship's late arrival and first all departing passengers had to leave the ship.

Even though we stood in the blazing sun for over an hour in front of the terminal, it wasn't that bad. We had nice people behind us, Aida provided us with drinks, and by the way, we watched the Bundesliga on Sky Go on our smartphone.

We were on the ship at 5 PM, the cabin was ready, and the suitcases were there.

Since we were really hungry, we went to eat at 5:30 PM. It was no problem to find a seat. The food was delicious, so we ate too much.

After that, we explored the ship and were occupied for a while. This was followed by the safety drill and the departure.

We left three hours later than planned, but what can I say? It was wonderful to leave Hamburg in the setting sun.

And so far, I haven't found anything negative. In the evening, we sat in the Beach Club with a cocktail and wondered where the people were. It was completely empty here.

We were excited about the following sea day and enjoyed the first evening of our vacation on this wonderful ship.

You can find more photos on Instagram christin_t_