Raus aus Warenmünde – rein ins Abenteuer

Our second stay in Warnemünde was just as (un)exciting as our first 😉. We spend this day on board and don't leave the ship alone because of the bad weather. We prepare ourselves and go to the gym, and otherwise watch the hustle and bustle of provisioning food and drinks. It's incredible how many trucks drive up here and unload countless pallets of essential things that then disappear into the ship's belly. But over 2,500 passengers need to be fed all around, and that requires a lot of supplies...

We leave Warnemünde with a delay of over two hours. Now we have two days at sea ahead of us before we feel land under our feet again. We are both very curious to see how we will like this long time at sea.

On the first day at sea, everything is as usual. The routine is practically the same: wake up, have breakfast, and go to the gym. Then shower and rest, followed by the call of the lunch buffet. Here we meet a nice, older couple from Austria, who are practically at home on cruises. We sit together for over two hours and exchange stories. First about the various trips we have all taken, and later about the political mood and situation in the country. The Austrians feel similarly to us in Germany, except they assure us that our government in Germany is "even more extreme"...

What we noticed before, because you inevitably overhear conversations from Germans at neighboring tables, is that it rarely takes long for the conversations to turn to political circumstances and you often hear what you yourself think...

In the afternoon, we attend a lecture on the flora and fauna of Iceland. The speaker is poorly prepared in his PowerPoint presentation, with no clear thread, changing topics, and not really inspiring. Well, it was free after all...

In the coming night, the sea becomes rougher and fresh wind picks up. We cross the Skagerrak and Kattegat, pass by the Norwegian "nose of the Scandinavian lion" out into the open sea towards the Shetland Islands.

The next morning, we are awakened by the up and down movement of the ship, and the waves get higher and the troughs deeper. It's not that we couldn't sleep because of it, but now that we are well-rested and can see and feel all the movements, we feel a little uneasy... the walls creak, everything seems to be moving...

Nevertheless, we venture out of the cabin and want to see what it feels like outside.

The wind is fierce, it's hard to move forward, and the movement of the ship makes us sway with a slight buzz. The swaying of the ship can be best seen at the pool. Here, the water flows out of the pool and back in.

A few bundled-up passengers have also ventured outside. But the weather doesn't keep anyone outside for long. We too decide to have breakfast.

In the morning, we gather in the theater for the second "exciting" lecture. This time it's about the cities of Akureyri and Isafjödur, our next two destinations. Once again, the speaker is not well-prepared and follows his usual routine...

Today, on the second day at sea, we find ourselves in the gym again. Not only the cake buffet takes its toll. However, it will be a bit more exciting today because we have to "catch" the movements of the ship. Thorsten has opted for the bicycle because he strained his left leg slightly the day before and doesn't want to risk being unable to move in Akureyri. For me, it's back to the treadmill, although the strong waves make it difficult to maintain the usual pace without holding on. You rock back and forth too much, which makes it feel unsafe... At first, I hold on to the handles, enduring for 20 minutes, and then I decide to reduce the speed a bit to be able to run more freely.

At noon, the captain informs us that due to the late departure from Warnemünde and the strong winds, we won't be able to reach Akureyri on time. We will probably arrive at our first stop in Iceland two hours later, around 12 noon. This is not a problem in principle, but we have booked a car for 10:30 am. Now we hope that the rental company can still provide us with a car two hours later. We also hope that we can drop off the car key after 5 pm, as the office is closing. Because we won't leave the port as planned at 7 pm, but at 9 pm. We will get the two-hour delay back in the end.

Well, we'll see. Not only the question of the car remains open, the weather also doesn't seem to want to be at its best tomorrow. Cloudy with a temperature of about 8 degrees...

How it turned out, whether we were able to drive with the car or had to enjoy Akureyri on foot, you can read more about that tomorrow or even later tonight. This post will be published on the morning of July 3rd when we have internet on the ship again.