Day 5: Sunday 2nd July 2023: The Baltic
After our visit to Ronne the day before, Island Princess was scheduled to land at Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland.
Through our balcony window, we could see the island. On the TV screen we watched as Island Princess repeatedly approached the harbour and turned away.
All credit to the Captain and the bridge crew as they tried multiple times to dock. But the high winds made it just too dangerous. The dock at the harbour looked to be very exposed and that coupled with a narrow entrance and strong gusts of wind made a landing impossible.
We went for breakfast upstairs to the quiet section of the buffet.
The table behind was now unoccupied but the previous passengers had left this plate of jam and marmalade to go to waste…
Later in the morning we went to a talk on the “sinking” of Nazi German battleship, the Tirpitz, when she was in Norwegian fjords . At least the lecturer did mention 617 squadron and their “tallboy” bombs.
A very strange lunch
After a walk we went for lunch in the restaurant on deck five.
This was a strange lunch with one of the passengers asking everyone if there were telephone directories in Poland. It seems this Canadian lady had relations there and plan to try and find them when we were docked in Gdynia.
The rest of her plan was extreme to say the least as she also plan to leave the ship there too. One of the other guests at the table had relatives who planned to meet her at the port. The first guest repeatedly asked if she could accompany her. It seems that she hoped that the second lady’s Polish relatives would somehow help her to find the people that she was looking for.
Frankly it was a relief to be off the table and be back in our cabin.
Afternoon
On our way to another walk, I stopped to pick up a couple of books to read from the library.
We went early to the Captain Circle and sat with a German lady who had lived in the USA. She had been on the ship for the previous two cruises and was a well travelled passenger.
While we were chatting about Norway and the coastal voyage we learnt from her we learnt about the alternative to Hurtigruten called Harvilla. She highly recommended Harvilla as their ships were newer and apparently their service was excellent.
Evening
Our dinner that evening was on a table for six with an Australian couple and another British couple.
On our way to our cabin for an early night, we stopped in the Explorer lounge, to listen to Xtasea. But we didn’t stay for more than a couple of numbers.
Our second port was Stockholm for a two day stay.
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