Return to Port — Baltic Sea Cruise 2022

Last Sea Day

Our last full day aboard was another sea day. Oscar tested negative for COVID and was released from isolation mid-morning.

We attended a number of different events:

• A 5K charity walk around deck 3 to support Ukraine via a charity called Direct Aid
• Another origami class where we folded a crane and a “cootie catcher”
• A towel-folding class and an exhibition of towel sculptures
• A virtual tour of the ship given by the Captain via a slide show followed by Q&A
• Lunch at the Grand Dutch Cafe
• The string quartet played a selection of movie themes
• An “Origin Story” presentation about the hundred and fifty year history of Holland America Line
• Our last dinner served by our table’s waiters, Nyoman and Nana
• A really good show by the Jukebox Rogues, a group of four male singer/dancers
• Packing our luggage

We enjoyed everything except the packing up, but the Captain’s Q&A really interested me. He covered the engines (azipods and bow thrusters) and how they pilot the ship, but also showed the crew quarters and crew mess, and then delved into logistics such as how they make fresh water using heat from the engine exhaust, and then treat and release the water after it has been used. They make five hundred tons of water each day this way, but on an average day they use seven hundred and fifty tons, so there is also an osmosis-type filtration system which can make five hundred more tons.

Departure

We got up a little after five so that we could disembark by seven. We needed to leave early because that seemed to be when “self service luggage” guests had to leave, and also Delta was warning us to arrive at Schiphol airport at least four hours early because of check in and security screening delays.

So we made it off the ship before seven and took a cab to the Rotterdam train station. An express train to Schiphol left at 7:11, and we were at the airport well before eight. Unfortunately once there we learned that we were not even allowed to begin checking in until four hours before departure. So we bought some Gouda and stroopwafels and used the airport internet until 9:15. Then we finally started the check-in process, a process quite different than airports in the U.S.

It took well over an hour, but we eventually got to the gate where we found Oscar and Joann. They had purchased Holland America’s Transfer Package, so they had a bus chartered from the cruise terminal to the airport. Joann got the handicapped service, so they were whisked through all the lines, arriving at the gate well before us despite arriving hours later.

We talked a bit and then I went to buy some sandwiches for lunch. Suddenly our flight began boarding half an hour before the time printed on the boarding pass. Unfortunately, despite being ready for departure a few minutes early, rain was somehow causing a delay (rain? In Holland?), so the plane stayed parked at the gate for an hour.

Eventually we departed and some time was made up in flight so our arrival in Atlanta was only half an hour late.